Another Druid Charming Thread

[sixteenmiles]

I could use some tips to improve my charm kiting.

Picked up Befriend Animal at 14 and was excited to try it out. Looked up details for Charm Kiting using this guide (http://wiki.project1999.com/Druid_all-in-one_guide_by_Gaviilan#Charm_kite). Guide suggested Elephants in South Karana which was an absolute joke because when I made my way out there they all conned red. But I'm a new player who hasn't played since classic so I trust the guide as I'm sure it knows better than I do. That lost me a bunch of experience in deaths trying to get Elephants to work. Gave up and moved to East Karana instead.

East Karana was also a hellish experience because charm didn't last long enough on most mobs to finish a fight, resulting in a lot of aborted attempts. Also, if any roaming mobs decided to join in the fight it pretty much resulted in a run for the zoneline and/or death. I lost a lot more experience than I gained for the first day of trying. It took about two more days to get level 16. I probably would have done better mass farming green orcs in crushbone and turning in belts.

Anyway, things are starting to get easier but it's still not quite the experience that I see other people make it out to be. I've heard charm kiting being referred to as "Endless Killing" but for me it seems the opposite.

At the moment I'm casting "Befriend Animal", which costs about 20% of my mana. I'm putting my pet on a mob, sitting to med, and then rooting it at low life which costs about 10% of my mana. The health is usually mismatched between the two mobs, so when I break charm I put Stinging Swarm on the highest health opponent, which costs about 30% of my mana, and then I beat the other enemy to death with my sword to try and conserve mana. I take a bunch of damage getting beaten on by two mobs until they die. Then I get my 2% experience.

I can probably repeat this one more time before being completely drained of mana and having to sit and heal for 10 minutes. If another mob joins in the fight it's still a case of aborting and running for the zoneline. If charm breaks, same thing.

So it's taking me about 10-15 minutes to make 2%-4% experience, if I don't have to waste time running for my life (which I do... a lot!). Is this normal? Is this considered "Endless Killing" or am I doing something wrong?

Cheers for any advice.

[Droobie]

ive noticed that at lvl 14 myself i bought some +CHA items to boost my CHA over 100 and it seems my pets last forever. As of right now im charming camians and kill camians/crocs getting about 2-4% per pop and they are going down fast. Only thing id suggest is trying to get ur CHA over 100 seems to work awesome for me

[Aesop]

anyone got any tips for kedge?

[Erati]

anyone got any tips for kedge?

whatever Daldaen's future post in this thread says - you should try that

[sixteenmiles]

ive noticed that at lvl 14 myself i bought some +CHA items to boost my CHA over 100 and it seems my pets last forever. As of right now im charming camians and kill camians/crocs getting about 2-4% per pop and they are going down fast. Only thing id suggest is trying to get ur CHA over 100 seems to work awesome for me

Thanks for the tip. I'm sitting at 84 CHA at the moment.

From the guide I remember reading this:

To begin with, I will talk a bit about the charisma issue. It have been stated by the developers of the game that druid charm it's the same as necromancer charm, and the latter doesn't use charisma, so it's very probable that druid charm doesn't use charisma after all. If I would need to give you a tip I would say that in most situations you will probably do better simply keeping your +WIS/MANA equipment on, in order to have a larger mana pool. However, even with the above statement, I would advise you to stay above 75 charisma when charming (A charm buff always come handy, and you dont have to swap gear).

This made me think that CHA was not a relevant stat for druid charming. I don't actually have any charisma gear other than the one necklace to test with anyway, but if I see any I'll pick it up and try.

[Sorn]

OP, go to oasis and charm the lower level crocs. EK is for 16-17+ if you know what you're doing.

As a 55+ druid, my charm had about the same success rate as my enchanter friend, who has capped his charisma, while I was charming a mob 1-2 levels higher than his usual victim. Mine sits at 94. The advantages he has on me are his awesome AE stun, AE mez, mez, and slows. (Slow is the biggest thing, though AE stuns would make druids more OP vs animals than ever before.)

The real things you need for charm-kiting don't involve CHA. You need high channeling, an automatic root reflex, and snare. Oh, and sow. Always be sowed. Good judgment also helps, but that only comes through experience.

Here's a brief list of scenarios for charming as a druid, at least how I do it and have seen others doing it. They don't cover everything and different people will make different choices. I may add a few more later, like the switch pet scenario.

Charm basics, good for most outdoor zones:
1) Snare victim
2) Run away until out of spell range and then spam charm until it starts casting at max distance
3) Find things to kill with new pet
4) ROOT EVERYTHING THAT AGGROS
5) Med where you can (more mana > more CHA)

Remember, you can fear-kite animals! Always an option. Snare and then keep them feared while your pet beats on them from behind.

Scenario 1: Charm lasts through several fights, pet now at low hp (<10%, or fleeing)
1) Break charm with hide or invis
2) Kill pet for full exp

Scenario 2: Charm lasts through one fight, pet is low hp, you are good on mana
1) Root other (or snare if it's low enough that it won't go anywhere)
2) Break charm if it hasn't broken already
3) Kill both either with melee or spells

Scenario 3: Charm lasts through one fight, pet is high hp, you are good on mana
1) Root other (or snare if it's low enough that it won't go anywhere)
2) Recharm. If you don't have the mana, root it.
3) Kill other without siccing the pet on it for full exp

Scenario 4: Charm lasts through one fight, pet is high hp, you are low mana
1) Root other (or snare if it's low enough that it won't go anywhere)
2) Root former pet
3) Kill other for full exp
4) Beat a hasty retreat

Scenario 5: Charm lasts through one fight, pet is low hp, you are low on mana
1) Root other (or snare if it's low enough that it won't go anywhere)
2) Snare former pet
3) Kill pet with melee, the other you can wait out until root breaks. Then kill it with melee.

Scenario 6: 2 adds, pet getting beat up, you are good on mana
1) Root adds
2) Wait til pet is low hp, then break charm and root
3) Charm another from the pack
4) Proceed, keeping all adds rooted (This is where the Warden Symbol of Tunare would come in handy.)

Scenario 7: Too many adds, you are good on mana
1) Beat a hasty retreat

Scenario 8: Too many adds, you are low on mana
1) Beat a hasty retreat

Scenario 9: Two social mobs next to each other (not really something you run into often as a druid), you are just starting your charm-kite
METHOD A
1) Charm one, have it turn immediately to fight the other
2) Root other
3) See previous scenarios depending on what happens
METHOD B
1) Root one, snare other and charm it
2) See previous scenarios depending on what happens

Scenario 10: Getting adds before you charm
1) Either root all and charm one, or beat a hasty retreat.

BONUS: Bear pits, charm breaks, you're lom, there are two bears, one is retreating further into the pits, you're screwed
1) Evac
2) There's nowhere to run, so make sure you die away from your bind point in the pits if you can't evac out.
3) Get necro to summon your corpse and then find a willing cleric. That'll be 500pp total as a minimum, thank you, come again.
4) Learn from your mistakes and never be under 50m before you start another charm-kite down there, you dunce
5) DON'T HASTE YOUR PETS

[Man0warr]

ive noticed that at lvl 14 myself i bought some +CHA items to boost my CHA over 100 and it seems my pets last forever. As of right now im charming camians and kill camians/crocs getting about 2-4% per pop and they are going down fast. Only thing id suggest is trying to get ur CHA over 100 seems to work awesome for me

Charisma doesn't affect Druid charms. Level difference and magic resist is all.

[sixteenmiles]

@Sorn

Thanks. That post is some great advice.

One question: Why do you snare your pet? Doesn't that mean it takes longer to get to opponents, therefore less time in use before it breaks?

[Crawdad]

@Sorn

Thanks. That post is some great advice.

One question: Why do you snare your pet? Doesn't that mean it takes longer to get to opponents, therefore less time in use before it breaks?

Its for when charm (inevitably) breaks, to give yourself more time to get it charmed/rooted/killed. The time it adds is negligible compared to the benefits. Druids should snare like an Enchanter tashs (which is always :D). You want it up on your pet 100% of the time to make each kill/charm as consistent/reliable as possible.

therefore less time in use before it breaks?
This might be a problem at lower levels, but at 52 (with targets much lower than me) I have maybe 1 in 12 charms end early enough that I need to recharm the same pet.

[Tewaz]

In EK, pull a war wolf or spirit stalker to the guards SE of bridge to NK, let them beat it down then charm when below 20%. Move it away, break charm, kill, profit.

[Sorn]

One question: Why do you snare your pet? Doesn't that mean it takes longer to get to opponents, therefore less time in use before it breaks?

Snare allows you to run out of range on charm breaks and more time to recast charm without getting hit, therefore saving mana since you don't have to heal yourself. If you're charming something that can double hit you for 100+, you will want to avoid getting in melee range. This is especially important if you've used one of the druid pet haste spells.

Cases you would not snare anything is if you're going to be taking your pet along with you over long distances past things that will aggro it, in which case you can try sowing at your own risk. (Just remember that the higher level you are, the faster that thing will run when it's gunning for you after a break.)

Snare won't be quite as important at lower levels as root, but Ensnare is basically irreplaceable since it lasts for so long (~6-12 min) and doesn't come off early.

In EK, pull a war wolf or spirit stalker to the guards SE of bridge to NK, let them beat it down then charm when below 20%. Move it away, break charm, kill, profit.

charm hax

[kuuky]

Is western wastes a good place for a lvl 53 druid to charm? I just know I'll die if I go to bear pits due to my haphazard play style.

[Man0warr]

If you have good giant faction you can try it. Usually most the animals are dead and replaced by Wyverns/Drakes at this point after a repop/patch.

They shouldn't be on the same spawn cycles but they seem to be on this server.

[sixteenmiles]

In EK, pull a war wolf or spirit stalker to the guards SE of bridge to NK, let them beat it down then charm when below 20%. Move it away, break charm, kill, profit.

What the...

[Tewaz]

What the...

Look at your man, look back at me.

[Duane]

Is western wastes a good place for a lvl 53 druid to charm? I just know I'll die if I go to bear pits due to my haphazard play style.

There is a finite amount of animals that will spawn in Western Wastes on this server, as the Wyvern's share the respawn table with them. So you will run out of animals unless you kill the Wyverns, which summon. Might also have a rough time if you get Ice Burrower adds at your level.

[kuuky]

ok good to know ty

[ScruffMacBuff]

Because of all the issues you stated, I used my pet as dps for fear kiting until around 16-17.

1. Charm a pet
2. Snare a victim and sick a pet on it
3. Fear victim
4. ????
5. Profit

You can also cast flame lick for a bit more DPS and AC reduction for more damage from your pet. Snare/Fear are quite low on mana cost so all you have to worry about is charm breaking.

The only factors that decide how long your charm last are: Your level VS. the mobs level and the mobs magic resist which you have no way of knowing.

If you go back to EK I would do this. Focus on the lionesses at first as they are lower level, then once the snakes con dark blue work on those guys for a long time. The snakes are not social at all so as long as you stay out of aggro range of the gorge hounds and other mobs you should be pretty safe. At some point you will need to move on to gorge hounds which have pretty good MR and are kinda scary because of it. At this point though you will have enough mana to deal with an issue and after several attempts you will get pretty efficient. I can't remember exactly what level I left EK but it was near 19-20. After that I felt like I had mastered the technique. Every time you move on to a new zone you will struggle to get acclimated. Mainly due to the mobs being a higher level, but once you get through that first level in a new zone it gets so much easier.

If it gets boring or tedious then switch it up for a little bit. Fear kite/root rot/group/duo or whatever you gotta do to get that sweet sweet exp. My druid is 40 now and I'm quadding until i find a good spot to charm again because I like it so much now.

Good Hunting.