I'm looking for the best way through run through FSC/KoA making the most cr possible whilst spending the least amount of time (possible).
Try to be a specific as possible in case it's not something obvious, although I doubt it would be difficult for people to be confused for obvious reasons.
1) Depth
2) Room and minor details
Optional:
3) Monsters
4) Amount of CR avoided
EDIT:
Updated the title, thanks for the tips!
I've been farming FSC for well over a year, and in my opinion depths 24-27 are completely worth it. If you're going for speed, I suggest skipping Vanaduke himself, because if you don't have a skilled party, it takes up too much time.
Another thing, if you're using mist energy, skipping Vanaduke on 2 runs gives you 20 extra mist. With that 20 mist you can go back and do depths 24, and 25, which is one of, if not the highest paying depth in the whole run
@Klip
A trick for the rocket puppy room, collect shock vials and lead the slags to the ghost block on the top part of the room. At this point, make sure Auto Target is off, and throw the vial at the group of slags. The shock should activate the ghost block, opening up the path backwards. Make sure you kill the slags at the bottom and the left parts of the room before you do this! Repeat this same process for the right part of the room, and after killing all the slags there, you can retrieve the sprite and have the room cleared without triggering the rocket puppy
Yeah, if you do FSC with that attitude, you will skip whatever your party is willing to skip. There seems to always be at least one completionist, the type who feels very strongly about killing every zombie and breaking every torch. Which is a shame, as you can squeeze in two runs with a competent party in the time it takes most pugs to do one. And I've only ever been in one such pug in all the hundreds of times I've pugged FSC.
edit: Um, Vanaduke earns you 3~3.5k cr, making it the most profitable non-SL level in the game. It is also one of the shortest levels in the game. Please don't tell him to skip it.
Vanaduke is good if you know what you're doing, inexperienced parties will spend a lot of extra energy for revives
I've done a few speed runs before when everyone had elevator passes. got about 5500 cr from those plus the tokens
If you're playing on mist better to do everything though.
FSC - all depths - all monsters
Sometimes I skip the rocket puppy room at D25 if I didn't bring drivers or pick up shock Vials.
7-8k crowns x 4 (dragging 3 dead bodies)
+3 Token solo in the end, my alts will leave at the end of 27
if I skip that puppy room, I'm think maybe 100-200 might be avoided? but then again, coin drops are random..
why would I SKIP stuff? I'm not made of money! I need every last crown I can squeeze out of that 50 mist fee... Hell, don't most people grind fsc JUST to get the most crowns possible? Who plays FSC when they're on a TIME LIMIT? If you're in such a hurry, just buy the CE outright and cut out the middleman, don't rush the people who don't have elevator passes.
Everyone who skips the rocket puppy room clearly doesn't know the trick to get through it. Hint: You don't need shock vials, polaris, or ANY WEAPON AT ALL (except to kill slags/break blocks obviously) to get through it, hell it's easy to solo. Also IIRC correctly, that's TWELVE slags you're passing up.
Also "dragging dead bodies" is cheating. Even if you aren't technically hacking, it's still just as unfair an exploit as the former "looping" trick that got prevented.
I do it for the tokens and nothing else. -_-
Ok, fine I do it for the money too, but when I'm not completely hard on crowns, I go through the T3 Arcade. That, IHMO, is the funnest part of the game.
Which is one of the reasons why I'm one of the few people who loves the compounds...but that's for a different time. Ignore that sentence! :P
The only time i skip a thing is then the team really whinning "common lets go don't waste time"
It depress me make the grinding more VIVID then want to play for fun.
the one that use shock for the rocket puppy room i guess you are...........zappy....
theres 2 more way
the go in beat em up (i salute you if you hardcore)
and direction changer.
I've found that most people can't manage to sneak by the puppy without waking it, so I put down the shock vial way here because it's possibly the simplest way for some people
I don't skip the puppy room (I have polaris, use shock vials for fun, or have henchgunners, etc) , and most definitely do not skip Vanaduke. If it were up to me, I would fight him each depth. ;)
I'm talking about the slags on the side of the 'maze' (?) in depth 27, and the wheel room of depth 25. That around 18 slags total, but they all do not give off a lot of cr.
It does not annoy me if the whole run is completed and everything is killed, though.
Usually when i'm pull an alt / solo I skip everything on 24 (except the last room) , on 25 I skip the rocket puppy and and wheels room. 26 I do everything. I usually take the right path when the corridor split as I find it quicker. on 27 I skip the zombies on the corridor with the wheels before the last room. Then I do vana with the alt in the room.
Usually it takes around 35 - 40 mins. This method usually results in 6.2 - 6.8k cr + tokens
If im running with people then generally we do everything as it doesn't take long when you both carry totems on 24 / split the rooms on 25 etc.
It's a bit more work to drag an alt account through by yourself but it's easier than running fsc twice for the same payout. If you can find a buddy to bring an alt as well you'll have more fun and it'll make it slightly less grindsome. A run with an alt will take 30 to 40 minutes and ultimately payout ~20kcr compared to a fast party run of 20-30 minutes that pays out ~10k.
Soloing is usually quicker than random parties due to there always being one person in the group that goes afk or wants to break every lantern. If you have a party full of good players then that will be faster than soloing, but still not better payout than running an alt.
If you have an elevator pass then getting an invite to near the end of D25 is ideal for getting the maximum payout with 3x seals. If you don't then you'll want invites to the beginning of D25.
In D25 it's best to skip the wheel room and the gun-puppy room. Although you can also rush through the silkwing room, spike room and the oiler room without killing anything but a trojan it's worth clearing them.
In D26 regarding the left or right path I usually take the left. If you wanted to skip the first room on the left quickly just don't go near the totem pads to avoid spawning the zombies and you can drop a totem over the the fire on the top right totem pad. In the next room it's quickest to press all the buttons at once so you get all the slags humping each other and you can get the most damage out of every attack.
To make your runs faster try to keep a forward motion, don't backtrack. Always shield bump and knock back enemies in the direction you want to be heading. Don't bother with anything that isn't on the way to the elevator.
An invite to the last depth is always worth taking. It's a short level and pays the most, and doing Vanaduke will still pay off. If they've cleared the floor already and want your help at Vanaduke then ask for a tab if you need to, because Vanaduke wont usually cover the cost of 2 ele. rides.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Wy5oq7WBM
Fast and efficient fsc runs depend on how quickly you can destroy the mobs that spawn, and getting a good group of friends that can run with you and not slow you down. In that video I could have gotten 6k if I had opened the treasure boxes and killed a few more zombies that were directly in my way, and still made the run in about 25 minutes.
Gear-wise I feel the best DPS loadout would be :
chaos set
swiftstrike buckler
elite sword and gun damage modules
combuster - biggest damage sword and safest to use. Will do 5k damage easily on a group of slags and way more if you set up the attack well.
nova driver - most useful and best damage sidearm. Charge will one hit kill slags and puppies. Normal shot will do over 500 if you can get the ricochets to stick to the target.
blitz needle - Biggest dps in the game, doing at least 3.5k on single targets. Vital for quick vana kills.
electron vortex - great for maximizing damage with your combuster and blitz needle. bomb damage will do ~2k alone on most mob spawns in fsc.
All that is based on charge attacks and of course you have no defence at all. If you don't like that style of play then a pure sword or gun setup will work just as well, but I think it's good to have a max ctr/dmg blitz and a strong mob destroying weapon with you every run, esp if going solo.
The only thing I skip in FSC is the left pathway on I think D26? No D27. It's hard to think of in my head because it's the morning, ok? The one where you're climbing up wheel-stairs and a whopping 3 zambies spawn and it takes you 5 hours to water the level and then collect them after they die. Towards the end right before vanaduke, but before the last of the arenas with the healing spots.
@Larry
No.
"Also IIRC correctly, that's TWELVE slags you're passing up." -Larry
Actually, I think it's 15. When you pick up the sprite, three more will spawn in the main hall.
Oh Fehzor, those zombies aren't so bad if you get the wheels at the top first. Then you can just step into that spot between the shadowfire to get them to spawn and let them walk over it up to you. (Even better if you have an Electron Vortex since you can suck them up over the fire)
A lot of people go for the zombies first and then end up chasing them and their loot when the wheels push them down.
Well in the long run you can collect the tokens and if you do FSC twice a day u get about 6 tokens so in 5 days you get 30. Buy an armor from brinks and then sell it to a NPC merchant for 30kcr(no unbind required) and Thus you get 30kcr every 5 days.
DUTCH OVEN
WOOOOOOOOOOO
VERY NICE YOU VIDEO
NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :)
In the second depth, go to every room that has a sprite. If you're not feeling confident in your abilities, I'd suggest skipping the Rocket Puppy room.
In the third depth, Take the right path. But again, take the left if you're unsure of yourself.
First part of the fourth depth: Before you step on the group button, hit that box and step on the button. Trust me. It spawns a ghost block at the end. Kill all the Fire Gun Puppies, break all the boxes, and go to them to spawn the Slag walkers. Do tis for all 6 and you're loaded.
Second part: First take out the wheel launchers, then extinguish the fire. Go to the middle sections, go left and right for more slags. Kill them off.
In all depths: Take out any torches you see. They might also yield crowns.
In my last run, even though I actually don't do Vana, I made enough crowns in 1 run for another 100 Crystal Energy.
Fastest way will be a good (good doesn't mean people who never dies, it means people who rarely dies but fast) full party and do what Dutchy's video showed.
I usually do a run with a friend who's fast at FSC, we do not skip any rooms in Depth 24/25, we do the right path and kill everything in Depth 26 and we go to the left path without killing monsters on the way up to the last room in Depth 27. In the path to the last room of Depth 27, 2 of us take water and we go up like this: ^ < ^ > if there isn't the totem on the left way, someone in the party gets on the button and others go on to the party button, and the person on the totem button dies.
In Vana, the person who has the least damage/ctr/asi on Blitz or WRH/DVS goes to get water for mask. As soon as you water the mask, you throw the poison vial, as soon as you throw the poison vial, you also attack with your fastest and strongest weapon. Since the health bar has been introduced, you can know whether or not your party will finish the mask in time. So if you think that the mask won't die in time do not continue attacking it and go get another water so that the possibility of you failing to water the mask 2nd time will be low.
I usually equip:
Chaos set
Swiftstrike Buckler
Voltedge (Combuster may be better but shock is good with EV)
WRH
Blitz
EV
DMG med Sword+Gun trinkets
And I mostly finish my FSC runs in 17 min-30 min with my friends who are good at FSC with the way above. I do not recommend you to join a random party. Payout is 6.8k cr at least, 8.2k cr at the most. (luck really matters lol)
If you see a person in a run who seems to be fast at FSC, do not be stubborn to follow your own method, try to follow what they do and predict what they are going to do and do one step further than what they're doing.
Also it is good to have a several friends that you always run FSC with and decide the roles; who to move totems, who to water, who to go which way in Depth 25 etc.
most importantly, do not destroy every single candles. it is not worth waiting for one more trap wave only for ~50 crowns
I wanted to write in more details but I'm tired today so that's it, maybe I would with more numbers ^^
why would I SKIP stuff? I'm not made of money! I need every last crown I can squeeze out of that 50 mist fee...
This is absolutely true. I pubbed with Larry once a long time ago and he got upset because I hadn't destroyed every single corner brazier in Charred Court's totem room ( I was bombing, thus requiring several seconds to destroy each one for a potential 1cr gain.) But by that point, I had already begun pretending to not understand English so I wouldn't have to respond to him. He accidentally(?) went up at the end of the floor and the rest of the run was nice and quiet.
IIRC he also complains if you destroy the wheels in Blackstone Bridge before the slags and thinks leaving sprites outside the rooms you clear in Charred Court is 'lazy.'
I don't have KoA unlocked, but if I did, I wouldn't skip anything. Except the rocket puppy room, that one room with all the wheels, and the right path.
EDIT: And Vana himself.