User:Dark-Angelus/buildarchive/Build:W/R Melandru's Resilience Totem Axe Farmer

This is a simple method to farm the Root Behemoths in The Falls to obtain the unique item, the Totem Axe.

Equipment
Any armor set will do as long as it is the maximum armor level (such as found in Droknar's Forge and Kaineng Center). Most commonly used would be Gladiator's Armor. Any Sword/Shield combination should do, as long as you meet the requirement for the Sword (you have 15 attributes into it) and the Shield (10 into Tactics).

Usage

 * Ventari's Refuge
 * Start in Ventari's Refuge which is south from Quarrel Falls through Silverwood and Ettin's Back. Exit and head south towards the Reed Bog. Along the way you will encounter the conditions Bleeding and Burning. Use Troll Unguent or Melandru’s Resilience to counter this. Sprint when Melandru’s is recharging. Don’t use them together as they are both Stances and will cancel each other out. This is an easy run and won’t cause too much trouble.


 * Reed Bog
 * When you enter the Reed Bog there are two ways you can go. If you decide to go south west you will find this much easier than if you head directly south as you won’t encounter as many creatures along the way. In this area you will only get conditions such as bleeding, poison and cripple. Use your Troll Unguent or Melandru’s when needed and watch out for Moss Scarabs. You can basically sprint through this area with minimal trouble. Head south to find the portal into The Falls.


 * The Falls
 * You will meet all conditions, explained in the Enemy notes, here. When conditioned use Melandru's Resilience or Troll Unguent. When you come accross Jungle Trolls just Sprint past them making sure you have enough space to get past. The Jungle Skales drop Gold and Blue items quite often so you might want to kill them. Use your Healing Signet in an emergency or when attacking the Life Pods. Sever Artery and Gash help speed the process up. When you come accross Wind Riders just alternate between Sprint and Melandru's to get past them. If you want to attack them then kill 3 at a time and run to regen health. The Wind Riders also drop a green item named Forgotten Fan.

Enemy Notes



 * Jungle Skales
 * Jungle Skale use the skill Rotting Flesh which gives you a health degen of -4. Using Melandru's Resilience nearly negates this and gives you +1 energy, so they shouldn’t cause any damage to you.


 * Jungle Trolls
 * Stay away from these creatures as they are dangerous in large groups. They use the skill Power Attack which causes a lot of damage and patrol the area in large numbers. You will be passing by these groups on the way and using sprint is the best way to avoid them. Be careful when running around them as a few of the pathways are quite narrow and getting trapped is not an option.


 * Life Pods
 * These creatures are nothing but an annoyance in this area. The only thing they have that causes damage to you is the skill Holy Wrath. The best way to deal with these creatures is to draw them away from the Root Behemoths and try to kill them one at a time. It’s possible to kill them in groups of three but it takes a while. Even when they are drawn away, they still tend to run around in circles (if there is more than one) to avoid you and heal themselves or to be healed by another pod. Life pods will ALWAYS run along the side of a wall, thus making it very easy to bodyblock any runners


 * Maguuma Hunter
 * The Maguuma Hunter uses a skill called Hunter's Shot to inflict Bleeding. They also lay down flame traps to inflict Burning which is also a Condition. The Burning Condition doesn’t last very long and the Bleeding can be negated with Melandru's Resilience.


 * Maguuma Spiders
 * The Maguuma Spider uses the skills Pin Down and Apply Poison to slow you down on the run towards The Falls. Using Melandru's Resilience will negate this and followed up with Troll Unguent you shouldn’t have a problem with them.


 * Redwood Shepherds
 * These creatures are in the same location as the Maguuma Spiders and prevent you from using your Healing Signet by using the skills Primal Echoes and Debilitating Shot. Using Troll Unguent works well in this area.


 * Root Behemoths


 * Root Behemoths are easy enough to kill as long as you clear out the Life Pods first.


 * Wind Riders


 * The Wind Riders are dangerous in large groups and inflict health degen of -5 by using the skill Conjure Phantasm. Melandru's Resilience will reduce this to -2 and give you energy +1 but the Wind Riders interrupt your skills which also includes Healing Signet and Troll Unguent. From experience you can kill up to 3 or 4 in a row and then run away to regenerate health. In smaller groups of Wind riders it is possible to get them to "use up" their interrupts. Simply cast skills multiple times to get the Wind Riders to use their interrupts. Then you will have a safe amount of time to activate Troll Unguent and Healing Signet.

Counters
While this build is generally quite effective and safe, it will have a hard time against monsters, such as the Wind Rider, which use Cry of Frustration to interrupt the healing skills.

Variants

 * The wildcards in this build are Sever Artery, Gash, and "Shields Up!". Therefore, it is possible to change the other skills, depending on your choice of weaponry in order to fit your specific needs.
 * A wise move to add is in the 'optional' slot is "I Will Survive!" which makes you gain Health regeneration of 3 for each condition you are suffering for 5-10 seconds. This, combined with Melandru's Resilience works very well for resisting health degeneration.
 * Replacing "Shields Up!" and the 'optional' slot with Riposte and Deadly Riposte allows you to make quick work of any Root Behemoth with fewer than 3 Life Pods by attacking one of the Pods while letting the Behemoth kill itself attacking you.
 * Predatory Season can be used right before attacking a group of Wind Riders. This gives a +5 health every time you hit with an attack and reduces your healing by 20%. This does not affect Troll Unguent's regeneration effect. Your Healing Signets will be interrupted anyway. This can also be useful against the Life Pods as it reduces their healing by 20%.
 * This Build can easily be used by a R/W by changing Sprint for any ranger running skill, such as Storm Chaser.
 * With the high Wilderness survival, Apply Poison makes dispatching groups of life pods an easy task. They love to spam Mend Condition and will soon exhaust their energy. Just be mindful of your own energy. In additon to this, wind riders are much easier to fight. Just use Apply Poison before rushing into battle and make sure not to use any other skills, just let the poison degeneration do the work. Usually you will only be able to kill one or two before sprinting away to heal.
 * Adding Final Thrust for the spike helps on Life Pods - pull one at a time by barely touching your aggro circle to the behemoth and quickly backing away.