Mastering your bow skillz

[shadewill]

<DIV>I've heard a lot of hooplah about people saying rangers suck and such...come watch me solo one of these days, i take out groups of mobs that usualy require a group of 3 or more white or yellow cons ^ with little to no problem...it's just a matter of concentrating and knowing your class. So here is a simple guide (not a god, feel free to improvise) as to how i do it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. I like to sneak up and stealth stab the first mob, but first throw on a fresh pathfinding and whatever buffs you got that are sorta long term</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. if they see through hunt just backshot or range em whatever you like</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. slap a snare on the mob your chasing (please SOE give us an AE snare?)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4. run in a staggered oval kind of nascar circle (hehehehehe) while firing off arrows</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5. when snare runs out the mob your actually attacking will run up on you for revenge, before you slap the snare (or as i like to call it the "eeeeeeeeasy tiger, back off punk") punch your HO button and as your running backwards completed the HO (you may need to hit the buttons a couple times as the mob goes in and out of range) then snare him </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>6. also spam your HO button! it's like regen! like 13-15+ hp (higher as you level) every few seconds </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So umm....yeah that's about it, make sure you got wide open space, (*$#@ Nek...to many trees as your running backwards you get STOMPED when they catch up) <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Dashofpepp]

<DIV>Interesting thought on HO acting as a self heal...I'll have to try it out.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Retribution - Befallen</DIV>

[Kthaara]

<DIV>I do notice very small increases in health when stabbing the HO button, but not enough to make that much of a difference.  I doubt that you can effectively kite groups of ^ yellow mobs. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Well known fact that soloing is easier at lower levels.  25 to 30 is a pain.  30 is ok.  For a while.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What is the original posters level?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Kwent</DIV>

[Araze]

Scouts rock at lower levels / up to 40.Try soloing single mobs con blue to you at level 45. With some skills and luck you will win 1 of 5 fights. Maybe 2 when tuning your tactics a little.If you do better than this, kudos to you, respect and all.

[Jay]

<DIV><FONT size=2>Heh, thanks for the overview of Ranger 101. While I don't want to discourage rangers helping other rangers, give the rest of us a bit of credit - these are fairly basic tactics that I'm sure most rangers are using by the time they make it to their mid-20s. If not...yikes. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></FONT></DIV>

[shadewill]

<DIV> <DIV>first of all my toon is 26 so to the guy who said i must be under 25....CLOSE! however i have also had 30+ rangers sit there like an audiance and ask me for advice anyway i'm just tryin to help hehe but the HO may not seem like much but keep in mind when your running backwards kiting there are a lot of "pauses " between getting hit,  i've seen it go 30 -40 seconds without getting hit....and yes i do solo yellow^ groups....as long as they're not casters......i was soloing groups of centaurs in TS since i hit 21 hehe and they're 23^ groups so </DIV> <P></P> <DIV> <P>Mikiel Vindictus, Master of supposedly "Impossible" Kiting</P></DIV></DIV>

[Vecsus_E]

<DIV>You won't be soloing yellow-con group mobs much longer.  I got jumped by a cat in Everfrost last night and the first hit landed for 1300...then there was a pair of 450's that had me reaching for the escape key.  I never made it.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I still easily solo solo mobs 4 levels higher than I am but I occasionally run into one thats on steroids and kicks my [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot].  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My solo tactic is simple.  Sniping Shot (upgrade to back shot), Cripple, Triple.  By the time those are done the mob in is my face but is down to about 70% hp.  The rest is just HO and CA til dead.  If necessary you can add a flame shot but since it's a green-con skill to me it's not worth the arrows.  If you find yourself getting beat down too much, you can snare and run back for another bow shot or ranged CA.   I always get back to max power by the time Sniping Shot is ready to be use again..so there is almost no downtime.</DIV>

[Cex]

<DIV>I think too many people are confusing the term "group" with meaning more than 1 mob. A "group" encounter is any encounter listed as Heroic. Heroic used to be Group. Mobs and groups of mobs with no heroic or epic tag are designed to be taken solo or 2-3 players. These are "solo" encounters.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So when the guy about said he solo's yellow group mobs. He most assuredly is talking about a yellow con solo encounter made up of more than one mob.</DIV>

[shadewill]

<DIV>not true, i meant flagged as heroic</DIV>

[Ebjelen]

<DIV>I prefer to use the stealth moves when I'm fighting with a group. A couple of good bow moves like back shot or wounding shot followed by open shot are far more effective than a single stealth move. If you're good, you can get off 2 or 3 stealth moves per mob when you're grouped, but solo you just get the one stealth shot.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, you need to be really careful when kiting. First off, there is no way to run and look backwards at the same time. So eventually you're going to slip up and get some adds. Second, there is anti-kiting code. If you get just a little too far from your mob or take just a little too long to kill it, then it breaks of, regens, and then probably re-agros on you.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Versatility is the key. You have to be able to switch from bow to stealth to straight melee, in any order, with less than a thought.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[GoNom]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> shadewillow wrote:<BR> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. I like to sneak up and stealth stab the first mob, but first throw on a fresh pathfinding and whatever buffs you got that are sorta long term</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. if they see through hunt just backshot or range em whatever you like</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. slap a snare on the mob your chasing (please SOE give us an AE snare?)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4. run in a staggered oval kind of nascar circle (hehehehehe) while firing off arrows</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5. when snare runs out the mob your actually attacking will run up on you for revenge, before you slap the snare (or as i like to call it the "eeeeeeeeasy tiger, back off punk") punch your HO button and as your running backwards completed the HO (you may need to hit the buttons a couple times as the mob goes in and out of range) then snare him </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>6. also spam your HO button! it's like regen! like 13-15+ hp (higher as you level) every few seconds </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So umm....yeah that's about it, make sure you got wide open space, (*$#@ Nek...to many trees as your running backwards you get STOMPED when they catch up) <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Okay I'm not flaming I swear, just trying to put your tactics into perspective, 8 levels from now.  Solo mobs I currently tangle with, have between 3K-5K, basing that on the 10-15% that Deft lunge does when I hit for 500's.  So now I need to do about 2500-4500 HP of damage by bow kiting.  I use a longbow (Stormfire) which is far better then anything available at your level, my max hit with a straight Ranged attack, with Feysteel arrows, is about 115.  Since it has a fire rate of 1/7s.  My absolute best DPS with it is probable around 15.  So its going to take me about.......200-300 seconds to kill this mob, thats not counting misses, absolute best case scenerio there.  Sot thats 5-7 minutes of kiting minus the refreshes on triple shot/Flaming arrow and poison procs, so lets say best case I can drop the mob in 4 minutes, reminder - this is a <U>solo</U> mob, a blue con for that matter.</P> <P>Group mobs in the same area, probably have at least 3X as many HP, so easy math dictates that the encounter would take approx 12 minutes to take down a blue group encounter.  So I'm going to go through about a stack of arrows, and take 12 minutes to solo a <U>blue</U> group mob?  Thats just poor time management, and my chances of not running into another aggro mob are pretty slim to none.</P> <P>One more thing you will notice, is that mobs in Tier 3 zones (Zek, El, RE) all mobs run at PC sprint speed when unsnared, PC run speed when snared, and pathfinding has no effect when engaged in combat, so they will constantly be pounding the heck out of you.  The group mobs there hit for 300+, I have 1884 HP unbuffed currently at lvl 34.  So 6-7 hits and I'm toast, and no 13-15 point heal is going prevent that from happening.</P> <P>Again your giude may work for you now, and at 26 I was taking green/blue groupies as well, but in the very near future, that part of the game will become extinct to you, and you'll be postiong about your soloing ability diminishing very soon.  </P> <P> </P> <P>Also I have to agree with a previous poster, give the rest of us that have been playing the same class as well, some credit.  It's not "hooplah".  It's a legit problem the higher you get, those makeshift arrows your probably using and loving, are going to lose their effectives real soon to you, and you'll be farming Feysteels as soon as you get rip like the rest of us, just to keep DPS up to par.</P> <P>Don't get me wrong, at my level I have little to no problem out DPS'ing anyone besides Wizzy's/Warlocks and Assasin's when they can land Assasin's blade in a group.  But have learned from posters that outlevel me, that the end of those days are drawing near.  I also enjoy soloing, but have realized the class limitations that currently exist and choose my solo targets carefully.</P> <P>So while you are the self-proclaimed "King of kiting", you'll find it is far too risky, and just not worth the time investment to continue it for much longer.</P>

[shadewill]

well i'm now 28 and soloing grouped heroic orcs in zek, like the catapult boys and even some of the red to me 33 2 and 3 to a group orcs up the hill, so obviously i'm still doing ok hehe i actually grouped with a 29 templar the other day and was like, "just sit there do nothing and get your quest updates" and meanwhile i was kiting a group of 4 orange heroic orcs plus 3 adds of yellow grunts....sure i had to refill my arrows a few times and i ran out of power and by then end was just spamming open shot and running in circles, but i never went below 95% health and killed all 7 mobs without help from the templar....rangers rock, and you know what? i'm at level 28, by the time i get 50 they will have probably fixed all the stuff people on this board are complaining about, if not hey you know what? i'm having fun now, i don't care about 50 yet, i'll tripple shot that cow when i get there <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[kyshander]

I have trouble soloing green heoric mobs <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> maybe my gear and tactics are horrible.  Although I can solo yellow regular mobs though. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Zemeckis]

I have no trouble soloin as a post 40 ranger.  Yellow ^^ are easy when you kite...and it is really fun to solo nameds that take a good amount of people.

[kyshander]

I'm a bit wary of kiting since the mobs only seem to follow for a limited distance in some cases.......  then you loose out on your time and xp :smileysad:

[Kthaara]

<P>If it were that easy to kite orcs in Zek, every ranger would be doing it.........</P> <P>Yawn..</P> <DIV>Kwent</DIV>

[Flust]

<P>It is that easy to kite orcs in Zek, if you are staying near the docks, lumbermill, and mines.  Problem is like all kiting for us.. its not time effiecent at all.   Specially when you start to get into ^ and ^^ mobs.  The poison does more dmg than we do with our bows.  </P> <P>To the OP.</P> <P>Its great that you are enjoying kiting and the class.  I still kite at 41 on some mobs.  Its usually cause I need them for a quest or I get jumped, or I'm just that bored.    But, trust me when I say that kiting isn't effiecent.  Aside from killing named and quest mobs, its a hell of a lot faster to kill yellow solo cons mobs for exp solo.  You will gain more exp per hour that way then taking down yellow ^ or ^^ mobs.   Granted, it is fun sometimes to just see if you can.   Enjoy it while you can.. things do change that makes it harder to kite later.  </P>

[Chimeric]

<DIV>I also spent much time bargging about my solo skills to my 30+ ranger friend Nulas. </DIV> <DIV><BR>He's a good guy, and he quietly listened to me, and congratulated me on my skills. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Then I hit 25... and things started to change a bit.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>at 27... it's simple you cannot work on quest (AND) solo at the same time. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It's that simple. You CAN solo, and find stuff to kill, but it sure as hell won't be things that will complete quest for you.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm now finally learning my grouping skills and how to play nice with others. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Once I took a shower, people don't tend to avoid me as much, but I' still get comments about why i'm doing all that bouncing around, and stop moving I can't heal you etc.. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So now I do my ranged attacks move up and stay put. Generally I'll move back to range distance after the first mob drops because things are recharged..  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>repeat if necessary.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Its humbling.. down right humbling for rangers to hit those levels, especially ones that have spent alot of time solo. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV><p>Message Edited by Chimerical on <span class=date_text>03-30-2005</span> <span class=time_text>04:17 PM</span>

[kyshander]

I'm at 27 now too and it seems that any of the good quests that most of the mobs are heroic in difficulty and I need more than just myself, so I do what I can and finish those other quests when I get lucky enough to have someone else on the same path.

[Neumann]

<P>im a master kiter, ive been one since eq1. solo'd many ^^ named mobs, the hardest ones seem to be the spell casters i just have to survive long nuff for em to run outa mana. some of the named i have under my belt, Countless named in Zek, that giant lizard guardian in obelisk, the fire toad in lavastorm, drina the mess cook, horguz the hoarder; in runnyeye, scorpupine, the sludge creep, chomper, arayna the wicked; all in enchanted lands. they are grey to me now, but ill look for a LFG lowbie to add so i can kill em and split loot with em. kinda annoying now that some grey mobs will still aggro you while ya kite with em in group so ill have a train chasing me around. ive learned to stay away from the named mobs till they are atlast 80% cus they will wack ya for round 1k+ and also poisons @$$. but to just solo reg mobs, takes to long, rather find a group.</P> <P>Neumann the Grammarless,</P> <P>Kithicor</P> <P>I'm the kinda G that little homie's wanna be like</P> <P align=left> </P>