Guide to AoE Bard Kiting, here on P99.

[hdawg06]

What songs would best be fit for kiting in OT on the hardish side at 35? I have never really tried kiting, but am interested in giiving it a shot. Any information would be nice. I've read the thread, but the AE dot I have only does like 15dmg when moving so it seems like it would take a LONG time killing mobs with such little damage.

[Tewaz]

My name is Tewaz and I am kiting OT atm. Hit me or Tuneyards up in game, and maybe Auff. We three are there lately kiting. Oh and Tanja occasionally. I use DDD, the level 18 dot with a horn out and at 36 with the basic horn it ticks for 26 a tick.

[Arkanjil]

If you need any advice on bardly ways, just shoot me a PM and I can lend some assistance in-game. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[jerus]

Overthere is fun, Use Denon's Disruptive Discord with a horn and if you can get good at getting just a little closer Chords of Dissonance. 35' range on DDD and 30' range on CoD, then at lvl 48 you get Selo's Chords of Cessation which is also 30' range so you will want to practice and get good at it if you can.

Ohh and yeah it does take a while to kill a kite, but with the amount of mobs you do you can make up for it by killing more. Kill 10 mobs in 10 mins or kill 1 mob in 1 min, overall same xp, kill 40 in that same 10 mins and you would have to kill 1 ever 15s.

Also I use SoW potions or jboots for kiting as then I don't have to twist selo's giving me more time to relay dots on.

[Tewaz]

Originally Posted by falkun [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I AE kited most of my way from L7-46. Prior to 18, I kept to fairly small kites of 5-15 mobs. Once I got to OT (20-29ish, then again 30-46), my kites got super crazy, often involving 50+ mobs.

When I was <18, I'd take a hit or so, however with the added range on the L18 DoT, I was able to do larger kites, which meant if I did get hit, I died, so I did entire kites without taking a hit. Its way too easy to get 1-rounded when 50 mobs catch up to you.

For most of my EQ (including kiting) play, I use the "behind the back" view. When you start the game, press F9 twice and you'll be zoomed in on the back of your helmet. I then use the camera buttons to position the camera so the bottom clip is slightly below my feet, and when kiting, I set it up so the right side of the screen will JUST barely show my kite group when they are in range of DoT. This is done by adjusting your camera until you see your kite group when they get DoTed and getting a feel for this range. I believe the zoom in/out is insert/delete, while the ctrl+page up/down will tilt the camera up/down. I think I use ctrl+middle mouse and drag to move the camera vertically. If I'm wrong, you can check the keybinding for the camera in the EQ Options menu.

35 is a prime level to AE kite! The Overthere was MADE for bards to kite.

1)On the south and west sides of the zone (OT is split by the canyon in the middle), gather up every cactus (succulent), chicken (cockatrice), and tiger (sabertooth tiger/tigress) that you see. Just run around with selos, sing a single target DoT song on something as you pass by, and continue on to the next target.
2) After you've gathered up so much stuff that you are spending more time looking for targets than finding targets, you probably have a nice large train behind you. Now go to your kite spot (I use the green area around the "A" on this map of OT), and run big circles until your pack starts arriving. Run in circles to gather your pack, being careful to avoid getting hit by stragglers as they join the pack.
3) Once you have your pack all stacked up in one mob of monsters, then start slowly reducing the radius of your circles, twisting selos and your L18 dot until the pack is getting hit by the DoT. Rinse and repeat for 10min, you'll probably gain a level if you don't die.

With regards to step (3), different bards use different methods. I myself used a keyboard turn method. I would run with numlock on (auto-run) and then tap right turn with my left middle finger (right-turn was mapped to the "D" button), tapping D more often for a tighter circle and less often for a larger diameter circle. I would use my mouse to swap instruments between drum (selos) and horn (DoT) while also using my mouse to swap songs. Hmotzart, on the other hand, uses a different turning method which he explains in his guide that has already been linked. Learn the turning method that works for you and you will be a master kiter in no time.

This is great advice, also just click on Falkun and read every post by him on everything and you will be much wiser and officially "a young doctor".

[Tewaz]

I personally only use DDD in OT since I usually get atleast 1/4 of the mobs resisting. So I go selos>DDD>DDD repeat. It gives you two chances per cycle to land on those effing Cockatrices and Tigers that resist EVERYTHING. Anyways, I find doing this makes the whole pack die faster whereas the DDD and CoD makes the blues die quickly and the higher level stuff die more slowly.

Also, most people don't try CoD if there are tigers, tigresses, and/or Sarnaks in their pack since their range seems to be a tad bit larger than the cacti (cactusi?) and cockatrices.

I personally ONLY pull cacti and cockatrices.

Also use shift + "+" and shift + "-" to adjust your clip plane if you are laggy. (Turn up while pulling and down while kiting.)

[Kraftwerk]

Everything has already been said so I can't add to it, but let me say this... Being nice goes miles. I usually group with others in zone so they can enjoy exp, I got a 45 shaman 1y3b in hour and 15 min other day, he was ecstatic. It helps lessen the bard hate. And like Tewaz said I am rocking OT a lot nowadays ( think I had an 85 mob kite on Wed, it got me 5y1b ish) so do not ever hesitate to send me a tell (Tuneyards is my name) and that offer goes to Bards and non-Bards, I'd love to get you exp in OT!

[Mirakk82]

Okay, since there are a lot of bards here I might as well ask the question I always wanted to ask back in the day.

What is up with Bards and NOT being able to control their mobs when swarm kiting?

I was a necromancer on live, and would kite and reverse kite with absolute control over what I was doing at all times whether it was one mob or multiples. But if I saw a bard swarm kiting I'd have to FD to avoid being steamrolled. This happened relentlessly for years.

Were these bards just being A-holes and deliberately trying to kill me for carving into their xp magin? Or is it really that hard to avoid killing everyone around you while swarm kiting?

[jerus]

Lots of the mobs are pulled with just proximity agro and have very little agro on the bard, so if they have any reason to hate you they may break off their current path and agro on you. Mainly happening when they are kiting the same things, basically you have an Aviak, he has 10 aviak, some of the aviak are only proxi agro on bard they see you killing an aviak, they decide they hate you more.

At least that is how I understand it.

[Sloris]

Just kited 66 red con mobs at 29 in OT took over 30mins with all the resists was never hit once and got to level 31 off it. i really dont trust the auto circle thing so many lazy bards out there. skilled strafe running is the best way to AoE kite hands down so get off your butts and stop auto circling.


Remix 31 Bard