Raptor Nestling Farming--Or How i got 250 cupcakes in a weekend :)

I have never written a guide, but I will try to get my point across.

Farming Raptor Nestlings in a cave just outside Rata Sum in Riven Earth

I will not take credit for figuring out any of this, Gunter showed me the original build and the site. I have modified the build to suit my playing style and do not mess with HM. I find the event drops are not significantly better in Hard Mode and the time it takes to complete a run is more than doubled. So in the time I can do 2 to 3 runs in NM I can only do 1 to 2 in HM. With the build I am showing you I am able to complete a run in about 80 seconds not including zone time. It takes me about 10 seconds to zone from Rata Sum to Riven Earth and another 10 seconds to zone (map) back, so that brings each trip to about 100 seconds. There are some Elite Tomes and better Gold Drops in HM....but it is not what I am after. Besides I suck at it.

This takes practice and practice and some more practice, it is repetious, boring, and becomes very monotonous. The good news is that you only do it on event weekends and you increase your Asuran title by 100 to 130 points each trip.

I wish I could tell you that you get 5 event drops every trip, you don't. In fact some trips are complete duds and you get nothing or a Saurian Bone. Some trips you get 1 event item others you get 3 or 4 event items. You do get a lot of drops and a decent amount of Gold Drops. I find these Gold Drops to be worthless on the most part, but I save them for my warrior to ID for title purposes. The only Green drop is a set of daggers that I merch for 35 gold because they are so common they are not worth anything and nobody wants them. My best drop to date was 5 cupcakes, and then on another trip I got 2 cupcakes, 2 lockpicks, and a white dye.

OK, so now the build:

[build prof][/build]
[build=OgVDMaysRRAmAfVlCLR4g8QoAA]

And how to use it:
First this is a solo build, meaning you will not use heroes or henchmen, just little old you. Second I have my Attributes buffed a little, Earth magic and Energy Storage both have a +1 (that doesn't show above). Third I carry a Hale Divine Staff of enchanting but any weapon with the Enchanting buff and health buff will work, when I first started i used a bow. It doesn't make a difference since you never use the weapon.

You will exit Rata Sum into Riven Earth (the east exit), turn right and speak to the Ski Krewe Member to get your Asran reputation bonus.

Then procede South along the wall and you will come to a cave. You will notice a lot of red dots on your radar, thats the place. You may also notice a mob of Raptors just outside the cave...that is NOT what you want. You will last about 10 seconds if you aggro this mob. We are here to farm Raptor nestlings, I have fould little use for this build in any other circumstance.

At the entrance to the cave I cast the first 2 skills, mantra of resolve and channeling. Then you go on an old fashion round up.

I work in a clockwise pattern trying to aggro as many nestlings as I can. There is a boss on the right portion of the cave...head toward her (she is a mother) with all the nestlings following close behind. This is what takes practice, the timing. Donot run thru a mob, chances are you will get stuck, your purpose is to get them all to chase you. With 2 mobs of nestlings chasing you, you must head toward the third mob which contains the boss (Brood Mother .... I think) but before she gets to you and after you have aggro'd her you must cast Stone Flesh aura and Sliver Armor. If you do not get both of the skills off before she gets to you....you die...quickly.

Numbers will fill the screen, if you are doing it right most of the numbers should be yellow. Now start casting the other skills...Ether feast, to keep you alive, Intensity, to increase the damage you do, Teinai's Crystal to pop everyone for 121 damage, Stoneflesh Aura, should be ready to recast about now, then Armor of Earth.

Recast the skills as necessary until you are standing in the center of a mass of dead bodies.

Pick up your goodies amd map back to Rata Sum.

There are a lot of variations to this. For example Intensity is not required, but it decreases the length of the trip by a little by helping to kill everything faster. When I first started it took be over 3 minutes per trip. After 3 events I have honed it down to under 2 minutes. Thats 20 to 25 or so trips an hour. (you have to sell off your loot, run to the gate....that all takes time too.

The end result is that you have the event goodies ....cupcakes, Clovers, Apples, candy Corn, etc. which makes playing a lot more fun (at least for me). Or you can sell them and make a decent amount of cash.

Oh as a side note, during this past weekend in the process of farming a stack of cupcakes I also picked up 163 Saurian Bones which merched for over 4k. I did not keep track of anything else except the number of gold drops (52) which I have not identified yet but each of them will merch at 100 to 200 gold each on average. I also ranwith a completely empty inventory and had to sell off every 5th or 6th trip.

In summary..this takes practice, to me it is worth it for the goodies. It also adds to your Asuran title and you earn a little cash to boot.

So good luck and good hunting.

awesome guide dan, I really need to get in game and try it out!

I like the addition of Tenais crystals for NM. Don't think it would work in HM since u really need that third low energy blocking skill in the original build. I will try this change for NM.

HM is indeed much more challenging. I have it down to about 3 minutes plus a handful of seconds IF I DO IT PERFECT. Off a hair and you find yourself at the res shrine. Dan is right about number of event drops difference is not overly signifigant. My early calculations during last year events were much better then this year......
LAST YEAR: 2.3 event items per run NM : 4.9 event items per run HM.
THIS YEAR: 1.96 event items per run NM: 3.6 event items per run HM.

So if you can do 2 or more NM runs in the time it takes you to do a HM...do NM.

My conclusion is if all you want is the event items....NM is the way to go.

I actually will do 5-7 runs in NM....empty inventory....3-4 runs in HM...empty inventory...etc.

A little extra info......
I find in NM run I make roughly 500-650 gold after selling off. HM 900-1300 gold after selling off. But in HM I will get more keeper mods and a lot more tomes.

Good job Dan on the write up.

Pampered

Great guide Dan, I've heard you and Gunter talking about this run in prior events but I always assumed it was only worth doing in HM. I'll definitely be giving this a go during the next event. Thanks for posting this!

I think its been posted here somewhere before but may I asked how did you show/post your build/attributes/skills bar here?

Just started to raptor farm 2 days ago & would like share some info here.

cheers

Here is the code:

[ build prof ] [/build] (remove spaces after first bracket and before second bracket....[b... prof] then your build in this format:)
[build=OgVDMaysRRAmAfVlCLR4g8QoAA]

[build prof=][/build]

[build=OQZEAZwTmDJU9VVKYCEBwDFX6WC]

Thanks Dan for the tips.

I used this build in NM for raptor nestling farming for festive items.

Still need some practice, per run is 2 to 4 cupcakes

Dan when you get some time would like to talk to you about helping me with a 55 nero build if you can

Till Kill

[build prof][/build]

Threadjack!

[build=OANWQgCYkD3wnG1Dk+LP7RfyTkA]


Keep 6, 7, 8 on you at all times. This'll keep Energy coming back into you and set up some Regen.

When fighting, have 1, 2, 3 on you at all times. This'll keep HP regen faster than the damage that can be done.

Use 4 on center of mob clump.

5 on something that is hitting you.

Keep wanding to maintain Vigorous Spirit.

Bam, 55 Necro.

(Of course there is more to it than this, but take this setup and try it out, see where it gets you, everyone plays differently and this is the base model, pretty much)


Scion

Till, I hope Scion's post helps in your quest to understand 55 Necro, cause I have read a lot about it (Google) but never have actually done it.

More info on the 55 N/Mo can be found here:

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:N/Mo_Solo_SS_Necromancer

I think I am going to try this for my derv:
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:D/Me_Vaettir_Farmer