Lowbie Farming Maps

Neogumbercules's level 3 Claws/Fire farm map got me thinking. Brutes don't get a whole lot out of Blinding Feint or Follow Up on farm maps, and the damage scaling only gets more unbalanced at level 1, where unenhanced Brute Spin does 17.96 damage before Fury and minions have 20 HP. Plus, unlike other ATs, brutes have their full 775% damage cap at level 1.

So I made arc #504371, Level 1 Claws/DB frontload farm. It's is a straightforward frontloaded farm, based on @Fuzzy Kittens' FRONTLOAD!, filled with S/L mobs and locked at level 1. (The map is the same map as FRONTLOAD!, Large - Warehouse Abandoned - City of Villains set - 2, and the mobs are using Dual Blades; I'm open to ideas on improving either.)

I originally designed this with the expectation that you'd need Claws (for Spin) or Dual Blades (for Typhoon's Edge), but it turns out that damage auras do most of the work. Any brute with a damage aura taken before level 6 can farm this effectively; Fury-enhanced damage auras will do the job even without any enhancements. I've tested it with Claws/ElA and DB/ElA brutes, both of which I rolled up just to test it. Both can perform at 0/x8 before enhancing attacks at all; I even had success with the DB/ElA brute before getting Typhoon's Edge, although it was tight in the space between the first wave of ambushes hitting and the minions dying to Lightning Field.

I've also tested it with a DB/ElA scrapper pre-enhancements, and it wasn't self-sustaining, because runners sapped the inspiration drop rate. I'm confident that proper enhancements will likely make it work, by allowing Typhoon's Edge to kill lieutenants without heavily stacked reds. Edit: This is incorrect; enhancements scale down with level, so they don't make any difference. Similarly, an unenhanced SD/FM tanker couldn't kill fast enough to get a decent inspiration drop rate killing with Combustion alone. (I also tested a Fire/Dark Corr; it was a fun challenge, but not terribly efficient.) Other ATs are also hampered by a lower damage cap before level 2, but these two weren't able to sustain themselves on inspiration drops even on an (unpublished) level 3 version of the farm.

I'd still like to test a Claws or DB brute with no damage aura and a tanker with a damage aura; I have a Claws/Inv and a ElA/SS, I just need to respec one of their builds to test it. I'm confident the DB/ElA scrapper could do the job with proper enhancement for damage and recharge, and intend to test it once I've leveled it up properly. Edit: The claws/inv brute faceplanted like crazy. Spin alone couldn't keep up. The tanker couldn't kill fast enough to sustain itself, even when I made an ElA/FM tanker.

This map isn't going to outperform farming on a real SS/Fire farmer with Foot Stomp and PPP AOE attacks, but it's an effective farm that any brute with a damage aura, of any level and any enhancement investment, can do. Between the low-level accuracy bonus and Fury, you can farm tickets or powerlevel your own character any time after level 4.

In addition, I think this is an effective proof-of-concept for lowbie farming. I don't have a purpled out Claws or DB brute to test how it would perform at level 1, let alone a purpled out SS/Fire brute to compare it to. It would be interesting to see how they compare, though.

I just tested it on my lowbie Elec/Elec brute. Jacobs Ladder isn't enough aoe to reliably clear the spawns quickly enough with just the aura and JL. I was clearing the spawns, but I was dying frequently even with insps keeping defense above 50% at all times. Thunderstrike would make things considerably easier but the level 1 limit nixes that. Even still, I gained 12 levels in an hour of testing so it works as a self pl if for brutes if nothing else.

SS/fire. Level 2 and grabbed a four purples. Three runs later of just doing the initial ambush room and I was level 13. I can see moving on to other missions, but for any brute that gets a damage aura early, it's a quick and dirty way to at least get DO slotting going since it's not made just for a /fire brute. It's like a sewer run on steroids.

Not surprised, but saddened that going +1 does nothing for you since everything is locked in at level 1. It's still a good quick and dirty leveling tool for a brute with a damage aura and not just /fire.

i have a mish designed for lowbies (not specifically for farming) that runs lvl 1-4, so you can do up to +3, there are only bosses in the mish and a buffing ally, so very little fear of dying unless you herd too much up, approx the same xp gain as yours, but the mish is more sparsely populated

This is a good one!
My brother and I are duo'ing it right now and soaring through levels.
Myself a claw/ELA, and him a spider.

Only a little over and hour on it, and we are both 16. Good stuff.

These have been around in the farming circles for a while now. I don't think this is too bad, given Brutes with damage auras are the only ones that can really make the best use of these maps.

There are a bunch of these on AE right now with varying effectiveness. I made an optimized version for max XP/inf capped at level 1: try arc 504915 if you're looking to do this. (Ambushes triggered off of enemies rather than objects work better, as you can lure both ambush triggers to the same spot so they all congregate in the same area. You also want an open map, otherwise you get shoved against a wall and that limits your AoEs and you waste time repositioning yourself)

I tried it out on my claws/ fire grak some but my slotting wasn't prepared for it. I had the diff at +1/x8 of course with TOs. I faired better with the other one: 503858 (?) since it was all fire. I think had I built for res it would've went better. I'll have to try it with my claws/sr and see how he does.

Slotting doesn't matter, since everything scales down anyways. Resistances really don't matter either. Likely you didn't inspiration crunch before entering which is important, since that gives you the temporary boost to get the killing going so more inspirations drop to use. At the rate you kill at in the maps, you should be at or close to the defense cap the entire time (barring unlucky streaks).

Is this jut for XP? Or does it dish out a great deal of INF too?

Also is it still doable with a non-damage aura Brute?

the lowbie one i designed doesnt require inspiration crunching, but can be run at +3 extremely easy, has a elec control pain dom ally to buff you and sap the baddy

if you want to give it a try its 489291, doesnt need any customs except for the ally and can fairly easily be run with any character

the yield may not be as high as a frontloaded ambush farm, but its definitely good way to get through low lvls faster solo

Gave the mission in the OP a try with a brand new /fire brute and even with buying trays full of medium inspiration rolls til I got all reds and purples between runs, I ended up at level 22 in as many minutes.

Strange thing is though, that as soon as I dinged 22, I started having serious trouble with it. All the numbers are effectively the same so I don't quite understand why but I faceplanted four times before managing to clear the room on the last run and gave it up to go level up through tip missions for awhile.

So if I were to take my SS/INV Brute through there, it would take a great deal longer but would achieve a similar effect as far as leveling goes?

Aye. Without a damage aura it's painfully slow and you don't get the inspiration drop rate required to stand up to a x8 mission at low level.

I don't think the level increase inspirations have much to do with it. I hadn't gotten one until near the end of the run where I hit 22 and 100% defense is 100% defense no matter where it came from, be it spammed lucks or leveling.

Well, I may just reroll this toon tonight as SS/Elec because it still fits the concept and I've yet to make an Elec armor toon I like. I was never really taken by the AE farm stuff, it always sounds monotonous and boring. But after doing some reading on here, going 0-50 without leaving the building does sound more attractive than regular story arcs. Plus I've read that with some extra dedication, 50 is a less than 12 hour goal if done right in AE.

You shouldn't have any problems past 22. I made a quick and dirty video of a fairly efficient run. Check what you're doing against it and see if there are things you can fix. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_xeL...el_video_title

You can always give the baddies kb protection and craft yourself the handgrenade temp power to speed things up. Just buy everything you need in a stack of 10 to save time and work out the quickest trip to the crafting table and back.

Having a 2nd Aoe can be put to good use. Spin/Aura on the mob that your in and toss the nades at the other side of the room. Speeds things up a small bit.

Just rerolled my toon and run this mish(arc 504371). 1-16 in an hour and change, not too shabby :-D Although I couldn't help but feel I was doing it wrong. I was just going into the first room, triggering ambushes, slaughtering, getting clicky, rinse and repeat. Is that the right way or am I missing something monumental deeper into the map? I was averaging 1 every 2-3 runs.

If you are set to +0/x8 you should be getting multiple levels per run just in the entrance. Make sure to visit the fateweaver on the way down to AE.

I can't believe that I never saw the inspiration vendor there in the AE building. Granted I've not spent a lot of time in there but that should really be part of the tour. I also never even thought of the spamming technique for inspiration use like that. I've been using combination binds to just make reds and purples but with the incredibly high drop rate I get all I need plus heals and capped resistance to boot. Thanks for the video!