^^ Not much of a math guy, but i think since there is prolly a check each tick for charm breaking...every rank of TD should make a difference. Some other rare possibilities..you don't use the best tash or forget..or maybe you picked a bad kind of mob, some make bad pets. If you fight caster mobs, maybe they dispell (rare but happens). Like others said, charm is pretty reliable once you do it all right. Btw max hits are only half of your potential dps, thebest pets for exp can dual wield if you give them 2 weapons (unless you reverse charm, which i am way too lazy for...!), and you can also add a haste item. Usually that is, nowadays in RoF there are some pets with higher max hits (10k) but they cannot use 2 weaps, and others who already come with dual wield...
Just remember, just because a mob 'visually' comes with two weapons, does not mean they dual wield. So far the only true dual wielding mobs in RoF that I have found (with extensive parsing) are the pigs in Grelleth's, and of those the scout is of course the best. The shissar in Chellsith for instance look like they are dual wielding but they parse almost identical to the other mobs on the beach who do not.
Learn to charm mobs that summon. Alarans are good for this usually. It forces you to stay cool when charm breaks and get control until it just becomes second nature. No reason to limit yourself learning on easy mobs. Learn on hard ones trust me you'll be a better player for it. At 97 Shard's Landing is a good place to learn. It's just a good zone period.
I think thats the time for Toskirakk, 2nd floor. There is a nice circle that supplies enough things to kill. However, the expansion was horrible DPS wise, you could haste and equip your pet and sick it against the very same mob - only to watch it get torn to pieces, while the (slowed) opponent only suffered minor injuries. That was the charm nerf on top, and even though its much better in the last expansions, it led to the invention of reverse charming, which is basically accepting the fact that charm is the most potent debuff. So instead of improving your pet you accept its meant to die and let it be torn apart by 2 or more things, that are not nerfed, and thus do the job pretty quick. Ironic: Back in the days i had some talk with the chanter efreeti in plane of sky. Philosophing about the ethics in charming, especially charming something only to let it suffer. Well at that time i took it to my heart and there were times i would rather die than lose a "perfect" full equiped pet. There are no perfect pets anymore. Only notches on my EXP bar...
At 78 I'd personally get someone to power level me to 80 (maybe those rangers in Feerrot Dream could be put to some actual use), and then farm "a restless alligator" in Loping Plains for ages and ages, or until it became mind-numbingly boring. The alligators dual wield and like anything accept haste items -mage masks are easy. These days powerleveling through 78 and 79 would take about an hour (maybe two?) if I recall correctly, but if that's not an option, you could do Bloodmoon Orcs close to the beach where the alligators live. To charm the gators you'll need your lvl 80 charm spell. In the old days you could progress up to Chief Administrator Grigano in SHIP once you hit mid 80s, but that's another story. No longer an option. These days the lizards in Feerrott dream are probably still good at mid 80s despite the loss of HOT zone status there - they dual wield of course - stay away from the temples as it's ranger territory. Then undead frogs or gorillas in Feerrott at high 80s. Alternatively The Grounds may be good since it's now a HOT zone, once you get your 87 charm. There's nothing I can particularly recommend after that, until 100 for Grelleth. All these are spots for 'standard' charming, where you use no mercs and fight one mob at a time, mostly nuking your opponent. Never try to save your pet from taking any damage though - the sooner he gets low on hps, the sooner you can kill him for very easy xp and replace him with a new pet at 100% health. I'm not sure of good spots for reverse charming since I never enjoyed it that much or felt like the xp was fast enough, but maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance. If you're a dark elf you can (apparently) use Hide to break charm instantly. If not, look into Boots of the Mosquito, or the much easier to get but inferior Goblin Gazugi Ring. Both are instant charm break. The instant break helps because it lets you razor-edge time your charm breaks so that your pet is at under 5% health when you break charm (for easy kill) without as much risk of breaking too late (a split second after your pet just died). It's a good idea to root the mob you're fighting before you go and break charm
The boots are better because they are self only, so you don't have to retarget. I was wondering about what you meant so I looked it up (dark elf, but I just use invis aa because I'm super lazy and have expert timing.. I'll probably farm the boots at some point).
Boots are an uncommon drop off a very rare mob. I spent weeks trying to get mine and eventually gave up. I got lucky and found them in bazaar for 300k a long time ago, saved up and bought them. If I didn't already have them, I'd pay almost any amount to get them.
Thanks for those that replied to me. Apparently you are right, and I was just crazy unlucky on the mob I tried to charm. I went back and persisted and it was pretty easy. What I'm doing it leaving my SK to solo the mobs, pulling a few and CCing ; slowing. Then I put my dual wield hasted pet on the mobs and destroy them with my SK taking the hits. Means the pets dont really die often and I can get constant DPS out of them. The DPS is pretty good! I'll look into the haste mask thing, thats apparently a new addition, as was getting your weapons back when you kill the mob! Very nice!
The mask was around for years, where have you been ? The problem is, it´s summoned and will disapear after you log... As will summoned weapons. Also, what you might remember is that summoned pets don´t give anything back, while charmed mobs always give everything back, as long as it is not NO DROP
Havent read all of the thread, but from start on the most important things have been told. id like to add: From my experiecne with charming i can tell you, that charm breaks are less likely when you charm obviously "dumb" creatures. This has to do with race and class. So for for example charming a humanoid mob holds less long than an insect and a warrior will hold longer than a caster. So the worst you can charm is a humanoid caster. As Casi said, the aura is important. But if the creature you charm is "dumb" enough, then you can leave the aura off. A further point are "special" mobs, like e.g. guards. In many zones you can find guarding mobs around camps, towns or other settlements. I always prefer to charm these instead of the usual yard trash because they are slightly stronger and do more damage. Of course those arent the common mobs in every zone, but then and when the chance is up as in Barren Coast (Mercenary roaming the path) or in Argath (several mobs at certain postions are guards to keep mobs off and keep off trains of non-combat areas. Hope that helps.
Thanks for all the replies guys! I've had such good success with the tips and tricks everyone has suggested! Beasts domain is my favorite spot, I've gotten a good bit of AA since I started and have become pretty comfortable!
Once you get super comfortable move up some in difficulty. You can do just about any zone in the game with a cleric merc, even most of the partisan/hunter tasks. It gets tricky in some spots, and you have to do some creative stuff but you will find you can solo most non-named creatures in the game. (You aren't as fast or efficient as a mage / necro are at it, but you'll hold your own.)
I think it might be better to stay comfortable and do all those AAs first. Especially since i assume he can solo the spot now and does not need to share his EXP with a useless merc...
Ya I haven't been using a merc.. I tried the healer merc and it barely touched my pets hp so wasn't worth it. I found charming a mob and pulling 1/2 to drop it's hp then invising and using beguilers worked best. I can't really charm in many other places yet since I'm 98 though.
*shrug* to each their own. The partisan missions are huge exp and can get someone to 100 relatively fast.. and the level 100 spells will make exp run in much faster than at 98.
If you want a real rush, charm your pet & send it in to those mobs and let it get to like 5-10%. Then invis, BB, & charm one with higher health to finish the near-dead mob off. Add more mobs to the mix as you get more comfortable and it's quite fast exp.
That's what I'm doing now . Silku, was I doing something wrong with the merc? I just didn't see a benefit to having one hehe.
Stay there and don´t level. Get ALL AAs first. It will never get easier again and some of the things get light blue at lvl 99. Have fun...
