What exactly is Kite or Kyte?Follow

I have started a wizzie and i am traveling throug web pages and see Kyte alot in forums and tactics. just wondering what it is.

Any help is appreciated.

For Wizzies I don't think you can "Kite" exactly, but you can root and nuke, which is basically just like it sounds. Root a mob and then cast DD spells on it until dead.

Kiting however can work a couple ways.

1) SoW yourself, snare a mob, drop a DoT on the mob, run away from mob until you get a fair distance between you, stop and cast a DD on the mob, repeat steps as neccessary.

2) Snare a mob, fear the mob, then dot and dd like usual. This is fear kiting.

3) Quad kiting is snaring about 4 mobs, then doing the above steps except you cast an AE DD spell that effects a general area.

Good luck!

Thank you for the clarrification.


One more question. Can a wizzie solo or is it a group a character? I am ussually soloing my way through the game, occasional group here and there. I see lots of posts of tactics to use against mobs where you are using alot of mana.
Could a wizzie using the "kyte" tactic use the area effect spells with multiple mobs behind him'er be efficient and possible?

Thnx

Wizzies get a snare at level 29 and can most certainly kite. Either single mobs with a DD spell, or multiple mobs with an AoE spell.

To answer your last question, my wizzie soloed almost exclusively from level 30 to level 53 by quad kiting mobs. Quad kiting simply means snaring 4 mobs, running circles around them to get them in a tight group and then unleashing AoE spells on them as they follow you around.

A few tips :

1. When you are at the appropriate level, go somewhere like Eastern Wastes where there are wide open spaces. Snare a mob and then nuke him while he chases you. Practice the technique with single mobs and add more as you become more comfortable with kiting.

2. Learn how long your snare lasts. The key to kiting is to not allow that snare to ever wear off.

3. Learn the range of your nukes/AoE's. It's pretty much trial and error, but it's best to have maximum distance between you and the mob/mobs you are kiting.

3. Get some Jboots. You can snare kite mobs without them, but without more than normal run speed, it slows the process down. Jboots are a quested item.

4. Bear in mind that when you're kiting multiple mobs that sometimes, you'll land a critical blast with your AoE that makes the mobs' HP uneven to the point where your "quad" may get broken up. I've found that this doesn't happen usually with 3 or less mobs. But after it happens a few times, you'll be able do deal with it easily in most cases.

5. Be aware of any potential adds around you and keep your kiting pattern away from them. The way I usually do it is after I have my mobs snared and grouped up, I turn and run from them and nuke them as they come into range. Some guys walk backwards always looking at the mobs, but that can cause some problems.

6. Be CAREFUL that while you're running the mobs around that you don't drag them over other players. I've had toons sitting and medding that were killed because someone kiting wasn't paying attention (usually when they were kiting by walking backwards) and got me killed by their quad.

There's prolly a ton more stuff I forgot but that'll get you on your way. Hope this helps :)

I don't believe I've ever seen anyone root while quad kiting. Probably for the very reason that you stated. Snare 'em all, run in a circle around them once or twice to get 'em all grouped together, run a little distance then let your AoE spell fly, run a little, AoE, run a little, AoE, and so on.

The problem is that you are not quad kiting. First you don't root at all and second you use one of your four-target AE spells and not a rain.

Technique is to snare mobs one after the other while running away from them and then when you have 4 snared run around them in circles so that they bunch up into a tight group. Then use Lightning Blast to hit all 4 at once. If you only see 3 hits then they aren't tight enough. Make sure the mobs are the same or similar or they drop out of the quad on low health.

Typical targets at your level would be wyverns in CS, Spirocs in TD or poachers in JPF

Your rain spells are not as effective against multiple targets as the Lightning line. Also since the quad is continually moving they will not hit anyway.

Yes, thank you, my reply regarding snare was to the Druid and not the Wizard.

Instead of a black alloy medallion you can quest for a fine antique ring, or buy the parts in the bazaar for about 50-100pp.

Yes indeed. Nothing worse than snaring yourself while kiting. Been there, done that. But the mob(s) gotta be virtually right on top of you.

It's not a big AoE but it's an AoE.

Vovin said:


That's what I was talking about in my post above. I didn't mention the arrows, but I added the root to use less space when kiting, and the dots to add that extra bit of damage while I turn them into a pincushion.

Also,if you keep the mob snared, most will turn to run at 20% health. Provided that they're not rooted still. I usually use that time to practice a weapon skill that I need to work on (working 2HB on HGs atm).

And if you're a ranger who does a lot of arrow shooting while kiting, be sure to use some of the less expensive arrows (unless you can REALLY afford them). That's why I started root-rotting more and sitting between casts. I was using too many arrows on the HGs and I was spending more plat on arrows than I was making from the HGs. But to compensate for that, I just started fletching arrows that were less expensive to make, and still had a good damage (I always make the long range arrows anyway).

Absolutely correct. Um... There's one thing you really want to be aware of though. For wizards, it's pretty critical and makes the difference between getting really good exp and dying a whole lot.

The range for BoF (level 29 AE snare) is *very* short. If you are out of range of a mob, you get a message that the mob is out of range, and the spell does not cast. What this means is that even if you know the mob will be in range when the spell goes off, you can't count on that to drop it. With BoF, there are several factors that are tricky. The range of the spell is just barely greater then the distance that a mob can cover in the time it takes to cast the spell. Add in the fact that BoF is itself an area effect spell, and things get *really* dicey. If you snare yourself because it went off too close, you're going to be in a world of hurt.

For this reason, if you can pick up focus effect items that reduce spell casting time, do it. Trust me. Use BoF on unsnared mobs running at you a couple times and you'll see how close they get before the spell goes off. If you can cast faster, you'll get a larger margin of error.

This also means that any lag will kill you. Fast. Druids can afford to cast their 14 minute snare on mobs, take their time rounding them up, then leisurely nuke or dot them to death. Wizards can't. Our quad kites are *fast*. A typical kite should take less then 1 minute, and better take less then 90 seconds. Depending on your level range, you'll be dropping 4-6 AEs on the mobs to kill them, and they recast pretty quick.

Um... Terrain is important. Hillsides tend to make mobs seem farther away then they are. You don't want that to happen when you're dropping your first BoF. I've even had some bad bits of terrain prevent the AE nuke from going off until the mobs were close enough to hit me. Melee range for mobs ignore Z axis, but PC spells do not. Always try to kite in flat, open spaces if you can.



As to the term kiting. It does indeed refer to the fact that a kite follows the person holding the string. You are the person flying the kite, the mob is the kite, and the string is it's agro path towards you. The idea is that you can control where the mob goes by moving since the mob will always follow the path of the "string". If you are rooting, you are not kiting. That is referred to as either root'n'nuke, or root/rot (depending on whether you are nuking or doting). Not that you can't do both, but if your primary tactic is to keep the mob rooted in one spot rather then running it around, then you are not kiting.


I lost track of the changes made over the years, but I seem to recall that there are damage differences applied to mobs depending on whether it's rooted or not. My understanding is that a mob that is agroed on you, but unable to move towards you (rooted or feared) takes like 66% of the spell damage it would otherwise take. This may certainly have changed though, but I know it used to be that way (specifically because root/rot and fear kiting were considered too powerfull). In any case, all three mechanics are distinctly different.

Of course bards kite best of all becuase they do it manna free. The only limit for a bard is that if a mob is too high, virtually no damage is done because of resists. Bards also get a very fast run song.

Shaman kite very well in some circumstances. No snare, so you depend on your own Sow to have a better run speed than the mob. Use your AoE dots or single dots.. and they stack, too.

A fun way to improved your kiting skills is to use SOUND not graphics (if you are a shaman). You only have a few seconds to cast as a mob approaches, which you waste in turning around to look. So LISTEN. run ahead of the mob... when you hear footsteps, you start casting, and it usually will be just right.

You can also run and click your spell.. if out of range you get a message. If out of range, stop, and click again and again till the mob is just in range.

A form of kiting works optimally (for shaman) with a partner. ANY character that can snare duod with a shaman is a great combo. By the way, if your using a pet, set "taunt" to OFF, and let teh mob chase you while pet nips at its heels.

Wizards don't get a AE root, but Druids do. IIRC.