Difference between revisions of "Druid all-in-one guide by Gaviilan"

Revision as of 21:37, 18 September 2014

Preface

Abstract of the guide: Hello everyone, I will introduce myself first. My name is Gaviilan and I have been playing in Project 1999 for a long time. I always kept my druid as my main character, despite the many challengues druids have to face upon. The purpose of this guide is to offer some help and tips to druids, in order to maximize the potential of the class. Also I want to show druids "solo" level tactics, like quadding and charm kite. Lasttly, it's also the purpose of the guide to point out the strenghts of the druids either in a standard group and when raiding.

Introduction: Ok, so you made it. You kept levelling your druid. You fought against all those who told you a druid is useless in the high end and you should let it in lvl 39 forever to rott as a porting machine. You ignored all those people that insisted you should level a monk/rogue instead. You sweated to explain people in KC/Seb a druid is indeed usefull in groups. You experienced victory when a possible wipe, followed for a 2h CR in Seb, turned out in a safe and pleasant walk from Emerald Jungle with an evac. You emerged victorious in every single Solo quite. You embraced the joy of outdpsing people in raids with charming tactics. Yes, you are a real Druid. This guide is for you.

Good histories always have a sad part

To begin with, I must warn you, the path of the druid is not easy. We can't heal as well as a cleric, or even a shaman, until Velious expansion hits. We don't have the miriad of buffs that a shaman has, but our natureskin buff it's probably the best all in one buff in game. We can't deal, in raw output, much damage as a wizard, but we're similar, if not better, than a magician class (our last nuke, wildfire, is similar to the magician high end one, plus we have DoTs and some useful clickies).

But by far, the real handicap of a druid is the lack of a slow/debuff spell. This can often turn you down in groups for shamans. We have to deal with this problem with our own strenghts, and remember that we have ports.

Many people won't understand our true potential in groups and you'll often be turned down for another class; its our duty to make those close-minded people change their mind about us. To make this happen, be sure that you always have the appropiate spell set in any group given situation. Use your nukes, heals, damage shields and buffs efficiently. Remember that you can do almost every role in game with a druid - so get advantage of it.

However - let's not fool ourselves. A druid will never fit in a min/maxing group (at least if there's no animals to charm around, and even with that). Think of the druid class like the number one soloers outdoors, and a very entertaining and challenging class to play. In certain zones (like Chardok, Kedge Keep or even SolB) a druid can perform very well, using charm tactics.

Druid strenghts

• BUFFS: It's your duty to keep the party buffed according to the situation. A level 59+ druid can do a huge favor to the group by boosting it's hitpoint Regeneration by 15 per tick (regrowth of the grove), Increase AC by 19 and HP by 405 + 4 HP regeneration (natureskin), increase Magic, poison and disease resist by 40 each (resist magic, poison and disease), increase Fire and Cold resistances by 45 each (circle of summer/winter), increase Strenght by 42 (girdle of Karana), increase attack of party up to 42 (Share Wolf Form), and put a DS up to 32 in main tank (Shield of Blades). Not counting having the most extensive travel buffs with SoW, spirit of scale and even share wolf form.

Use the appropiate buffs for a given situation always, and remember that natureskin doesn't stack with heroism and that your strenght buff doesn't stack with the high level shaman one. Also remember that our resist magic doesn't stack with the group resist magic of the enchanter class. Lastly, our circle of winter/summer spells will overwrite every other resist fire/cold spell and the high level magician damage shield will overwrite our damage shield.

• Charm animals: Go ahead and do it everytime that you can. We have a single target magic resistance decrease spell (Glamour of Tunare), we have charm spells, we even have a buff to our pets (feral spirit). Go ahead and charm as much as you can, it will hugely increase your DPS/usefulness.

• Direct Damage and DoTs: Druids have 2 line of DoTs, one magic Based and other fire based, along with a clicky Drones of Doom that stack with any other DoT!. Our epic has also a DoT + snare. On the direct damage side, we have a strong fire based DD line, caping at 1024 hp with wildfire. Lastly, we also have some ice-based DD, but they are not as strong as the fire line.

• Ports: I don't need to say anything here, do I? Bread and Butter of every druid !

• Tools to enhance mana regeneration: We also have some tools to enhance our mana regeneration:

- Spirit of Oak (+9/tick) (downside is that it turns you into a tree, thus unable to move) (also it overwrites SoW).

- Mask of the Hunter (+3/tick) (Now it stays after zoning, so be sure to have this spell always on).

- Form of the Howler (+2/tick) (Greatest run speed in game without counter-benefits).

- Protection of the Glades (+6/tick). (Velious) (Arguably the best buff in game).

Levelling

Druid solo tactics

Root / DoT

Probably the most known druid tactic to solo.

1. Find the MoB that you want to kill and pull it to a safe place.
   1. tip: You can use snare to pull the mob or directly a DoT (damage over time)or DD spell. If you don't want to waste mana when pulling you can use the Flame Lick spell, which it's also very quick casting.
2. Use your higuer level root spell avaliable and then DoT the MoB. For quicker killing, you can use both your magic based DoT line (Stinging Swarm line) and your fire based DoT line (Flame lick line).
   1. Tip (1) : if you have the Elder Spiritist's Vambraces you can also use them in order to triple DoT the MoB (it stacks).
   2. Tip (2): If you have your epic weapon ( Nature Walkers Scimitar ) you can use the click DoT it has. However, this DoT also have an snare component (/bonk Verant) so it's of little use right now, since root/snare doesn't stack. However, if you are outdoors and ran out of mana, you can slowly kill any mob with this item, by simple using the click and having the mob slowly die when chasing you. When Velious hits, and root/snare stack, this item will be of much more use.
3. Repeat untill the MoB is dead, loot, rinse and repeat.

While this tactic can serve you well when killing strong MoBs, it's often turned down for our other ways of gaining experience, because they are much faster. However, when killing nameds or place holders of a certain camp, this tactic is a must to use.

Quad Kite

Now we talking !! Who doesn't like to kill 4 mobs in the same row, while obtaining full experience for each one? well, a druid can do it, and very good. In order to do a quad kite safely, you need to be level 36 or more and have over 175 wisdom at the very least, or you will run out of mana before finishing the MoBs. Doing quad kites before level 36 is not that easy, but can be done. But for this guide, I will focus on the level 36+ quad kite.

Places to Quad Kite

Here are some places you can quadkite in (this is not an extensive list).

• Level 36 - 40
  • Frontier Mountains: Giant fort.
  • Overthere: Random MoBs.
• Level 40 - 53
  • Yetis and Drolvargs in Dreadlands.
  • Certain Dwarfs in Butcherblock (they don't hurt your faction) (I personally recommend to do this, great loot and xp).
  • Aviaks in Timorous Deep: Great place to quad kite. (starting at level 48).
  • Ogre Bouncers: Move into the city and quad them (Starting at level 45)
• Level 53 - 60
  • Raptors in Timorous Deep: Huge aggro range and very difficult - only for the experimented ones.
  • Seafuries in Ocean of Tears: Great money, but they start to /con light blue at level 56-57.

How to Quad Kite

First of all be sure that you are at least buffed with your bramblecoat/skin like line of spells. Be sure you have SoW or better yet, wolf form. For further safety, you can also regen yourself, but not needed.

1. Find four mobs you can kill with your Lightning Strike or Lightning Blast spell (depending on your level). Pull them.
   1. Tip (1): To see if you have enough mana to finish a quad, it's better if you first try to kill a MoB solo only with the spells listed above. Don't forget to ensnare the MoB 4 times, because you will need to use that spell 4 times later.
   2. Tip (2): Always use the Ensnare spell in order to pull. It last longer than Snare and it's much more safer to use.
2. Run in circles around the MoBs and pack them. The spell needs to hit all 4 mobs at once, so they need to be real packed in order to quad succesfuly.
3. Nuke the mobs to dead using the any of the two spells listed above, loot, rinse and repeat.

Advanced tricks (including SESSWRT tactic)

If you find yourself lacking 1 more nuke to finish the quad kite, you can use the SESSWRT (Gav's tm) tactic. SESSWR stands for sit-every-six-seconds-while-running-tactic. It involves sitting every 6 seconds, as the name states. Everything in Everquest runs on a 6-seconds tick, mana regeneration too. In other words, if you manage to run and sit down for 1 second every 6 seconds, you will get the full meditate tick (just like if you would be sitting non-stop). If you manage to use this tactic efficiently, you can finish every quad, no matter your equipment. You can also greatly minimize your downtime between quads. Be carefull when using this tactic, because being hit by 4 angry MoBs while sitting involves at least 4 critical strikes on your back, and it's not funny !!

Quad kite has always been my favourite method to level. If you have a Luminescent Staff you can basically powerlevel yourself from level 46 to 53 on Aviaks in Timorous Deep. After that it's of little use since Raptors run too fast to properly use it.

Always keep your Lighting Strike spell memmed along with your lighting blast, it will be usefull to finish off mobs. Also it's nice to keep a low level nuke to finish runners/low HP mobs.

Always use Ensnare. Snare will 80% of times run out before finishing a quadkite

Charm kite

Charm kite is a very efective way to level up your druid. For most druids, charm kite is the fastest way of levelling, since it needs very little gear, and you can repeat it almost forever without downtime. Charm kite basically involves killing an animal after another, by making them fight each other to death, and then finishing both with a nuke.

Places to Charm kite

Here are some places you can charm kite in (this is not an extensive list).

• Level 24-30: Mammoths in Everfrost peaks.
• Level 30-40: Tigers/tigress in Overthere. Griffons in North Karana.
• Level 40-50: Gorillas in Emerald jungle. Sharks in Kedge Keep.
• Level 50-60: Hounds in Chardok. Bats in SolB. Polar bears in Everfrost (probably starting at 53-54)

How to charm kite

First of all be sure that you are at least buffed with your bramblecoat/skin like line of spells. Be sure you have SoW or better yet, wolf form. For further safety, you can also regen yourself, but not needed.

1. Find the animal MoB that you going to use as your pet. Cast your charm spell on it.
   1. Tip (1): It's a good advise to first use snare on the pet you are going to charm if there are plenty targets around. It will help you outrun it if you are in trouble.
   2. Tip (2): Never use the Tunare's Request spell when charming. Always use your spell level charm, caping at Call of Karana spell. The reason it's simple, Tunare's Request is not working as intended in P1999, it will not last 2:50 hours and it won't make the animal aggro-less upon break.
2. Send it to fight a similar (if possible) kind of MoB or, at least, of the similar level. Don't forget to use your root on the MoB the pet is fighting or, at least, snare.
3. Wait until both MoBs are low on HP.
   1. Tip: You can turn the tides for your pet or against it if you see the HP gauge of the MoBs is not going down proportionally. To turn the tides for your pet, just cast a DoT, or better yet, use your Elder Spiritist's Vambraces. To turn the tides against your pet hit the /pet back off button untill you see the fight is even.
4. Use your Invisibility versus Animals spells in order to dismiss ("break") your pet.
   1. Tip: You can use your hide racial ability to dismiss your pet. Better yet, you can use your Goblin Gazughi Ring.
5. Use a low level nuke or a DoT to finish both MoBs. Get full xp for Both. Loot and repeat.

Advanced tactics

As a druid, you're one of the few classes (if not the only one) that can solo in Plane of Fear. Entering is tricky (if not nearly imposible without a raid force), but can be done.

Be sure that you full buff yourself before entering, it's better if you have clarity II from a friendly enchanter. Once prepared, invis yourself. Enter the portal and inmediately turn WEST (Left) hug the zone wall and continue south until you see a hill that you can climb. On the top of the hill is a small plateau in which you can set your camp. If the plane is full poped it will probably be difficult to enter without getting aggro though. If you get aggro - try to root every MoB and then quickly find a Gorilla to charm and finish them one by one. Then proceed to the camp site.

Once in the camp site - med to full mana. Go down the hill and turn left (North). A bit ahead there should be a single Shiverback (Gorilla). Use Ensnare on it, Use Glamour of Tunare on it, then use Call of Karana on it. After you make this friendly gorilla your pet, use Savage Spirit on it. You could also hit him with Regrowth if you want.

Now start moving through the south wall and pulling/killing everything you can (try to avoid toads, they cast nasty spells). If your pet dies, just go near the FF House (P1999 map). My advise is to do this very slowly and ensuring you're full buffed before each pull. Be sure to root any incoming MoBs and use your Spirit of Oak spell to regain mana if you need.

If you have a lot of time and you are very lucky you can (maybe) get to the gorgons and start killing them for your planar pieces. It's probably better to bring a group of friends before to clean entrance - some MoBs to the south wall. Also, having a friend cleric nearby is always useful. I have never been so far though. Mostly this is for druids that have done everything and want a higher challengue. It's very difficult, you will die a lot, you have been warned.

But when you do it - the feeling is awesome.

Dungeon crawling

WORK IN PROGRESS

Although this is not the purpose of the guide, I will share here some tricks to quick level your druid to full potential. I've never been a fan of charm Kitting, however, I did some in SolB (Bats), but mostly did quadkite to level. This is my experience:

1.- I recommend to start quadding at lvl 37 on Frontier Mountain giants. You can start pulling the blue "A montain giant tump" and move up. I did this up to 42.

2.- At 42 and till 49 move to dwarfs in BB. Great XP and great loot. The only faction hit you will get killing those it's against themselves ("Kaladim citizens")

3.- 49-53. You can either quad bouncers in Oggok or the much more easier Aviaks in Timorous Deep. I did aviaks till 53. If you have a lumminiscent staff, you can basically powerlevel yourself from 49 to 53 here, with no downtime.

4.- 53+. Only really two good choices avaliable for quadkite. Seafuries in Ocean of Tears and raptors in Timororus Deep. Seafuries are easy but have a lot of HP. Also they are great money wise. Raptors are difficult, have a HUGE aggro range and drop little money, but the xp is better. Your choice.

5.- 50+ Bats in SolB: This is a good spot for charmkite. Buff up and cast levitate on you upon entering the dungeon. Go right from the entrance and continue through the lava river. Soon you will see a bat standing in a little rocky platform. Charm it and make your way back. Now you can try do kobolds if you're 50-55 (Move to Royal's probably), or do some Bat'n'bugs.

6.- 55+ Bear Pits charmkite in Permafrost: If you like charmkite, this could be an option for you, although somewhat difficult. Bear pit below Voxs lair is a slight pain to get into, but once you are down there you can easily do 55-60. Pathing can be a pain with the ramp, but once you get the rotation down it's simple. Also dont use Tunare's Request (It only works on 35 and less mobs), use Call of Karana instead.(Thanks Auvdar for this contribution)

7.- 55+ charming in Chardok. You can charm the hounds near the entrance, and move bit up. It's very risky and I would recommend have Gate memmed all times. At lvl 58 I've found Call of Karana holds pretty well in them.

If you're going to charm, dont forget to savage spirit/Regen/DS your pet. If you planning to stay some time in the zone, it would be a good idea to cast natureskin and strenght on it too. Obviusly, if there's enough mobs to make pets of, forget the above, it's much better to simply make both of them fight each other, camouflage yourself and then kill both of the mobs with a nuke (they should have low health before you break your pet). But, unfortunately, this is not the case in the dungeons listed above, so you best buff your pet so it can last a while.

Let's talk about spell setup

I will use this part of the guide to show you my usual spell setup.

Spell setup when quadding

1.- Heal.

2.- Nuke (The most powerfull you have).

3.- Lighting Blast.

4.- Lighting Strike (To finish out a quad if needed).

5.- Random (Levitate, Regen, Skin etc).

6.- Root (The most powerfull you have).

7.- Ensnare.

8.- Spirit of Wolf.

If you dont have lighting blast still, you can mem. lighting strike in the third position and leave the 4 for a DoT or a low level nuke, in order to finish off low Hitpoint MoBs.

Spell setup when charming

1.- Heal.

2.- Nuke (The most powerfull you have).

3.- Regrowth / Natureskin / Thorns.

4.- Call of Karana.

5.- Switch between Glamour of Tunare/Savage Spirit.

6.- Root. (I found the higuer level Roots to be the most usefull time/damage/mana wise, so use always your last one)

7.- Ensnare / Fire DoT / Gate.

8.- Magic based DoT.

If you have your elder spiritist's auntlets on, you can use the 7.- slot for Gate or your fire based DoT

Tipycal spell setup in groups

1.- Heal.

2.- Nuke (The most powerfull you have).

3.- Buff slot (Regrowth / Thorns / Natureskin / Strenght / Resistances)

4.- Evacuate

5.- DoT.

6.- Root.

7.- Ensnare.

8.- Spirit of Wolf or second buff slot (The AoE root Entrapping Roots, can be usefull here too)

Some people use snare rather than ensnare in groups. It costs a little less mana but last only 3 minutes (anyway, you don't need snare to hold more than 1 minute in groups). However, from "my" experience here and in live, ensnare is less resisted than snare, and so I use it always. Please note there is no proper evidence on this and is based on my personal feelings. If you have your Elder Spiritist's Gauntlets on, you can also save this spell gem for anything else (maybe keeping thorns memmed all time)

Maximizing Damage output/Usefullness in Raids/Groups

This is the most important part of the guide. I will try to show here how to maximize druid power.

1.- Always ask for enlightement. As druids, we are mostly manaburners, the more mana the better in most situations. Also if you're above 54, use always your form of the howler spell. If you can use without disturbing the raid, you can use Spirit of Oak (level 59). However there is little use of this spell in raids, in PoF the tree is Huge and having to refresh sow/FotH each time is time/mana consuming.

2.- Always use group buffs: It will save you mana and will help your dps output (regrowth of the grove, circles, pack spirit, etc ..).

3.- Always ask your melees if they want share wolf form. It will increase their ATK by 30.

4.- The drones of doom effect of (Elder Spiritist's Vambraces) stacks with your higuer level magic-based DoT (Winged Dead) AND your fire based DoT!! So you can have a MoB Triple DoT'ed at any time! Use it on bosses and High HP mobs.

5.- If you having trouble landing DD's in a certain MoB you can try to first cast your "Ice" spell (lowers by 50 the fire resist of it) and then use your favorite DD (scoriae/wIldfire are youur best bets damage/mana output).

6.- Always Have your evac Memmed !! And I mean always !!, you dont know when a fight could turn into a cinch and you could need it. Of course, this only apply to groups.

7.- Dont understimate the power of Egress/Succor when travelling. It could save you a lot of time.

8.- Don't use Tunare's Request, Call of Karana is your best friend when charming. Tunare's Request is a fixed duration charm spell (2 hours) for only 35 and less level MoBs. My advise is to never use it, even on those > 35 level MoBs. The reason is simple, is not working as intended here in P1999, it won't last two hours. From my experience, Call of Karana always keeped the MoB charmed more time.

Charming in Raids

Charming is your best bet to do DPS on raids. It will hugely Increase your damage output. I found that Charming on raids is not reliable if youre not above lvl 54, so try it at your own risk.

- Preparing for charm.

To begin with, I will talk a bit about the controversial charisma issue. About 50% of the druids in Project 1999 thinks that Charisma has Nothing or very very little influence in druid charming, and another 50% thinks it has 0 (zero) influence. Count me in the 50% first ones. If I would need to give you a tip (this is a guide, after all) I would say that in most situations you will probably do better simply keeping your +WIS/MANA equipment on, in order to have a larger mana pool. However, I would advise you to stay above 75 charisma when charming (A charm buff always come handy, and you dont have to swap gear).

Anyway, if you want to test it by yourself,here are some items that will help you boosting your charisma.

• Vermiculated Crown
• Crude Stein
• Wolf-Hide Sleeves
• Drake-hide Leggings

- Ok, Im ready, What Mobs can I Charm?

There are 5 Mobs you can charm on raids so far in P1999:

• A revultant rat
• A shiverback
• Spite Golem Pet (PoH)
• A Soul Harvester
• Hounds in Chardok (But difficult to bring them up to royal's)

You will need the spell Call Of karana to charm Shiverbacks/harvesters.

- Lets Do it !!

First of all, tell your raid leader if you can charm.

Target your MoB and tell your local shaman/enchanter to lower it's Magic resistance (Tash/Malo). You can do this when the MoB is mezzed or when the main tank of the raid has aggro. Use Glamour of Tunare on it, Use Call of Karana on it. Asking another Druid/cleric/Shaman to watch over your HP upon breaks is also nice. Dont forget to ensnare the MoB you're going to make your pet before doing it, so you can outrun it when it breaks (simply run a bit and recast Call of Karana). Having it mezzed helps debuffing/charming again.

Don't forget to buff your pet (Feral Spirit) and also tell Shamans or enchanters to haste it.

- Considerations.

Ok, so now you have a pet that hits for 120, double hasted, you can DoT, Buff, Heal and DD for 1024, along with massive tools to enhance your mana regeneration. Who can say now that a druid is useless? You can outdps almost every class with a charmed pet in raids. Now's the time to turn the tides againts all those who called druids a waste of time.

When Velious Hits

The greatest improvements to druids when Velious come live in Project 1999 will be, no doubt, our new spells. The most important are the following ones:

Chloroblast 428 HP for 175 mana.

Nature's Touch 1000 hp for 400 mana.

Protection of the Glades. Arguably one of the best buffs in the game, and group casteable.

Druid Velious timeline

Root and Snare stack now -- 1 Month after Velious

Chloroblast + Nature's Touch spells added -- 2 Months after Velious

Track Skill Cap Increased from 50 -> 125 -- 3 Months After Velious

Faydedar + Venril Sathir made triggerable for Epic Quest -- 3 Months after Velious

Venril Sathir made 3 day respawn, VSR faster respawn -- 4 Months after Velious

Foraging when hungry/thirsty makes you automatically get food/water -- 4 Months after Velious

Wind of the North/South can be casted from anywhere + Egress works indoors -- 6 Months after Velious

(Thanks Daldaen)

Final Considerations

You can rest, you made it. You have a extremely powerfull class in your hands. It will surely require a lot of dedication and effort to make it truly ubber, but well, the path of the druid is not easy as I said Before. Go ahead, Stop Rain in zones like a God, Harmony those Aggro mobs in outdoor zones like a boss and Outdps people in raids. But dont forget, have fun when doing it.

I hope this guide helped you,

Gaviilan, Tunare's master.