Shamen Vs. Druids as Soloers

[Estu]

Huh, so I guess druids have it pretty rough until 34, just like shamen. My shaman has actually been having a BITCH of a time soloing at levels 11 and 12 - he's just wearing banded, a kite shield, and a fine steel spear. For a bit at 9 and 10 I did dot kiting since I have SoW, but now it's not really worthwhile and I might as well melee; but it takes a lot of time to take down monsters and rest up afterward. I think a quality weapon and maybe some more AC could make a big difference; considering just farming some plat with a necro and then raising the shaman [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. I was hoping level 14 would be a big boon, too, but I don't get new dots until 19 and the root isn't going to make that big a difference in total amount of time spent killing + medding.

[HippoNipple]

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

Huh, so I guess druids have it pretty rough until 34, just like shamen. My shaman has actually been having a BITCH of a time soloing at levels 11 and 12 - he's just wearing banded, a kite shield, and a fine steel spear. For a bit at 9 and 10 I did dot kiting since I have SoW, but now it's not really worthwhile and I might as well melee; but it takes a lot of time to take down monsters and rest up afterward. I think a quality weapon and maybe some more AC could make a big difference; considering just farming some plat with a necro and then raising the shaman [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. I was hoping level 14 would be a big boon, too, but I don't get new dots until 19 and the root isn't going to make that big a difference in total amount of time spent killing + medding.

I would just stick with it if a shaman is what you want to be. Just try to find a group, or go get buffs at EC tunnel and head to north ro.

Once you get 14 or so just hang out in Oasis with a group. Every spell level you get the better you will be at soloing. Shamans are really good in groups, and great at solo once they get a little higher.

Making another character just to farm stuff for another character you really want to be is not efficient. It may be easier to level a necro but not that much easier.

[Tallenn]

Actually no.

A druid can single-kite quite effectively starting at 14 (with limitations- no really good DD spell until 19, except for DD vs summoned, but lots of good summoned targets in Lavastorm for 14-19).

At 19, get a good all-target DD spell, so getting to 34 is pretty easy. Plus, they start getting self ports at 19, so it's much easier to go around to different hunting areas.

On my druid, I made level 14-24 probably as fast I did 1-14, maybe faster.

[guineapig]

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

Huh, so I guess druids have it pretty rough until 34, just like shamen.

Not at all. I soloed my druid well into my 30's. Just used a combination of snare kite and root rot. Snare kiting is more fun but root rot gives you more time to med. Also the root doubles as a small nuke which is a nice touch.

The Karanas are your friend. Sure you are not getting a nice ZEM like in a dungeon but the hunting grounds are endless in your 20's. Once you hit 30 you should be able to solo the Splitpaw spires and even the mobs inside.

Haven't soloed a shaman in like 6 years so I can't say how much better or worse off they are from 20-34. I do recall doing a bit of snare kiting on live (Innoruk necklace) but I don't remember how successful I was.

[mgellan]

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

Huh, so I guess druids have it pretty rough until 34, just like shamen. My shaman has actually been having a BITCH of a time soloing at levels 11 and 12

I took my shammy from 11-14 kiting yellow baby mammoths in EF - SOW on, stand at casting limit, cast Tainted Breath, run for 10 secs, stop for 2 secs (to avoid interrupts), cast Sicken, take 26 damage as he catches up to you, run til DOTs drop, rinse and repeat. Very simple, they seldom resist, and you take little damage even if you stand and recast on fizzles and resists. Worst case abort and run to Bandl and Dom so they kill the mob(s) if you get too low on health mana or (as was usually the case) pick up an orc or skelly that cause interrupts when you stop to cast. At 11 I got almost 2 blue from some yellows, and at 14 about 3/4 of a blue each. There's 4 spawns near Bandl (one on the flat acorss from them, one in the gulley behind the hill, and 2 N of the flat so lots ot keep busy. I could usually kite 2 before needing to med/heal.

I could've stayed another level or two but once I got 14 and bind I headed to Oasis for crocs and EC to buy gear.

Regards,
Mg

[Estu]

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

I took my shammy from 11-14 kiting yellow baby mammoths in EF - SOW on, stand at casting limit, cast Tainted Breath, run for 10 secs, stop for 2 secs (to avoid interrupts), cast Sicken, take 26 damage as he catches up to you, run til DOTs drop, rinse and repeat. Very simple, they seldom resist, and you take little damage even if you stand and recast on fizzles and resists. Worst case abort and run to Bandl and Dom so they kill the mob(s) if you get too low on health mana or (as was usually the case) pick up an orc or skelly that cause interrupts when you stop to cast. At 11 I got almost 2 blue from some yellows, and at 14 about 3/4 of a blue each. There's 4 spawns near Bandl (one on the flat acorss from them, one in the gulley behind the hill, and 2 N of the flat so lots ot keep busy. I could usually kite 2 before needing to med/heal.

I could've stayed another level or two but once I got 14 and bind I headed to Oasis for crocs and EC to buy gear.

Regards,
Mg

Yeah, maybe that's the way to go. I stopped kiting when I hit 11 since the dot damage was getting kind of low by itself and I thought I'd want to back it up with melee, but my gear is crap so I'm probably better off kiting (I'm an ogre, not a barb, so I'm in SRo right now). I'll kite yellows until 14 - thanks.

[Estu]

RE Hippo: The thing is, I'm not crazy about being a shaman; necros sound fun to play too. For grouping I'd rather play my cleric or paladin. I like the prospect of shaman soloing but I like the prospect of necro soloing too; if necro soloing is less gear-dependent and I'd like to try both anyway, why not do that one first?

[Bubbles]

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

RE Hippo: The thing is, I'm not crazy about being a shaman; necros sound fun to play too. For grouping I'd rather play my cleric or paladin. I like the prospect of shaman soloing but I like the prospect of necro soloing too; if necro soloing is less gear-dependent and I'd like to try both anyway, why not do that one first?

For the record: a well played necro can make nearly any group composition work, whether it's 2-6ppl. I find the necro far more versatile than even my cleric in making random XP groups viable. Hell I was main healer on ice giants last night using pact.

[Skope]

if you strictly want a class that can solo and plan to play a paladin/cleric in groups then i'd suggest making a necro over a shaman.

Shaman are incredible soloers, but necros are bar-none the best soloers in EQ from classic>velious and further. If you muster up some courage and a bit of flat-out stupidity, necros can do some absolutely amazing things.

[Estu]

I think I'm actually probably going to take Hippo's advice and group with my shaman until he can solo, but also play a necro in parallel. I like to have a bunch of characters to choose from anyway. It's silly to abandon the shaman altogether until I can twink him just because the first half of his levels are a pain to solo.