Druid charming questions

Medowin · #1 08-26-2013, 08:31 AM

My Druid is level 25 now and I've been charming mobs to fight each other for a little while. However, after looking through the info and experimenting, I'm still confused on some things. I have some questions:

*How exactly does the XP penalty concerning charmed pets work? Some people say its 50% if the pet does more damage, others say all you have to do is hit it once to get 100% XP, others say you have to kill your charmed pet first to avoid the penalty, etc. I'm not sure exactly what I should be doing to maximize XP. Is there a difference between mage/necro pet penalties and druid charm pet penalties?

*How do you avoid mobs breaking charm? I've tried everything people suggest for my level (sabertooths in LOIO, mammoths in Everfrost, Elephants in SK, etc) and I ALWAYS have a problem with the charm being broken. Dark blue mobs very rarely last long enough through a single fight and I usually end up having to recharm it 2 or even 3 times. If I'm even able to before running for my life.

*Is there any difference between Befriend Animal and Charm Animals? I've experimented and I don't see any difference aside from the mana cost.

*Is it ever worth it to buff a pet, such as with Feral Spirit?

*Which is more effective for a level 25, charming or kiting?

Any answers would be appreciated. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Swish · #2 08-26-2013, 09:06 AM

50% is the rule, if the charmed pet is doing that much damage you're probably doing something wrong as a druid though. As with necros, stack up the dots...and if you suspect the pet is ahead, pull it off at ~20% and let the dots guarantee the final damage to be yours over 50%.

Charm breaks, its a fact of life... just keep your sow on (enchanters don't have that luxury unless they've got jboots), snare it(?) and recharm.

Rare to see charming being done... kiting/quadding is much more druid-esque from what I've seen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Elamder · #3 08-26-2013, 09:20 AM

Good questions here. Druid charming is level based and the higher your level, compared to your target the better. Charms break, it's just what happens. At level 25 I was able to charm mammoths in Everfrost and kill another quite easily. Some pulls everything went wrong and I had to root or snare to get things back under control. As I hit 26 and 27 it got easier and easier. Since I do not use DoTs to kill my target my pet does almost 80% of the damage, so I kill my charmed pet. The goal is to get them both down under 20% health and then break the charm. I try to hide first and if that doesn't work, then I cast camo. I always kill my charmed target first, and then the other.

As I said sometimes its frantic trying to get things snared or re-charmed, but if done right I have to cast three spells per 2 mammoths; charm, snare (on the one being killed) and camo.

Also, I always use the highest level charm. At 29 you will get ensnare that lasts forever, not having to worry about snare dropping.

Finally, do not be afraid to fear one to get things under control.

Nysus · #4 08-26-2013, 09:30 AM

I always use the lower level charm. I didn't notice any duration difference with the higher level charm and it costs more mana and has a longer cast time.

Be keep your sure target rooted. That way if charm does break you only have 1 thing beating on you instead of two.

And don't forget about the pet back command. I did for a while. ;(

Estu · #5 08-26-2013, 10:05 AM

As far as I can recall, the main difference between the different charm spells is how high level an animal you can charm with them.

Totally disagree with Swish's advice here. Don't stack up dots, it's a waste of mana. No one seems to be sure how the EXP penalty works with charming, but in any case you're either getting full experience for two downed monsters or full experience for one and half experience for another. It's not worth burning a ton of mana on dots to outdamage your pet just so that you can bridge the gap between two monsters' worth of experience and one and a half monsters' worth of experience.

falkun · #6 08-26-2013, 11:50 AM

Break charm at low HPs, nuke/DoT down both mobs (pet and pet's target), get full exp off both mobs.

TWDL_Prexus · #7 08-26-2013, 12:02 PM

If you are having problems charming DB's you can try using a low level charm, use it on a LB. Find a DB animal, sick pet, ensnare then fear the target. Let the pet bring it down to 5% or so then back it off, break charm then kill it yourself. LB pets tend to last a bit longer. I leveled my druid from 14-46 only charm kiting and used only LBs(pre pet exp nerf tho, it was much easier then). If you keep the target feared you wont have to worry about your LB pet dying.

webrunner5 · #8 08-26-2013, 12:06 PM

Quote:

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

Break charm at low HPs, nuke/DoT down both mobs (pet and pet's target), get full exp off both mobs.

What he said. Later Quad Kiting is the way to go IF you can hack it. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I hated it. I soloed to like level 36 and started grouping again till like level 53, 54. Hard to get groups past level 52 on a Druid without Guildies feeling sorry for you. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

TWDL_Prexus · #9 08-26-2013, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by webrunner5 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What he said. Later Quad Kiting is the way to go IF you can hack it. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I hated it. I soloed to like level 36 and started grouping again till like level 53, 54. Hard to get groups past level 52 on a Druid without Guildies feeling sorry for you. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

6 man groups perhaps. But I had no problems duoing or trioing well into the upper 50s on my druid. Druid and Enchanter can be a good duo with having evac handy incase things get messy. Not to mention who needs groups when the perma pits are great exp =D

Sachant · #10 08-26-2013, 03:36 PM

My understanding is that if your pet does 100% damage to the target, you get very little XP (<50%), if you do 1-50% damage, you get 50% XP, and if you do >50% damage, you get more than that (100%? Maybe with some pet penalty?). Regardless, if you're doing traditional charm double-killing, you always want to drop charm before killing so the penalty is moot.

You can probably get away with using a lower-level charm. Each charm has a maximum level of mob it can charm, which is listed on the wiki.

Don't waste mana on DoTs or nukes just to DPS, you should be spending almost all of your mana on snares and charms. The only exceptions are using DoTs to either hold aggro (see below) or finish off a mob, casting the occasional fear when needed, or using Invis vs. Animals to break charm.

Let's take Everfrost mammoths for example. The technique is rather simple on paper:

1) Snare one mammoth and get it to follow you.
2) Snare another mammoth and get it to follow you.
3) Wait for them to meet you in the middle.
4) Run big circles around them so they end up inside one another (or very close).
5) Charm one and have it attack the other, make sure it's taunting.
6) Keep running in circles so they stay in range (mind the orcs wandering around EF, especially the shamans with SoW).

You want the non-charmed mob to attack your pet as soon as possible, so don't DoT or do anything to hold aggro. If the two mobs are attacking each other, their HP should go down roughly the same amount at the same time (for free!). This is important since ideally you want both mobs to be below 15-20% when you break charm.

7) Once the target mob turns around and attacks your pet, laugh like a maniac because your evil plan is working. This is important for maximum XP gain.
7a) If charm drops, get some distance (they'll both still be snared), circle them up again, and re-charm whichever one has the lower HP. Keep Gate memmed if you need to book it.
8) When either your pet or the target (use Tab to quickly check both) is at low HP, break charm (use Invis vs. Animals, or Hide if you're feeling lucky). Finish them off with DoTs or nukes (DoTs are more mana-efficient if the target is rooted, or running away due to low HP).

Tip: If they're both at less than 15% HP, but they're not running away because they're on top of each other, fear one to separate them and the other will start to flee as well. They should both be snared, so they'll move slowly (if at all) and take the full DoT damage per tick.

8a) If one of the two mobs is still above 40% or so when you have to beak charm to kill the other, instead of killing it you can keep it snared and find another mammoth. When you do, circle them up like normal and charm the low-HP one. Turn off taunt and try to hold aggro on the non-charmed mob (Flame Lick is good for this, or just fear it) until it's also around the same HP level, then get them to fight each other and continue as normal.

Always charm the mob with the lower HP of the two, since they'll get a few free hits on the non-charmed mob before taking any damage and you want to keep them at roughly the same HP.

This is just one technique of several (other techniques use Feral Spirit, that pet haste spell, for example). If you have any questions, look me up in-game (Sachant). I had some great mentors for this and would love to pay it forward.