Rank farming

Rank farming is a Structured PvP farm which takes place in dedicated farming servers, created by players in Custom Arena, for the purpose of increasing rank and PvP Reward Track progress.

Basics

Dedicated farming servers can be entered via the game browser. These servers typically advertise themselves with phrases such as "Rank Farm" and "[team color] wins/caps" in their name.

Farm matches are not played as typical PvP matches; instead, both teams co-operate in order to maximize their efficiency. How they go about doing this varies depending on the map chosen, but in all cases, the team designated as the winners will secure a win by capping all three points at the beginning of the match.

Rewards

Structured PvP rewards rank, gold, and reward track progress. Note that there are caps on the amount of gold and reward track progress that can be obtained in Custom Arena per day: 5  and two tiers, respectively.

During a match, you will become eligible for rewards once your personal score is more than 0.

Points can be earned the following ways:

• Damage: Total outgoing damage to alive enemy players.
• Healing: Total healing given to yourself and allied players.
• Kills: Number of player kills and kill assists.
• Revives: Number of allied player revives.
• Deaths: Number of deaths. (A top stat is not awarded for deaths.)
• Defense (Conquest): Number of ticks spent in combat near a friendly captured point.
• Offense (Conquest): Number of ticks spent capturing or being in combat near enemy and neutral capture points.

A typical rankfarm map will use the Damage, Kills and Defense points for the winning team, while the losing team gets its points from the Offensive.

How much reward you earn is based on the time you spend in the match; at 7 minutes, the per-match reward cap is reached - additional time will not count towards further reward credit. If you have win credit, this cap is 500 ; if not, it's 200 . There are two ways to obtain win credit:

• Be on the winning team when the game ends.
• Be on the losing team after being placed there by autobalance.
  • This only works if you volunteered to be moved. If autobalance moves you and you didn't volunteer, you will not keep your win credit.

Further rewards can be obtained in the form of bonuses. A large bonus of 25  is awarded to anyone who volunteers during autobalance, and smaller bonuses of 5  are awarded to top scorers. There are several "top scorer" bonuses to shoot for; e.g., players killed, most trebuchet repairs, etc.

Maps

There are two maps in common use by farmers: Battle of Kyhlo and Skyhammer. Each has their own benefits, downsides, and rules.

Battle of Kyhlo

Battle of Kyhlo

Battle of Kyhlo Map

Overview

Pros

• Easy to hit the per-match reward cap.
• Spectator mode is usually enabled, potentially allowing all players to get win credit. (See below for more information.)
• Going AFK is allowed.

Cons

• Long duration.
• Fighting is banned, making it difficult to work on other PvP achievements.

Typical Rules

• The winning team caps mansion and windmill immediately. The losing team may not cap them at any point.
• Both teams meet in the clocktower and take turns to cap it. This constant capping and decapping of the tower ensures the game lasts long enough for everyone to reach the per-match reward cap. Teams may also decide to leave tower as blue and simply wait for seven minutes to pass.
• Attacking is forbidden. Ranger pets must be set to passive and any traits which spawn clones or minions must be disabled. If someone accidentally hits you, ignore them. Exceptions:
  • Killing trolls is acceptable, but please take a moment to check they aren't just a clueless newbie.
  • Attacking after the game is over (500 points or 0:00 on the clock) is acceptable. This is commonly done when one of the dailies is Daily PvP Player Kills.
• Use of the trebuchet is forbidden.

Autobalance

Autobalance is commonly used to ensure everyone in the match maximizes their rewards. Players in the losing team will enter spectator mode to trigger autobalance and free up a space in the winning team for themselves; players who volunteer to be moved by autobalance from the winning team into the losing team will keep their win credit as part of their volunteer bonus.

Autobalancing in Kyhlo farms typically has its own etiquette:

• All players enter a random team at the start of the match.
• Players who entered the losing team will return to spec mode one at a time to trigger autobalance.
• The difference in player numbers between the teams must be even during autobalance. This ensures the teams are balanced such that a free space is created in the winning team.
  • Even example: 5 vs 3 becomes 4 vs 4. This allows someone in spec mode to join either team.
  • Odd example: 5 vs 2 becomes 4 vs 3. The winning team is still larger, and thus people in spec are unable to join it.
• If the difference between the teams is stuck at 1 or 0, then the player attempting to trigger autobalance has two options:

1. If there are other players in spec mode, they can rejoin the losing team and wait for one of the other people in spec to join the winning team.
2. If there is nobody else in spec mode, they can ask a member of the losing team to help by temporarily entering spec mode.

• Members of the losing team are expected to help others trigger autobalance when needed.
  • If you are in the losing team and have win credit, you will not lose it by moving to spec.

Notes

• Autobalance will never trigger after the winning team reaches 400 points.
• Autobalance takes 20 seconds to activate after being triggered.
• Spec mode cannot be entered while in combat. You can drop yourself from combat by running away from enemy players.
• It is common practice for players to remain in spec mode for most of the match, clicking rapidly on the "join [winning team color]" button. However, this is counter-productive, as a player's time spent in spectator mode will not count towards rank and reward track progress.

Skyhammer

Skyhammer

Skyhammer Map

Overview

This farm ideally requires a "host" (somone with admin rights on the server). These servers advertise themselves with extra phrases such as "meet at [team color] Spawn" and "Host on/off" in their name.

Pros

• Short duration.
  • About 12000  per hour.
• Fighting is mandatory, making it trivial to work on the Slayer and Daily PvP Player Kills achievements.

Cons

• Spectator mode is usually turned off.
  • If there is no host, players must wait for an opportunity to be sorted into the winning team.
• Match rarely lasts long enough to hit the per-match reward cap.

Phase

1. At the beginning of the match the host moves all players to winning team.
2. The winning team caps all three points immediately. (Points A,B,C)
3. Everyone hits the volunteer button for the extra 25 .
4. Both teams meet at losing teams spawn.
5. Winning team kills losing team. Losing team stacks up and get killed.
6. Around 450 points to winning team, the host moves all players to the winning team to insure all get the win credit.

Typical Rules

• The losing team may not cap any points (A,B,C).
• Losing team stack to ensure fast kill.
• It's forbidden for the Losing team to attack or cause damage.
  • For example, retaliation.
• The losing team may not heal or revive.
• Use of the Skyhammer Cannon is forbidden.
• Going AFK is forbidden.
• Crowd control or "CC" abilities are forbidden.
  • For example; fear, knockback, pull, stun, etc.
• No AI companions.
  • Ranger pets must be set to passive.
  • No necro minions.
• Finishers may not be used.

Notes

• Normal rounds are about 2 min 30 sec to 3 min long. About 12000  per hour.
• To reach max efficiency the PvP Build must have max power and minimum toughness. This means Berserker Amulet is highly recommended.