Issue 28: Page 1 Farming Microguide (Maps + Builds)

[Maelwys]

3 hours ago, Xalon said:

Why rush even more with multi-boxing? I really want to understand what goes through someone's mind to think that this is fun. Honestly, lmk.

 

Personally I do it to generate drops and influence. AFK farming in particular requires minimal attention and is easy to spin up on a second screen whilst I'm catching up on a TV show etc. Farming isn't as efficient for generating influence as marketeering, but I prefer generating drops to flipping them. It helps keep the non-buy-it-now AH prices down.

 

Including drops, each Passive ("AFK") Farming toon typically pulls in 40-80m inf per hour (depending on the map and how fast the toon can physically defeat stuff). That's roughly half of what an Active Farming toon can pull in, but since you can have three accounts simultaneously logged in on different AE Farming maps per non-busy shard? If you fancy pushing hard for an hour or two then it can all add up very fast.

 

Sometimes I'll park an alt from a different account on the map to get them easy exp. Typically I'll do that after they hit Lv45 in order to get them up to veteran level 100... but sometimes I'll stick them on temporarily earlier to get them over a hump in the 30s etc. so they get a fresh batch of contacts (I like getting all the contacts up to at least phonable status as I level up each character... but I don't see any point in running the Lv45 contact missions until after they hit Lv50)

 

You do see some requests for power leveling in global chat... but IME those requests are also typically from folk who have played the game for decades and genuinely want to skip part of the regular level up process. 

 

Edited September 20 by Maelwys

[Tyriwan]

Good morning,

 

I've recently come back to the game (few weeks now) and have got my kids to start playing. I was multiboxing before with 3 brutes (2 spines/fire and 1 rad/fire). My sons started playing two of the brutes(to see if they liked playing) and my daughter made a fire/kin corrupter. It was working really well, but now they want to try different things while still farming. Farming is easy and fun watching everything blow up.

 

My one son is making a fire/fire blaster and that seems great.

 

The other wants to try a tanker. We leveled him a rad/rad but then I read that was nerfed bad recently. We thought the debuffs would help. Any suggestions to what would fit our team comp the best? To hold aggro off the blaster and corrupter the best? Maybe add some debuffs so they kill faster?

[lemming]

1 hour ago, Tyriwan said:

We leveled him a rad/rad but then I read that was nerfed bad recently.

There was some correction done.   Honestly, I think the only people that would notice are the ones pushing performance to max levels.  

[Maelwys]

20 hours ago, Tyriwan said:

My sons started playing two of the brutes(to see if they liked playing) and my daughter made a fire/kin corrupter.
It was working really well, but now they want to try different things while still farming. 

My one son is making a fire/fire blaster and that seems great.

The other wants to try a tanker. We leveled him a rad/rad but then I read that was nerfed bad recently. We thought the debuffs would help.
Any suggestions to what would fit our team comp the best? To hold aggro off the blaster and corrupter the best? Maybe add some debuffs so they kill faster?

The setup you're describing (bringing three different ATs onto the same map which act as if they're all playing together in a regular team; attempting to manage aggro and defeat stuff methodically) isn't really a commonplace setup for "farming" -  typically these days you'd either bring one self-sufficient toon per map (most efficient) or potentially three self-sufficient toons into a large map where they can buff each other but defeat stuff independently.

It's still possible to bring multiple different ATs into the same map, but you need to be very mindful of the aggro cap. The point of a "farm" is generally to defeat stuff as fast as possible; but no matter how good of a Tank the Brute/Tanker is; they will only be capable of holding the attention of 17 foes simultaneously... so if you're waiting for proper aggro control to be established; then the going will be slow.

If you're intent on bringing a Blaster and a Corruptor for damage; then my advice would be to either:

(i) Bring a Brute/Tanker that has as many AoEs as possible plus the Soul Mastery Patron Pool (for Darkest Night)
I'd recommend a BattleAxe/StoneArmor; BattleAxe/FieryAura or BattleAxe/RadArmor. The idea here would be to try to bunch at least SOME foes up whilst defeating stuff as fast as possible via AoE attack spam; but be able to situationally pull aggro very quickly when needed and improve allied survivability a bit (via Darkest Night). BattleAxe is excellent at AoE damage and has a place for FF +Rech and FotG -res procs in Axe Cyclone (which also has a minor reverse repel "get over here!" effect).
FWIW; Radiation Armor is still good for AoE; it's just not the automatic runaway winner any longer. The nerfs were to Ground Zero's target cap (which affects Rad's performance in "regular" farming; but won't impact your tri-boxing kids if they're never engaging more than 16 targets simultaneously) and to Radiation Therapy's proc activation rate (which won't overly matter if you're bringing a Fire Blaster and a Fire/Kin Corruptor!).

(ii) Bring a something else that can group foes up via Crowd Control whilst buffing itself and the other two toons.
My money'd be on a Gravity/Cold or Gravity/Time Controller (the latter could leverage Power Boost and Radial Clarion to bring Farsight's defense numbers up to scratch). I imagine the Blaster and Corruptor are already using an Epic/Patron resistance shield; so between some +Def buffage and multiple Barrier Destiny rotations you should be fine.
 

Edited September 22 by Maelwys

[brian9824]

I can't find the location to drop the file for /bind e "popmenu farmpro"

 

Has it changed?

[Maelwys]

16 hours ago, brian9824 said:

I can't find the location to drop the file for /bind e "popmenu farmpro"

Has it changed?

Nope.
But it can be different from PC to PC depending on where you've installed CoH Homecoming.

<COH_INSTALL_DIRECTORY>\data\texts\<LANGUAGE>\Menus\

Create the subfolders of "data" if they're not already there.
See https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Popmenu_(Slash_Command) 


You can also make a few macros/keybinds that do the same thing; as long as you're careful about the character limit.

The default FARMPRO menu essentially just does the below.
(Note that REZ and BREAKFREE insps are ignored - if you want to combine those rather than disable them at the START vendor, add appropriate commands):
 

(i) COMBINE/EXECUTE SMALLS "inspcombine insight enrage$$inspcombine luck enrage$$inspcombine catch_a_breath enrage$$inspcombine respite enrage$$inspcombine sturdy enrage$$inspexecname enrage"
(ii) COMBINE/EXECUTE MEDIUMS "inspcombine keen_insight focused_rage$$inspcombine good_luck focused_rage$$inspcombine take_a_breather focused_rage$$inspcombine dramatic_improvement focused_rage$$inspcombine rugged focused_rage$$inspexecname focused_rage"
(iii) COMBINE/EXECUTE LARGES "inspcombine uncanny_insight righteous_rage$$inspcombine phenomenal_luck righteous_rage$$inspcombine second_wind righteous_rage$$inspcombine resurgence righteous_rage$$inspcombine robust righteous_rage$$inspexecname righteous_rage"

etc.

[ResToons]

On 2/21/2023 at 4:22 PM, Americas Angel said:

Inspired by @Crowcus Pocus's thread yesterday about Rad/Stone brutes, I had a mess around in Mids with a Stone/Rad Granite-less Tank for AFK fire farming.

 

Turned out really good! Doesn't need accolades or P2W buffs. And compared to the Elec/Rad, its Atom Smasher recharges 1s quicker. Probably the best overall AFK fire farmer!

 

Build is attached. Don't use Rock Armor, Tough, or Granite. They're just set mules.

 

This is for fire farming. So use maps #51289 (5 mins) or #38973 (10 mins).

 

 

AA_AFKFIRE_STONERADTANK_Page5.mxd 5.06 kB · 849 downloads

Do you have problems surviving in +4s with bosses with this build.  I have a similar build but I can’t survive +4s with bosses?

[brian9824]

Ah yeah i just had to make the subfolders, its working now

[Maelwys]

18 hours ago, ResToons said:

Do you have problems surviving in +4s with bosses with this build.  I have a similar build but I can’t survive +4s with bosses?

Why would you be fighting +4s?
On the current Live servers the maximum mob level in AE is level 54. So just equip a T3 Alpha Slot and make them into +3s.

Looking at the AA build you're linking to, it's got 90% F/C resists, 45% F/C Defense and 40.77HP/Sec passive regeneration before accolades (48.3 HP/Sec after accolades).
The minimum survivability threshold for AFK farming vs +3 mobs is 90% F/C resists, 45% F/C Defense and >35 HP/Sec passive regeneration.
Against +4 mobs that'd rise to roughly >38 HP/Sec Passive Regeneration.
So yes, in theory it should cope OK vs +4 mobs; but it'd be a bit tight until you get your +HP accolades.

Anything over the minimum HP regeneration threshold will help stop you occasionally faceplanting to "unlucky" streaks of hits (which can happen pretty often IME).
My AFK Farmer RadM/Stone Brute has 45.73 HP/Sec Passive Regeneration plus 4x Healing Procs (3x Power Transfer and 1x Panacea) and hasn't faceplanted in months.

 

Edited September 30 by Maelwys

[ResToons]

14 hours ago, Maelwys said:

Why would you be fighting +4s?
On the current Live servers the maximum mob level in AE is level 54. So just equip a T3 Alpha Slot and make them into +3s.

Looking at the AA build you're linking to, it's got 90% F/C resists, 45% F/C Defense and 40.77HP/Sec passive regeneration before accolades (48.3 HP/Sec after accolades).
The minimum survivability threshold for AFK farming vs +3 mobs is 90% F/C resists, 45% F/C Defense and >35 HP/Sec passive regeneration.
Against +4 mobs that'd rise to roughly >38 HP/Sec Passive Regeneration.
So yes, in theory it should cope OK vs +4 mobs; but it'd be a bit tight until you get your +HP accolades.

Anything over the minimum HP regeneration threshold will help stop you occasionally faceplanting to "unlucky" streaks of hits (which can happen pretty often IME).
My AFK Farmer RadM/Stone Brute has 45.73 HP/Sec Passive Regeneration plus 4x Healing Procs (3x Power Transfer and 1x Panacea) and hasn't faceplanted in months.

 

 

This is my current build and I die almost all the time.  Do I need to get the Alcolades?  is that my problem?  

build.txt

[Maelwys]

8 hours ago, ResToons said:

 

This is my current build and I die almost all the time.  Do I need to get the Alcolades?  is that my problem?  

build.txt 4.72 kB · 2 downloads

With your toggles on (except ROCK ARMOR and SPRINT) that looks like this:



It's just on the survivability line.

Get your +HP accolades and Boost the Defense Set IOs in Stone Skin, Combat Jumping and Weave to +5 (you can leave the Shield Wall global in Stone Skin as-is).
That should get you to above 45% F/C Def and an additional ~6 HP/Sec; plus about 300 higher MaxHP.

That said - you shouldn't be dying every single time you farm. Are you sure you're not simply running out of endurance; causing you to detoggle and crash out?
Leaving Atom Smasher on Autofire in that build would consume an additional ~1.58 Endurance per second; but you only have a net recovery of 0.88 End/Sec.

(I don't see any Incarnate options listed... it might be you're running Musculature Radial, BP Radial Lore Pets and Ageless Destiny to make recovery a lesser concern...?)

 

Edited October 1 by Maelwys

[Shin Magmus]

   They also only needed to target 40% Def, not 45%, if they run Defense Amplifier 24/7 like most farmers.  I don't know if their MIDs build had it toggled on or not, but a farmer can easily sustain perma-Offense/Defense Amplifiers. 

[Maelwys]

5 hours ago, Shin Magmus said:

I don't know if their MIDs build had it toggled on or not, but a farmer can easily sustain perma-Offense/Defense Amplifiers. 

 

It did not.

 

Refreshing START amplifier and/or Base empowerment buffs every 60mins is an option, sure. But AFK farmers are typically about being as hands off and clicking as few buttons as possible; and it's also not cheap to spend 2.5-7.5m per hour at Lv50 on the amps (especially considering a passive farming toon is only earning roughly half as much as an active one...)

 

Personally about the only time I bother picking up an amplifier is the offensive one whenever I'm triple boxing, and even then it's mostly for the +Rech.

[Ukase]

On 9/19/2025 at 10:57 PM, Xalon said:

What is the point of this?  Is leveling to just 50 that much of a hassle for people? We get double XP and can use AE for nonstop mob kills. 

 

Why rush even more with multi-boxing? I really want to understand what goes through someone's mind to think that this is fun. Honestly, lmk.

I can't speak for how things are currently, but when I started, I knew so little about farming, afk or otherwise, that instead of burn on auto, I had healing flames on auto, and was surviving, and since it was afk, that was good enough for me. Eventually, while just reading and chatting with folks, I figured out that I was missing more than a few things. 

So, instead of playing my spines/fire brute outside of AE, I was doing routine content. Unai Kemen, Maria Jenkins, all that stuff. I didn't want a fire farm build, because I still wanted to be able to burn up banished pantheon - who, as a faction, I learned are much, much harder for my brute at +4/8 than Freaks are. 

So, I tinkered around, and used a 2nd build and came up with a pretty good afk fire farmer for pre-page 4. Well, you know, it worked really well, so I made one on each server. And each one would use build 1 to level up organically, and then use build 2 to farm. Then page 5 hit, and I had some more thinking to do. I'd made the stacks of inf - which really came about more from the winter pack sales than anything else. 

But the afk farm method, while slower than active farming is scalable. There was a time when I had 3 afk-farmers running, while I played standard content on a 4th. And I would take the drops, craft, convert and sell them. Sometimes, I'd do the converting while burn is on auto and my character is in the map. Seems to be the best way to do it. Efficient. Then I do the same for each farmer. When the map's clear, they sell the loot, then craft the new drops. I'd make about 1/2B per character every couple of days, if memory serves. 

But, when page 5 hit, and the labyrinth hit...things in the market changed a little. Instead of lotg 7.5% selling for 7-8M, they started selling for 5-6, and now they're going for 4-5M. (patient bidding, anyway). 
So, the inf from marketing really isn't there, not like it was. My farmers are 50, so each IO costs almost 500K to craft. It's better to just vendor that stuff, and buy that recipe at it's lowest level and craft those. Cheaper crafting. The problem for me was, the salvage for the level 50 recipes was already on my character. I didn't have to buy salvage. So, I told myself the crafting cost was a wash. But now, with things getting even tighter, now I just vendor most of the rare recipes unless I know I can craft and sell them for more profit than the recipe. 

But the uncommons...I'm now at the point where I will craft those, because I have the salvage. Buying cheaper recipes, and lower tier salvage - I do that already on my level 1 characters that earn their way to a billion. So, now, I just use the farmers to push a character for some vet levels, or past a rough patch, like 35-40. I really don't like levels 35-40. Those 3 slots per level are so useful, but so much need for them, and other than Provost Marchand, I can't find an arc I like. 

And yeah, for me, crafting, converting...that's a bit tedious, but it's kind of fun for me. The farming? That's not very much fun. Not once I hit 50. Before that, I love watching the xp bar fill. 

[Jacke]

6 hours ago, Ukase said:

But, when page 5 hit, and the labyrinth hit...things in the market changed a little. Instead of lotg 7.5% selling for 7-8M, they started selling for 5-6, and now they're going for 4-5M. (patient bidding, anyway). 

 

Yeah, I've noticed that drop, as I craft LotG specials and sell them.  There's other changes, like the drop in the usual cost of Rare Salvage.  I wonder how much is permanent change.  And if the changes take long enough, it's as good as permanent.  Eventually, gotta adapt to the market as it is now.