Sandswept Isles

Sndswept Isles

Currency Info
Difluorite Crystal Gathered from South (Specimen Chamber) meta, North (Gathering Storms) meta, nodes, hearts, Sunken Chests (reward after north meta), Dominus Crystallum, Mark III Suppressor Golem, Beetle Queen, map bonus rewards, legendary bounties
Volatile Magic Gathered from all mobs, South meta, North meta, all events, Sunken Chests, Difluorite Crystals (consumed), Glyph of Volatility

How to:

Follow the recommended priority of events. Ideally, the events should be in order to get the most amount of gold, but sometimes that's not the case. Follow the list as close as possible to get most of your time's worth. Use your best judgement to which event should be done next. Also, consider the distance between the current event and the next event and jduge if it's worth the time to travel or not.

If you're the commander, make sure to communicate with the squad on where you're going to and have a relatively steady pace so most can still follow easily.

Have a build that can provide decent DPS (so the event champs/bosses don't take a long time), can provide good mobility, and good AoEs to tag multiple mobs. Check some farming builds here:
Meta Battle Open World Builds

Criteria

These are the categories of the type of content. This includes events, bounties, and (in a similar variation) gathering nodes.

Meta

Great

Meh

Avoid

Events

Recommendation: Priority of Events

LB = Legendary Bounties, CB = Champion Bounties
List of bounties

South (Specimen Chamber), North (Gathering Storms), 2, 4, 17, 12-13, 10-11, 3, 6, 7-9, 14, 5, 15, 16

Sort by:

Event #

Criteria

Upscale

Extra

# Qty Name Description Upscale Extra
1 1 Catch as many fish as you can Literally catching fish. Cool event, but in terms for gold, not worth it
2 1 Defeat Dominus Crystallum Similar to a Wyvern. Watch for melee telegraphs, phases at 66%, 33%, dashes, and knockdowns 1 Guaranteed champ Boss chest, 3 Difluorite Crystals. Once per day, per character
3 1 Defeat the Inquest patrol Quick event, super easy. It's just out of the way and too quick for squads as the mobs are just veterans
4 3 Destroy the Mark III Suppressor Golem There are 3 possible locations. Quick champion event 1 Guaranteed champ Boss chest, 3 Difluorite Crystals. Once per day per character. Not per location
5 1 Disable the Inquest security turrets More of a solo/duo fun event. Not worth for a squad for profits
6 1 Disrupt the Awakened patrol Quick event with a decent amount of mobs. Kind of out of the way
7 1 Free Subject S by destroying the shield generators Decent event with lots of mobs, but the event-chain as a whole is not worth it as it is slow and buggy.
8 1 Escort Subject S to safety Slow escort. Does not upscale
9 1 Defeat all the laboratory security Sometimes this event bugs out 1 Guaranteed champ
10 1 Mount up and help Fenn wrangle the panicked marmoxes Kind of a quick event, if everyone participates. Need to complete this event to spawn #11, #12, #13. Sometimes this bugs out
11 1 Escort Fenn back to the village Normal escort with lots of animals to drop Cuts of Quality Red Meat Possible champs, Mob density+
12 1 Defend the livestock from the beetle stampede 3 waves of Scarabs
13 1 Defeat Abiri, the Beetle Queen Very quick boss fight 1 Guaranteed champ Boss chest, 3 Difluorite Crystals. Once per day, per character
14 1 Overload the Inquest generator with golem cores Simple gathering event
15 1 Participate in the celebration dance! Simple gathering event
16 1 Participate in the daily motion vision assessment Another dorky event. More of a solo-event
17 1 Stop the flow of Inquest data Waves of inquest and a champ at the end 1 Guaranteed champ

South, Specimen Chamber

Meta respawns around every 45 minutes from the previous meta (successful or not).

There are multiple portals throughout the southern maps to quickly teleport straight to the meta. This is great if your squad is in a middle of a bounty train and are super far from the nearest waypoint.

If you have bought the full tiers of the Karmic Retribution / Empowerment, prepare to get lots of karma/experience!
The first event has players attack waves of Inquests for 7 minute in this enclosed area. Waves spawn when every single mob from a wave gets defeated. It is possible for multiple waves to spawn at once.

Waves spawns from the left, right, and inside the defense zone.

From my personal experience, waiting for the mobs to run towards the defense zone decreases the total number of potential mobs that spawn overall. This is due to too much waiting for the mobs to run + you can't contol people who have range that will kill mobs before they reach.

The best way is to make sure you have AoEs, some range, or speed to constantly run to each wave to tag mobs. I do not recommend major/raid DPS on the mobs as they are not ranked any speciality (just normal, not veterans or elites).
# Qty Name Description Upscale Extra
1 1 Hold out until the laser array runs out of emergency power Detailed description above A few guaranteed champs
For the next event, there are 6 possible bosses. Though, only 2 will be released to fight. First, you will fight 2 of them, one by one. Then, the last event has players attack both at once.
Name Mechanics
Simulacrum of Beyn, Scion of Thorns Watch out for constant leaps. Every leap knocks players back. He also summons turret plants that shoot out poison volleys.
Simulacrum of Destroyer Crematus Creates fire AoEs from him, fire tornadoes, and slams the ground, creating a shockwave that knocks down. He also leaps in front that does burst damage.
Simulacrum of Jord Ironfrost Creates shields. When attacking directly at a shield, it retaliates with ice AoE balls. He also throws ice AoE balls around himself. Ice fields damage players over time. At 50%, he pushes players to the edge at all times and puts ice fields on all the edges.
Simulacrum of Subject Beta Creates anti-gravity waves. Large laser beams in front and targets a single player to create multiple damaging AoEs.
Simulacrum of Tlati, the Unchained Eats players. When the boss jumps around, he leaves poison fields and creates AoEs in front as a cone.
Simulacrum of Varkesh, the Branded Dashes constantly. If players are caught in the dash, then they get stunned.
# Qty Name Description Upscale Extra
2 1 Defeat [ name of Simulacrum ] One of the 6 bosses listed above 1 Guaranteed champ
3 1 Defeat [ name of Simulacrum ] part 2 One of the 6 bosses listed above 1 Guaranteed champ
4 1 Defeat the dragon minion simulacrum Defeat the two bosses from the previous 2 events at the same time. Both share the same health pool so attack the one that is easier to handle 2 Guaranteed champ Boss chest, 5 Difluorite Crystals. Once per day, per character

North, Gathering Storms

When the meta bar says "The skies grow darker", then event #1 will show up scattered throughout the northern island. Simple event where you kill veterans.

After that, 3 events (event #2) spawn simultaneously. I generally prefer to start from the left event #2 and progress to the right. It can work the other way as well, just don't start in the middle because it's just awkward flow. The event will spin you counter-clockwise, but the vortex does not hurt. There are always 3 champion elementals. They can do melee damage and sometimes reflect projectiles.

After event #2, it generally takes about a minute of NPC talk to start event #3. I generally take my time to gather until the event begins. Make sure to let the squad know ahead of time so everyone can be at the event to upscale it.

There are 6 waves of enemies for event #3. This event scales DRAMATICALLY with champions (yay). At the last wave, the champion earth Elemental does not drop loot.
# Qty Name Description Upscale Extra
1 4 Defeat the rampaging elementals! Group of elites/veteran sparks, elementals
2 3 Destroy the stormcaller echoes Counter-clockwise vortex. Does not damage the player. Always 3 champions 3 Guaranteed champs
3 1 Help Elder Rhona track down the source of the storm 6 waves, multiple champions 1 Guaranteed Champ, upscales
As the escort ends, this cave will open. Stand on the left side (from where you enter the cave) because end-chest bug and keep your character locked inside the chest.

This boss is a Djinn so that means that when you break their CC-bar, the defense drops dramatically. Start with the bunny and use the bunny when you see the break-bar show up. It takes a few seconds until it does, otherwise you might get baited.
# Qty Name Description Upscale Extra
4 1 Defeat Zohaqan Stand melee range, condi cleanse the slow/chill, knockbacks. CC the breakbar when it's up to remove his defense Boss chest, 5 Difluorite Crystals. Once per day, per character
After the meta, there will be at least 10+ Sunken Chests throughout the shore of the island. The map above is the possible locations, but not all of the dots indicate a guaranteed chest. It's going to be a select few out of those locations.

Each Sunken Chest gives a few pieces of Unidentified Gear, Volatile Magic, and a chance for a Difluorite Crystal.

Bounties

Note: Some bounties may not spawn and instead will spawn an "Ambush" event. This event is purely Awakened mobs and a single champion and does not count for achievements.
Legendary Mechanics Extra
Starcaller Just another Hydra, but add more HP and 3 bounty "instabilities". Watch out for dash attacks, AoE frontal attacks, knockdowns, and meteor showers 1 Difluroite Crystal, chance for 1 of 3 mini Hydras
Seneb the Desecrated Summons AoEs around a player that infects other players when touched. Dash attacks, fire AoEs 1 Difluroite Crystal
Champions
Ironshell Just like a veteran Karka. Stmops, rolls, phases at 25% health. Grants retaliation every 25% of its first health. Regenerates to 50% when initially killed
Oakenscorn Melee stomp that may 1-shot. Summons choyas as backup. Dies quickly
Old Stonehoof Headbutts players. While headbutting, he launches players into the air multiple times. Can be annoying, but quick if the squad is large or has good DPS
Exterminator IG-04 This should be a legendary boss. Heavy mechanics. Watch out for telegraphs, when he crouches, he does an expanding AoE of death. At 50% HP and lower, he does multiple wave attacks and laser beams. Avoid if this boss's location is on a meta event
Emogg the Soulbeast Even though he's a soulbeast, he has a pet attacking players. Both die extremely quick
Magneton Manipulator Does a vortex, anti-gravity push to players when he spins with AoEs around him. Can be annoying to kill
The Prickly Pair TWO CHOYAS! They both roll around 2 Champions instead of 1
Nepheretes He's the same as an Awakened Canid. Burrows, knockdown players, and slashes. Can be quick with a large squad
Vebis the Inquisitor Laser beams in front
Crystalwing Same as a Branded Griffon. Evades attacks periodically. Melee AoEs

Nodes

Node locations are subject to change due to new/different instances and new days

Criteria

These are the categories for how abundant the nodes are available in this zone

High Quantity

Meh Quantity

Low Quantity

Sort by:

Node

Criteria

Cooldown

Type Node Info Cooldown
Ore Difluorite Crystal Consume for Volatile Magic. Can only be gathered from nodes, hearts, events, legendary bounties, and map bonus rewards
Ore Mithril Ore Chance to receive crystals 1 hour
Ore Orichalcum Ore Chance to receive rare orbs 24 hours
Wood Baoba Sapling Chance to receive Foxfire Clusters, Hidden Troves (crystals) 1 hour
Wood Ancient Sapling Chance to receive Foxfire Clusters, Hidden Treasures (orbs), or rare Palm Lumber Cores 24 hours
Plant Cluster of Desert Herb Chance to receive Chili Peppers, Coriander Seeds, Sage Leaf, Sesame Seed, Varietal Sesame Seed, Varietal Clove Seed 1 hour
Plant Desert Vegetable Chance to receive Cassava Root, Flax Fiber, Onion, Garlic 1 hour
Plant Mussel Chance to receive the very rare Freshwater Pearl 1 hour
Plant Pile of Flax Seeds Chance to receive Flax Fiber, rare Flax Blossom 1 hour
Plant Coral Chance to recieve Coral Orb 1 hour
Plant Handful of Red Lentils 1 hour
Plant Head of Cabbage 1 hour
Plant Artichoke 1 hour

Node Farm

Disclaimer:
In order to receive materials such as variental herbs and quality meats, you need to have completed at least the Charr and Sylvari portion of the Gourmet Training achievement. These materials play a significant role in benchmarks that includes them. Skimmer mastery to dive underwater is also required.

Spreadsheet
To find averages, specific loots, and more, check out the spreadsheet.

Node Farm Calculator
While this farm uses specific Glyphs, check out the Node Farm Calcaulator to test out the estimated profits with different Glyphs. What are displayed in the benchmarks are not neccessarily the best Glyphs to use for maximum profits.

Route:
Start at Atholma Waypoint [&BEMLAAA=]. Northeast of the waypoint has a quick plant farm. Most of the plants are not worth much, but can bring a lot of Volatile Magic with Volatile tools. The entire zone (except in areas with Inquest) are filled with nodes, including the water. A high amount of profits will be from:
- Difluorite (before it caps)
- Coral
- Mussels (rare chance to get a Freshwater Pearl, but the node is abundant here)

Solo Farm

Farm Type Farm Benchmark
Spreadsheet

Solo Farm: Sandswept Inquest

This farm consist of killing Inquests with a high power DPS build with high mobility. I personally switch from Power Necro and Power Soulbeast, but there are many others. This run does include the Sandswept South meta (the first event). There's a portal that spawns at the location of the farm to be easily teleported. By using the timer page, you can predict when the next run will be.
Spreadsheet

Solo Farm: Sandswept Karka/Drake

This farm consist of killing Karkas and Drakes with a high power DPS build with high mobility. I personally switch from Power Necro and Power Soulbeast, but there are many others. I try not attack any mobs in the water as they are too spread apart.

Created By

Peureki.3647 | Peureki#5452 | peuresearchcenter@gmail.com

Artwork

@tiffymew

Support

List of supporters
Patreon
Paypal
Associated logos, renderings, images, and other related content are registered trademarks to ArenaNet or NCSOFT.