Charm/Fear Kiting for Druids (and friends)

 

With the release of Planes of Power, Sony has more or less killed quadding as an art. The sheer number of hitpoints on the mobs makes quadding impossible. Because of this, and an increase in the number of mobs in PoP that qualify as animals, druids have been switching to charm/fear kiting. Fear kiting is something necromancers know all too well. It's how 99% of them get to 60. To druids, it's a relatively unused art. This is a tough, tricky thing, especially if you've never done it before, and even when you get it right it's tough, but it does lead to faster experience, if you do it right and luck is with you.

I say luck because there is one element totally out of your hands: charm duration. Until you get dire charm, your charm duration is totally random and can end at any time.

There's also the random element of which way the mobs move when being feared. If you fear a mob and it moves off in a direction of other spawns, there is a good chance your pet will be attacked by adds. I've seen a charmed blood raven in the Plane of Nightmare get jumped by 3 treants, which sent me running like hell for the zone. Due to the coding, if your pet is attacked while beating on a feared mob, it will stop attacking the feared mob and defend itself. This is where things will go very, very wrong.

If you can partner with anyone, do it with an enchanter. They can slow the mobs and mez adds. If they have dire charm, then you two can own.

Buffs for yourself:

PotC/Aego

Regen
Spirit of the Eagle
Koadic's Endless Intellect

 

If you charm kite in the planes, particularly Plane of Nightmare, expect to get hit. It's inevitable. Even if you park your charmed blood raven several steps away and sit to med, if charm breaks, that thing could be on you in seconds, hitting for 250 or more. I love PotC for its mana regen, but you are going to need hit points, which Aego gives.

Spells to use:
1-Call of Karana
2-Ensnare
3-Shield of Blades
4-Tunare's Renewal or Nature's Touch
5-Glamour of Tunare
6-Savage Spirit
7-Engorging Roots
8-Repulse Animal

 

The heal spell is as much for your pet as for you. You have to realize these mobs have several thousand hitpoints. Nature's touch will heal less than 10% of a blood raven's hitpoints. That's one reason why you want to fear kite as much as you want, so you don't have to burn up tons of mana healing your pet. If at the end of a fight your pet is below 50% health, it's time for a new pet. Cast invis, which breaks the charm, root it, run off, get a new pet, and let that pet own your old one.

 

When your pet gets low on life, it's probably better to dump him for a new bird then either burn up a ton of mana healing him or waiting for him to recover. Park him a good distance away (/pet guard here) from yourself and invis. The charm will break immediately and even though blood ravens can't see invis, somehow that bird will know exactly where you are and come after you. So root it, grab a new bird and have it take out your old pet.


Glamour of Tunare is a questionable spell. It's the druid's Tash spell, so it lowers the MR of an animal. Funny thing, I've hit ravens with GoT and while I could snare them, they resisted the fear spell every single time. It's perfect for grabbing a pet. GoT and Ensnare, then Call of Karana. Expect to run a lot in between each spell.

 

Using it to pull a blood raven is questionable. If it's a short distance, I say don't. Blood ravens are fast, very fast. I think with enough distance they could outrun SoE. If it's a short distance, just snare it. If you have to run a long distance to pull the bird then use it. I never take my pet with me when pulling because if charm breaks in mid pull, you have a major problem. So park your pet in a quiet spot with /pet guard here and go hunting. Pull with GoT, run like hell, snare, and bring it to camp.

 

When charm breaks, you have to recharm your pet before anything else. Root the enemy mob and get your pet charmed. Throw a new snare on first. You can't apply a new snare to the bird when you've charmed it, so if snare wears off and then charm you could be in serious trouble. Snare first, then charm.


When you get adds, just root them and snare them. Remember, if you are fear kiting, your pet will stop attacking the feared animal and defend itself from the attacker, so have a back off key ready.

 

In Maiden's Eye, your best target are the shadow stalkers, which are black wolves. You want to be careful in ME because almost nothing can be feared. The easiest mobs to deal with are the umbrous toilers. They are in the mid- to upper-40s. They have the least hit points and don't hit as hard as the rest of the mobs, nor are they casters. Gorangas near the DSP zone can case druid spells which can ruin your pet's day.

 

By all means, avoid vampire bats, mind burrowers and reanimated dridges. Those things are in the 50s and hit hard as hell. Your wolf will get torn up, unless you have an enchanter partner to slow.

 

Enchanters are the best partner to get. Your pet can be hasted (imagine Shissar on a blood raven), which can be used against you of course, but they can also mez adds, your pet if charm breaks too close, and slow mobs. Enchanter slow is 70%, almost as good as a shaman. Enchanters also have a fear spell that works on everything, animal or not. A necromancer is also a good partner as fear kiting is their business and have a pet that they don't have to worry about turning on them.