Druid New to Charming and Multiple Breaks - Advice?

[MasterGeoffrey]

Just got my Druid to 19, and of course everything feels pretty awesome. He can port now, new heal and DD, and charming in the Karanas is a hell of a lot of fun. But every so often I run into a problem, and I'm wondering if it's just random bad luck.

Sometimes I'll charm, say, a gorge hound, and sic him on another mob. Root the other mob for good measure. Charm on hound breaks. Recast, he makes it to me and interrupts maybe (still trying to get a gauge on how far away I need to be), but I finally re-charm, send him in, he immediately breaks again. (Promise I'm not hiding or casting Camo.) Root also breaks, so I take off, turn and re-charm, root mob, charm breaks yet again. I literally charmed him 5 times over this encounter and burned up all my mana. Both mobs are above 60 percent, so I bail of course.

I've read that there are no diminishing returns on charming mobs, but, as unlikely as this sounds even as I'm asking it, are there some mobs that have a higher likelihood to break charm on an individual basis? (Like this particular hound vs this other hound of the same name.) Is this just plain unlucky?

Also, what are your tips on handling situations like this better in the future? Just trying to get better at doing what Druids do.

Thanks!

[Caiu]

There is a variation in levels of the same mob type sometimes so one could be higher level than others. Try sticking a snare on your pet before charming and see if that helps with your interrupts.

[Jimjam]

If you can get two mobs together, root both and then charm one that can help. At higher levels you can use a long duration snare on your pet if you like instead.

The biggest determinant in charm breaks is a level check, the lower level the pet the less the breaks. Magic resist also plays a part, so you can make your charms more likely to last longer by handing it a bunch of stuff that debuffs their magic resist. At higher level you might even consider a Journeyman's walking stick (procs tash, a magic debuff).

[Bummey]

That's charm. Super unreliable in the lower levels and still kind of random up here at 59 in the bear pits. Sometimes you'll get a glamoured (-20 mr debuff) green mob that breaks 3 times in a row after no more than two ticks, other times a high blue will last the full duration without glamour.

The best thing to do is always charm the lowest level blues you can find. Your level in relation to the mob's level plays the highest factor in calculating magic resist and charm/root/etc durations.

[MasterGeoffrey]

Interesting. Good points all, and thanks!

Because of this random factor, how effective does charming stack up for leveling compared to, say, root rotting when you're able to do that? I know that isn't considered as effective later on due to high HP and the availability of quad kiting, but does it become more consistent xp gain after you factor in the medding from bad charm pulls that burn most of your mana? Or does charming overall still win out because you're kind of getting two quickish kills for the price of one?

[Spyder73]

If you can keep your pet snared it helps... I think when you are in your 50's snare lasts for like 15 minutes

[VRBL]

Instead of rooting, I snare and fear then sick pet and sit and med. Adds I just fear and deal with later.