212-220.....how?

[Katalaeia]

I finished up the last of my banked shadowscream components last night and found myself at 212. I only want to get to 220 for the Aid Grimel quest (I'll BP wash until 227, etc) and then *maybe* go back to serious points grinding further down the road. As a wood elf, there really isn't a reason to hit 250 other than bragging rights, sadly.

Am I better off spending yet another day in Hollowshade killing greens for parts for my last 8 points, or should I just bite the bullet and do sickles?

I have the bankroll for sickles, but with so many sub combines I don't know which is faster. If I do SS I will probably farm 10 stacks of substance, which I can do in a day generally if I AE. I've been buying shadows because I'm sick to death of farming them.

Mainly looking for a time comparison here...I just want my 8 points and to be done with it. I have so many raw diamonds saved up for the BP I don't care if I fail it repeatedly.

[Myrron]

If you truly have the bankroll for sickles, hire out other people to make the sub-combines for you. The pommel, hilt, and sickle all trivial below 188, so it should not be too hard for you to find people who have at least this skill. Yes, this would be expensive, but on the other hand it will save you a lot of subcombines and make some younger smiths very happy to have a steady income.

You could also wait and see what routes LDN have to offer for smithing, too. Or stick with shadowscream, of course.

--Myrron

[Laearya Lifeblood]

I was going to sickle all the way through 204 to 220, and that was a bad idea. I ended up using shadowscream to 210, eth to 212, then combo ss and sickles to 220. ss got me (180 combines) to 218, then sickes (48) to get the last 2 points.

[Katalaeia]

Yeah, I have tons of bricks in the bank for ethereal and totally forgot to quit making SS bracers at 210. Kicking myself for that now

Sounds like heading back to Boredomshade Moor. I just want this over with.

[eqdoctress]

Depends on whether you want to farm or not.

Either you spend time doing subcombines or you spend time farming greens in Hollowshade. I think I did subcombines waaay faster than farming the shadowscream . Most combines are store bought and takes a bit of running around, just bad for your wrist but you get used to it

However, I do find sickles quite slow in skilling up, i usually do 20 combines at a go. Usually get a skill up every 40 combine at least.

For Shadowscream, I find a skill up every 30 combines at least

Hollowshade isnt that bad once you get used to the war and able to manipulate it.

I usually buy the swirling shadows, I find farming them tedious

Only problem with Shadowscream farming in Hollowshade is that there are at least 2 to 3 farmers trying to farm the named and manipulating the war so the named can spawn and resetting the zone

Eeirey
Cold Fury
Quellious server

[Celdil]

I've gotten pretty proficient at making the sickles. I do all the sub combines myself and have a pocket druid for the emerald imbues. It takes me about an 1.75 hours to do a full run of 20 sickles. If you can farm faster than that, farm away. But if you truly have the bankroll to try this path (6750 plat before sell back per 20 attempts), I'm fairly sure this will go faster than SS. If you need to find someone to do the emerald imbues for you, add more time and money to the figures above.

[Malodium]

On Bertox, swirling shadows are 80-100pp each. Not really feasable to buy unless you are filthy rich, and im definetly not hehe.
I can usually get 4 stacks in three hours or less in Twilight, so Its no biggie.
I have seriously considered just farming them and selling them for cash heh.

[Katalaeia]

I hit 220 last night

AE farmed Hollowshade and just broke down and bought shadows (at my price, 1k per stack, not at the crazy overinflated bazaar price, that's for sure!).

Of course I just HAD to run straight up to Aid Grimel

First combine, success!
Second combine, success!
Third combine, an expected failure. Ah well, it was one of those "I really wanna try this!!!" things.