metrosnowblind

Ok, the big argument between the soloing classes. Who makes a better soloer, a Necromancer or a Druid. I have played a Druid to 45, and a Necromancer to 53 currently, and I can say without any hesitation that NECROMANCERS SOLO FAR BETTER THAN DRUIDS. Druids revolve around two types of killing early on.

Kiting, the most common method is great, run circles around a mob while letting your dots ream it, and dropping nukes every so often. That method is pretty inefficient and mana intensive, but it works quite well. The other method is root-dotting. Simply root the inept mob, and dot it and sit... reapplying root as needed. That method is decent as well, great for non-casting mobs.

At higher levels, charm kiting can be done, but hey, Necros can do it too, and just as frequently on Undead mobs.

HOWEVER, Necros can do much better. Fear-kiting is hands down more effective and safer than regular kiting in almost any situation except dungeons with messed up pathing (which Druids can't kite in anyway). Simply pull with snare, like Druids, run back, fear it, sic pet, and slap on 1-5 dots based on the mob, sit back down, and twiddle your thumbs until you see an exp message.

Another thing is, we pull much better than Druids. Druids rely on lulling, Necros can FD Pull, and can lull Undead mobs anyway.

The benefits of fear-kiting completely trounce the benefits of regular kiting. You can't effectively kite or root-dot caster mobs. They'll run after you, and nuke you, or root you, or fear you, or blah blah blah. But when you fear kite, you give damage without any chance of taking damage provided you make sure that your target won't run into more mobs. And you can easily solo caster mobs that nuke hard or have been known to fear. In my opinion, doing damage without being hit or having to run around too much is greater by far then running in circles wildly nuking and making sure that the mob isn't too close or isn't casting or etc etc etc. This is a simplified perspective on the subject, but for my 2cp, Necros win this fight.

I and I'm sure others would like to hear fellow Necros and other Druids collective input on this subject.

Scrooluse

I myself have recently begun a Necro (3 days ago) and have progressed to level 17... in those exceedingly short levels I have found one irrefutable fact: Necromancers seem to reign supreme in the world of soloing.

As on my tag, I also play a Druid.. and they are absolutely LOADS of fun to cram some hardcore levels in with.. but during my time I've watched other druids use the charm/root/dot method of soloing... while the root/dot method is tried and true, the charm is a bit titchy to me. Take for example a level 60 Druid soloing in Maiden's Eye, they charm a ravenous beast and begin their pulling and combat method. At ANY given time during that fight with the other creature, that beast could break charm and turn on the druid... yes, they do have backup plans and cards on hand, but it is generally a very disconcerting thing and not to mention annoying.

Necro's take this foundation and build an empire on it. You've the main source for agro soak... your pet. Now your pet within itself is an incredibly formidable clattering sack of bones. It will possess abilities that belong to a myriad of classes and will oft use them to a rather devastating effect... let's return to the scenario of Maiden's Eye. You pull a creature and commence to slow and DoT it, from there your pet shall take on the happy task of brutally smashing it's face in.. here is where the second card comes in. Your fear. At any given moment you can be doling out horrendous amounts of damage due to stacked DoTs, a ruthless pet, and the creature is completely helpless to cease it's own walk of doom due to the Fear spell.

BUT! There is only a single catch... albeit a small one, but if you are unprepared it COULD spell disaster. Mana cost. Such tactics I've found are incredibly mana intensive and unless you've KEI or some other flowing thought item, the downtime will drive you to the brink of madness (C'mon, who hasn't played the Gems game on downtime to the point your hand hurts and you desire to wring the neck of the people that didn't put something more innovative in during downtime??)

Really it is harsh to call a judgement between the two... for when both classes are properly played it is a moot point. I could write a counter-argument for the Druid, but then I'd bore you folks to heck and I don't want that. Scrooluse wubs you all.

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The mind of a child is filled with magic because it has not yet learned to suffocate itself with the mundanity of experience.


Senzari Kajukenbo
Sons of the Spirits
Level 50 Monk

Cennidwen
Dark Hour
Level 25 Druid

Sthikik

Necros v. Druids is a good argument... but you are also forgetting Shammies.. we also can solo by Kiting, have a decent pet, and some of the best DoTs, the Best Slow, and other nasty things to do to our target. Who is actually best at it? that comes down to player style and ability... Even though my main is a shaman and can solo, I find playing the role of group support/back up healer, primary slower far more enjoyable since I like the social aspect of a group. Also shaman have less down time due to Cannibalize line of spells as most group members that have seen me chewing on my tail to get mana even with KEI... nothing spells luvin' than a shaman with full mana, and Low Health.

Gotta Luv an Iksar shaman, with KEI, SR, PoTG, Dar Khura, and Regen 3 AA... support your local Shaman... we will save yer buffs someday

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Sthikik FuzzyDragon
Iksar Shaman
Beneficium Decem
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Vishuz

Necros are good soloers to a point... until they need to start killing mobs greater than level 55 to gain any kind of good exp.

1-55 is just... easy. My necro is level 54, almost 55... I dont play him much except to farm cash for my rogue, but he was really easy to level to 54 and 5 AA.

Anyway back to my main point... like I said, Necros can fear kite in most places until they need to kill mobs greater than level 55. Mobs level 55 or more can't be feared... so what happens is that Necros then do one of 2 things.

- Kiting. Just like a druid, only with not so many nukes.

- Aggro kiting. This is just where you cast a low level spell you know will be resisted and let your non-taunting pet follow the mob while it runs after you.

Both of these methods are considerably more risky than fear kiting.

If you're talking raw exp gain while soloing, either for regular or AA exp, bards take the prize. Swarm kiting nets huge ammounts of exp at a time at higher levels. Its possible to do at lower levels (I was swarm kiting things with my level 14 bard in NK) it just takes a really really long time.

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Baron Vishuz Angrypants
65 Deciever of Crimson Legacy
E'Ci

Keben

I've never played a bard past level 8, and that was back in 99, but I will tell you that they are the best soloers, period, end of sentance =P My main is a druid, and its incredible to see what a bard can do. My friend Jarroll could solo Gullerback with his eyes closed. Also I've heard of a bard soloing Inny one time. What other class can solo a GOD?

Ghesta

You are forgetting one key point.

Starting at level 35 Druids can quad kite.

Certainly I would say that necromancers are better at soloing individual mobs more efficently than druids. However, when it comes to pure exp gain, a quad kite followed by a few moments of medding blows away a necro's fear kite exp hands down.

So, I guess the answer to your question would be "Its situational."

metrosnowblind

Aye Bards are great soloers, they can solo things that no other can, like Tawro or Radir, it just takes a few hours =D. Shamans are good at soloing yes, but the argument was necros and druids. And as for Cannibalize decreasing downtime, the Necro lich line is comparable, with less risk. As far as kiting goes, Necros can do it just as well as druids. Snare = Darkness line of spells, nuking = Insidious Retrogression or lifetaps, SoW = SoW potion or run3 or jboots, and voila. We can kite too. Aggro kiting is done effectively by necros. While druids can quad at 35, ulthorks, wyverns etc., that still doesn't make them good at soloing caster mobs, which is a big ticket item in the high end game. If you see the big phatlewtz most of the time that are soloable, the ones that drop off casters are usually > the ones that drop of pure melee for the simple fact that casters are harder to take down. So imo, "Better soloing" = exp gain and phatlewtz with low risk. Based off that, Necro wins.

Madenaya

well as a druid, you can control where the mob goes, where in fear kiting it goes in a random direction and can aggro more stuff...

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Madenaya Gladekeeper, 59th Keeper of the Glades.

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arkusrex

And what does any of this have to do with GUI's.A topic that's not beating a dead horse but grinding the bleached bones into a fine almost microscopic powder....It's been hashed and rehashed.I play all classes and the soloers are my favorite.They all have pluses and minuses.Now lets just move on.....

Vethor

I have found that both classes have their good and bad points ... but as a 60 druid. I know that leveling a Neco is simpler.

metrosnowblind

arkus, notice it's in the off topic chit chat section, it doesn't have to deal with UI's =P

Vishuz

If youre smart with fear kiting, you dont get adds. Also, adds are fairly easy to deal with. Since you shouldnt be chasing your pet all around, if you get an add its going to aggro your pet. While its beating on your pet, you snare it... which makes it come for you. Then you can do whatever with it.

Anyway, when you go to a new zone, you quickly figure out the best place to fear kite. Usually by a zone. Druids should know as well as anyone that a snared mob is of little danger.

Fear kiting is by far one of the most risk-free ways of gaining experience in the game. Which is probably why they made mobs above level 55 unfearable.

In the stated argument, Druid vs. Necro, its a wash. Different kinds of soloing. Necros can solo easily with little fear of dying. Druids can quad kite (FYI I've "quadded" 6 mobs as a necro before... its not hard as long as you pay attention...) which gives more exp, but more chance of messing up and dying.

However, if you want to talk pure exp gain, or pure ability to solo large mobs (if time is no factor...) bards own all.

Swarm kiting 20+ mobs > quad kiting. Sometime, ask a high level bard if they have ever swarm kited in Halls of Honor for massive ammounts of AAexp. Then ask them how upset they were when that was nerfed because they shouldn't be able to do that.

Sthikik

ok... going to sound like a noob... and since my Alt character bard is only level 25 now... what's Swarm kiting?

Daddun

I'd like to see a necro out solo a druid with a quadding 600+ charmed pet