Optimized Modron Automated Gem Farming

A guide to help you get the most gems as fast as possible.

Introduction

GUIDE IS OUT OF DATE

Welcome to my first published Steam guide. In this guide I will attempt to show you the best way to farm gems. I will be making a few assumptions.

1. You have a general knowledge of the game.
2. You have the Modron Core unlocked.
3. You have the Champions named unlocked. If you don't have them unlocked you can just disregard their mention. No Speed champions mentioned have alternatives.

Special Thanks

Chugsworth Formations Guide
Kiransalee (Discord: Kiransalee#8357)

Why Farm Gems

Gems are the main resource of the game. With gems you can buy Chests which have gear for your Champions and other useful items. You can purchase Familiars with gems which allow you to automate more of the game. The more familiars you have unlocked, the better your gem farm will be, You can also purchase a second Modron Core in order to have three parties, two of which will be automated.

Set Up

The best variant to run for gem farming is The Mad Wizard in A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast. This is the variant we will be using.

The first step will be figuring out your Click Damage wall. In order to find this you want to put one Familiar on the field and one familiar upgrading your click damage. Let this run until your click damage stops instantly killing the mobs. Make a note of the last boss level where your click damage was still instantly killing, this will be your reset level.

At this stage you are also going to want to save your formation with your champions and familiars in it.

Speed Champions

These are the most important champions for gem farming. In this section I am listing the Specialization choice for speed and the Feats that boost speed. The effectiveness and priority order will be different for each player based on champion unlocks, Feat unlocks, and item levels.

Deekin, Slot 1:

• Mechanic: Increased Enemy Spawn Speed
  
• Specialization: Boss Wants Speed
  
• Feat: Overconfidence (Gold Chests)
  
• Item: n/a

Sentry, Slot 4:

• Mechanic: Decreased Quest Requirements
  
• Specialization: Echo's Will
  
• Feat: n/a
  
• Item: Slot 3, max effectiveness at 600%

Shandie, Slot 6:

• Mechanic: Increased Game Speed
  
• Specialization: Ranger Training
  
• Feat: n/a
  
• Item: n/a

Hew Maan, Slot 8:

• Mechanic: Increased Quest Progress
  
• Specialization: Impressive Coatwork
  
• Feat: Walking Lessons (Gems)
  
• Item: Slot 4, unknown max

Havilar, Slot 10:

• Mechanic: Increased Quest Progress
  
• Specialization: n/a
  
• Feat: n/a
  
• Item: n/a

Melf, Slot 12:

• Mechanic: Increased Enemy Spawn Speed, Increased Quest Progress, Increased Enemies Spawned Per Wave
  
• Specialization: Extra Supplements
  
• Feat: Rushed Plans (Gold Chests)
  
• Item: Slot 4, no max

Briv (Slot 5), Xander (Slot 5), and Minsc (Slot 7) are all considered speed champions. They are not useful for the 100% automated gem farm in my opinion. I have listed why under the "Extra Information" section.

My personal order of priority is the following. Remember that this can change based on your own unlocks and item levels.

1. Hew Maan
   
2. Shandie
   
3. Deekin
   
4. Melf
   
5. Sentry
   
6. Havilar

Extra Champions

The Champions in this section do not have Speed boosting abilities but help to get through the armored stage faster. The armored stage in each run is 14, 64, 114, etc. The Champions are listed in order of effectiveness. I have not included any Champions that share a slot with a Speed mechanic. Only the best Champion in each slot has been mentioned, with one exception.

Hitch, Slot 8:

• Specialization: More Daggers
  
• Feat: Excess Dagger Storage (Strahd)
  
• Effectiveness: Removes 2.77 armored segment(s) per second.
  
• Extra Info: n/a

Binwin, Slot 3:

• Effectiveness: Removes 1.90 armored segment(s) per second.
  
• Extra Info: n/a

Farideh, Slot 7:

• Effectiveness: Removes 1.17 armored segment(s) per second.
  
• Extra Info: Slot conflicts with Black Viper. Farideh is better for Speed. See Black Viper for more information.

Qillek, Slot 5:

• Effectiveness: Removes 1.00 armored segment(s) per second.
  
• Extra Info: n/a

Birdsong, Slot 9:

• Effectiveness: Removes 1.00 armored segment(s) per second.
  
• Extra Info: n/a

Black Viper, Slot 7:

• Specialization: Collector
  
• Effectiveness: Removes 0.76 armored segment(s) per second.
  
• Extra Info: When Black Viper is in your party there is a chance for the gem bags from bosses to drop a special Red Gem. Black Viper collects these to increase her effectiveness. Currently there is not a benefit to collecting past her last upgrade at 6500 Red Gems. I keep collecting them for fun as she seemingly collects them forever. As mentioned above, Farideh is the optimal choice by a slight margin.

Method

The minimum requirements for the automated gem farm is 2 familiars, 100% optimized farm is 15 familiars. Each additional familiar beyond 2 just speeds up your farm. It is perfectly acceptable to work your way up over time.

5 familiars on the field is the optimized number to have. This is because with 5 familiars on the field will automatically open the gem bag that the boss drops. This avoids the wait time required for the gem bag to open by itself.

6 familiars on the field will automatically click the distractions that run/fly by in the background. The distractions can rarely spawn an additional monster which must be killed before you can progress. This slows down your progress. While it doesn't slow you by a significant amount, this time adds up over time.

Start a Mad Wizard free play. Put one familiar on the field and one on your click damage. The next step is putting familiars on each of the champions you will be using. I would prioritize champions like this.

1. Hew Maan
2. Shandie
3. Deekin
4. Melf
5. Sentry
6. Havilar
7. Binwin
8. Black Viper

You will click your Modron Core and select Setup Automation. Select your saved Gem Farm formation. Pick your champions specializations. Also enable "Set Area Goal" and have it reset at whatever level you figured out during Set Up.

Havilar must have her imp follower summoned in order to get the speed buff. The proper imp is the first one that gets summoned when using her ultimate, Dembo (bright red). If you keep a familiar on Havilar's ult she will continue to sacrifice her imps and summon the next one, this is bad. Use the ult once so that Havilar has the proper imp out when you save your formation.

Above your click damage you have the option to change how you level up your champions. If you have this set to "x100" Havilar will keep the proper imp out through all of your resets. You don't need a familiar on her ult, and this will allow her to provide her speed buff as much as possible. If you set the level option to "Upg" (upgrade) Havilar will NOT keep the proper imp. You need to run with x100 at all times.

Formations & Specializations

Minimalist Formation: (8 Familiars)

		Melf - Extra Supplements
	(empty slot)		Hew Maan - Impressive Coatwork
Sentry - Echo's Will		Shandie - Ranger Training		Havilar - Mastery of Battle
	(empty slot)		Deekin - Boss Wants Speed
		(empty slot)

My Formation: (15 Familiars)

		Black Viper - Collector
	Shandie - Ranger Training		Hew Maan - Impressive Coatwork
Sentry - Echo's Will		Birdsong - Soloist / Theme of Consideration		Havilar - Mastery of Battle
	Melf - Extra Supplements		Deekin - Boss Wants Speed
		Binwin - More Minions

Kiransalee's Formation: (16 Familiars)
OUT OF DATE

		Shandie - Ranger Training
	Birdsong - Theme of Consideration/Soloist		Melf - Extra Supplements
Sentry - Echo's Will		Spurt - Kobold Family		Briv - Metalborn
	Deekin - Boss Wants Speed		Havilar - Mastery of Battle
		Korth - Rapid Training

Patron Mirt

Mirt Formation: (X Familiars)

		Melf - Extra Supplements
	Shandie - Ranger Training		Hew Maan - Impressive Coatwork
Sentry - Echo's Will		(empty slot)		Havilar - Mastery of Battle
	(empty slot)
		Binwin - More Minions

Extra Information

Briv, Xander and Minsc are considered Speed champions but are absolutely useless for the automated gem farm.

Minsc Assessment:

(credit to Kiransalee)
Idle Champions spawns enemies in ‘waves’. Each wave on a non-boss zones consists of 1-3 enemies, which spawn in rapid succession from one another (three enemy waves are rare).The next wave of enemies spawns when 1 of 2 conditions are met: A short delay from when all enemies from the previous wave are killed. 5 seconds have passed."

From this we have some observations why Minsc is bad as a speed Champion.Facts:

1. Minsc has a 10% chance of summoning one extra enemy on a wave, and a 2% chance of summoning 2 extra enemies.
   
2. Waves are 1-3 mobs.
   
3. Usually the mobs of a wave arrive sequentially, not simultaneously (not in the quote above but mentioned in the longer reddit article).
   
4. Clearing a wave causes the next wave to spawn after a quick delay.
   
5. Not all procs of Minsc's ability will happen in stages where the proc is useful.Deductions:
   
6. When we add an additional mob spawn in a wave, we increase the amount of time it'll take to spawn the next wave. Each mob enters the screen sequentially as part of a wave. The next wave won't start to spawn until the prior wave is destroyed or 5 seconds has passed. So by summoning an additional mob we increase the time of the wave. I believe the summoning works as a time saver but it does extend another time saving mechanism at the same time (extending the spawn time of the next wave).
   
7. Summons 2 additional mobs compounds this delay.Consider interactions with other champions:
   
8. Deekin (/Melf 33% of the time) causes enemies to become targetable faster once they are on the screen but they don't make the wave sequence happen faster.
   
9. By reducing "Kill X Monsters" or "Collect Y Things" area requirements, Sentry reduces the viability of increased summoning. Also, the more monsters that spawn in a native wave (1-3) the less likely an additional monster spawns is going to be an efficient speed up mechanism.
   
10. Havilar's first Imp ULT (+Melf 33% of the time) also significantly decreases wave duration of fiend waves (When Melf has his version it applies broadly), giving Minsc less opportunities to be useful.
    
11. 2 of Melf's 3 speed mechanisms have a complicated relationship with Minsc. My Melf has a 380% increase to his speed mechanic. So when he summons additional enemies he summons an additional 3-4 enemies. This ends stages fairly quickly. When Melf multiplies an individual kill's collection value a kill counts as 4 or 5 kills for collection purposes.
    
12. Melf and Sentry together greatly diminish Minsc's opportunities. If I need 17 X or Y to complete a stage, then a Melf who summons more enemies summons 4-7 enemies, which means I need 3 to 5 waves to clear an area. If I need 17 X or Y to complete a stage, then a Melf who collect more per kill only needs 4 or 5 collections to complete an area, which is 2 to 5 waves. Minsc only has 2 to 5 opportunities to be useful here, if he happens to proc his ability at a useful time.
    
13. Melf, Havilar, and Sentry combined mechanisms make it possible to complete an area with Fiends in one wave. Nothing Minsc will do here helps.

[Jimmeh]

Outdated or not, I just wanted to add that your guide helped me build a speed team for getting through story content. I've been doing nothing but events for a while and destroying all the story levels, but it's much faster going now. So thanks!

[Aztraeuz]

That's a fair point but I've stopped updating the guide. The vast majority of it is useless now. The steps now are,

1. Get Hew Maan
2. Throw your Blacksmith contracts into Hew Maan
3. Support Hew Maan with Shandie, Deekin/Melf/Widdle
4. Profit

I've kept it up just for people that are interested. It can still be helpful to really new people. I just haven't done the math on what is optimal now. I am using Widdle in my own formation. I currently have Deekin, Melf, and Widdle in the formation. No idea if it's optimal.

The simple fact is, Hew Maan is crazy good. One kill per area for advancement. Only use other champions like Shandie to speed up the game and the others for speeding up Spawn.

[Neouni]

Seems accurate enough just throw Widdle in the middle touching enough people and have the tasty friends speed you up a little more.

[Tricks]

Update: The Imps now come out!! Only things different since my previous message are that the game has been closed multiple times, and this is a newly initiated Mad Wizard run. I confirmed in several resets that the Imps 100% did not come out before. So whether it was the newly initiated run that fixed it, or the game restart I don't know. If you've got the same issue I'd say just end your current Mad Wizard run and restart the game to be safe.

[Tricks]

My Havilar Imps do not appear after resets. I'm using x100 and saved formation after using the ult once. Did they change how it works? though I'm wondering why the Imps would appear anyway, since it requires using the ult and I don't see how that would happen automatically. Seems more like a bug that the Imps would remain after a reset. Help

[Aztraeuz]

That's my bad. The list has been updated. Hew Maan is #1, absolutely destroys most other Speed champions. Shandie is #2, Deekin #3.

Melf, Sentry, Havilar have all lost a lot of effectiveness in the game with a leveled up Hew Maan.

[DRIFTER]

In the sequence you posted melf as #2. Problem is, as slot 12, it takes time to earn enough coin for his addition, especially when your favor isn't high enough. Wouldn't the lower slot champs logically take priority to speed up the waves of deekin alone, ie, Shandie before Melf? Do the 5 field familiars come last in all this? If I'm missing champs, does it matter the field placement, and should I place any extra familiars on the field instead? How does the ideal setup change at high tier favor, implied by the most recent comments below?

Sorry for reposting several times, I couldn't find the right words. I also see you tried to reply but it's held hostage by the content check message.

[Aztraeuz]

First familiar on the field, second on Click Damage, the rest on Champions until your party is complete. You can then finish the familiars on the field.

Most formation abilities are irrelevant. You want Hew Maan to have Champions surrounding them. Hew Maan needs to be in the first or second column from the front. That leaves a maximum of 4 slots next to Hew Maan.

[Coo Coo Pigeon]

I guess that's a valid point, most people have the same reason to keep playing.

Guidewise, I must have misunderstood the point of the 6-familiar explanation. Too me it looks like an advise to use 6 over 5, which makes no sense.

The reason for Hew comments is in "Item: Slot 4, unknown max"

On Briv, you stated it's not well to include him in an new-player speed farm.
Where I think he is, especially if you take the few area's extra to stack him a bit.

Guess a lot gets lost due to the 1000 character maximum on replies in guides, reading back my post it reads like bullying rather than helping to add information.
Guess we could do over PM?

[Aztraeuz]

Honestly I don't know how much more or how often I will be updating. At this point the game annoys me to no end. I only keep playing because the Devs refuse to stop adding achievements.

I think it's pretty obvious from the guide itself that it is meant for new/beginning players. I can add a new/beginner tag to it if that makes you feel better.

I understand that it's not hard to do the math for Briv. I'm not sure what your point is.

Agreed on Hew but it's unlikely that anybody reading the guide has Hew at 7290. Sentry will typically help the people that are reading the guide.

I agree that 6 familiars over 5 is useless. I don't know why you're mentioning that. I don't know the reason for most of what you're saying.

If you want to add to or change parts of the guide, feel free to ask. I am probably just misunderstanding your comment.