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Only Warrior Monks Need Apply!
Now I’m not saying other classes can’t make the run (Guild Wars certainly has a talent for letting players prove the impossible possible), but you’re gonna need some healing and sometimes a hex/cripple removal spell. With a Warrior Monk you can get a nice 100+ hit point heal and a hex/cripple removal spell which really could mean your !@#$%^&* as you do the dew. I’ve not tried the run with a Warrior / Ranger and because of their group heal they have somewhat of the necessary requirements though not as powerful. I’d like to hear from anyone who solo’s the run with another class setup.
Primary profession warriors are a must. Warriors receive the attribute Strength which increases their Sprint duration. Without putting points into Strength you have a very under-developed run buff and that’s simply not gonna cut it in Lornar’s. Another huge bonus to primary warriors is the large jump in armor you recieve. You’ll be getting hit with a lot of devastating attacks on your way to Camp Rankor so its important to minimize the damage as much as possible.
How to set your Character up for the Run
As far as attribute points go, I use this:
10 Healing Prayers
9 Strength (+1 from Helm)
12 Tactics
At 9 strength you’ll get 12 seconds out of Sprint and 15 seconds out of Rush. Even if you raise it up to 11, you’ll still get 12 & 15 seconds, so its best to use the extra points on something that will show more results.
Tactics are important because they influence the duration your damage reducing skills. Those will be very important throughout your run, especially Balanced Stance.
As far as skills go, I never captured charge and though it is very helpful, it’s not necessary. Instead of Charge, I used Rush and if I were ever to get off my lazy !@#$%^&* and capture Charge, I’d promptly ditch Rush and add Charge to my skill bar.
These are the skills I have on my skill bar:
Heal Area
Sprint
Wary Stance
Balanced Stance
Healing Signet
Rush
Smite Hex / Purge Conditions
Endure Pain
Rush is an adrenaline skill and the only way to use it is to build up adrenaline. Luckily for you adrenaline is built up while you are getting hit so in ugly situations where you are taking damage from multiple mobs rush will be at your disposal. If you really need to work Rush into your strategy more-so, then use Wary Stance. It not only gives you more adrenaline & energy but it also gives you added defense. The only down side is you can’t use it while Balanced Stance is active.
Smite Hex could be replaced with Purge Condition depending on what you’re more unlucky getting hit with (hex or cripple). The Wary Stance is for easy activation of Rush as well as added defense.
As far as armor goes any of the top shelf armor will do. Preferably you should go for the Gladiators stuff since it gives bonuses to Energy. You’ll not really have many Energy problems but if you get low on Death Penalty those Energy Bonuses keep you in the clear. The best shield of doing the run is obtained from a Collector outside of Camp Rankor by giving him 5 Frosted Griffon Wings.
As for runes, just make sure you don’t have anything that lowers your hit points. I use a Major Vigor Rune and a Major Absorption Rune on my stuff but it really isn’t necessary, it’s just extra padding to increase my margin of error if I need it.
Your Running Strategy
The most important thing to know is that Balanced Stance does not function as intended. If you read the skill description on Balanced Stance it states it will make you immune from knock-downs for x seconds. However, what it doesn’t tell you is that it will cancel any “buff” (be it run speed or defense) that you have active. In other words, if you activate Sprint, then Balanced Stance, you will be immune from knock downs however you are no longer sprinting. This is both a blessing and a curse; blessing because it makes your run a lot less hectic on the skills you must use and curse because you can’t Sprint away from worms while avoiding their knockdown. This is where the extra armor really helps smooth things over.
Your main skills will be Balanced Stance and Sprint. Since only one can be active at a time it really makes things simple for you. If you’re approaching enemies with Knock-Down attacks (Giants, Giant Herders, Nightmares) then you’ll activate Balanced Stance. Sure, you’ll get the snot beat out of you as you briskly jog away from the groups of monsters but the keyword here is “away”. A good rule of thumb is to use Sprint to get right out of agro range from Giants (who tend to stand in one place while hurling rocks at you) and Balanced Stance to walk through the middle of them.
Every once in a while Balanced Stance will have run dry and you’ll look to cast Sprint. When this happens and I’m in the middle of a group of monsters I’ll usually activate Wary Stance as well. If I’m getting beat on enough by the time Sprint ends I will have accumulated enough Adrenaline for Rush, usually I’ll use that on the next group of monsters that are in the way.
After each group of mobs you’ll want to find a nice, safe place to heal up and get ready for the next group of monsters. Heal Area works nicely cause you really don’t care if the monsters will be getting healed, you just want a lot of health on one heal.
The run is not made by steaming forward without patience and disregard for monster spawns. You are not invulnerable and sometimes it takes some patience and waiting for monsters to move into the right alignment for your path to be cleared. Play it smart, patiently and by knowing it’s not necessary to run to every resting spot you can make your run go a lot smoother.
Monsters and their Annoyances
There are a ton of monsters during the run that either knock you down, impair your speed or just screw up your strategy as a runner. Coincidence? I think not! This may just be the developers means of saying “don’t do this!” and I’m sure it will only get worse with the runners growing population.
I’ll list the monsters you’ll encounter and their annoyances in accordance to making the run.
Imps
They will always hit you with a crippling frost spell, stay clear from imps as much as possible.
Pine Souls
They have a trap that will kill you if other monsters are attacking you. Very dangerous and very important to avoid their spawns whenever possible.
Siege Golems
Another run impairing mob that also has the ability of knocking you down, so Balanced Stance when running through them.
Avicara
They just beat the living hell out of you. Avoid whenever possible and make use of Endure Pain when you need to.
Stone Summit
Who? Oh, those guys who just get in the way. Don’t worry too much about them, just wave good bye as you run past them.
Dolyaks
The masters are cake, the Dolyak Arcanists make me run for cover. That hex they have is evil and for runners it’s basically certain doom. Whenever I see a dolyak, I check to make sure it’s a master before coming anywhere close.
Trolls
Whenever I see a troll during the run I feel comfortable. They just run after you very slowly and their only hope of killing you is trapping you with so damn many of them. A nightmare would be if they gave the trolls Sprint… ugg.
Tundra Giants
Their intimidating at first but after you realize that you can jog through them with just Balanced Stance active, their quite pathetic. The only hope they’ll have of doing you in is if you can’t lose agro while your Balanced Stance is running out as you run into another group of Giants.
Giant Herders
Though they’ll use a Giant Stomp when they get to stand around for a few seconds you won’t be giving them that option because they’ll be running right past them. They’re not nearly as painful as their Tundra Giant counterparts.
Griffons
I rank them about as dangerous as my lil Troll buddies. They’re slow, goofy looking and they can’t catch up to me even when I’m not sprinting.
Nightmares
Their initial attack knocks down and after that they are in hot pursuit. Just have Balanced Stance up for their initial spawn and then Sprint to a safe place to lose agro.
Worms
Worms aren’t dangerous. On a full set of armor they do around 17 damage when they pop up. They are also very polite as they give you a chance to heal when they go back into the ground. The only problem with worms is their ability to stop you when other monsters are attacking you. Though Balanced Stance takes care of the knock down, not having added defense skills active or the inability to sprint away can kill you when other monsters are beating your face in.
The Breakdown: Doing the Dew
I’ll break this guide up into parts, each detailing the process I used for each of the three zones you’ll be passing through on the way to Camp Rankor.
The maps are given for a reference not as a bible. The lettered red circles indicate resting points and they will change based on the random spawn locations of the monsters in that area. You’ll have to decide on where you rest and where you run but if the map indicates there is a rest area near by, you’ll most likely find one in the immediate area.
Lornar’s Pass
Getting to A
The imps in the initial group of monsters will slow your run speed so just make sure you sprint as soon as it runs out to make a clean get away. Avoid the mobs and stay to the right until you reach A.
A to B
I believe this part to be one the more critical stretches in the run. Luckily for us, its so close to the beginning to the run, failing it and restarting the run is no big deal. When you get into the red danger zone (1) you’ll start to get hit by Frost Worms. The Frost Worms aren’t a huge concern until you hit the Avicara. Individually or in pairs, Frost Worms aren’t a big deal, however if they knock you down in front of a group of mobs, all the sudden they are a huge pain in the !@#$%^&*.
So the strategy on this danger zone is to just walk calmly (as you’re constantly knocked down) through the tunnel until you agro the Avicara. Make sure you’re close to full health by the time you get to the Avicara, just use your Heal Area spell while the worms annoy you. The moment you agro the Avicara activate Balanced Stance. Your goal at this point is to avoid the melee Avicara and get as far as you can away from the tunnel. You’ll need to use Endure Pain to stay alive through this process. Endure pain means you have a few seconds to find a safe spot to heal or you won’t be restarting the run shortly.
Now there’s a considerable portion of luck involved here. If the Siege golems spawn too close to the tunnel, you’ll not only be fleeing the Avicara but you may be slowed by their damn attacks, not to mention possible knockdowns. Knock downs + Avicara + Slow downs = Death. Not to mention you’ve no doubt used your Endure Pain and you’re not working with a lot of time.
Either way, try to make it safely to either my rest stop at B, or another opening you may see (there is another clearing directly south of the tunnel that monsters sometimes do not spawn in).
B to C or D
Now that we’ve passed the hard stuff, it’s on to easy picking for a bit. You’ll just be running through some Grawl and perhaps some Siege Golems (depending on the spawns). You may not even rest at C and move straight on through to the troll tunnel.
Now the troll tunnel seems intimidating because there is the possibility of getting stuck but after a few tries you’ll get the hang of it. It’s been a long time since I got stuck in either of the two troll tunnels and it’s not based on luck, its just going side stepping when necessary and possibly luring out of the tunnel to run past. The bottom line is when you get out of the tunnel stop directly past the bridge and heal up and let your skills reset.
D to E
Between these two points you’ll have to run past a group of Grawl and a bunch of annoying Frost Worms. To do this correctly just keep running up till you get to the grawl (as the Worms keep knocking you down) and then activate Balanced Stance. Once you move ahead of the group of Grawl activate Sprint to get a little distance between them and allow them to lose agro. The worms will still be on your !@#$%^&* but just deal with it until you reach to the next group of Grawl.
When you agro the next group of Grawl, activate Balanced Stance and run to E. You’ll still be getting wormed and you may have to use Sprint to completely lose all agro and allow you to rest up for a bit.
E to F or G
F isn’t a rest stop so much as a staging area for the next painful part of the zone. In this portion of the run its very hard to lose agro because of the very high amount of spawns during this stretch. Luckily they are more Grawl then anything and they don’t do much damage and are usually pretty slow. It’s not uncommon to run straight from F to the zone portal without stopping to rest, just manage your Energy and try to split the spawns as best as possible.
During this stretch you’ll hit the final danger zone of the zone. This really isn’t that bad but there is a chance that you could hit a trap that pretty much seals your fate. Just make sure you can stay as far away as possible from any Pine Soul spawns because they lay the very painful traps you want to avoid. If you get to rest stop H and you don’t see 10 clicks of health degeneration and you aren’t moving at 20% of your normal speed, you avoided the trap. =)
H to Portal
As a side note, the green building behind H is most likely where the first expansion (the one they talked about at e3) will take place. Just remember that when we get a big update and check it out later.
Anyways, this portion of the run is really simple. If there are Siege Golems in the way use Balanced Stance to finish the zone. If there are no Siege Golems just use Sprint and jog to your destination.
Dreadnaught’s Drift
Getting to A
This is just a very simple Sprint to lose agro and get to your first rest area. They won’t use Pin Down or slowing effects so you should be good to go. It is important to rush to the first point as there is a roaming group that will sweep past the zone entrance shortly after you start the run.
A to B or C
Though the zone is small it offers one very HUGE pain in the !@#$%^&*. Dolyak Arcanists will basically end your run immediately if they hit you with their slowing / health degeneration hex. You’ll then have to move through a bunch of Stone Summit slowed, with low health and move into a group of Giants. It’s not pretty.
The main thing here is to be patient and wait for an opening. An opening occurs when an Arcanist is far enough away that he won’t be able to get in range to hex you if you start sprinting. If you die you have the choice of resetting the zone (be re-entering) and hopefully getting a better spawn of Arcanists. If you choose to stay in this instance of the zone you’ll have to move along the blue path and look for an opening towards the giants.
Once you get past the Summit you’ll be quickly approaching some Giants. Since you’ll be running through a ton of Giants in the next 10 minutes its important to know how to deal with them. The Giant strategy is very easy, just turn on Balanced Stance and jog right through the middle of them. They don’t follow quickly so once you get far enough away turn on sprint to lose agro completely. If for some odd reason you get very low on health, use Endure Pain and quickly make it to a safe spot, preferably B or straight to in C. Your choice at resting at B or C is decided on the monster spawns. If you have a clear run, just avoid B and go straight to C.
C to End Zone
Just wait at C till your Balanced Stance recharges and make your way to the portal by avoiding the Giants and Griffons.
Snake Dance
Getting to A and B
Getting to A is easy, it’s just a matter of waiting while the 2 or 3 Giants slowly move their goofy butts around to rest stop B. Just grab a soda, some cookies, or take a bio break and let them get a little distance. Finally just follow them around to rest stop B as they join the other group of Giants making a “Giant Gauntlet”.
B to C
This is just another Balanced Stance Giant run that may get a lil painful. If needs be, use Endure Pain as you sprint away to lose agro and get a little time to heal up. Rest stop C’s location may differ depending on Giant Spawns but just find yourself a safe place (shouldn’t be too hard) and heal up.
C to D
As you move past the Giants (using Balanced Stance) you *should* see 2 more Giants moving up a small path and a lot of Trolls to the West. When the Giants reach a certain distance a group of trolls will run East and engage you if you’re standing there so you’ll want to move to the small alcove on the hill, ie: rest stop D as soon as you can.
D to E
I like to let the group of 2 Giants meet get to the other 2 Giants before I run past them. This makes my balance last a little longer and get me all the way to rest stop E as I pass the next group of Giants.
If you see 10 or so little dwarf npc’s attack the Giants as you make your way to E, that means you’ve got a little help for the rest of the zone. When you enter the zone you have a chance to spawn the Dwarven Army. If that occurs they will spawn in various parts of the zone and attack things that may be in your way. They’ll even heal you if needs be. This doesn’t happen often and I’d say it’s around 1:5 ratio when I’ve ran Snake Dance. Nonetheless, it is helpful and almost assures your success throughout the rest of the run.
E to F
Try to let the patrolling Giants move towards you a little bit so you can get a little distance between rest stop F and where you are standing. You want to have no agro by the time you reach rest stop F so you can recharge your Balanced Stance and get ready for a somewhat rough danger area ahead.
F to G
This stretch moves through a danger zone. The reason this one is kind of well, dangerous is because there are a lot of groups of Giants along the way and if the spawns aren’t kind, your Balanced Stance may run out before you hit the next rest stop. If (and most likely when) that occurs you’ll want to hit Sprint to get as much distance as possible. Don’t forget Endure Pain which may save your life while the Giants are stoning you to death.
G to H
This is another stretch of Giants that you’ll want to use Balanced Stance on. Since it’s a somewhat longer run then normal, get the most out of your Balanced Stance by activating it as soon as the Giants agro (not before).
By reaching H you have also passed by a new resurrection shrine and upon death you will now restart nearby. It basically allows you to start past the majority of the Giant spawns and leaves you with only Nightmares, Trolls and the lower half of the zone to deal with.
H to I
This is the last painful danger zone. During this small stretch you’ll not only have to deal with Giants but you’ll also have to deal with Nightmares. While Balanced Stance will keep you on your feet the Nightmares move quickly enough and their Signet of Judgement takes 59 hit points off you every time it hits. That may not seem like much but there will be a considerable amount of Nightmares, Giants and even Griffons along this path.
The trick into running from Nightmares is timing your Balanced Stance / Sprint Combo. Nightmares only knock you down for their initial attack so after a group of Nightmares have came out of the group and attacked with their knock downs you can cast sprint to get away w/o worry of being knocked down again. This is obviously a different approach then running from Giants because Giants can knock you down through the duration of the fight.
I to J
The road ahead is pretty clear and aside from a few Nightmares and Giants you should be fine until you hit the Troll cave (danger area 4). Now this is very similar to the Troll Cave back in Lornars Pass except there are a lot more trolls outside and a Siege Golem towards on the way out.
Just do your strafing and dancing till you get to the end of the tunnel and the Siege Golem may just give you a speed-reducing present. If that happens just deal with the damage and as soon as it wears off Sprint to get to rest area J.
J to K
You are now on the home stretch and if you’ve made it this far, you’re more than equipped to easily finish the run. Just one more danger area (and its not too dangerous) to move through and you’ll be good to go.
This stretch involves a helluva lot of Giant Herders, Trolls and Griffons. The Trolls and Griffons aren’t really a concern since you’ll always outrun them but the Giant Herders are a small annoyance. The good thing is they only Giant Stomp when they are standing in place and since you’ll be running past them, they won’t be standing around for very long. So just calmly jog past the huge group of trolls and start your Sprint when you agro the first set of Giant Herders. Then go ahead and for security purposes turn on Balanced Stance as you run past the second group of Giant Herders as you move to the final rest stop K.
K to End Zone
As you agro the group of Giant Herders cast Balanced Stance and run past them. You’ll have some Griffons and most likely Nightmares pop up to beat you up as you continue down the path. Just cast sprint after the initial Signet of Judgements (Nightmare attacks) and coast on into Camp Raknor.
Good Luck
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