Ench - when to start HS?

[Quinas]

I've been charm soloing and grouping a little in the Hole for L51-52. Nearly L53. When can I start charming in HS?

[Emmin]

Now. You can start in the entrance/basement until you get comfortable. Then move to north. West when you get to 55 or so. You can use ToT on all of the skeletons other than the plaguebones.

[Baylan295]

I started at 53. Have mostly done entrance so far, with a little basement. I just dinged 54. I will tell you, that entrance break is no joke. ALWAYS Rune 5/Berserker Spirit, mez the scorpiki in the orb, TOT it, ivu, and then enter.

[Quinas]

Thanks - yeah I've only zoned into HS with entrance already broken. Given I play offpeak I'll likely have to do it myself.

[thebutthat]

Breaking isn't too bad once you get the feel for it. If you lull the scorps outside and IVU you in, you should be fine. A double Harmtouch is what's going to give yout he most problems. 1 HT and a living mob is totally manageable and probably won't even pop your runes.

Don't forget to bind up top. Getting a port to Skyfire for a CR sucks. Not many people are super excited to port there.

Also, duo up with those necro's that live there. Necro/Enc duo in HS is the bees knees. By far fastest clears I've done in a duo was with a solid necro/enc duo.

[Spyder73]

I agree that 53 is a good level to start doing basement. HS is incredibly efficient but beware that doing 7 levels there can get tedious and boring and you will want to switch it up from time to time. Lots of opportunity to f#ck yourself over bad as well. While not the norm it is also not uncommon to get yourself triple-HT-insta-gibed if you are not paying attention. If you veer from the basement it is also incredibly easy to get stuck with a nightmare corpse run. Often times the zone is nearly empty so getting help is not guaranteed. Super fun zone with some nice loot and XP but make sure you are prepared

Protip: Carry your own Essence Emeralds and Tiny Inlaid Jade Coffins and you are 1000% more likely to get a rez/summon from a Necromancer than if you are just hoping to buy reagents off them. Any character 50+ should just buy 10 EE's and carry them around incase of emergencies IMO.

See you down under friend (basement)

~Ayliket Vy'Neroth 59 Necromancer

[cooler2442]

What is the best solo method in HS? Is it charming and not buffing the pet and then just killing it/swapping every time it's low? Or get a good pet going and calm heal it every time it gets low?

[Spyder73]

My preferred method is to actually root 3-4 in a group and let the non charms kill my charm super fast and break <6% life for a quick life tap XP kill. Rinse repeat until all are dead

Even if you are conga line rooting I see very little advantage in not just switching pets when it gets low. I have the Bonecaster Pantloons which gives me a mana free haste so I typically haste all my pets with that regardless of what i'm doing.

Once you get into the flow of things and with paralyzing earth there really isn't a ton of danger 55+ in the basement. A rogue skeleton HT is about the only danger and even that takes a fair amount of RnG to become a problem

[Quinas]

I'd always had entrance recommended to me, but seems like you really need to be on top of your spawn timers etc. Is the basement a bit less tight? or is it all pretty rough?

[Baylan295]

I'd always had entrance recommended to me, but seems like you really need to be on top of your spawn timers etc. Is the basement a bit less tight?

As an enc, entrance is pretty much easy mode. Except for center mobs, everything spawns in pairs of the same non-caster mob that can both be messed byAOE mez simultaneously. If you’re patient, you can aoemez the center mobs too. Then tash/charm, root and tash the other. After you’ve broken you can sit in whatever area you just cleared without any fear of a mob popping and give yourself enough space to mez before anything can hit you. Just stay away from East and be careful of the center spawns when you’re coming up on the spawn timer. For this reason my rotation when I’m doing entrance is center, south, west, north. It gives maximum space and the least likely screw ups to agro additional mobs unnecessarily.

[Teppler]

I wouldn't recommend ever leaving HS north. You can take it to 60 and you'll have dark blues there till the end. West just gets more dangerous and the loot isn't as good.

[Teppler]

Entrance is a controlled few mobs. Basement you can free style a bit and bunch mobs up if you like to do that. Let 5 mobs beat on your 1 charmed mob, break the charm when its less than 10% then finish him. Then charm one of the 5 and let 4 beat him up. It's an easy way to rack up a bunch of kills very quick.

You start this in basement and you take it to the next level in North.

[isoka]

53 is the minimum level to start charming in HS imo. Prior to that, expect many charm breaks.
ZI will get you to 58 easily. Have air illusion on and stay away (you and your pets/mobs) from east stairs and everything will be fine.
Once you are pretty much confident with center, north, west and south pairs, you will then be able to go for the east pair assuming you are 100% sure where is east roamer when you pull them (pro tip, Bind sight helps to do so)

Also, remember that you can Theft of Thought skeletons for nom nom mana regen.

[commongood]

I went there a few nights ago at lvl 50 and solo'd entrance. My gear is fairly decent (have velious class armor on all but chest slot, also have Neriad Shawl - nothing else is insane and I don't know how big a part gear matters for a pure caster).

I've not been able to play that much but have dinged 51 at ent and plan to move down to basement now that I can mem Theft of Thought (ToT). I actually ran into North as soon as I dinged and logged out at the SS in there. Getting through was not bad. Just don't get a crit lull resist and you're fine :) If I had the zone to myself I would probably sit in north instead of basement and then pick off nameds when I can. But I'm fairly sure I won't have the ability to clear North reliably yet and then can't really claim it from someone else wanting it.

Anyway I don't find myself getting many charm breaks (236 charisma buffed) and I've only gotten a crit lull resist twice. That being said at 50 you definitely feel vulnerable. Mobs hit hard as heck so it really pays to be effecient in terms of positioning as slacking off while breaking charm to finish mobs and getting hit for a few rounds while spamming stun or root because you didn't stand far enough away can really cost you long down time or death.

Regarding the break in this is what I do:

Berserker Spirit and Rune. Med to full. Lull the Skorpiks at the zone entrance globe. Cast IvU on yourself. Go to entrance globe and face north, then click key on globe. That way you are facing north and can instantly run north when you finish loading. You will want to do this as north is the safest place. Stairs to North. The two entrance mobs mostly roam on the southern half of the platform. Their patrol pattern will occasionally take them to the foot of the north stairs but your best bet is those stairs. If it's 2x undead then obviously you are fine. If there are living then you have a decent chance to either move fast enough as to not aggro them or to only drag living mobs to foot of north stairs where you can stun and CC them.

It can definitely go wrong but you'll mostly be ok if you can avoid getting aggro on a skelly.

[thebutthat]

What is the best solo method in HS? Is it charming and not buffing the pet and then just killing it/swapping every time it's low? Or get a good pet going and calm heal it every time it gets low?

Reverse charming like a necro will be the best XP wise. Pet pull 3-4 mobs, root them all, and let the pack beat down your pet. Break charm, nuke, recharm and repeat.

Lulling out single pulls and managing the pull with slow and beserker str/bedlam will be the safest way.

If you have a duo partner, then managing a beefy pet with some nice weapons will a great way to mow down mobs. I always enjoyed grabbing a pet from South and taking it into west when I was grinding out lvl 58 and 59.

[Quinas]

Good tips all round.

[Izmael]

North can be started at 54 (C2) with little difficulty. Mobs are all charmable with CW (bar the bosses).


I'm not saying at 54 you need to rush in head first and pet pull bunches of 10 mobs at once, but carefully working your way around the safe spot ramp (making for easy CR) and maybe pulling the first room's boss is relatively involving and safe, plus you have a shot at a 4k pp Ada club.

At 58, get a cleric partner and do West until 60.

I don't recommend doing entrance at all, as an enc. North isn't harder than entrance, in fact, it's easier, because you have a safe spot, which you don't have at the entrance. In North you don't have people zoning in and messing with your mobs, you don't get the East roamer, you don't get HTing repops on your ass, and you get a shot at loot.

[Ruhtar]

Reverse charming like a necro will be the best XP wise. Pet pull 3-4 mobs, root them all, and let the pack beat down your pet. Break charm, nuke, recharm and repeat.

Also, if you don't have 3-4 mobs or want to practice when to break or w/e, you can root 1 mob, send charmed in and spam sit on pet to get hit for max melee until low. Your pet still dies pretty quick and its a lot safer if you're still learning.