Theory Crafting - Ideal Elite Farm Team - Jarl (Rewards Included!)
Hello All,
I was bored at work today and wondered what would be the most ideal farm group in Arcane Legends, so I started theory crafting in my head what would be the most ideal elite farming group possible. If you could have any team of 4, specifically specced to farm elites with everyone working together perfectly, what would that team look like? What skills would they have? What would their str/agi/int distribution points be?
This is a team game, so with each class bringing their unique strengths and weaknesses, buffs, and debuffs, I personally believe the ideal group would have one of each class and then double up on 2 other class (either mage or rogue) to add DPS or more more healing.
To incentivize people to respond and make this a fun and active thread, I will include a reward for the individual who comes up with the "best" answer. Obviously, each person will have their own opinions on what is actually the best answer, so in order to judge this "contest" after everyone has submitted their thoughts, people can chime in and vote on who they think has the best answer. Ultimately, I'll choose 1 person to get the prize, but I'll look heavily at what people say in the thread to support their thoughts on who has the best submission.
I am still very new to AL and quite poor unfortunately. However, I have played PL for a very long time and through merching and quite a bit of farming, I have amassed a small fortune of gold. The prize for the best submission will be 3 million PL gold. I'll also give small runner up prizes to individuals who come up with what I believe to be great submissions, even if they do not ultimately win. I'll award those individuals no less than 300k PL gold at my discretion.
Again, my apologies for the reward for AL theory crafting being PL gold, but I've got plenty of that, and not enough AL gold to give out yet :(
To make this a bit more interesting, instead of having answers such as 4 pure dex rogues spamming aim shot, auto attack, razor shield and spamming hp and mana pots, I am going to say in this ideal farming group, NO HP or MANA pots will be used. Since we are theory crafting farming Jarl, this should not be a big issue. It will mainly just mean that tanking and healing will be critical as well as DPS. Also, it is naturally assumed that the group will not be running any elixirs.
We'll assume that the ideal group is all level 21 and in the best gear possible so we don't need to waste time/space talking about what kind of gear they will be wearing (unless you have an specific group that requires special gear for the farming strategy.)
Please create some kind of organized format. I'll throw something together to discuss what I think. Feel free to use my format, or make one of your own for additional flare ;) Also, please include all the details and your reasoning for why you are picking the specific skills and how you choose points in 1 item over another. Also, include how the game play would work and what kind of synergy you are planning on utilizing.
I don't have enough time to come up with a full submission of my own, but I'll first just a few things down as examples and post this so anyone interested can get started on their own. I'll revise my post as I get more time to think things through. Please don't make fun of my crappy "ideal" group. I'm new to AL and don't understand the mechanics as much as you pros out there ;)
Ideal Group:
1 warrior, 1 rogue, 2 mages
Warrior:
- Main duties: Speeding up run to Jarl, protecting others on the run, holding aggro of jarl and interrupting Jarl's AOE attack
- Full Strength (possibly including a little bit of int if not enough from gear so that the warrior has enough mana between 2x lifegiver mana regeneration to spam without going OOM)
Skills:
Chest Splitter (Staggering Blow) - 2 points
- I picked this skill because it interrupts Jarl and has high aggro-threat generation
Axe Throw (Denting Blow, Blacksmith's Touch, Chained Bait) - 4 points
- Again, another single target skill that has high aggro/threat generation.
Horn of Renew (Increased Ranged, Increased Duration, Challenge) - 4 points
- Healing and taunt. Pretty much necessary as well.
Rally Cry (Lungs of Might, Call to Arms, Forced March) - 4 points
- I think this is going to be a controversial pick. I am actually not quite sure about this one. I think a DPS skill may be better, but I picked it since it will help speed up the run to Jarl for the group and since there are no pots, the added damage mitigation could help. Again, I am not sure on this one and can definitely see a DPS skill being more worth it.
Might: 5 points - +25 STR
Durable: 1 point - +1% Armor
- Not sure about this point either.
Overall thoughts for the warrior and his role:
- The warrior is just going to be focused on maintaining aggro on Jarl and interrupting his attacks. If he loses aggro and taunt is on CD, he can at least continue to interrupt Jarl, dramatically reducing his overall damage output.
- Mana will not be an issue for the warrior, due to the fact that I will have 2 mages with empower and recharge mana. Thus, I did not pick vengeful blood.
- The warrior will also not be very important in clearing the pack of mobs before Jarl, so I felt like the AOE attacks were not super important.
Rogue:
- Main duties: Max dps on Jarl, putting up shadow veil, keeping up armor debuffs on Jarl
- Full Dex (possibly including a little bit of int if not enough from gear so that the rogue has enough mana between 2x lifegiver mana regeneration to spam without going OOM)
- Rogue will be spamming attacks with no charge and primarily auto attacking
Skills:
Aimed Shot (Accuracy, critical shot, deadly focus, shatter armor) - 5
- The rogue (and from what I've seen and read- all good rogues) will be spamming aimed shot on cooldown to build up the critical bonus and also keeping up the 15% armor debuff on Jarl for maximum party DPS.
Shadow Piercer (Gouging Rush, Rising Death) - 3
- I included this ability since it also reduces armor on Jarl
Razor Shield (Bleeding Cuts, Increased Duration) - 3
- Put up Razor shield on CD. Included Bleeding cuts for additional boss dps
Shadow Veil (Masked presence, shadow absorption, lingering fumes) - 4
- This ability is one of the main reasons the team absolutely has to have a rogue, besides the massive single target boss DPS.
- Huge increase in party DPS and survivability
Agility: 5 points
- This is pretty much a no brainer either I think.
Mage1:
- Main duties: clearing mobs with AOE DPS, healing, debuffing
Skills:
Fireball (Engulf, Ignite, Impact, Scorch) - 5 points
- Since this is mage will be more focused on clearing mobs, I picked up all the upgrades for fireball. The stun will help with the pack before Jarl. Also, the mage will be able to keep up the sorch debuff on Jarl as well. I figured I'd get ignite for extra DPS as long as I'm getting fireball, though I'm not 100% sure if its worth the point.
Lightning Strike (Empowered Bolt, Electrical Discharge, Positive Surge) - 4 points
- Since this is the "AOE" mage, I picked up electrical discharge. I can actually also see getting frost bolt instead, since lightning bolt may not be beneficial for mob clearing and frost bolt is better single target DPS, but hey -- I'll let you guys figure that out in your builds.
- Also, if getting lightning strike, I am not sure if the stun works on Jarl. If it does, I can definitely see picking up shock instead.
Curse (Words of Weakening, penetrating curse, lingering curse, sweeping curse) - 5 points
- Curse overall is huge for maximizing the entire party's DPS
- Picked up sweeping curse specifically for the group before Jarl, but I won't be getting it on the other mage since it won't be necessary
Lifegiver (Increased Range, Empower, Recharge Mana)- 4
- No pots allowed, so healing will be necessary
- This will give the rogue and warrior more than enough mana to spam like crazy
- I didn't pick up regrowth cuz I felt like the heals will be enough with 2 mages and the warrior heal, but it is debatable.
Knowledge: 2 points
- Would be great to max this out, and I can see builds where they take points away from some of the other skills to max it out. Unfortunately, I only have 2 points left here.
Overall thoughts for the "AOE" mage and his role:
- The AOE mage will be more beneficial to clearing the mobs before Jarl and also killing/stunning any adds that happen to come along with Jarl
- While killing the boss, main priority will be to heal on cool down and keep curse up on the boss
- DPS while he can
Mage 2:
- Main duties: healing, debuffing, single target DPS on boss
Skills:
Frost Bolt (Jagged Ice, Shiver) - 3 points
- I've heard this is the best single target DPS for mages. Jagged Ice for the dot, Shiver to increase duration of the dot.
Lightning Strike (Empowered Bolt, Positive Surge) - 3 points
- Again, focused on single target boss DPS
Curse (Words of Weakening, penetrating curse, lingering curse) - 4points
- Curse overall is huge for maximizing the entire party's DPS
- With 2 mages with curse, the curse debuff will be up for a majority of the fight
- No sweeping curse as its not necessary when just keeping it up on the boss. Save the point for elsewhere
Lifegiver (Increased Range, Empower, Recharge Mana)- 4
- Once again, no pots allowed, so healing will be necessary
- This will give the rogue and warrior more than enough mana to spam like crazy
- I didn't pick up regrowth cuz I felt like the heals will be enough with 2 mages and the warrior heal, but it is debatable.
Knowledge: 5 points
- Save points from other skills so this guy will hit harder, single target.
Damage: 1 point
- 1 point left, not sure where to put it. I guess its this or crit?
Overall thoughts for the single target dps mage and his role:
- This mage is focused on doing single target DPS to the boss, while also providing HP and Mana regen and keeping up curse.
Pets:
- People will be able to get really crazy with the pet selection as there are tons of pets that have group benefits - which really will be the most ideal.
- Unfortunately, being quite new to AL, I do not know the pets well at all and I only have a few of them.
- I'm going to skip this portion, but you pros out there, feel free to assign pets to each character and explain why you picked them. Where the synergies are, and if they have a group beneficial arcane ability, when the group would use it for maximum benefit.
The actual fight:
- The warrior uses a charged rally cry at the start and runs slightly ahead of the group to aggro mobs. He will taunt the 1st group of mobs he encounters with HOR as it will be coolddown by the time the group gets to the pack of mobs before Jarl.
- Mages will alternate charged heals along the way to keep the warrior healed and anyone who happened to take a few hits along the run.
- Upon getting to the pack before Jarl, warrior will Aoe taunt them, rogue will drop veil and mages will alternate curse until the group is dead. The AOE mage will be doing most of the work here to keep them stunned and DPS them down. Other 3 will also contribute with primarily strong single target DPS.
- Boss fight - the warrior will do his best to maintain aggro and at the very least interrupt all AOE attacks
- Everyone will obviously step out of the red zone just incase it is not interrupted
- Mages will alternate lifegiver and cast as soon as they see the recharge mana buff drop, or I guess cast it if someone needs immediate healing.
Thanks for reading! I know my "ideal" group has a lot of flaws, so I am looking forward to seeing what you guys can put together!
If this goes well, I will also do another one of these for the ideal farm team for elite tower and any other extremely popular maps!
Theory Crafting - Ideal Elite Farm Team - Jarl (Rewards Included!)
The rogue should definitely not have shadow piercer. It fails like crazy on jarl runs :p
Theory Crafting - Ideal Elite Farm Team - Jarl (Rewards Included!)
Solo. Possible with a rogue in under 50secs.
