View source for Quick Guide to Lab Farming

==Overview==
'''The Mad King's Labyrinth''' is an area of the Mad King's Realm accessible during Halloween. This event is very popular due to its massive potential for gold per hour and the ease of farming it with a zerg. There is rarely a time you will not find a group to farm this event with and it's advised if you need gold that you at least give it a try. This guide's purpose is to give you a very '''brief''' overview of what to expect. 

The entrance to the Labyrinth can be found in '''Lion's Arch''' and you can find groups for it under the '''Festivals''' section of LFG. This guide will not focus on the specifics of the Lab, but as long as you follow these rules you'll be fine:

===Quick Tips===
* Follow your Zerg. Your commander knows where they're going!
* Do not open any doors without being told to. This is '''very''' important!
* Use LFG to find groups! 
* Some people will troll and be jerks. Try not to engage with them; they'll get bored and move on.
* Your DPS doesn't really matter at Lab, so long as you're hitting things! Don't try to kill mobs, rather just hit them and move on. 
** If your trinkets boost your damage at all, remove them. (i.e. Minstrel's trinkets are fine, but Berserker's or Soldier's are not).
** It is worth it to buy a Green '''Masterwork''' weapon to lower your damage further. 
** Feel free to wear armor that boosts your defense, such as {{Magi}} or {{Knight}}
** For bosses, make sure you deal at least 1-3k damage to the boss or you may not receive credit.
* Remember to refresh your buffs often!
* Please do not use mounts to rush ahead of the zerg and avoid using their '''Engage''' skills. 
* Revive players before they die! It makes a '''huge''' difference!
* Have fun! This event can be a really fun, relaxed way to farm gold :) 

==Recommended Builds==
Before you enter the Labyrinth you should ensure that you have a build that can farm it effectively. Some classes are much more efficient than others at farming Lab, but any class can participate. The two most effective builds are listed first.

* [[Build:Daredevil - TagDevil]]
Daredevil's superior mobility and moderate area damage via {{Skill|Trickshot}} make it one of the best options for farming Lab. What's more, it doesn't require Speed Runes with {{Trait|Unhindered Combatant}}, making it cheap to gear. With Speed Runes, it can run {{Trait|Lotus Training}} instead, pushing it to the very top tier. 

* [[Build:Mirage - Greatsword Farmer]]
GS Mirage is a great, easy to play build with the highest tagging potential in the game. It has lower mobility than TagDevil, but even lower intensity. 

* [[Build:Druid - Staff Farmer]]
Staff Druid is effecitvely a budget version of GS Mirage. It has decent mobility and tagging, but also brings zerg support in the form of moderate heals and extremely high survivability of its own. A little superspeed also doesn't hurt. This is arguably the least-intense build to play, as its gameplay is basically just spamming 1 + TAB. 

* [[Build:Tempest - Tagging Tempest]]
Tagging Tempest is basically just Staff Druid with 300 less range. It's also a bit more intense, which is worth noting.

* [[Build:Scrapper - Flamethrower Scrapper]]
A bit of a lazy build with very short range. It isn't fantastic at tagging, but it's very easy to play. Use speed runes and stay towards the front of the zerg.

* [[Build:Renegade - TagRen]]
TagRen is a strong tagging build that is extremely low-impact with moderate mobility and great tagging. Its primary weakness is in its 900 range and the fact that its projectiles are barely fast enough to qualify as a tagging build.

===Optimal Builds===
Tagdevil and Greatsword Mirage in particular are incredibly effective here. Staff Druid is also very good.

Skylar Blue recently released a guide for the top 3 lab builds as well, updated for 2020. You can watch it here:
:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zzwi0WYm4o Skylar's Lab Builds]

===Sub-Optimal Builds===
Guardian, Warrior, and Necromancer are not recommended for this event, however specialized builds are included below for each of them in the event a player still wants to try them. 

[[Guide: Low tier tag builds]]

===Jezza's Flamethrower===
For some classes it may be worth picking up a lot of consumable flamethrowers. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Jezza%27s_Flamethrower

===Why Do Builds Matter===
The purpose of Tagging Builds is to maximize the number of mobs you can tag during a run, which involves using ranged damage and mobility, often in conjunction with AoE or pseudo-AoE attacks. 

===Helpful Build Tips===
====Sigils====
There are five core sigils when considering Lab builds: {{Sigil|Speed}}, {{Sigil|Fire}}, {{Sigil|Frenzy}}, {{Sigil|Luck}}, and {{Sigil|Stamina}}. 
* Use {{Sigil|Fire}} by default, unless your build needs both {{Sigil|Speed}} and {{Sigil|Stamina}} to function or your spammable skills already have very high area-of-effect. 
* Use {{Sigil|Frenzy}} if you have a low-cooldown, high AOE ability like Guardian's {{Skill|Holy Strike}}. 
* Use {{Sigil|Luck}} if you don't really need any of the other sigils on this list.
* Use {{Sigil|Speed}} if running {{Rune|Speed}} without a reliable source of {{gw2skill|Swiftness}}
* Use {{Sigil|Stamina}} if your dodges do something special, like Daredevil or Mirage.

====Runes====
There are two core runes
* Use {{Rune|Speed}} if your class struggles with mobility or requires you to be near the front of the zerg, like Engineer or Necromancer.
* Use {{Rune|Vampirism}} otherwise.
* Other runes are fine to use based on preference.

====Gear====
In general, gear should have decent crit chance (A minimum of 36% for most builds) if using {{Sigil|Fire}} or crit-based sigils like {{Sigil|Blood}} but maintain relatively low DPS.
* {{Magi}} is the most ideal gear for this. 
* {{Knight}} can be a higher-dps substitute, but beware of stealing kills.

Alternatively if no on-crit effects are used, gear with low DPS and high defense is recommended.
* {{Soldier}} is a strong option
* {{Cleric}} is very good for builds that can heal the zerg
* {{Wanderer}} is a very good option but is annoying to obtain and is generally not recommended for an event where gear matters so little.

Low-DPS trinkets can be run for extra defense:
* {{Minstrel}}
* {{Nomad}}
* {{Giver}}
* Other, similar options are very good. Avoid using trinkets with damage stats on them, like Power or Ferocity.

====Weapons====
* Use weapons with good, spammable area-based damage, like a Mirage's Greatsword or a Thief's Shortbow. 
* Instant-hit weapons with beam attacks, like Elementalist's Scepter or Druid's Staff can be extremely efficient options as long as the "Allow Target Change" option is checked. 

====Traits====
Choose traits which enhance your mobility, sustain, or AoE capabilities.

==Null's Guide to Lab: Looting the Labyrinth==
In partnership with [https://discord.gg/3qXmrqe The Overflow Trading Company Discord], we also encourage you to take a look at Null's Lab guide which is full of useful information and a different perspective on Lab! 

==Auri's Lab Route Gif==
A massive thanks to Auri from Shiny Mayhem ( [https://discord.gg/MZCcK3H Join the Shiny Mayhem Discord!] ) for the INCREDIBLE Lab Route Gif she has provided to us! 

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/762749382642368563/763928727750311996/Untitled-1.gif Click here to view!]

==Recommended Buffs==
For the Labyrinth, players are going to want to max out their '''Magic Find'''. The best way to do this is to use a combination of Food, Utilities, Boosters, and other buffs in order to get Magic Find as high as possible. 

===Food===
There are two options when looking for the perfect food to use. You won't need any real damage boosts here. 
* {{Food|Peppermint Omnomberry Bar}} are an excellent choice as they boost everything you normally want to boost. These are a good "General" option. 
* {{Food|Chocolate Omnomberry Cream}} are your second, more specialized option. These will give you the maximum magic find boost from Food possible at 40%. For Labyrinth in particular this food is '''Optimal'''.

===Utilities===
Much like Food, we only have a few options here. In this case, however, they're all basically the same.
* {{Utility|Sharpening Skull}} is better by a very slight margin due to its buff, Feline Fury. 
* {{Utility|Flask of Pumpkin Oil}} and {{Utility|Lump of Crystallized Nougat}} are roughly the same. Take your pick!

===Boosters===
Boosters are Black Lion items that come from leveling up, map completion, the black lion trading company, and a few other sources. If you have these, you'll probably want to use them:
* Candy Corn Booster - Can provide you with some of the buffs listed below for cheap!
* Item Booster - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Item_Booster
* Birthday OR Celebration Booster - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Birthday_Booster / https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Celebration_Booster
* Blast Lion Booster - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Lion_Booster
* Magic Find Booster - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magic_Find_Booster

===Other Buffs===
* Magic Find Enrichment (Requires an Ascended Amulet) - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magical_Enrichment
* New Year's Gift - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/New_Year%27s_Gift
* Guild Item Research - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Item_Research
* Spirit Banner - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spirit_Banner
* Guild Gold & Magic Find Banner - https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Gold_and_Magic_Find_Banner

==In Closing==
Lab farming is a great way to quickly make gold and is accessible to all players, even those under level 80! It is highly recommended that you at least give it a try if you haven't before.