Charm kiting animals as a druid

[shams]

I love using this method, but I know I'm doing it wrong. At the risk of showing how much of a noob I still am, here are a few questions I have:

1. How do I break charm on an animal when I'm ready to kill it or just decided I don't like it anymore?

2. Is there a way to debuff an animal on my own if say, it broke charm and I had to root snare it in order to charm it again?

3. What's your animal charm kiting method?

Thanks!

[Daldaen]

1. Hide (it's a racial ability for 2/4 Druid races and fails a lot), cast Invis VS Animals, click Goblin Gazughi Ring

2. Unsure what you mean. I'm guessing you're asking if you can debuff it so that it will not break charm as much? Only way to do that is decrease magic resist and at level 53 we get Glamour of Tunare which reduces animal MR by 20.

3. Charm mob 1, Fight mob 2. Once the first reaches 5-10%, break charm. Nuke both to death or ES Vambraces.

If outdoors, snare every mob. If indoors, root whatever mob your pet is fighting.

[fadetree]

1. Invis of any sort, including to animals.
2. Cancel magic comes to mind.
3. Sadly, I do not have a druid. Yet.

[shams]

Thanks guys. For the second question I should have clarified, basically meant to ask if there was a way to un-snare/root a mob if I had to do that when it broke charm so that upon recharming it I didn't have a slow charmed pet.

Edit: Going to try cancel magic :)

EJ here I come!

[bulbousaur]

Well, keeping your pet snared gives you a chance to get away if charm breaks early (as it is wont to do)...

[shams]

Yeah, that does seem to be a problem... I feel like sharing my pet makes it seem a bit awkward come time to get him in range to start killing my target. How do you usually go about doing that? Do you just have to settle for taking a few hits?

[Daldaen]

Snare mob 1.
Charm mob 1.
Send charmed pet on mob 2.
Snare mob 2.
Run away from them a decent bit (in casting range, way away from melee range).
Break charm when either mob 1 or mob 2 are low on HP (5-10%... Learn to break a bit before this if you don't have a means to instantly break. In the time it takes to cast a 3-4 second invis your mob will take damage)
Nuke mob 1 and mob 2 to death while running away from them.


I don't understand where sharing a pet or having to take hits come into play? Just make sure you aren't sitting right next to your pet when it's charmed. Sit aways a distance so you can stand and immediately recharm.

[Stormlight]

My newbie charming has, after some experimentation, arrived at what Daldaen posted, except that I don't snare mob 2 since it doesn't seem necessary where I've been killing in EK. Sit out of casting range, and be ready to re-charm your pet if needed. The lions in EK are pretty fast, but I still have time before they get to me. Just make sure you have the correct thing targeted. ;)

[shams]

I've been doing it all wrong! Snare target, hit with flame lick, send charmed pet in, eventually either target dies or charm breaks and I have two mobs to kill... I like the whole break charm when one is low on HP much much more :)

[Taeoz]

There're a couple of ways to go about it, depending on what mobs you have to work with.

1. Charm lvl x mob
2. Sic it on lvl x mob
3. Break charm when both mobs are low health
4. Murder them

1. Charm lvl x+1 mob
2. Sic it on lvl x mob
3. Share exp with pet (Or break charm when mob is low on hp, kill mob, recharm pet)
4. Sic it on another lvl x mob
5. Break charm when both mobs are low on health (or keep killing mobs until pet hits low hp)
6. Murder them

1. Charm lvl x mob
2. Sic it on lvl x+1 mob
3. Break charm when pet low on health
4. Murder it
5. Charm lvl x mob
6. Sic it on lvl x+1 mob
7. Break charm when both mobs are low on health (or keep feedin pets to the mob, until it hits low hp)
8. Murder them

First scenario is the ideal one, I think. But in zones where there are not many animals around, you may want to keep your pet around longer - buff it up, etc. I think the latter situation works best with chanters, feeding pets into a murder machine of their own creation (by charming and buffing up the x+1 mob, then breaking charm).

[picklefixer]

If you are at lvl 22ish or so, its the perfect time to get yourself a Gobby Gazooy ring for instant /click invis animals !
You can charm tigers in LOIO right where the courrier pops and just have a grand ole time...i believe i was lvl 28 when i finally got a ring to drop.

Also, my tip for the day....Panic Animal....LEARN IT, LOVE IT, LIVE IT !!!!

Keep your pet snared and your target mob snared and you will live a long long time!

<Insert SweetAss Sig Here>
Mrtwig

[Tewaz]

Animal fear is a great crowd control spell.

[rafaone]

1. Hide (it's a racial ability for 2/4 Druid races and fails a lot), cast Invis VS Animals, click Goblin Gazughi Ring

2. Unsure what you mean. I'm guessing you're asking if you can debuff it so that it will not break charm as much? Only way to do that is decrease magic resist and at level 53 we get Glamour of Tunare which reduces animal MR by 20.

3. Charm mob 1, Fight mob 2. Once the first reaches 5-10%, break charm. Nuke both to death or ES Vambraces.

Daldaen Nailed the common procedure.

However if you're dungeon crawling later in game (mostly Chardok and SolB) you can also buff your pet a bit and keep it healed, specially if you get a high level one.

But for XP it's that. From my experience when breaking a pet, a goblin ring works superb, but if you don't have the money, hide works good too. Focus on buying another items first, like an ES vambracers if you still don't have a pair.

[Alanus]

My method for charm kiting:

1. Pull mob to charm with ensnare. If both near each other, snare both.
2. Charm pet.
3. Send it after target
4. Keep target rooted
5. Try to keep my pet 3-5% higher in HP. If needed, add dot or nuke to keep it like this.
6. Right before target (or my pet, if it hits the fan) dies, break charm via Invis vs. Animals
7. Finish both with a dot (ES arms are perfect)

Obviously if I am charming in Kedge and patriarch spawns, my strategy changes to "not give a crap about my pet and just get him dead", but that is the general strategy

[Tasslehofp99]

Use animal fear too, its super mana efficient amd allows your pet to do more damage as well as allowing your dots to hit for full damage.

Most times what I would do is just keep 1 badass pet and keep him fully buffed and just burn through mobs using snare/fear/es vambs. Can keep up kills non stop, so the pet taking half your exp isn't even a problem. You could always find a melee partner to pull for you and add DPS; this would eliminate any pet exp penalty.


I think snare + terrorize animal is like less than 50 mana.

[Aveenia]

On my original druid on live I never did charm kiting. I never liked it. I am trying to do it on this version of Aveenia, I still don't like it. It seems dangerous & I always seem to use a full bar of mana so with med time it takes as long to kill 2 mobs as root rotting. Maybe I just have super bad luck with charm breaking? I fully understand the theory & methodology of doing it, it's just not for me I guess.

[Estu]

On my original druid on live I never did charm kiting. I never liked it. I am trying to do it on this version of Aveenia, I still don't like it. It seems dangerous & I always seem to use a full bar of mana so with med time it takes as long to kill 2 mobs as root rotting. Maybe I just have super bad luck with charm breaking? I fully understand the theory & methodology of doing it, it's just not for me I guess.

There's no danger to it at all (if you're doing it outdoors) and it takes almost no mana (the lack of mana usage is what makes it such great EXP). I think if you're having that much trouble with it you're probably going about it the wrong way. Make sure the monster you're charming is a low dark blue con to minimize resists. Apart from that, without more info on what exactly you're doing, I dunno what might be going wrong.

[shams]

I seem to have Aveenia's trouble as well. I feel like charm lasts a minute or two and once it breaks I'm scrambling to control two mobs instead of one. Right now I'm trying this in EJ at lvl 46 and charm just doesnt seem very reliable. I did, however, have some pretty good success in OT in the lower 40's. Wish there were more outdoor zones with animals in the late 40s.

[Stormlight]

Finding low dark blues has definitely been a help to me at a low level. My first charm was a white-con lion that aggroed me in NK, and I couldn't get charm to stay on for more than 20 seconds or so, but I rarely have issues with any dark blues, especially if I know they're on the lower end.

[Somekid123]

When I was doing raptors back when they could be charmed before sundawg who plays on red99 nerfed it I would leave level 24 or 19 whichever level we get fear then up. Was long enough to snare your broke charm pet and re charm it. Use this one over your higher ones, saves mana.

[Estu]

I seem to have Aveenia's trouble as well. I feel like charm lasts a minute or two and once it breaks I'm scrambling to control two mobs instead of one. Right now I'm trying this in EJ at lvl 46 and charm just doesnt seem very reliable. I did, however, have some pretty good success in OT in the lower 40's. Wish there were more outdoor zones with animals in the late 40s.

I'm doing charming in EJ at 45 right now and it's very easy. Keep both mobs ensnared; if charm breaks, all you need to do is run back a few feet and recharm. The main issue I'm having in EJ is finding an area that's both (1) safe to pull to and (2) near a lot of mobs I can pull.

When I was doing raptors back when they could be charmed before sundawg who plays on red99 nerfed it I would leave level 24 or 19 whichever level we get fear then up. Was long enough to snare your broke charm pet and re charm it. Use this one over your higher ones, saves mana.

I know that at least trakaraptors in EJ are charmable, although charming them is not advisable since they run very fast.

[yorumi]

I'm not doing druid charming but I'm doing enchanter and I'm finding resist rates on everything to be so astronomically high most of my spells are useless. Last night I was just trying to get a little buffer exp after leveling and charm killing greens(technically light blue as they were giving exp). I killed around 24 green mobs(so charmed 12 of them) and was saw 3 of them break charm on the first or second tick, and 3 more break charm early. All of this was on mobs I hit with tash first. Root is similar breaking or outright resisting. The lull line is just totally useless to me, I see all resists with the occasional stick about 10% of the time.

Definitely for a druid at least you guys have sow and snare. For me charming is better than soloing with an animation but dear god resist rates are ridiculous.

[Estu]

I'm not doing druid charming but I'm doing enchanter and I'm finding resist rates on everything to be so astronomically high most of my spells are useless. Last night I was just trying to get a little buffer exp after leveling and charm killing greens(technically light blue as they were giving exp). I killed around 24 green mobs(so charmed 12 of them) and was saw 3 of them break charm on the first or second tick, and 3 more break charm early. All of this was on mobs I hit with tash first. Root is similar breaking or outright resisting. The lull line is just totally useless to me, I see all resists with the occasional stick about 10% of the time.

Definitely for a druid at least you guys have sow and snare. For me charming is better than soloing with an animation but dear god resist rates are ridiculous.

I was charming blues on my 18 enchanter the other day and it was fine. You have to be able to deal with early root/charm breaks; accept them and move on. Keep your distance from the mobs so if stuff breaks early you have time to recast whatever spell needs to be recast (assuming you're outdoors). If every spell landed every time and lasted for full duration then this would be one hell of a boring game. Certainly charming on a low-level enchanter is trickier than on a druid (since druids literally never need to get hit unless they're charming indoors) but it is very doable.

[papercolor]

Taeoz, perfect example of lining out the scenarios! As an enchanter this is exactly what I do while xping and these are exactly the scenarios I run into!

[yorumi]

I was charming blues on my 18 enchanter the other day and it was fine. You have to be able to deal with early root/charm breaks; accept them and move on. Keep your distance from the mobs so if stuff breaks early you have time to recast whatever spell needs to be recast (assuming you're outdoors). If every spell landed every time and lasted for full duration then this would be one hell of a boring game. Certainly charming on a low-level enchanter is trickier than on a druid (since druids literally never need to get hit unless they're charming indoors) but it is very doable.

I don't really expect things to always land, but seriously half of the green mobs I kill broke charm early and lull spells land maybe 10% of the time? I'm 24 with 167 chr, you'd think on greens I'd just have the base 5% chance to fail at this point. It's just been a little frustrating when you feel like most of these tools exist more as a joke than something useful for overcoming the challenges in the game. Lulls never land, chanter nukes have such a ridiculous agro pull and such an astronomical resist rate I can't ever use them except for the final hit on a mob that's running.

Even in groups the only spells I ever cast on a mob are tash and slow. What's the point of all these spells when tanks can't reasonably out agro them?

edit: and sorry I'm kind of derailing the thread with my rantings at this point.

[Estu]

I don't really expect things to always land, but seriously half of the green mobs I kill broke charm early and lull spells land maybe 10% of the time? I'm 24 with 167 chr, you'd think on greens I'd just have the base 5% chance to fail at this point. It's just been a little frustrating when you feel like most of these tools exist more as a joke than something useful for overcoming the challenges in the game. Lulls never land, chanter nukes have such a ridiculous agro pull and such an astronomical resist rate I can't ever use them except for the final hit on a mob that's running.

Even in groups the only spells I ever cast on a mob are tash and slow. What's the point of all these spells when tanks can't reasonably out agro them?

edit: and sorry I'm kind of derailing the thread with my rantings at this point.

Spells are an incredibly powerful part of the game and they continue to be after the recent resist changes. If literally half of your green mobs break charm early, you're very unlucky; this is not indicative of how it usually goes. Lull spells land far more than 10% of the time on blue monsters. Nukes are bad spells to use, period, except in certain situations (like finishing off a mob after your charmed pet has done most of the damage to it), because they're not mana-efficient. A lot of your spells are very situational.

If you don't like playing a spellcasting class then play a melee class. Resists are a part of playing a spellcaster and if they weren't there, they'd be even more OP than they already are.

[yorumi]

If you don't like playing a spellcasting class then play a melee class. Resists are a part of playing a spellcaster and if they weren't there, they'd be even more OP than they already are.

It's more that I'm trying to decide if I really like it. I'm experiencing astronomically high resist rates. That 90% lull resist is not a one time thing, the last time I was able to lull mobs was in crushbone at level 8 and even that was sketchy. I had to wait till level 16 before I could get charm to last long enough to be in any way useful(mostly because the higher mana bar meant breaks wern't quite as devastating). It's apparently not just me either as others have said in the thread.

Unlucky suggests it's just kind of a one time thing. But I kind of wonder just how long am I going to be unlucky? When do I start having some positive luck? When does lull start working? When do I feel like I can actually use charm in a group cause it's sticking for full duration at least 50% of the time?

I guess my main question is why does there seem to be such a huge disconnect between what people say about charm and resists, and the reality people are experiencing in game?

[Estu]

It's more that I'm trying to decide if I really like it. I'm experiencing astronomically high resist rates. That 90% lull resist is not a one time thing, the last time I was able to lull mobs was in crushbone at level 8 and even that was sketchy. I had to wait till level 16 before I could get charm to last long enough to be in any way useful(mostly because the higher mana bar meant breaks wern't quite as devastating). It's apparently not just me either as others have said in the thread.

Unlucky suggests it's just kind of a one time thing. But I kind of wonder just how long am I going to be unlucky? When do I start having some positive luck? When does lull start working? When do I feel like I can actually use charm in a group cause it's sticking for full duration at least 50% of the time?

I guess my main question is why does there seem to be such a huge disconnect between what people say about charm and resists, and the reality people are experiencing in game?

What disconnect? I can solo charm just fine on my 45 druid and my 18 enchanter. If there are early breaks I deal with them and they don't cause huge disruptions to my EXPing. That's my experience in game.

[Stormlight]

I've only posted the reality of what I experience in the game, and I'm sure Etsu's done the same. For more specific help, you'd need to provide specific information, such as mobs you're working with, exact spells you use, what level you were/are, exactly how many resists/successes you get, and charm durations. The sum of what you're claiming sounds like a bug, to be honest.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

It's more that I'm trying to decide if I really like it. I'm experiencing astronomically high resist rates. That 90% lull resist is not a one time thing, the last time I was able to lull mobs was in crushbone at level 8 and even that was sketchy. I had to wait till level 16 before I could get charm to last long enough to be in any way useful(mostly because the higher mana bar meant breaks wern't quite as devastating). It's apparently not just me either as others have said in the thread.

Unlucky suggests it's just kind of a one time thing. But I kind of wonder just how long am I going to be unlucky? When do I start having some positive luck? When does lull start working? When do I feel like I can actually use charm in a group cause it's sticking for full duration at least 50% of the time?

I guess my main question is why does there seem to be such a huge disconnect between what people say about charm and resists, and the reality people are experiencing in game?

Man o man you need to step back here and evaluate:

Blue cons to you are at best 4 levels lower. After that they're greening out. Contrast that to your later levels when blues are a full 10 level lower than you. That's a huge difference in charm ability. Everything is resisty at low levels (or appears to be anyways) because of that fact.

Chanter nukes suck. You'll need to deal with that... Only use them on mobs you intend to finish off or if your group is so totally OP you can nuke for fun.

In addition, you will RARELY see a full charm. That's just how it is. I'm literally shocked when I see the "your Tashanian spell has worn off" because that means my charm is over 10 minutes. Part of what makes the class fun is utilizing the abilities and overcoming when the odds are stacked against you. And fwiw, charming in groups is nice but you don't even really start to see the real dps'ing until level 30 anyways.

In terms of lulls, I've found you need fairly high cha to have them land reliably. You'll see resists but the crit resist will be rare. Just keep grinding away at it and know it's going to get better. 200 cha seems to be a cap-of-sorts in that charm and lulls become much more reliable.

[yorumi]

I've only posted the reality of what I experience in the game, and I'm sure Etsu's done the same. For more specific help, you'd need to provide specific information, such as mobs you're working with, exact spells you use, what level you were/are, exactly how many resists/successes you get, and charm durations. The sum of what you're claiming sounds like a bug, to be honest.

For charm specifics I first tried charming mino slavers at level 12. I pulled with tash, charmed, and then immediately pulled another to get them killing as fast as possible. Since the zone line was close enough I tried 8 different times. Only one time was I successful in killing the pair. I'm a high elf but wasn't geared at that point, I had over 100 chr though. I gave up got an animation out and changed what I was going for.

At 16 I decided to try charming again, got some chr gear out of tunnel and went to lavastorm. I was successful in the sense that I got levels out of it but I was using the najena zone line a lot. Typical kills would require almost a full mana bar. Chr at this point was 150 I believe.

At 19 I decided to try killing nek guards at the bridge. Soothe wouldn't land on blue guards so I gave up, got an animation out and soloed the single guard at lava zone and the stone guardians.

At 20 I did gorge hounds in EK. Lots of early breaks, lots of rooting so I could recharm, but it got me to 22. At that point I had my chr buff so I'm up to 167 now. Did crag spiders to 24, same thing needed a lot of rooting and a typical kill required 70-100% of my mana. At 24 spiders were being camped by 3 other people so I went back to gorge hounds to get a bubble of exp so I wouldn't delevel. Thats where I got the 50% break rate on greens. I was going to try getting some of my incandescent armor and went to fight shadowmen. Out of 10 casts calm landed once before it critical resisted and I gated out. Came back, resisted 12 times before critical resisting and I couldn't get a spell off and died.

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but what exactly am I doing wrong? Most guides and players suggest resists are so bad but I've been experiencing a nightmare of resists.

[Fiyero]

I don't really expect things to always land, but seriously half of the green mobs I kill broke charm early and lull spells land maybe 10% of the time? I'm 24 with 167 chr, you'd think on greens I'd just have the base 5% chance to fail at this point. It's just been a little frustrating when you feel like most of these tools exist more as a joke than something useful for overcoming the challenges in the game. Lulls never land, chanter nukes have such a ridiculous agro pull and such an astronomical resist rate I can't ever use them except for the final hit on a mob that's running.

Even in groups the only spells I ever cast on a mob are tash and slow. What's the point of all these spells when tanks can't reasonably out agro them?

edit: and sorry I'm kind of derailing the thread with my rantings at this point.

Not sure why you're having an issue. What mobs are you killing? My 25 enchanter has about 200 Charisma with Sympathetic Aura and charms rarely break early on blues. But charm is very random, you can have occasions where it holds forever, and other times where you get 5 immediate charm breaks in a row. Just part of the risk/challenge of using charm. Just always make sure your pet is tashed (and maloed if you're with a shaman) and have high charisma.

Chanter nukes have ridiculous aggro because they have a zero second stun built in. Never use them unless the mob is rooted, or you're going for a killing blow. They will always pull aggro off a tank.

[yorumi]

Chanter nukes have ridiculous aggro because they have a zero second stun built in. Never use them unless the mob is rooted, or you're going for a killing blow. They will always pull aggro off a tank.

I know I never use the nukes outside of killing a mob it's just more my annoyance with it specially in groups. It's just annoying when I'm in groups, everyone has haste and breeze, mob is slowed and I'll be siting at 70-80%mana and have no other option than to twiddle my thumbs. I just hate that cause even though I know I'm contributing I don't like sitting at that much mana, but there's nothing I can do, stuns and nukes are too much agro so I just kind of have to sit there and do nothing.

[kaev]

I don't really expect things to always land, but seriously half of the green mobs I kill broke charm early and lull spells land maybe 10% of the time? I'm 24 with 167 chr, you'd think on greens I'd just have the base 5% chance to fail at this point. It's just been a little frustrating when you feel like most of these tools exist more as a joke than something useful for overcoming the challenges in the game. Lulls never land, chanter nukes have such a ridiculous agro pull and such an astronomical resist rate I can't ever use them except for the final hit on a mob that's running.

Even in groups the only spells I ever cast on a mob are tash and slow. What's the point of all these spells when tanks can't reasonably out agro them?

edit: and sorry I'm kind of derailing the thread with my rantings at this point.

Not sure how you manage lull spells landing only 10% of the time. My Paladin with 94 charisma lands Pacify ~ 50% of the time on blue-cons (noticeably better than that on low blues) with crit resist trains of doom less often than one cast in ten. Buffed to 134 charisma it actually works well enough to use in Sebilis where a crit resist means the Rogue is dragging my corpse back to be rezzed.

[Tasslehofp99]

For charm specifics I first tried charming mino slavers at level 12. I pulled with tash, charmed, and then immediately pulled another to get them killing as fast as possible. Since the zone line was close enough I tried 8 different times. Only one time was I successful in killing the pair. I'm a high elf but wasn't geared at that point, I had over 100 chr though. I gave up got an animation out and changed what I was going for.

At 16 I decided to try charming again, got some chr gear out of tunnel and went to lavastorm. I was successful in the sense that I got levels out of it but I was using the najena zone line a lot. Typical kills would require almost a full mana bar. Chr at this point was 150 I believe.

At 19 I decided to try killing nek guards at the bridge. Soothe wouldn't land on blue guards so I gave up, got an animation out and soloed the single guard at lava zone and the stone guardians.

At 20 I did gorge hounds in EK. Lots of early breaks, lots of rooting so I could recharm, but it got me to 22. At that point I had my chr buff so I'm up to 167 now. Did crag spiders to 24, same thing needed a lot of rooting and a typical kill required 70-100% of my mana. At 24 spiders were being camped by 3 other people so I went back to gorge hounds to get a bubble of exp so I wouldn't delevel. Thats where I got the 50% break rate on greens. I was going to try getting some of my incandescent armor and went to fight shadowmen. Out of 10 casts calm landed once before it critical resisted and I gated out. Came back, resisted 12 times before critical resisting and I couldn't get a spell off and died.

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but what exactly am I doing wrong? Most guides and players suggest resists are so bad but I've been experiencing a nightmare of resists.

Sounds like you need to start investing in some charisma gear.

[Fiyero]

I know I never use the nukes outside of killing a mob it's just more my annoyance with it specially in groups. It's just annoying when I'm in groups, everyone has haste and breeze, mob is slowed and I'll be siting at 70-80%mana and have no other option than to twiddle my thumbs. I just hate that cause even though I know I'm contributing I don't like sitting at that much mana, but there's nothing I can do, stuns and nukes are too much agro so I just kind of have to sit there and do nothing.

Well, generally you'd be doing crowd control or using a charm pet to outdps the rest of the group. Where are you grouping?

[yorumi]

Sounds like you need to start investing in some charisma gear.

I'm at 167, tryin to get more but it's not like I'm not wearing any.

Well, generally you'd be doing crowd control or using a charm pet to outdps the rest of the group. Where are you grouping?

Been around various places, upper guk, highpass, unrest. I don't feel at all safe using a charmed pet in a group, with it breaking every couple minutes or less I'd just burn up all my mana. I'm not always sitting near full, a haste cycle does drain me way down, it's just I can med it back a good bit before it needs to be renewed.

Really though my place in a group isn't something I worry about too much. Haste, slow, and breeze are enough, I just never feel right when I'm sitting around with mana to spare even when I know I'm doing nothing wrong. It's more the soloing where I feel like I must be doing something wrong and yet all it seems like I can do is try to push my charisma even higher. I expect charm breaks, I expect resists, I just don't expect that in any frequency from green mobs.

[Vladesch]

A lot of complicated replies so far...

1) Invis, but this isn't something you should have to do until you're finished for the session.

2) A mobs debuffs will remain after it's charmed. (I think that's what you're asking)

3) give charmed pet 2 rusty daggers. (they sell them at hallards in e fp)
snare target mob. send in pet. Cast flame lick repeatedly to keep agro.
Pet takes no damage and has the advantage of striking the mob from behind.
You will only get 50% xp because pet does most of the damage, but it will still be great xp. not worth trying to do over 50% damage.
if charm breaks root or snare if you have to. IIRC you dont need to at lower levels.

If you can kill other animals that's even better because you can fear and med.

Decent places to go to:
Karanas (sth karana and along the beach you wont get adds)
Loio (tigers)
Fironia vie (leeches). Western zone to EJ is a good spot.
Overthere (tigers)
EJ
TD (raptors) I think they are still animals, not certain about this.

[iruinedyourday]

I know I never use the nukes outside of killing a mob it's just more my annoyance with it specially in groups. It's just annoying when I'm in groups, everyone has haste and breeze, mob is slowed and I'll be siting at 70-80%mana and have no other option than to twiddle my thumbs. I just hate that cause even though I know I'm contributing I don't like sitting at that much mana, but there's nothing I can do, stuns and nukes are too much agro so I just kind of have to sit there and do nothing.

Just get that mana back to 100 so you can knock it back down to 10 after you haste everyone :(

[iruinedyourday]

I'm at 167, tryin to get more but it's not like I'm not wearing any.



Been around various places, upper guk, highpass, unrest. I don't feel at all safe using a charmed pet in a group, with it breaking every couple minutes or less I'd just burn up all my mana. I'm not always sitting near full, a haste cycle does drain me way down, it's just I can med it back a good bit before it needs to be renewed.

Really though my place in a group isn't something I worry about too much. Haste, slow, and breeze are enough, I just never feel right when I'm sitting around with mana to spare even when I know I'm doing nothing wrong. It's more the soloing where I feel like I must be doing something wrong and yet all it seems like I can do is try to push my charisma even higher. I expect charm breaks, I expect resists, I just don't expect that in any frequency from green mobs.

you should be good with pet if you cast a stun>cast your level 4 mez> tash> ask sham to malo (or just get a malo instantly if your sham is good)> re-charm..

unless your pet is hasted, you should be 100% safe to do this! having the level 4 mez in the cycle is what makes it easy peasy.

:)

Hope that helps! unless you were already doing it hehe

Also if you have a REALLY good cleric with you, they will have a stun ready and stun that thing before it even hits you once.. Fiyero knows what I'm talking about :)

[Estu]

give charmed pet 2 rusty daggers. (they sell them at hallards in e fp)
snare target mob. send in pet. Cast flame lick repeatedly to keep agro.
Pet takes no damage and has the advantage of striking the mob from behind.
You will only get 50% xp because pet does most of the damage, but it will still be great xp. not worth trying to do over 50% damage.

I gotta disagree with this. Eating 50% EXP penalty is just not worth it. Wanna get full EXP with a method similar to this with very little additional mana investment? When your uberpet's about to finish off a monster, hide/invis to break charm, finish the monster yourself, and recharm. If you're outdoors, there is no danger to this, and you end up casting two additional spells: 1) whatever weak damage spell you're using to finish the mob, whether a DoT or nuke, 2) charm. What is the benefit? You double the EXP you're gaining. Really don't see why anyone would ever eat the EXP penalty.

Even with that method, you're running the disadvantage of not getting to kill your pet as well as the other mob, so it's probably slower EXP if you're in a zone with a lot of animals. It's a good method if you're in a zone like EJ where only half (or fewer) of the mobs are charmable, though.

[Fiyero]

Also if you have a REALLY good cleric with you, they will have a stun ready and stun that thing before it even hits you once.. Fiyero knows what I'm talking about :)

A call out post! :o

[Skinned]

Reading this thread makes me want to start a druid. Maybe a druid alt is in my future :)

I've been trying a wizard out, and he is 23, and I'm just not finding my groove.

I never played a druid before, my main is a shaman I thought it might be redundant, but I see druids running around in wolf form and get envious.

[Estu]

Reading this thread makes me want to start a druid. Maybe a druid alt is in my future :)

I've been trying a wizard out, and he is 23, and I'm just not finding my groove.

I never played a druid before, my main is a shaman I thought it might be redundant, but I see druids running around in wolf form and get envious.

Not redundant at all. Very different classes. Wolf form is kind of annoying though because it fades on zone/log. But nice if you're going to be in one zone for a while.

Druid is definitely a very fun and versatile class especially if you're willing to experiment with charming.

[Vladesch]

Really don't see why anyone would ever eat the EXP penalty.

Because I can kill over twice as many mobs in the time it takes you to invis, crowd control your ex-pet, finish off the monster, recharm and med up the mana you used.

A dual wielding pet can probably kill another 2 mobs in the time it takes you to do all that.

YMMV though I guess. Worked for me.

you're running the disadvantage of not getting to kill your pet
disadvantage? I get to keep my pet with 2 weapons. Get a couple of summoned weapons and see how much advantage killing your pet is.

Druid is definitely a very fun and versatile class especially if you're willing to experiment with charming.
Yeah, but most druids will opt for quad kiting at 34. It may indeed be possible to get faster xp with charm, but quadding requires so much less input and time on your pc. Most of the time you can go afk while you're medding up an entire mana bar, and then it's like 4 mins work and repeat the cycle. Doesnt require any thinking either.

[rafaone]

disadvantage? I get to keep my pet with 2 weapons. Get a couple of summoned weapons and see how much advantage killing your pet is.

No matter how hasted/Weaponed/Cybered your pet is, having a pet kill other mob and then finish both with a low level nuke will 99% give you more xp/time than having 1 pet over time from my experience. And if you're good enough and have the appropiate items (mostly ES Vambs, Lummy staff works wonders outdoors), the only 2 real spell you need to have memorized is your charm and your root. So there's no downsides to this method, and you can basically repeat it non-stop, gettig full xp check every time.

Yeah, but most druids will opt for quad kiting at 34. It may indeed be possible to get faster xp with charm, but quadding requires so much less input and time on your pc. Most of the time you can go afk while you're medding up an entire mana bar, and then it's like 4 mins work and repeat the cycle. Doesnt require any thinking either.

I quadded a lot when levelling my druid. I can tell you that having 4 social aggro mobs on your tail, specially when they are packed or when you trying to pull them it's not easy. I died quite a lot quadding, specially at raptors and 5-6 times in TD. There are a lot of things that can go wrong quadding, and normally an average levelling druid have exactly the mana to finish a quad (if not less), so you don't have the extra mana to root adds or add extra ensnares. That means death, if you don't have a zone nearby, or you don't have the skills to sit every six seconds to regain mana while running.

Normally when charming you have a lot of mana to deal with unforeseen events, because you only need your root/charm if you do it properly.

So basically I disagree with your methods/thinking :)

Gav

[Stormlight]

Ideally my pet and target will both end up with low health. However, it's not uncommon for one or the other to be as high as half health when the other is nearly dead. Here's how I'm dealing with those situations, and I'm curious to see if there are any tips for improvement.


Pet at half: Pet back off, pet sit, break charm, root/rot pet and kill target.
Target at half: Pet back off, root/rot target, break charm, kill pet.

Would it be better to keep using a ~50% animal for charm?

[Estu]

A dual wielding pet can probably kill another 2 mobs in the time it takes you to do all that.

Sorry but this is absurd hyperbole unless your pet is level 30 and you are killing level 1 mobs. Anyway, to each his own.

Yeah, but most druids will opt for quad kiting at 34. It may indeed be possible to get faster xp with charm, but quadding requires so much less input and time on your pc. Most of the time you can go afk while you're medding up an entire mana bar, and then it's like 4 mins work and repeat the cycle. Doesnt require any thinking either.

It's true, quadding is easier. But it's slower EXP and it's a lot more boring IMO. I know not everyone cares about how fast EXP they're getting because so many people do things like the friggin bard diet to level up, but I can't fathom that mindset. For me personally, the fastest EXP method with the most activity required from the player is the most fun. Why play a game if your goal is to do as little as possible? Just don't play the game at all - there, saved you all the work :p

[rafaone]

Would it be better to keep using a ~50% animal for charm?

If your pet is 50% or higuer when a fight is finished then you're probably sending it against the wrong targets. Anyway, if you want to get full xp for both of the MoBs you're using (your pet and the one it's fighting) the only way is the one you show in your point number 1.

Pet at half: Pet back off, pet sit, break charm, root/rot pet and kill target.

Cheers !!

[Estu]

If your pet is 50% or higuer when a fight is finished then you're probably sending it against the wrong targets. Anyway, if you want to get full xp for both of the MoBs you're using (your pet and the one it's fighting) the only way is the one you show in your point number 1.



Cheers !!

Alternatively, you could just send your weakened pet after another mob, then break charm when pet is almost dead and charm the second mob. When you're charming animals you should be doing as little damage yourself as possible since it's way more efficient to make the mobs do the damage for you. Of course, this assumes that there are plenty of animals around to fight, and not that you're sending animals to attack non-animals. If you're doing that, the way to avoid this scenario is to send the pet at monsters which are higher-level than it, and use flame lick + ensnare to manage aggro so both die at the same time.

[Stormlight]

If your pet is 50% or higuer when a fight is finished then you're probably sending it against the wrong targets.

At 16-17, the fights with gorge hounds were more predictable because I could tell which ones were higher, but now at 18 they're all dark blue. I've been putting my DS on pet so usually it comes out ahead and I can all but guarantee a one-nuke kill to the target and not worry about my pet dying if it's lower hp and the target resists root. I guess if I DS a higher level mob it has a big advantage.

[rafaone]

I would probably get rid of the DS on pet then and simply put a DoT on the mob your pet is fighting if you see the ties against your pet. You will have more control on the fight this way.

Anyway - you will find this becomes much easier at higuer levels when root is more reliable.

Good levelling !!