User:MerQry/buildarchive/Build:Team - 55/Famine Redux

This is a dual farming build that uses a 55 monk to tank and a ranger for support and damage which is designed primarily for farming specific portions of the Underworld. This is a modification to the original 55/Famine build which overcomes AI changes from the Nightfall Update.

Ranger Equipment

 * Any max armor will be sufficient. Druid's Armor is recommended
 * Any weapon will be sufficient but a staff with +20 energy can be useful, as well as a zero or low requirement bow.

General Ranger Usage
At the beginning of the run, cast Essence Bond, Succor, and Balthazar's Spirit on the 55 monk. Let the monk draw aggro and Essence Bond will replenish your energy. Cast Famine and Edge of Extinction well outside of the monk's aggro circle (Spirit range is a little over twice the radius of your aggro circle). The best placement location is 2 times the radius of the aggro circle, as creatures will scatter off the monk into a circle about 3/4 of an aggro circle away from the monk. Be sure not to draw aggro from creatures the monk is tanking, the monk can die any number of times without ruining the run, but if the ranger dies, the run is over. If you do draw aggro, activate Whirling Defense and attempt to bring the enemies back to the monk or flee to break aggro.

If the 55 monk should die use rebirth to teleport their body out of danger. Since the 55 monk will now only have 1 hp, rebirth will not bring them back to life, it will only move their body. Once you have used rebirth to pull their body away from the monsters paths, use Resurrection Chant to bring them back to life and they can use another weapon/armor set to raise their health.

A Note on Ranger Experience Points
You are only eligible for experience points from a creature if that creature considers you a threat before it dies. That means that the ranger will get almost no XP for this run unless he deliberately takes steps to get XP. One method is by bringing the monk into your aggro circle briefly after the monk has obtained aggro but before famine is placed. Another method is by shooting 1 creature from each group with a longbow after the monk has obtained aggro. Either of these actions can result on the ranger obtaining aggro from the group, but this is only a risk with groups larger than three creatures. For groups larger than three creatures, it is usually better for the ranger to simply play safe and not let the monsters see him as an enemy.

Note that this does not effect drops- only XP.

Monk Equipment

 * A customized max damage wand.
 * A +20% Enchantment weapon.
 * The Cities of Ascalon -50 Cesta.
 * Ascetic's Armor, with 5 monk superior runes

General Monk Usage
Cast Blessed Aura and Mending on yourself, ranger will cast Succor, Essence Bond, and Balthazar's Spirit. Cast Mantra of Resolve and Healing Breeze then aggro up to three enemies (any more than three and the build becomes slower). If any nightmares appear quickly cast Spell Breaker on yourself and then wand them. Cast Sympathetic Visage as soon as possible. When Sympathetic Visage begins to end cast Ancestor's Visage (alternate so you always have one or the other on you). Keep Protective Spirit up and use Healing Breeze as need applies. If you aggro more than one group at a time some of the enemies will periodically run away to heal- they will eventually return to your side. When fighting non-melee enemies aggro melee fighters next to them. Generally follow the advice of the 55 Monk Guide.

It helps to keep a +20% enchanting weapon selected when not dealing specifically with Dying Nightmares, switch off to your customized wand for Dying Nightmares.

Counters
Anything that can strip enchantments can result in a quick monk death. Taking too many hits at once can also result in the monk dying. Extremely strong Degen and interrupts can also be a problem. Note that the monk can get up to a full -60% DP with this build and not be in a position to end the run as long as they die in a location where the ranger can successfully Rebirth them to safety, and have non-55 armor they can switch into in slow stages to mitigate DP. Anything that kills the ranger ends the run.

Usage

 * Bladed Aatxe

The monk should engage groups of 3 or less Aatxes at a time, being mindful of Dying Nightmare popups. Casting AV or SV on yourself before engaging will deprive the Aatxes of their interrupt skill. Engaging more than 3 will make killing Aatxes harder due to them running away from the monk to heal. If a ranger obtains aggro from an Aatxe, the monk can help the ranger considerably by putting Protective Spirit on him.

Edge of Extinction is not necessary for small groups, but Apply Poison can shorten the length of combat for small groups.


 * Dying Nightmare

Dying Nightmares will popup in somewhat predictable locations throughout the Underworld and will die in 1 to 3 hits from a customized max wand that does light damage (for which the requirement is met). These are best handled using Spell Breaker before an engagement, where interruption is not a problem. If not killed quickly, interrupted, or guarded against using Spell Breaker, a Dying Nightmare will strip the enchantments off the monk using Rend Enchantments.


 * Grasping Darkness

Grasping Darknesses come in groups of 3 to 4, and will spam Distracting Blow on their first hit. Before engaging, a monk should have AV on them already, or should wait until all of the engaged Grasping Darknesses have used their interrupt. If not subdued with AV, these creatures will quickly drain their opponents energy using "Fear Me!" and will be effective at keeping the monk from using Protective Spirit to keep themselves alive. If properly subdued, and taken in groups of 3 or less, they are trivial. In larger groups, they will break off to heal, and Edge of Extinction works nicely to speed up the combat.


 * Coldfire Night

Generally, a group of Smites should be aggro'ed and then pulled to a group of coldfires so that the Smites attacks can trigger AV/SV and through that Famine. Using Spellbreaker before aggroing the Coldfires will shut them down in the crucial first moments while the Smites are causing the energy drain. They only represent a serious threat to the monk when multiple Maelstroms are hitting thus using up Spirit Bond or helping to out damage Healing Breeze. Edge of Extinction can be useful here, especially when the Coldfires are not all clustered together.


 * Smite Crawler

By themselves, Smite Crawlers have a hard time overpowering Healing Breeze and have no interrupts, so they can easily be tanked. They often come in groups as large as 5 though, and will run off to heal in those cases. Some care should be made with spirit placement. NOTE: When the monk has a death penalty, and health is above 55, their fast attack speed can overcome health regeneration when there are more than 3 crawlers.


 * Terrorweb Dryder

Much like Coldfires, Terrorwebs are best handled with a small group of melee creatures to trigger AV/SV. They are found in groups of 3, but 1 will always run out of immediate range. Once the monk has aggroed the Aatxes to the group of Terrorwebs, and Famine is taking effect, the ranger can help by concentrating on the lone Terrorweb. Once the other 2 Terrorwebs are dead, the monk can bring the surviving Aatxes to the lone Terrorweb for a quick finish.

Groups larger than three (as found in the "Servants of Grenth") quest as given by the reaper of the Icy Veil are not recommended without additional help.

Variants
The ranger can speed up Aatxes by bringing Apply Poison instead of Whirling Defense, a +33% Poisoning bow, and making sure Aatxes stay poisoned. A ranger without such defensive skills should be extra careful about obtaining aggro from large groups.

Mantra of Resolve mitigates risk from interruption either from Bladed Aaxtes or Grasping Darknesss, but Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze may not be sufficient against a large enough group of Smite Crawlers. An experienced 55 will usually have more luck substituting Spirit Bond or Shield of Absorption for Mantra of Resolve, and learning how to time their casting so as to not be interrupted. Essentially the monk can be fully successful with any 55 build that keeps them alive and keeps SV/AV up all the time while they are in combat.

If the Ranger is afraid of aggroing, bringing Dodge, Zojun's Haste, or Natural Stride instead of Whirling Defense.

The Ranger can also be replaced by a Hero.