Bard 1-17 vs 18+ swarm kiting

[dcbone86]

How big of a difference is having the level 18 AOE dmg vs not? Just curious if I should be getting stoked about 18 or if it's just as frustrating as it is now lol

[menadwen]

get stoked

[falkun]

I went from kiting 5-15 mobs per kite to 30+ due to the additional PBAOE distance. I went from 3-7 kites per level (which did not take as long), to a single (maybe 2 kites for hell levels) kite per level that took 30+min each. Don't get me wrong, kiting is a make-or-break leveling strategy, but if you are perfect for 20-30min at a time, the rewards are HUGE. To me, bard kiting is a perfect example of "high risk, high reward".

[Daldaen]

I went from kiting 5-15 mobs per kite to 30+ due to the additional PBAOE distance. I went from 3-7 kites per level (which did not take as long), to a single (maybe 2 kites for hell levels) kite per level that took 30+min each. Don't get me wrong, kiting is a make-or-break leveling strategy, but if you are perfect for 20-30min at a time, the rewards are HUGE. To me, bard kiting is a perfect example of "high risk, high reward".

This.

Having the extra 5 range makes it much easier, giving you more breathing room.

[Blux]

Do you twist the level 2 pbaoe or just use the level 18?

[Daldaen]

Depends on your style and comfort level with the zone / strategy you are using.

I usually didn't bother using it, the kill time was rarely an issue in OT, it was just the gathering up 80 mobs time, and having to get a tad closer to land the level 2 nuke risked death if I got too close.

Kill them 3 minutes faster with 2 DoTs or risk getting closer and having to spend another 20 minutes pulling a train.

[Morlaeth]

Do you twist the level 2 pbaoe or just use the level 18?

I use both. It makes it go way faster. You'll probably screw up once or twice in new areas with new mob speeds and hit boxes, but it's a necessary learning curve.

Find a mechanical rotation and stick to it. Commit it to muscle memory.

[falkun]

As Morlaeth says, its all muscle memory.

Also, as Daldaen says, 3 minute longer kills or 20 minute longer pulls. I took the longer kills and shorter pulls and only used the L18 DoT. If you'd like the higher risk of the L2 DoT, feel free to get the higher reward of leveling even faster than most bards.

[Morlaeth]

Jboots made things easier learning as well.

[zanderklocke]

I couldn't ever master the lower level dot for distance, mostly because my game would skip when mobs got too close on my screen.

I never felt like it took more than like 10-15 mins to kill the kite when using one dot level 18+ through the 30s in East Karana, South Karana, and Overthere.

However, if you asked me to go back and kite even with the regular distance songs without the AE snare song post level 54 at full speed, I don't think I could I do it. One, it destroyed my wrist, and two, any sort of lag skip, which my computer seemed to often have, meant death.

[Daldaen]

Yea it's worth mentioning, I never kited pre-18 on my bard. I started at 19 in EK. So I never got used to the distancing for the level 2 DoT. I would just tend to play around with sticking it after I was in a rhythm sticking the 18 one over and over (dumb me). Which would usually lead to me screwing up when trying to land the level 2 DoT and dying.

So if you're leveling up 2-18 using AE kiting you may be more comfortable with its use.

[MaCtastic]

Check the videos in my signature, all songs can be used with this method.