Hail <a forum reader>, I am posting this as I seem to be stumbling with playing an enchanter. I do not recall having anywhere near as many issues in vanilla, but perhaps the change is my playstyle over ~15 years. I am level 11, but can't seem to manage anything more than a kill or two per full mana bar. Even when I do kill, it's blue or uncommonly a white. Yellow or above and it's a full bar to maybe kill it before it kills me. So, my questions are: Should I be Tashina->Languid Pace pulling, sending charmed pet, then sitting back down? Should I be throwing another spell(s) as well per fight? Is there a way to improve mana regeneration without constantly harassing others for Clarity (or hitting level 26 to actually learn Clarity)? Any advice or 'potholes' to be wary of in my journey? (e.g. Avoid soldunga because of mob X using ability Y) Thank you in advance! -Hate
Enchanters are not that powerful early on. Find a group. You only need to do 1 point of damage and your charm pet can do the rest. If you are soloing, when it gets low you can break it/root and kill your pet so you get exp for it as well.
Hubby and I have been doing really well with a chanter/druid duo and charm fighting. It really helps to have that extra person and just one of us charming at a time, the other pulling etc. Maybe see if you can hook up with just one person? If soloing you def want to keep the mob your pet is on rooted so when charm breaks only one comes and hits you not two. Less interruptions that way also
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=15434 - Elixir of Greater Concentration, I don't think they'll cost you too much (30/stack?), and apparently stack with other mana regen spells. If you don't mind spending a little RL money, mana regen pots on the daybreak store cost 100 DBC and last 4 hours.
Basically just learn everything you can about charm. Spell casting rotation on charm breaks, what gear you should aim for is a good idea too. Beyond that, find a healer to group with.
Enchanters by themselves,with no gear,and in the hands of a player not very familiar with it, is very weak, indeed! The best thing to do is to go to zone where getting groups isnt very hard. You can also join a good leveling guild and get into a static or a click of players that play the same hours that you play. In a guild, you will have plenty of players more familiar with a Enchanter that you can ask advice from. Enchanter do solo very well at higher levels, but nothing compares with the xp from a full group and with the right group you can do very good camps later on. Also in a full group paired with a good cleric and tank, will be very helpful when charm breaks happen.
Send in charmed pet to kill two mobs . Tash / root both mobs . When pet near death back it off . Root both mobs again . Cast invis then nuke your near death previous pet. Charm mob with highest hp. Kill low hp mob , I usually cast a dot on it to speed things up. Rinse and repeat . Essentially you are using the enemy as your DPS . Once you become good you can fight four mobs at once getting great reverse dps .
fun and useful items, some are from Kunark or later so be aware: Blue Ceramic Band (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=14673) - For tagging mobs to get full xp while your charm beats it to death Ring of Stealthy Travel (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=6818) - a poor person's Goblin Gazhugi ring. Really nice to have general purpose invis on a click too Shissar Nullifier Staff (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=504) - this item rocks, my favorite enchanter clicky. Can't oversell how badass this thing is Potions: Distillate of Replenishment (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=73267) - so, so good for solo enchanter. Distillate of Celestial/Divine Healing (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=37880) Magic Awareness (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=63618) - an extra 5% mana preservation effect that stacks with focus Rejuvenation Potions (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=15444) - super useful, they give 2x your level in HP regen for 2 minutes at the cost of some int and attack speed for that time.
First up, I just went through this myself recently. Reading everywhere about how enchanters don't need to buy their summoned pet past level 11, charmed are superior etc etc. You're not missing anything - as an ungeared/unbuffed level 11ish solo enchanter, charmed seems worse xp rate than root dotting with a summoned pet. With one exception, maybe.. Dark Elf Enchanter has Hide, and might be able to more efficiently get the "wear down both targets, hide to break charm, kill charmed pet for full xp" method. The big issues at level 11-15 or so are Charmed pet vs similar enemy, unassisted = enemy wins the fight. Buffing your pet and debuffing/dotting/rooting the enemy takes more mana than you'll regen during the fight, so you end up sitting around with no mana while the place you were fighting respawns all around you, so you can't keep spawns under control and have to keep "re-breaking" the spawns, wasting more mana. Charm breaks a lot. There aren't a lot of good solo charm locations around that aren't also good for everyone else too. The good news is, it does get better as you go beyond those levels. But as people have already suggested, you can join a group (best option, imo) and/or get some form of mana/hp and mana regeneration buffs. Also, keep leveling your bind wounds skill - it's handy to be able to bandage up after a charm break goes bad =D
Our guild leader on Mangler and Selos has a Youtube channel "CM99games" and he has tutorials for a couple classes. Enchanter Tutorials from level 11 (TLP Version) on CM99games on Youtube. If you're interested in joining us, you will need Discord and a Mic, and hear your voice before being invited to our guild "Server Not Responding"
For SOLOING the most efficient method is to charm a mob then have it attack an equal level mob of the same type. So for example in SRO charm "a caiman" and have it fight another "a caiman." Root the mob you're killing in place. Since they are equal strength they will kill each other at (roughly) the same speed. Re-root and re-charm as needed. When both mobs are down around 2-5% use invis or hide to break charm then finish them off with a lower level nuke. This gets better and better as you increase in level. In theory, when everything goes well, the only spells you spend mana on are root - charm - invis and an insignificant amount on a low level nuke.
I learned how to play my High Elf Enchanter, well how to solo as an Enchanter, in Steamfront Mountains and Lesser Faydark.Here are spots you can practice at, while getting exp on your way from 11ish-20ish. Around your level you can find Minotaurs located near the Lesser Faydark entrance. They're arranged in a semi-circle, there are about 5-7 of them, and you can pull singles without too much trouble. So, you take the outer-most Minotaur charm it and then sick it on the next one in. You can then practice different styles of charm-fighting, figure out your own comfort zone for play-style, as you work around and kill the monsters. You can learn to invis and dropping charm to get max exp, or you can not even bother, but you'll get to try everything at this camp. Work on your distance, get a feel for how close you want to be, learn about the usage of root and other defensive skills as you deal with charm breaks while learning the ins and outs of positioning. You can do this camp naked, and if you get in trouble just boogie backwards to the Lfay zone line as it's not too far. If you can grab a SoW before you go to battle here, it will be hard to get tagged. A few levels later, I'd go to Lesser Faydark, near the Mistmoore zone-line, is the Nybright(?) Sister Bandit Camp. Travel here CAREFULLY, but once you're there you can settle in safetly at the back of the bandit camp. It's hard to pull singles here right away, so you'll be able to practice your crowd-control abilities and pulling skills as you break the camp to charm a bandit. This is a more challenging camp than the Minotaurs, but it's tolerable solo experience, and a great place to continue to practice charming, positioning, and now crowd-control. Basically, same as before, CC an outer bandit, charm the other outside one, CC the other inner bandit, then pull the last one away and kill it. Then work your way through the camp. You should have a good handle for how to position during a charmed fight, and know what style fits your risk profile. So, now, it's just a matter of putting it all together. Lastly, if you get in trouble you can run to Mistmoore to clear aggro. Enchanter is a very powerful class, and it really shines in groups, but I understand the desire for wanting to play solo sometimes too. So, the above two spots, while not even close to the best exp for your level range, will allow you to learn your class with minimal risk and still get exp in doing so. Stick with it! Good luck.
To answer all of your questions concisely: Group. I get the interest in soloing or sometimes even the need to solo. However, given the true box nature and the intended “classic” experience, you’ll find by far it is worth grouping as an enchanter because your class’ power really shines in a group setting. If you wanted to solo, have great mana regen and a charm pet, with undesirable tap heals - a necro is much better suited for that purpose. Granted their hunting grounds to shine are limited in classic. Charm pets are great, but mezz lets your group kill more mobs in succession for less downtime in a given hour which means more XP and pixels. Haste and clarity are both adjusted DPS contributions of your class that benefits 5x for a group, one for each member besides yourself and your charm pet. Enchanters are a great multiplier for groups and you really do the class a disservice by soloing with one despite the creative challenges by trying to solo as one.
At level 11 head to Oasis. The crocs aren't too tuff and also you will get groups relatively easy for good xp upto level 20. Even if you just start randomly inviting people who are on their own and make your own group . They aren't good for cash but definitely great for xp. Its also a safe place to learn to charm. The crocs are all non agro and non assist. Just watch for Lockjaw who spawns once in a while otherwise you can kite all up and down the beach safely.
Commiserating Enchanters are tough to start with. This is more like a confession of how desperate I get. I twink my pets with armor. Pretty simple really, just kill stuff that drops hides or silk, carry a pocket full of patterns. Liberal use of DOTs and Fear. The crocs suggestion is a good place to do it. Assume you will have to tank a bit for your pet, but other then that run your character like a Fear Kitting or Aggro Kitting Necromancer. Sometimes it takes two or three Fear spells sticking to get a MOB down. Probably tougher Aggro Kiting because you may have to root the MOB and blast/DOT from a distance to get some breathing room between you and the MOB before the chase is on. If it kills your pet before root breaks, you are kind of SOL.
