Low Level (20) Shaman Solo;

[Cynosure]

Hey there,

I'm currently a level 20 Shaman. My character was still logged into Kurn's tower after a long hiatus from EQEmu.

A dark blue mob essentially takes most, if not all, of my mana to kill without going under 50% health. This may not sound so bad, but it's awful when you have to wait 10+ minutes to med back to full only to kill another single mob.

Is there some place I can go where mobs are easier to solo? Is there a technique I should use? Should I re-roll as a more solo-friendly class?

[Gylen]

There is no question that before getting to 24, it's very difficult for a shaman. At 24, you can cannibalize dance/regen for mana much faster.

Honestly, the only thing I can recommend is get a good melee weapon. Like a Poison Wind Censer. A good melee weapon really helps at lower levels and up until your later 30's.

Tough it out, and it'll be very rewarding in the end. I promise!

[Stormhowl]

Keep in mind that Kunark mobs tend to have more HP and hit harder than their classic world counter-parts.

If you're looking for a place to grind in Classic, try the spiders in East Karana, near the canyon that leads to Highpass. It's over camped though, but if you go during off-peak hours it's good exp. You could probably at least do two spiders in a mana bar... which would double your exp gains. :P

I personally don't use the Disease DoTs when soloing. They last long, which is nice, and it negates mob HP regen, but they cost a lot of mana for the DPS they actually do. I personally prefer to just use that mana to cast Poison DoTs again when they wear off, just becuase of the higher DPS.

What is your usual technique for soloing a pull? And what's your weapon?

[Splorf22]

If you look at the shaman spell list, practically every level you get something monstrous:

L24: Regen/Canni/first decent poison dot
L29: Haste/Invis/first decent slow
L34: Pet/96 second root
L39: huge upgrades to all your most important shit (regen/slow/canni)
L45: JBB works
L50: Epic
L51: Turgurs the ridiculously op 5 minute/75% slow

So basically 1-23 suck, and then from 24-50+ its just a gradual ramping up until in the Kunark levels shamans are the ridiculously OP chars we all know and love.

[Cynosure]

Keep in mind that Kunark mobs tend to have more HP and hit harder than their classic world counter-parts.

If you're looking for a place to grind in Classic, try the spiders in East Karana, near the canyon that leads to Highpass. It's over camped though, but if you go during off-peak hours it's good exp. You could probably at least do two spiders in a mana bar... which would double your exp gains. :P

I personally don't use the Disease DoTs when soloing. They last long, which is nice, and it negates mob HP regen, but they cost a lot of mana for the DPS they actually do. I personally prefer to just use that mana to cast Poison DoTs again when they wear off, just becuase of the higher DPS.

What is your usual technique for soloing a pull? And what's your weapon?

Ahhha! I did not know that these mobs were more difficult. I was debating running to the Classic world in order to find more people to group with... I figured it might be more crowded out there. Kurn's is always filled with a bunch of solo twinks who are powering through all the mobs with their fungus tunics. :mad:

I tend to pull with a single DoT (I believe it's disease) and slow the mob directly after. If I notice the mob hits for 20+, I tend to debuff it as well. From there, I melee until I start nearing 60% health--at which point I throw off my DD spirit strike spell until it's dead.

Occasionally, I will root the mob and let it rot with both of my DoTs. It's a 50/50 on whether I will reroot them when the first root breaks or if I will melee them. However, I don't like this method much (and is why I did not choose to play an arcane caster).

[Cynosure]

If you look at the shaman spell list, practically every level you get something monstrous:

L24: Regen/Canni/first decent poison dot
L29: Haste/Invis/first decent slow
L34: Pet/96 second root
L39: huge upgrades to all your most important shit (regen/slow/canni)
L45: JBB works
L50: Epic
L51: Turgurs the ridiculously op 5 minute/75% slow

So basically 1-23 suck, and then from 24-50+ its just a gradual ramping up until in the Kunark levels shamans are the ridiculously OP chars we all know and love.

I guess that's more reason to stick it out.

[Stormhowl]

Ahhha! I did not know that these mobs were more difficult. I was debating running to the Classic world in order to find more people to group with... I figured it might be more crowded out there. Kurn's is always filled with a bunch of solo twinks who are powering through all the mobs with their fungus tunics. :mad:

I tend to pull with a single DoT (I believe it's disease) and slow the mob directly after. If I notice the mob hits for 20+, I tend to debuff it as well. From there, I melee until I start nearing 60% health--at which point I throw off my DD spirit strike spell until it's dead.

Occasionally, I will root the mob and let it rot with both of my DoTs. It's a 50/50 on whether I will reroot them when the first root breaks or if I will melee them. However, I don't like this method much (and is why I did not choose to play an arcane caster).

My usual routine pre-24 was to pull with Walking Sleep, hit them with Tainted Breath, melee, and just keep Tainted Breath and my health up. I'd only bust out Spirit Strike if I needed to finish a runner quickly. My weapon at the time was just a Sharkbone Warhammer which is only 8 DMG / 26 Delay so I'm sure you can find something comparable. Though the wiki shows that thing is only 50-200pp on average. Course for only what, 4-10pp you could get a Fine Steel Spear which is 6/27 so its only slightly worse.

The reason I don't use the disease DoT Affliction is because it has terrible damage per mana ratios and it takes too long to get even that out of the spell. You can get almost 2 Tainted Breaths out of the mana it cost to cast Affliction, and you can actually have 3 Tainted Breaths run over the course it would take Affliction to run through.

The fights would take a little longer, but it's just more mana efficient over all. I don't use the Disempower line of spells just because, from reading some Enchanter guides (which have a similar line) it doesn't help as much as it could. For soloing blues, it probably isn't worth the mana for the returns you get.

If you're concerned about mana efficiency, I'd try just using Walking Sleep, Tainted Breath x3, and melee to get your kills and cutting Affliction and Disempower from your usual routine. You'll get better damage per mana ratios that way and higher DPS (Tainted Breath > Affliction... sadly).

It gets better at 24 once you get your Envenomed Breath, but the same things still apply when I'm grinding. :P

[Cynosure]

I'm going to give this a go now. =)

*Edit - Actually works much better! Thanks so much =D
..haha, except then I go to town to sell and attack a guard by accident. Shit.

[Stormhowl]

I'm going to give this a go now. =)

*Edit - Actually works much better! Thanks so much =D

No problem. I hate being all min/max about mana and DPS and stuff (because I hate that WoW has done that to me), but really, Disease DoTs and the Disempower line are not good until later levels and aren't worth the mana to cast them. Unless you desperately need a long duration DoT to stop mob regen. 0.o

..haha, except then I go to town to sell and attack a guard by accident. Shit.

:(

[Cynosure]

Where should I move to level?

I could use a recommendation for a place likely to find groups as well as a few good solo spots. =)

[Woahnelly]

I like South Karana personally, but you could do spiders in EK or gators in oasis.

[Cynosure]

Many thanks!!

..one last question:

I have about 100 plat (perhaps 200 if I manage to sell the rest of my bone chips soon). Is there anything I could spend this on in order to help me solo a bit better?

[Woahnelly]

Not sure what gear you have, but I would try to pick up a goblin parrying spear. it's 6/19 with 4ac and a few wis. should be able to find for around 200pp.

[Woahnelly]

What race are you?

[Cynosure]

Secksar.

I'll see if that is better than my current weapon. If it is, I'll post on the trade area! I know I have an off-hand totem of a doll that has a pretty hefty +wis increase. It was given to me by a guy I helped do a transfer for.