jaewonnie's shark farm journal

Preamble

Hello, I have been making a cwkpq hero mule that I self-leeched at sharks from lv97-100. Here is the character in question:

​

I am very proud of coining this IGN. Anyway, I had been voicing my disdain for ulu2 leech in the ML disc as it is too braindead and suggested to people to try leeching at sharks in Aqua road. The drop table is decent with equips and skillbooks AND the exp/hr is a bit higher than ulu2. This led to being peer-pressured into leeching this char til lv120 at sharks and documenting the returns in this journal.

Spoiler: DISCLAIMER

This farm/leech is sort of a meme. I doubt the mesos are anywhere near as good as ulu2. I'm honestly just here to farm Red Belly Dukes for my bucc and monopolize on certain skillbooks. Stay away from my market ty.

What are sharks?

Large, aquatic creature with sharp teeth. The ones in ML appear to have eaten too many travelers...

​

Sharks (left) are lv100 and Cold Sharks (right) are lv102, meaning you must be lv97+ to get full leech exp. Sharks are strong against fire and Cold Sharks are strong against both fire and ice. This is not a happy place for Arch Mages. And other classes too since Sharks will cast dispel (it looks like they sneeze on you) if you cannot 1-shot them. Cold Sharks cast Slow. A bishop will probably do best in this map.

Why farm sharks?

Objectively, I don't think there are great reasons to come here compared to ulu2 but here's why I do every time I need to level a char from lv97-100.

Pros:

1. Marginally better eph of about 18m solo leech using a lv188 bishop. Do note that realistically this number is hard to keep up due to looting and bad terrain.
2. Good drop table: gloves for att 70%, earring for luk 30%, red belly duke, brown osfa boots, Sharp Eyes 20, Demolition 20, Rapid Fire 30
3. Less braindead than ulu2
4. Can go and get double Pianused if you're bored.
5. Decent card drop rate.

Cons:

1. Higher TMA requirement than 1-hit skele for bishops
2. Difficult to sell leech here due to (a) drowning and (b) goby grief.
   
3. Less braindead than ulu2

I have my jump key on the default, "Alt", which makes this place difficult to play 1-handed. The nice thing about ulu2, skele (1st map), and also 5-6F is that I can play entirely 1-handed which frees up the left hand for other activities . Here is my keybind if curious:

​

How to farm sharks

Good question. The main trick is to avoid hitting the goby houses (if you are not leeching, then this doesn't matter); there are 4 in the map. With practice, I've found 5 platforms where you can reliably cast genesis and not get goby grieved.

There is room for optimization as you are fitting 2 genesis casts in 5 possible locations. I just swim and see where the most mobs are and cast there before they respawn.

​

Sweeping here sucks. I usually don't bother unless I see an equip/scroll/skill book drop.

Goals of this shark farm

Get Vulvasore to lv120 and appease the folks in ML disc. Maybe get 1 Red Belly Duke. Hope you guys enjoy.

 

Entry 1
This post is short since I am drained from writing all that ^. Also I realize the time spent writing could be used to farm more.

Vulvasore lv: 105->107
Total xp gained: ~20m
Total mesos after NPCing equips: 6m (excluding mesos split on vulvasore cuz i forgot to check before starting)
Notable drops: Rapid fire 30, earring for luk 30%
Gaches: 4 common
Time: 100 min minus time spent eating burger

 

Entry 2
Short farm. I was more interested in getting actual leech exp numbers and benchmarking Shark map for the EPM compilation thread. For those curious, here is what a lv107 Vulvasore leeches solo:

This is hard to keep up and there is no room to really loot. I think when I actually farm, the eph drops to 14m.

Vulvasore level: 107-->108
Total xp gained: ~7m
Total mesos after npcing equips: 2.2m
Notable drops: my morale
Gaches: 1 common
Time: ~30 min

Can I go to skeles now?

 

Entry 3
This is the sum of a couple farming sessions. Helped a few people with cards; especially this one traveler who I had to save from getting eaten by sharks. She graciously volunteered to be featured in this journal. Thanks!

​

Card drop rate here is pretty nice; prolly have let 30+ cards poof since the start of this journal. Message me in-game if you would like some.

Funnily enough, my skillbook drop rates have plummeted since beginning this journal . Prior to starting it and while leeching Vulvasore from lv97-105, I had farmed 3 Rapid Fire 30s, 5 Demolition 20s, and 2 Sharp Eye 20s. Skeles are calling me...

Vulvasore level: 108-->110
Total xp gained: ~32m
Total mesos after npcing equips: lost track/don't care anymore (estimate around 8m)
Notable drops: perfect purple osfa suit, and my morale
Red belly dukes: 0
Gaches: 2 rare, 2 common
Time: not sure

I usually do this farm during downtime finding an APQ party so total time farmed is a metric that is hard to measure. I would just take the 14m eph and divide it by the total xp gained on Vulvasore as a rough estimate of the time. Any gfa, perfect equips, and other notable drops I will specify in the "Notable drops" line and do not contribute to the mesos from NPCing. Since the purpose of this farm is to get Red Bellies, I added a special line just for it.

 

Entry 4
LESGOO

​

Vulvasore level: 110
Total xp gained: ~15m
Total mesos after npcing equips: don't care anymore
Notable drops: perfect Red Belly Duke
Red belly dukes: 1
Gaches: 3 common
Time: ~1 hr

 

Entry 5
Massive haul today. Helped another traveler with cards and leeched Vulvasore for ~22m exp or about 90 min. I only recall seeing two Sharp Eyes 20 books but turns out I picked up 3?

​

Then I was pleasantly surprised by another Red Belly drop! (From my experience, having farmed here prior to this journal for a while, Red Bellies are by far the rarest equip I've seen here.) Unfortunately it is dogshit stats. To the NPC it goes:

​

FYI the red-outlined equips are all the equip drops from this session and it's a bigger haul than usual. Another interesting drop is the lv90 pirate boot, Black Markintz. Max stats are 6 str and 2 avoid which is arguably worth scrolling. Unfortunately this drop was dogshit too.

Many thanks to SwordSlap for blessing this session cuz the drops don't stop here. Don't forget to check your corners:

​

Vulvasore level: 110-->112
Total xp gained: ~22m
Total mesos after npcing equips: don't care anymore
Notable drops: 3 SE 20, 2 GFA 70, 1 EAR LUK 30
Cumulative red belly dukes: 2
Gaches: 5 common
Time: ~1.5 hr

 

Entry 6


Vulvasore level: 112-->113
Total xp gained: ~20m
Total mesos after npcing equips: don't care anymore
Notable drops: 1 Demolition 20, 3 SE 20, 1 GFA 70, 1 EAR LUK 30, perfect Black Markintz
Cumulative red belly dukes: 2
Gaches: 1 rare, 7 common
Time: ~1.5 hr

EDIT: The only thing of value from all 8 gaches was a npc-able helm for 180k wtf

 

Entry 7
Small haul this round unfortunately. Saved only by 1 perfect stat Brown Osfa Boots.


Also found a Red Belly but the stats aren't high enough for scrolling. NPCed.


17 levels of leeching here so far...Must keep committed to the goal

Vulvasore level: 113-->114
Total xp gained: ~20.5m
Total mesos after npcing equips: don't care anymore
Notable drops: 1 EAR LUK 30, perfect Brown Osfa Boots
Cumulative red belly dukes: 3
Gaches: 2 rare, 4 common
Time: ~1.5 hr

 

Entry 8


Another decent haul. Helped another friend today with shark cards. In her own word's: "I came and started talking shit. Called the gobies ugly worms. Said the sharks looked like goofy asses. My words were so scathing they dropped SE and demo." She was wrong; they dropped 2 SE and demo.

​

On top of that, they dropped another red belly!

​

Unfortunately dogshit stats again. However we did get another perfect Black Markintz and Brown Osfa Boots! My powerpoint skills are improving, too. We getting there...

Vulvasore level: 114-->115
Total xp gained: ~22m
Total mesos after npcing equips: don't care anymore
Notable drops: 2 Sharp Eyes 20, 1 Demolition 20, Ear Luk 30, perfect Brown Osfa Boots, perfect Black Markintz
Cumulative red belly dukes: 4
Gaches: 1 common
Time: ~1.7 hr