User:XT-8147/R/Mo Ascalon Area Mission Solo

This build allows you to easily solo the first six missions (and their respective bonuses) in Prophecies, in Normal Mode. Make a little money or something.

Equipment
I use the following, it doesn't really matter so long as you have a max damage bow you meet the requirement for and max armor. You may want a Fortitude mod on your bow, so you can get to 410 health.


 * Drago's Flatbow (hey, I like the skin)
 * max armor with Radiant insignias

Since the Charr elementalists use Fire Magic, you may want Pyrebound Insignia, but then again, the damage you take is already negligible, and you won't be in one place for very long anyway. So... insignias don't really matter that much.

Usage

 * 1) Get in the mission
 * 2) Apply Holy Veil
 * 3) Run and kill as little as is absolutely necessary
 * 4) Remove Holy Veil if something puts a slow hex on you. This is only necessary in Great Northern Wall.
 * 5) PROFIT!
 * 1) PROFIT!

Great Northern Wall

 * Straight up run
 * You need to talk to Captain Calhaan at the beginning, otherwise the gate won't open for you to run out.
 * Be ready to kill Holy Veil when you run past the Gargoyles on the other side of the bridge (next to the Gargoyle/Grawl fight). They will try to cover it with Conjure Phantasm, but their Conjure Phantasm doesn't last very long so either make it quick or wait for it to wear off.  If you kill it too soon you run the risk of being re-hexed with Imagined Burden, which can be a pain.
 * Get all of Kilnn Testibrie's armor parts before talking to him, then run to him, hit v, then hit space twice.
 * Just before triggering the cutscene where the Charr see you, rotate yourself so you're facing the inner wall and strafe sideways to trigger the cutscene. This way, you'll be facing the bridge after the cutscene and you can just slap R and 1 to get going.
 * I've successfully done it with just Escape, Storm Chaser, and Holy Veil

Fort Ranik

 * Easier than it looks, most enemies can be run past.
 * Armin Saberlin doesn't need to survive for the bonus to be possible
 * You can just run to the Overseers and kill them. Talk to Deeter, he'll ramble about some crap for a while before giving you credit for freeing his sorry ass.
 * You may want to delay actually attacking the Overseers to avoid knockdown from their Bane Signets. The speed difference is marginal.
 * Do a 180 and run to the next area (faster than going around, though you do have to run the gauntlet, it's a speed vs. safety tradeoff)
 * You don't have to put the catapult together.
 * All you need to do is run to the final catapult, load it, and fire it as soon as the projectile appears in it. It'll hit the end boss.  Yawn.

Frontier Gate to Ruins of Surmia

 * This run is fairly simple and can be done by simply cycling through the speed stances.

Ruins of Surmia

 * You'll need to babysit Rurik, but that's not too difficult. Your skill for the optional slot should enable you to heal him.
 * Use Apply Poison and Tab + space to poison everything you're fighting. Priority targets are the Whiptail Devourers, which have Lightning Reflexes.  You'll want to get that degen on them first.
 * Use your speed stances to keep up with Rurik when he leeroys the groups of Charr.
 * Abandon Rurik and Erol at the bridge, kill the bonus boss, /dance and go get a snack while the Ember Bearers take their sweet time getting the flame to the temple. Seriously.  They take forever, so you won't lose any time.  I think the tar slows them.
 * Once the Ember Bearers open the gate to the bonus area, kill them.
 * Bonus is cake. Four level 7 fire elementalists, and Ranger armor reduces all elemental damage by half (even more if you have pyrebound insignia), so...  yeah.
 * I always clear the end area of Charr entirely, even ones I'm pretty sure don't need to be killed. Just for completeness.  For speed purposes I suppose I should research what exactly needs to be killed.
 * There's a preferred order to killing them, as defeating some groups will cause others to rush the temple.
 * Work your way around the side along the path Rurik normally takes you along to avoid the "fight we cannot win". You know, the one that a level 20 ranger with max armor and a crap self-heal can singlehandedly defeat.
 * Go through the gate, and kill the first group of Charr on your left.
 * This should cause the group on the other side of the temple to run in. Kill them.  If not, kill the closest of the three groups.  They aggro in groups of three.
 * Next, the boss group will rush the temple. Kill them.
 * Clean up the remaining Charr near the temple and mow down the valley.
 * Go back to the bridge and let Rurik and Erol rejoin you
 * Hit both the levers to close the door and make Rurik and Erol take an alternate route to the end area, whee
 * /dance while Rurik uses Knock
 * It actually does spawn more Charr just before the cutscene. They're the Charr for the cutscene.  I want to experiment sometime by laying tons of traps where they spawn.  Just because.  Anyone want to help me with this?

Nolani Academy

 * If you're quick you can kill the Charr that runs out the back exit of the fort with Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support. Follow up with Signet of Infection if you didn't get a headshot.
 * Get bonus book, run to bonus area, turn it in (watch out for the spirits, they cripple you).
 * Evacuate bonus area immediately (don't wait for the spirit's speech)
 * Pwn all the Charr between the wall and Nolani, use the Ascalon Rangers as tanks if you like
 * Once Rurik starts heading out of the fort, haul ass to the bonus area, you should get the bonus just before the cutscene
 * There are two ways you can proceed: the slow way, and the fast way.
 * The slow way
 * Run to the boulder elementals and keep Rurik alive through them
 * Crucial to kill the Stormcaller cutscene immediately, the sooner you kill it, the longer Rurik stays on Horn Hill and the more time you have to run to Bonfaaz Burntfur and turn him into Bonfaaz Pwntfur.
 * Use this time to run past all the other Charr, to Bonfaaz Burntfur (there's some stairs that lead directly to him), and kill him (EVSS, then SoI and attack as needed). If you're fast enough Rurik shouldn't die.
 * If you're running people (who inevitably don't follow your instructions to skip the cutscenes), you can still beat it, you'll just have to babysit Rurik while he leeroys. Also, Rurik stops just before Bonfaaz.  Once you kill the group at the top of the stairs, he just stands there.  You can run around the other way and do Bonfaaz from behind.
 * The fast way
 * After the cutscene, head down the stairs on the right (go west).
 * Run through the arch. Rurik should be off your radar at this point, and won't take any damage.
 * Run up the stairs and kill Bonfaaz Burntfur.
 * This one works way better when you're running people. Instruct them to follow you and stay at the bottom of the steps.  This will ensure that Rurik isn't on their radars either.

Northern Shiverpeaks
Build variant: (same attributes)

Borlis Pass

 * Lighting some of the beacons in the beginning can be tricky, I often find it necessary to wait for the patrols to move away to get the first one. I also run past the fourth to grab the fifth and sixth, and then go back for the fourth one.  It totally sucks if the enemies engage and kill the guy you're supposed to give the torch to.
 * A single Engineer will die if you have Kindle Arrows active and use Triple Shot and Snow Storm. If rank matters, I'm rank 4 Kurzick and rank 5 Deldrimor.  It works with lower Deldrimor rank and possibly lower Kurzick/Suxon rank.
 * Run past everything. Use "I Am Unstoppable!" to prevent the cripple from Pin Down.  Ice Spikes doesn't last too long, and if you get hit with Frozen Burst, you're getting too close to the Ice Golems.  Blast your way through the door, dump aggro, then kill the first two Engineers, the boss next to them, and anyone else who wanders too close.
 * Run to the area where Rornak Stonesledge is. Grab a powder keg and open the door, then go back and get another powder keg to open the bonus area with.  Open it and get the bonus from Rornak.
 * Run past the dryders, stopping to heal up every now and then. You'll find that there are safe spots where you'll lose aggro in the cave, use them.
 * Engage Whiskar Featherstorm and the two dryders near it. Take out the dryders first.  Use "I Am Unstoppable!" to prevent knockdown.  Watch its use of Whirlwind and when "I Am Unstoppable!" ends, use Snow Storm to avoid the next knockdown.  If you played your cards right, it should die shortly after this.
 * Run back and continue on your way.
 * Kill everything between the next door and the fort. You should now have a 10% morale boost.
 * Take the torch and run to the beacon. Only engage the boss group just before the beacon if they follow you up the hill.  Take out the beastmasters and light the beacons to finish the mission.

Frost Gate

 * This mission is a harder run than Borlis Pass, so don't get too cocky.
 * Run past everything and kill the first engineer.
 * Run to the next gate and take out all three patrols.
 * Head up to the group just before the engineer. Ignore the group (use "I Am Unstoppable!" and Escape) and take out the engineer, then head back through the gate.
 * Lure the ettins in the chokepoint down the hill a bit, then run past them.
 * It's up to you, take out everything in the cave now or wait until you've cleared the area up to the ballista for the bonus first. You'll have to clear the cave anyway.
 * The spawn right by the ballista can be tricky. Target the Dolyak Riders first and hit and run if you have to.
 * Once the bonus area is clear, go take out the two Engineers to stop the siege. Then head back and get Rornak.
 * While taking Rornak to the ballista, speed boosts won't make him go any faster, so don't bother.
 * When he gets there, fire the ballista and haul ass to the bonus area.
 * Get the plans and take them back to complete the bonus.
 * I haven't confirmed it, but the door behind the boss group opens after a while of engaging the group. You might be able to trigger the cutscene by running through it, you may not.  Taking out the boss group will trigger it.  This is possible even if you get the monk boss here, as it gave me the monk boss on the run I used to write this up.  I had to hit and run this group due to its size.
 * After the cutscene, run to and use the gate lever on the mechanism. The door takes a while to open, so you might as well get it started while you engage the enemies here.
 * Clear the end area before using the gate lever on anything.
 * Use the gate lever on one mechanism at a time and take out the corresponding groups that rush you as they do so. If your second one is the one on top of the hill, you can use terrain to your advantage.
 * Once all three are active, kill things until the cutscene triggers.

Ways you can die or otherwise fail

 * Not watching your health (use hit and run on larger groups, and use your speed stances to make your escape automatic since enemy aggro reacts to relative changes in movement speed)
 * Not using Escape when under fire while babysitting Rurik
 * Not healing Rurik enough (once per fight is usually enough)
 * Getting bodyblocked, though you have skills that enable you to remove such an obstacle if you react fast enough (may be difficult if you're bodyblocked due to lag)
 * Getting crippled by the spirits in the Nolani bonus area (it's possible to recover from this, but can be difficult if you have a lot of them following you)
 * Getting cripple/slow-locked in Borlis Pass (use "I Am Unstoppable!" or something)
 * Degen/Shadow Strike from dryders
 * The large groups in Frost Gate just before the cutscene, including the groups in the bonus area
 * losing your internet connection entirely - Shouldn't be an issue if you're not on Comcast.
 * antivirus decides it's a good time to scan
 * insert crappy circumstance here

Optional Slot

 * Great Northern Wall: Extra hex removal can be nice if you get re-hexed with Imagined Burden. Consider Cure Hex, as you already have points in Healing Prayers.
 * Fort Ranik: A bow attack can be useful for taking down the Overseers faster. Consider Point Blank Shot, as the Overseers will be hitting you anyway, so half-range isn't a disadvantage.
 * Frontier Gate to Ruins of Surmia: A good self-heal of some sort in case the Grawl body block you. Heal Area is a bad idea, try Patient Spirit.
 * Ruins of Surmia: Ebon Escape, to heal Rurik
 * Nolani Academy: "I Am Unstoppable!", for the bonus area so the spirits can't cripple you