Little guide on how to grind your characters

[blood-raven]

I'll post a little guide here on how i think is the easiest way to grind a char to higher levels.

Basics:
-Don't use high mana cost spells on mobs.
-Don't use high cooldown spells on mobs.
-Try to minimize your mana output (with some classes this is ofc very hard).
-Try to minimize the damage you take (with for example knock downs).
-Choose your buffs wisely for example dead eye is no good because it lowers your attack speed which means your DPS (damage per second) will be lowered aswell.
-Grind on normal mobs only or the lowest level on challenging (means 2 levels higher then your own).
Use this to find your mobs:

http://tools.claninquisition.org/#/grinding

-In between mobs run in normal stance (weapon sheathed) this increases mana regeneration and can really increase the time you can spend on killing mobs instead of resting.
-I also don't like using debuffs on mobs, feels waisted

Archers.
In general:

-You will notice you don't have much mana to start with so don't use very expensive buffs.

-I would advise not to skill maneuver to high because the cooldown is way to long (40 sec duration and 120 (!) seconds cooldown).

-Also stay clear of evasion buffs, they don't work properly.

-I found long bows to be the best to grind at lower levels.

-Don't use sudden strike, i know it sounds great with the -50% protection but while grinding your constant damage output is more important then debuffing one mob.

-I don't like to use ambush on mobs because i see it as "empty" mana use: no damage done + the cast time is a bit long.

Marksman

To grind a marksman 4 skills are most important: Recharged arrows (damage buff), foresight (passive range buff), parabolic (range buff) and at low lvls shield piercing arrow (damage spell).
Skill these first before you do other stuff.

The idea is to maximize your normal attack damage output and maximize your range so that mobs can't or can barely reach you.
Also passives like lightness and specialist will help you out too (although more limited).
I found specialist to be better then lightness, so if you need to choose between the 2 go for specialist, if of course your level and setup allows you to.

I found this great combo (but i advise you to keep it when you're higher lvl cause you need lot's of points).
Foresight 5 + parabolic 4/5 + dirthy fighting 4/5 + recharged arrows 5.
Keep DF and parabolic at the same level, you'll notice they have the same duration.
The idea is to lower your range and add a big increase of damage.

I would also recommend to skill winter stroke, it does damage, has a low cool down (mana cost is somewhat higher tough).
This is a lesson learned for later on in game, if you are in trouble, simply cast WS (winter stroke), take some range and attack again.


Hunter

The basics on grinding a hunter is the same as a marks, all tough you don't have recharged arrows, you need to maximize your damage and range.
At low levels hunters have a little advantage over marks because they have 2 low cooldown, low mana cost attack spells: ensnaring arrows and shield piercing.
Damage bonuses from specialist and lightness are welcome for a hunter because you don't have a lot of damage buffs.
Don't skill maneuver to high tough, for the same reasons above, if you have points left you can of course .

The pet will help you out nicely while grinding.
Go for the best possible pet you can have, which means on par with your level (for example: level 23 character has a lvl 23 character pet).
You will notice you can only tame a pet that is "normal" to you.
Use this to find your pet:
http://tools.claninquisition.org/#/pets

Warriors

In general:
-Maximise your damage output.
-Use your knockdowns.
-I think slash is the best tree to grind (with south cross).

Barbarians

For barbarians it's important to skill damage buffs first (berserker, overwhelming stength, thirst for blood, acurate swings (for slash) etc.

Grinding a barb is the most easy thing ever, just buff, run to a mob, watch him die and go to the next one untill your mana is to low or you are near death.
You'll have troubles grinding a barb at low lvls but this will improve with every level you rise.

I grinded my barb from 38 to 40 like this:
Setup lvl 38: (at lvl 39 i made berserker and overwhelming strenght 5)

http://trainer.claninquisition.org/t...easeaaDzbnaaaa

cast accurate swings (4) and berserker (4/5) go to a mob use kick (4) kill it, go to next one use charge (4) go to the next, if kick wasnt out of cooldown yet i used south cross (4), kill it and move on, then repeat.
I din't use my defencive buffs alot because i wanted to keep the mana output on buffs minimal to have more for kick, south cross and charge.

So in short:

buff -> got to a mob ->kick + normals->next mob -> charge -> normals -> next mob -> kick + normals ->...
or
-> southcross + normals -> kick + normals ->...

Eventually you run out of mana, then with your last mana you cast thirst for blood (TFB) on level 2 and keep on going.

Basic idea: try to have 2 hits/mob at all time, with a good weapon this is no problem.

I could do 4000-5000k (4000-5000) xp from one rest (due to low hp) to another with extremely crappy gear (i used a lvl 35 slow axe with +23 base damage and nothing else ).

Knights

I'm sorry but i have no experience grinding a knight what so ever, so please if anyone has experience share it here.

Mages

In General:

-There are 2 ways to grind a mage, or with spell casting or with staff mastery (this requires a good damage staff tough).
SM is the most easy way: skill your magnifications (fire, ice and lightning), arcane accelaration, arcane projection and combat magic to the maximum, cast, click on a mob and there you go.
Later on it's a good idea to have aura's build in too, some crowd controle spells (cc's) from the mental tree will do nicely aswell.
Forget about arcane devotion (the cast sped buff) and you can skill ambitious sacrifice on 2 because you need a lot less mana.

Also a good idea to use ROL's (ring of lightning which you will get from a quest at lvl 40) for there extra lightning damage and there +5 attack speed and/or DS (deadly sight ring obtainable at lvl 23 in syrtis not sure if the quest is also at lvl 23 in other realms) this ring gives 15-25 slashing damage.

-Don't ever forget to skill energy barrier!
Even in lower lvls this spell is important, it's the major line of defence for any mage. (And at low character lvls the best defence there is on any class).

-Don't use curse, not worth it.
Really.

-Don't forget ambitious sacrifice, if you can skill it, do it.


Conjurers:


The most easy way to grind is when you have enough buffs, for example: fox wits, bear strenght etc (mainly in the enchantments tree) and heals (in the heal tree, obvious).

skill these tree's to the maximum, gather as much buffs and heals as you can and go to a very high level and buff/heal him, you'll get a lot of xp.
Notice you have to buff/heal him at least twice per mob to gain xp, but the effort is worth it.

I noticed that a single dispell cast on your ally gives you xp, don't worry if it's necessary or not, just go for it .

On higher levels you will gain access to aura's and that's when the real fun starts, in the mana tree there are 2 aura's: mana pylon and mana communion.
If your level allows it, skill these 2 to the maximum, other players only need to be inside the aura to give xp to you.

Best way to use these 2 aura's is the following:

Cast mana communion first, when this is over cast mana pylon and then again mana communion (you'll notice MC has 120sec cd and MP 180sec cd), this way you have for 180 sec non stop aura's.
The other 60 seconds you will need to wait to get em out of cooldown needs to be filled in by heals, buffs and dispell.

When you notice a marks grinding, he's the one you where always looking for, thanks so his high range he hasn't have to move often so you won't have to worry (as much) of him running out of your aura's or out of heal range.

If you rather grind on your own you can still go for staff mastery, mental and summon tree.
Staff mastery requires a good damage staff (as stated before).
Mental is the basic offensive tree for all mages.
So you'll do good to skill at least a few points in here, even if you are using staff mastery.

Summon tree: skip imps and also zombies, not worth it.
Best is to go directly for a demon and later for a lich and eventually a golem.
Some conjurers skill both demon and lich at high level so they can have a summon all the time (here cd is not the same as there duration), this problem is solved with the golem (cd= duration) which is a melee summon tough.

Blood drinker is also not worth the points, it costs to much mana and it's effect isn't that great, a heal self or regenerate self will help much more.

About heals: i think regenerate self is more usefull then healself cause you don't have to cast it over and over, if you're in need tough heal self will prove it's worth more.

FOR ALL CONJURERS, EVEN WARJURES.
ALWAYS have resurrection on 1!

Warlocks

The easiest way to grind warlocks is similar to grinding a conj.
All tough you don't have heals, giving mana, buffs and later aura's will get you your xp.

If you want to grind alone you can choose between spells and staff mastery (SM).
Locks also have a small advantage in SM over conjurers, vitality absorption.
This is the 4th skill in the necromancy tree, gives up to 10% vitality absorption, which means: a part of the damage you deal becomes HP for you, it's similar to blood drinker but passive and just way more usefull!
Don't worry about healing yourself, your normals will do it for you.
I heared from Scias that it also has effect during spell casting but i din't test this yet (not that i don't believe him ofc ;p).

Locks also have the advantage over conjurers in spell grinding.

Good combo's are: meteor + lightning and fire ball + ice blast.
These 2 combo's got my lock from 30 to 44.

Don't forget vampirism in the necromancy tree!
It sucks out enemy HP to give it to yourself.
Even with SM and vitality absorption this spell might come in handy now and then.
I would advise to skill this if you have points left.


And ofcourse: experiment yourself, what i tell you here is what my experience tolled me, if you are a marks and want to grind with sb, you can ofcourse do.

If you have remarks, questions or idea's pls post em below

I'll reread this post a lot so it will be edited now and then and grow bigger with more info

Regards

[time-to-die]

eey mate!

I think it is realy handy for new players

[NSer]

To stickyyyyyyyyy

[Latan]

Originally Posted by blood-raven

Conjurers:


The most easy way to grind is when you have enough buffs, for example: fox wits, bear strenght etc (mainly in the enchantments tree) and heals (in the heal tree, obvious).

skill these tree's to the maximum, gather as much buffs and heals as you can and go to a very high level and buff/hea him, you'll get a lot of xp.
Notice you have to buff/heal him at least twice per mob to gain xp, but the effort is worth it.

as a conju, you gain xp by buffing/healing only if your realmate lands a normal hit after that buff



the fastest way i found to solo grind my knight to 60 is with offensive stance, as many STR/damage as you can, enough A.S. to land 4 hits during a knockdown and A LOT of patience.
weapon tree, tactics and vanguard are the 3 main trees to raise, then blunt/spears to gain passive str. passive resist damage in weapon trees are usefull too.
when your level allows you, skill heroic presence and army of one.

however the fastest way remains grinding in combo with a full support conju and, if you want, another knight in offensive stance.
PS remember to start hitting the mob with normals and not with SC/gutting/forceful blow to make the conju gain xp too. moreover you don't need feint/kick to grind with a conju: it's faster with only normals and damaging spells



As lock, you should skill blaze and crystal blast to finish the mobs that have few hp after your combo of a dot and a direct dmg spell

[NSer]

Well after lvl37 lock with decent staff (dropped is enough) can grind with SM using 1 CC per mob... way is VERY BORING but pretty effective.

[_Kharbon_]

For lock grinding I reccomend SM.. you can always get decent staves (or borrow them from clanmates) and it's a easy way... (no thinking/skill required). That means you can listen to music/watch the tv etc

The negative side is that you won't be usefull in combat... and it is somehow monotonic...

The good side is relatively fast and undemanding leveling and good group grind features (you can skill areas).

I grinded with sm from lvl +-45 whole way to 60 (about to finish off tommorow )

[_Nel_]

Knights: (from lvl 29 to get kick and spells at power 4)
------------
Use buff weapon spell(4) and caution(4) as soon as they are not on CD anymore.

1. Feint(4) - 1st damage spell(4) - Normal Hit - Normal Hit - Normal Hit
2. Normal Hit - Kick(4) - 1st damage spell(4) - Normal Hit - Normal Hit
Rinse and repeat until level 60.

1st damage spell is cheap, has a very low cooldown, does good damage and is available for any kind of weapon (slash/blunt/pierce).

Don't be afraid to use a lot of mana, it's better since it regens faster than health.

Better to choose fast attack mobs (as felines, wasp, ...) they do very tiny damage cause of high armor points of knights.


Knights: (below lvl 29)
------------
Same as above without feint/kick.

[bois]

An easily forgotten spell in the Knight's arsenal is taunt. If you are grinding this is a staple. Skill it as high as you can.
As said before you need kick and feint along with your weapon buff. Caution is also a cheap spell that is quite effective at mitigating damage.

Because I used to grind solo most of the time, I found it prudent to skill challenge 1 to 'pull' the mobs to me and as such raise efficiency. I would only use offensive stance if working with conju.

The trade-off is faster kills that is offset by having to stop more frequently. The rest as solo erodes your time. Optionally you can do a non-offensive stance build which means you kill slower but you last much much longer between rests. I have found the latter method to be more efficient. Note that this is for solo grind. If you have a conju it is better to use offensive stance.

I have also done a strange build that incorporates the above but adds a layer of blocks and evades. I use block at least on level 2 and challenge 2 or 3. I have found this method to be very effective in the post 50 grind.
It lengthens my time between rests by a good margin due to the fact that I will evade and block a lot. It is rather effective against ranged mobs. I can pull them , block the attacks and increase efficiency by not having to run to them the whole distance. During this time , I am able to regain mana by just doing normal attacks.

During grind, it is important to figure out what type of damage your mob of choice is doing. Get a shield that is good against these types of damage. You would be surprised what a good shield can do to extend your non rest time. Now the rest of armour is important but they are not as readily accessible when you need them . I normally changed my helm and shield depending on the mob I was grinding on mostly. When doing this you will want to concentrate on the particular mob. If the density of mobs are not good enough then try for the most balanced gear you can get. Emphasis is on the physical damage reduction.

As melee it is important to note what (if any) spells the mob has. Some have dot spells and you will want to avoid these. Oddly enough, some of them are quite nasty like rake and can cramp you up . The best way is to use the knocks and hope to kill them before they get up. Sometimes this is not possible. More often than not the AI throws up the spell as the first or second spell as the mob gets up. I use precise block at this point. then I proceed to kill. Yes it is slower but trust me, it is faster than getting rake every few mobs. If you are able to, it is best to avoid these kinds of mobs.

Good luck grinding your knight and have fun.

[Wield_II]

I dont really like you, and you know why.
And normally wouldnt say this either.

But very nice guide Bloodraven.
I'm sure it's useful to new players.

[blood-raven]

Originally Posted by Donatoo

I dont really like you, and you know why.
And normally wouldnt say this either.

But very nice guide Bloodraven.
I'm sure it's useful to new players.

Thx

Edited!
Idea's, remarks, etc remain welcome of course