Ench - when to start HS?

[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 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] 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]

Originally Posted by cooler2442 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

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]

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

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.