Druid high-end guide V 2.0.

[rafaone]

Hello fellow druids!,

I have worked a bit more on my guide, which seemed incomplete.

- Corrected a lot of grammar issues.
- Added some links (some more to be included still)
- Included new charming tips.
- Edited charming in raids part.
- Included Velious part.
- Included mana enhancement tools.

Please, have a look at it and tell me what you think :)

http://wiki.project1999.com/Druid_High-End_guide_by_Gaviilan

[Tecmos Deception]

Looks pretty good! I've usually heard druids do not get any benefit from charisma when charming though. Do druids have low-level nukes that interrupt casting? Might be worth mentioning you can ghetto stun like that. I don't like how you put regrowth on a spell gem as if you should always have that memmed; you should probably swap buffs into the slot that otherwise has the least-important spell in it as needed. You might want to be a bit more specific about buffs in groups; you probably shouldn't be burning mana on resist buffs or AC on a caster who never pulls aggro or stuff like that.

It'd be nice to see a section that explains to other druids how they can try to sell themselves to groups. For example: "say you see a warrior and a cleric duoing, and you don't feel like soloing! explain to them that without slow, your DS will actually be dealing a lot of very mana-efficient damage, and that without a shaman your regen spells will save the cleric mana, and that during the slow fights they are having your dots will be able to work very effectively" and stuff like that. I personally don't think druids are a lame class overall, but I definitely DO think they fit best into smaller, unorthodox groups. Helping other druids learn how they can get themselves into those groups might be a good addition to the guide.


Edit - I don't see any discussion of how harmony works (omg harmony is so great), or anything about how to use track effectively. Also you might want to mention dispels in there, they can be pretty nice when used properly (i.e. hitting buffed mobs but without dispelling party debuffs).

[Daldaen]

A few comments from my end:

Charm spell setup:

1. Wildfire
2. Superior Healing
3. Glamour
4. Call of Karana
5. Invis / Savage Spirit / Enveloping Roots (AE root 60) -- depending on goblin gazughi
6. Engorging Roots
7. Shield of Blades
8. Gate

This differs from yours in a few ways.

No regrowth, no snare, no DoT.

Regrowth - no need to keep this up full time. Buff yourself with it each time it drops but that's it.
Snare - when root/snare stacking is fixed I'd revisit this. But currently root is far more valuable in locations like kedge keep or permafrost. In Chardok group yea sure ensnare your pet and drop the gem for 15min
DoT - high end Druids have ES Vambraces. You shouldn't waste mana on real DoTs when charming.

Your "swap" slot, I keep all 3 up permanently. Because we aren't often keeping a charmed pet for long durations so you will need to re glamour and DS/haste as you get new pets.

Also you reference our 19 haste, feral spirit. Which is 20% I think. Our 44 haste savage spirits is 70%.... Which is amazing. Though I only really use haste in groups or if I'm trying to solo something hard in kedge like Estrella or Tainted/Corrupted.

I almost always DS my pet though. Very efficient damage especially when your pet is tanking multiples.

As for your group setup:

1. Wildfire
2. Superior Healing
3. Buffs (Regrowth of the Grove / Girdle of Tunare / Resists / SoW)
4. Breath of Ro
5. Enveloping Roots
6. Engorging Roots
7. Shield of Blades
8. Succor

Similar to yours again.

But again, no Snare and no regrowth - although this is mainly due to level 60 AE root being available to me.

Snare - ES gauntlets if you need to prevent runners. If you really must have a spell use Snare, not Ensnare. Costs less mana, does same thing. No group mob should live for 3+ min, long enough for snare to end.
Regrowth - I just cycle 1 buff spell slot for this. AE root is too awesome to not keep up.
DoT - Breath of Ro is our only useful DoT worth casting. It's 1030 DMG for 225 mana. Compared to 1100 DMG for 300 mana. 70 DMG for 75 mana difference. PLUS breath reduces first resist.

Charm no longer is affected by CHA for Druids. It was when I started on the server but has since been removed according to devs. Check the forums there is a post on it in patch notes.

Note on charming rats in Hate. While it does make you feel more useful, they proc a DoT so they will chain break mez if you let them attack anything too early.

To answer Tecmos' few questions/comments:

Ghetto stun - whirling winds is our lowest but they are all relatively easy to resist and outdoor only. So in dungeons like Chardok, Sebilis and Charasis with lots of casters... It doesn't do us any good.
Harmony - again outdoor limited. Useful for breaking rooms since it has an enormous AE range and it *should* be impossible to get a critical fail. I don't spend too much time in outdoor zones anymore and when I do I don't need to split stuff. But that's how it should function and was a big selling point of it over other lulls.
Track - lol revisit this when Velious rolls around. 50 track blows. It has it's uses (namely in dungeons that are very vertical like kedge keep since distance is less of a factor there) but largely it sucks until it gets pushed to 125 skill again.
Dispell - useful as described above and for pulling rooted mobs to camp. Should be pretty self explanatory though.

As for group sales, I'll use last night as an example.

I sat at Sebilis entrance LFG for the first time in probably a year. Saw 4 other LFGs: 60 war, 56 rogue, 52 SK. So I figure, why not kill stuff at entrance because science.

Invited all 3. The 60 war was AFK, but the 56 rogue and 52 SK join me. I group buff regen and DS the warrior and start pulling.

Pulls - most mobs in Sebilis come in pairs or more. So each time is root one and run back with the other. At 56+ your root is extremely reliable and you can keep that mob rooted for damn near the full duration of the spell.

We clear the entry hallway like this. Eventually a 60 cleric and enchanter show up to buff us, on his cleric he threw a few CHeals so I could keep pulling. Then a 54 cleric shows up. As well as a 58 rogue. The 52 SK has to leave who is immediately replaced by a 55 SK.

(60 dru, 58 rog, 56 rog, 55 SK, 54 cler)

We are informed a 51 enchanter is heading to join us. So we keep pulling.

Eventually we get trained at entrance with about 5~ mobs right as the entry 2 are repopping. The SK gets aggro on them all and I throw an AE root. I let the rogues and SK know they should back away, voila, single mob. The repops happen and I keep the 4 rooted. We clear up repops and then I start breaking roots with dispel. All cleared, no problems.

The enchanter finally arrives and we head to crypt. I continually keep Regrowth (15regen) on the entire group and Shield of Blades (32 DS) up on the tank the entire night. Inside the crypt at the first drop off with multiple undead, due to our cleric/enchanter being the lowest in the group and their lulls have a perpencity to critical resist here, I keep pulling.

Entry spawn of 3 mobs plus 1 pet, I AE root the mob with the pet and the size of the ARE is large enough to get 2 mobs and a pet. Instant single mob. Kill him and dispell one mob and then we engage the mob + pet while still rooted.
We move into crypt and clear the easy singles. ES vambracing and snaring each mob free of mana and tossing occasional nukes / refreshes of DS/STR/Regen.

We head to Emp room. The 2 skeletons at doorway, no problem, root back one and single mob again. Same deal with pather + blood PHer.

The emperor room break is fun! I target an add on the left and AE root. Unfortunately only 1 root sticks and 2 resist. 4 mobs on top of Druid face. Cleric tosses me a heal and 3 mobs get on cleric (tank/rogue are killing the other). I AE root the 3 on cleric this time only 1 resist and it charges me. The enchanter is able to lock it down. As the fight wears on we are taking them one by one but the enchanter runs oom with 3 left. I end up rooting the Emp PHer a second time, unfortunately putting him into summon HP range. But one round every summon is manageable for me with regen constantly ticking and my own heals.

We break the room and head back to crypt to med. Now that it's broken we have an easy 3~ or so clears until our SK lags out. This is mid respawn of the emperor room and we certainly don't want to let that respawn and need to be broken, so the 58 rogue tanks for a mob. In the meantime I loaded up Flame Lick in my buff slot and put on my ES gauntlets. I buff myself with DS and a DS potion as well as my self DS/AC cost buff. 69 DS per swing... For the next round I tank. Spamming Flame Lick -> ES gauntlet click -> Repeat, I'm able to hold aggro and allow both rogues to continue backstabbing. With heroic bond / symbol, my HP is probably only 2.3k or so, but with slow, my own heals + regen and a cleric tossing a CH every once in awhile, there are virtually no issues keeping me alive while tanking. Our DPS stays pretty constant with my increased DS value and the fact that I get hit more often than the SK, so we are able to keep killing until he gets back.

He doesn't really get back any time soon so we go a full round with a Druid tank and find a replacement. At this point in time I am heading to bed and I grab a Necromancer to replace me. At the end of the night I feel I contributed to my group more than any of them thought I would going into the crypt.

I played roll of healer, puller, root CC, back-up healer, tank and buffer throughout the night. We had 1 death of a rogue, I'm not entirely sure how it happened and the SK who crashed ended up dying while LD the 2nd time.

We got a JBB, cone of mystic, tash stick, 2 boxes of nil space and sword of skyfire over the course of the night. As well as about 20% of a level at 60.

That's why you invite a Druid to your group. Because when other people either suck (and I'm not saying people in this group did) or LD or have to leave suddenly, you can fill that void in about any area of the game and allow the group to keep killing. You as a Druid just need to be aware what buffs, spells and strategies you need to modify to make it happen. That often requires you to instruct people in your group as to what's happening. A monk will often happily tank and get frustrated if you're pulling aggro. But if he is losing it to the enchanter/cleric/shaman it's best you flame lick / snare and lock aggro so they can limit their healing to a single player.

[rafaone]

Thanks for the kind comments and suggestions,

@Tecmos

The guide is propossed specifically for High-End characters that I presume have some experience with druids, that's why I did not enter in the details of how to sell yourself in a group and so on, but yes, I have to think about it, it could be a nice adittion to the guide indeed. About the stun spell, yes we have 2 if I recall correctly one at lvl 29 and other at 55 or so, but only usable outdoors, so little use. Also the stun is about 0,5 secs, more like a push back.

About the Spell gems, I have to give it a review aswell. Maybe having Regrowth memmed all times is not what I wanted to tell people here.


I don't see any discussion of how harmony works (omg harmony is so great), or anything about how to use track effectively. Also you might want to mention dispels in there, they can be pretty nice when used properly (i.e. hitting buffed mobs but without dispelling party debuffs).

Well, what can I say about harmony, it's an AoE pacify that works most of the times (No fails for me still here), but very limited to outdoors .. About the dispelling part, it will be a nice adition and I will probably include it in the guide.

@Daldaen

Thanks for your comments on spell setup, I updated a bit the spell setup section. But I can't share your opinion on either Ensnare or not having a DoT memmed. Ensnare is often less resisted and is a must (from my PoV) to have memmed all times (At least if you don't have ES gauntlets). A good DoT can help finishing a MoB quickly and good mana wise, if you wish to move faster (Ofc, you should use the ES vamb too).

I agree on the Regrowth tho, and also in the "savage spirit" spell - corrected it, thanks.

About the Breath of Ro spell, it's nice in groups, when tanks have aggro, but it can be risky to use when charming, due to high aggro generating. I know mob is rooted almost all times and, therefore, it won't jump into you, but sometimes I just use magic DoT and save mana by simply using ES gauntlets and no root (I think this is a great plus druids have). It also avoid your pet for taking damage the last % of the mob, since it's flying.

Thanks again for all the comments, I will update guide further in the following days.

[Daldaen]

I guarantee you 100% using Winged Death or Breath of Ro while charm killing is slowing down your exp rate no questions asked. Charm a new pet or ES Vambraces when it's at low HP. Wasting mana on a DoT is like throwing away 1 charm cast you didn't need to.

Use magic DoT and snare to save mana... Unless you are talking about ES Vambraces, that is completely wrong. Root, Charm and DS/Invis are the only things you should spend mana on when charm killing 50+. If you have full mana, feel free to haste your pet too.

Ensnare is NOT less resisted. There is 0 difference between the two's resist rates. The things that play a factor in resist are:

Mob Resistance (MR)
Spell -Resist Adjust
Character-Mob Differential (Mob Con)

Snare and Ensnare both have no -resist modifier. So they resist at the same rate. If you think they resist differently that is in your head or a bug.

I hope I'm not coming off harsh or hostile, I just feel like misinformation is bad especially for a class that doesn't often get group invites because of misinformation - people don't know really what a Druid can bring to a group.

[Erati]

in one of my only Crypt groups I've gotten on Eratani ( after I had a cloak of course hehe ), I had a monk who was mocking me when I would argue with the group that they needed to hold pulls til I had some mana to toss in patch heals

you see our cleric sucked, we had no enchanter, and our tank was an iksar war with bloodpoints.......

so after being berated by this monk about how unimportant my mana was or how waiting for me was dumb....the monk proceeds to purple club then as the cleric ignored him I brought him back via a patch heal I had been doing all night and the guy completely changed his tune

he started praising patch healers and how important my mana was for the rest of the night


moral of the story? druids save your ass more than you realize, put them in your group :P

[rafaone]

I guarantee you 100% using Winged Death or Breath of Ro while charm killing is slowing down your exp rate no questions asked. Charm a new pet or ES Vambraces when it's at low HP. Wasting mana on a DoT is like throwing away 1 charm cast you didn't need to.

Well, that's your opinion of course. And it could probably be right if you have plenty of mobs avaliable to charm. But what if you have none or very little animals around (I can think on SolB maybe Chardok), you want to keep yours alive, and helping a kill with a little DoT here and there along with ES vamb is something I will keep doing.

Snare and Ensnare both have no -resist modifier. So they resist at the same rate. If you think they resist differently that is in your head or a bug.

Well - all the druids I have met in my EQ career (Both here and in live) said Ensnare was resisted less often than snare. My experience says that too in about 10 years of playing a druid. But I can be wrong ofc.

I hope I'm not coming off harsh or hostile, I just feel like misinformation is bad especially for a class that doesn't often get group invites because of misinformation - people don't know really what a Druid can bring to a group.

Kinda hostile IMO, with a player that only want to help druids in every way that he cans, I agree missinformation and some bad players had lead this class to be little group desired, and that's the exact thought behind writing this guide.

moral of the story? druids save your ass more than you realize, put them in your group :P

+1 :)

[Daldaen]

If you have none or very little animals around then you aren't charm soloing in permafrost or kedge keep. Chardok and sol B you *can* solo, but you are most likely grouping there. And that is a completely different strategy set. Which includes often hasting a pet as well as healing it. Very different from breaking pets before they die and getting new ones.

Reason I said its in your head it because things can seem that way if you hear old wives tales over and over and you get a few unlucky resists on snare. My point is there is no 'scientific' data that points to the fact that Ensnare is more difficult to resist than Snare is. Nothing in the spell data nor the game mechanics suggest this.

[rafaone]

If you have none or very little animals around then you aren't charm soloing in permafrost or kedge keep. Chardok and sol B you *can* solo, but you are most likely grouping there. And that is a completely different strategy set. Which includes often hasting a pet as well as healing it. Very different from breaking pets before they die and getting new ones.

aha !! But I never said I was using the break/get new one pet :). The guide is intended for people around level 50+, and (as I wrote), you can only do charm in Permafrost, Chardok and maybe a bit of SolB, in order to take experience. So what I'm saying is exactly the thorns/buff/heal pet strategy hehe.

It seems missinformation is hitting us too !! ;)

My point is there is no 'scientific' data that points to the fact that Ensnare is more difficult to resist than Snare is. Nothing in the spell data nor the game mechanics suggest this.

I agree with you, however, from my experience "always" ensnare has been more reliable when sticking, call it luck or anything, it could be. I will modify the guide to make it clear.

Thanks again for your feedback

[Handull]

For spell gems I always go sup heal, ensnare, highest lvl single root in top three, and gate in eighth slot. The other four I swap around for nukes, dots, buffs, charming, etc. I've been in enough situations where not having snare or root up made life annoying, so I like to always have both. I only won't have gate up when in vp or very rarely if I need an extra spell up.

With charming there is also the super buff and camp out method, works great in Chardok where pets can be harder to come by, tho the constant aoe ing might make Druid Chardok soloing a thing of the past.

Another thing people don't realize about Druids is they can nuke really well on many raid mobs. I've nuked 4k on a gore kill, and I could have also stopped to heal my groups cleric if he was getting low. Frost is also a very good cold nuke for FR mobs.

Personally I stopped carrying Es gloves a while ago, for the long cast time and minimal mana savings I'd rather cast snare and be done with it.

When doing stuff like Chardok charming solo, just have a wc cap handy, odds are you won't get gate off, esp if your pet is hasted and breaks and you are being summoned.

[SamwiseRed]

heh i always keep sup heal 1, root/snare 2, and gate 8 as well :) great minds think alike

[Fuddwin]

Sup heal 6
Ensnare 7
Root 8

ALWAYS... lol

Cheetah 1 as well... until one of my buds decides to log on and ungem cheetah!! omfg!


To add to the charming in perma... Glamour is a waste... Tried it a few times... It's just bleh... I would normally just go one on one and let them kill each other with the occassional pet killing 2 for 1 (pet haste here)... Pretty good flow killing the upper lvl bears with the dogs/spiders... Never had ES gloves, like Handull says, Ensnare costs too little and is quick enough... Come to think of it.. I never used snare in Perma... Root/Reroot = win...

[rafaone]

Thanks for your inputs guys, nice to see another more spell sets around.

With charming there is also the super buff and camp out method, works great in Chardok where pets can be harder to come by, tho the constant aoe ing might make Druid Chardok soloing a thing of the past.

Can you please give more info on this method? I guess you camping out for the pet to regen, similar to encs memblurring and re-charming method.

Personally I stopped carrying Es gloves a while ago, for the long cast time and minimal mana savings I'd rather cast snare and be done with it.

Agree with you, specially when you get the White sathin gloves from sky. However, I stil carry them to save a spell gem in some situations.

[Daldaen]

Sup heal 6
Ensnare 7
Root 8

ALWAYS... lol

Cheetah 1 as well... until one of my buds decides to log on and ungem cheetah!! omfg!


To add to the charming in perma... Glamour is a waste... Tried it a few times... It's just bleh... I would normally just go one on one and let them kill each other with the occassional pet killing 2 for 1 (pet haste here)... Pretty good flow killing the upper lvl bears with the dogs/spiders... Never had ES gloves, like Handull says, Ensnare costs too little and is quick enough... Come to think of it.. I never used snare in Perma... Root/Reroot = win...
Snare is just useless for soloing until they fix stacking in Velious. Root is always a better choice of CC til then.

I haven't loaded ensnare or snare for months now beyond pulling something like Estrella to zone line.

[rafaone]

Updated !!

- Tweaked a bit the buffs section (Tecmos suggested).
- Added some tips for charming.
- Included the ensnare vs snare resist (thanks Daldaen)

[Vega]

Good guide, one comment:

When you say "stacks with your higuer level magic-based DoT (For example, winged dead)", there really isn't any 'for example'. I believe it ONLY stacks with Wnged Death, since it does not stack with Drifting Death.

[bartly]

Snare is just useless for soloing until they fix stacking in Velious. Root is always a better choice of CC til then.

I haven't loaded ensnare or snare for months now beyond pulling something like Estrella to zone line.

Works pretty good for quadding seafuries/forest giant ancients, etc.

[rafaone]

When you say "stacks with your higuer level magic-based DoT (For example, winged dead)", there really isn't any 'for example'. I believe it ONLY stacks with Wnged Death, since it does not stack with Drifting Death.

Good point - Corrected :)

[Daldaen]

Works pretty good for quadding seafuries/forest giant ancients, etc.

Haven't quadded in quite a long time. Charm solo or no solo! But I guess if quadding makes you happy, yes snaring is fine. But ES Gauntlets work there too. Or Bonds of Tunare if you body pull them and group them before snaring.

[Handull]

Yeah, charm a mob, give it all the buffs, and solo one or two mobs with it, park it, camp in a safe spot, pet gets out of combat regen. Sucks if you are grouping, but works the same as encs mez and memblur. If you get the spawn in the Chardok slave pit to be a dog you can do pretty well on there soloing.

The 53 magic dot stacks with all other Druid dots. The other magic dots are in the same line and you can only use one at a time.

[Tuljin]

If you are a class with snare it should be permaslotted even if you "don't need it" as it is a key part of the druid's (and ran and wiz) CC toolbox. There are other spells way lower on the list of priority that can be swapped out before snare. I keep snare/root on slots 7 and 8 as well and I also have them hotkeyed, all the time, and I alt+number key spell slots 1-4.

[Daldaen]

ES Gauntlets. We have 8 spell slots. And up to 80 inventory slots. And Druid gauntlets kind of suck until Velious. Th best are 25hp/mana or 35 mana. Meh.

If you can move a utility spell to an item clicky... Like snare (ES Gauntlets or with Verrious Tanglewood Shield), you should do that to allow for spells that you can't get a clicky of.

Same will happen for Regrowth with Velious BPs. And SoW with Velious Boots.

[Vega]

I have had situations in dungeons (and completely situational and most of the time preventable) where a 2s cast of snare stops a running mob, but a 4s cast would have allowed them to slip around a corner.

[Daldaen]

If they were slipping around a corner, chances are they were running. Which means you fought them for 80% and didn't snare. Also root is our fastest spell to stop movement. So if you find yourself in that position you're better off rooting since it casts faster than spell snare.

[Man0warr]

Snare earlier, snare often - if it means life or death.

It's probably your #1 job if you ever manage to get into a dungeon group.

[Vega]

Lol, hence I said most of the time preventable, but whatever. I opened myself up for this I guess.

As a side note, I have noticed chanters love a quick ensnare on broken charms to peal them and give them a chance to remez. Works almost as good as a cleric stun.

[Sturgeon]

Just need some PvP info thrown on there. ;)

[Daldaen]

Ah I missed the parentheses.

Yea Ensnare -> Sit usually will pull aggro on a charmed pet. But often recharming will involve re tash which will get aggro back on the enchanter.

[rafaone]

I have to agree to snare defenders :p. Ensnare is one of the most usefull spells for druids, and I keep it memmed all times. ES gauntlets are way too slow for some situations. Specially if things get out of control.

[Tuljin]

The extra seconds count big time, and druid doesn't have a stun so really you're SOL once the mob runs the corner. The spell is also very low mana. I usually snare when a mob is around 50%, and I have to tell my group members DO NOT ROOT THE FUCKING MOB THAT IS BEING TANKED CAUSE IT MESSES MY SNARES

[Wrench]

Yea Ensnare -> Sit usually will pull aggro on a charmed pet. But often recharming will involve re tash which will get aggro back on the enchanter.

u got yourself a dumb chanter if they tash before mez on a charm break, dump them asap

[Daldaen]

Mez wastes precious time with a pet sitting there stupidly doing nothing though!!!

[Wrench]

Mez wastes precious time with a pet sitting there stupidly doing nothing though!!!

ever played a chanter? allure's cast time is 6s

your a moron if you try to channel through that with a hasted quading mob

[Daldaen]

Apparently the sarcasm from triple exclamation marks wasn't apparent enough.

Also... you're. /ducks

[Tuljin]

lol

[Fuddwin]

Snare is just useless for soloing until they fix stacking in Velious. Root is always a better choice of CC til then.

I haven't loaded ensnare or snare for months now beyond pulling something like Estrella to zone line.

For soloing.. yes
I ALWAYS have snare/ensnare loaded... Pulls aggro off of noobs when porting.. pulls adds asap for rooting... ES Gaunts just too long... Mana is not much of an issue at 35m per cast.. Shit.. get that back with one tick with Oak/C2/Mask

And my friends and I give each other a hard time about everything just to troll and I hear the "one job" line alot when grouping with them... cuz I forget to snare... quick cast helps me tons with that.. lol

[mrmop520]

Goddamit Notserp you have ONE JOB!

[Fuddwin]

Goddamit Notserp you have ONE JOB!


/sigh

[Shmoke]

Thanks for the guide, currently lev 45 in my first trip through as a druid.

At 42 and till 49 move to dwarfs in BB. Great XP and great loot. The only faction hit you will get killing those it's against themselves ("Kaladim citizens")

Do any NPC's inside Kaladim use this same faction or is it only the NPC's outside? I'm in there from time to time and don't want any surprises. Thanks

[Daldaen]

Those dwarves have a special faction only they are on. About 10-12 of them in butcherblock.

That being said, I know they are a common path for Druids, but I've always been of the opinion that since you are the most mobile of any class and will likely find your way into many starting cities, best to not hurt any factions of friendly NPCs. Regardless of how small.

42-49 Dreadlands - Quadding non-spiders
42-49 Timorous Deep - Quadding spirocs
42-49 Rathe Mountains - Quadding hill giants (may need 44 or 46 and lumi staff)
42-49 Kedge Keep - charm killing everything

(Verrious)

42-49 Cobalt Scar - Quadding Othmir or Wyverns

[Shmoke]

Those dwarves have a special faction only they are on. About 10-12 of them in butcherblock.

That being said, I know they are a common path for Druids, but I've always been of the opinion that since you are the most mobile of any class and will likely find your way into many starting cities, best to not hurt any factions of friendly NPCs. Regardless of how small.

42-49 Dreadlands - Quadding non-spiders
42-49 Timorous Deep - Quadding spirocs
42-49 Rathe Mountains - Quadding hill giants (may need 44 or 46 and lumi staff)
42-49 Kedge Keep - charm killing everything

(Verrious)

42-49 Cobalt Scar - Quadding Othmir or Wyverns

awesome, thanks

[rafaone]

Those dwarves have a special faction only they are on. About 10-12 of them in butcherblock.

This.

Also they have very good loot :p. But yeah, lore wise it's not the best idea around ;)

[Man0warr]

There's no Dwarf Commoners in Kaladim proper.

[Daldaen]

But still I like being able to visit the docks on my way to OoT without getting jumped by bearded women.

[drktmplr12]

A few comments from my end:

Charm spell setup:

1. Wildfire
2. Superior Healing
3. Glamour
4. Call of Karana
5. Invis / Savage Spirit / Enveloping Roots (AE root 60) -- depending on goblin gazughi
6. Engorging Roots
7. Shield of Blades
8. Gate

This differs from yours in a few ways.

No regrowth, no snare, no DoT.

Regrowth - no need to keep this up full time. Buff yourself with it each time it drops but that's it.
Snare - when root/snare stacking is fixed I'd revisit this. But currently root is far more valuable in locations like kedge keep or permafrost. In Chardok group yea sure ensnare your pet and drop the gem for 15min
DoT - high end Druids have ES Vambraces. You shouldn't waste mana on real DoTs when charming.

Your "swap" slot, I keep all 3 up permanently. Because we aren't often keeping a charmed pet for long durations so you will need to re glamour and DS/haste as you get new pets.

Also you reference our 19 haste, feral spirit. Which is 20% I think. Our 44 haste savage spirits is 70%.... Which is amazing. Though I only really use haste in groups or if I'm trying to solo something hard in kedge like Estrella or Tainted/Corrupted.

I almost always DS my pet though. Very efficient damage especially when your pet is tanking multiples.

As for your group setup:

1. Wildfire
2. Superior Healing
3. Buffs (Regrowth of the Grove / Girdle of Tunare / Resists / SoW)
4. Breath of Ro
5. Enveloping Roots
6. Engorging Roots
7. Shield of Blades
8. Succor

Similar to yours again.

But again, no Snare and no regrowth - although this is mainly due to level 60 AE root being available to me.

Snare - ES gauntlets if you need to prevent runners. If you really must have a spell use Snare, not Ensnare. Costs less mana, does same thing. No group mob should live for 3+ min, long enough for snare to end.
Regrowth - I just cycle 1 buff spell slot for this. AE root is too awesome to not keep up.
DoT - Breath of Ro is our only useful DoT worth casting. It's 1030 DMG for 225 mana. Compared to 1100 DMG for 300 mana. 70 DMG for 75 mana difference. PLUS breath reduces first resist.

Charm no longer is affected by CHA for Druids. It was when I started on the server but has since been removed according to devs. Check the forums there is a post on it in patch notes.

Note on charming rats in Hate. While it does make you feel more useful, they proc a DoT so they will chain break mez if you let them attack anything too early.

To answer Tecmos' few questions/comments:

Ghetto stun - whirling winds is our lowest but they are all relatively easy to resist and outdoor only. So in dungeons like Chardok, Sebilis and Charasis with lots of casters... It doesn't do us any good.
Harmony - again outdoor limited. Useful for breaking rooms since it has an enormous AE range and it *should* be impossible to get a critical fail. I don't spend too much time in outdoor zones anymore and when I do I don't need to split stuff. But that's how it should function and was a big selling point of it over other lulls.
Track - lol revisit this when Velious rolls around. 50 track blows. It has it's uses (namely in dungeons that are very vertical like kedge keep since distance is less of a factor there) but largely it sucks until it gets pushed to 125 skill again.
Dispell - useful as described above and for pulling rooted mobs to camp. Should be pretty self explanatory though.

As for group sales, I'll use last night as an example.

I sat at Sebilis entrance LFG for the first time in probably a year. Saw 4 other LFGs: 60 war, 56 rogue, 52 SK. So I figure, why not kill stuff at entrance because science.

Invited all 3. The 60 war was AFK, but the 56 rogue and 52 SK join me. I group buff regen and DS the warrior and start pulling.

Pulls - most mobs in Sebilis come in pairs or more. So each time is root one and run back with the other. At 56+ your root is extremely reliable and you can keep that mob rooted for damn near the full duration of the spell.

We clear the entry hallway like this. Eventually a 60 cleric and enchanter show up to buff us, on his cleric he threw a few CHeals so I could keep pulling. Then a 54 cleric shows up. As well as a 58 rogue. The 52 SK has to leave who is immediately replaced by a 55 SK.

(60 dru, 58 rog, 56 rog, 55 SK, 54 cler)

We are informed a 51 enchanter is heading to join us. So we keep pulling.

Eventually we get trained at entrance with about 5~ mobs right as the entry 2 are repopping. The SK gets aggro on them all and I throw an AE root. I let the rogues and SK know they should back away, voila, single mob. The repops happen and I keep the 4 rooted. We clear up repops and then I start breaking roots with dispel. All cleared, no problems.

The enchanter finally arrives and we head to crypt. I continually keep Regrowth (15regen) on the entire group and Shield of Blades (32 DS) up on the tank the entire night. Inside the crypt at the first drop off with multiple undead, due to our cleric/enchanter being the lowest in the group and their lulls have a perpencity to critical resist here, I keep pulling.

Entry spawn of 3 mobs plus 1 pet, I AE root the mob with the pet and the size of the ARE is large enough to get 2 mobs and a pet. Instant single mob. Kill him and dispell one mob and then we engage the mob + pet while still rooted.
We move into crypt and clear the easy singles. ES vambracing and snaring each mob free of mana and tossing occasional nukes / refreshes of DS/STR/Regen.

We head to Emp room. The 2 skeletons at doorway, no problem, root back one and single mob again. Same deal with pather + blood PHer.

The emperor room break is fun! I target an add on the left and AE root. Unfortunately only 1 root sticks and 2 resist. 4 mobs on top of Druid face. Cleric tosses me a heal and 3 mobs get on cleric (tank/rogue are killing the other). I AE root the 3 on cleric this time only 1 resist and it charges me. The enchanter is able to lock it down. As the fight wears on we are taking them one by one but the enchanter runs oom with 3 left. I end up rooting the Emp PHer a second time, unfortunately putting him into summon HP range. But one round every summon is manageable for me with regen constantly ticking and my own heals.

We break the room and head back to crypt to med. Now that it's broken we have an easy 3~ or so clears until our SK lags out. This is mid respawn of the emperor room and we certainly don't want to let that respawn and need to be broken, so the 58 rogue tanks for a mob. In the meantime I loaded up Flame Lick in my buff slot and put on my ES gauntlets. I buff myself with DS and a DS potion as well as my self DS/AC cost buff. 69 DS per swing... For the next round I tank. Spamming Flame Lick -> ES gauntlet click -> Repeat, I'm able to hold aggro and allow both rogues to continue backstabbing. With heroic bond / symbol, my HP is probably only 2.3k or so, but with slow, my own heals + regen and a cleric tossing a CH every once in awhile, there are virtually no issues keeping me alive while tanking. Our DPS stays pretty constant with my increased DS value and the fact that I get hit more often than the SK, so we are able to keep killing until he gets back.

He doesn't really get back any time soon so we go a full round with a Druid tank and find a replacement. At this point in time I am heading to bed and I grab a Necromancer to replace me. At the end of the night I feel I contributed to my group more than any of them thought I would going into the crypt.

I played roll of healer, puller, root CC, back-up healer, tank and buffer throughout the night. We had 1 death of a rogue, I'm not entirely sure how it happened and the SK who crashed ended up dying while LD the 2nd time.

We got a JBB, cone of mystic, tash stick, 2 boxes of nil space and sword of skyfire over the course of the night. As well as about 20% of a level at 60.

That's why you invite a Druid to your group. Because when other people either suck (and I'm not saying people in this group did) or LD or have to leave suddenly, you can fill that void in about any area of the game and allow the group to keep killing. You as a Druid just need to be aware what buffs, spells and strategies you need to modify to make it happen. That often requires you to instruct people in your group as to what's happening. A monk will often happily tank and get frustrated if you're pulling aggro. But if he is losing it to the enchanter/cleric/shaman it's best you flame lick / snare and lock aggro so they can limit their healing to a single player.

i know this is old, but i take back everything i ever said about druids.