Druid Leveling and Item Hunting Guide...

[mefdinkins]

Hello everyone,

After seeing the great work Kriven did with his cleric guide I wanted to try to contribute something similar for druids. I did a quick guide that explains root/rot, charmkiting, DDkiting, and quad kiting. Then I go on to suggest certain camps to level at. I also try to highlight some XP camps that could lead to decent upgrades (ei: Forest Loops).

Please let me know what you think and feel free to edit or talk to me here so I can continue to refine and make the product better.

Guide - http://wiki.project1999.com/Druid_Leveling_and_Item_Hunting_Guide_by_Mefdinkin s

Thanks,
Mef.

[NegaStoat]

An excellent guide. Read it all. Only modification I'd make that comes to mind would be the initial leveling suggestions. If the player was to make Gfay based Druid or a Halfling druid, I would recommend that the player move to the front of Kaladim for levels 1-5. If the Halfling has to make a brave run and do some mob dodging to the Docks at Freeport to do this, so be it.

The reason - The front of Kaladim on this realm is flippin' thick with goblin whelps but especially decaying dwarf skeletons. Tons of them. If the player is willing to focus on these, rounding them up in packs even and beating them down, they will reach level 5 in a pretty quick manner. Most importantly, they will collect upwards of 11-12 full stacks of bone chips in this time.

These can be turned in to Gunlok Jure in the Kaladim Paladin's guild for extremely rapid level gains... for a halfling, 10 stacks takes you from lvl 5 to lvl 8 - meaning you just got Meditate with an absolute minimum of pain and torment in reaching it.

[mefdinkins]

thanks for the advice, i threw your suggestion in there!

[jcmtg]

Guide is helping a lot. Esp. the loot lookout, got the +5 wis hat in SK.

[Malone88]

+1 on your guide, Mef. ;)

I like the Item Alerts especially!

[Leddy]

One item I would add is to make sure you have at least 200 wisdom before attempting to quad, otherwise you WILL run out of mana before the mobs die (before lumi staff).

Also, the tick sitting method where you time your ticks out while you are quadding and sit before it to get full mana as if you were sitting.

[Cyph]

Thank you for the guide :)

[Laledorie]

This is fantastic, thank you! As many others have said the item alerts are fantastic! Thanks for the hard work and for making things easier on the rest of us leveling Druids! =D

[Jasonz]

It's been a while since I've played, so I don't remember the exact level ranges; but the following were excellent to quad:
Pirates along the east coast of Firiona Vie (level 24-30 according to the wiki)
Tundra Yeti in the west end of Dreadlands (level 35 according to the wiki)

The Spirocs in Timorous Deep aren't nearly as good (too much health), but I quaded those for a while also.

[blondeattk]

http://wiki.project1999.com/Sunbeam

anyone use this? cant really think of a use for it...clue plz)

[Cyph]

My Druid is now level 40 so I was thinking going to OT. However, I was comparing to the HP that the Hill Giants in FM have compared to the mobs in OT and noticed that those in the latter have significantly more HP. I'm at work right now so I haven't checked it out, but is there anything in particular I should know about before going to kite there?

[Reguiy]

Was gonna make a new thread but figured this would be a good place to post. I am lvl 22 right now and gorge hounds are turning light blue. Anyone know where a good place to charm would be after this? Planning to go to charm mammoths at 26. Any ideas before then, or even 26+ if there are any animals with lower hp?

[Iliilliill]

Maybe it was just me, but when I took my druid to Everfrost, I couldn't find enough mammoths to kill. In fact I only ever saw (or even tracked) 3 mammoths. 2 another druid was engaged on, and the third I made my pet as I looked for a fourth. I ran allllllll over the tundra plains. Something I'm missing?

They were even con to me when I was 23, so maybe you could go there now?

[Reguiy]

Headed to SK right now to see if i can charm some elephants or lions. Hopefully I'll find some blues there, because I think charming evens would be too risky.

[Ishio]

My Druid is now level 40 so I was thinking going to OT. However, I was comparing to the HP that the Hill Giants in FM have compared to the mobs in OT and noticed that those in the latter have significantly more HP. I'm at work right now so I haven't checked it out, but is there anything in particular I should know about before going to kite there?


At 40 I was wishing the cacti or animal charming in OT. Did that until 44-45 then moved to EJ to charm there. At 46 I started quadding yeti's.

[Cyph]

Thanks Ishio. I'm 45 now so I might try EJ!

[Cyph]

I just want to say, mefdinkins, your guide has been invaluable for a new player like myself. Thank you so very much :)

I do have a question that someone can hopefully address. As you can see, I've hit level 50 (yay), mainly killing the Bloodgills. Looking at your guide on the wiki (currently down, but on the wayback when machine), I'm wondering if I would be better suited moving elsewhere? I was thinking the Seafuries but am uncertain about a) the experience, b) the difficult, and c) whether there are other better options.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :)

[Fuddwin]

Seafuries will be good exp... May be a little tough for you to quad them at lvl 50, unless you have a lumi staff, but root/rotting is pretty efficient... At 54/55, you can prolly move to raptors in TD then at 57/58 pits for bears in Permafrost to 60. Seafury loot makes up for not so good exp post 54 so you may hang there, though alot of them start to go light blue around 54, iirc. Have fun!

[Cyph]

Thanks Fudd. I may also check out the Aviaks, though I heard their loot is horrid.

No lumi staff either :(

[Mistle]

One item I would add is to make sure you have at least 200 wisdom before attempting to quad, otherwise you WILL run out of mana before the mobs die (before lumi staff).

Absolutely unnecessary. Choose better mobs.

[Cyph]

I'm done with the Aviaks I think. Hit 53 on them but it was a bit of a chore, especially without a lumi staff (was wasting mana killing lightfoots, which were lightblue).

I think the safest bet is to grind some hill giants in Rathe Mountains, save up for a Lumi staff and then I'll hit the seafuries.

[Yanomamo]

53 is plenty to hit seafuries i think? i've never been there but wiki says they are level 40

[Cyph]

I imagine so, but they are HP heavy, so I'm going to try to get the pp together to buy a lumi staff.

[Yanomamo]

Oh, I assumed you meant you would be root/rotting them. Finding 4 to quad will be tough from what i've heard.

[Cyph]

Oh, is it a bit like that there? Not that many spawns or always camped?

[mefdinkins]

hey I've been a little slacking in responding to these posts.

Unfortunately my guide is a little off now that the server population has changed. But yeah seafuries are quad-able especially w/ lumi staff (since they have a lot of HP) but they are typically overcamped so very difficult to quad now days.

In the past it was possible to quad or get three at a time if there were a few people on the island. now it's borderline impossible the few times I've checked.

[Cyph]

Hi Mef; yeah, I've been quadding them with the help of the lumi. For those around level 52/53, it's still doable without the staff but you'll need to break inbetween for medding. It's not as camped during offpeak but the place only needs a couple of other players for it to become over the top.

Frankly the way I see it; it's the same as any other camp. If you go there and there's a druid/wiz/mag quadding ,then let them quad, they were there first. That and generally speaking they'll have plenty of downtime to med. The amount of stealing going on there has seemed to increase. I don't understand why people treat this place different than any other camp.

[Shmoke]

Great guide Mef, thank you. As someone who started fresh after about 10 years away from EQ it has helped a ton.

It's been smooth sailing till now, I'm running into resist (dd) and spells wearing off quickly (root/charm) issues at lev 32. I'm fighting giants in the Frontier Mountains and mobs in The Overthere that con blue. Are there any steps I can take to lower the resist chance or make these spells stick longer, or is it all random?

Thanks

[Estu]

Great guide Mef, thank you. As someone who started fresh after about 10 years away from EQ it has helped a ton.

It's been smooth sailing till now, I'm running into resist (dd) and spells wearing off quickly (root/charm) issues at lev 32. I'm fighting giants in the Frontier Mountains and mobs in The Overthere that con blue. Are there any steps I can take to lower the resist chance or make these spells stick longer, or is it all random?

Thanks

It all depends on monster level. If you hunt monsters that are LOW dark blues (i.e. close to light blue but not light blue), you should not have a lot of resists or early breaks. If you hunt monsters that are HIGH dark blue (close to even con), you'll run into a lot of issues. The most important thing for any solo caster is to always hunt monsters as low dark blue as possible.

[Shmoke]

It all depends on monster level. If you hunt monsters that are LOW dark blues (i.e. close to light blue but not light blue), you should not have a lot of resists or early breaks. If you hunt monsters that are HIGH dark blue (close to even con), you'll run into a lot of issues. The most important thing for any solo caster is to always hunt monsters as low dark blue as possible.

Got it. Thanks for the reply.

[Man0warr]

32-33 was tough in the places mentioned in this guide - Giants in FM still seem to take too much mana to kill root/rotting and in OT it's hard to figure out what mobs are low DB to keep charm resists down.

Just power through it - OT gets much easier to both charm and quad kite as you rise in levels - I think I stayed there until 45.

Right now I'm stuck at 53 - Spirocs exp is bad now and the other quad targets are perma camped (Raptors and Seafuries).

I'm going to try root/rotting near Arena in CoM and see how that exp is.

[Estu]

32-33 was tough in the places mentioned in this guide - Giants in FM still seem to take too much mana to kill root/rotting and in OT it's hard to figure out what mobs are low DB to keep charm resists down.

Just power through it - OT gets much easier to both charm and quad kite as you rise in levels - I think I stayed there until 45.

Right now I'm stuck at 53 - Spirocs exp is bad now and the other quad targets are perma camped (Raptors and Seafuries).

I'm going to try root/rotting near Arena in CoM and see how that exp is.

I seem to remember quadding in Firiona Vie in the 30s. If you exit the town and take a right, following the cliff, there is an excellent area for quadding that can be used for quite a few levels.

[williestargell]

Levelling spots should include Feerott bouncers (2 bouncers along river are best exp in the game root/rot at this point - high 30-til light blue.) Good cash. Specters same levels and zone also

[Lirkci_Prexus]

So I'm lvl 17 atm looking to make a few plats buying half of my lvl 19 spells already and now I'm broke. Left with only 144p to my name. Guide says to kill sisters in lesser faydark for bronze armor and weapons will killing them hurt any factions I should be worried about?

[Man0warr]

Trashes your faction with wood elves and high elfs.

[Solastramage]

http://wiki.project1999.com/Sunbeam

anyone use this? cant really think of a use for it...clue plz)

PVP if you do that sort of thing as it is a good blind other than that not much

[mefdinkins]

Manowarr, that's not true.

I killed the sisters to finally be able to afford my spells. After doing so for a while I had no problems in Kelethin or Felwithe. I'm speaking of the Nybright sisters including Kayla Nybright, http://wiki.project1999.com/Kayla_Nybright

The wiki reports: Factions - Dervish Cutthroats (-30); Opposing Factions - None.

[Letharos]

He was probably thinking of sister island in OoT, Mef is correct about Nybrights it's a derv faction hit. If your not an evil you can vendor in zone if not most can vendor @ SFM Druid rings ( confirmed for human SK and necro not sure about lizards)

On blue nybrights and sisters in oot are usually taken during peak hours but u never know

[Man0warr]

Yeah sorry misread - saw sisters and assumed the ones on Sister Island in OOT.

[mefdinkins]

poor wording on my part - they are the nybright? sisters but they're also commonly referred to as the lesser fay bandits? either way great loot for a younger char!

[Tewaz]

So I'm lvl 17 atm looking to make a few plats buying half of my lvl 19 spells already and now I'm broke. Left with only 144p to my name. Guide says to kill sisters in lesser faydark for bronze armor and weapons will killing them hurt any factions I should be worried about?

You can go to the wisp Island and farm a few bags of Greater Light Stones, they can be turned in to one of the gypsies in NK for about 10pp each and exp.

You really just need enough money to buy necessary spells to get you to 29. I leveled to 23ish in EK on the hounds and griffawns, then I went to everfrost and did charming on mammoths. These will get you more than enough money for spells and you can stay here until 29 if you really drag it out.

29 will get you ports, bind in OT and port people all day, you will have many platinums.

[Man0warr]

I did Mammoths to 33 easily - still blue until then and you can't beat the plat.

Just make sure you bring a large sewing kit or two to hold the tusks.

[Lillelobo]

He was probably thinking of sister island in OoT, Mef is correct about Nybrights it's a derv faction hit. If your not an evil you can vendor in zone if not most can vendor @ SFM Druid rings ( confirmed for human SK and necro not sure about lizards)

On blue nybrights and sisters in oot are usually taken during peak hours but u never know

You can do Sister Island in the late 20ies/early 30ies, and repair the faction later on with the Muffin quest (http://wiki.project1999.com/Muffin_for_Pandos). In order to do the quest, Pandos needs to con green (so he will not attack even if he is scowling). Basically just:
- Open a trade window with him
- Hide!
- /consider him and if he is indifferent, you can hit trade.

It is tedious and boring, and I think I did about 300 trades (4 unstacked muffins at the time for 4 simultanious faction hits) before faction was warmly or so.

Note: Basically you will be KOS in Kelethin between the level you ruin faction and the level you can do this quest safely (late 40ies? Can't really remember, Pandos is lvl 28 I think), but at lvl 29 you get Ring of Misty (wiki.project1999.com/Ring_of_Misty) which is a faster banking spot (and all the city-vendor spells are there) than Kelethin anyway, so I really did not miss going to Tree-city much in that period.

Come to think of it, I am not really sure why I bothered to fix the faction at all, but my point is that it is very possible :)

[williestargell]

In order to make good money the first thing you need to do is get weight reduction bags. Saving up trash is your best bet to accrue cash, and until you have enough ports to hit druid rings and sell without wasting time you need bags. With your first money buy bags. Fill them with fine steel or other junk. This stuff adds up. As you level, buy better bags to hold bigger/more/heavier stuff.

Get a crude stein! Use it when you sell. An extra 2-3 gp on every item you sell will add up very fast.

[mefdinkins]

Weight reduction bags are a huge help. They are pretty expensive themselves though. Remember to utilize your ports/ability to bind everywhere. You should find a safe place to bind (cause you can get in a sticky situation if you die and are bound in a dangerzone) but you can sell at a lot of the druid rings.

The Mammoths are great too because there is a Barbarian vendor up there.

[bartly]

For low to mid 30s hags in unrest tower are awesome. Low hps and you root/dot them and duck around a corner and they can't blast you. With decent cold resist and harmony they are super easy and great xp. And I left there with backpacks full of lowbie twink loot. Decent pp.

[Estu]

For low to mid 30s hags in unrest tower are awesome. Low hps and you root/dot them and duck around a corner and they can't blast you. With decent cold resist and harmony they are super easy and great xp. And I left there with backpacks full of lowbie twink loot. Decent pp.

IMO this isn't worth it as a druid. Root-dotting is never going to be better EXP than charming or quadding, and you can make more plat per hour porting or getting to a higher level and doing some legit money camps.

[Daldaen]

Agreed with Estu.

However, if you are interested in doing a camp and AFKing for large periods of time, root rotting works just as well as quadding. I think you can down the 3 in knight room at 34 before going oom. I am guessing 3 unrest mobs is > 4 quad mobs in any outdoor zone due to ZEM. But charming is going to be better exp everywhere.

[Man0warr]

Yeah but the Knight ph is like 22 minutes so your stuck doing the 2 hags. If you are also doing the duck around a corner method you got to kill the roamer hag in the stairway, too.

On top of that, you got to keep all your resist buffs up just in case she tags you with a DD or it will take half your life at 34.

Much better camp for a cleric or ench that can stun their casts - FV quadding pirates was much better at 34 IMO, or Overthere charming if it wasn't busy with a bunch of bards.

Root rotting gets better when you can keep 4 mobs down with long duration roots plus 53 Fire dot and clicky ES arms to do all your damage.

[Dreadwynn]

Looking for some friendly leveling help. Currently lvl 45, and looking for a new place to quad kite. OT is pretty much all light blue mobs and I have been there since 34, i'm sick of it. I try groups in CoM but its very slow compared to quad kiting. I'm very well geared, where can I go to quad that's not crazy full of roamers. Any tips is helpful and thanks in advance!

[Man0warr]

Dwarf commoners in BBM (4 on dock on long respawn, or 3 on coast + 1 in house nearby on shorter respawn)

OR

Bloodgill Goblins in Lake of Ill Omen

Once you get 46, if you have a Lumi staff, go to Spirocs in TD until 52 or so.

[Vellaen]

Looking for some friendly leveling help. Currently lvl 45, and looking for a new place to quad kite. OT is pretty much all light blue mobs and I have been there since 34, i'm sick of it. I try groups in CoM but its very slow compared to quad kiting. I'm very well geared, where can I go to quad that's not crazy full of roamers. Any tips is helpful and thanks in advance!

Dreadlands, Bloodgills in LOIO, or Spirocs in TD.

[Dreadwynn]

I've heard the Lumi staff is bad because of the cast time on it, mobs can pretty much catch up to you every time is this true? Bloodgills in LOIO is sounding good, any casters?

[Daldaen]

My suggestion is Kedge Keep charming.

However if you have a Luminescent staff, quadding Dreadlands / Burning Woods would be good. I saw someone post on here about how they would bind at KC entrance and quad exclusively with their staff, EJ/Skyfire evac people for 100~ plat (a price often offered for this) and gate back. I thought that was a pretty cool idea since you use minimal mana with the staff.

[Daldaen]

Luminescent staff you outrun mobs, chain click while getting "too far away" messages, and then once it starts casting let it go through. Move immediately when it finishes. When you get used to timing it you can move with a sliver left on the cast bar and still channel it.

[Dreadwynn]

Good to know! Thanks for the help guys, I can now continue to battle this damn hell level >_<

[mefdinkins]

i'd say level 45 took me longer than 46-51 (w/ a lumi staff) . If you are really well geared you have a few diff options. mostly what people mentioned before. you could root rot. at level 45 w/ ES vambs I also took some time to camp some stuff in lguk; solo but it's a bit dangerous.

[Dreadwynn]

Currently using a Runed Morning Star and Book of Obulous. Will look into picking up a lumi staff when I get home.

[Frug]

I did Mammoths to 33 easily - still blue until then and you can't beat the plat.

Just make sure you bring a large sewing kit or two to hold the tusks.

Haven't those been nerfed to be the same weight as backpacks now? (OTOH, shaman medicine bags are still light...)

[baalzy]

Sewing kits hold giant items (like mammoth tusks). Backpacks can only hold Large.

[Frug]

Sewing kits hold giant items (like mammoth tusks). Backpacks can only hold Large.

Ah, ok. Thanks.

[Frug]

The reason - The front of Kaladim on this realm is flippin' thick with goblin whelps but especially decaying dwarf skeletons. Tons of them. If the player is willing to focus on these, rounding them up in packs even and beating them down, they will reach level 5 in a pretty quick manner. Most importantly, they will collect upwards of 11-12 full stacks of bone chips in this time.

These can be turned in to Gunlok Jure in the Kaladim Paladin's guild for extremely rapid level gains... for a halfling, 10 stacks takes you from lvl 5 to lvl 8 - meaning you just got Meditate with an absolute minimum of pain and torment in reaching it.

I did this with my gnome mage, and it did get me from 4 to 6.5 in one go. I didn't get but half the stacks of bone chips listed here, but it is a goldmine of XP starting up, for sure.

[Caloosadesign]

Dont forget Crushbone Belts off Orcs in GF. You can get a full level from 5-6 with two backpacks full. They also sell fro around 2-3 plat each. Easy way to make cash for newbie.

[missesdruid]

Thanks for the guide!

Any 40+ grouping ideas?

[missesdruid]

After 4 hours of a group that had continual drama, I've come to the conclusion that a druid can't beat soloing :/

[Estu]

After 4 hours of a group that had continual drama, I've come to the conclusion that a druid can't beat soloing :/

Grouping can be a pain in a lot of ways but soloing sure can be boring. Generally speaking soloing is almost always faster exp (as a druid) but if you wanna do some grouping, hit up CoM or Solusek B. CoM has the bonus of being an outdoor zone so your harmony and SoWs will come in handy. You can also try smaller groups, which tend to be more efficient than big ones - one duo option for a druid that works pretty well is aggro kiting with a rogue partner.

[Faerie]

Is Kedge charming best bet for making money and xping 55+? Might be best to just camp some items to sell for cash and work perma bears but I'd like to kill two dwarves with one stone so to speak.

On live I remember quadding wyverns around this level on ex's druid, but that's Velious and not sure they even drop anything. Any advice from 60 druids that managed not to be poor 55-60? :)

[Faerie]

Also, I could use some gear advice. Feel a bit silly sitting at 55 with only 184 wis and 77mr. Really need both stats up, along with other resists if that's possible :P

Faerie's gear:
Ears: Jasper Gold Earring x2
Head: Nightshade Wreath
Face: Bloodstone Eyepatch
Neck: White Gold Necklace
Back: Cloak of the Ice Bear
Shoulders: Braided Ivy Cords
Wrists: Chipped Bone Bracelets x2
Boots: Golden Efreeti Boots
Rings: Platinum Jasper Rings x2
Hands: Split Paw Hide Gloves
Legs: Gatorscale Leggings
Waist: Reed Belt
Arms: Platinum Armband
Chest: Shroud of Nature
Primary: Paw of Opolla
Secondary: Testament of Vanear
Range: Thex Mallet

Looking for upgrades I can camp solo, first and foremost. I don't have guildmates in my level range, but might be able to sometimes join FoH in LGuk if they'll let me tag along.

[Daldaen]

Pearl Kedge Totem - 18 WIS offhand
Mammoth Hide Cloak - 4 WIS back
Platinum Ruby Veil - 7 WIS face
Chrysoberyl Talisman - 3 WIS 20 mana neck

Resists are a waste of your time. As a Druid just port out if someone tries to PvP you. There's no good resist gear for Druids with decent mana/WIS outside of a few items. Mostly high end stuff you can't solo.

Druids really do get the shaft on resist gear though. Treant Tear is pretty boss but in Velious BD ears crush it.

[Daldaen]

55-60 Kedge is solid. Prices on blue:

Abalone Gorget - 1k
Shield of Prexus - 1k
Sharkskin Drum - 1k
Driftwood Treasure Chest - 2k
Seahorse Scale Cloak - 3k
Hammerhead Helm - 5k
Squallsurge Shawl - 7k
Prayer Shawl - 8k

All of those are rare drops and the most expensive of the 3 drop from mobs with 4-8+ hour timers. Estrella's being like 2-3 days?

Most of the common drops are useless. Sharkbone Warhammer you can sell for 100. Rest are either no drop or junk.

[Faerie]

Pearl Kedge Totem - 18 WIS offhand
Mammoth Hide Cloak - 4 WIS back
Platinum Ruby Veil - 7 WIS face
Chrysoberyl Talisman - 3 WIS 20 mana neck

Resists are a waste of your time. As a Druid just port out if someone tries to PvP you. There's no good resist gear for Druids with decent mana/WIS outside of a few items. Mostly high end stuff you can't solo.

Druids really do get the shaft on resist gear though. Treant Tear is pretty boss but in Velious BD ears crush it.

Thanks, some good gear advice here... Forgot I was gonna get a plat ruby veil right before I quit heh.

As a Druid just port out if someone tries to PvP you.

You've gotta be joking about this part though, right? :S

EDIT: Oh I have better than the neck already. Why is 200 wis so hard? Seems like I'll need a Pearl Kedge Totem, and I'd been putting off camping one because of the track nerf :/