Soloing Drakes/Grand Drakes : GW Guide Discussion

Soloing Drakes/Grand Drakes
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Well as you all know, there is a craze going around called drake hunting. I have since perfected the art and made a little over 50 plat from selling the Rare and Purple items I get off these things.

I want to shed some light on an important tool given by the makers of Guild Wars. I call it the Aggro Circle, and it will be referenced as such throughout this article. The Aggro Circle, is the smaller and transparent circle that encompasses your characters marker on the overhead radar. I name it the Aggro circle because anything that comes inside the circle, or sometimes just brushes the outermost edge, will be come aggravated at your presense and commence to attacking you. By using the radar to navigate, and keeping enemies out of the Aggro Circle, you can get almost anywhere unscathed. All you need is a little patience.

Enemies: 4 sets of 2 Level 18 Lightning Drakes, 1 set of 2 Level 20 Grand Drakes. 10 Drakes total.

Here is how I do it.

The Template
Primary Class: Elementalist
Secondary Class: Necromancer

Attributes
Fire Magic: 12+1
Earth Magic: 6
Energy Storage: 5
Death Magic: 8

Skills
Flare Energy: 5
Aura of Restoration Energy: 10
Fire Storm Energy: 15
Glyph of Lesser Energy Energy: 5
Lava Font Energy: 10
Ward Against Elementals Energy: 15
Armor of Earth Energy: 10
Soul Feast Energy: 10

Location
There are two locations where Lightning Drakes can be hunted, but only one that has Grand Drakes and a virtually clear path to them. You want to be in Divinity Coast. Divinity Coast is the mission just following the D'Alessio Seaboard mission. Once in Divinity Coast, you will use the Enter Mission button on your party window. It will ask you if you are sure you want to enter the mission alone. Of course we do! Hit Yes.

Once in the mission, you will notice you are started on a road. The trick to getting to the drakes is watching your radar and making sure that you don't attract the attention of the local wildlife. Of course this template is so strong that you could easily wipe them out, you are trying to maximize time and it is more effective to run right past them. I have learned that you can even run right thru them all along the road all the way to Shaemoor and up to Justicar Hablion. They will eventually stop following you, but if you want to do this before u reach level 20, you might want to try to avoid them. It can be done; I leveled from 18-20 here by killing just the drakes.

After skipping by the annoying cutscene given by talking with Justicar Hablion, you have to go out the Southwest Gate of Shaemoor, and cleanse yourself in the waters. There are 6 Mergoyle Wavebreakers that you will have to kill, 9 total. You can usually avoid having to fight with the most southernly group of them, if you pay close attention to your Aggro Circle.

After you have cleansed yourself, you head back to Justicar Hablion. Now you have the Eye of Janthir and are ready to continue to hunt drakes. You head out the gate and immediately you will notice on your radar a green path to the left that has no road. This is your alternative to walking straight though the Inferno Imps. In my opinion, the Level 11 Inferno Imps are harder to kill than the Level 20 Grand Drakes! Avoid them at all costs.

You might have noticed that you have a Shaemoorian following you around now. He/She might look pathetic and fragile, but they can tank like no other! You can get them to do so by running forward then taking a step back. The Chosen One will jump in front of you! Now simply wait for something to attack him while you throw your magic at it! This is your only chance at surviving an encounter with the Inferno Imps. The best bet is to just steer clear of them, so remember to use your Aggro Circle to your advantage.

Finally, after getting down to the water, you have come to the Drakes habitat. You will find that all Drakes are split into couples. Now and then you will find 4 Drakes together in the same area. They are actually 2 groups of Drakes, and you can lure one group away from the other by using your Aggro Circle wisely. Simply get one Drake in your circle, and his parter will come running. Now you will want to run a ways from the other group so not to get 4 drakes on you. That is a fight you will need a little experience before managing.

Now fighting the Drakes is the best part. If you do everything right it is simple and exciting, not to mention the awesome Rare items you will be getting that can sell for up to 5 Plat each. I use the following sequence of spells in order to survive the pounding the Drakes dish out.

Spell Sequence
Aura of Restoration > Armor of Earth > Glyph of Lesser Energy
At this moment you will want to maneveur yourself so that the Drakes are in your Aggro Circle and begin to attack. As soon as you are sure they are comming after you, start the next sequence:
Ward Against Elementals > (Target Drake)Fire Storm > Lava Font > Lava Font > Lava Font (repeat until drake dies).

In the event that you notice your health dropping significantly quicker than it was previously, one of two things is at fault:
1. Your armor is kind of weak, you should be working with at least Armor: 30 for each peice of clothing. Recommended Armor: 45.
2. Your Ward Against Elementals and your Armor of Earth spells have both worn off.

If two is the problem, quickly cast them again. Next as a safeguard start using Flare on one of the Drakes to kill him quicker. Use Soul Feast on him to restore 173 points of health instantly! You are now able to finish the other one off whether you have your Armor of Earth or not.

Now you are probably wondering why Necromancer as Secondary Profession as opposed to a class that might help deal more damage. I like Necromancer because of the spell Soul Feast which with 8 poitns into Death Magic restores 173 points of health instantly! Plus there are other great spells that really help while doing missions. You aren't going to just be hunting Drakes I hope.

As a final note, I'd like to point out why Divinity Coast is such a great spot as opposed to Gate of Kryta (the other Drake hunting grounds). Not only do you have a clear route to the Drakes that you can do without a party, but you get the Eye of Janthir. If you are not quite level 20, but still want to try this out, go for it! The Eye of Janthir knocks all down who aren't worthy! And guess what! Those Drakes aren't worthy and get knocked down pretty frequently. This really helps minimize the damage you would be getting, though if this template is executed correctly, you don't need it. Also you get the Chosen One of the village of Shaemoor. A truly amazing tank considering He/She has no armor at all. The Chosen One can tank both Grand Drakes at once for quite some time, especially with the Eye knocking them down every minute or so.

It takes a little practice, but you will get faster and more efficient each trip! Remember the Aggro Circle, it is a life saver!