Effective Charm Kite Guide (for Encs lv 12-19)

[myxomatosii]

This guide focuses on naked enchanters with stock stats and no jboots/buffs from obtaining charm until they get their first great Color spell, which is lv 12-19. These techniques carry over to higher level enchanting as well and are only made stronger by incorporating and mixing with greater spells.

I find myself encountering new enchanters fairly frequently that make simple mistakes and miscalculations, creating a barrier between them and the world of charm kiting.

These rules all change as certain spell lines become more prevalent such as Color, Slow, Haste, and Rune but in my opinion starting out these spells aren't too necessary and create a money-sink for a brand new player that just wants to buy his newest nuke. Having started an enc on red in the past month, I know what its like to be a new enc with no money. Jboots aren't even necessary to avoid taking damage despite the help they most certainly provide.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Necessary Skills, Practices, and Habits -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Essential Spell Gems and Mem Opinions

Really only five spells are needed for this technique. I recommend staying buffed with your appropriate 'Shielding' line, Cha Line, and when you get it, Breeze.

1. Root (The spell you'll cast the most)
2. Color
3. Mez
4. Charm
5. Tash
6. Choke (Seems to rarely resist, good dmg/mana ratio)
7. OPEN
8. OPEN

Pet Macros

Why?
-- Personal preference and greater control, if you like just use the pet window, at the minimum I create 4 buttons

pATK
/pet attack

pFOL
/pet follow me

pSTAY
/pet sit down
/pet guard here

pSTOP
/pet back off

Strafing

Why?
-- Appears to increase run speed by exploiting hit boxes, significant boost that will cause you to outrun the majority of (all?) non-sowed mobs.

How?
--Hold Right-Click and walk forward while holding either the left or right turn key, this will cause you to travel in an angular fashion and will save you any of those times you end up in the middle of no where without SoW and a passing yellow/red con agros you out of no where. It is also useful in charming.

--An alternative is to bind the sidestep keys and hold that key in combination with forward, removing the need to hold Right-Click.

Lv 4 Mesmerize (Mem Blur Component)

Why?
--This spell has a component that can cause memory blur, (effectively the same as everyone on its hate list feigning death successfully), if mem blur is successful when it lands the mob will pause, begin to heal at 4% a tick and path back to its origin. I don't know why, but compared to other mezes the proportionality of blur on this spell is HUGE and seems to work on blue cons about 90+% of the time, on evens/yellows I would say its <50%. Not sure if this is working as intended, but for now it works and saves the enchanter the need to keep Mez AND Blur memmed, saving mana.

How?
--To see if the blur aspect worked there are a few ways to check. First let's say you're fighting an 'apprehensive' mob. After attacking any monster that isn't 'ready to attack' the con will change to 'threateningly' during the fight. So to check if your blur worked simply check to see if the mob's con changes back to its pre-fight status.

--But some monsters are always 'threateningly' or 'ready to attack', how do i check them? Well as stated before, if a mob successfully blurs it will passively heal at 4% a tick. Obviously if you mez a mob and you or your pet stand right beside it then it will instantly re-agro and not heal. That can also be another indicator, if the mob suddenly snaps around and respams its agro message (assuming it had one) then you also know it was successful.

--A final method, when you have no charmed pet, assuming you have invis/hide/ivu/iva you can mez the mob and then use whatever ability makes you invisible to their mob type and it will con 'indifferent' if blur was successful.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Necessary Skills, Practices, and Habits -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-


-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Starting the Fight -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Assuming you read the previous section and got the hang of the terms strafe and mez blur, this section will focus purely on steps and not on details to keep it simple. Refer to the above section or ask a question in a reply if any step is unclear.

1. Find an outdoor area or any dungeon that allows you to create distance between yourself and mobs via pathing or strafing.
2. Choose a pet.
3. Stand at max casting range and tash your pet.
4. JUST before tash finishes casting, exploit server latency and begin to strafe the opposite direction, the spell will still land.
5a. You'll have to sort out the timing yourself, but run a bit then start spamming Charm
5b. To avoid interrupts when casting after running, its a good idea to do a 90° turn or hold right click and twitch the camera back and forth just before casting, experiment is key just like with step 5a.
6. Your pet is charmed, depending on the zone bring it with you or tell it to stay and go find an enemy.
7. Pull with tash at max range, strafe to camp, attack with pet.
8. As with step 5a, root the pull
9. Maintain root throughout the fight, letting it wear off a few times to figure out how often you need to cast it is fine. Don't waste mana, you're naked!
10. Med as much as possible, sitting at max range
11. At this point one of three things will happen
A: The pet will win
B: The pet will lose
C: Something goes wrong


-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Starting the Fight -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-


-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Finishing the Fight -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A: The pet will win
11: Be sure root is fresh and call your pet off, preferably at low enough hp that one nuke finishes the enemy
12: Lv 4 mez the mob
13: Check blur, if successful go to step A14, else, repeat from step A12
14: Nuke, win
15: If the pet is low move onto step B12 below

B: The pet will lose
11: Be sure root is fresh and call your pet off
12: Tell pet to stay and run to max casting distance
13: Break charm however you can: hide/inv/ivu/iva
14: Nuke, win
15: You now have a few options
W: If the mob is low enough, you can root and nuke/dot it down
X: Find a new pet and continue fighting the rooted monster, starting from step 2
Y: Use the rooted mob as a pet, starting from step 2 and rooting your new pull on top of your pet until the original root wears off
Z: Mez blur the remaining mob and med up, good choice if it took very little damage, you're out of mana, or you have to log!

C: Something goes wrong
11: Stay calm. Don't get hit. Strafe

Likely either charm broke, root broke, BOTH broke, a pather agrod your pet, a pather agrod you (bad camp), or a multitude of other problems. This is where you choose creativity, learn, and embrace the true meaning of an enchanter, or you falter under pressure and die/run. That is not to say its never a good idea to run, its OFTEN a good idea to run. But I can't tell you how many times I've been caught with 3 mobs at 25% mana and managed, using a combination of root, fear, mez, hide, and gate that I've lived and often defeated all 3 mobs (especially after breeze when recovery is easier).

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Finishing the Fight -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_--_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-


I will clean this up over time and respond best I can to questions, I'm curious what experienced enchanters might be able to add or critique so feel free to pick me apart. As stated I intentionally left out spells I considered extraneous at lower levels, would like to hear if I left out something that proves a huge boost. Given as my strategy is to NEVER come within melee range of my mobs I don't bother with color (outside of the rare healer which I avoid) or Rune which is expensive.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Excellent guide! A couple of factual edits to consider putting into it:

- Strafe running doesn't actually increase speed. What it does is exploits a hit-box. mechanic where you are essentially putting yourself just out of range by virtue of the mob having to run in a diagonal line (the way I've understood it anyways).
- Mem blur/mez with blur will have the enemy regen at 5%/tick not 4. Another helpful tip to consider is if someone does choose to us root+blur vs. Mezz, the enemy will stare off into yonder instead of facing the nearest target on its agro list.
- If I do multiple charm kills back to back I rarely use my next pet to kill my previous enemy, if when blurred. The only time I do is when I know I've done over 50% to their remaining HP and I know my pet won't take the XP.

As I said before though, great guide!

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

I forgot to mention that if you're pulling mobs that spawn at a stationary camp (I.e. Not roamers) a successful mezz blur will have them face back towards their camp in that when they break mezz they will start to path back to their spawn loc.

[myxomatosii]

Excellent guide! A couple of factual edits to consider putting into it:

- Strafe running doesn't actually increase speed. What it does is exploits a hit-box. mechanic where you are essentially putting yourself just out of range by virtue of the mob having to run in a diagonal line (the way I've understood it anyways).

Addressed.

- Mem blur/mez with blur will have the enemy regen at 5%/tick not 4. Another helpful tip to consider is if someone does choose to us root+blur vs. Mezz, the enemy will stare off into yonder instead of facing the nearest target on its agro list.

% was from memory, I'll have to log-on and test it before I change it. Fairly minor anyway, as long as its healing ya know it worked.

- If I do multiple charm kills back to back I rarely use my next pet to kill my previous enemy, if when blurred. The only time I do is when I know I've done over 50% to their remaining HP and I know my pet won't take the XP.

I would prefer to finish both at the same time and get back to full mana at this level range. And sometimes I'd choose an extra difficult enemy to grind through a couple of my pets if I'm feeling bold. That way I'm charming the easy to charm mobs and chaining pets at him to wear down a big exp prize. Sometimes I'll even take down the high mob using a combination of fear and holding agro with tash if I have a lot of room and agro isn't an issue.

And yeah, if I pet an enemy to 20%, then after blur the nuke only takes it to 5% I'll just let the charm finish it since I did over half of the damage after blur.

As I said before though, great guide!

[Estu]

1) Taper Enchantment is a great way to break charm since it's cheaper than invis (the mana difference is actually relevant at low levels), though if the pet has other effects on it then it might take more than one cast.

2) I don't like to use Choke to finish monsters at around level 12. I prefer Suffocating Sphere. Costs a lot less mana, more efficient than Choke, and you can generally get monsters down low enough so that a single cast will finish them, sometimes two - in any case, you save a boatload of mana.

3) I prefer using mez->tash->charm to charm. Mez only lasts 3 ticks or so and you can avoid running around trying not to get hit. Would be especially useful in confined quarters.

[myxomatosii]

1) Taper Enchantment is a great way to break charm since it's cheaper than invis (the mana difference is actually relevant at low levels), though if the pet has other effects on it then it might take more than one cast.

2) I don't like to use Choke to finish monsters at around level 12. I prefer Suffocating Sphere. Costs a lot less mana, more efficient than Choke, and you can generally get monsters down low enough so that a single cast will finish them, sometimes two - in any case, you save a boatload of mana.

3) I prefer using mez->tash->charm to charm. Mez only lasts 3 ticks or so and you can avoid running around trying not to get hit. Would be especially useful in confined quarters.

Good tips, I never really played around with Taper so that is good to know.

Sphere as well, I think being the poor enc I was I didn't buy that one so I never tested it since I've been playing enc on p99

I do that indoors but only if I'm fairly certain getting hit will interrupt me, mostly I focused on outdoor areas like LS or EK. Some fights would literally finish with me at 5% mana so the goal of this guide is not only to use the least mana possible but to also fight in areas where you won't have to cast extra spells. Its not a guide for the cautious, but its not for hazardous players either. It can be done very safe, in the right conditions.

[Tecmos Deception]

Strafe running doesn't actually increase speed.

A couple years ago I actually tested this, and strafe running definitely did increase my travel speed. 15% or more I think? Can't remember exactly.

It's easy to test. Just find a road in game and follow it as best you can to cross a zone, once with normal running and once with straferunning.

[myxomatosii]

A couple years ago I actually tested this, and strafe running definitely did increase my travel speed. 15% or more I think? Can't remember exactly.

It's easy to test. Just find a road in game and follow it as best you can to cross a zone, once with normal running and once with straferunning.

A stopwatch and some loc readings should do it:
Initial and final position.
Time.
Find displacement.
Divide.
If I do it I'll report in this thread.

[Velerin]

Got my enchanter to level 12 and found something kinda fun. Charm a wisp and send it after anything less than lvl 12. They can't hurt it since not magical. (I think at level 12 is when mobs start being able to hit magic creatures)
Fun having a wisp clear the EC orc camps.

[myxomatosii]

Got my enchanter to level 12 and found something kinda fun. Charm a wisp and send it after anything less than lvl 12. They can't hurt it since not magical. (I think at level 12 is when mobs start being able to hit magic creatures)
Fun having a wisp clear the EC orc camps.

That's hilarious, wish I'd have thought of that :)

[Estu]

Got my enchanter to level 12 and found something kinda fun. Charm a wisp and send it after anything less than lvl 12. They can't hurt it since not magical. (I think at level 12 is when mobs start being able to hit magic creatures)
Fun having a wisp clear the EC orc camps.

Wisps themselves don't have magical attacks either until around level 11 or 12 like you said, so what you can do once you get a little higher is go to NK, charm a ghoul, and massacre wisps. Good money at that level :p

[Velerin]

Nice, gonna try that. The exp on GLS is even good way past the wisps going green.

[Caridry]

So I just hit level 13, and i tried minos, but they are pretty camped... what are some great spots at level 13? I find myself getting bored spending an hour trying to find a solid solo spot that isnt camped already =(

[Crede]

Charm really doesn't start coming to it's own until level 20+. Before that, it just sucks up too much mana. At level 13, I'd recommend just going to unrest until level 18-20

Hope that helps

[Estu]

I find charm to be perfectly usable at level 12. If minotaurs are too camped you can check out North Karana. Careful with the willowisps - you need to have them fight monsters at least level 11 if you want them to take damage. But the benefit is you get a good deal of plat and EXP from the greater lightstones.

[Samoht Farstrider]

Got my enchanter to level 12 and found something kinda fun. Charm a wisp and send it after anything less than lvl 12. They can't hurt it since not magical. (I think at level 12 is when mobs start being able to hit magic creatures)
Fun having a wisp clear the EC orc camps.

Thanks for this!

Tried this last night in WC. Charmed a wisp and sent it after some young kodiaks and spiders. Sit and med until mob is almost dead. Back up pet, mezz mob, nuke mob, and take full xp! Really fast since I didn't have to spend mana to kill the wisps.

Pretty fun and I dinged 13. Gonna try to get over to Steamfont and try some minos. Pretty sure this will be tougher unless I have clarity. Mana bar is always way low if I have to kill both mobs.

[Estu]

Thanks for this!

Tried this last night in WC. Charmed a wisp and sent it after some young kodiaks and spiders. Sit and med until mob is almost dead. Back up pet, mezz mob, nuke mob, and take full xp! Really fast since I didn't have to spend mana to kill the wisps.

Pretty fun and I dinged 13. Gonna try to get over to Steamfont and try some minos. Pretty sure this will be tougher unless I have clarity. Mana bar is always way low if I have to kill both mobs.

I found it more effective to have two monsters that can actually hurt each other. If they're close to the same level, you can take both down for pretty much the same amount of mana. It only gets tricky when one is almost dead and the other is at like 50% hp; in that case you have to decide whether to take the 50% one as a new pet, to DoT it down, to mem blur it, etc.

[myxomatosii]

Charm really doesn't start coming to it's own until level 20+. Before that, it just sucks up too much mana. At level 13, I'd recommend just going to unrest until level 18-20

Hope that helps

I wholeheartedly disagree with this as I leveled a naked enchanter with no SoW or jboots (with points into stamina, so I had less int and cha than most of you would) from 12-20 in Najena/Lavastorm in about 5-6 hours on a Saturday using the method in the OP.

At 16 mana becomes irrelevant with breeze and charming does become much much easier, but charm is far from useless 12-15 and extremely powerful at 16.

[myxomatosii]

So I just hit level 13, and i tried minos, but they are pretty camped... what are some great spots at level 13? I find myself getting bored spending an hour trying to find a solid solo spot that isnt camped already =(

At 13 you can do a lot of places, one of the best places for many reasons is Najena.
1: Never camped.
2: Enough mobs to solo without catching the respawn timer.
3: Near druid port.
4: Spot is safe and at entrance, can run easily.
5: 200% exp with ZEM edit: correction 186.67% exp
6: Only one of the pulls isn't single pullable, which.. as you're charming doesn't even matter. Charm one, sic on other, split.

Other places.. WC dervs/orcs, Nro dervs, Oasis dervs, UGuk alligators (not sure of exact lvl), Crushbone throne room (may need to calm/mez but I know that when I started fighting here I was surprised at how pullable it was), blackburrow (them fangs!), blah blah, there are more places :)

I found it more effective to have two monsters that can actually hurt each other. If they're close to the same level, you can take both down for pretty much the same amount of mana. It only gets tricky when one is almost dead and the other is at like 50% hp; in that case you have to decide whether to take the 50% one as a new pet, to DoT it down, to mem blur it, etc.

Agreed, charm mobs that will barely win, or barely lose. Twice the exp for the same mana cost.

[Estu]

5: 200% exp with ZEM

Not sure where you're getting this but I'm pretty sure no zone in P99 has ZEM that good.

[myxomatosii]

Not sure where you're getting this but I'm pretty sure no zone in P99 has ZEM that good.

Reference: http://wiki.project1999.com/Recommended_Levels_and_ZEM_List

Note: 100% is considered standard exp. 200% is 100%(standard)+100%(ZEM mod)=200%(Modified Exp)

Correct me if I'm wrong but with 75 being the standard 100% exp, zones with 150 ZEM would be 200% (Highkeep, Upper Guk, Kurns), there are two zones higher at 160 ZEM (Crushbone and Befallen) which is 206.67%, and I was wrong on Najena. Assuming my methodology is correct Najena is a 130 ZEM zone which would put it at 186.67% (along with other 130 ZEM zones Sola and Unrest).

Again if I'm wrong I'd be curious where I'm erring.

[Estu]

Reference: http://wiki.project1999.com/Recommended_Levels_and_ZEM_List

Note: 100% is considered standard exp. 200% is 100%(standard)+100%(ZEM mod)=200%(Modified Exp)

Correct me if I'm wrong but with 75 being the standard 100% exp, zones with 150 ZEM would be 200% (Highkeep, Upper Guk, Kurns), there are two zones higher at 160 ZEM (Crushbone and Befallen) which is 206.67%, and I was wrong on Najena. Assuming my methodology is correct Najena is a 130 ZEM zone which would put it at 186.67% (along with other 130 ZEM zones Sola and Unrest).

Again if I'm wrong I'd be curious where I'm erring.

Your interpretation makes sense; you're erring in the assumption that that list means anything. The ZEMs for P99 aren't public, and the ones in that list are from some other source (maybe the public EQEmu list). Definitely don't treat it as gospel. For example, I could kill an orc centurion in Greater Faydark, then go into Crushbone and kill an orc centurion of the same level. Do I get over twice as much EXP? Hell no. It's more like 25% bonus EXP if that. Look at the actual amount your EXP slider moves when you kill monsters of the same level in different zones; don't trust that list.

[myxomatosii]

Your interpretation makes sense; you're erring in the assumption that that list means anything. The ZEMs for P99 aren't public, and the ones in that list are from some other source (maybe the public EQEmu list). Definitely don't treat it as gospel. For example, I could kill an orc centurion in Greater Faydark, then go into Crushbone and kill an orc centurion of the same level. Do I get over twice as much EXP? Hell no. It's more like 25% bonus EXP if that. Look at the actual amount your EXP slider moves when you kill monsters of the same level in different zones; don't trust that list.

I agree with you that the list is speculation. Now I want to take a level X, put him against 5 even mobs in both zones, record starting and ending percentages and develop an actual ZEM list..

First step? You'd need a reference zone to compare all other zones to, preferably one that shared its ZEM with as many zones as possible.

--

As far as bonus, its effect is quite massive, anyone whose farmed Highkeep will tell you nothing compares 20-34 and 51-55, same goes with the other high ZEM zones. So while the list might not be correct to the multiplier, I think the scaling is at least appropriate as far as which zone's ZEM is superior. Til then I guess my percentages are just a reference to the relative superiority of zone multipliers.

[Estu]

I agree with you that the list is speculation. Now I want to take a level X, put him against 5 even mobs in both zones, record starting and ending percentages and develop an actual ZEM list..

First step? You'd need a reference zone to compare all other zones to, preferably one that shared its ZEM with as many zones as possible.

--

As far as bonus, its effect is quite massive, anyone whose farmed Highkeep will tell you nothing compares 20-34 and 51-55, same goes with the other high ZEM zones. So while the list might not be correct to the multiplier, I think the scaling is at least appropriate as far as which zone's ZEM is superior. Til then I guess my percentages are just a reference to the relative superiority of zone multipliers.

Sure, they're good as a general guideline, though you shouldn't be surprised if the wiki list claims that a certain dungeon has a better ZEM than another dungeon, but on p99 it's the opposite.

Also, I'd love it if someone actually did the kind of research you mentioned here. Would be very cool. Though I'm sure the devs would fiddle with the ZEMs a bit once it became public knowledge.

[Tewaz]

What is the recommended dungeon to level in after 20?

[myxomatosii]

What is the recommended dungeon to level in after 20?

Solo/Duo
If it has to be a dungeon.. I'd say Mistmoore, charming the low entrance mobs and battling them against one another. Problem is overcrowding is a common theme there. Few casters, easy to zone if things go bad. Fairly good pull sizes, 1, 2, and 3 mobs.

Unrest is a bit more dangerous with the root proccing mobs and close quarters/difficult pulls.

Upper Guk has plenty of suitable areas but I don't know the zone well enough to recommend them. Crocs? Shrooms? Frogs?

Outdoor alternatives?
My personal recommendation would be Lake of Ill Omen near the windmill.

Otherwise, the Karanas might be good, I don't know them at all so I can't recommend them but it seems like people have luck there.

Rathe Mountains perhaps? Not sure what level those skeletons are.

Trio/Group
Highkeep is #1 in my opinion, first its homey, warm, good atmosphere. Second, has one of the highest ZEMs in EQ. Aside from all that, goblins raise Rivervale faction if you need that, the zone has merchants that sell to evils, guards that you can escape to, melees can bind, and I think wizards can train there? A few enchanter spells are only sold here also. Once you are level 23-24 iirc, you can begin to weaponize and charm Osargen for your groups DPS. Its ridiculous. The first really OP pet you come across in EQ. Good proximity to EC so picking up new group mates is fairly easy. Overall good zone.

Otherwise if you need elf faction or you just like Mistmoore you can go there.

Outdoor Alternatives?
Warslik Woods is a popular place around the giant fort.

[Tewaz]

Thanks for the input.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Some things I've done so far in red to make some cash:

Head to WK and fight bandits from 12-15. They drop bronze and bandit sashes which can be exchanged for bronze. Made about 100p there (on red so consider it half the time) and was able to afford most of my spells for the next level.

I did the Blackburrow method to get to 12 but IMO it's too fast and doesn't generate any cash. Not good for just starting out.

Also Najena - that place is an abortion. Barely any cash drops just a high zem. Again, levelling quickly is great but if you can't afford your next spells you'd best take some time to farm some pp.

Still a top notch guide.

[Tewaz]

Yumyums, can you give some input on solo leveling? I have a 20 enc and I am looking for some input.

[myxomatosii]

bump for griso