Bard and AE kiting?

[Darkforge]

My friend is a bard, he is having problems AE kiting. Can bards do it on this server and if so, does he need lvls or items? Or is it just practice and skill base?

[Jester]

I'm new to Everquest, but my brother has started playing on this server and he used to play back in the day.

He is AE kiting mobs with a Bard, he started doing it at the level on which he got that Run speed buff and he's been doing it since

[Francois]

Level 18 helps. It's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Here's a bunch of randomly ordered tips

I like to think of my kite path as a lemon shape.

Never run directly away from your swarm.

Start out with 2 mobs and build from there.

Make sure to Have your 2 AE songs, Selos, and Hymn out.

Start kiting without switching instruments, just keep your drum on.

At level 18 you can pull the majority of EK. You can go from 18-24 in about 6ish hours.

At ~24 you move to SK and pull whichever camp is open + roamers.


That's about it that I can think of. Have your friend message me in game if he needs more help, my name is Franswa.

[Darkforge]

Thank u i will

[john_savage1982]

There are several modifications to the technique that people use. I like to use a modified circle method where I group the mobs up tight and then run in circles, hitting the AoE at a strafe-angle to maximize distance from the mob. The hitboxes are so messed up that mobs virtually can't hit you if you are at a diagonal from their facing straight. Try it sometime - run at a strafing diagonal without SoW and most mobs can't hit you.

In any case, once you get the hitboxes down it's pretty easy. It's very hard to kite larger mobs since their hit radius is larger so smaller mobs are best. Having absolutely no lag is almost a requirement since if you're off by 1/4 of a second you risk dying. If you want to minimize risk, limit the # of the mobs that you gather so you can take a 1 barrage of attacks. This allows you to twist healing song to recovery as you run them in circles.

Basic idea:

run circles
twist 2 dots + selo
change instruments to maximize run speed/dot damage
figure out hit boxes to get close enough to deliver dot but not get hit


Towards level 30 it's difficult to find good places to AoE kite since SK is sort of the last open zone with a lot of mobs. I'm going to be trying out butcherblock dwarfs + guards once I get into the mid-upper thirties. Trying to aoe kite really high level mobs tends to be inefficient due to their large hp pool + dot resists.

[Dazen]

The only thing i see missing here is that you need to make sure to pull your 20 mob's on top of other players/groups so they will have some where to go after you die or zone. Oh yeah camp?? what camp?? that seems to be how these bards operated.
Bards are the only class here in p99 that brings a smile to my face when they die and lose exp. Well i guess i have to toss rangers in there too , not cause they are douchebags but cause who doesn't like to see a ranger take a harm touch!.

[DevGrousis]

My bard is lvl 17, so let me get this straight.

AE kiting is using songs like Chords of Disonance where you actually have to be right up on the mob (out of hit range but close enough for the PB AE to work) for it to affect him. Or are there AE songs that hit your target from distance?

[Lazortag]

Originally Posted by DevGrousis [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My bard is lvl 17, so let me get this straight.

AE kiting is using songs like Chords of Disonance where you actually have to be right up on the mob (out of hit range but close enough for the PB AE to work) for it to affect him. Or are there AE songs that hit your target from distance?

The level 18 song is the same, but does slightly more damage and has a slightly larger radius (and it uses a Horn instead of a Lute). The only targetted AE you ever get costs mana, and is generally considered to be shit, except in very few situations.

However, there are some single-target DOT's that Bards get from level 30 onwards, that are pretty awesome, but not terribly efficient for exping in the way that ae's are.