Difference between revisions of "Hunting in Grobb"

Revision as of 22:04, 7 January 2021 (view source) Loramin (Talk | contribs) (→‎Advantages) ← Older edit		Revision as of 22:05, 7 January 2021 (view source) Loramin (Talk | contribs) (→‎Introduction) Newer edit →
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		+	{| class="wikitable"
		+	| '''Class(es):''' || [[Enchanter]], [[Magician]], [[Monk]], [[Shaman]] (and more?)
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		+	| '''Levels:''' || 32-39
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		+	| '''Zone:''' || [[Cazic Thule]]
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		+	|}
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	== Introduction ==		== Introduction ==

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Revision as of 22:05, 7 January 2021

Class(es):	Enchanter, Magician, Monk, Shaman (and more?)
Levels:	32-39
Zone:	Cazic Thule

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Advantages 3 Dangers 4 Camps 5 Front 6 Back 6.1 Back (Cave) 6.2 Back (Canyon)

Introduction

When most think of Grobb, they think of the starting city for the Troll race. However, because EverQuest was designed for city guards to be viable sources of experience and treasure, just like any other monster, Grobb actually makes an excellent solo hunting spot for good races (evil races can instead hunt Misty Thicket guards, Freeport guards, etc.).

Advantages

Why hunt in Grobb? The primary reason is the same as with every city guard: to sell their gear. The Grobb guards ("Bashers") all drop a worth 11 plat and some change, depending on Charisma/faction. They also always drop a (worth 1p and change), and very often also drop an (also worth 1p and change; slightly more than the shield).

Another advantage is that, as a player city Grobb is often overlooked by other players. Yet another advantage is that (with about 20 stacks of meat and the Wolf Meat for Wista quest) it's actually possible to gain good enough faction with the merchants of Grobb to sell to them (and killing the guards doesn't lower that faction). Alternatively, with a constant stream of Trolls, Ogres, and Dark Elves passing through Grobb, it's often possible to find a low-level character to help you sell. You could also create a Troll alt and drop-transfer items to have them to sell.

In addition to giving good loot, the Grobb guards also give good experience, and there are enough in the city to support 2 (or more if low level) characters at once. Finally, on the Green server, many Clerics have bound at the Timorous Deep firepots, which means that it can be much easier to find a rez on that server (since such Clerics only need to gate and click on the appropriate firepot to get to your corpse).

Dangers

Obviously fighting in a city of hostile trolls can be dangerous. Runners are a real issue, so having a way to snare, root, or nuke down low HP Bashers is very helpful. Also a few of the Bashers are located in pairs, so to break them up you either need some form of agro reduction (Harmony/Pacify) or some form of crowd control (Mesmerization or Root). Magicians without these spells can break up duos using their Earth pet, but before the 49 pet this will be very risky.

Another issue is that while the merchant NPCs won't attack you normally, if you fight a Basher next to them some will join the fight. For this reason it's necessary to pull mobs past merchants to safer areas before fighting them.

Also, keep in mind that some Bashers are significantly harder than others. For instance, Basher Scintok is significantly tougher than nearby Bouncer Nagkuma, and Basher Sutok is slightly tougher than the other front trolls.

Finally, the biggest danger is that several of the Troll guildmasters can Harmtouch or Deathtouch, resulting in a very quick end if you agro them. For this reason it's important to be very careful around the large open area to the right (just before the "front"/"back" separation), and when pulling Basher Thintan (wait until he comes to the end of the tunnel or else risk pulling the guildmaster behind him).

Camps

The zone has a 24 minute respawn time (for most mobs; Carver Cagrek and some non-Trolls respawn faster). This generally results in enough trolls (before respawn) for two players/camps at a time: "front" and "back" (although one higher level character can do all of front and some of back, if they're alone in the zone).

All of the Bashers are stationary, except for the ones marked with an asterisk (which move/path).

Front

Front is the simplest of the two camps, and has the advantage of being near the zone out for quick escapes. All of the mobs in the front can be single-pulled, except for Basher Bibeka and Basher Kumek (lower level characters, typically <49, may wish to skip these two). Usually it's best to start with Basher Sutok, as he paths close to the zone-in, and may agro if you try to pull Basher Razbaz first.

There are two main risks in the front. First, if you go past Basher Kankuk you will find Basher Nanrum. Although Nanrum will appear (and /con) the same as any other Basher, as a quest giver he has far more hit points than the rest (15k!) As such he should be avoided.

Second, as mentioned previously, there are several guildmasters across from where Basher Rakguk spawns, including Hergor. If you agro them they will end you quickly, so it's important to pull Rakguk/Avisk/Sutok back towards the zone-in to avoid that. Also, pet classes going in to fight Kumek/Bibeka must be careful to not send their pet in to attack to early, or the pet will agro Hergor. Wait until it follows you into the tunnel first before attacking.

In fact, it's just a good idea in general (at least at first) to pull all Bashers in the front to the zone line. This will ensure that if they run you have plenty of time to kill them before they agro Hergor, and it will also ensure that they do actually run when they are below 20% health (they won't if another NPC, including the Priest of Discord, is close by, so you need to pull fairly close to the zone line to avoid that).

Back

Back can be a little trickier, but it has one major advantage: Carver Cagrek. Although Cagrek doesn't drop swords (as the Bashers do), he does have a much shorter respawn time. This means that the player doing the back camp can kill all the Bashers, and then start killing Carver Cagrek in-between Basher kills if they still have extra time/mana.

Back (Cave)

To start the back camp you'll want to go to the back of the zone (presumably with Invisibility), into the cave area with Basher Bugak. Behind Bugak is a room with a dining table, and if you sit behind the table you can safely drop invis and summon a pet (or otherwise prepare). You can then kill Bugak, and then Banzuk, but beware of Kigak, as he will path into the cave at some point.

Justa s with "front", nearby mobs can prevent the Bashers from running, but if you pull them to the empty room with the table in the back they will be far enough away to start running. Also be careful when sitting down while fighting in the cave: if you sit down near A Froglok Prisoner or the Skeleton (in a cage) they may agro and join the fight.

Once you finish the cave Bashers you can kill Carver Cagrek. Be sure to pull him into caves before fighting him, or else the vendor NPCs will join. After him you can pull (to the cave) and kill Gamuk and Zazluk ... assuming you have a way to split them, or can take two at once.

Back (Canyon)

After you finish the Bahers in/around the cave, you can backtrack to the open area closer to front. Here you can either pull Nagkuma back to the cage, or you can fight Scintok (you'll want to pull him to the back of the canyon area he paths through ... but don't pull him all the way up to the tunnel, or you'll risk agroing Thintan if he paths too close. Basher Scintok is a bit harder than some of the other Bashers, but once you kill him you can use his canyon area as a safe pull spot for Thintan (and Nagkuma if you haven't killed him already).