Talk:The Shadow Nexus (mission)

Armor drop Rate Might Be Incorrect
I'm wondering if this statement about 100 points is correct. I just finished playing a terrible run where I didn't clear 100 but I still got some armor. I'm wondering if this mission drops similar to Dajkah Inlet, so each time you kill a portal mage you have a chance of getting armor only the percentage seems to start out lower and gain with each mage? I'm not sure and there doesn't seem to be enough people actually doing this challenge to gather enough information, so I guess I'll just be happy with my fluke drop. Thought I would record it in case I'm not the only one, if I'm not the article should probably be updated accordingly.
 * I just noticed this article before I did the mission, and it seems there might be some inaccuracy. I was able to get armor when I was at 92 points.--Kajex Firedrake 12:18, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I did this challenge yesterday, I haven't done it since I first came to the Realm of Torment, a year ago, I got 1 armor back then. So yesterday, by the score of 150, I had 3 Mysterious armor remnant. I died at 250, got nothing more. I did that challenge 4 more times, each time with a score of ~200, not a single armor. So I think meybe the drop rate decrease dramatically once you got 4 armors, or the drop rate gradually decrease, and resets once in a while. I Also tried once with my Sin, with a score of 150, got nothing, so I might be account-based. I'll try with my friends account later. --LordSowl 13:57, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I just wanted to confirm that drop rates do decrease per character (not account) as you get more Armor Pieces. I was doing this Challenge with my Paragon and getting about 1 Armor Piece per 5-10 rounds. Then I switched on my Necromancer, who did this for the first time ever, got a score above 200 and got 4 armor piece in just 1 round. Having one character that farms these things for your other characters is definitely a bad idea. --Schmerdro 12:47, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Could be conformation bias. Do we have anyone willing to log their winnings on an account over a period of time? (say, 100 rounds worth of farming, starting from scratch) - if the trend does occur, we should see a large number of drops at the start, and a decrease near the end. Random Time  13:00, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I've noticed the same thing and it is consistent with other challenge missions, if the reduced drop rate "fades with time" it is a long time, I havent played this mission in a year or so and just quite a few reasonable runs with no drops. C3lticmatt 11:16, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Hero Team build?
Man I need a guide for doing this with heroes... --Dr.D 06:33, 8 February 2007 (CST)

Hi, i have made more than 200pts with an elem and 3 heroes (Zhed searing flamme, Olias Minion Master Jagged Bones, Talkhora prot ZB) don't remember if we have all take mantra of frost or lightning.. Anyway, searing flame + double Meteor shower on portal mage or Margonith monk will do the job. The start is a little hard without tha minion army, then its more a pb for the minion army to reach the new target^^. Take some candy to remove DP if any. get 3 armor on this run (243 points). Kemydes 08:52, 23 February 2007 (CST)

Do armor pieces drop only for players or does the rule that heroes and henchies could be getting them too apply? If so, it would be nice if ANet thought to give any armor pieces that go to heroes TO the hero since that's why you're bloody there. Or is that to prevent people from selling them? Just saying. 24.22.208.56 15:23, 12 August 2007 (CDT)

These are the builds i used for heroing this mish - got over 100 every time and over 200 a couple times too: [Mes;OQBDAowjOB1NQR4Cw1yAJABA] [Ele;OgRDQoysO0txKyAY0JoF4CBA] [Ranger;OgASc5MTPGoSXGvSMGVgFHCA] [Monk;OwYS8YITXatEaRba1DxkAAID] "Finish Him" was VERY helpfull killing the portal mages or Torment creatures before they finished Call to the Torment. Glyph of Lesser Energy is also an extremely valuable skill because the constant boss kills recharges it early. Got 5 armor pieces in about two hours. Slingshot John 01:06, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Double drop rate?
This doesn't seem to be working. I only got one set of Mysterious Armor Pieces in the last two hours. -- Gordon Ecker 23:51, 9 March 2007 (CST)
 * The 'drop' rate has always seemed quite low here. I've done 6 runs today, getting on average something like 120 a run, and have only got two pieces. However this is much better last time I tried, when I managed to get nada. RossMM 16:25, 10 March 2007 (CST)
 * I got four of those Mysterious Armor Pieces in a short time but after that i didn't get that many more (Only 1). I guess anti farm code kicked in or something..--85.226.179.102 21:04, 10 March 2007 (CST)


 * With every drop your chance to get an armor is diminished, so when you have received like 7 it is very hard to see another one, even that way this friday I got 1 armor, and thats good considering I had no armor drop since like a month, I do nexus regularly. i have the record =P - Coran Ironclaw 12:17, 11 March 2007 (CDT)


 * My elementalist managed to get five drops in total, and then after a lot more runs (including some relatively high-scoring ones) he has received nothing more. I then took a guildmate on two with his elementalist to show him how I do it, and he got four in the first trip (score of about 150) and then another in the second (low 200s). Therefore whilst I know statistically it could be coincidence, it seems that getting five on one character in a short time isn't hard, but any more and your chances drop significantly. RossMM 14:11, 11 March 2007 (CDT)


 * It can't be diminishing returns, I've never done The Shadow Nexus before this weekend. I guess it was just a fluke. -- Gordon Ecker 21:16, 11 March 2007 (CDT)


 * I'm sorry but I don't understand your point. I've never got a drop from the mission before as I'd only played it for a couple of very short trips, so this weekend I played it more intensively. My ele got to five drops and then nothing (after lots more runs). None of my other three characters who I played it with have got past five drops, although by the stage of the last one I had given up trying to get any more than five as that allows upgrading all the heroes. Therefore my belief (based on highly anecdotal evidence I'll admit) is that the drop rate increases as your score gets higher, but seems capped to 5 or at least the drop rate falls greatly once a character has received that many. I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on the matter. RossMM 07:26, 12 March 2007 (CDT)


 * My point is that I thought armor just had a really low drop rate here, but now I think it's more likely that my really bad armour drop rate was just an annoying coincidence based on how everyone else seems to be getting more frequent armour drops. -- Gordon Ecker 20:19, 16 March 2007 (CDT)


 * So wait... Is this to say that every time you get armour here, the probability of getting an armour piece again drops forever? I'm a bit suspicious of this as I've heard varying accounts of caps on armour aquisition though I'm not sure if there is some sort of time limit and then a reset or not. Is it impossible (or close to that) for one character alone to be the "armour farmer" for all characters on an account? ~ SotiCoto 82.35.54.50 18:09, 18 April 2007 (CDT)


 * Yes, I believe so, the manual heavily implies that this is the case. It's also theoretically possible that the drop rate decrease may be temporary, slowly fading over time. -- Gordon Ecker 18:52, 18 April 2007 (CDT)

I still think this place is stingy with t got 118 with a character 1st time trying this, and nothing. My experience is few drops here. Stolen sunspear falls much more frequently for me.

Killing the guards
Although the other creatures around the rift don't have to be killed, they will remain and make it harder the next time a rift opens at that location. I think this statement is wrong. On the occasions when I've killed the Mage before the other mobs, only to have him promptly respawn, he hasn't arrived with the full compliment of helpers. It seems the game looks at how many are alive, and subtracts that number from the amount that appear with the mage. In which case killing the non-mage mobs is unnecessary if you're purely interested in farming for the armour pieces. RossMM 07:20, 12 March 2007 (CDT)
 * Did the mission today a couple of times and can confirm that the above statement is indeed thruthfull.--Rotfl Mao 08:13, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I just did the mission and had the same occurrence. I killed the Portal Mage and went to work on his lackeys, and moments later the Mage re-spawned, but with no additional group of enemies. Mokushiroku no Yami 19:20, 4 October 2008 (UTC)