Wayfarers of Veeshan

Do any necromancers out there have any tips on killing mobs?

The reason I ask is that I've been playing more with Piped, and I really enjoy it. However, I'm not sure what kind of kiting would be the best way to gain experience. Typically I just dot them and run while the pet beats on them, but then again, I read a lot about fear kiting, and even root rotting. Does anyone have any opinion as to which they like more, and if so, why?

As a necro who almost never solo'd, I can honestly say I don't
have a lot of experience. My best recommendation is to find
a party, group with them, use yourself as a "HP siphon" for
the main tank, and hide behind the healer. That got me
to level 61 nicely.

However, as to soloing...
1) Fear kiting was always difficult for me. Obviously it's pretty
useless in a dungeon, as that was just asking for a train.
Out in the open zones, my luck with it was just as bad.
More often than not, it ended up with a dead pet, and
me FD'ing until the 10 mobs that I'd picked up while kiting
went away. I'd like to ask a Druid or Bard how it was
they could fear-kite so successfully when I just sucked at it.

2) My best solo method was to root-rot. Since the pets usually
stink relative to even dark blue mobs, I treated them as
(a) a last-ditch shield if anything approached me and
(b) the final killing stroke once I got a mob down to about 10%.

Usual method was:
1) Lich
2) Snare/Slow based DoT for quicker getaways once Root breaks (epic 1.0 is good for this)
3) Root mob (extra-quickly if #2 failed to land)
4) Re-try snare if it failed at step #2
5) Begin the "HP sucking" DoT to offset Lich
6) Hit the mob with additional DoTs (I often kept 4-5 loaded at a time + epic)
7) Sit and med
When mob hits 10%, send in pet

About the only change-up to this would be if the pet were tackling
multiple mobs, or the mob was particularly tough and the pet's
attack skills had to be used before 10%, I'd run the "HP giving"
anti-DoT spell from me to the pet which would help keep the pet alive.

I found that even with Lich and the "HP giving" spell going, I could
still have just the "HP sucking" DoT on the mob and *generally* if
I'm sitting still, I wouldn't lose HP at a dangerous rate.

YMMV,

Drex

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Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

Wow thanks a lot for that write up Drex. I will try out your method you mentioned. I never tried root-rotting, but it seems as though that would give me more time to sit and med. With my method and fear-kiting, it seems like I'm always running away (or chasing) the mob... and that gets old fast.

I just wanted to warn you about root/rotting: It's incredibly boring.

A friend of mine used to snare a mob, sick their pet on it, then kept the mob feared. He'd then toss on the dots. I'm not a necro, but I remember watching him do it and thinking that I wish I could solo as efficiently as he could.

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Expert Artisan Orionpax
Master Alchemist Raznorak
"Til' all are one!" ~Optimus Prime

Altho im not a Necro, How i Solo/Quad kite on my wizard is Snare something , And run in large circles Tossing Nukes once i outrun them. It would be the same idea for necro. I did my low 50's in Mesa( Dont get close) And i did most of my mid-high 50's in PoNightmare.

Aye, just running around the mob while your dots do the damage is also another alternative to root-rotting. People prefer different ones mainly because A) Root-Rotting involves a few moments of casting, then gives you time to wait for it to die, B) Using the run-around method, it keeps you constantly doing something, which is nice if you get bored of root-rooting also.

Simply, I would suggest either find a tank that is soloing and add some dps/heals for him, or if you solo, use one of those two methods. Fear kiting takes awhile, involves more running, and can lead to messy adds/trains, so I would not suggest this method, but you can use this method if you get and add, get your first one rooted, let your dots kill that one, and rinse and repeat with add. Is nice if you want constant pulls/have the experience with it to do it.

Good luck Pipe, if you ever need someone to group with, just toss me a tell bud

all good advice above ,but i would add, know the spot you pick check it out invis first if you can or sit and watch it for a bit ,nothing worst than getten you mob to 10% then find out the 6 mobs that wander through that camp want to play also.
the hardest thing about soloing is finding a spot that fits your style , is easy for you to get to, and is not over camped all the time.

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Snowcap lvl 85 High Elf Wiz / 102 park circle , Elm woods

Snowdark lvl 90 Dark Elf SK / 103 park circle , Elm woods

Aye, I agree with snow. If you need to know any zones that would be good, feel free to ask, I can probley tell you where to go using any of the methods/tell your wandering paths/ect.

Heya, feel free to holler at me ingame, and I'll get on my 57 Necro (Nikomya) for some death-dealing-duo action =)

As far as kiting techniques, it really just depends where you are...

PoN for example, you can fear-kite, agro-kite, or root-rot the ravens by the river, but most other stuff (graveyard trash, gargoyles, etc) can only safely be root-rotted or agro-kited.

As mentioned above, most dungeons are root-only, but some you can agro-kite...

The main thing I had to make myself learn...it doesn't matter how close the mob is to being dead, if you're likely going to die for whatever reason before it does, FD and start over.

Oh, and carry a couple Essence Emeralds at all times


Sazha