Guardian skyshrine items revisited

[Cen]

So I have a bard and wizard in the 50's, and I have a feeling if both were 60 neither could handle the mobs who drop the guardian armor and robe. I want a guardian robe for my bard as much as I want his epic ;p Is there a safe strategy for soloing these mobs, and also, does the "a gargoyle guard" drop any of them or only "Guardian Name".

I know the items are the rarest in the game and any particular item can take tens of thousands of kills and that they are some of the most outlandish under cons as well. I just want to secure one kill, then ill worry about the 10,000.

I might raise up a class who *could* kill them at 60 (which I guess is pretty much a shaman) just to get the damn robe for my bard I want it that much.

Is the courtyard the best bet? Is there any tricks to dealing with the regeneration they have? Its a shame that i'm actually able to charm them to fight each other on the bard, but their regen is stronger then the damage that the other guardians do to each other so they stay full during charm fights.

[Loke]

Been awhile since I've doke guardians, but definitely have a few thousand kills under my belt. Bard and Wiz are both going to be pretty garbo at doing this. Bard it too little DPS and wiz will be slow due to needing to med. You really want a higher DPS melee who can invis, and ideally split pulls. I've found monk, ranger, and warrior to be the best, probably in that order from best to worst depending on gear. My warrior is better geared that my ranger, so he is slightly better for me. IIRC 10 or 11 spawns per round for warrior, 15 or 16 on monk just because he can pull some the warrior can't without adds.

I've also tried it on shaman and found it less than ideal. The regen on those mobs is really a pain in the ass. 60 torp, epic, jbb shaman with mediocre gear wasn't able to do as many spawns as the aforementioned classes.

It'll be slow going for you if you do decide to do it, but pool room is probably your best bet with 4 spawns. A wiz near 60 should be able to root and nuke those, but again you're going to be limited by your mana regen. I would never attempt it on my bard and he's 60, epic, and close to best in slot Kunark era. They're just not built for that camp.

Also, only named guardians drop the armor afaik.

[Zabbix]

I'd do it on a melee dps or 60 chanter otherwise you are just lengthening what can turn into a huge time sink.

Shaman is really not that great due to zone regen.

[elwing]

Sk is pretty great, you can invis, split and even pet finish them... Not high dps but at high lvl you easily beat the 50 or so regen they have... And as far as I know, only the named guardians drops armor. I am over 1400kills got two full armor sets, countless rots but no robe yet...

[Trelaboon]

I have farmed this robe too many times. I actually picked up my 3rd robe last night on my Rogue.

I’ve tried different methods of farming it with multiple different characters (60 Shaman, 60 Enchanter, 60 Monk, 60 Warrior, 60 Ranger and 60 Paladin)

The easiest was definitely the Ranger. They can invis, harmony for single pulls, dispell, and do good DPS. The Monk and Warrior were a close 2nd. Doing it on the Shaman was a pain in the ass. That being said, a Bard can definitely solo it at 60, you’re probably just a bit too low still. I’d wait until 60, and then just park in there and don’t leave until you’ve got your robe lol.

There are 11 pretty local mobs you can kill in a rotation. More of you want to put in the extra work, but I normally do the 11. 4 in the pool room with CS portal, 1 in the dead end hallway at back of pool room, 2 down near bank in bakers room, 3 in a nearby hallway and 1 in the room with the guy who drops the CS shrine key

[Trelaboon]

It'll be slow going for you if you do decide to do it, but pool room is probably your best bet with 4 spawns. A wiz near 60 should be able to root and nuke those, but again you're going to be limited by your mana regen. I would never attempt it on my bard and he's 60, epic, and close to best in slot Kunark era. They're just not built for that camp.

Also, only named guardians drop the armor afaik.

When I camped my first one, the person I competed with the most on terms of mobs was a Bard. He was able to do the 11 per cycle I typically do with lots of downtime between spawns. It’s definitely doable on Bard, and I’d argue they’re actually really good for it. Being able to invis, lull, run fast and charm is really pretty badass

[Cen]

Im feeling better about this. Ill get my bard tougher. Thanks for the tips

[MiRo2]

I've seen the robe drop from "a gargoyle guardian" in the CS zone out room and off the named guardian right becore the maze, so it can drop from both types of guardians.

[Trelaboon]

I've seen the robe drop from "a gargoyle guardian" in the CS zone out room and off the named guardian right becore the maze, so it can drop from both types of guardians.

I’ve heard people say this, so the first/second time I camped the robe I also killed about 3 regular guardians in addition to my 11 mob cycle, and never saw a single piece of guardian armor drop from them. I’m not saying they don’t drop it, but I’m not completely convinced they do. I killed hundreds of them over the course of my first/second farm and never saw a single piece drop from any of them. Until I see a piece for myself I don’t know that I believe they can drop it. .

[MiRo2]

I’m not saying they don’t drop it, but I’m not completely convinced they do. I killed hundreds of them over the course of my first/second farm and never saw a single piece drop from any of them.

You must have terrible luck then, or we're not talking about the same ones. I only killed 3 of the normal guardians in the CS zone out room per cyclce(using one as a pet), very lazily an hour at a time camping the legs. I had almost a full set of armor by the time I got the piece I wanted, not even counting the duplicate pieces that dropped.

[Pringles]

I've seen the robe drop from "a gargoyle guardian" in the CS zone out room and off the named guardian right becore the maze, so it can drop from both types of guardians.

They should not drop from any but named guardians according to numerous alla comments and I have never seen any piece drop from the unnamed on this server.

[Cen]

I've seen the robe drop from "a gargoyle guardian" in the CS zone out room and off the named guardian right becore the maze, so it can drop from both types of guardians.

Ive never seen a mob by that name in skyshrine, only "a gargoyle guard".

[MiRo2]

Ive never seen a mob by that name in skyshrine, only "a gargoyle guard".

I meant "a gargoyle guard", however, numerous other people are stating extensive evidence that I just imagined that these mobs can drop drop armor pieces. So just farm what they tell you to farm.

[Maschenny]

The key is to be looking for a different item. I got 2 robes in 300ish kills and never saw the piece I was looking for. By the way, I did it as a bard so once you're 60 you shouldn't have a problem.

[Cen]

The key is to be looking for a different item. I got 2 robes in 300ish kills and never saw the piece I was looking for. By the way, I did it as a bard so once you're 60 you shouldn't have a problem.

Let me ask, as a bard, when you fight low level trash like these, what is the highest type of DPS outside of the charm damage, is it insturmented chants, or weapon damage with support from chants, etc?

[Cen]

The other reason i wanted to try it at 51-52 is every guardian piece will be a gigantic upgrade for me that I couls potentially get myself

[Maschenny]

Let me ask, as a bard, when you fight low-level trash like these, what is the highest type of DPS outside of the charm damage, is it instrumented chants, or weapon damage with support from chants, etc?

You know what, I think I had an epic by the time I messed around in SS so I just melee'd. I would just hit the mob with Angstlich's Assonance (60 second slow) and dot him up.

[elwing]

The other reason i wanted to try it at 51-52 is every guardian piece will be a gigantic upgrade for me that I couls potentially get myself

As a sk I was fine pet killing the 2at bar the one at the dead end and the one near the keymaster. Ihad to split bar and keymaster. Starting from 53, I didn't needed to split bar anymore they would come single... Still had to split the one near the keymaster from the keymaster and a nearby sentry. At 57 the keymaster no longer assist but the sentry still do...

[Troxx]

Bards can stack over 70dps in dots vs a single target. That should be more than enough dps to make them competitive with monk/ranger/warrior.

Or are these super resistant?

Lv 60 long duration dot/slow (brass), 3x chants (drum), 2x pbaoe dots (strings)

With good instuments the long dot is 50 a tick, chants 70ish, strings dots hit the hardest.

Last time I did the math with all of these rolling it would crank out to ~73 dps sustained ... which is more than most raid geared warriors and rangers will average over time without (or in some cases with) outside support or buffs. None of this costs mana and you can give yourself ~50 heal per tick with downtime.

Bards just have to know their song book and be creative. They are capable of more dps than people might think — just not via melee (melee dps is ass)

[elwing]

They are not resistent... But they regen at around 50hp/tick so the dps is critic there...

[MiRo2]

I meant "a gargoyle guard", however, numerous other people are stating extensive evidence that I just imagined that these mobs can drop drop armor pieces. So just farm what they tell you to farm.

I actually did imagine this, the mobs I thought were gargoyle guards in that room are actually named guardians.

[Cen]

Im glad you came to verify that because not a whole lot of people these days correct themselves. I might get in there tonight on my bard to feel them out a bit. Id feel safer if I can get a key to the pot to escape :p

[Trelaboon]

I actually did imagine this, the mobs I thought were gargoyle guards in that room are actually named guardians.

Correct. Like I said, my first time farming it, I killed about 400 regular “a gargoyle guardian” because people told me they could drop it. I never saw a single piece from them, so I am not convinced when someone makes a claim that they do, because most likely, just like this instance, they’re mistaken.

[Cen]

I got my skyshrine key today thanks to a helpful necro bro who helped me with the death of the keyman. Since a guardian aggroed to help the key guy, we killed it. So one guardian in, and I got a guardian Choker, which I needed a lot to replace my woven one ;D My worst piece. I then went upstairs to attempt a gargoyle or two, but yeah, at 52, I cannot handle one. I can start to burn one down, but when my HP is around 30%, I mez and heal myself, and the gargoyle regens to 100% before I make it back to 100%. At least I got one of the pieces of the set. Id like to get as many as I can ;D ill have to come back at 60 to try once more.

[Cen]

I finally killed a guardian solo last night now that I'm 54. I lulled zig and the sentry near entrance. Frost/fire/magic/selos cessation/hymn 5 twist for max dot slow and healing. survive with 20% i seem to be tankier getting into the 50s now in just a few levels its made a difference, I didnt think it would be such a difference. Anyway, im doing the kills right at the first halls past the entrance gate. I'm wondering if there are other safe places to pull to or from and do each fight without roamers interrupting. If anyone has a chance to show me sometime soon what they know I'm interested :D

[elwing]

That one is not the easiest one... There are two at bar that are notably easier... Also at 54 you do not need to lull if memory serve, they comes single... And effectively, mezzing and regen is not an option as they regen for 50/tick...

[Cen]

That one is not the easiest one... There are two at bar that are notably easier... Also at 54 you do not need to lull if memory serve, they comes single... And effectively, mezzing and regen is not an option as they regen for 50/tick...

The two at the bar are surrounded by mobs that con not lowest form of green to me but what I consider bar might be incorrect

[elwing]

If you have bartenders and bouncers you are at the correct location, it's near bank... Other mobs stopped agroing either at 53 or 54 if I am not awfully mistaken...

Edit: pulling them out, not fighting them inside obviously...

[Incubo]

Mobs here are not classic. I had a full set of guardian by lvl 35-40. Entrance mobs before zone to CS should be doable by a group of mid 30s.

[Rygar]

Mobs here are not classic. I had a full set of guardian by lvl 35-40. Entrance mobs before zone to CS should be doable by a group of mid 30s.

I would welcome you to share your memories in the bug forums and back it up with some in era evidence. Very easy to find commentary on modern day ZAM and in Google newsgroups.

Careful though, a lot of my memories tend to be post velious. I also find a lot of people using EQMac logs to justify which is better than nothing but PoP era. A lot of revamps had occurred already on that server.

[Cen]

I never played post velious and skyshrine feels exactly as I remember mob wise.

[Nommis]

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it, but maybe the gargoyle guard people might be confusing the "sentry" armor they sometimes drop for the "guardian" armor.

[Cen]

I'm level 54 and 100 mobs in or so. I managed to get a 6 cycle going. Ive learned that bards can do quite a high amount of single target DPS and what types of rooms I can pull guardians out of. So far 3 necks, 1 legs, a bracer, 2 girdles, 3 gloves and 2 boots. I still need the helmet, arms, pauldrons, breastplate and robe. To avoid going completely crazy I have three modes of success on which I will leave, completing visible armor set, just the robe, or completing the set. Hopefully I dont go crazy but I'm loving collecting the items so far. I got to witness competition from 4 other classes so I get to see how they handle it. A druid, a necro, monk, and ranger. Ive been able to split spawns evenly with almost everyone since I am not touching the pool room and that's what everyone else wants first. Too risky for my short term lull style. I'm better at taking the bar, the keyroom, and the 2F classrooms guardians.

Also I'm maxing a lot of skills on the key guy. I almost have 100 hand to hand since while I'm chanting my right fist throws 12 damage punches every round too ;) this is good training

[elwing]

That's a pretty great drop rate, my average over 1400 kills is an armor piece every 30 guardians...

[Cen]

Got the arms and shoulders now, and another shoulders, and a belt dropped. I feel like its maybe 1 every 11 guardians drop a piece. I am now missing only helmet, one bracer, breastplate or robe. Its getting down to the hard crunch now. I'd say im about 150 in. ;D The scary pieces everyone wants

[elwing]

I'll wager you'll get bracer and bp... But good luck on the robe...

[Murri]

11 bard rotation how I have done it with various options on what guardians are being camped:

Songs to use are the 3 dot chants, snare, fear, regen, travel song, and charm/lull (traded for certain spots) and I always put my instruments in where it is helpful. snare and fear you can leave niv's in for a quick clickie after without too much crazy inventory management.

CS Room with the 4 named guardians always takes preference. I don't know if it's true but I've heard of more robes dropping in there than other spots. Either way it's a good home base. I travel song to the named guardian closest to the gate leading towards the upper areas of skyshrine. Charm that guardian because the other one can sometimes path poorly when charmed and agro's some drakes or the non named guardian. Let him punch you and move just outa range around halfway or so across the small slot there. Basically try and stay on that half of the slot and don't venture beyond where the diagonal walls end. There is enough room to maneuver in there. Then do the standard charm twist: 3 chants on the non charmed, regen, niv's harmonic click, switch up the guardian you are charming and repeat. Can refresh one of the dots in there if you want because there will be some time before charm breaks but it's not always enough depending on server ticks. I like to have snare and fear up so generally when one guardian dies you can just snare and fear it when it's below 25% and it won't move while being dotted/melee'd down.

After this depending on what's being farmed you can move down to the bank area and kill those two named down there with the charm method. Up to 6 killed now.

Move to the hallway with the 3 spawn and weakest of the named guardians is the first one. I like to pull them into the dead end hallway on the right and snare/fear/dot until fear wears off and let them path back and re-fear at the back of the hallway. Here is the location I'm talking about:
https://i.imgur.com/pSS3iiH.png
It says there is a pather who goes in there but there isn't. They will not path while feared into agro range of anything unless snare falls off. Throw in nivs or regen when needed if they get some good melee rounds off on you. There is a pather in the main hall and opposite dead end hallway so watch out for him. I'm not sure at your level if you will to lull all the drakes in the rooms but just swap out your charm slot if you do (will have to on the back room). Up to 9 now

After these 3 you can lull and kill the one by the CS key drake. I pull him to the stairs that lead to the upper floor where some of the strongest guardians spawn. Here is the spot I am talking about:
https://i.imgur.com/Ft6Gf4c.png
Same fear style works here starting at the corner left of the base of the stairs. After him you can grab the one in the room with the merchants and sentry kale (? not sure if right name) and kill in the same spot. Another non named gargoyle paths for that spot so be careful. If he's pathing like a jerk and you feel like you're going to lose your cs spawn go kill the last one past the gate towards the upper areas of skyshrine with the same fear style starting fear in the back of the hallway. Sometimes you can get both and end up with 12.

Dunno if that made any sense but that's how I was doing 11 on my bard. There are other options available depending on what's camped but it may be a bit iffy at 54. The other 4 are up the stairs from the 2nd stop on the map I listed. The first one in the room you pull to the same spot, 2nd one in the room the same thing, then charm kill the back 2 in their room keeping them away from the door or vision through the door as much as possible. If you don't the pathers can agro through the door. Those two aren't evenly matched so it's best to just dot the stronger one. These 4 are higher level and there are two wanders to deal with up there. The named guardian that wanders hits really hard so avoid trying to kill him.

[Cen]

11 bard rotation how I have done it with various options on what guardians are being camped:

Songs to use are the 3 dot chants, snare, fear, regen, travel song, and charm/lull (traded for certain spots) and I always put my instruments in where it is helpful. snare and fear you can leave niv's in for a quick clickie after without too much crazy inventory management.

CS Room with the 4 named guardians always takes preference. I don't know if it's true but I've heard of more robes dropping in there than other spots. Either way it's a good home base. I travel song to the named guardian closest to the gate leading towards the upper areas of skyshrine. Charm that guardian because the other one can sometimes path poorly when charmed and agro's some drakes or the non named guardian. Let him punch you and move just outa range around halfway or so across the small slot there. Basically try and stay on that half of the slot and don't venture beyond where the diagonal walls end. There is enough room to maneuver in there. Then do the standard charm twist: 3 chants on the non charmed, regen, niv's harmonic click, switch up the guardian you are charming and repeat. Can refresh one of the dots in there if you want because there will be some time before charm breaks but it's not always enough depending on server ticks. I like to have snare and fear up so generally when one guardian dies you can just snare and fear it when it's below 25% and it won't move while being dotted/melee'd down.

After this depending on what's being farmed you can move down to the bank area and kill those two named down there with the charm method. Up to 6 killed now.

Move to the hallway with the 3 spawn and weakest of the named guardians is the first one. I like to pull them into the dead end hallway on the right and snare/fear/dot until fear wears off and let them path back and re-fear at the back of the hallway. Here is the location I'm talking about:
https://i.imgur.com/pSS3iiH.png
It says there is a pather who goes in there but there isn't. They will not path while feared into agro range of anything unless snare falls off. Throw in nivs or regen when needed if they get some good melee rounds off on you. There is a pather in the main hall and opposite dead end hallway so watch out for him. I'm not sure at your level if you will to lull all the drakes in the rooms but just swap out your charm slot if you do (will have to on the back room). Up to 9 now

After these 3 you can lull and kill the one by the CS key drake. I pull him to the stairs that lead to the upper floor where some of the strongest guardians spawn. Here is the spot I am talking about:
https://i.imgur.com/Ft6Gf4c.png
Same fear style works here starting at the corner left of the base of the stairs. After him you can grab the one in the room with the merchants and sentry kale (? not sure if right name) and kill in the same spot. Another non named gargoyle paths for that spot so be careful. If he's pathing like a jerk and you feel like you're going to lose your cs spawn go kill the last one past the gate towards the upper areas of skyshrine with the same fear style starting fear in the back of the hallway. Sometimes you can get both and end up with 12.

Dunno if that made any sense but that's how I was doing 11 on my bard. There are other options available depending on what's camped but it may be a bit iffy at 54. The other 4 are up the stairs from the 2nd stop on the map I listed. The first one in the room you pull to the same spot, 2nd one in the room the same thing, then charm kill the back 2 in their room keeping them away from the door or vision through the door as much as possible. If you don't the pathers can agro through the door. Those two aren't evenly matched so it's best to just dot the stronger one. These 4 are higher level and there are two wanders to deal with up there. The named guardian that wanders hits really hard so avoid trying to kill him.

Thank you for that. I know exactly everything you referenced here. The only charm kills I did were the two in a room together on 2f with the roaming strong guardian to hide from the door entry :D maybe ill try your pool strategy. I noticed at classroom hall (the dumb name we had for it on rz even tho it's beds) nobody ever grabs those. I do the first two but the one at the end of the hall just before the spell vendor tp is a bit tough for me to handle and lulling his bros and getting him back to the dead end hall a few doors down is a hassle. I leave him. Ive tried all of them though to some capacity lol

[Cen]

I am starting to get a little bit cabin fever inside SS. If a robe drops or a bp/helm drop for me I'm out for awhile but as it is right now im fashion clashed with two sets :) so

[Murri]

There is a sword that drops too ;P. I have it all besides robe and shield (don't think that's a real thing?) but it looks great

[elwing]

I doubted shield and sword were in, but after around 1k kill I got the sword... Shield might be in, but it's clearly a rare drop...

[Cen]

Well, as of this morning, after a back to back bracer and helmet, I am officially down to the ultimate crunch. I am missing only the breastplate or the robe. If I get either or, I leave prison. Its been 4 days of real life and maybe about 13-14 hours of game play thus far. At least my odds are spread over two pieces, but i'm so unfashionable with one mismatched piece ;D

[Murri]

I had seen the sword on live and robe but i'd never seen the shield... i mean it's a piece of shit but maybe it looks cool. I've seen 3+ swords drop tho.

[Guzum]

Not too long after velious launched there was a bard tunnel rat that had both the sword and shield. Haven't seen one since though.

[Cen]

I am fully plated in Guardian in every slot! I did not find the robe. I will return someday, but for now, I am resting my sanity with my minor achievement :D till I am stronger and can handle more then a 7 spawn.

https://i.imgur.com/Be9nm6M.png

[vanix]

my monk is hard pressed to do 70dps even weapon swapping a efretti ice staff perfectly for two h2h hits between each double attack of the staff add in the kick and its a 5 hit / round cycle.. and then that was nothing compared to a rogues dps so u know some facts