Challenge Farmer

[EllisDee37]

Updated August 18th, 2017 (Original version from before the enhancement pass can be found here.)


This is a first life 32pt human monk with a +2 dex tome required for ITWF and GTWF. You can get the dex tome from the 1750 favor reward as you level. Other tomes are helpful but not required or assumed.

The role of this monk, who stays level 16 forever, is to run heroic cannith challenges, be a crucible swimmer to help out guildmates, and also be a storage mule.

Race should be human to allow the dragonmark of passage. DDoor is a key element for challenges. We also use the expeditious retreat clicky from the dragonmark for run speed. (Ideal would be an upgraded quiver of alacrity, but the dragonmark clicky works fine.)


Challenge Farmer
Monk 16
Lawful Neutral Human


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 15. . . . . . . . 4: WIS
Dexterity . . . 15. . . .+2. . . .8: WIS
Constitution. . 15. . . . . . . .12: WIS
Intelligence. . .8. . . . . . . .16: WIS
Wisdom. . . . . 15
Charisma. . . . .8. . . . . . . .


Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
. . . . .------------------------------------------------
Concent . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 19
Jump. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 19
Swim. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 19
Balance . 3. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 18
Tumble. . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------
. . . . .16. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4


Feats

.1. . . . : Cleave
.1 Human. : Least Dragonmark: Passage
.1 Monk . : Power Attack
.2 Monk . : Two Weapon Fighting
.3. . . . : Dodge OR Past Life: Monk
.3 Monk . : Path of Harmonious Balance
.6. . . . : Great Cleave
.6 Monk . : Stunning Fist
.9. . . . : Improved Two Weapon Fighting
12. . . . : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
15. . . . : Greater Two Weapon Fighting


Enhancements (64 of 64 AP)

Shintao (33 AP)

• Bastion of Purity, Protection from Tainted Creatures, Iron Hand, Argent Fist
  1. Difficulty at the Beginning, Deft Strikes III, Ki Shout
  2. Lifting the Veil, Smite Tainted Creature, Iron Skin III, Unbalancing Strike, Conditioning III
  3. Restoring the Balance, Jade Strike, Dismissing Strike, Constitution
  4. The Receptive Earth, Constitution
  5. Empty Hand Mastery

Human (19 AP)

• Damage Boost, Dexterity, Saves Boost
  1. Dragonmark Focus: Orien III, Improved Recovery
  2. Lesser Dragonmark: Dimension Door
  3. Improved Recovery, Heroism
  4. Improved Recovery, Greater Heroism

Henshin Mystic (11 AP)

• Riddle of Fire, Ki Bolt, Sounding Staff
  1. Negotiator III, Way of the: Patient Tortoise
  2. Contemplation III

Ninja Spy (1 AP)

• Basic Ninja Training

You would benefit slightly from the second ninja spy core, which gives dex to damage. (Your dex will be up to 6 points higher than your strength.) That +3 damage would be nice but is by no means required. The build does spend the final 1 AP on the first core to at least give dex for to-hit. (And I couldn't find anything good to spend that last point on.)

If you're getting the dex tome from 1750 favor, you probably won't reach 1750 favor until level 14 or so. In that case, take a dummy feat at 9 (Mobility?) and then when you reach 1750 favor, use the free feat exchange to swap in ITWF. You can't take level 15 until you get the dex tome and make the swap for ITWF.

If you use more tomes, you can switch around stat points taken from enhancements to even them out as necessary.

----------------------------------------------------

I originally just wanted a bank mule, but decided to squeeze as much utility out of the character slot as I could.

Farming heroic challenges will give you a huge penalty when you bring in your epic characters due to the severe overlevel penalty on mats awarded. Some non-epic challenges have a level range of 4-15, others have 15-20, meaning level 15 is the ideal level to farm them all. However, there are many solid reasons to take this monk to level 16, so the build is written for 16. The overlevel penalty on the 4-15 challenges is only 10%, and the recipes that call for those mats only ask for 400 (as opposed to 600) so this minor penalty is acceptable.

For challenges (and crystal cove in particular) you'll want fast movement and ddoor, so I went with a dragonmarked monk for the high run speed and five ddoors per rest. During challenges you generally want to be soloing your particular task without a hire, so this build is a light monk for survivability.

[EllisDee37]

For a heroic challenge farmer, the cannith crafting pass rendered most alternate gear obsolete. Instead of a list of choices, the gear is
now pretty much one size fits all.


ACCESSORIES

Head: Cove Hat (Superior False Life of Concentration +15)
Eyes: ML16 Wisdom 8 Goggles of True Seeing w/Ins. Wisdom 3
Neck: ML16 Spell Saves 6 Necklace of Devotion 97 w/Ins. PRR 9 (Natural Armor +5)
Back: Cloak of Invisibility (Heavy Fort) see farming video here
Wrist: Bracers of Wind (Resistance +5)
Hand: ML16 Strength 8 Gloves of Deadly 6 w/Ins. Strength 3
Waist: Arkat's Cord (Deathblock)
Feet: ML16 Dexterity 8 Boots of Parrying 3 w/Ins. Dexterity 3 (Jump +9)
Ring: ML16 Constitution 8 Ring of Sheltering 20 w/Ins. Constitution 3 (Blindness Immunity)
Ring: Ring of the Stalker (Good Luck +1)
Trinket: ML16 Doublestrike 9 Trinket of Stunning 9 w/Ins. Stunning 4
Body: Frozen Tunic (Protection +5)

The design is to allow situational swaps with minimal impact, as well as easiest availability of augment slot base items for crafting. The natural armor can go anywhere; it doesn't have to be necklace. Whatever green slot base item you find, put it there. (Goggles, necklace, gloves, or even boots.)

For the augments themselves:

• The Jump +9 augment for the boots essentially doesn't exist; craft on colorless slot boots and just wait for the augment. You can optionally carry jump potions if you like, but it's not really needed.
• Protection, natural armor, and good luck can be bought in gianthold for relics (dirt cheap)
• Deathblock is a store purchase, costing 95 TP
• Blindness ward and heavy fort can either be purchased in the store (75 TP each) or from collectable vendors (12 astrals each)

Swaps and Clickies

Standard buffs:

• Visor of the Flesh Render Guards x 4

Crucible Swim:

• Cannith Crafted: ML16 Belt of Swim 16 w/Ins. Swim 8 (Underwater Action)
• Infused Chaosrobe w/+10 reflex

Beholders:

• Silver Flame Necklace (fully upgraded)

Feather Falling and/or Jumping:

• Cannith Crafted: ML16 Feather Fall Boots of Jump 16

Feather Falling is for lava caves when you want to jump from the first bridge down to the western bridge. It's also kind of nice to soften the blow at the end of the long fall down the stairwell to the mother spider in rushmore's mansion. Really any feather fall swap in any slot will do the trick. A jump swap is unnecessary, but it seemed like a flavorful thing to include. (The build has 33 Jump without any augment or item.)



WEAPONS

For weapons there are actual choices. See this post for analysis of the various weapons.

For dps augments, your choices are between a vampire slayer augment from Mabar, or a cheapo acid augment from gianthold. Yugoloths in extraplanar palace are immune to acid, and some of the demons and devils in various challenges are resistant to acid, so vampire slayer is preferred. But until Mabar rolls around, acid is fine.

For your main trash beater:

• Cannith Crafted (Good of Bludgeon w/iDeadly and a red slot) <=== best dps
• Scraps of Enlightenment
• Adamantine Knuckles (slot Good Bypass in one of the augments)

My guy on live uses Scraps of Enlightenment with a vampire slayer augment and force damage ritual, but any of the above are outstanding choices. Vampiric stonedust wraps can be nice if you need vampirism to survive a tough boss fight. Note that Lit2 wraps are pretty far behind the curve compared to the above choices.


For undead:

• Greensteel triple positive <=== best dps
• Cannith Crafted (Light of Unnatural Bane w/iDeadly and a red slot)
• ML16 Mabar wraps

My guy on live used Mabar wraps for years, then switched to triple positive when they added greensteel handwraps. The cannith crafted version is very strong, with much more on-hit damage than the others but no auto-kill on a 20 feature.


For the archon on Kobold Island:

• Cannith Crafted (Evil of Chaotic Outsider Bane w/iDeadly and a red slot for acid augment)

The archon is immune to electricity and resistant to cold and fire, so acid is the clear choice for the augment.

[EllisDee37]

Stats

. . .Base .Lvl. Item. .Ins. Tome. Ship. AP. Stance. Total .Mod
Str . 15. . . . . 8 . . 3 . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . 28. . .9
Dex . 15. . . . . 8 . . 3 . . 2 . . 2 . .1. . .3. . . 34. . 12
Con . 15. . . . . 8 . . 3 . . . . . 2 . .2. . -2. . . 28. . .9
Int . .8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . 10. . .0
Wis . 15. . 4 . . 8 . . 3 . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . 32. . 11
Cha . .8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . 10. . .0


Hit Points

45 Heroic Durability (autogrant)
128 Monk
144 Constitution
20 Way of the Patient Tortoise
15 Conditioning III
40 Superior False Life (cove hat)
20 Vitality (arkat's cord)
10 Draconic Vitality (agents of argo favor)
20 ship buffs (Hag Apothecary)
----
442 hit points


Dodge

6 flurry of blows
9 bracers of wind
3 dodge (feat)
---
18 dodge


PRR

20 iron skin III
9 henshin cores
20 sheltering (ring)
9 insightful PRR (necklace)
---
58 PRR (20 MRR)


AC

10 base
12 monk level 15 (centered bonus)
12 dexterity mod
11 wisdom mod
2 shintao cores
7 frozen tunic
5 protection (augment)
5 natural armor (augment)
3 parrying (boots)
4 ship buffs (Armory)
---
71 AC


Reflex Save

10 monk levels
12 dex
5 resistance (augment)
3 parrying (boots)
1 luck (augment)
4 greater heroism (dragonmark)
2 shintao cores
2 ship buffs (Chronoscope)
---
39 reflex save


Stunning Fist

10 base
8 half character levels
11 wisdom mod
13 item (trinket)
1 ship buffs (Grandmaster's Dojo)
---
43 stunning fist dc


CRUCIBLE SWIM

You need to roll a total of 40 to save vs elite crucible traps, which means 39 reflex + 1 roll will do it if you're under the effects of saves boost, where 1 is no longer an auto-fail. Without boost you only need 38 reflex since a 1 fails anyway. These numbers are for elite; reaper will require higher saves. Figure aim for mid-to-high 40s for reaper, but that's just a guess.

The current is pretty strong if you don't have someone turning the valve. Figure high 40s / low 50s swim as a reasonable target.


Reflex

39 reflex save (see above)
5 infused chaos robe
4 saves boost
---
48 reflex during crucible swim


Swim

19 ranks
9 strength mod
24 item (crafted belt swap)
1 luck
4 greater heroism
---
57 swim

[EllisDee37]

Here are my notes for soloing crucible:

Bring larafay to deal with the maze casters

1) Talk to, in order:
   - Daggertooth (Gnoll) diplo
   - Vrall (Hobgoblin) diplo
   - Gorn (Orc) intim
   - Jorgundal (Giant) twice to begin

2) Maze
   - Turn auto-targeting OFF (press G)
   - With hire on I valve, get two crests above and below I
   - Head back toward entrance, leave I door near start closed
   - With hire on K valve, get K crest
   - Slot crest near K valve
   - Head toward H, leave K door open from start to H
   - With hire on H, slot two remaining crests
   - Grab horn and beat feet

3) Maze, upper level
   - Pull lever at start to reset wheels
   - Kill every gnoll
   - Pull far lever and run to set all 3 wheels
     - Color shows in nth position; flip wheels n-1 times

4) Swim
   - Be sure to open gate with lever right next to swim start
   - Heroism, Parrying, Underwater Action, Swim
   - After killing gnolls
     - Get horn
     - Do NOT touch treasure pile
     - DDoor back to start, head through maze and climb ladder
       (May need to have hire pull H for you)

[Stoner81]

Thanks for the posting the new version of this Ellis it is very much appreciated

Stoner81.

[kuro_zero]

Gear

This is subject to revision, almost certainly including a pair of damage goggles. Meaning I'll need to move my min2 gs goggles. *cries*

I've found deadly/accuracy items on Helms, Cloaks, and rings (got one with green slot too) as well so possible to slot it in either of those items and still keep goggles. Granted, the affix tend to show on goggles much more frequently.

[whereispowderedsilve]

Any chance u can do this up as 1 of the Iconics? I'll let u figure it out :P! ! If not thanks anyways! Cheers! Keep up the great work! !

[nibel]

Any chance u can do this up as 1 of the Iconics? I'll let u figure it out :P! ! If not thanks anyways! Cheers! Keep up the great work! !

Last time Ellis tried to build a iconic challenge farmer, I told him/her to wait until the enhancement pass, so we would have 4 options of iconic races, and the enhancement pass.

The major issue with the plan is still that "optimally", you would like to roll an iconic, jump into challenge farming, transfer mats to shared bank, and delete. I mean optimally, because this way you don't need to farm or craft for gear, and could just remake the build every time you need challenge mats. This means, we need to work with the iconic initial gear (That includes 30 nice healing potions)

If you want to keep the iconic around, and gear him up, and keep them there for anytime you need, I doubt any iconic will be better than this monk runner. I might be wrong.

[Postumus]

Any chance u can do this up as 1 of the Iconics? I'll let u figure it out :P! ! If not thanks anyways! Cheers! Keep up the great work! !

Could probably make a serviceable Bladeforged Punk or Spunk (Sor/Pal/Monk) to run challenges. Fast, self healing, decent melee damage (decent enough for challenges).

[nibel]

Crucible Swim:
Underwater Action ring of Swim +13
Kama of Greater Parrying
Infused Chaosrobe w/+10 reflex

Aquatic Bracers are the best switch item for the crucible swim. And since it does drop in the Crucible, and this character will be able to run it a lot of times, you will end up finding it sooner or later.

Clickies
Visor of the Flesh Render Guards (multiple)
Planar Gird
Any invisibility clickie for colossal crystal
Shard of Xoriat
Phiarlan's Pendant of Time

Unfortunatelly, clickies stopped dropping since U19. Cloak of Invisibility have a single clickie, and with all the shrines around Lava Caves, it is enough to cover the carrier in Colossal Crystal. Just remember to cast it after the kobold grabs the crystal.

Exceptionally, you can algo gather Kobold Gem of Shadow Fade for emergency uses.

[EllisDee37]

Aquatic Bracers are the best switch item for the crucible swim.

While true, it's mostly a distinction without a difference. The monk already has improved evasion so the only thing aquatic gives over the very-easily-crafted ring swap is +2 swim.

The downside with aquatic bracers is that now you have to manage a bracer swap. I normally swap only goggles (visors, true seeing) and a ring (feather fall, charisma of persuasion, underwater of swim). Easier to manage 2 swap slots than 3.

[Stoner81]

I'm just trying to get the Madstone Boots now for my farmer in the mean time I will use a pair of crafted +6 DEX boots. I might even see about getting a pair with an augment slot and see if there is anything else worth slotting in.

Stoner81.

[nibel]

While true, it's mostly a distinction without a difference. The monk already has improved evasion so the only thing aquatic gives over the very-easily-crafted ring swap is +2 swim.

Still an upgrade for the crucible swim. And it being part of the same quest this character is built to defeat as a hobby makes them much easier to acquire than a lot of other named items in the setup. Specially the greensteel.

I think it is worth at least a note on the gearset as (UA of Swim + 13 or aquatic bracers)

[pappo]

Clickies
Visor of the Flesh Render Guards (multiple)
Planar Gird
Any invisibility clickie for colossal crystal
Shard of Xoriat
Phiarlan's Pendant of Time

In your videos you cast the same four things (GH, DW, ExpRetreat, and Stoneskin). I see from your clickies, where you are getting the Deathward and GH, but where do you get the Stoneskin? From your build I do not see any UMD taken, so I just was puzzled on where all the buffs were coming from.

I am working on one, but only at lvl 10 so far, and as a first life. I do not have many TR toons available, or "uber" gear, so having to farm for the gear you show, will take me a while to finish the Challenge Farmer.

Great build though. Thanks for doing all this.

[Cardtrick]

In your videos you cast the same four things (GH, DW, ExpRetreat, and Stoneskin). I see from your clickies, where you are getting the Deathward and GH, but where do you get the Stoneskin? From your build I do not see any UMD taken, so I just was puzzled on where all the buffs were coming from.

I am working on one, but only at lvl 10 so far, and as a first life. I do not have many TR toons available, or "uber" gear, so having to farm for the gear you show, will take me a while to finish the Challenge Farmer.

In his videos, the usage counter on his green steel goggles goes down from 2 to 1 when he casts Stoneskin. Presumably they're Min2 HP goggles.

I personally can't imagine spending the materials for a tier 3 dual shard item on a challenge farmer . . . but I've never run Shroud as much as a lot of people. I doubt very much that Stoneskin is essential to the performance of this build.

[EllisDee37]

In his videos, the usage counter on his green steel goggles goes down from 2 to 1 when he casts Stoneskin. Presumably they're Min2 HP goggles.

I personally can't imagine spending the materials for a tier 3 dual shard item on a challenge farmer . . . but I've never run Shroud as much as a lot of people. I doubt very much that Stoneskin is essential to the performance of this build.

Correct, and no it's not required.

Even crazier than spending the larges on a dual-shard accessory for a challenge farmer is that I then made a second one after they introduced deadly items. Gah!

My new gearset is much stronger dps-wise, but it no longer has a stoneskin clickie. I opted for smoke screen hp bracers this time instead of min2 goggles, slotting heavy fort in a green augment on a pair of deadly goggles.

[Stoner81]

Swaps

Undead / Disruptor fight:
ML16 Wraps of Endless Light OR lootgen disrupters

Archon fight:
+5 Unholy of Greater Chaotic Outsider Bane

Boss fights that go pear-shaped:
+3 Screaming Flametouch Threaded of Vampirism

Any Beholder:
Silver Flame Necklace (fully upgraded)

Scraps of Enlightenment against everything are just barely behind +5 Holy of Greater Bane against their intended target, so it's largely pointless to craft boss beaters if you have Scraps. If you already have boss beaters, may as well keep them, but now that I have scraps I'm deconning my giant beaters and gregor beaters. I may even decon my devashta beaters as well. The only swaps worth anything are disrupters / mabar wraps, smiters, and banishers, all because they have insta-kill potential. That's the one thing Scraps don't have.

Quick question m8, does the above apply to the Archon wraps (in bold) since doesn't it need the Unholy to bypass part of the DR? If we need to keep them then I think it looks like this for wraps:

Scraps of Enlightenment (everything more or less).
Vapirism wraps (fights that go pear shaped and just some extra heals from trash etc).
Wraps of Endless Light (undead beaters).
Archon wraps.

I have never bothered with smiters and banishers since stuff dies quick anyway.

Stoner81.

[EllisDee37]

Quick question m8, does the above apply to the Archon wraps (in bold) since doesn't it need the Unholy to bypass part of the DR?

I'm having trouble parsing this question, so I'll just say that the archon on kobold island has DR/Evil+Cold Iron, meaning scraps won't break the DR.

[mbartol]

Thanks for the replies.

I think I'll roll up the Monk (although the combination of ranged DPS & fast movement speed is pretty tempting).
Would you still recommend the posted feat lineup?

[EllisDee37]

Here is the gearset I use:

Head: Cove Hat (Superior False Life of Concentration +15)
Eyes: Deadly V (Heavy Fort)
Neck: Health +6 (Natural Armor +5)
Back: Cloak of Invisibility (Resistance +5)
Wrist: Smoke Screen (+45 HP)
Hand: Brawling Gloves, ML16
Waist: Arkat's Cord (Deathblock)
Feet: Dexterity +6 of Jump +7
Ring: Ring of the Stalker, ML15
Ring: Wise +6 (Protection +5)
Trinket: Devotion +48 of Good Luck +2
Body: Frozen Tunic, ML16
Fists: Scraps of Enlightenment (Ruby of the Vampire Slayer) w/Force Damage ritual

I gave up on stunning fist, with no stunning item of any kind. Slotting +10 from alchemical wraps, or cobbling together +10 via +6 on wraps while wearing exceptional combat mastery, would make stunning fist virtually no-fail. For me, with no items I can generally only stun casters when running CR20 challenges, but that is still highly effective.

Looking at this in the context of U32 crafting, I should be able to fit in a stunning item. Possibly also an insightful stunning item.

Since I already have all this gear, the named items (helmet, cloak, bracers, gloves, belt, ring 1 and armor) are off the table. That leaves goggles, necklace, boots, ring 2 and trinket to play with. I need to replace deadly, con, dex, wis, jump and devotion, plus maybe try to work in stunning, insightful stunning, doublestrike and healing amp. (Does doublestrike work with unarmed?) Firing up the gear master, which is perfectly designed to handle this exact type of analysis, I end up with:

U32 crafting:
Goggle: Wisdom +8 of Deadly +6 (Heavy Fort)
Necklace: Constitution +8 of Devotion +97 (Natural Armor +5)
Boots: Dexterity +8 of Parrying +3 (Blindness Immunity, Jump +9)
Trinket: Stunning +9 of True Seeing w/Insightful Stunning +4
Current crafting:
Ring 2: Mobility of Good Luck +2 (Protection +5)

Nothing of interest appears to go in the Ring 2 slot with U32 crafting, so that's totally open for current crafting. I wanted to put Healing Amp on the trinket, but ML issues with the ring 2 augment prevented True Seeing from making the cut, and I very much want it. Currently I use a swap for true seeing, and having to swap it actively annoys me. I don't miss not having +32 healing amp, so it should be fine to continue not missing it.

If I can dig up a yellow+colorless pair of boots (or goggles, necklace or ring) then slotting Blindness Immunity would totally be worth it. Remove Blindness pots work fine, but are annoying, and the mephits in extraplanar like to blind.