Since I've never seen a guide on the topic of farming, I thought Id write one myself. Farming is a controversial topic, but that will not be the focus of this guide, and is a discussion for another time and place. The focus of this guide is on how to farm safely, efficiently, and most importantly, without irritating your fellow players. Most of my farming experience is brute/kin farming villainside, so my knowledge of dominator farming tactics and heroside farm tactics are not as great. This is also my first guide, so if anyone has advice that could help me improve it Id really appreciate it. With that being said, lets get started.
[u]Section 1: What is Farming?[u]
Farming is the act of running a particular piece of content repeatedly in order to efficiently get some kind of reward. The name farming comes from the similarity to real-life farmers who sow their crops in the same fields year after year because it is more efficient. By this definition, many things can be farmed (and sometimes are, in the case of healing and damage farms when trying to get certain badges), however the most common type of farming is farming for influence/infamy and salvage/recipe drops, and that will be the main focus of this guide.
So as it applies to farming influence/infamy and salvage/recipe drops, farming means running a particular mission repeatedly, without ever completing it in order to quickly earn inf. Later on in this guide, I will discuss common farm missions both redside and blueside, as well as farming builds, and farming etiquette. This type of farming can also be used for powerleveling, and that will also be discussed. The developers of the game have a mixed outlook towards this type of farming. They have stated that they dont really agree with the practice, but do not have a great desire to stop people from doing it (If Ive misquoted anyone, I apologize).
Since the merit system was added to the game in issue 13, a new type of farming, merit farming, has been taking place. Merit farming involves repeatedly running a story arc through the ouroboros flashback system in order to quickly earn merits. Some task forces are also farmed for merits, although due to the restrictions placed on task forces, this is somewhat less common. This type of farming will not be discussed much in this guide. The game developers seem to be less tolerant of this type of farming, since a recent patch to the test servers has seen the merit rewards for the most commonly farmed story arcs reduced.
[u]Section 2: Farming Missions[u]
In this section, I will discuss what makes a good farm mission and commonly farmed missions for heroes and villains. When it comes to finding a good farm mission, there are several criteria to look at to evaluate whether it will be a good farming mission or not. These are discussed below.
1. Enemy Type: Some types of enemies are much easier to farm than others. Good things to look for are enemies that deal primarily smashing/lethal damage, enemies that have low overall damage resistance/defense, and enemies that dont have a lot of annoying special abilities (such as lots of mez, endurance draining powers, etc.).
2. Map Size and Layout: Generally, larger maps with more enemies are better than smaller maps with less enemies, due to the fact that they require less time spent resetting. This is not universally true however. The layout of the map is important as well. You want a map that is easy to travel through with an easy path to each spawn. You also want maps where the enemies are spaced close enough together that you dont spend a long time travelling between each group, but far enough apart that you can easily take on one group at a time without accidentally aggroing a second group.
3. Difficult to complete: Since you are running the missions without completing them, you want a mission that is difficult to complete accidentally. This means that kill all missions are not good farming missions, and neither are single glowie missions. Kill boss and minions missions are somewhat better, and can be very good if the boss you have to kill is an AV, since it will be difficult to accidentally kill an archvillain. Probably the best maps are those that require several glowies to be clicked or destroyed to complete them.
With those criteria in mind, well take a look at the most commonly farmed missions for both heroes and villains.
[u]Heroes[u]
For heroes, there are 2 missions that are commonly farmed, with a couple others that make decent farms, but arent as commonly used.
Mission Name: Save Warrior Clans Village (AKA Warrior Farm)
Contact: Maria Jenkins
Enemy Group: Warriors (praetorian)
Completion Conditions: Click 15 glowies
This is one of the two most commonly farmed missions for heroes. The map is somewhat small, but has a good path without backtracking, and its very difficult to complete accidentally. The enemies are praetorian warriors, which are a good group, since they do all smashing/lethal damage and have fairly low damage resistance.
Mission Name: Defeat Battle Maiden and her Minions (AKA BM Farm)
Contact: Maria Jenkins
Enemy Group: Warriors (praetorian)
Completion Conditions: Defeat Battle Maiden (AV) and minions
This is the second of the two most commonly farmed missions for heroes. It is the same map and enemy group as the Save Warrior Clans Village map and good for farming for the same reasons. Instead of clicking glowies to end the mission, you must defeat an archvillain, which also makes it very hard to end accidentally. Care should be taken not to aggro Battle Maiden though.
Other missions that make good farms, but arent as commonly used are:
Mission Name: Get Data From 1st Dimension (AKA Freak Farm)
Contact: Unai Kemen
Enemy Group: Freakshow
Completion Conditions: Click 3 glowies
Mission Name: Close the Dimensional Ruptures (AKA Council Farm)
Contact: Unai Kemen
Enemy Group: Council Empire
Completion Conditions: Click 20 Glowies
Mission Name: Empower the Bands of Shu (part 2) (AKA the demon farm)
Contact: Harvey Maylor
Enemy Group: Circle of Thorns
Completion Conditions: Defeat All
[u]Villains[u]
For villains, there are also 2 missions that are commonly farmed, with one of these (the lib farm) being the most common by far. There are also a couple other missions that make decent farm missions, but arent as commonly used as the other two.
Mission Name: Liberate Television (AKA the lib farm)
Contact: Television
Enemy Group: Nemesis
Completion Conditions: Defeat 4 special fake nemesis, and destroy 4 glowies.
The liberate television mission (or the Lib Farm) is by far the most commonly farmed mission by villains. It is a very large map, and moderately easy to get around in. It is also fairly easy to determine a path through the mobs that requires little backtracking. The enemies are all nemesis, and only a few types of them as well. By the criteria above, nemesis make somewhat good enemies for farm maps, due to doing mostly smashing/lethal damage, having low damage resistance, and doing lots of damage over time. They have some irritating abilities though, with colonels having a special form of vengeance, fake nemesis having personal force field, and warhulks and jaegers exploding when they die. If you plan on farming this map, you will need to learn strategies to deal with these abilities.
Mission Name: Go to Cargo Vessel and Eliminate Demonic Infestation (AKA the demon farm or ship farm)
Contact: Tavish Bell
Enemy Group: Circle of Thorns
Completion Conditions: Click 2 glowies
This is probably the second most commonly farmed mission for villains. The circle of thorns enemies would seem to make it a poor choice, but as long as the mission is set for 6 people or less, only possessed scientists will spawn, and they are relatively easy to deal with. The map is much smaller than the lib farm map, which means more resetting, however one benefit is that the arcane salvage that the scientists drop when defeated is often very valuable.
Other missions that make decent farms, but arent in common use are:
Mission Name: Help Fix the Movie
Contact: Television
Enemy Group: Freakshow, devouring earth (stone only), and 1 group of nemesis
Completion Conditions: Lead two hostages back to the entrance, defeat nemesis group.
Mission Name: Battle for Television
Contact: Television
Enemy Group: Nemesis and Family
Completion Conditions: Rescue hostage, defeat nemesis boss and minions.
If Ive forgotten any, please let me know.
[u]Section 3: Farming Builds[u]
In this section, I will discuss what makes a good farming build and common farming builds for heroes and villains. Just like choosing a good farm mission, choosing a good farming build relies on a few criteria. These are discussed below.
1. Survivability: In order to be able to farm successfully, you need to be able to withstand the damage that you will take while fighting each mob. If youre constantly dying, your farm wont be very efficient.
2. Damage: The second part of the equation is being able to quickly and consistently do enough damage to defeat the enemies in each group. This makes AoE damage more important than single target damage for the most part. If you take forever to defeat each group, your farm wont be very efficient.
3. Sustainability: The final requirement for efficient farming is sustainability. That means being able to deal damage/take damage/and keep your endurance up all the time. If youre relying on powers that are only available part of the time to farm or running out of endurance frequently, your farm wont be very efficient.
So with those requirements in mind, lets take a look at common farming builds for heroes and villains.
[u]Heroes[u]
There are 3 main farming builds that are used by hero farmers. Other builds may be able to farm too, but these are the 3 most common. A discussion of each is below.
Archetype: Controller
Powersets: Fire Control/Kinetics
Benefits: Fire/kin farmers are the most common farmers in City of Heroes. There is a ton of information out there about the build and its pretty easy to play. The benefits include good AoE damage from imps (although the imps don't have AoE themselves, there are 3 of them, so they're kind of an AoE as a power), the fire control powers (mainly hot feet and fire cages), and fulcrum shift, as well as good sustainability from Transference.
Drawbacks: The biggest drawback of a fire/kin farmer is that their survivability is dependent on their control powers, so bosses can cause problems for them.
Archetype: Scrapper
Powersets: Spines/Fiery Aura
Benefits: Spines/fire scrappers are also a very common farm build in City of Heroes. They arent quite as common as fire/kins though. The benefits include good across the board survivability, with nice damage resistance and a good self-heal. AoE damage is also very good, and single target damage can help them take out bosses easier than a fire/kin controller.
Drawbacks: Survivability of the fiery aura set isnt as great as some of the other scrapper secondaries. Quick movement from mob to mob may require use of travel powers, which can eat up a lot of endurance, but consume can help mitigate this.
Archetype: Blaster
Powersets: Archery/Mental Manipulation
Benefits: Archery/Mental blasters are probably the least common of the 3 builds listed here, but are becoming more common. Their benefits include spectacular AoE damage from aim, buildup, and rain of arrows, and good sustainability with drain psyche.
Drawbacks: Quick movement from mob to mob may require use of travel powers, which can eat a lot of endurance. Survivability is dependent on defeating a mob quickly, so bosses can be a challenge. The 3 main powers used to defeat a mob quickly are on long recharge.
[u]Villains[u]
Villains have 3 main farming builds as well, and a 4th build is mentioned due to its common inclusion in villain farms. A discussion of each is below.
Archetype: Dominator
Powersets: Fire Control/Psionic Assault
Benefits: This build is similar to the fire control/kinetics build heroside. Benefits are good AoE damage, and good survivability with perma-domination. Single target damage is also decent. Drain Psyche and domination helps with endurance.
Drawbacks: This build is very dependent on getting domination to be permanent, otherwise damage and the ability to control enemies consistently is low. Survivability is based almost solely in control powers so enemies that can't be controlled will be a problem.
Archetype: Brute
Powersets: Super Strength/Willpower
Benefits: An SS/WP brute has good AoE damage, very good survivability, and good endurance management. It also has good single target damage, making it easier to deal with bosses. The to-hit buff in rage also makes dealing with nemesis mobs defense easier.
Drawbacks: Quick movement from to mob may require travel powers, which can eat a lot of endurance. Damage is only good if the brute has a near full fury bar. Most brute farmers bring a kinetic corruptor along to mitigate these drawbacks.
Archetype: Brute
Powersets: Super Strength/Fiery Aura
Benefits: The benefits are similar to those of a SS/WP brute, but with even better AoE damage.
Drawbacks: The drawbacks are also similar to those of a SS/WP brute, but survivability is not quite as good.
Archetype: Corruptor
Powersets: Anything/Kinetics
Benefits: Kinetics corruptors arent really a farming build by themselves, since they cant really run a farm mission alone. They are included because it is very common for farming brutes to bring a kinetics corruptor along with them to use speed boost, transference, and fulcrum shift.
[u]Section 4: Running a Farm and Farming Etiquette[u]
In this section, I discuss how to start and run a farm, and the etiquette of farming. I consider farming etiquette very important since rude farmers are part of the reason some people dislike the practice so much. Farming for the purposes of powerleveling will also be discussed here.
Once you have a farming character up to level 50, and you have the right mission to farm, its time to actually start up a farm and run it. How youll go about starting your farm team depends on what you want to do with it.
If you are only trying to earn influence/infamy and drops, youll want the fewest number of people actually on the map with you possible. This usually means just your farming character, or you and one other person. This is because when an enemy drops something, it randomly has a chance to go to anyone who is on the map. So the more people who are on the map, the less chance youll get it. It isnt efficient to just farm the enemies which you alone will cause to spawn though. Ideally, you want the map to spawn enemies with the team set for 6-8 people. Setting the map for 6 people will cause almost all minions and lieutenants to spawn. More than that will cause bosses to start to spawn. So in order to have only a few people on the map, but spawn it for 6-8 people, you need to find fillers.
A filler is someone who joins the team long enough for you to start the mission and then leaves. It is also important to map the mission when using fillers. This means running around the map within visual range of every spawn. This is because any unrevealed spawn point will only spawn for as many people as are on the team at the time you reveal it. There are a couple of points to keep in mind when looking for fillers. First, you should try to get people who are in the same zone the mission is in. This is due to a bug that wont let you start a mission unless everyone is in the zone. Typically, people will use the broadcast channel to find fillers. This tends to work better for heroes than villains for some reason. In either case though, dont go crazy and spam broadcasts looking for fillers every 10 seconds. Asking every minute or two is okay.
Another option is to send tells to people who are in the zone asking if they would mind filling for a second. However, this is something you need to be careful with. Some people get very annoyed by getting tells to fill. So if youre going to send tells looking for fillers, ask politely, only send a single tell to each person, and dont be rude to them if they say no or dont respond to you. Also be sure to check peoples search comments, if they say they are not willing to fill, dont bother asking, itll just annoy them. Once youve gotten enough fillers, enter your mission, map it, thank them, and let them know they can leave. Then youre good to farm that map.
If you are farming for the purpose of powereleveling, the process is a little different. Instead of running the mission alone, you will be bringing along one or more characters to be powerleveled and maybe some mentors. In order for the lowbie to get experience at all, he/she must be within 5 levels of the highest level person on the team. For a farmer at level 50, this means the lowbie must be at least level 45 to get xp. Since most are lower level than this, they are sidekicked to a higher-level hero (the mentor) in order to bring their level up. The lower their level compared to yours, the more xp they will get. This means that if they are sidekicked to someone who is level 46, they will get the largest possible amount of xp from each enemy killed.
Looking for a mentor is much like looking for fillers. You can use the broadcast channel, or send people tells. If sending tells, use the same guidelines as looking for fillers. There are some other things to be aware of as well when looking for mentors. Some people have turned off xp gain at level 46 to stay there permanently, others have not. Those that have not may level up during your farm run which means somewhat less XP for your character. So if you specifically want a perma 46 mentor, say so. Also be aware that many level 46 mentors will expect to be allowed to sit at the door and not help you farm the map. If you expect their help running the farm, you should also make people aware of that.
Some people also powerlevel other peoples characters for a fee. This is a commonly accepted practice as long as you are only being paid influence/infamy. If you are being paid real currency for the service, that is against the User Agreement and grounds for having your account suspended/cancelled. It is very common to see low level characters in peregrine island/Grandville broadcasting that they will pay to join a farm. If you want to let paying lowbies join your farm, a broadcast is generally enough to get several responses. It helps if you put what level mentor they would get, whether they can doorsit or not, and what you charge per run in your tell. It is not considered okay to send tells asking people if they want to be powerleveled. If you are a lowbie who wants to be powerleveled, sending broadcasts saying so in Grandville/peregrine island is okay as long as you dont spam them quickly. It helps to say what level mentor you want and how much youre willing to pay. Do not send people tells asking them to powerlevel you.
[u]Other considerations when farming[u]
- Some people are very against the practice of farming, and may be very rude if you send them a tell. Its best just to apologize and move on. If they continue harassing you use the /ignore function.
- On the flip side, dont be rude to others if youre sending tells or broadcasts for any reason. Remember, you are generally the one asking them for a favor, so be polite and dont harass them.
- Some people will go so far as to join your team and purposely try to complete your farm mission so you cant farm it anymore. This is pretty rare, and usually only happens if you have done something to irritate someone. In order to prevent this, keep a close eye on the mission bar and make sure none of the mission objectives are being completed. It helps to remind everyone at the beginning that you are farming, so leave the objectives alone. If you suspect someone is intentionally trying to end your farm, kick them from the team, leave the map, and reset the mission.
- Under no circumstances should you rapidly spam broadcasts looking for fillers/mentors/a farm to join. This is against the code of conduct and can get your account suspended/banned.
- If you are a lowbie looking to join a farm, you should be able to safely reach the mission door unaided. Its rude to join a farm and expect them to teleport you around.
So thats it. I hope you enjoyed the guide. If you have any questions/comments or ways I can improve it, please let me know.
