[Farming] long-term strategy

I just wanted to share my current farming strategy. When I do a complete run, it nets me ~1 new item on average (collection currently at 84%) and ~300-500 gp of items. Of course, most days I don't have time or interest, so I might just do an abbreviated run if at all.

The map sets:

A. (25 min) all level 2-6 except for Wizards Workshop (I skip some b/c I have all lvl 2, 3, and 4 items)
B. (20 min) all level 9
C. (25 min) all level 12 and 15
D. (25 min) all level 17 (skip yellow dragon: 15 min)

The map sets are chosen to align as closely as possible with the equipment level peaks at 6/9/12/15/18. The random distribution should fill in the intermediate levels just fine, and I can always switch to farming at a specific level once my collection approaches completion.


The builds:

A. tokenless firestorm - Just spam firestorm without caring. If you happen to draw no armor, or Combustible + Vulnerable, then spam firestorm from that wizard first, because he might die before you finish spamming. There are maybe 2 maps where the opponent has sufficiently high HP that you should hit it with targeted / burst attacks before burning the house down with firestorm.

B. elf smash - Smash. MF + Smash. Run away if you can't smash hard enough yet.

C. firestorm / runestone - This build is constrained to use only minor tokens so that it can work at level 12 without swapping. Basically just spam firestorm, and hold attackers with Winds Of War and Wall Of Fire.

D. firestorm / runestone / frost - This build is identical to the previous, except to swap in a couple copies of Staff Of Winter, and upgrades to Perfect Toughness. Frost Jolt is great for holding off attackers, or holding them in place on a lava tile.

 

Nice teams! I see you have some variation for sp. I use FS for every level, except maybe at level 17 where I'm using FS but combined with Fireball and Vulcano. I just got used to do it that way.

When I farm, I usually do:
- The 5, 6 and 7 levels because of all the level 6 great tokenless epics and legendaries (some that I don't have, like Firehide Robes and some that I have but the more the better, like Chartwell's Ring) and also because of the gold in the level 6 modules.

- The 11 and 12 levels since there are some key items I don't have or I have few of them, like Lochaber Axe (only 2), St Olf's Fiery Pike (none), Bleneth's Frenzy Medallion (none), Bleneth's Frenzy Tome (none), Alexander's Twisted Circlet (none), etc.

- The level 17 modules, for the same reason. I would like to get at some point items like Vibrant Pain, Bewlin's Baffling Bauble or Bleneth's Skull. There are so many good epics and legendaries here that I have yet to see.

I absolutely never farm other levels, like 9 or 15, except when the loot fairy is there. Maybe I'm doing wrong, shall I diversify my farming? I think there are less items that are worth it in levels 9 and 15, that's maybe why I skip those. I can only think of Wym's Lavastaff and Arcade's Amber Amulet right now.

Fun/weird fact: I'm currently at 84% of completion. The weird thing is that the level 12 modules must be the ones that I have done the most, since when I had 0 and 1 lochabers I farmed these almost every day (I farmed the 11, 12 and 13 levels back then to improve my chances); and it's the level where I have the lower percentage: 76%. What are the chances?

 

Intense. Thanks for posting, @neoncat!

 

When you want 100%, every single item counts.

 

True dat. I spent 5 days speed farming Swamp King specifically to find a Blackglass Token, my last holdout uncommon item. Before I found the token I found 3 rares and 4 epics I was missing. The only available rare I'm still missing is Yolotli Armor. Then just a quick 27 epics and 149 legendaries to tidy things up! Roughly 17 new items per percentage point. Thanks for the metrics, @neoncat.
I've altered my farming approach due to the shifting loot fairy schedule. I strictly speed-farm (don't complete any adventure) until the loot fairy is found. After it's harvested I complete as many level 5+ adventures as seems reasonable in the time available. "Reasonable", in this instance means (A) I do them all, (B) I get tired and quit, (C) CH crashes after reset time, or (D) I'm asleep and miss the whole thing. In the interest of full disclosure, (A) has never happened so far.
Then it's back to speed farming. My 2 main builds are Firestorm and 2 War/Frenzy Priest.

 

I actually like to FS the Yellow Dragon. I have a few Wym's too, lava is soo good against ogres. Before buying the treasure hunts I wasn't sure which of the lvl 17 adventures is faster to farm

 

I still need Blackglass, and will probably resort to speed-farming Swamp King soon. But I do have all rares except the White Star.

Yeah, it totally works, it's just that the ogres and dragon just have so much HP that they'll take more turns to kill off than slimes or elves.

 

Personally I play with two wizards and a priest, and the priest provides draw and healing. He also provides Savage Curses that greatly reduce the needed time

 

I tried Savage Curse, but it's hard enough to keep from burning myself to death as it is, so I'm back to heal and card draw. YMMV.

 

Neoncat,

Thanks for sharing! Your post along with all the new save slots might just convince me to start farming again.

 

Yeah, I know. 100% completion is not a goal I have, but a thing that comes for itself while farming. Actually, as Randimar's delivers me week after week pure crap, lately I've been buying some useless epics and legendaries just because I didn't have them, so I'm not sure what my goal is anymore

 

Been there, bought that.
It drove me to more farming.

 

I use five Savage Curse (from Darkblood Glaive and Skull Of Savage Iljin) and almost never lose. Even if I burn one of my chars, what does that mean compared to the higher speed of farming? You can burn yourself without Savage Curse too, but with it you have "twice stronger" Firestorms. I've won some scenarios on turns 1 or 2.

 

To win in turn 1 or 2 most of the maps, a combination of FS and Volcano is very effective and easy to pull off. I wouldn't know if it's more effective than Savage Curse as I don't have those items, so I never had the chance to use it (The only time I used it was with Savage Plates in Chess Madness, and it was very good).

 

My 1st FS mage stacks 16 FS and 2 volcanos. My second stacks 12 FS and sometimes packs 4 volcanos, but usually takes spr instead. Each normally has 4 cyclers, 3 spr, and 1 forgetfulness. The second sometimes drops to 10 FS at higher levels to swap in Staff Of A Million Embers. I do a lot of 1 and 2 rounds due to volume of fire. Ogres, dragons, and giant trees go a bit slower.
The most Savage Curses I have on any item is 2, so I have to swap a few items to get any consistancy. I believe in building with what I have on hand, and anything that works well is good enough for now. But I still want 6 Lavastaffs, like I have on the test server.

 

I guess that's the beauty of the game: each of us has his own unique set of items that form his strategy
I have these two legendaries, but I lack even the second Firehide Robes, alas. My primary FS mage is packed with all kinds of fire, while, my second mage has Dissolve Armor, Cone Of Cold and damage.

 

Interesting, I do something very similar but focused on different levels. It's mainly firestorm, once your build get's good enough it'll knock out most adventures.

So I essentially use a very good firestorm team ( I don't have wym's lavastaff, but multiple other firestorm legendaries), with 1 priest and 2 wizards.

I start by beating lvl 6-8. my starting build is set for lvl 6. Nothing major, I upgrade priest heal as he get's tokens, swap in trogmelter's for certain lvl7 adventures, and eventually swap in black walnut staff's at lvl 8 (when the wizards get a few extra tokens)
I take the same lvl8 builds through the lvl 10 adventures (they don't require any changes). About 50 minutes total with the new improvements.

I have a slightly improved firestorm build for all the lvl 11s, plus tomb of tvericus and treeforts of the goblin king. About 25-30 minutes in total. (I've found the same build is able to take out high mountain pass pretty reliably but it's a slower 4 part adventure)

Then I swap in a higher level firestorm build and clear out the 15s (gnome levels), citrine portal, into the black forest and temple of terror. About 25-30 minutes.
The same build beats attack of the warmonkeys and lord batfords, but they take more time to beat.

Firestorm can beat the lvl 9 adventures, though I also find I like the trogmelter for these and build the priest a little differently. I also find you will take the occasional loss on the gladiator levels due to design. I may add these in now that we have extra slots for parties.

Lately I've been skipping the lvl 2-5 adventures mainly due to getting sick of pulling the low level legendaries.



So to sum up, in my experience a very good firestorm deck will cut through most adventures up to level 12, and a handful of higher level adventures.

I reliably beat cardstock for lvl 17, but haven't found a good party that can tear through all the lvl 17's quickly enough yet. Will probably see what I can whip up with the extra spaces.

 

My build is much like the one you posted in Jarmo's thread. The main differences are caused by not having the same items.

I always swap some gear on my 2nd mage when I firestorm the 17s. Smoke/Lave/Smoke on Black Forest Heart, Wall of Stone on Yellow Dragon, Straight FS on Swamp King except the last level where I use Wall of Stone. I usually leave Swamp King open for speed farming until just bef0re reset, and reserve Cardstock II for leveling characters. Swapping gear is much quicker with the new build, and even before I was so accustomed to it that it didn't slow me down much.
I sometimes swap between God Touched Spear and Healing Hand Mace depending upon whether enough space exists for inspiring presence, but I often forget to swap back, so I'm not sure that's good.

 

Why do you use a FS team for the level 17 modules when a 2 warrior 1 priest party is faster?

 

Because I REALLY like fire!
And because I run up from L5 with a firestorm team, and I'm too lazy to swap out. Also, my FS team speed farms Swamp King in about 1-3 rounds per map, which is as good or better than my 2W/P team.