What's your abnormal farming build?

[Argus_The_Risen]

As stated in the title, I am curious about these strange and curious builds that actually work in farms. I have been seeing some odd builds popping up around Pocket D AE that appear to be farming, but are not your average Spine/Fire or Rad/Fire Brute. So, if you have one, what is it and how on earth do you make it work?

[TheZag]

I havent farmed in quite awhile but i never fire farmed,  i always did smashing/lethal.  My gravity/kinetics/stone controller can survive in S/L farms but its not breakneck farming speed.  I have seen a fire/kinetics corruptor that was absolutely shredding a S/L farm but i dont remember their patron/ancillary pool.

 

Most characters should be able to build enough defense and resist for a S/L farm and thats where the majority of your flexibility in choices comes from.  Most fire farm builds use fiery aura and that gets boring real quick for me.  Fire is probably faster but S/L was more appealing for the few times i farm.

 

As for making odd builds work,  if it can use all the winter enhancement sets its the majority of the way to be in a fire farm.  Those enhancements give alot of fire defense and resist.  S/L defense and resist are common in set bonuses and its just a matter of choosing the right powers for chasing those set bonuses.  Its fairly easy to hit 45% defense when you can ignore all other defenses.

 

[SeraphimKensai]

I do a bit of farming, but mainly I have fun trying new builds and powerset combinations, so I have an assortment below...

 

Fire Farming:

• Spines/Fire Brute
• Rad/Fire Brute
• SS/Fire Brute
• Fire/Ice Blaster
• and a team of 3 Robotics MM, a style made popular by @Neiska

S/L Farming:

• Spines/Elec Tank
• Rad/Dark Tank
• Ice/Dark Corruptor
• Fire/Kin Corruptor
• Fire/Kin Controller
• Fire/Psi Dominator
• Perma Eclipse MF Warshade

The squishies all softcapped typed or positional defense and a reasonable amount of resistance to the incoming damage.  I mainly run the rad/fire or spines/fire though.

[Xiddo]

On the odd occasion I've done it I'll either use my Plant/Psi/Ice Dom or my Fire melee/Rad brute. I can do pretty good support on an S/L on my Water/Kin corr too.
Creepers on the asteroid map is... something to behold, but that was before the aggro changes. They used to just rush the bramble pile and straight into some rains.

[Snarky]

I have a Blaster I built that was inspired by a Blaster that joined me (on a Brute) when I was farming.  They would fly in and do damage while I had agro then zip away (and use phase shift) when they took heat. It worked pretty good.  So….I made my Elec/Temp Blaster.  50%+ ranged defense, all ranged attacks including nuke and judgement, phase shift AND personal force field.  This thing is an easy long range farmer.  Prefers to work with a Tank or Brute on a large open area. City blocks or carnie tents type maps.  

[Player2]

[Neiska]

4 hours ago, Argus_The_Risen said:

As stated in the title, I am curious about these strange and curious builds that actually work in farms. I have been seeing some odd builds popping up around Pocket D AE that appear to be farming, but are not your average Spine/Fire or Rad/Fire Brute. So, if you have one, what is it and how on earth do you make it work?

 

Here's what I was doing, 3 boxing MMs. Here's a discussion/guide about it, but it is a little out of date. But still has lots of good information and a video.

 

 

[roleki]

4 hours ago, Argus_The_Risen said:

As stated in the title, I am curious about these strange and curious builds that actually work in farms. I have been seeing some odd builds popping up around Pocket D AE that appear to be farming, but are not your average Spine/Fire or Rad/Fire Brute. So, if you have one, what is it and how on earth do you make it work?

 

Something important to keep in mind, while most people loitering around AE are there for PL/farming, some people use AE for the stories, and some AE farms aren't necessarily for PL/inf.  I park all my 50s in PocketD, and run through Council farms just to pick up a catalyst.  So it'll look like there's a Fire/Traps Controller or a Beam/TA Corruptor or whatever emerging from a farm,  UT really, they just dipped in to kill a couple mobs and get their catalyst for the day.

[Argus_The_Risen]

1 hour ago, roleki said:

 

Something important to keep in mind, while most people loitering around AE are there for PL/farming, some people use AE for the stories, and some AE farms aren't necessarily for PL/inf.  I park all my 50s in PocketD, and run through Council farms just to pick up a catalyst.  So it'll look like there's a Fire/Traps Controller or a Beam/TA Corruptor or whatever emerging from a farm,  UT really, they just dipped in to kill a couple mobs and get their catalyst for the day.

 

 

Well said. In all my years of playing, I have never used AE for more than farming. I really should play through some of the dope stories other players have created, but... altitis is a real problem...

[Argus_The_Risen]

1 hour ago, Neiska said:

 

Here's what I was doing, 3 boxing MMs. Here's a discussion/guide about it, but it is a little out of date. But still has lots of good information and a video.

 

 

 

 

I will definitely be checking this out!

[Bionic_Flea]

I have a fire/fire/fire blaster that I sometime farm with.  Bonfire with the KB-KD proc is almost like cheating.  Stuff does run away, as I have no taunt, but they always come back to die or I shoot them in the back.  Either works.  I tried him after the most recent changes and found that I needed to pop barrier or some inspirations to start and be very twitchy, due to all the extra aggro.  But as stuff died it got easier and I could relax a bit.  This is definitely for active farming only.  No AFK farming allowed!

 

In the past I have also farmed with a rad/dark melee tank.  It's not as fast as a fire aura brute, but it was a nice change of pace.  And if you get the timing juuuuust right you can cap damage for a bit.  The nice thing about that character is that he can fire farm, SL farm, anything farm.  It's very sturdy and versatile with capped resists, softcapped defenses, two self-heals, absorb, and unlimited endurance.  He can also heal teammates, and debuff tohit, regen, and defense!  It's a tank-fender!

 

[Wavicle]

13 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Bonfire with the KB-KD proc is almost like cheating.

 

Don't be shocked if this eventually gets fixed. It's supposed to only have a 10% chance to KD when the enhancement is added, just like Repulsion Field, etc.

[Bionic_Flea]

Shhhh!  I said almost.  Don't ruin it.  🤪

[nihilii]

I used a Bio/Claws Tanker to AFK farm for the longest time. Not to be special or anything, I genuinely believed it had great abilities for that purpose.

 

- Bio gives you the most offensive output passively, with a damage aura, a -res aura, and extra damage in Offensive Adaptation.

- Claws has Spin, which breaks all damage formulas natively, and is boosted further with the Tanker AoE buffs. One power to put on auto, hits 16 targets at once = perfect for AFK farming.

- Bio also happens to have just enough passive regeneration and +maxHP to roughly break even with incoming damage if you reach 90% S/L res and 45% S/L def

 

This was before the latest round of changes or two, anyway. Nowadays I find I have to put more effort into making that combo work.

[Ukase]

I've just been using the same build I've always used...when I use it. Just when I need to unlock incarnates. 

What I realized was the changes involved a lot of ranged attacks, and some reduced defenses from the fire sword - at least in fire maps that have been adjusted for the "max xp". I tried the various builds from my own design, the forums and some other folks who are fairly savvy, but none of them work - unless you have an alt to break up the aggro, i.e., another alt. 

 

[Zect]

All good builds can active farm something. Softcapped defenses and resists work as well in AE as they do outside of it, and you don't need optimized builds to massacre farm mobs which are specifically designed to have zero difficulty. It's only AFK farming that needs optimizing, because you need to design something that works when you're not paying attention to it.

 

The most interesting active farmer I played was definitely a fire/storm corr. Triple lightning storms shredding everything in sight will never get old.

[Frozen Burn]

When I do farm, it's with my Ice/Fire/Fire Blaster and I just use a PvE build.  SO much AOE goodness: Bonfire (w/KD), Hot Feet, Burn, Blizzard, Ice Storm, Pyronic, Blazing Aura, Consume (slotted for damage), and even Frost Breath is useful at times.  

[TheZag]

I remembered there was 1 more type of farm that you might see people with strange looking builds using - the low level elite boss farm.  They are more of a new alt solo power leveling farm instead of a inf/rewards farm.  Alot of them were broken with the last AE update and most that were fixed still dont have elite bosses anymore and you end up getting like 3 times less xp than before.

 

I went ahead and fixed mine to grab some levels for my ice/cold corruptor.  At level 23,  I get 1988 xp for each elite boss and the kill took 14 seconds (142 xp/sec).  The popular EB farm that only has bosses now gave me 720 xp on a 17 second kill (42 xp/sec).  I get roughly 3 and a half times better xp on my fixed EB farm.  Mine never made it up the list but search 48471 if you need better xp for a new alt.  Read the mission info and contact text once though or you will likely end up with slower xp/min than is possible.

 

[Random Axis]

I've got a Rad/SS tanker that I do some S/L farming with. Not super fast since he's still working up the incarnate abilities, but he can AOE minions while rage punching the EBs fast enough to not feel like a slog.

[blue4333]

My Fire/Fire Blaster can do S/L farming relatively fast with some insps. Only thing is that mobs run from him without a taunt aura and Hot Feet's IMHO unnecessary Afraid status condition.

[Wavicle]

Just now, blue4333 said:

Hot Feet's IMHO unnecessary Afraid status condition.

 

It's not unnecessary, it's literally the point of the power, to chase away enemies trying to hit you in melee.

[blue4333]

1 minute ago, Wavicle said:

It's not unnecessary, it's literally the point of the power, to chase away enemies trying to hit you in melee.

 

A toggle dealing around 30 damage when slotted and in a mob of 10 or more which results in a whopping total 300 damage per tick? Along with Cauterizing Aura?

 

Nah, I'd like my inf babies to stay where they are at thanks.

[Wavicle]

Just now, blue4333 said:

 

A toggle dealing around 30 damage when slotted and in a mob of 10 or more which results in a whopping total 300 damage per tick? Along with Cauterizing Aura?

 

Nah, I'd like my inf babies to stay where they are at thanks.

I understand what you’re trying to do with it, and for that you can use an epic set aoe control. But the reason the power is in your secondary is to be a defensive aura that chases enemies away.

[PLVRIZR]

I used a WP/Fire tank to fire farm and PL my first true farmer (Spines/Fire Brute).  I also S/L farm...and have done so with and can attest to @Krimson's S/L farms...with an Electric/Electric Brute. 

 

I was driving NUT, in PD the other day, to support a fire farm by herding.  Guess you don't see many Inv/SS tanks in fire farms, anymore.

[Tanker_Toy]

For awhile I used my fire/rad corruptor. Is shockingly survivable in large farms