After a few days of Cnidarian Reef, people have seemed to take polarizing views on the dungeon: either it is too easy for their tastes (sitting in groups of hundreds taking no damage), or too difficult (getting shotgunned while trying to duo). These discussions have been on the forums before, but that’s not what this topic is about.
In the meanwhile, what many people seemed to have overlooked are three very interesting facts:
- The small minions become vulnerable in the final phase.
- The small minions each drop a rainbow pot.
- The boss continuously spawns more minions in its final phase.
What am I trying to get at here? It should be intuitive now: it could be possible to farm pots off the minions. Obviously, there are many questions about this practice, which I will cover one by one through this article.
“How doable is this?”
The idea of farming Cnidarian Reefs on your own or in a coordinated small group may sound daunting, but it is actually quite easy under some circumstances. Here, I will cover how to solo farm with a knight.
To safely do this with a knight, I recommend maxing 4/8: def is a given, the offensive stats are just to get it done faster, but speed is also very important as it will help you do the last phase (which you will be spending most of your time on farming) much safer, as you’ll prevent being run over. Your pet should be at least max uncommon, with heal and mheal; I personally have an almost max legendary, but as long as you D O D G E B U L L E T S you really don’t need that much healing. Mheal will allow you to stun more, which is actually very important.
Believe it or not, you will be doing quite a bit of the first few phases solely with your shield. This is because a lot of the time, invulnerable minions will be covering up the boss, leaving you to be forced to bash (or go in extremely deep, and die). Dodge as you will; this is covered in more comprehensive guides. If need be, since they only should do 25ish damage to you, you should tank the dazed instead of other bullets. Clearing the oranges are easier if you bash them point-blank then proceed to circle with them, going back to breathe.
Once you reach its final phase, drink whatever loot boosters you chose to bring, and begin circling around on the air vents, trying to maximize your distance from the boss. Your goal here is to shield-bash as many minions as you can, finishing them off with your sword (acclaim/pixie recommended). When the minions expand, try to weave through red and avoid sick: sick is your worst enemy for this, as you will likely take chip damage though not shotguns if you stay far away from the boss.
Once you feel you’ve gotten enough pots–or, if you’re unfortunate, overwhelmed by the spawned minions–finish off the boss or nexus. You should have a backpack and inventory hopefully full of pots now.
“How rewarding is this?”
You can get vit, speed, and wisdom off of these minions. Based off personal experience, I got an average of a pot every 2.5 minutes or so, taken off four runs with no loot drop. This is about 24 pots an hour, or by an approximation of the current economy 1.5L/hour. This is about as much you would make as in Void Runs of Lost Halls, except in the form of rainbow pots. Sprite world farming could be faster, but only gives you dex which you might then need to sell off. This is better for farming if you are drinking these pots on-site, but worse if you plan on carrying them back to feed (as you only have at most 16 slots to carry these pots).
One must also consider, however, that Lost Halls have a greater risk factor involved, and–to many players–are a lot less accessible. Whereas efficient Lost Halls farming usually requires a discord and a private key, the reef can be accessed through Janus, and often people still choose to go for O2, leaving you the reef.
“Why would I want to do this?”
For the pots, and the lols.
tl;dr: Get yourself or small group. Don’t kill the boss in the last phase but farm its minions. Profit.
