Alternate Horseback Kills Strategy

[NetEntity]

Note: I used this in the original game, but posting this here, as people are more likely to play Warmastered Edition in preparation for Darksiders 3. I'm assuming that it should work on PS4 as well.

 

The guide for the PS3 version suggests using Ashland riders for this and drop into the pit nearby to force them to spawn again. However, I found this method to be not very efficient, as you can reliably kill only two riders per spawn. As far as I'm aware, there are actually four riders per spawn, but other two move on the other side of the area after spawning, and chasing them only wastes more time.  

 

Here's what I did. Go to the Ashland pit, as you normally would, but instead of grinding the riders, look for the soul current (a blue energy geyser). There is a passage nearby. It has two demon patrols, five enemies each.  Now here's the trick: this passage connects the Ashlands to a small arena, and both of these spots reset the spawn counter. Just ride Ruin back and forth, cutting those demons for quick and easy one-hit kills. 

 

Update: to reliably aggro all four riders, head left after exiting the tunnel, and attack two riders by the drill tower. While you'll be cutting them down, the pair by the pit will either feel inclined to join in or come closer - either way, they won't be able to leave the area, unlike the left pair. Also, tunnel patrols seem to be reliant on the autosave triggers, and sometimes disappear (the telltale sign - the autosave sigil doesn't appear when you enter the tunnel); the spawns either fix themselves after a while, or need to be reset by forcing an autosave in another spot - like returning to the Ashland entrance, where Vulgrim is.

 

This setup can be used for three trophies at once, as going back and forth the tunnel / chasing the riders helps towards Dark Rider, and soul gains from both demons and riders help towards Battle Hardened grind - saves more time than I initially thought, to be honest. 

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by NetEntity

[visighost]

To clarify: when you use the pit trick in the Ashlands, it generates 2 riders cumulatively every time you climb back out. Kudos for finding an alternate solution, but it's still much faster to drop down and climb back up a dozen times, go on a killing spree, and repeat. Plus, it's fairly impressive to see a circle of 40 demon riders in the desert...

[NetEntity]

1 hour ago, visighost said:

To clarify: when you use the pit trick in the Ashlands, it generates 2 riders cumulatively every time you climb back out. Kudos for finding an alternate solution, but it's still much faster to drop down and climb back up a dozen times, go on a killing spree, and repeat. Plus, it's fairly impressive to see a circle of 40 demon riders in the desert...

 

You can aggro four riders per circle and cut down demons in the tunnel while you're at it. For me it was much faster than the pit, because there was no need to climb the vines, summon the horse and search around for those two, especially since two riders spawn close to the tunnel exit and other two have no choice but to come to you as soon as you attack their two buddies by the tower.

Edited October 25, 2018 by NetEntity

[Matrim_Drasgen]

I didn't really try to grind this trophy. I just earned it for the first time, so not an expert but from the time I got Ruin until I earned Horseman, it was only 6 hours. An hour of that was spent running in a circle as I made something to eat, and watched some stuff online. Then the bulk of my time was spent in the Iron Canopy. By the time I got out and worked on some grinding for the kills, it took me less than 20 minutes. I killed four riders in the Ashlands thinking there would be more and before I knew about the pit trick. As I was doing this I went collectible hunting where I ended up in The Crossroads where there at least six but I think eight demons (not sure if the Undead count as demons as not and I am confident the three Angel spawns are NOT counted) show up. I went into the Library, collected items, came back out, and killed them all again. I went to the area with Samael killed those demons which has five though maybe six demons on the ground, and finally, went over to the chasm by the ramp that goes up to Samael, and killed the two flying demons across the gap with Mercy and my trophy POPPED right then while killing them. So for me, there was very little actual grinding as I got the bulk of the kills when I first acquired Ruin and was completing the Ashlands dungeon. It was cool to get the trophy using Mercy, the screenshot is kind of badass too, lol.