Who is the best monster to farm in single player?

[dende]

Just need some input, thanks!

[Huskie]

***WARNING: SPOILERS ALL THE WAY THROUGH IN THIS POST***


Shulgoth seems to be pretty good to farm in Nightmare mode, however doing it in Normal won't give you any items that will be useful for long.

It seems to be possible to farm the Beast of Abaddon, as long as you don't turn the quest in.

Apparently, the only two bosses you can kill repeatedly (and looting as well as the first time around) after finishing their respective quests are Shulgoth and Sydonai.

If you're in Normal, and don't want to go all the way to Sydonai, and don't want to farm for Shulgoth's low-level stuff, I'd recommend farming on Ludagte Hill's rifts, on the "Tripping the Rifts" quest. That is, if you don't mind holding back your progression, of course. When farming those, all you have to do is go to Ludgate Hill, destroy all, then open a PRD to town and go back to Ludgate Hill, and they'll all have respawned. You can do this for as long as you wish, and can even relog during session, you just can't turn the quest in. Since there's 5 rifts per run, and each drops a magical item, you get 5 per run, and each run takes a bit over 1 minute, so in the long run it's more worthwile than farming bosses. In Normal, the creatures in that area are lvl 21, as are the rifts, which means it's pretty much halfway through the gap that exists between Shulgoth and Sydonai.

[Spearthrower]

With the state of game as it is right now, I definitely recommend a long NM session of farming Shulgoth.

First of all, you need to boost your level around this time and the monsters here are level 35, so you can go all the way up to 37 against them. This will give you plenty of Shulgoth runs if you clear along the way and level up.

Secondly, you'll need to be upgrading your gear now to NM models of equipment, so again, Shulgoth's drops will help you do that.

[Lillis]

Get the achievement called "The Claw King" (kill Shulgoth 100 times) in NM, and you'll be set for quite some time further. Then get to the NM Beast of Abaddon; as long as you don't speak with Lt. Gray, you can return to the area and the boss will respawn. Otherwise, I've found the minigame a great source of item income. If not for the items themselves, then for resources for crafter running.

Although, I'm really sceptical about the "Complete a Quest" icon; at some point in the game this will be impossible, thus nullifying the value of the minigame (which imho is a godsend, if you just want to run around a bit).

[Huskie]

Although, I'm really sceptical about the "Complete a Quest" icon; at some point in the game this will be impossible, thus nullifying the value of the minigame (which imho is a godsend, if you just want to run around a bit).

My thoughts exactly on the mini-game. That particular possible requirement should be removed. I hate it when I'm just running around doing mini-games and that one pops-up. Even finding 5+ techs can be more fun sometimes.

[Spearthrower]

Eventually, there will be a 15 minute time limit on the mini-game. It will then reset every 15 mins, so the quest thing wont be such a problem! ;)

[Huskie]

Sorry, Spearthrower, your post confused me. Do you mean that 15min. limit is already there, or that it is yet to be implemented?

[Spearthrower]

It will be implemented at some point in a future patch!

I believe that MPers will have this change in the coming 0.7 patch - I may be wrong and it may be the 1.0..... but it is definitely coming at some point.

So, next year, whenever they get round to it..... this will ultimately filter down to SP too. It might not happen for a while yet though! ;)


As of now, you can always quit the game to reroll the minigame - not a great workround, but if you are hunting for equipment, it can work out well!

[Molehs_Mum]

They removed the 15 minute thing from one of the patches while it was on the test server because NO ONE likes it. And as I've heard the 'quest' item in the minigame only shows up if you have the opportunity for a quest to be completed. So if you have done ALL of the quests possible it supposedly won't show up...

[Lillis]

Ah, that sounds better. I had that in mind, that it might perhaps be like that (quest-icon only popping up if you actually can complete one), but I didn't know. That should be enough, the 15 min time limit won't be needed in this case. :)

[Spearthrower]

They removed the 15 minute thing from one of the patches while it was on the test server because NO ONE likes it. And as I've heard the 'quest' item in the minigame only shows up if you have the opportunity for a quest to be completed. So if you have done ALL of the quests possible it supposedly won't show up...


I thought it would upset people... but there's still a plethora of potential problems with it aside from just the quest one.

Examples are:

Near impossibility for non-Templar classes to complete a Melee Weapon icon.
Depending on skills, Physical damage can be nigh impossible for an Evoker.


Further to that, I am fairly sure that my first Guardian had the Quest item come up in the mini game while he was farming in Normal Hell having completed all side-quests throughout normal. Perhaps another SP problem?

[Molehs_Mum]

If the minigame is important to the player then they will typically make a focus/weapon they carry just for physical dmamge. And Sword drops can be just as much as a pain as mod drops or spectral enemy. Sometimes it's just a matter of luck. I've gone 5 instances before finding 5 spectral bad guys...


did you complete the Broker quests as well?

[Spearthrower]

Yes all Broker quests done - ALL quests done! ;)

Really, I think the mod drops are nothing like the melee weapon drops for a non-Templar class... they practically *never* drop. Also, it's not as easy to get a Physical weapon damage for an Evoker as it is to create a multi-elemental weapon for other classes.

[Molehs_Mum]

I'll have to call fail on the whole physical damamge thing. I just loaded up my lvl evoker, which I haven't played in quite a while and both of the focuses had +physical damage relics. So like I said, if someone wants to win the minigame they would put moreeffort into building gear that would satisfy the requirements.

As for the quest thing, I'd just say make sure you check every station again, and if there are no more quests then the info I heard seems to be wrong, at least for SP.

And the sword drop issue, is potentially a problem, but with my non templar chars I've had more issues not finding spectrals than not finding swords. So I'd say across the board it's not as big of an issue as you random bad luck getting sword drops seem to show....

[Spearthrower]

I'll have to call fail on the whole physical damamge thing. I just loaded up my lvl evoker, which I haven't played in quite a while and both of the focuses had +physical damage relics. So like I said, if someone wants to win the minigame they would put moreeffort into building gear that would satisfy the requirements.

Never had any in my version. Which one are you playing.... SP or MP... and if SP which version is it? 1.12 or 1.43? I'll add it to the differences thread if it proves to be such an issue.


As for the quest thing, I'd just say make sure you check every station again, and if there are no more quests then the info I heard seems to be wrong, at least for SP.

Nope - quite sure - He visited every station in order (including Oxford Street) to make absolutely sure and did all the Broker quests! ;)


And the sword drop issue, is potentially a problem, but with my non templar chars I've had more issues not finding spectrals than not finding swords. So I'd say across the board it's not as big of an issue as you random bad luck getting sword drops seem to show....

I thought this was a known issue with the swords and something they were talking about addressing in a patch? I agree that spectrals are a random element, but go to enough zones and you'll find them. I can honestly say that there have been many sessions with non-Templars where I havent found a sword in hours of play. With x type of enemy, you have a degree of control over it i.e. try multiple zones, with an item drop that's such a terribly low % chance, then the player has no control.

Again, this might be due to a difference in our versions. SP 1.43 might have raised the drops for swords for non-Templar classes??

[Spearthrower]

It'd be a big help if you could put up your version Molehs_Mum.... especially if your info is based on MP, but also useful if it's through playing SP v1.43.

[Molehs_Mum]

My info is based on MP and that they recently stated about drop rates were supposed to be equal between MP and SP...

The randomness simply kicks some people in the teeth. I read in the the official forms of a guy who 'supposedly' made it all the way thru killing Sydonai and only got 1or 2 orange drops along all those levels...

[Spearthrower]

Ahh yes, I am pretty sure that will be it... there are really vast differences between the clients.

Bearing in mind that there is only 1 patch for SP, which was practically the day 1 patch for MP users and even some of that doesn't function correctly.

Having played both (not much on MP though), I can guarantee that the drop rates are in no way comparable. SP drops are much higher quality, but there are a lot of items missing from the SP client. In fact, there are plenty of very significant differences between the clients - that's precisely why we've got a subforum for SPers to get info pertaining only to SP! ;)

I'll add some of this info into the SP/MP differences as it's clearly another thing we've located.

[Lillis]

I'm pretty sure I've gotten the Quest icon as well after completing all quests in Normal. However, you can still do quests, since there's also Nightmare, right?

And about the "Loot [insert item type]" icons; My Marksman has two Templar swords in his stash for those occasions. Just fill your inventory, go to a crafter, stick the swords in his/her requirement inventory, and then fill up the spaces in your own inventory with resources (which can be split in smaller amounts by the craafter), click "Close" and voilá; two swords ready to be looted, and completing that part of the mini-game. :D

Also, always wait for the mini-game to fully reset before you loot what appeared from the recently completed one. A lot of the time those drops will help you with the new icons.

And as for mods; try those Ancient Blood levels (or Little Britain/Paternhoster Row, same difference), those chests almost always drop at least one mod (per chest).

[Huskie]

Back on-topic a little, I found that Oculus is also farmable (by zoning and waiting a couple of minutes for his corpse to disappear) as long as you dont enter monument station afterwards.

[Sp3tSnAz]

314 is farmable too, and drops 3 sets of items from each of his ghost things...

All you have to do is just not go into the portal to one of the truths after you kill the ghosts, but instead quit the game...

If that doesnt work, quit, then abandon quest and then it works afaik... at least it does on MP...

[Lillis]

Ah, so that's probably how I managed to do it. I remember the first time I killed that boss; after the kill I went into the portal, and when I got out of there I went back to Temple Station to check the loot. When I got back the Furnace had reappeared, and just for kicks I thought I'd destroy it. I didn't expect the actual boss to respawn, but it did. I haven't managed to recreate that sequence of events thereafter, though. Most likely because I've tried going into Angel Passage from Monument Station.

EDIT: My reply was to the Oculus-boss tip by Huskie.

[Huskie]

That's odd, Spetsnaz, I had thought of that before, as well, but I think I did it a bit differently. I killed the big 314, than two of the small ones and relogged. When I went back there, the first two I killed only dropped one item, like champions of normal monsters do, so I thought 314 wasn't farmable and moved on.

Are you sure you got "boss loot" from all of them on subsequent runs? Or maybe you only got one item from the two first and just normal "boss loot" from the last?

[Sp3tSnAz]

Oh Im not sure if I got boss loot or not...

I didn't realise that the others drop boss loot...

Because I know that Shulgoth and Sydonai only drop boss loot once, but as far as farming goes, 314 has 3 champions which are easy enough to kill if you are the right level imo, which is still worth it...

[Hannya]

Some things from 1.43 SP perspective:

As of now, you can always quit the game to reroll the minigame - not a great workround, but if you are hunting for equipment, it can work out well!

From my experience you can't do that; the minigame stays put betwen sessions.

Spectral enemies in minigame are a real pain if you get them in your FIRST minigame, on lvl 1 char. The earliest spectrals I've seen were en route to Charing Cross station. The later in the game, the less of a problem it is.

And yes, Ancient Blood - Little Brittain - Paternoster Row are the best areas to farm for techs. I also get a lot of them from smashing random boxes, but this may be just my luck.
Swords are a major pain though.

And about the "Loot [insert item type]" icons; My Marksman has two Templar swords in his stash for those occasions. Just fill your inventory, go to a crafter, stick the swords in his/her requirement inventory, and then fill up the spaces in your own inventory with resources (which can be split in smaller amounts by the craafter), click "Close" and voilá; two swords ready to be looted, and completing that part of the mini-game. :D

You can do THAT? :o Seems almost a cheat, but then, getting those swords can be sooo annoying... I need to try this.

As for monster drops - from normal Slugoth experience (I like to make a few runs to upgrade my equipement and get basic crafting materials) it looks like the quality of drops is pretty consistent as long as I don't approach dead Fawkes; from then on, drops decline considerably. Again, may be just my luck, but perhaps the "don't turn in the quest" method works here?

[Spearthrower]

Some things from 1.43 SP perspective:

From my experience you can't do that; the minigame stays put betwen sessions.

Oh really? I'll add that difference to the thread!

[Lillis]

Ya, my minigame stays too, between seesions, until I've completed it. 1.43.(2 digits).(4 digits).

And to be fair; the method I told about is a cheat, sort of. I'm pretty sure it will be tended to in the future. But as you said, getting those swords can be a major pain for a Marksman. It works for any kind of loot, just make sure it won't fit in your inventory when closing/cancelling the crafter. ;)

[kondor]

hell, anything with rare or epic prefix, lords of any kind, always good stuff

[Lillis]

So if you have done ALL of the quests possible it supposedly won't show up...

Not true, unfortunately. I just discovered it with my current Marksman. I've done EVERY single quest on BOTH difficulties (YES, EVERY SINGLE QUEST), and the quest-icon still appeared.

No more mini-game for Lillis...

[Huskie]

Maybe you missed the last quest from that chick in Oxford Circus, which she only gives after you get access to Monument station. Lots of people forget about that quest because they simply don't visit oxford circus station anymore at that point of the game, even moreso than the last broker quests.

[Lillis]

I kind of expected someone to say something like that... Or with Broker. ;)

No. I've checked every station (including Mark Lane) on both difficulties. There are no more quests to be accepted.

[Huskie]

Hmm, then I'm sure you must have missed that quest given to you by nah I'm just messing with you. lol :D

[Lillis]

Haha, I have to admit I started getting pissed just by reading the first few words. :)

I suspect FSS will (or imho SHOULD) change it so that the minigame resets on exiting. My intention was more to give a heads-up on the game's current state on this matter.

Lol, "...give heads-up..."... ;)