How well can Enchanters solo these days??

[Autotune]

Originally Posted by Splorf22 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I could be wrong about that - I got mine off the rotting corpse of the courier directly and in a rather lucky fashion. I would pay almost any price for it though - a Gazughi Ring will help you way more than a Hierophant's Cloak, for example.

One last thing: IMO the main fun in soloing is testing yourself. A well played enchanter can solo camps no other class can come close to (I laugh at the guy who claimed necros can solo better than enchanters. The reality is for 1-59 enchanters are by FAR the most OP class in EQ).

But ultimately the fun in EQ is about making friends and spending time with them, not racing to 60. I can tell you from experience that being level 60 is rather boring, especially as an enchanter. Basically, your class abilities are so OP that Verant simply disabled them for most high end mobs (imagine being able to charm or mez Nagafen). So raiding for an enchanter is mostly sitting and casting clarity/haste on people that ask for it.

Necros can solo better than enchanters. Period.

Enchanters might be more OP, but definitely not better at soloing.

[greatdane]

I leveled an enchanter to 52 almost exclusively through charm-kiting, I'd have done it to 60 if I had cared to keep playing the character. I did like ten levels in the Cazic-Thule sewers, wearing pretty modest gear, so you don't even have to be extremely safe to do it. It's definitely harder now without the bugged whirl and troll illusion, but it's perfectly doable. You'll want to have 200 charisma, more than that is nice but not necessary, and you'll want to wear HP gear in every slot you can find. If you can't afford charisma gear, make that your top priority after 5/55 rings. Most of the gear is dirt cheap by now, and you can quest for some of it yourself in your mid-30s or so. Things like Rod of Insidious Glamour and Incandescent Mask that used to go for 1k each can now be bought for a few hundred if you're patient, and the rest of the set is stuff like JC bracelets and drake-hide leggings that you can get for pocket change. This is what you'll want to aim for:

Neck: I know there's a new one in Kunark but I can't remember the name, so go for the JC one or that gypsy medallion
Head: Siryn Hair Hood, should be under 1k, maybe under 500 now
Face: Incandescent Mask, used to be upwards of 1k but probably also 500ish by now, can quest it fairly early if you get someone to kill the Mistmoore mob for you
Earrings: Opalline Earrings from Unrest (should be like 50-100 each, you can just camp them in your 20s)

Rings: 5/55 ones, don't wear charisma rings in the one slot you can get great HP in for little money
Wrists: Those JC ones, they should be like 75 each or something
Arms: Nothing really, you could get Gatorscale if you care, or even Azure Sleeves
Hands: Nothing affordable, just wear whatever you have at hand (hehe)

Shoulders: Nothing much, there's that HP/mana cape from LGuk but it's not that cheap
Chest: Noble's Robe
Back: Not much to be had on a budget, don't spend on +int if you're poor, goal would be Hooded Black Cloak for 3k or so
Waist: Again nothing, maybe Braided Cinch Cord down the line
Legs: Drake-hide Leggings, should be like a couple hundred at most
Feet: Nothing much except maybe Kobold-hide Boots

Primary: Rod of Insidious Glamour, 500-1kish, can quest it in your 30s
Secondary: A Crude Stein, loot it in Oggok whenever someone is camping the guards
Ranged: Nothing worthwhile

All those little +10 HP from things like Gatorscale Sleeves, Braided Cinch Cord and Kobold-hide Boots add up nicely, but charisma gear is by far more important and it's the only thing you really need. When you have 200 charisma, you're ready to charm-kite. Notes:

- Make liberal use of your level 4 mez. It's great, costs almost no mana, and is conveniently short. You should always have this memorized, and you should use it whenever you might otherwise take some damage. When charming a mob, for instance, I'd first mez it, then tash, then charm.

- Don't fuck around with stupid things like hasting your pet and/or slowing its target. Your goal is to have your pet kill its target while retaining as little HP as possible so that you can break charm and kill it afterwards. Trying to make a pet last more than one kill is dangerous, not only because there's a higher risk of charm breaking at a bad time when you keep it that long but because a charm break on a hasted mob is bad news.

- Target mob should be rooted at all times, and you should be far enough from both that you can quickly mez your pet if charm breaks, before it reaches you.

- Always keep Gate memorized and don't be afraid to gate if the situation looks likely to turn bad. Don't hestitate to do it or it'll usually be too late. You're better off gating 10 times when it wasn't necessary two of those times than you are dying three times. Also keep your best AoE stun (the color spray line) and use it whenever a mob gets up to you.

- Keep your rune up at all times. When you get higher level and your runes start costing peridots, just keep using the one that costs a bloodstone or jasper or whatever it is. It'll do the job most of the time, you should get any situation under control after one or two rounds of melee.

- Your spells generate huge aggro. All of them. Don't expect your charmed pet to hold aggro unless you don't cast anything in the target mob. It should always be rooted anyway, but still keep it in mind. Also, when your charm breaks, all the aggro your pet had generated is transferred to you. Never try to get your pet to take aggro, always just root the target mob.

- Avoid caster mobs if at all possible. You're super frail and they'll wreck you if things don't go perfectly. If you have to deal with a caster, charm it and then try to make sure it's almost dead when it kills the target, then break charm and instantly mez it. If one nuke won't kill it, walk right up to it, then nuke it, immediately stun it with your color spray variant, then mez, then nuke again. You do not want to risk getting a big fat poison dot on you or letting the mob heal itself so you have to nuke it several times. You'll get mana back much faster than you can regen HP, so don't be afraid to spend a little extra to prevent damage.

- If you have to wait for anything while you have a charmed pet, try to have it guard somewhere fairly far away from you if possible. That'll let you mez and re-charm it without getting hit in case it breaks. Sitting right next to your charmed pet should only happen in small spaces or unsafe places where it can't be avoided.

- Remember to keep troll illusion up at all times. It used to be bugged and hugely overpowered, providing like +5 regen. It only gives +1 now, but it's still worthwhile, you take forever to get HP back and every little bit helps.

[Splorf22]

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

Necros can solo better than enchanters. Period.

Enchanters might be more OP, but definitely not better at soloing.

For single targets outdoors, sure. For undead, it's probably a toss-up. And it does take a while to get that 200+ charisma. But anywhere else? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think a necromancer could solo even something easy like the Chardok entrance, let alone something tricky like the King in Guk. For example, soloing 2 dark blues as an enchanter is lull/mez/tash/charm/root/pet attack/l1 nuke/charm break/stun/mez/recharm/get XP/break charm/mez/nuke. In 3-4 minutes I can kill two L45+ mobs and still be FM at the end. If you can do that as a Necromancer, my hat is off to you.

Regarding CHA gear: Great Dane has pretty good advice. Incandescent Mask (+7) and Rod of Insidious Glamour (+12) are both pretty easy to get at L30 with some help. Crude stein (+15) is I think 100p or so in East Commonlands, but I got mine for free just running down to Feerot and asking to loot from someone killing the guards. The CHA bracers (+7 each) are also cheap, and Opalline Earrings (+5) and Nobles Robes (+5) are also cheap, as well as Drake Hide Leggings (+5). So that is +68 charisma for under 500p. For another 1K you can get a Gypsy Medallion (+9) and a Siryn Hair Hood (+11 IIRC), bringing you to +88. The L34 charisma buff is something like +30, so that's +118, meaning you are close to 200 even if you started with a low charisma race. AFAIK the effect of charisma is linear up to the soft cap, meaning if your average charm is X at 100 charisma, it will be 1.5X at 150 charisma, and 2.0X at 200 charisma.

I don't recommend memorizing gate - enchanters just don't get enough spell slots for it. Instead, make a spellset with ONLY gate in the bottom slot (all others empty). You can the /mem gate and cast fairly quickly, although you do have to pay the recast time.

[Yinikren]

Also, a note about caster mobs: Dotting mobs are usually ok to solo. The cool thing about mobs is they can't damage you when they are your pet. If you get dotted by a mob, due to charm break or whatever, recharm it and your dots will all drop. Useful when charming a caster.

[Galanteer]

nice thing about enchanter -can effectively charm solo at most levels, can effectively solo with animation at all levels, can effectively duo with most classes, and is highly desired in groups.

[Snagglepuss]

Hi all,

I haven't logged in since last December, and I remember charm being very dependent on charisma levels over 200 as well as being ineffective pre-39. I've searched through the forum, but I was wondering if anyone could re-cap the current charm situation for Enchanters with regard to its effectiveness at lower levels and realistically obtainable charisma levels.

I solo-charmed on live almost exclusively to 50, but I would get very frustrated on p1999 when charm would only last 20 seconds or so at level 20. I read somewhere that charm is no longer as charimsa dependent? Is this true?