Question for higher level Necros!Follow

I have never been a big solo toon. I came to EQ with a friend thus have always grouped. I relied on my pet and learning curve to level myself.

I have a Druid friend that relies on charmed pets and quad kiting to level. She encouraged me to charm the dead and try to get experience like she does. I personally didn't like it but am wondering if I am missing something as a Necro by not being efficent at it.

I have rot rooted and feared early on but never was a big kiter. The lack of sow unless I carried potions really made kiting inefficient for me and the fact that I really could only handle one at a time. I just seem to do a better job having more control over the mob I sm fighting. Our cling spells are not near as effective as a Druids, I found them resisted a lot and or course our root is not as strong either.

Fast forward...I charmed last night in Maiden's Eye and yes the charmed pet by far held up better than my pet. But I also found that between watching for adds, watching for my charm to break and being prepared to FD if all else failed I was not able to dot efficiently. When I finally began to do that of course between the agro my charm pet had and the sudden agro my dots had the mob was all over me.

I am wondering if Necro's truly rely on charmed pets and kiting as a means to level. I guess I am wondering more than anything if I have missed something vital early on by not using my toon this way.

I agree - I have a druid and necro in the 50's and my experience with charming undead has generally not been good as you noticed. It can be useful for specific situations but not fun for general levelling with the necro. The druid can do well with animal charming in several zones because of the long ensnare spell nad rooting and dotting the mobs. You may want to try the boats in dulak depending on your level with the necro since its easy to either just tak with your pet, aggro kite as above or fear kite depending on your level and boat. There is now an experience boonus there too. If the boats are too high then there is plenty in other dulac areas that you can solo or group. There is also a quest in the luggald caves for nbecro spells.

To effectively charm the undead with a necro you need to have high CHA. I switch equipment to raise my CHA. (I can get about 230 CHA max with the equipment I have). If I use the Word of Terris to charm an undead mob, I can use it for about 20 mins max. I would suggest you have 2 charm spells up in case one breaks because the recasting time on them is quite long. I also recommend that you stay a good distance away from the action so you will have time to either recast charm or FD when charm breaks. By the way, charm will always break at the most inopportune time (I guarantee it). If you're too close to the action you'll find 2 mobs beating on your wet toilet paper armor and interrupting your FD. Usually it looks something like this:

A war torn spirit hits you for 260 melee damage.
An animated mercenary hits you for 230 melee damage.
Your casting was interrupted.
A war torn spirit hits you for 265 melee damage.
Your casting was interrupted.
You have died.....
You have been slain by war torn spirit.
LOADING PLEASE WAIT.........

A couple of other notes:

I have noticed that it takes longer to clear agro from a charmed pet than it does from a regular mob.

Nadox and Veksar are zones perfectly suited for this type to hunting.

If you hunt with a partner, find one that has root. If your partner can root one when charm breaks, your chances of survival increase dramatically.

Descarte Meditations Arch Lich - Povar



Edited, Thu Apr 29 12:03:14 2004 by Barto