Cathedral of Flames (CoF) Farming Run

Contrary to popular belief, this dungeon can be run by any number of primary classes.

Major discussions are being held as to who is more preferable for this farming dungeon, whether it’s the official wiki, Guild Wars Guru or others.

If you were to ask me, I would tell you to choose whomever you are more comfortable & speedy with.Additionally, I am also one of those folks who will completely disagree with you if you say that an (hour and a half) cof run is acceptable.CoF should be ran within 35-40 minutes /with all chests and hidden’s opened, assuming your customers can keep your smite hero/real smiter alive.

This article will cover the essentials of a 600 monk tank!

What is a 600 Monk? –Simply put, with reference to the armor and health attributes, it is a monk at or near 600 HP, with the lowest possible armor stats, (15 armor).Use Vitae and Survivor Insignias on all of your armor pieces except your chest piece.That piece will either need a +30 or +50 Non-Stacking Vigor Rune and a Survivor Insignia.

The lowest armor can be bought at Ascalon City in Tyria from the Armor Crafter (Banoit), whom is located just below the Xunlai Storage Chests.

Onwards…

If you are wondering who else is capable of running CoF without very much difficulty, here is a brief overview of classes available for that: (Me/Mo, N/Mo, Rt/Mo, A/Mo), Once I have a solid grouping of builds for each of these, I will include them here.

Unfortunately due to different folks e-mailing me and telling me that their cof aggro, pulling and positioning tactics are different, I will not include an elaborate step by step analysis of each section and level of the CoF dungeon.

However, if you are still curious as to how I approach my form of gaming tactics, you can always e-mail or ask me directly on the blog.

Lets get the basics down:

1 a) Builds:

600 Monk: OwUTMmHD5BgIP0H1DtYE5uGBAA
Smiter Monk: OwQDQjzPH35kpMk5je4TmA

Above me is a sample of what I like to use on my hero or smiter colleague as running builds.Please note: (These builds are general and can be modified to suit your specific timing and effectiveness needs).An example of that would be a Ritualist with a skill called Vengeful Was Khanhei, whom will be able to exert much more damage to enemies attacking.However you keep yourself open to Hexes and Enchantment stripping now that you have replaced “Spell Breaker” (Divine Favor Elite) for VWK.If you bring another monk hero you can have your hero enchant you with SB to maintain your invulnerability to spells.

I do not believe I have enough characters for this blog post to explain all the details on how to run class based builds, so I will not.If you do have questions after this, please ask away.

1 b) Basic Walkthrough:

Dungeon Level 1

a) Every group you tank will require (Spell Breaker) and a Mantra of Resolve, as a mandatory requirement.(Note: Some folks CAN do it without the Mantra, and I do certainly congratulate them)Mantra of Resolve defends against interrupts, but takes anywhere from 8-9 energy (3-5 attribute points in Inspiration Magic).Considering how much energy you will be getting from group damage, it very well validates the energy it takes.

b) Clearing out the entire dungeon takes 2 minutes longer, so there is no excuse a 600 would skip everything to the right of the boss just to make the run faster.I also do realize that the first level hidden chests don’t drop a whole lot of gold, maximum 99gold, but the reason you kill all of the charr is for the points some people need for their delver track.Be courteous and help out.

c) When you get to Faze Magekiller – Elite: Power Block (who can drop the “Magekiller” Mesmer Domination Staff“best domination staff in guild wars” *stats wise*), make sure you prot yourself up quickly and maintain your mantra as he will most likely take more than 15-16 seconds of Spell Breaker time to kill.

d) Once you proceed down the opened dungeon gate, if you time it right you can get all 4 groups of crypt wraiths and shock phantoms at the same time.If you are experienced enough you can kill all 4 of them at the same time. This saves you quiet a bit of time.

e) The Bosslike Ghost Group – The Keeper – Elite: Life Transfer (who can drop the Scepter of the Keeper – Necro Blood Magic­ or an Elite Necro Tome) which I’ve seen a lot of people die from, even experienced players.  He is actually a piece of cake.Apply Spell Breaker on yourself move into the aggro just a tad, apply SoA (Shield of Absorption) then SB (Spirit Bond) and run right to him and his casters.Within about 5-6 seconds worth of SoA’s duration you will kill about half of his group, the rest can be restlessly tanked with just SB (Spirit Bond).The rest after this is pretty self – explanatory.Don’t zone until everyone gets their drops, and the hidden chests that appear either to the left of the zoning area or in the back corridor, sometimes 2, one at the front and one at the back.

LoD’s (Light of Deldrimor)

(Why are 600 typically picky out ghostly hero’s?) Is it because they are distracting? Yes! Why? They tend to focus the enemy fire onto themselves if they do aggro within the area of the 600.The other problem is they sometimes pull aggro and run back to the smiter and the rest of the players, which will result in a catastrophe, with usually the smiter dying and a whole whack-load of problems for the group trying to salvage the situation.So to avoid that, don’t grab ghostly hero when a group specifically draws and (X) on the map and types “don’t LoD there. “I guess we can start writing in other languages too, for cross compatibility.

1. DO NOT grab the LoD beside the first charr group to the very north of the beginning.

2. DO NOT grab the LoD when you enter the 2nd corridor with the big pillars as the support.This lod is located between the first two 2 pillars as you enter the area.

3. The rest of the lod’s you encounter are completely safe to be popped.

Dungeon Level 2

a) Be sure to prot up first before going into tank mode dear 600’s.I’ve ran with so many other monk tanks who forget to notice that their enchantments have been dropped due to zoning.

b) The best way to approach the beginning group is to use something called “timing”. Yes I do realize this is a largely confusing tactic, but it does guarantee a fast and efficient run, still guaranteeing your customers maximum availability for popup chests and other various excursions.The trick if, IF there you have a charr sword warrior at the beginning is to prot yourself up, run in, grab his attention, throw up spell breaker and grab both of the first wraith groups.The charr warrior will meet his demise in less than 2 seconds and soon you will rid yourself of 2 bothersome groups of wraiths.

c) If someone lod’s you might have a couple chests to your immediate right and or left.If people ping both sides, be sure you clean up both of them, and grab the hiddens, on which can drop anything from lock picks to ruby’s.Advice: (If you see a Charr Flameshielder, Hexreaper or Dominator, be sure you have Spell breaker on you before tankage.The dominator will put some heavy mesmer hexes on you that will make life difficult, on top of disenchantment.The Flameshielder will consequently Meter Shower and Fire Storm you, and the Hexreaper will love to degen your life.Any level of experience you have will ultimately result in a death without Spell Breaker on groups with a combination or those.

d) The enchanted weapons are truly a piece of cake if you can time your spells accordingly.Here is how I approach say a group of 2 daggers, 2 hammers, and the rest are bows:Hammers as you know now can do knockdown using “ Hammer bash “ and not relying on Irresistible blow if you happen to dodge their attack, in which case your build isn’t designed to do dodging, so it never worked. Apply Prot Spirit and Mantra of Resolve before grabbing your groups.Mantra will stop the first Wild Strike against you, if you mistake your timing, but will leave you vulnerable to the 2nd dagger if you don’t time your casting right.Wild Strike by the way will remove your stance, which is what the Mantra is.

As you pull the group towards you, immediately apply Spirit Bond you, to protect against the bow damage, and quickly apply SoA just as the Meele get to you, then re-apply with Spirit Bond because the bows will have probably hit you more than 10 times by now, thus needed a re-apply to negate the damage to 0 from SoA.The main reason I approach this method is because SoA in 5-6 seconds will kill the daggers, allowing you to not have to worry about getting interrupted again, and quickly focusing your attention to the knockdown capable Hammers. Just as your SoA is about to flicker away, place Spirit Bond on yourself again, as the hammers knock you down. This will buy you enough time to get off the group again, and do your thing.(Note: This step does in fact require a little bit of practice to master)Before you aggro the groups is often suggested to see what you will be up against before you run in.This way if need be you can hug a wall while you take care of the meele first before moving onto the long range foes.

e) Watch for pop-ups after the first poison geyser, which usually consists of Crypt Ghouls (who can also interrupt with Savage Slash**),** a couple Crypt Banshee’s and maybe 1 or 2 Ash or Shock Phantoms.By that I mean place Spell Breaker on yourself just as you pop the group.

f) After you kill the popup group, get the enchanted weapons, and if you still are having difficulty, refer to step d).

g) After you kill the group, proceed straight ahead which will have a loner charr warrior (most of the time) asking to die.You can prot yourself up, run past him, apply Spell Breaker, run over the next set of Geyser’s and pop the group, and immediately run to the 2nd group to the right of you, which would be coming towards you anyways if you nailed your timing right.

h) Moving along to the 2nd Boss group with Tyndir Flamecaller Elite: Ether Prodigy.Prot yourself up, Spell Breaker, run in, Throw up Spirit Bond, immediately followed by SoA, then Spirit Bond again to make up the negation time it takes for SoA to reduce the dmg down to 0.This boss just like the first boss, Faze Magekiller will more than likely take longer to kill than Spell Breakers duration, so be sure to watch as he casts Meter Shower.

i) Ok so he’s dead, awesome. To the left or right of you, folks might have noticed Lod’s, so go kill the spider popups.The first corridor to the right has two popup groups, so make sure you kill both, in case some goof runs to the very back of the room.

j) Vraxx the Condemned Elite: Soldiers Fury is next with his group.(He drops Shield of the Condemned, Aegis of the Condemned, Bastion of the Condemned.)

k) Drop down the little hill.This part can be done in 2 ways. You can grab both the crypt, ghoul, ash and shock groups with the enchanted weapons if you are mad or skilled enough, or you can grab the first 2 groups, then move onto the enchanted weapons.

l) Ahh yes, now The Master – Elite: Jagged Bones; This boss will kill even the most experienced players, if you do not time your skills right.He in fact can be killed way before your Spell Breaker Expires if you get close enough to him, as he wands you.Here’s the rundown:1) Throw up Spell breaker, Prot Spirit and Mantra First… that’s 35 energy, you should still have about 7-10 energy left if you decide to run with 1 or 2 energy runes which is fine, if you prefer it that way.2) Once those are applied, just nick the side of your aggro bubble so they start running over to ya, apply SoA immediately, 3) followed by Spirit Bond which you should have enough energy as the wanders hit you a bunch of time by now. The Jagged Bones can wipe a 600 monk with prot spirit on because on occasion they do below 60 damage, and if 5-6 go off it might result in 350-380 dmg, and if you don’t time your re-applying of prots, the others hitting will eventually leave you hugging the dirt.This is one of the Ghost based Bosses who will eventually test a 600’s ability to watch their prots and and re-apply when needed.

Dungeon Level 3

First and foremost, on this dungeon, if an Lod is picked up, it is NOT DEPENDANT ON KILLING THE FIRST GROUPS.I seriously don’t know who came up with that idea.But the wiki clearly states it’s a bug and its needing a fix.At first my speculation of it being a 50/50 was wrong too, until I re-confirmed it was a bug.

So Folks, the first LoD *IF* if comes up, and doesn’t respond, is A BUG!

It has NOTHING to do with the groups that are close to it.

Lets clear that up on our after months of arguments in game.

a) Same deal, kill everything move down the corridor into the Burning Tree Hall.If folks picked up the lod in the right hand tunnel from the north of burning tree hall, go get it.

b) Look for Dungeon Level 2 step d) if you require any suggestions with the enchanted weapons.

c) Keep an eye on the lod’s as if your group is luck can get as many 8 hiddens on this level.

d) The group just as of you are coming to the first dungeon door (whose key should have dropped form the Keymaster) is a very tricky group consisting of at least 5-6 enchanted bows 1 hammer or 2 daggers.If you are experienced enough to take them head on as they can do HA Ranger Spikes, good for you, otherwise what some 600’s do is, they handle the melee first before engaging the bows.Either way is fine.You won’t be saving or wasting time or if you do it one way or another.

e) Murakai’s Steward – Elite: Corrupt Enchantment.Some folks panic on this guy when he does corrupt enchantment or Artophy.Relax, and lure him past the first geyser and tank it out.When he’s done unless the group explicitly demands it, you can grab his key, without aggroing the central popups and head on out.

f) Long story short, you made it to Murakai, good stuff.Kill the 4 side groups as they can drop some really good stuff.

g) Tanking Murakai – Lady Of The Night, without getting to her activate the Consumption,She actually doesn’t activate her Consumption every 20 seconds, but rather 13-14 seconds, so be sure to plan putting on your Spell Breaker during the interval between that time if you can.Also luring her into the FIRE:I’ve been getting e-mails upon e-mails to show people how to do it, it’s a piece of cake really, and when my video comes out, you’ll see it for yourself.Basically as you pull her and her servants, you run along the side of the heart shaped magma pool and slowly but firmly pull her back near the flame, if she quickly starts to run back, run back to her, to get her attention again, and try it again.It takes a little bit of practice.The flame also burns her for 50 dmg per second and it adds up if you want to kill her fast.That with the proper timing of applying SB won’t even have charge the consumption to half way.

That’s it! Let me know if I missed something or if you'd like to see additional information.

What to expect next: SoO - Shards of Orr Farming Ooze Pit - Farming Catabombs of Kathandrax - Farming UW/Fow - Farming

Links and Refrences:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cof

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cof#Notes – Look here for Official Bugs and Hiddens.