Feign Death

[Cthulha]

1. How long does this spell last (i.e. how long do you lay there after you successfully cast it)? Is it random or a set time?

2. Is this a good way to med in a hostile area?

3. Does this spell work on all mobs? If not, which types of mobs won't it work on?

Thanks! :)

[Cristo]

Correct me if im wrong......

It lasts as long as you dont stand up

as far as medding your mana refresh rate is equal to that of when your standing so it really isnt that great of an idea to FD just for medding purposes

as long as you successfully fd _ not interupted or you dont get the Fallen to ground msg then all mobs will think your dead

[Emzeon]

Originally posted by Cristo@Dec 4 2003, 10:10 PM
as long as you successfully fd _ not interupted or you dont get the Fallen to ground msg then all mobs will think your dead
I may be wrong about this, but I believe that there are those select few mobs that can see through the FD, and keep pounding away on you. Not sure if this happens a lot but I'm pretty sure it does.

[Umbrello]

Probably high lvl boss mobs only, i would think. or a few rare mobs?

[Vhampyre01]

1. FD lasts until you stand up, unless it fails initially, which is reported by the message "You have fallen to the ground."

2. FD is not the same as sitting down to med, so unless there are hostile mobs crawling all over the place, it probably isn't the ideal way to meditate. I believe you will regenerate mana at the same rate as if you were standing.

Incidentally, the same rules apply for regenerating hitpoints while FD until 51+ where it becomes slightly better to regen hitpoints FD than standing. See chart below (shamelessly stolen from this thread (http://necro.eqclasses.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=8740)).

Levels 1 through 19
Non Iksar - 1/tick standing, 1/tick FD, 2/tick sitting
Iksar - 2/tick standing, 2/tick FD, 4/tick sitting

Levels 20 through 49
Non Iksar - 1/tick standing, 1/tick FD, 3/tick sitting
Iksar - 2/tick standing, 2/tick FD, 6/tick sitting

Level 50
Non Iksar - 1/tick standing, 1/tick FD, 4/tick sitting
Iksar - 2/tick standing, 2/tick FD, 8/tick sitting

Levels 51 through 55
Non Iksar - 2/tick standing, 3/tick FD, 5/tick sitting
Iksar - 6/tick standing, 8/tick FD, 12/tick sitting

Levels 56 through 59
Non Iksar - 3/tick standing, 4/tick FD, 6/tick sitting
Iksar - 10/tick standing, 12/tick FD, 16/tick sitting

Level 60
Non Iksar - 4/tick standing, 5/tick FD, 7/tick sitting
Iksar - 12/tick standing, 14/tick FD, 18/tick sitting

Level 61+
Unknown at this time.

3. I've never ran across a mob that could 'see thru FD' per se. Not saying that it's impossible, but I've never experienced that.

Several things can happen that will mess up FD. For example, if you FD successfully but the mob was in the middle of casting a spell on you, when the spell hits you the mob will see that you are not dead and will continue to attack you. Also, if you are FD and someone casts a direct heal on you, this will cancel your FD (you'll still be laying there, mind you, but the mobs will know that you are not dead).

And finally, on mobs lvl 35+ (I believe), particularly mobs that wander the zone (non-static spawns), have a tendancy to 'remember' you, meaning that if you FD and let them walk away for a distance, then you stand back up, the mob will come back to you (sometimes with friends that he picked up along the way).

Some (not all) static spawns will do this, but if you are able to get up from FD at the same time that the mob has returned to his 'spawn point' then there is a good chance that it will not return to attack you. Timing this tactic so that one mob stays and the others reset is called feign splitting and requires a lot of patience and practice, but is a very handy pulling method.

Hope this info (not all of which was asked for, I know) was helpful.

[Emzeon]

Yeah, vhampyre hit it. I really only remember getting FD broken when I was healed, or casted on. Not too good at remembering, since I've been off of EQ for a year and just getting back in.

[Cthulha]

Thanks for all the info! I figured that feign death medding wasn't the same as sitting, but I wanted to make sure. Thanks Vhampyre01 for finding the hitpoint regen chart and sharing it with us. :D

[glandeen]

actually thank all your fellow FDing monks for this BUT... MOBS in PLANE OF FEAR see through FD. That is to prevent a monk from FDing his way up to CT for the whistling fists turn in .. these are the only mobs that i know of that see through FD
and even at that i think its only the temple that does

[Mixylplix]

Personally I hate FD, but otehrs seem to like it. I find that it fails more often than not and that the message: "have fallen down" does not always pop up when it fails.

Just like Invis can drop without warning. I think the "fallen down" message is really more for monks, but I admit fereely I am the LAST thing from an FD expert due to the poor performance I have had with it. I'd rather root a mob and run if things get that ugly or just take it on the chin and die. FD means you are dumping mobs on your partners in a fight. Now, this is obviously different when soloing.

[Xelgadis]

Another thing to consider, about FD, is that planar mobs have a very good memory. If you FD during a wipe (group/raid), make sure that you clear the aggro. The last thing you want to do is bring a mob, who has an elephant's memory, back to a rezzing & medding group/raid. Often times the easiest way to clear the aggro is to /quit while FD and relog, or evac and return to where the wipe occured.

[Schaeffer]

Another thing, If you FD and the MoB casts an AE spell, YOU STILL GET HIT!!!

Then the MoB knows your not dead and your screwed.

Myxi, The more you use FD the less it will fail. I've also read somewhere that the different FD's have different success rates. The original FD has a 15% chance of failure and a 16 second recast, Comatose has a 10% chance of failure and an 8 second recast and Death Peace has a 5% chance of failure and a 4 second recast.

I haven't actually gotten Comatose yet, but i've heard it only lasts about a minute. I may skip it all together, not because of the time limit, but now that I'm 55 PoV XP rocks, and I may hit 60 without needing it. I already bought Death Peace, found it for 2K and was shocked and awed and very very happy. If you don't get that lucky, Comatose maybe be worth it stilll, I know I still wanna get the other LoY spell Auspice (Group lifetap), Should work well with all the other group taps...

[Xelgadis]

I can't confirm this, but I believe the success rate is tied to your skill level in Abjuration. I noticed that once I broke 200 in that, my failure rate dropped like a rock.

As far as Comatose, I've never bothered to get that spell yet, classic FD has seen me safely (most of the time) from 16-58. The fact that I'm only 2 levels from using Death Peace, and that I recently saw it for sale on Veeshan for 1k (and subsequently bought it) was also a deciding factor as to why I skipped the Comatose quest. I'll probably get the spell eventually, just to complete my spellbook. But, I'll likely wait til 61 and pwn the Dulak caves w/ LoZ to get it (one of those, "I'm in a hurry, die quickly now. Oh, and please drop some blood, bile, or saliva" deals). hehe

[Neante]

in My opinion... FD is THE best spell in the Necro arsenal. I use FD and Harm Shield together when I solo... just in case FD fails... Harm Shield will save me until I can cas FD again, due to the 16 second recast time. When you first get it at level 16 it will fizzle like a mad dog... But work on it, practice whenever you have a free moment and you can be like me, where maybe 1 out of 20 will fail, and when it does... Harm Shield to the rescue!

FD is essential to making single pulls... Here is a tactic I use to get a single MOB in a group. I pull with a DOT... The group comes after me, I run back a little bit.... FD. You will notice that the other creatures that are not Dotted will return to thier spawn points while the DOTed MOB hangs around :) get up and tear that single pulled MOB a new arse!

This spell really, really is essential and I don't think most necros use it enough.

[Xelgadis]

I agree, this is probably one of our most useful spells. Not only is it the best "get out of death free card" that we get, but it also allows for some rather unique pulling opportunities. ;) I cannot stress the importance and usefulness of this spell enough, it's saved me more times than I can count.

One note, if you plan to be in a state of FD for an extended period of time, click the lich off. Same goes if you FD to stop a mob from pounding on you, as you'll likely be low on life when that happens... hehe.

[Schaeffer]

Eh I can't picture having Harmsheild and FD up at the same time, too many other spells that I'd rather have up, I guess it's preference. Rather have a root or a snare up if I need the time to run, but guess that don't help much if there's 5 pounding on you and FD fails... Like I said it's preference.