The Ultimate Pocketboss Guide

[Shohizzle]

First of all: Download the Spheremap.

I will divide this guide into 6 sections:
I. The Basics
II. Tradeskilling
III. Killing the PB
IV. Making money in Scheol
V. Tricks and tips
VI. Final Words

I. The Basics
You need 4 items to make a pocketboss:
1) Complete Pattern of 'Pocketboss'
2) Novictum
3) Crystal Filled by the Source
4) Ancient Novictum Refiner

The Complete Pattern can be made by combining Abhan, Bhotaar, Chi, and Dom pieces of the same pocketboss. Almost all of the mobs that are shown on the Spheremap drop pieces. Some bosses drop one piece every kill, and some drop as few as 1 in 10 kills (such as the mobs that drop the pattern for 'Gunk'). Also, the guardians will drop pieces at a reduced frequency for most bosses (from my experience, its not worth killing the guardians unless they attack you while you try to kill the boss).

Novictum drops off of some spirits, spirit hunters, and sometimes imps. Only certain mobs will drop novictum; for example: mobs in missions will not drop novictum. Here are some good novictum spots (I only know of 2, please help me add to this).
1) Novictum up to q165 will drop off all the mobs near Scheol Ergo. Mobs here are about level 110 with level 125 bosses, and they will aggro you if they're not gray to you. Bring lots and lots of bags because it takes no time at all to fill up a bag
2) Novictum up to q240 will drop in the Coolest Dungeon Ever

For crystals above q165, you really have no choice. You have to buy crystals off a MP for 3-4m/bag. Unpolluted Crystals up to q165 will drop off eremites and croakers in Scheol, which you can fill at Control Towers on Rubi-Ka. I recommend killing eremites for crystals, it will save you alot of money when you're farming q125 bosses.

Ancient novictum refiners used to be a real pain to find. Every once and a while, a yutto will sell them, but no one could stock up on them because they're unique. Nowadays, there's a simple quest that rewards you one (link to quest guide).

II. Tradeskilling
No skill is required to combine Abhan, Bhotaar, Chi, and Dom patterns into a Complete pattern, so do that ASAP to save inventory space. Also, no skill is required to refine the Novictum, (just use the Ancient Novictum Refiner on the Novictum), but refined novictum is unique. The final skill-independent process is filling the Unpolluted Crystal, just use it on a Control Tower of a higher ql than the crystal (this will drain your nano to 1).

In order to make a pattern that is ready to be popped into a pocketboss, you need 6 times the QL of the pattern in NP, and 4.5xQL in QFT. The Novictum and Crystal need to be equal or higher ql than the Complete Pattern. The first step is to combine the Crystal with the Complete Pattern (I think this requires NP). Then, combine the refined Novictum with the result (I think this requires QFT), and you have a ready-to-pop PB.

III. Killing the PB
To pop a PB, you need to be at an incarnator. Every SL zone except Pandemonium and Nascense has 2 incarnators (Pande only has 1, Nas has 0). Each incarnator can only pop up to a certain level PB. The incarnators are on the Spheremap, but here are the locations by zone.
Elysium - South q115, North q130
Scheol - Upper West q140, Upper East q160
Adonis - City East q170, City West q190
Penumbra - The Pipe q200, Fortress q215
Inferno - Barracks q225, Frontier q255
Pandemonium - q270

To pop the PB, click on the Incarnator (the thing with the blue tornado coming out of it) and then right click on your pattern. This will pop the PB, and will drain you to 1 HP immediately, and again after 5 seconds. I recommend sitting down and running a health coil before you pop the boss. Also, unless you have a good outside healer, it is very dangerous to pop a boss that is not going to be gray to you. From my experience, a gray PB will not aggro you.

Pocketbosses are more difficult than most bosses. They all spam a skill debuff that is level dependent (about -1 skill/level). Lots of them also cast dots and init debuffs fairly frequently. A handful area nuke, and some of these nukes are substantial. NR has very little effect against all of these things, if any at all.

Gray pocketbosses can often be soloed. I could solo q125 bosses (from Scheol) as soon as they were gray to me. At level 210, I can solo at least q172 bosses (I haven't tried any higher). Heal up before attacking, the boss isn't going anywhere and killing someone else's PB is bannable. They will time out after a while, so if you die hurry back. If you do die, you should be able to make it back to the boss before it times out.

IV. Making money in Scheol
Scheol is often regarded as a useless zone, but it was my primary source of income during TL5. Nearly every mob in Scheol drops patterns, and most bosses drop them every kill. Some of the bosses don't drop much worth mentioning, but some are very valuable (Gunk, Hemut, Adobe Suzerain, Thunderous Chimera). See the spreadsheet Shohizzle's Obsessive PB Research Thread for estimates of the most valuable bosses (which is most accurate for Scheolean PBs).

When I farm in Scheol, I do most of it in Scheol Upper. I start with the Rafters in the South, which drop Gunk (and Ooze) very rarely (1 piece every 4-8 kills). Next I head up to the croakers that drop Hemut and Khemet. Sometimes I keep going north and kill the chimeras for Thunderous and Bellowing Chimera, and then the Arcorashes for Ashmara Ravin. Finally, I head southwest to the eremites for Adobe (and other) Suzerain, and Unpolluted Crystals, and loop back to the Rafters. When I'm done farming, I head up to Ergo and get enough Novictum to pop all my bosses (don't forget to loot the patterns up there!). There's no wrong way to do it of course. Other notable places to farm in Scheol Lower: spiders in the west for Awl and Auger, they're not that great but its easy to get a load of patterns, Shadows towards the middle (only loot Fatuus, Fatis is junk), and Croakers in the East often drop 2 patterns per drop.

V. Tips and Tricks
Organize your patterns! One bag for each PB, title it "PB - Name" so that when you alphabetize your bank all your PBs are grouped together. Don't take these bags out on the hunt, they will clog up your inv, leave them in your bank!

When you go out hunting, always pick up Pearls!

You cannot have too many bags. I usually have 1 bag for As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Pearls, and Complete Patterns, along with a few extra empties. When you go out Novictum or Crystal farming, don't come back without at least 1 full bag.

To save time and space, combine patterns as soon as possible. When you get an A, look in the bag of Bs for a match. Put ABs in the C bag and ABCs in the D bag so you can match them up easily.

VI. Final Words
Don't overlook PB farming, after a bit of practice you can really make some creds quickly. Also, harder pocketbosses may yield more creds per kill, but they also are more time consuming to farm and kill, so find a boss that has the best time/money ratio for you. Well, that's all I have for now, if you have anything to add, please do! Happy hunting.

[Styles999]

just adding


awesome post, im now into farming schoel, tyvm sho

and wtb u back in game kthnxbye