Hex Hunting

[Noxx]

Not sure if it's possible, so i'll ask one question before moving on to the next.

 

Is it possible to get a Soulgazer while doing any form of Solo floor (Med or Small)?

 

If yes, would it be worth it doing Small/Med Solo floors to get one (a Hexhunter, that is)?

 

If yes to above, any estimates on how long something like that can take?

 

Now, some reasons why i would ask something like this. Dungeoneering is a skill that requires at least 25 - 35 minutes of your time in one "sitting" (I DG on w67, so finding a team, getting set, doing a 20 minute floor [sometimes a bit longer] ).

That's not always something i can afford to do, nor want to do. Sometimes doing something quick for 10 or 15 minutes is all i need to get my "fix", and since Dungeoneering is the only skill i have left, this is what i would like to be doing (of course there are many times where i'd sit on RS for hours on end and do 4 or 5 floors without logging out).

So i'm not planning on getting 120 Dungeoneering all on my own.

The only thing i was wondering is if it was possible, and if it would be worth it.

Obviously i do not want to spend 5m Exp getting it (but i probably would not really mind that much).

 

 

Then, while i have this up i guess i might as well ask this too. I currently have 104 DG. I've got a Hood, P2H and BN (and Laws).

Assuming i do, eventually, get a Hex, what would be the smartest thing to do break?

Now i've heard people saying that not having any Defensive binds (Plate/Hood) is going to make for some difficult floors (in terms of staying alive), but i remember having ~95 DG before ever seeing a Hood, and back then i never really had much trouble staying alive. On Os and Ws, Necros and Mages are so common that a Hood sometimes feels like a wasted bind anyway, and that i might be better off with something focused more on DPS rather than Def. I'm not the type of player to cry about 2 or 3 deaths on a floor if it means doing the floor a few minutes faster. Heck, i'm all for it.

So that being said, would something like Hex, BN, P2H (although i'd probably switch back to PBA soo, because i like it more), be a good idea?

How will this affect the speed of the average GD/Boss?

Reasons for an answer would be good too.

 

 

I had one more question, but it has slipped my mind for now. I'll post it later when it comes back to me.

[Ren]

It's possible to get any slayer monster in any floor type. Some are rarer than others, and Soulgazers are the rarest of course.

 

If my memory serves me I've never seen/heard of a Soulgazer in a furnished, abandoned1/2, or frozen floor. They definitely are more common in occults, and probably the most common in warped. Also, the more rooms spawned in a dungeon obviously mean more chances at seeing a monster. Solo med or a decent-sized large are best. Drop rate/spawn rates (not confirmed, just what I believe they are) for Soulgazers/hexes is about.. 1 Gazer/8-10 floors (large, 1+ 99 slayer), hex is ~1/16 Gazers.

 

People devalue the Celestial surgebox in Dg too much. It's a very very useful bind, a lot more useful than a few precious seconds saved crafting cosmic or law runes. And if you have either for doing C1/2 floors, you should try doing 3-5 person C1s. They are faster than solo can ever be, as far as I'm concerned. You save more time by maging warriors than you do with those runes you have bound.

 

Hoods are decent, a great bind if you know how to use it properly. I currently have one, and I constantly break it for plate/break plate for hoods. I went through 6 or 8 hoods in about 10 days now, trying to figure out which I like more and I seem to do better with the hood. Of course, it takes getting used to and knowledge. You should be unequipping the hood while mages are present (not skeletal ones) so that you can hide in another room/behind a blocking wall/chair/etc and re-equip it. That way you are using the hood to it's full abilities. Hex makes hood a hell of a lot better (imo), considering when I dungeoneer I usually solo Gd's. Mages get wrecked by my bow, and I can re-equip my hood or not have it disabled as often. Kiting and trapping monsters that are aggro to you are also another good technique for hoods.

 

PBA and P2h have their own uses, due to their attack speeds and max hits/stats. They're close to the same in almost everything so there's not much worry there. Blood necklace is a great bind, but it's more for people with plates because if you're alone and have a hood, it won't do any healing effect + it's harder to crowd with a hood without dying. I'm not sure how often you die or whatever, but having no defensive bind (plate/hood) will make things a lot more difficult. It's generally not worth binding all offensives if you want to get better xp/h, or just have less of a hassle when enjoying dungeoneering.

 

Here's my list of recommended binds (Definitely get a Celestial surgebox, foreveruseful):

P2h/PBA - Plate - Blood neck

P2h/PBA - Hood/plate - Empowered fire staff

P2h/PBA - Hood - Hexhunter bow (break Csb for sagi (p++) arrows obv)

P2h/PBA - Plate/hood - Primal gaunts

 

All of those are subject to your opinion, there's no particular order.

 

Once you hit 120, you have access to a 4th bind that is really dynamic. Here's a list of best-to-worst, Imo:

Blood necklace (with plate)

Sagitarrian body (pref with hood but works with plate, equip mostly when ranging, requires hex)

Primal platebody (with hood/sagi body)

Shadowsilk hood (competes with gauntlets because plate or hood alone are decent)

Primal gauntlets

Primal maul (for when you need to crush monsters, maul can make a big difference compared to P2h/PBA)

Primal rapier (Only worth it if you don't have a staff for when you mage demons, it's only used for a few monsters/bosses)

MAYBE Celestial robe top, as far as I know it's never been done by someone who's smart

Primal plate+legs are probably smarter than Celestial robe top due to mage being accurate on mageables to begin with.

 

My current binds are Hood/Hex/P2h/225 P++ Sagi arrows. Can survive fast floors with this setup, works well against most bosses. It's my favorite, also.

 

Hope I helped.

[Quyneax]

Yes, no.

 

I'd break hood myself but that's because the ideal setup (afaik) is plate/hex/bn/p2h, so you'd be sure to immediately get that at 120 dg. If you don't intend to dg past 120, stick with plate-2h & one slayer drop of your choice (hex/hood/bn).

[Deaths Near]

From 88-97 Dg, I mainly duoed with a friend. I was 99 Slayer the whole time, my friend was not. We did a mix of solos and meds, and this was before the update increasing the regularity of slayer monsters in dungeons. In the past two weeks, I went 97-99 Dg (a total of about 1.6M xp), mostly soloing, again with a mix of smalls and meds, and still with 99 Slayer.

 

I have yet to see a Soulgazer. I'm not trying to say that they do not appear on solo floors (I am inclined to believe the two posts above in saying that it is possible), just that you should temper your expectations and not expect to see one as soon as you start.

 

Using Ren's stated drop rate of 1/16 and the fact that (using only data since the increase in appearance rate) I went 1.6M without even seeing a gazer, I'd conclude that soloing for the sole purpose of hexhunting is not too efficient :-). On the other hand, it is, as you noted, very nice if you only want to play for a 20 minute or so time period to be able to get on and knock out a few small floors.