To Quad Kite or Charm Kite, that is the question

[beev]

So I just hit 35 as a Druid and as such I obtained the lightning AOE spell. I have charm kited rather efficiently from basically level 18-35 and I was wondering if I should start quad kiting instead.

With a charm kite I can usually kill one yellow and one blue with only expending 50% of my mana. Very efficient I think but I'm getting sick and tired of charms breaking and having to re-charm.

With quad kite I imagine I can kill 4 blues and using all of my mana as well as targeting a type of mob that drops good items.

I have tried quadding in Overthere but it's pretty difficult to round up 4 blues of the exact same type (so they dont run when under 20% health). If I wanted to quad at lvl 35, what should I quad? I might be able to take out halfling guards but being that I am a halfling would that be a dumb idea? I would really only want to do that for exp as well as their fine steel weapons that I could sell.

What did you other druids do at level 35? Charm/Quad/Fear kite?

[Jasonz]

You can charm kite and med enough to keep it up indefinitely. I use only snare and whirling wind (I'm 31, so can't quad yet). Since whirling wind has a stun effect it causes a fair bit of hate for only 24 mana. I cast it just enough to keep the mob off my pet. If the mob is an animal I use panic animal instead of whirling wind since it's only 10 mana and also has the fear effect. If the mob is very difficult then I'll use ensare, but I usually just use snare and recast it once if needed since this also helps keep them off your pet.

One nice thing about quad kiting is that you can blow all your mana and then go do something else (something other than play EQ), which appeals to me. There is the problem of finding a place to quad kite though...

Some potential areas for quadding:
Frontier mountains has many blue mobs for you. I'm not sure if there's anywhere safe to quad there though without problems with adds.
Crazed goblins in Butcherblock?
At 38 or so you could quad spectres in oasis or OOT.
Hopefully people come up with more ideas than this. I hope to quad once I hit 34.

Once Velious opens there are quite a few more quadding opportunities.

[Auvdar]

You can quad spectres at 35, but expect some sit/medding during. I would really just stick with charm killing until 60 (maybe doing a break at 50 to quad raptors in TD if you want).

[Norok]

I found it very hard to kite until the late 30s even with some decent gear. You just don't have to the mana pool to get in a full 4 especially if you have varied level stragglers. Ideally, you want to move to Butcherblock dwarves ASAP as they are all the same level, very tame in terms of kiting, and safe to go AFK. This also makes them boring but it's better than sitting around LFG! They should stay blue until 47. Then go to Lake of Ill Omen and work on your swimming quadding bloodgils until 51.

[Tuffpuppy]

From a low level I had near 200 wis with + mana items. The only time quading was better exp then charming was when I got a Lumi staff for mana free quads. Charming was always constant, better exp.

[buurd]

with trying to med a little while running during a kite, any tips to prevent the tick from lying as it does to me half the time?

[Norok]

with trying to med a little while running during a kite, any tips to prevent the tick from lying as it does to me half the time?

You just have to give yourself enough distance and pratice. Make sure your kiting lanes are long with good visibility. It helps to F9 and change views.

[Tuffpuppy]

with trying to med a little while running during a kite, any tips to prevent the tick from lying as it does to me half the time?

Just got to keep a timer in your head. If you sit and it ticks then you get back up and it drops, start your timer from when it drops. Usually there is a 1-2 second difference. You'll pick it up quick.

[Daldaen]

Always charm kite.

Quad kiting is useful for... clearing PHers for quest mobs and such, like Seafurys. Charm kiting is useful for all your exping needs.


At 34 we gain not only that AE, but also Beguile Animal. Which means you can plow Kedge Keep. I don't know if it is still like this, but when I was level 34, I was getting around 4-5% exp per mob solo in Kedge. Dangerous yes, but it was the most ballerest exp in game solo (without being a bard)

[Jasonz]

I started quad kiting right at 34 and went from 34 to 40 extremely fast. I was going through 35 so quickly I had to double check that it was actually a hell level. I was quad kiting pirates and sometimes drolvargs in FV along the cliffs. Now that I'm 40, I've found another spot to move on to which is also excellent (and it's not in OT; I don't like OT).

Up to 34 I charm kited, but never really liked it. I like quad kiting since I can do other stuff during my downtime. If I only count the time I spend playing EQ, quad kiting is much more efficient than charm kiting.