Druid Powerleveling - best method?

[beev]

I've got a 43 Druid and of course I want to utilize him to help power level some friends from time to time. Any experienced druids here that have a good method and/or ideas on the best places for power leveling from level 1-30 let's say?

I've heard of things like spike shield myself and bring something down to low and have them finish it off but I want to do it right, right out of the gate.

[Daldaen]

Quoting a post I made earlier:

If you're PLing you want to tag every mob with a snare. Buff/Regen/DS yourself. You do more DMG from your DS (shield of blades vs. shield of thorns, and it stacks with our Bladecoat self DS line... 38 vs. 24), you regen more (Natureskin+Regrowth is 19, SLN+Chloro is 12), you take less damage (level 60 vs. level low). Which leads to you needing to heal less, which means you can pull more before medding, which means you let them level faster.

I wouldn't suggest PLing until 49 at the lowest. 54 helps with Regrowth, 57 with Natureskin, 58 with Shield of Blades and 60 with Mask.

Also worth noting in order of importance... DS Potions, Manastone, Robe of the Spring/Elder Spiritist's Greaves, Goblin Gazughi Ring/Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring.
DS potions add 31 DS at level 60, and stack with your DS spells (69 total). Mobs die to DS twice as fast meaning you take less DMG etc etc
Manastone converts HP to mana meaning even when running around, with Regen from Natureskin/Regrowth you are pulling in 20 mana every 3 ticks or about 6-7 mana a tick just by clicking it each time you're near full health. It does wonders to help maintain mana and since you're PLing you will always be in classic zones
Clicky heals are mana free 220-250 HP heals, saves mana and combines with Manastone it's faster than meditating.
Goblin ring for higher level PLing charm breaks, goblin skull earring for junk buff cause lots of low level casters cast cancel magic.

I suggest getting 49 before you start powerleveling. Jump from 39 spells to 49 is quite large.

How to Powerlevel:

• Snare every mob
• Have your person hit each mob (have the person use a cycle NPC hotkey)
• Tank the mobs until they die
• Heal as needed.

Protips:

• Buy and use Kilva's Skin of Flame (at level 60 it is a 31 DS for 12min... stacks with druid buffs). -- Costs about 250plat for an hour of buff
• Use a Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring as a top buff slot to save against Cancel Magic dispells
• Memorize and use both Snare/Ensnare.
• Utilize Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring + Global Recharge Removal to chain fire off Snare and Ensnare.
• Ensnare the final mob in a train when it is fleeing, let PL person kill it on their own to skill up melee
• Carry a fast all-class magic weapon on you (Smoldering Brand is great... Shark's Tooth is good but omits a few classes)

Doing higher level PLs (25-30+) uses somewhat different tactics. That isn't really relevant until you are level 60 though.

[beev]

Thank you Daldaen! Perfect for what I needed. Sounds like I have some more level grinding to do! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Luckily 46-51 should go by relatively quick with using a lumi staff I'm saving up for.

[Daldaen]

As for the best places...

High ZEM zones that are empty. Zones with lots of mobs are ideal as well.

Befallen is often empty, Cazic Thule / Sol A are often pretty empty.

Don't try to do Crusbhone or Unrest or Mistmoore type of zones. I may do a pull or two of basement if I am already there and it isn't camped, but very rarely will I bother trying to PL there since it is almost always camped and not worth your trouble to try to PL.

[LaithusFTW]

I would say start as soon as you'd like. Yes, 49 is going to be a good bit better than at 43, but you can still make leveling from 1-20 ridiculously faster for your friends than if they're grinding out the levels on their own.

As far as locations, imo the key is finding unpopulated areas. Unrest is a great zone to PL in, but it's too crowded. Befallen even lately has had people, so I've found alternatives. 1-10 I've been doing sro, cause there's a big desert full of mobs and no competition. 10-20 I've been doing runnyeye because there's never anyone in the zone. 20-30 I've yet to identify a place I'm entirely happy with.

One thing I didn't see Daldaen mention, and maybe it's intuitive, but when tanking low level mobs, repeatedly sit after the player has hit each mob, as it will let the mobs automatically hit you. They'll die a whole lot faster.

-Laithus

[Daldaen]

Sit spam I rarely do for a few reasons.

First and foremost, sit damage is broken on this server. A sitting player should take maximum damage every swing while sitting. Currently it doesn't work like this, and I sort of feel like that's cheating the system to guarantee low level mobs hit you and there isn't the penalty of that hit being a guaranteed maximum... Though I do occasionally get impatient with lots of misses...

Secondly it is probably just best to pull more mobs together and tank them so that the damage you are taking as a druid is equal to the damage you would be taking with a smaller train when spam sitting. Less pulls meanings less running back and forth and it makes up for the slightly longer kill times.

Thirdly (and least relevant to most people reading this) with a Manastone, health is mana. So I'd prefer to Manastone while tanking a mob that misses and keep robing to regen mana over spam sitting then healing and meditating after.

Yes you *can* PL before 49, but I'd highly suggest leveling yourself to 49 before PLing. You'll find your PLing to be vastly more effective.

[LaithusFTW]

"Sit spam" comes to down personal preference I suppose (taking manastone out of the equation). For me, there is a critical mass of creatures that I like to pull and kill before pulling more.