Summerset Geyser Farm: a Guide for Maximum Reward

HatchetHaro

This is not a discussion thread on the problem of the grind for the event style pages. There are already plenty of discussion threads on that here, here, here, here, here, and here.

This is a guide for those looking to maximize rewards while maintaining efficient use of their time.

There are two goals in-mind for this grind: 1. style page, and 2. Jubilee Boxes.

Prerequisites

- I highly recommend joining a Geyser farm group for this task, as it will make sure that you stay in the same instance and you will have consistent timers.

- You can complete one Geyser approximately every 3.5 minutes. If you plan on going AFK while waiting, be sure to have a 3-minute timer prepared so you can come back for the reward and move on to the next location before returning to your very important task.

1. Style page

The Ul'vor Staff Replica style page has a chance to drop from the Shell Trove at the end of every Geyser. In order to guarantee that you can loot the Shell Trove, you just need to have participated in the Geyser in some form.

Once you arrive at your first Geyser, attack something, and that's it; the zerg of players on the exact same grind will do the work of killing everything for you. You can use this time to work on something actually productive or fulfilling, like getting started on your Watch Later playlist on YouTube, or really tempt the RNG gods by playing a gacha game on your phone (you'll have better odds of pulling a 5-star character than getting the style page, really). I personally really like using this time to work on my German courses on Duolingo; I foresee myself becoming completely fluent by the end of the event.

As long as you have attacked something during the entirety of the Geyser, you will get credit for completing the Geyser, and will be able to loot the Shell Trove for a chance at the style page.

2. Jubilee Boxes

Being able to loot the Jubilee Boxes from the Geyser bosses is quite a bit more tricky, as only 12 people can get it at a time. However, if you have the proper build and skills, it is quite possible to do so consistently. This is your ONLY expression of skill that matters, and if performed well, you can earn approximately 15 Jubilee Boxes per hour. Keep in mind that you WILL be denying someone else this reward; such is the nature of emergent gameplay that it is now a dog-eat-dog event.

Your choice of class and race won't really matter unless drastically more people decide to do the same, in which case, you're sweaty enough to push for trial trifectas.

Sample setup: 1pc Kra'gh's / Slimecraw, Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet, 5pc Acuity / New Moon Acolyte (Sharpened Axe / Dagger with Flame glyph), 5pc Burning Spellweave (Sharpened Axe / Dagger with Poison glyph), Maelstrom Inferno Staff (Infused with Berserker glyph); all gear Divines 5 medium 2 light, all Jewelry Infused or Bloodthirsty with Wep/Spell Damage glyphs; all attributes (including armour glyphs) either Stamina or Magicka. Shadow / Thief Mundus.

As for skills, all you need are two ground AoE DoTs, and one spammable, and you can fill the rest of your bars out with Fighter's Guild skills (especially Camo Hunter) and other skills with slotted damage passives (like Mystic Siphon). Depending on your class, your choice of spammables may be limited.
AoE DoTs: Elemental Blockade / Unstable Wall, Mystic Orb
Spammables: Molten Whip / Flame Lash (DK), Mages' Wrath + Silver Shards (Sorcerer), Surprise Attack / Concealed Weapon (Nightblade), Biting Jabs / Puncturing Sweep + Radiant Oppression (Templar), Silver Shards (Warden), Venom Skull / Ricochet Skull (Necro), Exhausting Fatecarver (Arcanist)

Blue Champion Points: Backstabber, Fighting Finesse, Wrathful Strikes (Thaumaturge for Templars and Arcs), Force of Nature

Once you arrive at a Geyser, you can proceed with the above steps and just chillax until the boss spawns, or you can optionally light attack enemies to build up your ultimate (Elemental Rage for most, Languid Eye for Arcs). I recommend standing in the very center of the pool and facing away from the Geyser's monument, as that's where the bosses will always spawn and will also ensure you will gain full use of Camo Hunter's Minor Berserk buff.

The moment Nocturnal starts yapping, look up from your phone (if applicable), tab back into ESO (if applicable), drop your ult (if applicable), cast your two AoEs (one if you're a bit delayed), and start using your spammables. Occasionally, Nocturnal's voice lines may not trigger for you; you can instead use the telltale audio of the many Elemental Rages being dropped to time your skills.

If all goes well, you should be able to get two to three casts of your spammable in (one if Arc beam), and you will be among the top 12 DPS on the boss itself, and be rewarded with a Jubilee Box.


That should about cover everything. Good luck on your grind, because nothing else will determine whether you get the style page or not!

virtus753

I hope incursions have calmed down a hair since the first few days of the event.

For those initial days, bosses were consistently dying within a second at geysers and popular dolmens, so even once-per-second ground DoTs were not able to hit consistently. Skills requiring a target were basically out of the question.

Even last night I found it was not possible for me to get Radiant Destruction to land at all on the named bosses at geysers, since the game needs a target first and then the skill takes anywhere from 300-500 ms delay (at least with my 50-70 ms ping) for the first tick of damage to land. Beam also has a significant issue right now where it doesn't reliably get activated from queue. I see this in my HM progs a lot and was frustrated by it last night doing geysers as well. I found Jabs the better option for this scenario, as you can spam that without a target and it should hit three times in 0.8 seconds.

HatchetHaro

virtus753 wrote: »

I hope incursions have calmed down a hair since the first few days of the event.

For those initial days, bosses were consistently dying within a second at geysers and popular dolmens, so even once-per-second ground DoTs were not able to hit consistently. Skills requiring a target were basically out of the question.

Even last night I found it was not possible for me to get Radiant Destruction to land at all on the named bosses at geysers, since the game needs a target first and then the skill takes anywhere from 300-500 ms delay (at least with my 50-70 ms ping) for the first tick of damage to land. Beam also has a significant issue right now where it doesn't reliably get activated from queue. I see this in my HM progs a lot and was frustrated by it last night doing geysers as well. I found Jabs the better option for this scenario, as you can spam that without a target and it should hit three times in 0.8 seconds.

Currently on PC/NA, in both Asian prime time and American prime time, the bosses have been consistently dying in about 3-5s.

virtus753

HatchetHaro wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

I hope incursions have calmed down a hair since the first few days of the event.

For those initial days, bosses were consistently dying within a second at geysers and popular dolmens, so even once-per-second ground DoTs were not able to hit consistently. Skills requiring a target were basically out of the question.

Even last night I found it was not possible for me to get Radiant Destruction to land at all on the named bosses at geysers, since the game needs a target first and then the skill takes anywhere from 300-500 ms delay (at least with my 50-70 ms ping) for the first tick of damage to land. Beam also has a significant issue right now where it doesn't reliably get activated from queue. I see this in my HM progs a lot and was frustrated by it last night doing geysers as well. I found Jabs the better option for this scenario, as you can spam that without a target and it should hit three times in 0.8 seconds.

Currently, in both Asian prime time and American prime time, the bosses have been consistently dying in about 3-5s.

Good to know, ty!

Sakiri

virtus753 wrote: »

I hope incursions have calmed down a hair since the first few days of the event.

For those initial days, bosses were consistently dying within a second at geysers and popular dolmens, so even once-per-second ground DoTs were not able to hit consistently. Skills requiring a target were basically out of the question.

Even last night I found it was not possible for me to get Radiant Destruction to land at all on the named bosses at geysers, since the game needs a target first and then the skill takes anywhere from 300-500 ms delay (at least with my 50-70 ms ping) for the first tick of damage to land. Beam also has a significant issue right now where it doesn't reliably get activated from queue. I see this in my HM progs a lot and was frustrated by it last night doing geysers as well. I found Jabs the better option for this scenario, as you can spam that without a target and it should hit three times in 0.8 seconds.

I just dropped barbed trap, my ulti(charged atro) and started spamming force pulse in the direction the boss spawns at.

If you know where the boss actually spawns, you have a decent chance.

It helps I'm geared to the teeth.

Jaraal

Be sure to cast a Blood Altar in the middle of the pool before the boss drops in, as it counts as an AOE heal. Heals do count towards engagement when determining which 12 can loot. Also, alternatives to Barbed Trap are the ground rune from the Mages Guild skill line, as well as Daedric Tomb if you're a sorcerer. You can try stacking them all, but because of global cooldowns, they won't all fire at the same time. But they can hit sequentially if the boss lasts a few seconds.

HatchetHaro

Jaraal wrote: »

Be sure to cast a Blood Altar in the middle of the pool before the boss drops in, as it counts as an AOE heal. Heals do count towards engagement when determining which 12 can loot. Also, alternatives to Barbed Trap are the ground rune from the Mages Guild skill line, as well as Daedric Tomb if you're a sorcerer. You can try stacking them all, but because of global cooldowns, they won't all fire at the same time. But they can hit sequentially if the boss lasts a few seconds.

I agree with all this if you're trying to be sweaty about it and actively fighting the Geysers.

I, on the other hand, only have enough time for two casts before spammables since I do have to drop my phone or tab back into the game once the voice lines start. I put a bit more priority on efficient use of my time.

Genius move with the Altar, though; I might try that.

Jaraal

HatchetHaro wrote: »

I, on the other hand, only have enough time for two casts before spammables since I do have to drop my phone or tab back into the game once the voice lines start. I put a bit more priority on efficient use of my time.

Yeah, I usually park my character in a spot where I know enemies will spawn, then tab out to watch a ball game or do other stuff on the internet. Then, when my toon takes damage, the ESO icon will pop up orange on the taskbar and I know how long I have until the trash waves are over and the boss is due to spawn. Then I can pause my other stuff and tab back in in time to cast my sequence.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Thank you for this thread; I sent out Sharp and both my Sorc’s pets to agro on the mobs and then just had said Sorc sit on a monster spawn point until the Geyser completed while I watched Youtube clips in the background, didn’t even bother with the boss. Compared to the handful of times I actively engaged the enemy, it didn’t even make a difference to the amount of XP I earned. Got the staff after about three hours.

HatchetHaro

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Thank you for this thread; I sent out Sharp and both my Sorc’s pets to agro on the mobs and then just had said Sorc sit on a monster spawn point until the Geyser completed while I watched Youtube clips in the background, didn’t even bother with the boss. Compared to the handful of times I actively engaged the enemy, it didn’t even make a difference to the amount of XP I earned. Got the staff after about three hours.

Three hours! You lucky bugger. I'm at 16 hours and still counting.

Certainly a skill issue! After all, rare drops must reward some form of skill expression and dedication, am I right?

WhiteCoatSyndrome

HatchetHaro wrote: »

Three hours! You lucky bugger. I'm at 16 hours and still counting.

Good luck to you in that case! I’m in the same boat for both Vvardenfell pages. 😫