Summoners War EXP Farming Guideby Swayne
Table of Contents:
- I. Introduction
- II. How Exactly Do I Farm?
- III. Best Farming Locations
- IV. What Monsters Are Best For Farming?
- V. What Difficulty Is Best To Farm?
- VI. Swayne, How Do You Farm?
- VII. Tips and Tricks!
- VIII. Conclusion
I. Introduction:
Where should I farm? This is one of the most fundamental questions that exist within this game. We all need to level up our monsters to become stronger and eventually evolve all our good monsters to 6*. This is a very long process that can be difficult, frustrating, and downright boring! This guide will show you where the best places to farm are, the difference between Normal/Hard/Hell modes in relation to exp, some possible monsters to farm with, and some other random stuff as I think of it haha
II. How Exactly Do I Farm?
Some of you may be reading this and asking yourself, what is farming and how do I do it? “Farming” is repeatedly finishing a certain stage/map/dungeon that you want resources from. Common resources to farm for include: experience points (exp for short), mana (the blue crystals), monsters (in secret dungeons and specific maps), and runes. This guide is specifically looking at how to farm for exp. This is best done by using 1 strong monster that can defeat the stage by itself (known as “soloing”) and bringing along 3 other monsters that you want to level up (often called “fodders”).
III. Best Farming Locations:
There are 3 maps within Summoners War that are by far the best maps to farm on: Mt. White Ragon, Faimon Volcano, and Chiruka Remains.
These maps have one thing in common that is VERY important to the world of farming: the lowest monster drop is a 2* monster. This is important for a few reasons: 1. When farming to make 5* and 6* monsters, you need a TON of 3* monsters to use as food, 2. If you are a F2P (free to play) player you WILL run out of natural 3* fodder, 3. Leveling up natural 2* monsters is an efficient and easy way to get 3* monsters for evolution.
Each of these stages allow for up to 4 monsters to be used on Normal/Hard/Hell modes. Normal modes will always require 3 energy, Hard will require 4 energy, and Hell will require 5 energy. We will also discuss rune sellback rates for normal 1-4* runes on each map (these stats are notfor runes of other rarities or for runes with the bonus extra stats). Normal can drop 1* and 2* runes, Hard can drop 2* and 3* runes, and Hell can drop 3* and 4* runes. There is a 60%-70% chance (approx. 2/3 chance) to get the lesser of the 2 available runes for each map (i.e. on Normal, higher chance to get 1* rune than the 2* rune). Now let’s look at the stats of each map and weigh the pros and cons:
Mt. White Ragon:
Suggested Stage – 2. Hill
Reason: all Water Warbears (un-awakened), they do very little damage to your monsters. Other stages include Wind Garuda which can stun (annoying and can result in stun lock), Water Harpu (prevents recovery), and Water Yeti (just annoying to kill with reflect damage skill) which makes stage 2 most optimal.
Normal – 457 exp/monster
Hard – 827 exp/monster
Hell – 1500 exp/monster
Rune Sellback:
1* = 361 mana
2* = 800 mana
3* = 1288 mana
4* = 2296 mana
Monster Drops:
3* Water Warbear
2* Wind Garuda
2* Water Yeti
2* Water Harpu
Pros –
- Easy to defeat
- First (of the 3) to become available for beginning players
- Drops Water Warbear (this will be discussed later)
Cons –
- Lowest exp per energy rate (will be discussed later)
- Low rune selling cost (compared to Faimon and Chiruka)
Faimon Volcano:
Suggested Stage – 1. Path
Reason: this stage uses the ever so fragile Fire Hellhound as its main enemy monster. Other stages include awakened Fire Inugami (facing it’s RNG can be a pain), Fire Salamander (de-buffs are extremely annoying), Succubus (prevents healing), and the strange monsters found in stages 5 and 6 who are just hard to kill, strong, and have no type disadvantage, which makes stage 1 most optimal.
Normal – 756 exp/monster
Hard – 1276 exp/monster
Hell – 1950 exp/monster
Rune Sellback:
1* = 823 mana
2* = 1824 mana
3* = 2937 mana
4* = 5236 mana
Monster Drops:
3* Fire Inugami
3* Fire Salamander
2* Fire Hellhound
Pros –
- Drops Fire Inugami (will be discussed later)
- High energy drop rate (average of 1 energy drop per run)
- High exp per energy rate (will be discussed later)
- Highest rune sellback rate (compared to Mt. Ragon and Chiruka)
Cons –
- Beginning players cannot farm this stage due to difficulty and level progression (more of an end-game map in the storyline)
Chiruka Remains:
Suggested Stage: 1. Outer Wall, 4. West, or 5. Core
Reason: these stages, are in my opinion, the only “farmable” stages within this map – and I say this very loosely. Which stage you choose to farm will directly correlate to the attribute of your monster (Fire, Water, Wind) and which monster you actually have. More so than either Faimon or Mt. Ragon, this map is very difficult to farm efficiently and requires some fairly specialized or outrageously strong monsters to solo (especially on Hard and Hell modes). Truthfully, due to my own lack of capable monsters to farm this stage, I do not have much experience soloing this stage.
Normal – 944 exp/monster
Hard – 1546 exp/monster
Hell – 2190 exp/monster
Rune Sellback:
1* = 780 mana
2* = 1728 mana
3* = 2783 mana
4* = 5236 mana
Monster Drops:
3* Wind Minotauros
2* Wind Warbear
2* Water Battle Scorpion
2* Water Monster Flower
Pros –
- Drops Wind Warbear (will be discussed later)
- Highest exp per energy rate in game (will be discussed later)
- High rune sellback rate (just under Faimon rune value for 1-3* runes, 4* are tied in value)
Cons –
- Beginning and intermediate players cannot farm this stage due to extreme difficulty and level progression (the final map in the storyline)
- The strength of the monsters are significantly stronger than any other maps in the game
IV. What Monsters Are Best For Farming?
I am sure that your minds are starting to look at these maps and analyze what monsters you own that could solo these maps. Some of you reading this guide have 6* natural 5* monsters like Water Archangel or Wind Phoenix that you already know can tear through these maps no problem. Others of you may not have “strong” monsters that many upper level and P2P (pay to play) users have. If that is you, then this section is for you! (: Even if you have good monsters you should still read this, it will be helpful even still!
I am going to discuss monsters that are attainable for any player (either through monster drops on stages, buying at the magic shop, or through secret dungeons) that have the capability and potential to farm each stage that I mentioned above! We will be looking at the awakened, 6*, max-skill potential of these monsters and show which stages they are best at farming on what difficulty on auto attack. These monsters work best as 6* monsters (duh, haha), but that is not always necessary for all difficulty levels (namely Normal difficulty). Also, we will be assuming we are using at least +12 3* runes on all slots since most players do not have 6* runes.
***NOTE: I am aware that there are many monsters I do not list even amongst the “easily obtainable” monsters that can solo these stages. I know that all of you reading this are smart, and I am going to give you some building blocks to make connections and draw conclusions for yourselves, alongside of my recommendations***
Ramagos (Wind Warbear)
Obtainable From: SD, Magic Shop, Chiruka Remains
Solo Potential – Ramagos has a lot of potential for soloing due to his healing skill Crouch (increases def and recovers 36% of his hp back) and his mega damage skill Clean Shot (does damage equal to how much hp he is missing, ignores def and type advantage/disadvantage). Taking damage isn’t bad for this guy do to Clean Shot, so he works great against virtually any element. These 2 skills work very well together and allow him to easily solo many levels.
Recommended Runes – Energy x3 (hp%/hp%/hp%)
Stages It Can Solo: Mt. White Ragon (Normal/Hard/Hell), Faimon Volcano (Normal/Hard), Chiruka Remains (stage 5, Normal/Hard)
Dagora (Water Warbear)
Obtainable From: Mt. White Ragon
Solo Potential – Dagora is a great solo monster due to his healing skill Crouch (increases def and recovers 36% of his hp back) and his 3rd skill Spirit’s Will (revives himself automatically when he dies with 20% of his health back). This guy just doesn’t die. It is like he can’t die. Ever. Dagora’s strength is in destroying Fire type monsters. They can’t do jack-squat against him and he does decent damage using his first skill (damage based on his max hp). His main purpose it to destroy Faimon, but he can work against Mt. Ragon too.
Recommended Runes – Energy x3 (hp%/hp%/hp%)
Stages It Can Solo: Mt. White Ragon (Normal/Hard/Hell), Faimon Volcano (Normal/Hard/Hell)
Raoq (Fire Inugami)
Obtainable From: Faimon Volcano
Solo Potential – Raoq’s potential (unlike most other solo monsters) doesn’t lie in his bulkiness or tankiness, but rather his attack power and his 3rd skill. Raoq’s 3rd skill, Annihilate, allows him to attack again every time he kills an enemy monster. This allows him to attack multiple times in a turn and eliminate all of the enemy monsters before they can attack him even once. The major downside of Raoq is the fact that he is the least versatile monster out of the ones I mention. He can only solo Normal and (if he has high enough speed and attack power) Hard modes of Faimon, and nothing else. The major up-side of Raoq is that he is darn good at his job, and he can clear Faimon on Normal/Hard in about 1 minutes time, give or take.
Recommended Runes – Fatal + Blade (atk%/atk%/atk%) with some speed sub-stats if possible
Stages It Can Solo: Faimon Volcano (Normal/Hard)
Tantra (Fire Yeti)
Obtainable From: SD, Magic Shop
Solo Potential – Tantra tends to be very overlooked by most people despite having fantastic soloing ability. His usefulness lies in his 3rd skill called Ancestor’s Blessing. This skill creates a shield of 60% of Tauntra’s max hp for 3 turns and heals 15% of its hp after every turn. This is a solid skill for farming and soloing, especially against wind monsters. Often times the enemy monsters won’t be able to break its shield before he can reuse the skill, which results in serious tanking. It is capable of doing some decent damage with its second skill also, dealing damage proportionate to its max hp. Fire type tanks are not easy to come by overall, so he can fill some great niche roles.
Recommended Runes – Energy x3 (hp%/hp%/hp%)
Stages It Can Solo: Mt. White Ragon (Normal), Faimon Volcano (Normal), Chiruka Remains (stages 1 and 4, Normal/Hard, possibility for Hell, but I am honestly not 100% sure)
Ahman (Light Bearman)
Obtainable From: SD
Solo Potential – Ah, the infamous Ahman! He is available to all players through secret dungeons if you are lucky enough to find it or friend someone who has it. Ahman’s main solo potential lies within his 3rd skill, Crushing Power, which heals 12% of his max hp for all your monsters when he lands a critical hit during his turn. If you get his critical rate up passed 90%, he can have some serious healing potential. Ahman is capable of dishing out some decent damage also due to constant critical hits and his 2nd skill that damages proportionate to his max hp. He is difficult to make good, however, as he is heavily dependent on good runes to be effective. He has no type advantage or disadvantage which is both a blessing and a curse, as he doesn’t resist any elements damage. His soloing ability is fairly limited, but is slightly more versatile than Raoq overall in terms of soloing.
Recommended Runes – Violent + Blade/Energy (hp%/critrate%/hp%), look for critrate%, hp%, and speed on his rune sub-stats in that order
Stages It Can Solo: Mt. White Ragon (Normal/Hard/Hell), Faimon Volcano (Normal/Hard)
As I mentioned earlier, there are other monsters that also have soloing potential on these 3 maps that I did not mention that are constituted among the “easy to obtain” monsters. There are TONS of monsters that can solo these maps that are not among the “easy to obtain” monsters. Some of these include: Water Archangel, Wind Pheonix, Wind Ninja, Water Epikion Priest, Dark Hellhound, and many more. If you think critically and look at the potential of each monster you own, it isn’t hard to determine who has soloing capability and who does not.
Next, we are going to look at a fairly controversial topic: what difficulty should I farm? Normal, Hard, or Hell?
V. What Difficulty Is Best To Farm?
First let’s look at the definite differences between the Normal, Hard, and Hell difficulties. As you increase in difficulty, there are some things that change: experience per run increases, 3* monsters drop more frequently, higher grade rune drops, and the number of Unknown Scrolls that drop (Normal gives 1, Hard gives 2, and Hell gives 3). There are also some things that do not change: mana drop rate, energy drop rate, and crystal drop rate.
The answer to the title question is actually very, very different than most people believe. The short answer is this: Hell mode, in almost every way, is the best difficulty to farm.
Some of you won’t just take my word without having some sort of proof, so I will give some to you.
Hell modes give you the most experience per energy spent, gives you the best rune drops (for use or for selling), and have a significantly higher drop rate for 3* monsters (seriously, it is crazy). Basically what this means is that you get the most experience possible for your energy, you get more mana (from rune selling), and you get a lot more 3* monster drops which speed up the evolving process by a considerable amount. The most important difference between the Normal/Hard/Hell modes is the experience per energy spent rate. Let’s take a look at the numbers:
Mt. White Ragon:
Normal – 457 exp/monster @ 3 energy per run >> 1828 exp / 3 energy = 609.33 exp/energy
Hard – 827 exp/monster @ 4 energy per run >> 3308 exp / 4 energy = 827 exp/energy
Hell – 1500 exp/monster @ 5 energy per run >> 6000 exp / 5 energy = 1200 exp/energy
Faimon Volcano:
Normal – 756 exp/monster @ 3 energy per run >> 3024 exp / 3 energy = 1008 exp/energy
Hard – 1276 exp/monster @ 4 energy per run >> 5104 exp / 4 energy = 1276 exp/energy
Hell – 1950 exp/monster @ 5 energy per run >> 7800 exp / 5 energy = 1560 exp/energy
Chiruka Remains:
Normal – 944 exp/monster @ 3 energy per run >> 3376 exp / 3 energy = 1258.67 exp/energy
Hard – 1546 exp/monster @ 4 energy per run >> 6184 exp / 4 energy = 1546 exp/energy
Hell – 2190 exp/monster @ 5 energy per run >> 8760 exp / 5 energy = 1752 exp/energy
You see the pattern? There is a common myth floating around that Hard and Hell provide a lower exp per energy return rate when actually it is the exact opposite! This trend is not limited to the 3 maps I broke down, it is consistent with every map in the game. There aren’t any exceptions to this. Seriously, you will waste your time and in-game and out of game energy trying to deny this.
Let me bold this for those who like to skip over text… HELL MODE GIVES THE BEST EXP PER ENERGY RATE. PERIOD.
Ahem… sorry about that. It is just super important for you to know.
Some of you might be thinking, “Okay Swayne, maybe that is true, but what about the actual time it takes to finish Normal over Hell mode? Doesn’t that make some sort of a difference? And what about the fact that you can finish Normal more times than Hell? Doesn’t that mean Normal gives more/better energy drops/mana drops/crystal drops/rune drops/monster drops/and other stuff???”
I will address each of these issues, and again, many of you will find these results surprising.
Time To Complete Normal Over Hell Mode – It does in fact take longer to finish Hell mode over Normal mode, this is true. You will deplete your energy quicker farming Normal over Hell mode, but, don’t let this deceive you as being better. Hell mode decreases the necessary energyand time to complete making 6* monsters due to the significantly higher drop rate of 3* monsters and higher exp rate per energy. Power leveling a 2* monster up to a 3* requires a significant amount of runs of any given stage, and the higher difficulties drop 3*s fairly commonly which eliminates the need to power level as many 2*s. My experience has shown that on Normal, 3*s drop about 1/100 runs, in Hard about 1/50 runs, and in Hell about 1/20 runs. Pretty significant differences huh? In the end, Hell (although it doesn’t seem like it) ends up being faster despite completing less runs of the same stage.
Finishing Normal Gives Me More Drops, So More Of Everything Right? – Wrong! Assume you have 60 energy. This means you can complete Normal mode 20 times, Hard mode 15 times, and Hell 12 times. On Faimon, the average mana drop rate is about 1350 mana per run. If we got all runes, and assumed we got the best possible runes on each run (2*s on Normal, 3*s on Hard, and 4*s on Hell), sold those runes, and compared the results, you would be shocked. Normal would give you 63480 mana, Hard would give you 64305 mana, and Hell would give you 79032 mana! In addition, the 8 run difference between Normal and Hell will land only land you a net +6-12 energy in favor of Normal, which results in 2-4 more tries of Normal which still doesn’t even match the exp per energy rate or mana rate of Hell mode. You are also much more likely to get 3* monsters which I have already explained, so using 60 energy on each difficulty would give you a 20% chance to get a 3* on Normal, a 30% chance to get a 3* on Hard, and a 60% chance to get a 3* monster on Hell mode. The only thing that Normal has an advantage over Hell mode in is crystal drops, but the advantage is negligible to say the least. It would seem in this case, less is actually more!
Have I convinced you yet? (:
In conclusion, the only reason to farm Normal or Hard mode over Hell mode is if you cannot farm Hell mode yet or are too stubborn to look at the facts that I have provided you.
VI. Swayne, How Do You Farm?
Hey, thanks for asking! I believe that the best stage to farm in the whole game is Faimon Volcano, stage 1, on Hell difficulty. Why? Faimon is, in my opinion, the best of all the maps to farm due to its increased energy drop rate, high exp/energy rate, and high rune sellback rate. This allows for more completions of the stage with a set amount of energy than Mt. Ragon or Chiruka Remains, which is not a bad thing at all. Another reason is that while Chiruka Remains has the highest exp/energy rate in the game, it takes me the same amount of time to solo Faimon Hell as it does Chiruka Hard, and since the comparison of Faimon Hell beats out Chiruka Hard, I of course am going to choose Faimon. Even if I could solo Chiruka Hell, I would still choose Faimon because of the energy drop rate and higher rune sellback price.
I use a 6* Dagora as my solo monster. He has 35k hp and 900+ def, but was able to solo Hell mode when he had a little over 30k hp and 800 def. Each run takes me between 3 and 4 minutes (depending on the number of Inugami that spawned) and has given me phenomenal results.
VII. Tips and Tricks!
Alright! Now that we all know how to farm most efficiently, it is time to give you a few tips and tricks that I have learned along the way through my own experiences and from some fellow users (shout-out to: Starkdesire, Putra iPulzzz, squiggs, coshikipix and sparxx1 for their info/data)
Tip #1! – x2 EXP Packs
Buy the x2 exp pack from the in-game shop (not the Magic Shop) to speed up the process of leveling by A TON! There are 2 packages available for x2 exp: you can pay 100 crystals to receive x2 exp for 1 day (24 hours) or you can pay 200 crystals for x2 exp for 3 days (72 hours). Thebest deal is to buy the x2 exp for 3 days, so save up for that if you are patient enough. Seriously, it is a better deal. Before you use the x2 exp, it will behoove you to save up as much of the free energy from events as you can AND have plenty of fodder monsters ready to be leveled up. It isn’t a bad idea either to have some Unknown Scrolls saved up so you can acquire more 2* mons either, nor is it a bad idea to have some extra crystals to buy the max energy refills (30 crystals each) from the shop for even more energy. Don’t use your energy on anything but the level(s) you are farming for exp, except to complete the daily missions if you so desire.
Tip #2! – x2 EXP Farming Difficulty
When under x2 exp, it can actually behoove you to complete lower level difficulties if your sole goal is exp and not sustainability of farming. When under specific time parameters you need to figure out how to get the most exp per second as possible to maximize x2 exp’s effectiveness. Here is the formula:
EXP fodders earned / seconds it took to complete the level = exp per second
Example for Faimon Hell >> 5850 exp / 265 seconds = ~22.1 exp/second
Compare the rates of each difficulty to determine what will be best for your monsters/settup. Again, this is only for more exp over sustainability. When not under x2 exp, Hell is always better.
Tip #3! – Using Friend’s Monsters
If you have strong friends with some strong rep monsters, you can use this to your advantage! Replace your monster that solos the stage with a friends monster that can solo the stage and play the stage! Friends monsters do not receive any exp when they are used, which means that they transfer the exp they would normally get to your fodder monsters. This means that the exp your fodders receive would be the same as if those 3 monsters defeated the stage by themselves without any help. This not only boosts the exp/energy rate of any stage, but it also completes a daily mission (:
Tip #4! – Know How Many Monsters You Need To Make As Fodder
This seems fairly intuitive, but important nonetheless. It isn’t necessarily bad to make too many fodder than what you need, but making not enough just downright can piss you off haha so! Here is the breakdown:
One 6* = Five 5*s
Five 5*s = Twenty-five 4*s (5 max level 4*s and twenty 4* fodder)
Twenty-five 4*s = One-hundred 3*s (25 max level 3*s and seventy-five 3* fodder)
These are big numbers folks! Plan accordingly (:
Tip #5! – Fodder Elemental Advantage
Using fodder monsters with the element that resists the monsters you are facing actually can decrease the amount of time it takes to finish a stage when using a Tank monster with low/lowish attack (ex. using Rina and Water fodders on Faimon). Having your fodder monsters attack adds up, and can decrease farming time on each run by as much as 30 seconds. This (over time) can help speed the process up. Do not do this, however, if you are using a strong damage dealer like Fire Inugami, Wind Phoenix, or Water Chimera, as this can actually slow you down slightly.
That’s all I got for now on tips and tricks! I will update this section as I find more.
VII. Conclusion:
In conclusion, we have learned that: there are 3 maps that are best to farm (Mt. Ragon, Faimon, and Chiruka), there are good monsters you can obtain fairly easily that can farm these stages (Wind Warbear, Water Warbear, Fire Inugami, Fire Yeti, and Light Bearman), that Hell difficulty on virtually all fronts is better to farm than Normal or Hard difficulties, and how I (Swayne) like to farm!
I have put a ton of time and energy into making this guide because it is important information for you all to know, drop a like and share this with your friends (:
