Normal Mode Freyja's Ascent Guide (Solo Sniper)

[Perry the Platypus]

Hi there! I promised Dirty I'd write a guide for Freyja's Ascent, so I started working on recreating my test server build, and then realized I'm both poor and lazy, so I used a cheaper version of it instead.

 

Make sure you've read the wiki page before reading this guide. I'll be assuming you've read it and know the mechanics of the instance, so I won't cover them here.

 

Anyways, this build got me a 40 minute solo run in normal mode Freyja's Ascent, though it can probably be done faster with the full build especially because I was too cheap to actually buy the Stat Sodas that I recommend. I highly recommend bringing a friend or two if you can; the rewards get better based on the party size, and if everyone is fully geared for it you'll get a faster clear time, too.

 

 

The Real Build

 

I'm listing the full build below, however my 39:45 run shown above was actually using a weaker build (I'll explain below).

 

Note that all gear should be refined as high as possible.

 

Upper Headgear: Any custom headgear

-Doesn't matter, but I use 2x Pharaoh so I don't have to worry about my SP

-Resist Fire, Increase Physical Damage (Boss), Reduce Freeze Duration

 

Middle Headgear: Any custom headgear

-2x Kiel Card

-Resist Water, Increase Physical Damage vs Undead, Reduce Freeze Duration

 

Lower Headgear: Any custom headgear

-1x Kiel Card, 1x Durathror Card

-Resist Neutral (or Wind), Increase Dex, Reduce Freeze Duration

 

Armor: Elite Shark Leather Armor A

-2x Tao Gunka Card

 

Weapon (Normal): Composite Bow [4]

-2x Turtle General Card, 2x The Paper Card

 

Weapon (Boss): Bloody Bow

-2x King of the Abyss Card (use 2x The Paper Card if you don't have KotA)

 

Garment: Demon Plate Cloak or Shark Leather Cape

-2x Noxious Card

-Upgraded by Vulkan

 

Footgear: Kazareth's Shoes or Sleipnir

-2x General Egnigem Card

 

Accessories: 2x Dex Belt

-4x Alligator Card

 

Arrows:

-Holy Arrow (Dark Guardian, Dark Beholder, Fallen Soul)
-Arrow of Wind (Freezing, Frozen Butterfly, Glacial Serpent)
-Arrow of Shadow (Snow Gryphon)

 

Consumables:

-Elixir of Lifesteal

-Combined Resist Potion

-Stat Soda (or Hwergelmir's Tonic)

-Yggdrasil Berry

 

Stats:

-500 Dex

-340 Luk

-Other stats don't matter, just get enough Agi for 193 ASPD while afflicted by both Quagmire and Decrease Agi (you can test by just standing next to a Dainn for a while, he'll eventually use both), however much Str you need to carry your items, and then put the rest in Vit

-You can get more Vit by completing the Gym Pass quest so you don't need as much Str

-You need 126 Crit to get a 100% Crit rate against the boss; technically you'd also need 130 for Glacial Serpent, 148 for Frozen/Mystic Butterfly, and 160 for Snow Gryphon, but I personally didn't bother worrying about those in normal mode

 

The Cheaper Build

 

First of all, this build can be done nearly identically with Double Strafing if you don't have the Kiels, just make sure you're using Shark Leather Cape in that case. Other than that you just need to replace those The Paper Cards (1x Incantation 3x Turtle General in the normal weapon, 2x Abysmal Knight in the boss weapon). Using DS will be slower, but it does give you some extra range, and makes for a much cheaper build.

 

Footgear can be Celerity Boots if you don't have epic gears; the main thing here is just the movement speed for pillar rushing. Dex Belts can be switched to Minor Dex Belts or, depending on your level of poverty, Bow Thimbles (there's a lot of magic though, the MDef helps if you can afford it).

 

Elite Shark Leather Armor can apparently be anything because my 39:45 run was done with a Sorcerer's Robe (I forgot to save my BG Tickets for this oops), but the better armor will help if you have it.

 

And finally if you're too lazy to even use the MVP rooms, just use Green Ferus Cards instead of GECs in your shoes.

 

Freyja's Ascent Cards

 

The above build doesn't use any of the custom cards that drop inside the instance because, well, if you're looking at this guide you probably don't have those cards yet. Once you've run it a few times though, or if you can buy them from other players, you can start replacing some of the cards to improve your run time.

 

Weapon (Normal): 2x Snow Gryphon Card, 2x Dark Beholder Card

Garment: 2x Frost Centipede Card (you may not want to use this if you're planning on doing nightmare)

Footgear: 2x Fallen Soul Card

 

Clearing the Map

 

Alright, first of all, when you see the MVP, do not hit him. Kantmiss Evershot put this better than I ever could, so I'm stealing this; hitting the Dark Guardian will immediately turn him into an overly attached girlfriend. You don't want that. Not yet, anyway.

 

You want to clear out as many of the normal mobs as possible, especially the Glacial Serpents and Snow Gryphons (there's two of each, one on the left side of the map and one on the right side). You don't want to run into those while dealing with the MVP.

 

Work your way through the map with Sharpshooting, pop an Yggdrasil Berry when you need it, and avoid mobs. Wait out the healing item delay before proceeding if you have to (if you're less than half way through the map it may be faster to warp back to town, use the Healer, and come back, depending on your load screen times). And, of course, grab any chests you see; if you're running the instance solo, there'll be 5-6 of them.

 

Charge Arrow is your friend if you get mobbed, or if you're running low on HP and need a few seconds before you can use another berry.

 

Use your Bloody Bow against Glacial Serpent and Snow Gryphon. They're both minibosses, so the Bloody Bow will provide some extra resistance and more damage.

 

Dark Guardian - Seriously Get Off of Me

 

Okay, now for the fun and/or excruciating part.

 

Starting the fight is rather simple; run at him and start blasting him with Sharpshooting. He'll immediately spawn some monsters around him, so either Charge Arrow them away or just try to focus down the boss to get him as low as possible - try not to trigger his first threshold (75% HP) inside the village, drag him off to the side or to the south first if you can. This avoids an extra group of monsters to run through while pillar rushing.

 

If you die before you can drag him away and get him to 75%, no problem. Just enter the instance again, but DO NOT attack him when he teleports to you. Run to the first large clearing (where the first Glacial Serpent and Snow Gryphon were), and drag him to the left side of that (bonus points if you bring him down that dead-end path too). Once he's there, bring him down to his threshold HP, and then either try to escape or accept your fate and die, but whatever you do, do not drag his minions to the middle of the clearing.

Make sure you pay attention when you trigger his threshold; he'll tell you which pillars he's spawned. I'll let you figure out which pillars spawn where, but as long as you know to pay attention, you should catch on fairly quickly. Each of the pillar names is related to the location it spawns in. All of the pillars spawn in the village, not anywhere else on the map, so if you're not sure where it is just check each of the houses until you find it.

 

Now you've reached the pillar rush part of the instance. Use Wind Walk, enter the map, and start running; if you see a normal mob, Charge Arrow it away, preferably off to some corner where it won't bother you next time. When Dark Guardian spawns on you, either keep running if he starts casting a spell, or try to drop an Ankle Snare right in front of him if he's too close to get away. That'll give you a few seconds to run. Random aside by the way, Spider Web works on him too, and it is possible to do a 35-40 minute run with a fully geared Professor as well using the same strategy.

 

Kill both pillars to break his barrier, and then same thing as above, drag him out of the village before you try fighting him again, or just let yourself die before getting to his next HP threshold. And now you can jump back 3 paragraphs, rinse and repeat until he's dead, and then go to the village and collect your reward from the portal.

 

Note that after his 25% HP threshold you can fight him anywhere; if you followed everything above, the easiest place is right at the entrance of the map, because he won't have spawned any monsters there.

 

Nightmare Mode

 

Don't suffer like I did.

 

First of all, the above build can clear nightmare mode without any adjustments, but it's definitely not an optimal build as seen in the screenshot. My time with this build as written above (other than not using Stat Soda, and having Minor Dex Belts instead of Dex Belts) was 133 minutes, but with some minor adjustments, that time can be reduced quite a bit.

 

As mentioned on the wiki, in nightmare mode, enemy stats are increased to 2.5x for solo runs. This means you need 195 Crit for 100% Crit rate against Dark Guardian. In a party of 5 that's up to 3.7x stats, so you would need 250 Crit for Dark Guardian. It also means that you won't be landing any Crits at all on the Mystic/Frozen Butterflies (250-331 Crit required) or the minibosses (205-265 Crit for Glacial Serpent, 280-376 Crit for Snow Gryphon), which means you'll either die, or spend a very long time killing them. Or, more likely, both. In other words, if you value your sanity in the slightest, you'll want more Crit.

 

There's a number of ways to get more Crit, but the simplest adjustment to the above build is to replace 2-4 Alligator Cards with Ifrit Cards, which give +20 Crit each, or Frozen Butterfly Cards, which will give about 30-40 Crit depending on your Luk. You'll have slightly lower resist, but you'll be dealing a lot more damage. Feel free to experiment with other adjustments if you have other ideas, but this adjustment should mean less time wasted on butterflies, minibosses, and berry cooldowns, which are the bulk of the nightmare run anyway.

 

I very much recommend against trying to solo nightmare mode because it's a very unpleasant (and long) experience LOL, but if you do try it, please remember to keep your hand/wrist relaxed. Don't tense up to try to spam "faster" as doing this will both slow you down and damage your wrist. Regardless, the Ifrit/Frozen Butterfly Card adjustment will help you in parties as well, which is very much the preferred way to run nightmare mode.

 

That being said, it could also be argued that a more resist focused Double Strafing build may net you better results, but I haven't tested this yet, and it would be beyond the scope of this guide anyway. It's up to you to try out different builds and party comps if you want to run nightmare mode. :D

[dirtysin]

thank you very much for your effort in writing this guide, really appreciate it! 🙏

On 12/17/2019 at 9:52 AM, Perry the Platypus said:

overly attached girlfriend

*thats the most annoying stalker in the entire Anomaly RO so far! >.<"

[Perry the Platypus]

Updated to include a section for nightmare mode (please find a party, running it solo is not a good idea LOL).

 

Also fixed middle headgear's enchants listing damage vs Holy instead of damage vs Undead. Both of them are useful, but I personally prefer Undead as there's more Fallen Souls than there are Snow Gryphons.

[Sakuretsu]

On 12/16/2019 at 8:52 PM, Perry the Platypus said:

the minibosses (205-265 Crit for Glacial Serpent, 280-376 Crit for Snow Gryphon), which means you'll either die, or spend a very long time killing them. Or, more likely, both. In other words, if you value your sanity in the slightest, you'll want more Crit.

 

Or you can lure the minibosses away like i do in my solo runs, you dont absolutely need to kill the 2 serpents and the gryphon thats not in the middle of the village. The village gryphon is the only miniboss i kill because its faster and less risky during a speedrun.

2 alice shield swap and anodynes will be very useful in this luring task.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Sakuretsu