What level can bards begin swarming?

[Zonais]

Hello all,

I have a bard now and i was wondering at what level can i effectively begin swarm kiting for big chunks of xp?

Also, if anyone has a link to a *good* tutorial i would be grateful for that as well. I have looked online for some but they don't explain things that well.

Thanks in advance

[ScaringChildren]

level 5 I think?

Just need Selos and the AOE dot

[98bcobra]

Level 2. You dont need selos or sow to swarm.
https://youtu.be/_RGSdtyAifU (not me and kinda sloppy but you get the idea)

[branamil]

It's not really worth it until level 18 AoE

[Bardp1999]

Bard swarming is AIDS. RIP your fingers

[MiRo2]

As early as level 2. If you want to maintain your sanity(to some degree), and the health of your hands you'll wait until at least level 18 and have Jboots.

[Cen]

You can swarm at 2 easily. If you are in the commons, try to get a call of earth from a ranger and a natureskin from a druid for regen and hour long thorns. You can safely be hit at low level so swarming isn't needed to avoid mobs. At level 18 the 35 range denons allows for more normal swarming. I suggest halting swarming for highkeep from 25-30ish to max all your combat skills. At 40, get into COM to max all your skills again, most for life. Then when your 51 and caps lift, do a little of everything. Learn what other tricks you have up your sleeves.

[Acidreams]

get to 5ish like they say, its quick enough with some gear. Kite wisps in NK and collect the greater lightstones for xp + cash.

[EndlessCycle]

I have leveled 3 Bards with Swarm kiting.

I don't do it anymore because of nerf.

My route was something like:

NK, OT/Lake, FV/DL, BW

[Zonais]

I have leveled 3 Bards with Swarm kiting.

I don't do it anymore because of nerf.

My route was something like:

NK, OT/Lake, FV/DL, BW

The nerf to number of mobs you can hit at one time? Isn't the xp of killing 20 things at once still worth it? Im legitimately asking.

[evilkorn]

Yeah it's still faster than soloing one mob at a time, but still not the same as rounding up as many mobs as you could and killing them all at once. I'm glad I leveled most of what I wanted, especially bard, before the mob limit nerf.

[Wallicker]

Well as a new bard to this server my route was as follows to 54 and was easy and I made good money:
1-2: newbie area or mail quest in Kelethin to Felwithe
2-8: swarm Both kobold camps in steamfont (drag the one above Ak’anon entrance down to Druid ring camps combine both into one swarm and kill) rinse repeat. Sell everything to Druid merchant.
8-16 willowwisps and grizzly bears in NK (turn in greater light stones and hold onto pelts for plat which you should use to buy 3-5 sow pots and songs) you’ll make 2-3k here
15-18 - orc highway in oasis don’t hit the priests and they won’t social can easily gather 20ish warriors risk free swarm rinse repeat sell everything to gypsies
18-26 - there are 9 iksar exiles on a 6 min timer in Swamp of no hope at the TT zl - sow pots make this trivial and super good do until 26. Drop 1-2pp each and balanced/finely crafted weps and lower gems.
26- ok you’ve been playing maybe 8-10 hrs now your lvl 26!!! You’ve got your songs sow pots and instruments! Head to FV one zone over get a bind at the outpost in FV. Head northeast pull every single srolvarg that moves around 60-70. You will only damage the lower level ones. Don’t worry as the lower level ones die you will level up and add more to your 25 mob queue! AVOID Goblins! Swarm down at TT zoneline in NE corner. 26-31 is one pull to give you an idea. Loot everything ESPECIALLY the teeth. Go back to outpost sell put money in bank. By the time your running back they will be respawning 100-200pp per pull.stay here til 45 off growlers and snarlers! At 45 you will go turn in your stacks and stacks of teeth to zip you to 46! BAM no hell level!
46-51 - guess what no swarming armed with a drum fufils chant of flame and frost. You will buy an EB item and go to bloodgills in LoiO with the 3 dots snare and fear you can kill all 12 bloodgills one at a time right before they respawn -> you will never run out of mana etc doing around 140dmg per tic non stop to these puny shits is just as good exp as swarming and RISK free! Lull to split first go around. 35% xp per hour.
51-54 - HHK you will kill the two nobles with drum dots then clear all the 2nd floor guards (15-20% Xperia’s/ HR here and you will make a shit ton of plat! You’ll never go kos to merchants just sneak sell FS to them.
Congratulations your lvl 54 and rich (20-30k) onward my fellow bard. Mem pbaoe snare and you are now god of all non summoning/casting mobs. You can do bards and nobles until 57-58 if you want to continue to make plat or you can swarm wherever the hell you want as long as your not impeding on others mobs! Don’t fuck with other people’s mobs or camps plenty of places to level!
Enjoy!

PS if you need me to show you any of the methods hit me up in game .

Wallicker <ALS>

[Evia]

Well as a new bard to this server my route was as follows to 54 and was easy and I made good money:
1-2: newbie area or mail quest in Kelethin to Felwithe
2-8: swarm Both kobold camps in steamfont (drag the one above Ak’anon entrance down to Druid ring camps combine both into one swarm and kill) rinse repeat. Sell everything to Druid merchant.
8-16 willowwisps and grizzly bears in NK (turn in greater light stones and hold onto pelts for plat which you should use to buy 3-5 sow pots and songs) you’ll make 2-3k here
15-18 - orc highway in oasis don’t hit the priests and they won’t social can easily gather 20ish warriors risk free swarm rinse repeat sell everything to gypsies
18-26 - there are 9 iksar exiles on a 6 min timer in Swamp of no hope at the TT zl - sow pots make this trivial and super good do until 26. Drop 1-2pp each and balanced/finely crafted weps and lower gems.
26- ok you’ve been playing maybe 8-10 hrs now your lvl 26!!! You’ve got your songs sow pots and instruments! Head to FV one zone over get a bind at the outpost in FV. Head northeast pull every single srolvarg that moves around 60-70. You will only damage the lower level ones. Don’t worry as the lower level ones die you will level up and add more to your 25 mob queue! AVOID Goblins! Swarm down at TT zoneline in NE corner. 26-31 is one pull to give you an idea. Loot everything ESPECIALLY the teeth. Go back to outpost sell put money in bank. By the time your running back they will be respawning 100-200pp per pull.stay here til 45 off growlers and snarlers! At 45 you will go turn in your stacks and stacks of teeth to zip you to 46! BAM no hell level!
46-51 - guess what no swarming armed with a drum fufils chant of flame and frost. You will buy an EB item and go to bloodgills in LoiO with the 3 dots snare and fear you can kill all 12 bloodgills one at a time right before they respawn -> you will never run out of mana etc doing around 140dmg per tic non stop to these puny shits is just as good exp as swarming and RISK free! Lull to split first go around. 35% xp per hour.
51-54 - HHK you will kill the two nobles with drum dots then clear all the 2nd floor guards (15-20% Xperia’s/ HR here and you will make a shit ton of plat! You’ll never go kos to merchants just sneak sell FS to them.
Congratulations your lvl 54 and rich (20-30k) onward my fellow bard. Mem pbaoe snare and you are now god of all non summoning/casting mobs. You can do bards and nobles until 57-58 if you want to continue to make plat or you can swarm wherever the hell you want as long as your not impeding on others mobs! Don’t fuck with other people’s mobs or camps plenty of places to level!
Enjoy!

PS if you need me to show you any of the methods hit me up in game .

Wallicker <ALS>


Excellent write up here! Thanks for the little bard lvl guide.

[Jlpstrtkng]

A little off subject but I’ve always wondered why bards are one of two classes to get illusion clickies. I can understand rogue as it kinda adds to the lore of being “sneaky” and masters of deception but bards? Anyone care to chime in?

[Zonais]

Well as a new bard to this server my route was as follows to 54 and was easy and I made good money:
1-2: newbie area or mail quest in Kelethin to Felwithe
2-8: swarm Both kobold camps in steamfont (drag the one above Ak’anon entrance down to Druid ring camps combine both into one swarm and kill) rinse repeat. Sell everything to Druid merchant.
8-16 willowwisps and grizzly bears in NK (turn in greater light stones and hold onto pelts for plat which you should use to buy 3-5 sow pots and songs) you’ll make 2-3k here
15-18 - orc highway in oasis don’t hit the priests and they won’t social can easily gather 20ish warriors risk free swarm rinse repeat sell everything to gypsies
18-26 - there are 9 iksar exiles on a 6 min timer in Swamp of no hope at the TT zl - sow pots make this trivial and super good do until 26. Drop 1-2pp each and balanced/finely crafted weps and lower gems.
26- ok you’ve been playing maybe 8-10 hrs now your lvl 26!!! You’ve got your songs sow pots and instruments! Head to FV one zone over get a bind at the outpost in FV. Head northeast pull every single srolvarg that moves around 60-70. You will only damage the lower level ones. Don’t worry as the lower level ones die you will level up and add more to your 25 mob queue! AVOID Goblins! Swarm down at TT zoneline in NE corner. 26-31 is one pull to give you an idea. Loot everything ESPECIALLY the teeth. Go back to outpost sell put money in bank. By the time your running back they will be respawning 100-200pp per pull.stay here til 45 off growlers and snarlers! At 45 you will go turn in your stacks and stacks of teeth to zip you to 46! BAM no hell level!
46-51 - guess what no swarming armed with a drum fufils chant of flame and frost. You will buy an EB item and go to bloodgills in LoiO with the 3 dots snare and fear you can kill all 12 bloodgills one at a time right before they respawn -> you will never run out of mana etc doing around 140dmg per tic non stop to these puny shits is just as good exp as swarming and RISK free! Lull to split first go around. 35% xp per hour.
51-54 - HHK you will kill the two nobles with drum dots then clear all the 2nd floor guards (15-20% Xperia’s/ HR here and you will make a shit ton of plat! You’ll never go kos to merchants just sneak sell FS to them.
Congratulations your lvl 54 and rich (20-30k) onward my fellow bard. Mem pbaoe snare and you are now god of all non summoning/casting mobs. You can do bards and nobles until 57-58 if you want to continue to make plat or you can swarm wherever the hell you want as long as your not impeding on others mobs! Don’t fuck with other people’s mobs or camps plenty of places to level!
Enjoy!

PS if you need me to show you any of the methods hit me up in game .

Wallicker <ALS>

This is actually pretty helpful, but i do think i could use some help on the execution of my swarming. Would you maybe be willing to show me a few times in game until i get the hang of it, Wallicker?

[Ruhtar]

Well as a new bard to this server my route was as follows to 54 and was easy and I made good money:
1-2: newbie area or mail quest in Kelethin to Felwithe
2-8: swarm Both kobold camps in steamfont (drag the one above Ak’anon entrance down to Druid ring camps combine both into one swarm and kill) rinse repeat. Sell everything to Druid merchant.
8-16 willowwisps and grizzly bears in NK (turn in greater light stones and hold onto pelts for plat which you should use to buy 3-5 sow pots and songs) you’ll make 2-3k here
15-18 - orc highway in oasis don’t hit the priests and they won’t social can easily gather 20ish warriors risk free swarm rinse repeat sell everything to gypsies
18-26 - there are 9 iksar exiles on a 6 min timer in Swamp of no hope at the TT zl - sow pots make this trivial and super good do until 26. Drop 1-2pp each and balanced/finely crafted weps and lower gems.
26- ok you’ve been playing maybe 8-10 hrs now your lvl 26!!! You’ve got your songs sow pots and instruments! Head to FV one zone over get a bind at the outpost in FV. Head northeast pull every single srolvarg that moves around 60-70. You will only damage the lower level ones. Don’t worry as the lower level ones die you will level up and add more to your 25 mob queue! AVOID Goblins! Swarm down at TT zoneline in NE corner. 26-31 is one pull to give you an idea. Loot everything ESPECIALLY the teeth. Go back to outpost sell put money in bank. By the time your running back they will be respawning 100-200pp per pull.stay here til 45 off growlers and snarlers! At 45 you will go turn in your stacks and stacks of teeth to zip you to 46! BAM no hell level!
46-51 - guess what no swarming armed with a drum fufils chant of flame and frost. You will buy an EB item and go to bloodgills in LoiO with the 3 dots snare and fear you can kill all 12 bloodgills one at a time right before they respawn -> you will never run out of mana etc doing around 140dmg per tic non stop to these puny shits is just as good exp as swarming and RISK free! Lull to split first go around. 35% xp per hour.
51-54 - HHK you will kill the two nobles with drum dots then clear all the 2nd floor guards (15-20% Xperia’s/ HR here and you will make a shit ton of plat! You’ll never go kos to merchants just sneak sell FS to them.
Congratulations your lvl 54 and rich (20-30k) onward my fellow bard. Mem pbaoe snare and you are now god of all non summoning/casting mobs. You can do bards and nobles until 57-58 if you want to continue to make plat or you can swarm wherever the hell you want as long as your not impeding on others mobs! Don’t fuck with other people’s mobs or camps plenty of places to level!
Enjoy!

PS if you need me to show you any of the methods hit me up in game .

Wallicker <ALS>

Great leveling outline! The only thing I'd touch on is the FV portion. Only pull more than 25 if you're the only one doing drolvargs. If you're doing pulls with other bards or druids doing quads or whatever, refrain from being a typical bard and pulling more stuff than you can actually kill. Not to mention depending on your PC, connection and location, you'll most likely run into quite a bit of lag if you're trying to do 50+. I used to do 60-80 before the nerf and would occasionally have drolvargs warp closer, bash me and I would die before the first swing finished.

Otherwise, solid advice and quick leveling!

[ScaringChildren]

A little off subject but I’ve always wondered why bards are one of two classes to get illusion clickies. I can understand rogue as it kinda adds to the lore of being “sneaky” and masters of deception but bards? Anyone care to chime in?

Historically, Bards were not only musicians/minstrels but also poets, performers, and actors.

The masks are probably meant to be 'costumes' of a sort.

[Cen]

Historically, Bards were not only musicians/minstrels but also poets, performers, and actors.

The masks are probably meant to be 'costumes' of a sort.

I was going to talk about the generalities of what a bard is but your explanation was so consise. Perfect.

Also tidbit, rogues can't get the water illusion neriad shawl, its bard enc only. Interestingly it was the first of a long line of bard enchanter only illusion items that came in later expansions, so bards became the big illusion collector :p

[Axlrose]

I must be the only bard in the game that does not swarm kite but goes in swinging weapons and using songs as enhancements (yes, I've been told across my numerous characters that I do not "play" this game correctly).

ScaringChildren wrote:

"Historically, Bards were not only musicians/minstrels but also poets, performers, and actors.

The masks are probably meant to be 'costumes' of a sort."

To add to this great suggestion would be the various masks are used to spy on the world and report their findings through the whole "mail quests". How would a bard hear the local chatter of a Dark Elf tavern except being disguised as one? Report what was heard and another person carries the news to the head of the bard guilds. The two entities that despise these proceedings - both Mayong Mistmoore and the dragons to the Ring of Scale, are power corrupted and do not want the mere peasants (the player character races) to be educated, much less informed.

Just a wild idea I always considered when I first received my dark elf mask on Live.

[Jlpstrtkng]

Historically, Bards were not only musicians/minstrels but also poets, performers, and actors.

The masks are probably meant to be 'costumes' of a sort.

That makes a lot of sense actually

[YendorLootmonkey]

A little off subject but I’ve always wondered why bards are one of two classes to get illusion clickies. I can understand rogue as it kinda adds to the lore of being “sneaky” and masters of deception but bards? Anyone care to chime in?

To help them seduce members of as many races as possible

[MamaKan]

You're all suggesting to play bard in a very cancery way.

Swarming ok it makes sense, its something only bards can do. You can find a wiz or any class that can mass AoE and make your life a billion times easier.

But soloing mobs with dots ? You guys are sick. Invite 2 random dudes in any xp zone and pull packs of mobs and have em kite. On bard you can go crazy pretty much everywhere and not die. Just enjoy the class, don't play the stupid xp bar game its the best way to hate p99.

[Tuurin]

Real question- why would you use sow to aoe kite? I always found strafing in big circles to be the best method. Honestly I don’t know how sow would help really. You still have to be within aoe range.

Seriously, this is the best method I’ve found: run around (w/ Selos) and gather 20-25 mobs and drag them to your aoe spot. Circle around until mobs are all clumped together tight. Click off Selos, start strafing, hit enter twice and then you are locked into strafe mode. Hot key whatever your best dots as 1-2-3 or whatever and then use right mouse to turn while strafing. Cycle through dot hotkeys and if you see damage to mobs then you’re in the right aoe range.

If you’re not hitting them, make your circle a little tighter (takes some practice- try it with just a mob or two until you get it down). No need for sow or any other speed enhancers- strafing is fast enough to outrun mist normal mobs.

[Wallicker]

I swarm by tapping the left arrow and can drink beer while I do it, only time I strafe is DN spiders

[Zonais]

Real question- why would you use sow to aoe kite? I always found strafing in big circles to be the best method. Honestly I don’t know how sow would help really. You still have to be within aoe range.

Seriously, this is the best method I’ve found: run around (w/ Selos) and gather 20-25 mobs and drag them to your aoe spot. Circle around until mobs are all clumped together tight. Click off Selos, start strafing, hit enter twice and then you are locked into strafe mode. Hot key whatever your best dots as 1-2-3 or whatever and then use right mouse to turn while strafing. Cycle through dot hotkeys and if you see damage to mobs then you’re in the right aoe range.

If you’re not hitting them, make your circle a little tighter (takes some practice- try it with just a mob or two until you get it down). No need for sow or any other speed enhancers- strafing is fast enough to outrun mist normal mobs.

When i hit enter twice and try to lock in the strafe nothing happens. Or if it does i get locked running forward but not forward and to the side. How do i auto lock strafe?

[Jimjam]

I think it depends on keyboard. Or maybe OS.

[Vizax_Xaziv]

You're all suggesting to play bard in a very cancery way.

Swarming ok it makes sense, its something only bards can do. You can find a wiz or any class that can mass AoE and make your life a billion times easier.

But soloing mobs with dots ? You guys are sick. Invite 2 random dudes in any xp zone and pull packs of mobs and have em kite. On bard you can go crazy pretty much everywhere and not die. Just enjoy the class, don't play the stupid xp bar game its the best way to hate p99.

When I leveled my Bard I would alternate between swarming, duo/trioing, and full-on grouping just to keep things fresh.

Oh, and ALWAYS swarm your way thru any hell levels to maintain your sanity!

[Cen]

Real question- why would you use sow to aoe kite? I always found strafing in big circles to be the best method. Honestly I don’t know how sow would help really. You still have to be within aoe range.

Seriously, this is the best method I’ve found: run around (w/ Selos) and gather 20-25 mobs and drag them to your aoe spot. Circle around until mobs are all clumped together tight. Click off Selos, start strafing, hit enter twice and then you are locked into strafe mode. Hot key whatever your best dots as 1-2-3 or whatever and then use right mouse to turn while strafing. Cycle through dot hotkeys and if you see damage to mobs then you’re in the right aoe range.

If you’re not hitting them, make your circle a little tighter (takes some practice- try it with just a mob or two until you get it down). No need for sow or any other speed enhancers- strafing is fast enough to outrun mist normal mobs.

Drive by method. For people who have a good connection and hate circles. Its my goto.