AE Farm

[kiramon]

Is there a point to anything other than //fire for AE Farms? Like, If I want to start making some cash lol

 

Also, do any other primaries  work for that outside of Spines? Savage or Psi melee?

Edited October 15, 2019 by kiramon

[Seigmoraig]

I run farms on a TW/Bio Scrapper. Doing the s/l farm in the spacey asteroid mission (#10890) I get done in about 8-9 minutes per run for 17-18 million gain.

Sure I could shave off a minute or whatever per run if I was Spine/Fire but I can't be bothered to spend hours and hours to level up and gear a dedicated farmer for little gain in the end. Also, I don't find Spines to be a fun set to play,

Pretty much play what you want, as long as your defences and resists are up there you can farm very well with any set that has some good aoe potential. I haven't looked around to find them but I am fairly certain that there are farm missions tailored to multiple different damage types.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Without_Pause]

40 minutes ago, kiramon said:

Also, do any other primaries  work for that outside of Spines? Savage or Psi melee?

Psi isn't really a top contender. Rad is. You also don't have to farm to make money. You can make money off of the market.

[TheSpiritFox]

The two top tier pairings for farming are spines/fire and rad/fire. Rad fire is a tiny bit faster, but you can't really afk it very well, it's farming power comes from an AOE+st rotation that procs contamination and fires off aoe blasts, but if you use a map that funnels enemies to you you can look up and have evaporated half a farm. Both can pretty easily be built to survive indefinitely in fire farms. 

/bio comes with high out the box fire defense that's easy to softcap. With the right build you'll have respectable fire resistance too and wayyyyy more regeneration to recover lost HP, and you can still sit in offensive stance and make your primary even more golden. Any solid aoe set can farm with /bio and be safe, but spines, rad, and titan weapons stand out as the best overall. 

 

You could farm with other sets. But no brute secondary can compete with burn for additional AOE damage. That's why it's fire farms, it's not because fire is easy to cap on /fire characters, there are lots of other things you can cap on lots of other sets. But /fire has burn and a taunt aura to help keep enemies in it. Burn is a farmers dream power, and it stacks up with high AOE damage primaries to let us actually efficiently blender our way through farm maps. 

[Frostweaver]

I am still working on optimizing, but I think I might be able to get savage into the same ranks as spines and rad. Maybe even a little faster than their 'default' farming builds. It is taking a ton of tweaking, though, and the current version is still only halfway between claws and spines, but there is still a ton more tweaking to do.

The real kicker is that the standard power pools and incarnates might not be the way to go... and shred, which is the only place to slot achilles -res, but it also consumes blood frenzy inefficiently.

It doesn't help that mids cannot calculate blood fenzy Damage boost. But the fury from savage leaping into each spawn

Edited October 17, 2019 by Frostweaver

[Shoulung]

The biggest damage gain is burn from fa. I made the mistake of leveling a spines/dark thinking it was the damage auras, but they’re nothing compared to burn’s output.

[kiramon]

So I ended up with a /fa farmer just to get 'er done -- working on getting some starting money to  really farm, but right now I can take up to +3, but I think it takes too long still.  Should I bump it down to +1 or +2 and steam roll? Even +2 feels slow right now though I think (I'm working with basic IOs except for the endurance stuff until I get more money)

 

 

[ThrillMill]

FWIW, I've been running with this after talking to some farmers. It's not remotely the fastest or most efficient but it does allow for 53x8 runs in about 4:45. It also lets me take it out of AE and have some fun. 

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Radiation Melee
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Radioactive Smash -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(45), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg(46), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), FrcFdb-Rechg%(50)
Level 1: Fire Shield -- Ags-ResDam(A), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(3), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(5), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(45), StdPrt-ResKB(50)
Level 2: Blazing Aura -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(39), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(48)
Level 4: Proton Sweep -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(15), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(15), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), AchHee-ResDeb%(19)
Level 6: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(9), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Prv-Heal/Rchg(11), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(13), Prv-Absorb%(13)
Level 8: Fusion -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Radiation Siphon -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(23), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Hct-Acc/Rchg(27), Hct-Dam%(27)
Level 12: Temperature Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)
Level 16: Plasma Shield -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam(19), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(21), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 18: Irradiated Ground -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(50)
Level 20: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 22: Tough -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam(29), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(31)
Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(25), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(25)
Level 26: Devastating Blow -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(37), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(48)
Level 28: Burn -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(31), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(34), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Obl-%Dam(48)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Atom Smasher -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(33), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(34)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 41: Cross Punch -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(42), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Arm-Acc/Rchg(42), Arm-Dam%(43), FrcFdb-Rechg%(43)
Level 44: Superior Conditioning -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury 
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(7), Mrc-Rcvry+(9)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(5), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(7)
------------

[Crysis]

As others have pointed out, almost any toon can farm AE given the right mission and builds.  Some people farm for the challenge of surviving, while others farm for speed.  I’m in the latter camp.  I like farming as a solo activity.  I like to PL alts up to around 32 to then play PVE only.  I like to try different AE maps with different farming builds to see which one I can clear the fastest.  And if your goal is that latter, you really shouldn’t bother with anything other than Spines/Fire or Rad/Fire on a Brute.  Using the fire farms like Comic Con that exemp you down to 49 to take on 53’s, you can easily approach more than 150MM/hour influence gain PLUS usually 1-3 purples and countless rare recipe/salvage drops to put you over the 200MM/hour influence mark.  And its by no means hard to create a build to do that with Spines/Fire or Rad/Fire either.  I have a TW/Bio scrapper and use it in a similar S/L farm for grins and giggles when I am just messing around, but as powerful as it is in PVE, my Spines/Fire can clear a similar fire map almost 4X faster.  

 

Yes, the TW/Bio can survive outside the AE very well while the Spines/Fire is gimped beyond all recognition outside of AE, but I have used the Spines/Fire farmer to BUILD and EQUIP the TW/Bio and over 2 dozen other 40-50 level alts as well.  

 

Save yourself a lot of theorycrafting if all you want to do is make influence/farm drops the fastest and just build a Spines/Fire brute and be done with it.  5 hours give or take to self-PL it to 50, maybe another 5-10 hours to get it to Veteran lvl 50+22-25 to T4 out the incarnates.  Heck, you could even stop at T3’ing them if you prefer, but T4’ing will give you a little more oomph for speedier runs.

 

I continue to hear that Burn is going to get “tweaked” soon as it apparently has been already on the SCORE server, and those changes then roll over to Justin and finally Homecoming.  So build it/use it while you can, then use it to build a couple of other AOE heavy alts with easy-to-softcap S/L and/or Fire defense/resists.  Then should Burn get nerfed beyond usability for farming, you just dismantle your farmer, strip its enhancements out and move on to the next farming character.

[roleki]

 

16 hours ago, ThrillMill said:

FWIW, I've been running with this after talking to some farmers. It's not remotely the fastest or most efficient but it does allow for 53x8 runs in about 4:45. It also lets me take it out of AE and have some fun.

I'm always curious about what maps people are clearing in 4/5 mins, or where people are earning 150M an hour before factoring in drops.  I'm not doubting the claim because it seems to be the standard earn rate claimed by a lot of farmers. 

 

My experience with my Rad/Fire has been a little different... I pretty much only farm the Comic Con Outdoor Fire map (short) or Cave Jam if I want to change things up.  With a dude at the door on 4/8, it takes me about 24 minutes to clear Comic Con and about 38 minutes to clear each Cave Jam door. 

 

Doing that, I'm 'only' bringing in about 1.1M inf per minute which is WAAAY off the pace that everyone else is getting, BUT, I'm also dragging alts from 0-50 in about 3.5 hours, which is anywhere from .5 to 1.5 hours faster than the rate people seem to think it takes to PL a char to 50. 

 

So, I would think, if I am killing stuff at such a pace as to PL faster than the average bear, if I walked into the mission map solo I would clear it as fast or faster/earn more/etc but that isn't really the case.  When I solo those maps at 4/8, I shave about 1/3 off the time, and make about 1.4M a minute solo.  

 

Maybe I'm doing it wrong?  I AM still earning XP towards VL, but when I turned XP off/turned on exemp xp, the jump still didn't put me on a 2.5M per minute pace.

 

At the end of the day, I farm to PL so I am getting what I want out of it, but I would like to know what everyone else is doing (that I am not) that makes farming so much more lucrative for them.

 

[TheSpiritFox]

This is my farm built. 

 

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.5
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Radiation Melee
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Radioactive Smash -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(5), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(7)
Level 1: Fire Shield -- Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(7), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(9), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Ags-ResDam(11)
Level 2: Blazing Aura -- ScrDrv-Dam%(A), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(11), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(13), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(13), ScrDrv-Acc/Rchg(31), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33)
Level 4: Healing Flames -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Prv-Heal(15), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(15)
Level 6: Super Jump -- BlsoftheZ-Travel(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(19), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(25)
Level 8: Radiation Siphon -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(23), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 10: Fusion -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 14: Temperature Protection -- ResDam-I(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(27)
Level 16: Plasma Shield -- Ags-ResDam(A), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(17), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(17), Ags-EndRdx/Rchg(19), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 18: Irradiated Ground -- TchofLadG-%Dam(A), TchofLadG-DefDeb/EndRdx(33), TchofLadG-Rchg/EndRdx(33)
Level 20: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 22: Consume -- EnrMnp-EndMod(A), EnrMnp-EndMod/Rchg(23)
Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(31)
Level 26: Devastating Blow -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg(36), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(37), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Hct-Acc/Rchg(37), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(39)
Level 28: Burn -- ScrDrv-Dam%(A), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(29), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(29), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(31), ScrDrv-Acc/Rchg(34), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(46)
Level 32: Atom Smasher -- ScrDrv-Acc/Rchg(A), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(42), ScrDrv-Dmg/EndRdx(42), ScrDrv-Dmg/Rchg(43), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), ScrDrv-Dam%(43)
Level 35: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 38: Tactics -- GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(A), GssSynFr--ToHit(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(40), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(40), GssSynFr--Build%(40)
Level 41: Char -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(45), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(46), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(46)
Level 44: Melt Armor -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury 
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(34), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(36), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(36)
------------

 

It is cheap. I'm a bit shy of the defense cap. In practical terms, taking radiation siphon and including it occasionally in my rotation keeps me topped off on HP. With ageless T3 or above recovery bonus it is permanently endurance stable without consume, without ageless you'll have to include consume in your rotation and watch your bar. 

I have it set up with inspiration combine macros bound to my power keys. As I hit powers, I make reds. When reds wear off, I mash an eat reds button and clear the inspiration tray. So long as there are things to kill, I fill up on more reds before they wear off. Staying at or close to the damage cap, this cheap ass build will melt it's way through the raindbow asteroid farm in about 6 minutes if you aren't using inspirations and less if you are. Rad/fire is that good, and taking pyre for melt armor and such just helps. This build is designed to throw out a large number of Aoe attacks very quickly. Fireball was taken both to get to melt armor and because it casts in like less than a second. Click, boom, next attack. It's a good ranged pull while also being just like the aoe version of a quick punch. Easy to fit in.  

Easy to play too. Firey embrace, burn, fireball, fusion, atom smasher, radioactive strike, radiation siphon, burn is back up start over. Fusion when it's up pretty much guarantees that if you atom smasher -> Radioactive strike -> radiation siphon they will get contaminated by one of the first two attacks and you'll heal on the third, in addition to adding contaminate aoe damage to enemies around you. I could totally rebuild this more expensive, but who needs to? It's got the defenses to survive and with inspiration combine macros baked into my hotkey binds, the damage cap is never very far away when I'm farming. You've got enough recharge that your attacks recharge faster than the chain animates, so your rotation should always be pretty fluid. You've got enough defense to not pay attention to your character for 15 seconds, hit healing flames, and not care when aggro capped if you need. It's an active farmer, put on a playlist you like and go to town. But I can do two sets of rainbow farms in an hour on this toon. 10 instances, clear a little over a hundred million after sales. I honestly can't imagine needing more efficiency than that at this point. 

 

And devastating blow is there when you tab to the next enemy and it's a boss at near full health. Instead of radioactive strike, they get a big energy filled haymaker to the face  (with a very high contaminate chance) into my radiation siphon to finish them off or get them low enough that they die to the next aoe I fire. The key to farming efficiency with my build is to tab through bosses and use your single target attacks on things that survive long enough to create contaminate procs. Doing that, I don't depend solely on AOE. Doing the outdoor farm map with EBs, I use my STs on the EBs and by the time most of a group is dead, the EB is mostly dead, and trails me into the next group and dies to AOE while I start working on the next EB. 

But that farm map is deceptive. The true key to fire farming is to stay aggro capped as much as humanly possible. That's why people use the bloody rainbow map or 2915 with no EBs for influence farming. Sure, you lack the mobs that drop the most influence, but it's about what you can grind your way through in numbers as fast as humanly possible and EBs are a jump up in how long it takes to grind things down that lowers efficiency overall. Bosses are the lowest level enemy you can grind up that drops purples, so bosses are what you're actually truly farming, everything else dies so easily that it's pretty much irrelevant to how you build and execute your toon. No one builds around killing minions and Lts, they die in the first round of AOEs, often. 

With a map like bloody rainbow where you've got illusion decoys helping maintain the aggro cap, what it essentially lets you do is burn through minions really really really fast and keep burning through them until your aggro cap is full of bosses. And then the fun begins, as you grind those bosses down, melt new lower levels and aggro more bosses, and you start burning down 8, 9, 10 bosses all at the same time. This is where the money truly is, when you start seeing "X boss died, you got 115k infl" or whatever over and over and over on your global tab. 

Maps that train bosses into you where you can just keep standing there doing your damage rotation for over a minute, that's giving you time to melt down lots of bosses. You might kill 15-20 of them in the first minute of a rainbow farm when you drop your judgment to pull aggro, hit your hybrid, and go through your first rotation set surrounded by the 50+ enemies that you can aggro between yourself and the illusion helper.  That's the difference. 

 

It's why fire defense is so key. You WANT to be and stay aggro capped. The small farming maps that send patrols wandering into your killzone help do that. Without those logistics, it's alot harder and more time consuming to farm. But now...

 

That's why I can proudly put up my cheap ass build. It still pulls in more than a hundred million an hour. The build is one part of the equation. Inspiration use is another. Map type is a third. Damage rotation and target selection a fourth. Some people like to build spines/fire that they can AFK and maybe make more money than I do doing it. I have one of those too lol on a separate account for PLing main account alts. 

 

This build is fun to play. With a good spotify playlist going I enjoy farming and the time flies by pretty quickly. And I make my money. More than I really need, I have all my 50s in their final builds working on incarnate stuff and still have 3/4 of a billion infl scattered across my toons and I spend maybe 10-20% of my playtime farming depending on if I need something or not. Not so much right now lol, I have infl and no new 50s to kit out right now. 

People talk about the precision of their fire farming builds. The truth is, pick rad or spines with /fire on a brute, spend enough time reading set bonuses in mids to find the fire defense sets and use some of them, and once you're past 35% fire defense you CAN farm. Once you're past 40% defense, you can farm +4X8. I'm at 42.7% defense and I feel like I farm efficiently. I got there with sets like sirroco's dervish, which last I checked you can pick up on the market for thousands per recipe. 

 

And as I use lower level sets, the entire build is attuned. 

Edited October 21, 2019 by TheSpiritFox

[Frostweaver]

11 hours ago, roleki said:

 

At the end of the day, I farm to PL so I am getting what I want out of it, but I would like to know what everyone else is doing (that I am not) that makes farming so much more lucrative for them.

 

Go, read "Farm Fresh Builds" in the guides section of the forums.

Not just the builds, but ESPECIALLY the section on macros/keybinds. I went from 7 minute clear times to 3.45 minute clear times. Once I made the macros. And it made my shoulder hurt less after playing (Not so much frantic mouseclicking)

It's just that good.

And BTW, if you are using a 'cheap' fire farming build while using the cash to equip other characters, you are wasting your time. Using the 'good' builds doubles or even triples your speed of earning. It pays for itself in an hour or two. And scirroco's dervish is part of a good build.

Edited October 22, 2019 by Frostweaver

[roleki]

I wouldn't say it's cheap, but I slotted towards bonuses for recovery and melee defense above anything else.  I'll check out the guide and see what suggestions it has.  Thanks.

[ThrillMill]

I don't have the stats to back this up but I have no doubt that my 6-Slotted Cross Punch with the FF +Recharge Proc has been a clear boon to my farm time. It's arc is wide enough to hit the max # of mobs and the proc fires off what feels like 70-80% of the time. It's up every 3.34 seconds. Anyone else here given it a shot it their builds? 

[Frostweaver]

I have, on a blaster, the problem is not the arc, it's the 5 target cap 😛

I actually often add spring attack to farming builds. full target cap, force feedback chance for recharge that goes off EVERY time you use it, decent mitigation, good DPA, and with a few range enhancements it's a great way to hop to a new spawn quickly. It also allows you to jump into the middle of a spawn without having to worry about getting stage-diving hover that prevents burn, and breaks alphas if you aren't quite up on your defense yet.

Definitely better than a single-target attack or melee cone in a farming build.

I have spent, literally, tens of Billions of Influence and countless runs trying to tweak Farming builds to find the fastest farmer possible... So far, rad/fire/Mu still tops the list, and tweaks I find that improve other builds seem to work better on rad/fire/mu.

Of course, it doesn't help that 'helper' toons and spawn drift randomize the map times so heavily... sometimes it takes 20 runs to get a decent average time, and I really dislike inconsistency.

Maybe, instead of trying to find the ultimate build for comicon, I should combine a build with a more consistent map and present it as a 'package'. After all, patrols are primarily to allow AFK farming to clear a map, and probably slow down active farming. Ambushes, especially boss ambushes, and cranking exp rewards via super high resistance to damage types a particular build doesn't produce might be the key to maximize xp/inf per minute. I might even find a better build based on what a map is resistant to... after all, fire/fire/Mu only produces fire, energy, and lethal damage. Or maybe the trick is cranking up ranged defense and toxic/psi resist.

This is getting very complicated 😛

Edited October 23, 2019 by Frostweaver

[TheSpiritFox]

1 hour ago, Frostweaver said:

I have, on a blaster, the problem is not the arc, it's the 5 target cap 😛

I actually often add spring attack to farming builds. full target cap, force feedback chance for recharge that goes off EVERY time you use it, decent mitigation, good DPA, and with a few range enhancements it's a great way to hop to a new spawn quickly. It also allows you to jump into the middle of a spawn without having to worry about getting stage-diving hover that prevents burn, and breaks alphas if you aren't quite up on your defense yet.

Definitely better than a single-target attack or melee cone in a farming build.

I have spent, literally, tens of Billions of Influence and countless runs trying to tweak Farming builds to find the fastest farmer possible... So far, rad/fire/Mu still tops the list, and tweaks I find that improve other builds seem to work better on rad/fire/mu.

Of course, it doesn't help that 'helper' toons and spawn drift randomize the map times so heavily... sometimes it takes 20 runs to get a decent average time, and I really dislike inconsistency.

Maybe, instead of trying to find the ultimate build for comicon, I should combine a build with a more consistent map and present it as a 'package'. After all, patrols are primarily to allow AFK farming to clear a map, and probably slow down active farming. Ambushes, especially boss ambushes, and cranking exp rewards via super high resistance to damage types a particular build doesn't produce might be the key to maximize xp/inf per minute. I might even find a better build based on what a map is resistant to... after all, fire/fire/Mu only produces fire, energy, and lethal damage. Or maybe the trick is cranking up ranged defense and toxic/psi resist.

This is getting very complicated 😛

A few things in response to this cause while you have focused on builds, I focus more on the environment.

 

Static maps are still slower for active farming. I run a rad/fire/pyre with an under 6 minute clear time and you know Rad/fire is not nearly as afk a powerset as /spines can be. Running from group to group takes up time, but what takes up more time is that when you are running from group to group it can be difficult to stay target and aggro capped. The reason those open maps speed efficiency so damn much is that training patrols into you gives you much higher chances of spending more of your time on the map with enough enemies around you to stay target and aggro capped. Your inefficiency starts as soon as you are not target and aggro capped. In the rainbow asteroid, I can spend most of my time in that map target capped. I can use fireball and my judgment to pull nearby groups into me and maintain my aggro. That's what let farmers reach unheard of levels of efficiency. 

Maximinzing infl per minute once your survivability is taken care of is about 2 things. Maintaining the aggro cap as long as possible so that you can stay in your damage rotation without pause, and doing as much damage to those targets as you possibly can as fast as you can through whatever means. Your build will help you with the second one very much, but the first is 95% about the map and enemy set up on it. The only way I could imagine making the rainbow map MORE efficient is to somehow make it smaller lol with the same number of mobs so that everything spawns within aggro range of you or something and enemies just run to fill the aggro cap vacated by newly dead enemies. 

 

Though I would be interested in hearing why you like /mu so much. I haven't tried it, I like pyre and melt armor and fireball. /mu I use for toons that have KB issues, like my bots/traps. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by TheSpiritFox

[Frostweaver]

Primarily because, you only need to take 2 powers, both aoe's, both decently slottable. Obviously cages isn't as good an aoe as ball lightning, but with only two power picks? Yeah. Cages also tends to reduce the number of mobs that get tired of you being unhittable and decide to run away. Not to mention the two of them allow you to slot both superior frozen blast (for fire defense) and

And on static maps, as long as you move around the map correctly, the next spawn is never more than a ball lightning away. That keeps your aggro high. You Spring attack into a spawn to get right into the middle and then, while in the process of dropping burn, you target and hurl a ball lightning at the next closest spawn. When you get down to about half of both you drop another burn patch, throw out cages, and then repeat on another group, slowly clearing your way around the edge of the map to the middle. decent Timing will keep you aggro capped the entire way, without those irritating wall-climbers slowing down your finish.

And of course ambushes... ambushes slow your overall clear time, but dramatically increase your inf/min, as well as keeping you target-saturated. My normal clear time on $comicon Fire Farm$ asteroid is about 4:25 or so.

I actually found a decent farm map once, with static spawns and I think as many ambushes that the guy could cram into it. Demons, but he didn't make it 5 missions and he included both cremate and Fire sword circle... a poor design decision, since that necessitates turning on tough and fire shield, or using heal (a time waster) occasionally. but, it had almost double the spawns in it due to ambushes, and clearing it from one end to the other without strays was a breeze at about 6 minutes. Highest inf/minute ever. Unfortunately, though, I think the guy either took the map down or my memory failed utterly, because I could never find it again. That's why I write down all fire farms I find now 🙂

I love the comicon map, and especially love all the unique heroes on it, but mechanically, I am thinking it could be improved.

I will not argue with the efficacy of spines for AFK farming, although Rad edges it out on active farming (achilles debuffs make a real difference). But, on Test, I actually have a savage/fire/mu tanker (with the Tanker changes) that edges it out... I will produce the build when, and if, the tanker changes go live.

Would you care to see the savage/fire/mu I have been working on as a spines-rad/fire killer? It's not quite optimized enough, yet, but it moves between spawns faster and occasionally outperforms the 'premium' fire farming builds.

[ThrillMill]

"Would you care to see the savage/fire/mu I have been working on as a spines-rad/fire killer? It's not quite optimized enough, yet, but it moves between spawns faster and occasionally outperforms the 'premium' fire farming builds."

Yes, yes I would. 

[Outrider_01]

I look at all these rad/fire builds, but I am stumped why I see boxing by itself in most of them or pick up kick.  Boxing seems weak compared to the first attack in Rad/ which is skipped in most of the builds. Boxing cycle faster to fill an attack chain?  It proc better with certain enhancements?  I just am not sure why you would use a power pool attack when anything else might be better, way back like I12-15 or so, Boxing/Kick skipped skipped often when I played in favor for something useful.

[TungstenShark]

Boxing/Kick is a pre-req for the other Fighting talents like Tough and Weave.

[TheSpiritFox]

I've been told boxing is a better overall attack than kick, but in truth boxing is there to fill out low level attack chains if exemplaring, it isn't part of any rotation at lvl 50 farming, it's just taken to get to weave tbh. I don't run tough in fire farms either, and I only put one slot in it so I could fit the two resist +def uniques without compromising slotting on another power. In practice, it doesn't really matter which one you take because you'll never use it on a farming focused toon. 

 

For reference, my rotation on my rad fire is Flames embrace, Melt armor (if up) fireball, burn, fusion, atom smasher, radioactive strike, radiation siphon if I need to heal, and by then fireball and burn are coming back up and get dropped again. A /mu would replace melt armor and fireball with lightning ball and electric fences. I have the rad haymaker, I use it when I tab onto a boss that's at more than half health to speed up clearing his target cap slot. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by TheSpiritFox

[Outrider_01]

Ah, I see. Was glancing through the pools, saw boxing and a 5th power called Cross Cut or somethin which is new to me when all the power pulls had 4 instead of 5 picks. Throught is a melee pool.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Outrider_01

[Crysis]

On 10/21/2019 at 11:29 AM, roleki said:

 

I'm always curious about what maps people are clearing in 4/5 mins, or where people are earning 150M an hour before factoring in drops.  I'm not doubting the claim because it seems to be the standard earn rate claimed by a lot of farmers. 

 

My experience with my Rad/Fire has been a little different... I pretty much only farm the Comic Con Outdoor Fire map (short) or Cave Jam if I want to change things up.  With a dude at the door on 4/8, it takes me about 24 minutes to clear Comic Con and about 38 minutes to clear each Cave Jam door. 

 

Doing that, I'm 'only' bringing in about 1.1M inf per minute which is WAAAY off the pace that everyone else is getting, BUT, I'm also dragging alts from 0-50 in about 3.5 hours, which is anywhere from .5 to 1.5 hours faster than the rate people seem to think it takes to PL a char to 50. 

 

So, I would think, if I am killing stuff at such a pace as to PL faster than the average bear, if I walked into the mission map solo I would clear it as fast or faster/earn more/etc but that isn't really the case.  When I solo those maps at 4/8, I shave about 1/3 off the time, and make about 1.4M a minute solo.  

 

Maybe I'm doing it wrong?  I AM still earning XP towards VL, but when I turned XP off/turned on exemp xp, the jump still didn't put me on a 2.5M per minute pace.

 

At the end of the day, I farm to PL so I am getting what I want out of it, but I would like to know what everyone else is doing (that I am not) that makes farming so much more lucrative for them.

 

I don’t think anyone directly answered your question.

 

Most of the record times you see posted are farming solo.  If you bring someone into the map to PL, a couple things happen that can slow you down.  First, if they are earning XP/influence, its being pulled from your shared pool.  Second, your inspiration drops will also be fewer than if you are solo (FAR fewer in fact) and thus you’ll have fewer to combine via macros into damage inspirations, meaning your damage output will be less than if you were farming influence solo.

 

I PL alts and alts of friends often.  For that, I often use the cave map or the outdoor map fire farms, just to keep the lowbie safe and to keep from having so much zone in/clear/zone out activity.  I’ll also prefer to no exemp down but go straight +4s.  But for influence farming at max influence per hour, you want to exemp down to 49 so you are fighting 53’s and be solo.  With inspiration combine macros.  And no EB’s.  That’s the “best times” you are seeing.

[roleki]

 @CrysisThanks for that info; unfortunately it leaves me with the same orginal questions because even when I am running solo +4/8 exemped to 49 no EBs, I still am not seeing near the inf rates other people are getting.   I *think* I'm doing it right, in terms of tactics (hopping mobs to get to the next, then moving when I'm down to 5 or 6 stragglers, etc) but there must be something else.

 

Will say, I find I get better inf (in Outdoor Comic Con Fire mission) when I turn ON XP before logging out in Pocket D, then when I have earned offline XP, keeping the XP option on but disabling exemped XP.  In that scenario, a Boss is worth about 117K and I can bring in a good 20, 22M per run on that map.  But nothing like the 2M inf a minute people are seeing.

 

[Crysis]

2 hours ago, roleki said:

 @CrysisThanks for that info; unfortunately it leaves me with the same orginal questions because even when I am running solo +4/8 exemped to 49 no EBs, I still am not seeing near the inf rates other people are getting.   I *think* I'm doing it right, in terms of tactics (hopping mobs to get to the next, then moving when I'm down to 5 or 6 stragglers, etc) but there must be something else.

 

Will say, I find I get better inf (in Outdoor Comic Con Fire mission) when I turn ON XP before logging out in Pocket D, then when I have earned offline XP, keeping the XP option on but disabling exemped XP.  In that scenario, a Boss is worth about 117K and I can bring in a good 20, 22M per run on that map.  But nothing like the 2M inf a minute people are seeing.

 

Personally, I get the most XP exemp'ed to 49 vs 53 spawns, and yes its about 115K per boss then.  But the fastest runs I've found are in the Shivan map with moving spawns.  You position yourself in between as many as you can, you use your Lore pet to draw aggro beyond what you can, and you target passing mobs with a ranged AOE (like ball lightning) to pull them to you.  So basically...you hardly move at all.  You let them come to you.  On the outdoor map, you have to move and that doesn't sound like much but in fact it can add significant non-XP earning time to your farming habits.