Survivor

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Split It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Survivor title track and Guide to survivor. (discuss)
This article is about the title for experience gained without death. For the health-boosting armor upgrade, see Survivor Insignia.
Survivor
Campaign Core
Title type Character

The Survivor title track is one of the more frustrating and nerve-wracking titles to pursue. The tiers in this title are all earned by achieving a certain amount of experience without dying even once. This title can be displayed in the "Honor" monument.

Contents

[edit] Survivor title track

Tier Title Experience gained without dying
1 Survivor 140,600
2 Indomitable Survivor 587,500
3 Legendary Survivor 1,337,500

[edit] Acquisition

Your character must not die if you wish to progress in this title track. A single death will halt its progress for that character permanently and irrevocably. Type "/deaths" in the in-game chat to check the number of deaths your current character has suffered. If the command reports anything other than 0 deaths, this title track is no longer active.

If the character dies after achieving at least tier 1, the title track will still be visible and the title can still be displayed, but it will not progress any further. It will remain at the amount of experience the character had when the first death occurred.

Players attempting this title will often restart their character if they die. This adds costs to re-equip and re-skill the character and heroes. Costs can be somewhat reduced by using uncustomized items, and salvaging runes and mods. However, armor crafting costs cannot be saved.

This title is often dubbed as "the second Lucky title" mainly because lag, loss of network connection, or computer crashes has a tendency to slow down or hinder the title which may inappropriately kill the character in battle in most worst case scenarios. In addition, due to the nature of the title, it is often difficult to achieve the maximum title.

[edit] Types of deaths

Not all deaths are counted as deaths by "/deaths" command. The following circumstances will not affect the progress of Survivor:

The following circumstances will cause you to incur a death and will halt your Survivor progress:

  • Dying from losing all health from damage or sacrifice (includes deaths during PvP)
  • Deaths occurred while in a state of disconnection (when connection is lost, but you are still logged in).
  • Your Junundu losing all health (Nightfall only).
  • Failing to use STAND UP! in time when knocked out while brawling.
  • Getting killed by flame geysers in the Catacombs.
  • Getting killed by one of the Catapults in the Fort Ranik Mission.
  • Losing a round in a Polymock match.
  • Dying in the mock PvP Battle when leaving pre-searing Ascalon, before meeting up with Rurik. ( Tip: Log out and in again, this will skip the PvP Battle and take you directly to the mission. You will have Fighter, Mage and Archer henchmen in your party.)
  • Sometimes there is a random glitch when you resign it will halt your progress.

[edit] Useful tips

[edit] Planning

  • If possible, decide early if you desire to achieve this goal. Planning your progression throughout the game will help immensely on where you can easily rack up experience points. Things such as marking areas, missions, quests, and bosses that are considered high-risk will help on minimizing the chance of dying.
  • Aim to complete the Augury Rock mission in Tyria before completing the mission Nahpui Quarter in Cantha or (for Elonian characters only) the quest Hunted! in Elona - you will receive 50,000 XP for completing Augury Rock if it is your first Ascension-equivalent accomplishment.
  • Get yourself run through dangerous areas either early on, or not at all.
  • The Journey to the North buff allows to level characters in GW:EN from level 10 to 20 with higher health and attributes. However, the difficulty in GW:EN is higher, so even with the buff, this is not advised unless you are well prepared.

[edit] Where to find XP

  • Capturing elite skills with Signets of Capture, worth 5,000 XP each at level 20.
  • Farming XP with Summoning Stone Allies can provide a safe and fast way to gain XP early in the game.
  • Prophecies: The undead outside the gate of D'Alessio Seaboard (outpost) can provide experience if you visit an empty district. Simply gain their agro and let the NPCs kill them.
  • The Tyrian titan quests Defend Droknar's Forge, The Last Day Dawns, Defend North Kryta Province, Defend Denravi, and The Titan Source can offer substantial rewards ranging from 20,000 exp to 50,000 exp.
  • The quest Zinn's Task yields 50,000 exp. Requires possession of Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns and acquisition of M.O.X. hero.
  • The Factions quests Raze the Roost and Befriending the Luxons/Befriending the Kurzicks, each worth 10,000XP.
  • Combine with other titles or with farming, such as faction farming, Sunspear ranks, etc.
  • GW:EN: the The Great Norn Alemoot is an easy solo-quest which yields 15,000 XP.
  • GW:EN: the quest Deeprunner's Map yields 15,000 XP and requires no fighting. You can buy the map pieces from other players or use a different character to find them.
  • GW:EN: the quest Haunted given by Magni the Bison also yields 15,000 XP, but is slightly more dangerous.
  • GW:EN: A safe but relatively slow way to earn experience is to repeatedly farm the Snow Wurms area between Boreal Station and Eye of the North. There are 12-15 Snow Wurms and Aloe that can be safely attacked using your character and one or two heroes (and/or the summoning stone fire imp, if you have that bonus, until you reach level 20). The most dangerous threats further on are the Avalanche past the second shrine and Mandragors near Eye of the North. Killing only the Snow Wurms can be accomplished in five to ten minutes per run, and the drops soon provide enough gold for armor and runes.
  • Do as many quests (preferably none with master difficulty) as you can, especially at the early levels prior to the selection of a secondary profession.
  • Completing Storybooks can yield substantial amounts of XP and gold if you are planning on completing each game story.
  • Completing Zaishen Missions and Zaishen Bounties can yield several thousand XP in addition to the normal completion of their objectives.

[edit] Repeatable Methods

  • GW:EN: Kilroy Stonekin's Punch-Out Extravaganza! provides about 51,000 xp per hour(8,400xp per round), not including xp scrolls. Hard mode runs yield approximately 20k xp per run (37k exp with triple exp scrolls). The quests use the Dwarven Brawling system, this means that a player will be able to avoid death by activating the Stand Up! skill before a 10-second count. If you don't active the Stand Up! skill you will get a Death count. If you think you can't get back up in time, you can travel to an outpost and you will not get a Death count. You can increase your chances of standing up in time by both pressing the corresponding keyboard skill and clicking on it with the mouse as fast as you can. (With a Scroll of the Lightbringer you can gain an average of roughly 35k xp from one HM run.)
  • Prophecies: Summit Slaves in Sorrow's Furnace provides about 22,500 experience per hour.
  • Factions: The Jade Arena in Archipelagos, southeast of Breaker Hollow, provides about 40,000 experience per hour.
  • Core: Doing a full-run in the Fissure of Woe. All quests together give 100.000 XP, not included XP from monsters. Good achievable with consumables, scrolls and (also) heroes. Recommended for experienced players.

[edit] Character build

  • Aim for a combination of high armor and ranged attacks or effects, e.g. ranger and paragon primaries are recommended.
  • Aim for a support role: healing, condition removal, and buffs are non-threatening to enemies, thus you are less of a target for them. It also allows you to help your team without necessarily going into aggro range yourself.
  • Include a skill for running if possible.
  • Include an emergency skill that will either keep you alive long enough to map out of the area if things turn ugly, or just help you long enough to cause whatever is targeting you to target someone else. Some examples are Endure Pain, Shadow Form, Whirling Defense, Shield Stance, Obsidian Flesh, Mark of Protection, Feigned Neutrality, Death's Retreat, and Healing Hands.
  • Always include a self-heal of some form, just in case the healers are dead, dazed, or otherwise occupied.
  • Get high health by using Survivor's insignia, Runes of Vigor/Vitae and weapon upgrades of Fortitude. A high health not only improves your general survivability, but also makes you a less desirable target for the monster AI.
  • Provided you are not acting as a tank, a friend or even you yourself can maintain the enchantment Protective Bond. With a high-maximum-health build it won't trigger too often but will be there to prevent a high damage spike from seriously wounding you; with 500 the damage will be limited to 25. Even at rank zero the health saved is generally more valuable than the energy cost for a survivor.

[edit] Party

  • Ask your friends to help out. Guild and alliance members are much more understanding of your goal and will tolerate sudden departures in mid-play. Playing in pick-up groups (PUG) is much more risky as random players may not have good teamwork or may simply not put the effort in to protect you. Guild and alliance members that you have played with is usually preferable.
  • When progressing on this title alone, consider using Henchmen and/or Heroes over joining a PUG. When adventuring alone with heroes and henchmen, you are free to use your escape method at any given time, as you are the only human player in the game.
  • If one must go with a PUG, it is recommended to advise the party members of your goal and intention. It lets the party members and party leader decide if they wish to have you aboard. Some may not tolerate sudden departures in mid-play when a massive battle is taking place. And this will give the party a fair enough warning to decide on keeping you around. Keep in mind that some people will deliberately try to get you killed to foil your attempt at the title, so keep an eye out for trouble.
  • Be more defensive than aggressive. It is easier to recognize and react to a losing fight if it is drawn out.

[edit] Using heroes and henchmen

  • Learn to control them. Use target calling to tell them to attack your target without attacking it yourself, which is important to stay out of the frontlines.
  • Use them to acquire initial aggro. The AI tends to attack the target caller so having your heroes and henchmen out front makes you less of a target. Use them to pull enemies too.
  • When fighting AoE-heavy enemies, spread your heroes around using the flags.

[edit] Maximizing your runs

  • Use XP gained from monster kills to your advantage. Every point counts no matter how little it gives you. Consider using XP scrolls in areas where monsters are plentiful.
  • Hold off on using the Signet of Capture until you are at level 20. This way, each elite skill capture is worth 5,000 XP. This is one of the quickest methods of advancing in the title.

[edit] Strategy

  • Have an escape plan ready to execute when the situation worsens. A logout key or warping to an outpost, town, or guild hall is the most common method of escaping from scenarios where the battle outcome may not be in your favor. Do note, however, that latency between the server and your computer (also known as lag) can spike, causing the server to believe you are still in the area taking damage. It is not a foolproof method to escape and cheat death and one should refer to the above tip about planning ahead and marking high-risk (dangerous) areas.
  • Draw the enemies to you using bows, especially if they lay traps.
  • It is often preferable to kill nearby enemies first (warriors/assassins) rather than rush through to the monks and other squishies.
  • Take fewer risks. Avoid rushing for master's rewards, pull back and regroup if your party is taking too much damage.
  • Avoid taking quests that have "Master" difficulty or quests that are difficult.

[edit] Bugged Cinematics

  • It is very important to note that you can die during certain mission cinematics, most notably the one at the end of Vizunah Square. These bugs are caused by unbound minions present during the cinematic. In Vizunah Square, the cutscene forces minion masters to lose control of their minions due to the mechanics of the cutscene, which could then kill some of the party.
  • To avoid such deaths, either skip a cutscene the moment you see you are being attacked by minions, or close Guild Wars if someone in the party is not skipping. In the case of Vizunah Square, simply closing the game the moment you receive experience for the mission is the safest course of action.
  • In Prophecies chapter, in order to cross over from pre-searing you must go through a type of trial PvP arena. To avoid deaths in this arena (since levels can span from 1-15 or higher) Simply log out while waiting to go into battle. Once you log back in, you should be in the latter stages fighting grawl and charr with your party. In this situation you can simply hang back and strike from a distance or just wait for your party members to vanquish the area.

[edit] Case studies

Tier Title Average time (sample size) Range
1 Survivor 10 hours (N=4) 3-11.5
2 Indomitable Survivor 50 hours (N=3) 6-52
3 Legendary Survivor 33 hours with farming (N=7) 12-55
95 hours without farming (N=8) 52-157

[edit] Legendary Survivor (3), with farming

  • Warrior Warrior in 91 hours of play using scrolls and farming Jade Brotherhood Knights in hard mode. Three Heroes with bonding enchantments were used in combination with Symbiosis.
    • 80 hours of play using Vengeful Was Khanhei build on Stalking Nephilas in Plains of Jarin in Hard mode.
    • Legendary Survivor was reached in 21 hours 41 minutes of play starting from prophecies, reaching level 10 via quests, getting ran to Lions Arch, then getting ran to Gunnars Hold, and farming Fronis Irontoe's Lair in Hard Mode(Once Level 20) with 2-3 scrolls of slayers insight each time.
  • Ranger Ranger
    • 14 hours by raising to lvl 10 through the Factions storyline, then brawling at Gunnar's Hold normal, continuing brawling at Gunnar's hold in Hard Mode using Scroll of Slayer's Insight.
    • 17 hours starting Factions campaign, with guild assist to quickly level to 20 and quickly run missions to get to HzH. Run to Lutgardis Conservatory and Hero Faction Farm the rest with a fast runner (note - this was nerfed on 13-Nov-2008, but done long before the nerf). Factions characters can level to 10 in as little as 2 hours without help (by quickly doing quests), so this time should easily be beatable by brawling at Gunnar's hold in EotN.
    • 19 hours starting from Nightfall campaign, heading to Eye of the North campaign at level 10 and then dwarven brawling at Gunnar's Hold in hard mode using Scrolls of Slayer's Insight.
    • 55 hours starting from the Nightfall campaign: reaching the Consulate Docks at level 17 by playing through the story, then farming Bukdek Byway in hard mode with experience scrolls.
    • 69 hours using only the Nightfall campaign (with the exception of skills for other builds). It was done by farming the Battle of Turai's Procession quest with a R/Rt Splinter/Barrage build in normal mode with Insight scrolls.
  • Elementalist Elementalist
    • 14 hours by raising to lvl 10 through the Factions storyline, then brawling at Gunnar's Hold normal, continuing brawling at Gunnar's hold in Hard Mode using Scroll of Rampager's Insight.
    • 24 hours by raising to lvl 10 through the Factions storyline, then brawling in at Gunnar's Hold Normal Mode, continuing brawling at Gunnar's Hold in Hard Mode using Scroll of Slayer's Insight.
    • 35 hours 45 mins starting from the Nightfall campaign: getting to level 10 with exp scrolls farming mainly in Plains of Jarin, and then the quest A Decayed Monument, and Kilroy hard mode using Hero scrolls.
    • 17 hours by raising to level 16 through the Nightfall campaign by doing only the primary quests - no others. After level 16, go back and do the rest of the quests and that will push you up to level 20. It's useful after level 10 to accept the Eye of the North quest and get Ogden and Vekk (both level 20) in addition to Nightfall heroes.
  • Ritualist Ritualist and a Necromancer in 26 and 34 hours by completing all quests in Kaineng Center reaching level 20, then following the storyline until getting access to House Zu Heltzer, continuing with FFF. No scrolls were used in this process.

[edit] Without farming

  • Warrior Warrior
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a warrior in 125 hours (without Nightfall). Completed most missions with Master's, complete most quests, and capture between 50-100 elite skills. No scrolls or repeatable quests were used.
  • Ranger Ranger
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a ranger in 59 hours using quests and missions (many during the 3x exp weekend) in the Factions and Nightfall campaigns, as well as capturing as many elites as possible. Only heroes and henchmen were used.
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a ranger in 52 hours (without Nightfall). Completed most missions with Master's, complete most quests, and capture between 50-100 elite skills. No scrolls or repeatable quests were used.
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a ranger in 125 hours after completing every non-elite quest and mission in Tyria, Cantha, and Kourna as well as several in Vabbi. Any ranger elite skills encountered were captured. After the character creation in Tyria, no additional content were unlocked until the completion of every mission and non-elite quest in Tyria, at which point, the character traveled to Cantha without unlocking any Nightfall or Eye of the North content. The ranger relied solely on PuGs and henchmen until the completion of Prophecies and Factions storyline. Insight scrolls were occasionally used.
      • Survivor (1) was achieved in Maguuma Jungle (Every quest and mission from Pre-Searing Ascalon to Riverside Province).
      • Indomitable Survivor (2) was achieved shortly after the arrival in Cantha while completing Kaineng City quests (Every quest in Tyria and several in Kaineng Center).
      • Legendary Survivor (3) was achieved shoftly before Dzagonur Bastion mission (Every quest and mission in Tyria, Cantha,Istan, and Kourna as well as several in Vabbi).
  • Dervish Dervish
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a Dervish in 92 hours of play using scrolls Vanquishing Istan and Kourna, completed missions and quests (Master level) prior to Crossing the Desolation and elite skill hunts. Heroes skills varies on explorable areas. Zenmai and Olias were acquired as well.
  • Paragon Paragon
    • This timeline is based on one attempt, and meant to give an idea of the work involved in completing this title track. It was accomplished with a Paragon (Mesmer and Monk secondary professions) using only henchmen and heroes:
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a Paragon in 157 hours by completing all quests and missions from Lion's Arch to The Dragon's Lair, most quests and missions prior to Unwaking Waters, most quests and missions prior to Kodonur Crossroads, obtaining Sunspear bounties till the rank of Sunspear Castellan, and capturing about 50 elite skills (about 30 of which occurred on a Double XP for Elite Captures weekend). Insight scrolls were occasionally used.
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a Paragon in 64 hours by completing all quests and missions prior to Attack at the Kodash in Elona and Sunjiang District (mission) in Cantha. Obtained Sunspear bounties till the rank of Sunspear Castellan, and captured about 100 elite skills (about 65-70 of which occurred on a Double XP for Elite Captures weekend, started with 632,137 xp). Insight scrolls were occasionally used.
  • Mesmer Mesmer
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a Canthan Mesmer in 91 hours by completing all quests and missions (with Master reward) in Cantha, earning the Protector of Cantha title at the same time ; in Elona, all missions and most quests were done up to Rilohn Refuge, with Master reward as well, and in Tyria, the Eye of the North storyline was completed (filling up a book in the process), as well as all the xp-awarding quests and a few dungeons. A few elite skills were captured along the way. No scroll was used.
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a mesmer in 64 hours (without Nightfall). Completed most missions with Master's, complete most quests, and capture between 50-100 elite skills. No scrolls or repeatable quests were used.
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a Canthan Mesmer in 103 hours by completing prophecies missions and quests, then completing factions up to Unwaking Waters while doing all quests. Capping all elites, turning in books and using scrolls along the way.
  • Necromancer Necromancer
    • Legendary Survivor (3) has been earned on a Nightfall Minion Master in 90 hours using heroes/henchmen across all 3 campaigns & GW:EN. First ~2 hours of solo hunting on Istan using scrolls until level 12. Survivor (1) at level 20 on Istan after ~4 hours total, running primary and secondary missions up to "Hunted!". Travelled to Tyria, ran all primary & secondary missions to Augury Rock, ascended for 50K XP. Bought all secondary profs in Command Post (Sunspear Sanctuary). Captured 167 elites (835,000 XP) after level 20 (Prophecies 45, Factions 30, Nightfall 86, GW:EN 6. Completed primary missions (Prophecies 11, Factions 0 (Foreign character), Nightfall 8, GW:EN 5) and most side quests available up to Dzagunur Bastion in Nightfall, Vizunah Square in Factions (tons of side quests) and Thunderhead Keep in Prophecies. Scrolls were used when available, most gold went to buy Signets of Capture (~167K). Time to Indomitable Survivor (2) ~30 hours.
  • Ritualist Ritualist
    • Legendary Survivor (3) in 60 hours using H&H, with Factions up to but not including Unwaking Waters, Nightfall up to but not including Ruins of Morah, and 2-3 missions in EotN. I did a lot of skill caps, and used Scroll of Adventurer's Insight.
    • Legendary Survivor (3) was achieved in 55 hours by using Heroes and Henchmen about halfway through each of the three campaigns while avoiding Eye of the North by the logic of the "Live in Fear" scenario. Most experience was earned by capturing elite skills during a double-experience capture weekend, and by ascending in the Crystal Desert

[edit] Notes

  • This title track will only appear on the Hero Panel upon attaining level 5 with zero deaths. If the character has died prior to reaching level 5, this title track will not appear.
  • Conversely, if the character dies before reaching tier 1, the title will disappear.
  • If the character dies after attaining tier 1, the progress bar will stop updating but it will not disappear. Even if the maximum tier is reached, the progress bar continues to update until the first death occurs.
  • The Survivor title track is mutually exclusive with the Defender of Ascalon title due to the "death leveling" strategy used to acquire the latter title. Revived pets and minions do not give experience, and as such those cannot be used to death level monsters. Nor can a willing partner be used to death-level the monsters, because there is no legal way to obtain a hard res in pre-Searing.

[edit] Trivia

  • The Legendary Survivor experience requirement is 1,337,500. The first four numbers in that are 1337 which refers to Leetspeak.
Titles
Character titles
Core Cartographer • Drunkard • Guardian • Maxed Titles • Party Animal • Protector • Skill Hunter • Survivor • Sweet Tooth • Vanquisher
Prophecies Legendary Defender of Ascalon
Nightfall Lightbringer • Sunspear
Eye of the North Asura • Deldrimor • Ebon Vanguard • Master of the North • Norn
All campaigns Legendary Cartographer • Legendary Guardian • Legendary Skill Hunter • Legendary Vanquisher
Core Champion • Codex • Gamer • Gladiator • Hero • Lucky • Treasure Hunter • Unlucky • Wisdom • Zaishen
Factions Kurzick • Luxon
Nightfall,
Eye of the North 		Commander
Retrieved from "http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Survivor"
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