Coercer Help. Like starting all over

[Knuckle]

Hey All,

 

I could use a little help.  I haven't played EQ in over a year.  I just tried playing my coercer... and good god I am totally lost.  Could anyone give me a lil insight on strategies / zones...or maybe a link to a guide....

 

Any help would be appreciated ...

 

Its an entirely diff. world compared to last year ...

 

Thx ....

[Roloc]

First off some details please. Like what lvl you are, what is your play style (Quest, dungeons, or grinding perhaps).Things like that and I will be glad to give my recommendations.

[Knuckle]

Thx for the reply....

Sorry man..I am such a dougie .... I realized that information would have been helpful about an hour too late...I am lvl 28 and have never really developed a play style...I haven't tried to find a group since I have been back, (because I'm clueless) and it wasn't too easy for a coercer  to find one in november of '04.  Most of my time was split between dungeons, and lame attempts to solo.

Any info would be appreciated ....

 

 

[Delameko Stone]

You'll find it easier to solo now, so that's a plus. The biggest problems with finding groups in the early game is that most people don't know what a coercers role is or they've grouped with a coercer/illusionist that didn't know what they were doing.  But later on you'll find more people looking for coercers, if only for their buffs. You might consider rolling a new character to re-familiarise yourself with the game, as a lot has changed since you've been gone.

[DwarvesR]

For soloing, get yourself a no -arrow pet.  Don't use your "Exhortation" group buff line, but instead put the "Demeanor" spell on your pet so it builds more hate.  Send pet in to attack.  Once pet has engaged mob, hit your "Ego" nuke (roots mob for 9 seconds), then toss on your reactives.  Hit your Hesitation (mob doesn't attack you if it's rooted, after all) then add your dots.  By this point, your 3-hit melee reactive is probably gone, so now it's time to stun/stifle in order to make your pet not get hit while your dots and the nukes you toss right after the stun lands finish the mob off.  Re-root as necessary to keep the mob off you and beating on your pet instead.  Add more reactives if necessary too.

For grouping -- it depends on the group makeup.  Generally you will forego having a pet, choosing instead to use your hate and dps buffs on the fighter, and your dps buff on any scouts or other fighters you may have in group also.  Groups generally dont' like to have another potential add (your pet) around, after all.  Plus your buffs (especially the hate buff on the tank0 can be quite invaluable.

For myself, if I'm duo'ing with a fighter, the fighter knows to never ever aoe attack (though aoe taunts are fine).  Fighter pulls, I mez the group, then focus on helping the fighter burn through the mobs 1 by 1.  Re-mezz the group as necessary, add stifles and stuns as necessary to prevent fighter from taking damage.  Against single mobs, just keep it stifled and stunned as much as possible, tossing in reactives and nukes as you can. 

For larger groups, again. . . it depends on the makeup of the group and also what you are pulling.  If with a warlock or other aoe class and you are pulling groups, don't bother mezzing, but add stuns and stifles as you can, dots, debuffs. . .general group help.  If an add or group of adds wander in, they're yours to mez, though.  If you don't have aoe classes in group, make sure everyone knows not to use their limited aoe abilities, but let you mez the group intead.  If pulling single mobs then your stuns and stifles are your best friends, along with your debuffs.  In a lot of ways, the coercer is a "damage prevention" class, and your healer will thank you for your help in making his job easier (stunned mobs don't hit your tank, stifled mobs only autoattack therefore doing a lot less damage).

That's pretty much it.  A good coercer can be the difference between a wipe and being able to take on those 3 groups of mobs at the same time.  You won't do a lot of damage until you get higher and can get some pets that do a ton of damage, and once that happens, then maybe it's time to consider having that "potential add" in your group too.  Until then, though. . . just enjoy the ride.

 

[Nemi]

We have two main roles in the game as I see it.

 

Buff bot

 

In this role our main job is to beef up everyone else in the group. Buffs to have up are:

 

Mind Buff (+resists and +power)

Breeze (+power regen)

Demeanor line (+hate on Tank)

Bravado line (+dps on tank + scouts)

See Invis on tank is also worthwhile (and it costs no concentration)

 

Main job during combat is dependant on the encounter

 

For a single +++ mob

You should cast your Pysche line (-ve to all resists) followed by your Gloom line (-ve to magic, divine and mental). Cast your stifle and then cast Sybillant line (melee reactive) and then your mental dot. Once your Sibyllant line has expended (3 procs) cast 1 of your stuns and when that is about to expire, cast your other stun. The mob should be dead and your tank is probably not even scratched =)

 

For two ++ mobs

These will die quicker than a single +++ mob, I found best technique is to stun the mob that is NOT being attacked (it prevents it doing damage but will still take damage from AoEs), once stun is applied, TAB to other mob and cast your psyche line and sibyllant, TAB back to other mob and the stun should be wearing off, cast your other stun then debuff with psyche and sibyllant (your group should now have killed other mob and switching to this one). I usually start to nuke at this point only stopping to stifle when the stun wears off.

 

For groups of 3 or more

These mobs tend to die so fast its pointless to debuff (encounter would be dead before pysche would refresh enough times to cast). Lead with your AoE DD to do some damage. I tend to look for Sorcerers or Priests in the encounter and either stun/stifle or mes them to prevent them from casting. Also if your AoEs get aggro I stun/mes/root the offending mobs. I really find Coercers lacking with 3 or more mobs in an encounter, we only have 1 AoE spell and its pretty pitiful in damage, not only that our direct DDs are so small to really make any impact, so I find it best to sit back and do more of a mop up role.

 

Regardless of encounter size

Always look for adds. Let your group know YOU will be responsible for adds and try and educate the tank not to switch encounters. Nothing is more frustrating to have locked down 1 or 2 encounters of mobs only for the tank to switch encounters and some wiz to drop an AoE on them. With adds lead with your Awe line of spells (AoE mes) quickly followed by single target mes for any that resist. If more than 1 resists use your backup mes - Root (it has pacify and blindness effect). Your job now is to keep this encounter from doing anything, so get them messed quickly and then start to debuff them. If your tank is clever when they finish the first encounter the tank should target any healers or casters first, so if you have time cast your Despotic Mind line (spell reactive) on them.

 

 

Our second main role is DPS

 

To really get the best out of a DPS role you need to have a Master level Charm, Adept 3 can work but it gives headaches and the damage from Master is definately noticeable (around 25-30% more)

 

Buffs to have up in DPS mode

 

Breeze (+power regen)

Charm (3 concentration slots)

Bravado line (+dps on pet if melee but try to get caster and cast on the tank)

See Invis on tank is also worthwhile (and it costs no concentration)

 

The job of DPS is similar to above but you have to always bear in mind that your pet can break Charm at anytime, if you have a Sorcerer pet and its anything above no arrow you need to stay on your toes. While you can still do the job above, you'll find that Charm tends to break at the worst times (like when you have adds and all of a sudden you now have an extra add from pet). You also need to consider keeping spells in reserve for charm break.

 

Best way I found to Charm wayward pets is to first make sure noone is going to "save you" because believe me they will only get you killed. Start by rooting the mob (higher resist penalty than mes), if succesful cast your pysche line to debuff pet, then mes it and then Charm it. Once Charm sticks you can cancel your root and mes and send pet back into attack. If root is resisted try for your mes to stick, failing that you want ot have a Macro informing group you need HELP!.

[Zeroimagination]

Thanks, Nemi.I've solo'd (and small group'd) for 50 levels trying to catch up to the bulk of my guild.  I was really dreading trying to learn to play my character as a group char that late in the game, but your guide looks like a lot of help.

[Alaeth]

Breeze doesn't take concentration, so you can put up one more buff than what Nemi listed (usually I do stat buff+resist buff+hate buff+DPS buff x2 without a pet, and stat buff+hate buff+pet if there are good things to charm).

[Nemi]

Sorry, I should have mentioned using the +dps buff more than once. My list wasn't really a concentration list, more of what buffs to use.