Iron Coldfeather; or Yet another Solo IronMan challenge

So, if you follow a little bit the GW subReddit, you may have stumble upon my posts about my character Queen Saliente whom I recorded the entire run GWAMM process in 404 videos of absolute pleasure.

Today I’m back for more.

Since Queen Saliente won’t be diving in GW Beyond for now (although it may be a thing in the future), I wanted to tackle a challenge that has been on my mind for quite a while now: Solo IronMan.

The rules are simple:

— Everything must be done solo. No H/H.

— No storage. You want money or mats? Farm them!

— No buying from rune/dye/material/scroll traders. Selling is fine.

— However you may play the campaign in any order you want. That is because the routing is my favorite part of this kind of challenge and there is nothing funny in being roadblocked when you could explore somewhere else.

Of course, for that purpose I created a new character. Enter Iron Coldfeather. She’s an elementalist I created in Prophecies. I didn’t put much thought in this character. After my previous challenge as a Warrior, I wanted to play a caster for a change. Mesmer being “Easy Mode” (JK) and my main being a Necro, I quickly settled on an Elementalist.

Of course, since we’re here for a long run anyway, there is no need to rush Pre-Searing. I took my time to get trophies, upgraded my armor, got a Small Equipment Pack, farmed Charrs a lot, got my Charr bags and then farmed some more. And of course I went for LdoA, because why the hell not.

Not all runs are bad.

As a quick side note, I didn’t use the /bonus weapons and the fire Imp. Simply because I don’t have access to them… Needless to say, it is way harder to kill Charr Bosses like that.

So far my drops have been… not exactly good… I mean the staff is fine, but the wand is quite lackluster.

I will keep this thread up as a war journal and only record a few points of interest. The whole recording process was already tedious on Queen Saliente’s Journey and I know the grind on this challenge will be SO INSANE that it probably wouldn’t be a pleasant viewer experience…

So here I am: at level 20 and ready to leave Ascalon! Next step is the Searing and an awful lot of Charr trouble!

Stay tuned friends!

I knew getting out of pre-searing would open the game in a big way but I didn't think it would be that much. Nevertheless, I kept my focus and immediately grabbed the first skill quests available.

(Little side note: I know some people consider TB+ as cheating. I kept using it by force of habit and got rid of it after a few hours of gameplay. In fact, this post will be the last one with it.)

Anyway, I farmed for my armor a bit. I don't really want to rely on armor crafters for now, especially since it's so easy to farm trophies at this stage of the game. After I got to Piken Square I completed the Siege there, then took all three quests Duke's Daughter, Fires in the North and Garfazz Bloodfang. Then I walked a long journey to Diessa.

RIP

I reached Grendich Courthouse and turned back to Flame Temple Corridor in order to farm Hydras. Then I helped a father mourn his daughter.

WTB

So far my level 20 alone made me able to stomp on most threat. However, as you noticed, I'm still farming items for better gear and I will compleat every skill quests possible.

I know there is a long road ahead and I will encounter issus soon enough.

Next Stop: 2 missions - Stay tuned!

Well... to say the first four missions were easy would be an understatement. I simply destroyed every chars I saw and completed the bonuses in uncontested manners. Before tackling to Surmia I farmed to improve my gear a little bit.

Then, In Nolani I forgot how stupid Rurik was, so I killed every chars then backtracked all the way to do the bonus when I was sure he was safe.

Not much to say about those honestly. Now that I'm in Yak's Bend I know there will be a lot of farm and Skill Quests

Quote from SaGGGan

Good luck on your Journey.

My Iron Ele made it solo all the way to Sanctum Cay, though I never really planned that out as a Challenge.

After that it will be getting a lot more difficult.

Lot of Rupts and Ench removal in the Dessert.

Heya, I don't really know what will be my take on those... Once in LA, I might go to Cantha or Elona, just so I can grab an Elite or two.

I was thinking: improve my armor there then try my luck in EotN. Better armor and weapons there (although difficult path) and PVE skills are appealing...

I think the most importants Elites will be Obsidian Flesh and Ether Renewal. But I should be able to capture Double Dragon pretty fast (although it's quite lackluster).

EDIT: Oh, and I definitely want to have some AoE action, like Savannah Heat or Shockwave.

I took my sweet time in Yak's Bend. I grabbed all quests I could (especially skill quests), and went to explore.

Helping those poor refugees

I especially focused on the quest Minaar's Trouble since the shield you get there as a reward will be useful against the dwarves you encounter throughout the game .

About the skills unlock, I have a few rules:

— If a skill can be unlocked through a quest it must be done so.

— You may purchase skills from a Skill Trainer, but only if this skill can't be unlocked from a quest.

— I will follow this list to know what I can buy, since I obviously already have everything unlocked on this account...

Borlis pass was the first roadblock. It took me a few tries to beat the last few groups of foes but I got there.

Also I got my first gold drops with this character on this mission

:

Sadly nothing useful...

Before attacking Frost Gate, I took the time to travel to Ice Tooth Cave and got a better armor.

I don't see why Frost Gate would be that much of a problem, right?

Okay, Frost Gate was fine. I just took my time and got rewarded by some more gold drops:

Meh...

I even completed the long and tedious Frost Gate bonus! (JK it's just back tracking).

So far we completed every single bonuses.

So, we reached Beacon's Perch, and now we completed Northern Shiverpeaks.

Next stop: Kryta!

Stay tuned guys!

Quote from SaGGGan

Just started a fresh Ele myself and will follow in your big footsteps.

Do it! It's a great challenge, it's really forcing me to see the game in a different way.

Alright, so I recorded my crossing through Deldrimor Bowl and my full journey to Kryta: Here!

I completed a few skill quests and got the first important rune of the run: +30HP!

Sadly my lack of fire power is already showing...

We'll see what Kryta as for us. Stay tuned guys!

Quote from SaGGGan

It took me about 24 of grinding to get a Minor Fire Rune.

You're right, I had it so early, I didn't consider how much of a game changer it was.

SO! Big update today!

We beat Gates of Kryta! As you can see it was rather easy, I just said hi to Oink and went on my merry way. I will of course complete the bonus later.

But now guys, I need your help. What should I do next?

Since we reached Lion's Arch, the game expanded a tremendous way.

— Elona, the quest to get there is rather difficult though.

— Cantha, would be final armor right away.

— EotN, also final armor, but pretty difficult to keep going after that with little skills I have.

— Prophecies. Keep going in Kryta. I already know I have a bunch of quest to do here, but maybe I should push to Magumma?

I'll keep playing of course but I'd like some input from you guys. Where do you think I should go?

Prophecies it is then!

Quote from SaGGGan

Get Meteor Shower from the Ascalon Settlement

I completely overlooked that skill trainer. But I already knew there would be a full session of "shopping list".

For now I will farm for better gear and explore a little bit.

In the meantime I completed the most quests I could in North Kryta Province and walked all the way to Beetletun.

You can see the result here.

I'm still routing my next move, but I'm pretty sure it will involve some farming.

Stay tuned guys!

Welp I'm necroing this thread! Sorry, I was trapped in a blackhole called Pokémon! But now I'm back for some more solo Ironman shenanigans with Iron Coldfeather.

---
Ok, so I completed Gates of Kryta bonus and then walked to Temple of Age. Mainly because the armors traders in Kryta are in the Western part of it.

I dropped several golds out of it, but mainly this one:

Sorry I didn't think about changing my game to English, just see that the staff has a +5 Armor that I'll be able to salvage. Pretty sure it will be extremely useful for the upcoming challenges!

Stay tuned guys!

Before doing any more quest or mission, I chose to fight my way to Fishermen's Haven. You can see how HERE
The result was messy but it got me closer to all the armor collectors I need.

This was a very short update, next part will come very soon!

So I farmed a bit...

Not really useful, bet hey, a longbow is a longbow.

As you can see HERE I took your advices and talked to a few skill trainers to get some goodies. Then I headed to Alessio Seaboard...

I guess we know what I'll do next!

Quote from Stinky Smurf

aedemiel

Hi there =)

Regarding your toolbox/umod on maps, how do you get the mission objectives there, on mine it doesn't show

Hi! This is a mod called In-game Mission Maps. You can easily find it on the wiki.

Guess what I did!
guildwarslegacy.com/attachment/58976/
That's right, we beat Alessio. It took me a few tries to get the bonus since Benji was just too busy dying to the Warrior boss...

But that's not the best part:

After a simple modding, this staff will be my best friend for a little while!

No pictures today, but we painfully ran to Riverside Province (mostly to get to the Armor collector there, I probably won't do the mission for now). It was especially difficult because of the Bog Skale Blighter with Chilblains. We then farmed a little bit for better gear.

I briefly thought about doing Sanctum Cay right Away, but I quickly considered it was a bad idea. So, next step I will slowly make my away to Maguuma and farm for better gear/armor and do the quests there. I have my eyes on Blood and Smoke right now.

Next stop: Divinity Coast!

Quote from Vader

Hey aedemiel,

I've done solo elementalist proph and Faction. If you need some tipps, watch my twitch videos.

also here is our solo wiki. (http://gwsolo.wikidot.com/start)

Feel free to join our solo Discord server https://discord.gg/Cbzx7HV6

Hey thank you very much for the invite! I just joined the Discord server.

On the latest update: We beat Divinity Coast.

As you can see, even though Janthir's KD was really helpful, it was quite imperfect since I missed the bonus. Oh well, I will probably get back there for a Z-quest anyway.

Alright! Two videos today!

First we traveled to The Wilds:

At this point I have a full note about what trophies I want to keep for my armors. I fully intent to get the 51 armor before leaving Maguuma.

Then I have to find news tactics and change my build for something weird to beat those pesky Wind Riders:

Seeya next time!