A more efficient way to solo as a lvl 30 Druid?

[VincentVolaju]

So right now when I solo all I am doing pretty much is Snare, Dot, Dot, Run and sit, then rinse/repeat until the mobs dead. Takes about 3-6mins per mob this way, and about 60-80% mana depending on fizz's and resists. Then another 5mins or so after medding back up. All that for one kill o.O

Am I doing something wrong? This feels so slow, and I thought Druid's were supposed to be amazing solo levelers? I know at level 34 I get a spell that will let me kill 4 things at once, but even then aren't all the area's to do that at pretty much camped by other people doing it?

Dunno, this just doesn't feel very efficient, should I be doing something differently?

[h0tr0d (shaere)]

quadddd

[rioisk]

yeh druids don't really become ridiculously efficient until 34 and quad kiting

[VincentVolaju]

Are there many spots to quad kite at for leveling? Ive heard people saying something like theres only really 3 spots to do it well at, and there all usually camped so fighting for mobs is a pain and ends up being slow leveling anyway. Or is that not true?

[Tseng]

Are there many spots to quad kite at for leveling? Ive heard people saying something like theres only really 3 spots to do it well at, and there all usually camped so fighting for mobs is a pain and ends up being slow leveling anyway. Or is that not true?

During peak times it's definitely true. There are many more quadding spots in Kunark and Velious unfortunately.

I'd think about adding root to your snaring and dotting so you can spend more time sitting down. The amount of mana spent on root might be the same as the extra med you get from not running around, but it's still just more convenient.

[Cribanox]

Try this,

Snare, stack all of your magic based dots and the then immolate. (should be like 3 or 4 dots at your level, total).

Run, but dont run far and then sit, instead, time your "sits' carefully so that they happen when your mana regenrates. If you can time this right, just click sit, then stand, and keep running. When you sit, would get full mana (like you were medding), and then just keep running.

This should give you some extra mana, so you can either start DD"ing, or youll have more mana at the end of the fight.

[mmiles8]

I'd think about adding root to your snaring and dotting so you can spend more time sitting down.

Root is counterproductive and unreliable IMO. You only need to sit at the tick to gain mana, slightly longer if there's server lag. You can time it with your dots ticks, the time it takes your character to produce the sound of 8 footsteps, or in your head if you've got metronome-like precision.

Immolate is incredibly inefficient and resisted often. Don't scoff at flame lick, it's got the damage to mana efficiency of your level 44 dot, which offsets its high resist rate to make it viable for added DPS. 4 more damage per tick for nearly no cost is better than nothing, or wasting a lot of mana because a blue mob resisted immolate 2-3x, which happens fairly often.

Take a look:

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq121/mmiles01/EQ000025.jpg
Karg@24

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq121/mmiles01/EQ000027.jpg
HG@24

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq121/mmiles01/EQ000031.jpg
IG@30

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq121/mmiles01/EQ000033.jpg
Seafury@30

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq121/mmiles01/EQ000053.jpg
Allizewsaur@39

[VincentVolaju]

So your saying for now just use Stinging Swarm, Creeping Crud and Flame Lick? And ignore Immolate / Root?

I notice both Immolate / Root resist often, and root seems to break randomly too. Theres been a few times where I root then 2 seconds later it runs back at me, pretty annoying =/. Not to mention I fizz alot on Immo.

I was wondering, now that I am 30 I am gaining Specialize skills, someone in game told me I can get one of them to 50 and the rest under. What tree would you suggest I put points into?

[RKromwell]

One important thing to remember, root breaks snare. If you root, you have to snare again or you will have a pissed off mob moving double time to eat your spleen. Pile the dots on, keep the damn thing snared and sow on yourself. Should give you loads of time to med between recasting your spells. It isn't like they get give up and return to spawn once you get too far away.

[Tseng]

One important thing to remember, root breaks snare. If you root, you have to snare again or you will have a pissed off mob moving double time to eat your spleen. Pile the dots on, keep the damn thing snared and sow on yourself. Should give you loads of time to med between recasting your spells. It isn't like they get give up and return to spawn once you get too far away.

Root doesn't break snare

[mmiles8]

So your saying for now just use Stinging Swarm, Creeping Crud and Flame Lick? And ignore Immolate / Root?

For pure efficiency, Flame Lick and your current highest Swarm dot is going to be the way to go. I'd never advocate blanket ignoring of spells. I do use root at times (custom picked to suit my needs, Grasping Cheapest, Ensnaring Balanced, Enveloping Fastest, Engulfing Longest) and I do use Immolate at times.

However, if you find yourself at low mana, or generally wanting to maximize your effectiveness for your play time, root is a waste when you can put forth the effort to take an active role in your mana regen. If the mob is resistant, use swarm line exclusively, they receive a -100 MR check.

[azeth]

Make sure that when you're doing the Snare/Bail/Med/Rinserepeat dealy that you're not getting up from your med before you see your mana tick also.

Sounds pretty obvious, but you really could have just had poor timing and I'm sure it would have seemed like your mana pool was shallow if you weren't actually getting ticks of mana back the times you were sitting.

[Messianic]

No one's said this yet, so maybe i'm missing something - but have dot penalties when a mob is not rooted or feared been implemented? I.e. do dots do full damage to non-rooted, non-feared mobs?

[Nedala]

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq121/mmiles01/EQ000053.jpg
Allizewsaur@39


you were able to kill allizewsaur at lvl 39??

It still takes me like 20 minutes to kill him at lvl 50....and i become mana problems too.What do i wrong? Tried using all my swarms or just the highest. i didnt use flame lick but i cant believe this makes much of a difference...

[Overcast]

you were able to kill allizewsaur at lvl 39??

It still takes me like 20 minutes to kill him at lvl 50....and i become mana problems too.What do i wrong? Tried using all my swarms or just the highest. i didnt use flame lick but i cant believe this makes much of a difference...

When I used to try and take 'harder' targets as a Druid or Necro - I found it's best to just use your two most efficient dots.

Keep it snared - and sit as much as possible. It will take longer, but you should be able to find a 'balance' as mana use vs. time, etc.
The one way I could kill my ability to take out a harder target was to over-dot and then be OOM.

Focus on efficiency - let the dots run to the very last tick and reapply, if you can ASAP.

Keeping in mind to sit on the ticks and move in between.

[VincentVolaju]

Thanks for all the tips guys! But I am wondering about how important the specialize tree's are? Im told I can only get one passed 50 so I should dump 51 points into one of them so I dont accidently raise one that I dont want.

But I am not sure which one is best to do, assuming I will be solo leveling and grouping about the same amount? Should I just choose the tree that has the most spells in it? Alteration maybe since its Root, Snare and Heals?

[Ardenya]

Once you hit 30 you can specialize in any of the casting schools. Whatever school you raise above 50 first will be your spec and will continue to go up till you hit the cap, whereas all others will max out at 50. As a benefit of specialization all spells associated with that school will have a chance to use less mana and fizzle less.

As a rule of thumb, most druids used to (and probably still are) specialize in Alteration since most our spells use it, especially those which use most mana eg. heals and ports but also others regularly used spells like snare and root. Thus, if you plan to duo/group a lot, Alteration would be a logical choice. On the other hand, if you plan to solo most of the time, stick with Conjuration since your most mana efficient damage spells, your magic based DoTs, are Conjuration-based.

Whatever school you decide to specialize in, to get it over 50, simply load up your lowest spell in this school and cast it over and over again until you hit 51.

[soup]

Thanks for all the tips guys! But I am wondering about how important the specialize tree's are? Im told I can only get one passed 50 so I should dump 51 points into one of them so I dont accidently raise one that I dont want.

But I am not sure which one is best to do, assuming I will be solo leveling and grouping about the same amount? Should I just choose the tree that has the most spells in it? Alteration maybe since its Root, Snare and Heals?

If you plan on quadding to 50 you want evocation.

[mmiles8]

It still takes me like 20 minutes to kill him at lvl 50

The fight had already gone on for an hour and a half by the time I took that screenshot :P

Landing snare took about 10 tries every 5 minutes or so. Drones got resisted about 1 in 4. It's a huge PITA to sit every 6 seconds for that long. It was all about playing the odds and managing mana so there was enough to reapply snare. I also kept spirit of cheetah up to attempt to reapply it without needing to make a full lap around the isle to get enough distance.

[Taluvill]

Allize doesnt resist very often, at least for druid swarms and snares. Not surprising that he could do it, but not surprising that it was a PITA either = P

Its not even efficient to kill alliz at 50 much less 39 lol

Edit: oops necroed = P

[Kassel]

If i use root or Immolate really depends on my lvl vs the mobs level, when i first start a camp spot with yellow or white mobs i dont use either and just kite with mana, if like the spot and stick it out for a few lvls near the end i am using Immo and root with no problems, root can last a long dependable time if you are much higher thanthe mob. I have found 2 spots with great mobs, minimal competition and a great ZEM. I used both for 10+ levels.

I was a warr on live so not sure how resists worked, but i am shocked that snare lands on red mobs 90% of the time.

[Taluvill]

edited out.

[Badmartigan]

If i use root or Immolate really depends on my lvl vs the mobs level, when i first start a camp spot with yellow or white mobs i dont use either and just kite with mana, if like the spot and stick it out for a few lvls near the end i am using Immo and root with no problems, root can last a long dependable time if you are much higher thanthe mob. I have found 2 spots with great mobs, minimal competition and a great ZEM. I used both for 10+ levels.

I was a warr on live so not sure how resists worked, but i am shocked that snare lands on red mobs 90% of the time.

You sure ? Doesnt work like that for darkness line