Cattywoo
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(9/17/03 4:42 pm)
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Kiting Compendium
I found this article and thought it would be useful to share with the guild. True author is named at the bottom. Happy hunting all, Cattywoo
Kiting Compendium
Kiting is the act of killing a mob in such a way that one doesn't have to actively "tank" it, or be hit by it's melee, and is how many solo hunters, or abbreviated groupings, function. The banes of kiting are "casting" and "summoning", and when they don't make it more difficult, they make it impossible. Every spellcasting class has at least one method of kiting available to them, however those that don't have Spirit of Wolf (or similar movement buff) will want to find a supply of faster movement speed for additional safety (be it potions, JBoots, or buying SoWs from other players before they go to hunt). Above all, the key to kiting is don't get hit! The various types of kiting are:
Root kiting
This is where the player roots a mob, and proceeds to do damage to it from outside it's melee range. For enchanters and druids, the damage is most often done with DoTs, or Damage over Time spells. For Wizards, Paladins, Shamans, and Clerics, it will be nukes. Due to the frequency of roots breaking from Direct Damage (DD) spells, these nuking classes consider this a fairly risky method of hunting, even more risky when they have no form of NPC movement reduction, such as Snare. Most mobs, when low enough on health, will attempt to run; however if they are rooted, they will fight to the death. Whether a player chases a running mob or roots it again and does more damage from a distance seems to vary by player and by mood. In Root kiting, once a mob is rooted, the player is better off getting far away from them before casting or sitting, as that will give more time for a re-root before one ends up in close quarters with the angry mob if root breaks or is broken.
Fear kiting
Enchanters, Clerics, Necromancers, and Shadowknights are given a Fear spell that is capable of working on any NPC. Druids and Rangers have a line of spells that Fear Animals only. Paladins have an Undead-only Fear. Monks and Rogues have a trained skill called Intimidation/Instill Doubt that is another universal NPC fear, but is used initially from within melee range, and isn't typically very reliable. Fear spells have the effect of making NPCs run away from you, according to the area's pathing, but, unless their run speed can be controlled, can cause hectic chasing or lost mobs and trains, and is best used outdoors. Another benefit of Fear is that it ceases all casting and summoning from the mob while it is "afraid", and thereby takes many of the risks out of kiting. Clerics and enchanters may use Fear kiting in conjunction with Root kiting, so that, if root breaks, the mob runs away from them and can be rooted again, rather than running at them and hitting them while they try to root. Fear and snare/clinging darkness/bonds of force provide a very safe and reliable method of kiting, as the mob is attempting to run away, but can only do so very slowly while you do other types of damage to it. For necromancers, this gives them a chance to place dots, have their pets attack, and do astounding damage as they sit and meditate.
Aggro kiting
Aggro kiting, available to all pet or charm classes (although extremely inefficient for Clerics, due to the weakness of their pets), is the act of getting a mob very angry at the player, then having the pet chase and kill the mob while the mob chases the player. This nearly requires faster run speed for the player and pet, or slowed run speed on the mob, however, due to vector travel, a player may make loops, while the mob makes smaller loops to catch the player, and the pet makes even smaller loops trying to catch the mob; and if done correctly this can provide the pet an opportunity to take shots at a full-speed mob while the mob cannot reach the player. Without a faster player or slower mob, this is very unlikely to happen; the mob itself would have to be very slow naturally, or his loop would be large enough to tag the player before the pet would be able to hit it. Mages are unable to speed themselves up, but are able to increase the movement speed of their pets with a buff, which can make this a more feasible system for them; and with their stun-proccing air pets, they can get the chance to take a break from sprinting once in a while, before the stun wears off, and cast another spell to maintain aggro. This is the method used when level 56+ (or possibly lower) druids solo level 61 Ice Burrowers, and level 66 Tantor in Western Wastes. A charmed pet there can make this possible even without snaring Tantor, but with their animal-only SVM debuff "Glamour of Tunare" he can be snared at abnormally low levels; druids can also SoW their pets so they are very fast indeed, and the good pet-only haste druids are given makes it possible to wear down the extreme hit points on Tantor, however with that much DPS from the pet, it takes almost constant casting to maintain aggro on the druid, so that Tantor doesn't stop and fight the pet. This is even more important on the Ice Burrowers, since they frequently proc a 500DD combined with a dispell, which will remove charm! The ability for druids to solo mobs there relies on these being animal-tagged NPCs, and not having the ability to summon.
Swarm kiting
Akin to Aggro kiting, this is the bard-only ability to aggravate many mobs and run them around (with their incredible speed) while, on-the-go, being able to maintain solid aggro on all of them with AoE songs. Once they are sufficiently mad, the bard begins twisting Selo's for run speed, AoE debuff/DoT for aggro, and adding a Charm spell. They then have the charmed mob attack the others while they all chase him. When down to the final 2, he will alternate charm on them both until they are both low in health, then finish them with melee or a DoT song. Theoretically, Enchanters could do a form of swarm kiting, or combine Charm with AoE stuns, but the practical efficiency hasn't yet inspired them to try.
Quad kiting
Quad kiting came about because of spells that Mages, Druids, and Wizards are given that hit 4 distant targets, if the targets are near enough to each other. Mages, lacking run-speed buffs and debuffs, can't effectively quad-kite, but Druids and Wizards use it enough for all three of them. The process involves angering 4 mobs (Druids do this most often with Snare) and gathering them close together (typically by running circles, which converges all the seperate vectors into the same point). Wizards do this at full speed, then use Bonds of Force to AoE snare the gathered mobs.
At this point, using the appropriate line of spells, they use their area nuke to hit all 4, which works out to very mana-efficient. Using 3 or less mobs is possible, but lowers the efficiency.
PBAoE kiting
Point-blank AoE spells, available to Clerics, Druids, Mages, Wizards, and Enchanters, hit an unlimited numbers of mobs in a limited amount of space, a small circle around the caster. Essentially, this strategy is limitless in efficiency, constrained only by the amount of available mobs. Typically any more than 5 is beyond the mana-efficiency of any other line of spells; upwards of 30 it becomes somewhat obscene. An example is hitting 30 mobs for 800 damage each; which is 24,000 damage for one cast of a 500 mana spell, or 48 damage per mana. PBAoE can be done, basically, 3 ways. Once the mobs are gathered, an enchanter can chain-cast AoE stuns, making anyone else able to PBAoE blast without fear of being hit. Alternately, the cast timing of the PBAoE spell can be perfected to the point that many mobs can be kited and, as they approach, the casting begins, and it ends just as they walk within the circle of PBAoE range, but before they have a chance to melee the player kiting them. Lastly, and this is only suggested on very significantly lower mobs, many can be pulled into a corner where they beat upon the caster, but the caster uses the immobility of the corner and their Channeling skill to cast the spell anyway, eventually killing all mobs.
Guard kiting
Guard kiting is an obscure method that can be highly lucrative when an opportunity to use it can be found. It is a form of aggro kiting, where you aggro the mob, take it past a guard or NPC that hates it, and kite while that NPC does damage to it. However, if the NPC does more than 50% damage or gets the kill shot, there is no corpse or exp. In order to avoid this, one selects a mob initially that can beat the "guard" npc. After allowing the guard to do as much of the damage as possible, the mob is rooted (or one can properly time that, at a certain point, the aggro on the player is overcome by the guard's aggro, and the mob begins to attack the "guard" instead), the mob kills the guard, and then is finished off by the player. As long as the "guard" is killed, there is no chance of them Kill-Stealing the kill, and the player gets the experience and a corpse falls full of loot. Great Divide and Eastern Wastes are good opportunities to Guard kite, due to the availability of the opposing Coldain and Kromrif giants, in levels that vary widely enough that one can know which will win a given fight. Practice, knowing the reactions of the mobs to aggro, and their hp and melee output, are necessary to make this work, but once learned, it can provide easy soloing for many classes.
Regen kiting
Regen kiting is only distantly related to the other types, and is the most rare of all kiting. Predominantly, it uses a Fungus Covered Scale Tunic (aka: "fungi" tunic), Fungus Patch Vest or, other large amount of regeneration, and is used by melee classes. They simply fight until they are low, then run until they've regenerated enough to fight more (or to full), then jump in and melee again, and repeat until the mob is dead; obviously, the regeneration on the player has to amount to more than the natural regeneration of the mob. Nonetheless, in lieu of other soloing options, many monks and other melee types will make use of this strategy when they become frustrated with bad groups, or just want to be alone for a while.
Remember, any type of kiting or hunting will take some practice, and there's always room to be creative. Enjoy the kiting that gets the mobs dead best for you!
Recycle
Storm Warden
Morrell-Thule
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