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Dark Surge Farming


Dark Surge farming is the best method of farming currency during the early stages of progression. It is extremely consistent as it only relies on drawing one Trait Deck card; Transformation - Dark Surge.

All Dark Surge cards contain the Dark Surge Undercurrent. This causes you to draw additional Dark Surge Chaos Cards from the Deck after completing a Beacon. Meaning you can guarantee you have an additional card to run on every Chaos Invasion attempt.

TIP: For better results; make sure you have unlocked all the Dark Surge related Chaos Cards. To do this, kill the Timemark 5 Watcher in the Voidlands.

Transformation - Dark Surge is the only card you need to start farming the Dark Surge!

Trait Deck

Dark Surge Trait Card Deck

Requirements

To farm this strategy you need an understanding of the Chaos Invasion System and have a build capable of completing Rank 4 Beacons and killing Timemark 7 Watchers. If you're struggling with any of the Watchers check out our Boss Guides here.

Adding compasses to the map increases rewards, but also makes them more difficult. If you're farming Timemark 7 content exclusively; focus on using Rusted and Dated. If you're doing this on a higher level of investment you need a strong build, capable of completing Rank 5 Beacons for maximum rewards.


Strategy

This strategy can be used as soon as you unlock Transformation - Dark Surge. Dark Surge Undercurrent guarantees you always have a Dark Surge Chaos Card to run; but is very unpredictable.

  • Reserved is used to draw 3 cards from your Trait Deck. It should be used if you do not draw Transformation - Dark Surge.
  • Honest, Honest, Agile and Alert are used as they do not consume a Chaos Invasion attempt. Meaning if you draw your powerful Dark Surge Chaos Cards towards the end of a Chaos Invasion Round you can continuing to run maps without losing your strong Dark Surge effects.
  • A large portion of the profits when farming Timemark 7 comes from Rank 5 Beacons. Use Pity when possible to spawn Watchers faster.
  • When using a Shiny Dark Surge Compass it is worth raising the Timemark to Tier 8 as you will increase the amount of rewards granted from the encounter.
  • Only activate the Dark Surge after defeating the Beacon boss; otherwise you cannot spawn a Dark Surge boss!

Certain combinations of Chaos Cards makes it efficient BUT NOT ESSENTIAL to raise the Timemark to Tier 8 and use a Shiny Dark Surge Compass to guarantee that the area has a Dark Surge encounter.

The following examples are some of the combinations you are likely to encounter:

Tier 7

Commodities

Benevolent combines with the commodities dropped from the Dark Surge encounter. Giving you a small chance to upgrade Flame Sand into Flame Elementium.

  1. Transformation - Dark Surge
  2. Addicted - Dark Surge
  3. Commodities - Dark Surge
  4. Commodities - Dark Surge
  5. Benevolent
  6. Honest or Agile
  7. Honest or Alert
Commodities - Dark Surge greatly increases the chance for rewards such as Flame Elementium.
Memories

Focusing on one reward type helps prevent you from diluting the pool of rewards and means you can use Compasses more effectively.

  1. Transformation - Dark Surge
  2. Admiring
  3. Fallen - Dark Surge
  4. Fluorescent - Dark Surge
  5. Fluorescent - Dark Surge
  6. Honest or Alert
  7. Honest or Alert
Dark Surge Farming
Fluorescent - Dark Surge can drop valuable Fluorescent Memories such as Wheel of Time!

Tier 8

Dark Surge Boss

Dark Surge Bosses can drop valuable Edicts. When you draw both Rampant - Dark Surge with Brutal - Dark Surge raise the Timemark to Tier 8 and use a Shiny Dark Surge Compass.

  1. Transformation - Dark Surge
  2. Rampant - Dark Surge
  3. Brutal - Dark Surge, Rank 5 Beacon
  4. Rank 5 Beacon
  5. Rank 5 Beacon
Dark Surge Farming
Rampant - Dark Surge guarantees that the Dark Surge spawns a Boss!
Compasses

Compasses are the most valuable reward type from Dark Surge. When you draw Compass - Dark Surge try not to dilute the reward pool to focus solely on the chance for the Dark Surge to grant Compasses.

  1. Transformation - Dark Surge
  2. Compass - Dark Surge
  3. Fallen - Dark Surge, Rank 5 Beacon
  4. Fallen - Dark Surge, Rank 5 Beacon
  5. Fallen - Dark Surge, Rank 5 Beacon
Dark Surge Farming
Compass - Dark Surge can result in a lot of Enhancement Compasses!
Dark Surge Elite

Reckless - Dark Surge adds a powerful Elite monster that drops a large amount of loot if you reach wave 5 of the Dark Surge.

  1. Transformation - Dark Surge
  2. Commodities - Dark Surge
  3. Fluorescent - Dark Surge
  4. Reckless - Dark Surge, Rank 5 Beacon
  5. Honest, Rank 5 Beacon
  6. Honest, Rank 5 Beacon
Dark Surge Farming
Reckless - Dark Surge spawns a powerful Elite monster that drops a lot of loot!

Compasses

Rusted Scouting Compass Dated Scouting Compass Shiny Scouting CompassIncreases the number of monsters corrupted by the Dark Surge.
Rusted Profiling Compass Dated Profiling Compass Shiny Profiling CompassCombine with multiple Fluorescent - Dark Surge.
Shiny Dark Surge CompassUse to guarantee the Dark Surge in Tier 8.
Seed of Despair Seed of Regret Seed of WorryCombine with Shiny Dark Surge Compass and Compass - Dark Surge.
Dazzling Brilliance Compass Dazzling Abundance Compass Dazzling Profiling CompassUse Dazzling Compasses with Dark Surge Cards that have corresponding rewards.

Selling Your Loot

Here's the loot you can expect to acquire from this strategy;

  • Edict: Dart, Edict: Dive, Edict: Ruin, Edict: Doom
  • Rank 5 Beacons
  • The Beginning
  • Flame Elementium
  • Fluorescent Memories
  • Enhancement Compasses (Shiny Mechanical Compass, Shiny Might Compass, Dazzling Abundance Compass)

TIP: Selling items in bulk amounts means you can list them at a higher price!


Summary

  • This strategy is extremely consistent as it only relies on drawing one Trait Deck card; Transformation - Dark Surge.
  • Only activate the Dark Surge after defeating the Beacon boss; otherwise you cannot spawn a Dark Surge boss!
  • Dark Surge Undercurrent causes you to draw additional Dark Surge Chaos Cards from the Deck.
  • Rampant - Dark Surge and Brutal - Dark Surge guarantee that 2 Bosses spawn from the Dark Surge encounter.
  • Edict: Dart, Edict: Dive, Edict: Ruin, Edict: Doom are exclusive rewards that have a chance to drop from the Dark Surge bosses. They are needed to fight the Tidemaster: Keegan; making them very valuable.
  • Make sure you have unlocked all the Dark Surge related Chaos Cards. To do this, kill the Timemark 5 Watcher in the Voidlands.

Credits

Written by Milkybk_

Reviewed by Xtra37, Facefoot


Changelog

Feb 5th 2023
Published for Season 2