Farming Ettins
Edited and Published by: Magi
Welcome to the second installment of my farming guides. This guide will be discussing how to farm Ettins for rune drops, going out of Beetletun. This guide assumes you are a Warrior with a Monk secondary, and that you have unlocked Beetletun on your map. Farming Ettins is a very hit or miss way to farm; you either hit it big by getting a Superior Vigor or Superior Absorption rune, or you walk away with a handful of minor and major runes that aren't worth very much. Consequently, this kind of farming is best for those with a bit of determination and patience. I would also recommend to only Ettin farm when your country as favor, because there will be fewer people farming Ettins, and more people heading into the Underworld.
As always, I recommend a full set of Gladiators armor for the energy bonus (15k if you want to farm in style). If you can afford a Superior Vigor/Absorption, things are a little easier, but if all you have is major runes, no need to worry. Just make sure to only attempt 3 or 4 Ettins at one time.
Another note on the patience required for farming Ettins: the mentality of farming is usually to aggro as many beasts as you can, then kill them while they are grouped around you. This will NOT work with Ettins. For the build to work to its fullest effect, you should try to only take on groups of 3 or 4, regardless of your rune selection. If you aggro a mob of 6+, you have to worry about staying alive the entire time, because you can only focus on one ettin at a time.
Best case scenario weapon set is as follows:
The Long Sword with the enchant mod can be traded from the collector outside of Dunes of Despair, for 5 Jade Mandibles.
A zealous mod can be bought for 1-3k, and the cheapest sword pommel of fortitude (+20) will do just fine for this. You might as well customize the weapon, since you are doing so many modifications on it anyway. A +X health while enchanted is the best shield for this.
Attribute point spread is as follows:
I just alternate between minor runes of whatever weapon I'm wielding at the time; that seems to be most efficient so far. The best thing to do would be to just craft one set of gauntlets for each weapon and put a superior rune on each. Since I'm wearing 15k Gladiators armor, I'd rather just keep buying minor runes rather than spend 45k on gloves. That's just me, though; the build works with minor runes, and it works with superior runes.
The skills are, from left to right:
Sprint: For (Min: 8 - Max: 14) seconds, you move 25% faster.
Frenzy: For 8 seconds, you attack 33% faster but take double damage.
Gash: If this attack hits a Bleeding foe, you strike for (Min: 5 - Max: 10) more damage and that foe suffers a Deep Wound, lowering that foe's maximum Health by 20% for (Min: 5 - Max: 20) seconds.
Sever Artery: If this attack hits, the opponent begins Bleeding for (Min: 5 - Max: 25) seconds, losing Health over time.
Final Thrust: Lose all Adrenaline. If Final Thrust hits, you deal (Min: 1 - Max: 40) more damage. This damage is doubled if your target was below 50% Health.
Hundred Blades [elite]: Swing twice at target foe and foes adjacent to your target.
Vigorous Spirit: For the next 30 seconds, each time target ally attacks or casts a spell, that ally is healed for 1+.
Live Vicariously: While you maintain this Enchantment, whenever target ally hits a foe, you gain (Min: 1 - Max: 14) Health.
POSSIBLE SPOILER IN THE NEXT LINE
Hundred Blades is one of the hardest skills to cap in the game, simply because of its location. It can only be capped in one place: from Undead Rurik, right before you fight the Lich, in Hell's Precipice, the last mission of the game.
For some reason, the drops I get seem to be better when I don't have an identification kit in my inventory. This is probably nothing but my paranoia, but just in case I'm onto something, I'm sharing it with the world.
The starting location is Beetletun. Depart out the east exit, into Nebo Terrance. Continue due east, running past the Mergoyles and the first set of two Tengu. If you use sprint right as you aggro the mergoyles, you should lose aggro from the first set of Tengu right before you hit the second pair. Depending on the spawn of the Ettins, you may or may not have to kill the second set of Tengu. It is best to use a different sword to kill these than the one you'll be using when you kill the Ettins, simply because of the nature of the fighting. Any max damage sword will do. The Tengu are fairly easy to kill, and don't require any specific strategy. I recommend NOT casting Live Vicariously yet, since the Tengu Wilds can shatter enchantments. After those two are dealt with, recharge health and energy, cast Live Vicariously, and switch to your Long Sword. At this point, you should have no energy regeneration.
Attack the Ettins in groups of three, if possible. For maximum benefit from the enchantments and zealous sword mod, group the Ettins shoulder to shoulder so that Hundred Blades strikes more than one ettin.
At this point, it's just a matter of spamming Gash, Sever Artery, Final Thrust, and Hundred Blades. Make sure to keep Vigorous Spirit up at all times, otherwise you may not be receiving enough health from your attacks.
Continue east, killing all Ettins you come across, until you get to the portal for North Kryta Provice. Head through the portal.
A good idea would be to make sure you don't have the Defending North Kryta Province quest equipped; that would prove to be rather problematic. Go straight once you get through the portal, and sprint through the Ascalon Settlement. Once you get through the gates, there will be more Ettin. Kill them in the same manner as previously described.
After you run out of Ettins to kill, there are several choices. You can keep continue into Scoundrels Rise, map back to Beetletun, or retrace your steps and go through the portal into Nebo Terrace from North Kryta Province. I find that just mapping back to Beetletun gives the quickest runs, but if you are having trouble getting past the Tengu, retracing your steps is probably the best idea. Good luck, and happy hunting!
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