Hiya folks, I'm looking to make a Druid to molo with at least till I get to the high levels where i'll start grouping. How do druids do with molo leveling? I plan to use a warrior merc till around 50 then switch to a wizard merc to burn things down faster. Any advice for a returning n00b? Thanks!
A wizard merc on AE Burn can tank 4+ mobs until at least level 60 (and still going) and kills much faster then any other merc (until they run out of mana which they quickly regen). The only time I've bothered with a warrior merc is for certain deep red con named hunts in places like Nurga, Grieg's, Veksar, and the like.
The only merc I molo with is a tank. Mind you, there were no mercs til I was in the 80s anyway. But if I'm soloing, I'm fighting mobs which can be snared and don't summon, so I can kite/root, and don't need a merc. If the mob summons, then it has to be tanked, and nothing I've seen in those higher levels is worth using except a tank. Not sure what levels the OP is meaning, but once you get up there, plan on using the tank merc when fighting summoners. If the goal is to just absolutely XP as fast as you can to catch up to the main population, then you should plan on just soloing non-summoners, either quadding/quinting, root-rotting, or swarm charming, and skip the merc. I've done all three, and all three are very fast XP, with the restriction that there will be limited places where you can do this. That can lead to boredom. However, that was also in the age before auto-grant. If I JUST had to level, a druid can get to level 100 VERY quickly.
Warrior merc and a caster merc. Use the caster merc whenever you can kite. Check your xp rate. Sometimes the merc pays for itself, sometimes it doesn't.
Tried in the past. Stupid merc wouldn't stop getting in melee range and buying the farm. Gave up after (admittedly a few) tries. Any tips to make it work? Also, is it worth it? Per your last comment on watching XP rate. I know when I kite, I do about 95K dps. When I play in a boxed group and use a wizzy merc, it clocks in at 15-20K dps. Doesn't seem worth it, given that I'm giving up ~40% of the XP vs. solo. The warrior merc is more a case of, the DPS doesn't matter. It's simply a case of, I can't solo summoners, so I need a tank.
I was responding to the OP who is under level 50. I haven't actually tried kiting after level 100. I'm in the same boat as you. I normally don't run mercs because they aren't worth it. I have been known to run a healer merc during a quick lesson burn, but that's when I'm playing "beer in hand". I'm not sure, but I think if I mixed in high agro spells, my druid would be able to keep my merc from the top of the agro list. A raid geared druid friend of mine dragged me along for gribble xp sessions. He would root rot and kite with a caster merc while I leached xp. The kill xp in gribbles doesn't matter, as its all in the final turn-in. I'm boxing WAR/DRU/ENC, so I just don't kite anymore. In that group, caster merc tops out at 35k dps. They don't scale very well.
I'm usually running with my tank merc. For the last ~1 year, I've been single-boxing, and trying to finish old content (quests, collections, etc) in previous expacs. Stuff which is, more often than not, impossible to kite. So, tank merc it is. It's not actually too bad through RoF. I can handle as many as 4 mobs at once, though 4 is a bit dicey. Once I hit TDS, then 2 at a time is the limit. And for EoK, I can barely handle one. I can heal the tank merc, but with absolutely no time to add any DPS, and his DPS is pathetic, so, not really workable.
Kiting is really good XP ! (Also great for power leveling people). When you hit 97 (if memory serves me right) you get your first couple of quint kiting spells. From there I kited valley, then the beach in chelsith then plane of shadows. After that it was yeti's in leceanium/treents in frontier mountain until about 108. 108 xp slows down alot......like .....alot. then 109 is even slower then 110 is well...... Slower than Christmas. Find groups at 108 or higher. But TBH I actually went from 109 to 110 in about 2 days of nonstop kiting yetis . It gets boring though so bring some friends to talk to (also it will power level the hell out of them!)
