Kiting Multiple Mobs

[Osgoode]

To my eternal shame I need help kiting multiple mobs. I've been able to skate by for most of my levels and finally have no choice but to kite not two but four mobs for my Blood of the Fallen. Well, either that or find a group to help. So I have to ask what methods people use to kite two or more mobs around? I can do two if I have to using the regular Snare DoT and the AA Snare for the second.

Is there a function key that cycles through the mobs that have aggro to me?

[DeadLikeMe]

I have noticed that using the AA snare, when mobs forget about you, you can get up and the mob will just stand there. He won't path back but he won't advance on you either. Having a good distance focus item is also key as it will give you lots of time to cast before getting hit. Get spell haste too if you are using the actual spell instead of the AA.

I have the backwards single quote key mapped to target previous mob. I target 2 mobs a couple of times back and forth, test the key, hit one with snare, use the key, run away, and FD. When the one on target starts walking back, I get up, might have to run forwards a little, and then hit him with snare and FD. Pan out to third person view and target the other 2. Rinse, repeat. Sometimes I sacrifice my pet in order to give me some time to cast. If space is tight I might use a fast root followed by snare.

The quests where you have to keep NPC's alive you might have to get a group or at least a warrior type. They have a way to agro the bad guys without hurting the good guys. Not sure if they can be mezzed. I know one mob that was static at the top of the hill in Kith just died too quickly for me to pull agro on all 4 mobs. I would send pet after 1, snare 1, and by the time I had targetted and started casting on third, snared one would break away and interrupt me and my charge would die with just 2 mobs on him.

Hope this helps a bit

*edit* didn't want to start a new post - I didn't have to kill any linked mobs in EC. There are static knights in a camp at the north western part of map. I don't remember what other types you need.

[scrat]

I suppose everybody has their own tactics that fit them, but here's mine.

First off, I don't use our spell snare anymore. Ever. On that note, I've never had problems with the AA snare getting resisted more than it should - sure a few tripple resists here and there but generally it's full of awesome.

To answer your question, yes there is a function to cycle through NPCs - you can remap it via the options. I use "q" key, which may be default I can't remember. However, it will cycle through all NPCs close to you - so do be careful.

For non-linked mobs, it's pretty straight forward - always starting off at max range. If it's a tight group of mobs and there's plenty of run space, I'll snare one and re-target another as I run backwards. Soon as snare refreshes, I'll stop/spin/snare 2nd target and feign. Now I'll wait for the rest of the group to start walking back to camp, and as soon as the last mob turns to walk back I'll target it, stand & snare - which usually results in all the mobs running ...away from me. Soon as snare lands, I'll take a step forward to get the runners to reverse direction and head back for me - run backwards targeting another and when snare refreshes..snare another. Now I've got 4 snared, which is my personal limit for "normal" mass kiting. I've done more, many times - but it gets hectic & not worth the mistakes I seem to always make.

Anyways - so there I am flopped with 4 mobs snared. At this point I simply wait until I get the "your enemies have forgotten about you" message and stand, run to the 1st mob snared and reapply and fire off scorching shadow & searing shadow - making it path near 2nd snared mob in the process for re-aggro. Re-snare 2nd, apply scorching / searing, dragging to mobs 3 & 4, resnare 3 and apply scorching/searing. Resnare 4 and go for full dot stack, sending in pet after RPF lands - and I'll usually fire off 3rd spire at this point if it's available since I've got 4x scorching 4x searing + more running - good dps. Once 4th mob is loaded, I'll re-snare 1 and refresh scorching/searing and maybe add slitherin before moving onto 2 for snare refresh and same thing. Once 2 is controlled, move to resnare 3 and usually 4 is dead now and I'll sick pet on 3 and load. And so forth.

For linked mobs it's only a little bit different - guessing since you are working on kith aug you are having issues with the knights in EC? Here's how I did that.

At zone in from kith, I followed the road south-east a bit until it was edging against a short span of desert & zone line/mountains. The 5-some roams along the road there, and there's a huge empty area in the south-west corner that no mobs spawn or roam. I'd set up camp south of the road almost at max snare range - but not quite.

Target one of them and snare - immediately feign. The party didn't run very far, and they will kind of zig-zag back and forth a few steps getting in sync again - and snare refreshes during that time. Target another stand/snare and feign. Now you've got 2 snared, one on the road and one just off (1.0 seconds run distance). Party zig-zags back and forth on road, target another and repeat snare/feign. Do everything you can (stand/feign) as necessary to keep the group tight. Once you got all of them snared, just ensue normal multi-kite practices. Cycle through & snare all of them often, very often - if snare fades and one get too far away from others the leash snaps and they all have run8.

As long as you get no feign failures, this is pretty reliable to do. Here's a pic!
http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n440/bandoslav/EC.jpg

Hope this is what you were looking for!

[manaden]

as far as the four knights in EC goes, they can be split. use the aa snare, as already said you can get the all clear message since it doesnt do damage, and the mob will remain snared. now, the tricky part is the snared mob will start moving with the rest of the pack, only walking instead of running, which means the snared mob will fall behind the rest. just lay there and wait for the all clear message. generally the mobs will path in straight lines, you may want to watch there pathing to try to anticipate any turns they make, because you will lose sight of your snared mob. when you get the all clear, chase down your snared mob and resnare, he should be far enough away from the rest of the pack that you have him solo. been working on that quest off and on when im bored, and i have done 3 of the 4 knights like this.

as a side note, i tried rooting the knight i wanted in the pack, see if the pack would leave and he would stay rooted. no go there, dont even get a message saying root has broken, he just starts walking away with his friends, at full speed.

[Osgoode]

Thanks for the advice, folks. Scrat, actually I'm at the Blood of the Assassin which spawns three adds which makes four total mobs. And the occasional wandering animal.

[scrat]

Scrat, actually I'm at the Blood of the Assassin which spawns three adds which makes four total mobs. And the occasional wandering animal.

Ahh. For that task -enemies of the Teir dal? ( I repeated it for factioning a few times ) I had no problems with the adds - I could snare tirbeth(sp?) and get a couple dots on before the adds would come - which I'd just snare one on inc and send pet at others long enough to get it snared too. Then just stack the damage and run around in circles. If memory serves, the adds aren't very fast - easily outrun with run5 to gain distance for snares?

[nephayres]

When dealing with multiples, I usually cycle snares (spell/AA/spell u.s.w.); with cycle targeting this can be pretty quick.

[Tryal Anderror]

I usually onlky use the AA snare as a last resort, it's shorter in duration, does no damage and can't proc a Gift of Magic.

The key to kiting multiples is keeping them physically seperated, this makes a difference both for switching targets and for your pet.

The more of a 'cirlce' you kite in, the more mobs get grouped up, if you kite in a longer rectangular shape you'll keep them spaced out better.

I try not to do any more than 3 really, you spend more time moving and less time killing, but there's no reason you can't do 6 or more if you feel like it, if just gets annoying to keep snares on.