Little guide on how to grind your characters

[Latan]

Originally Posted by HuntShot

I think I'm a bit more experienced with lock than you are
Maybe not..

maybe not.
read the topic title before start to write such a nonsense.
the best way to chain spells upon a MOB is starting with a DoT and finish it with a direct dmg spell or normals if with a SM setup

[_Nel_]

No point to troll with him, he jumps on every threads to dispense his wise advices about everything without understanding the main subject of the discussion he is taking part in.

[blood-raven]

Originally Posted by _Nel_

No point to troll with him, he jumps on every threads to dispense his wise advices about everything without understanding the main subject of the discussion he is taking part in.

Then let's not put extra attention to it...

btw, 1577 views \o/ i hope this has been of help for someone

[blood-raven]

Originally Posted by dsdeiz

I'm kinda confused. It says you use crash 4 but in your setup crash isn't lvl'ed.

Lol, just noticed, it's 'charge' not crash , i fixed it

[Kittypretty]

Nice post,

as for SM, you really do not NEED a OP sm staff now that we have rol's and assuming you have enough points to shore up a weak spot with mental skills (swarm, admittedly havent used domain now though that its 10 rng, so that may be out or still useful to some, ivy) to keep from being reached. I would advise to skip golems as well, sure they have the duration advantage but offer only slightly more damage, though save you a few points (I alternate lich/zarkit which both do around the same damage to mobs as a 'average' sm user with normal gear'
Another point is to skill dragons blood/int gear (if possible, granted the damage isn't much but if going for a max damage build it is something to invest in)

Projection is not always needed, depends whether you skill mental or not (OP staff and decent dps a player can down a challenging mob with ranged summon using no mental typically) The golem melee range means it has to reach 25 range, hit, follow mob, and damage is usually less in the long run unless you utilize immobilizes so your golem can hit a stationary target. Pllus if it dies, you have the lengthy cd, which neither ranged summon has a drawback on, or forced to rest (silly) when its damaged/ waste on blood drinker, which is high cd to just regen a summon anyways so not a good spell to waste points on (swarm still bugged, mobs in motion under swarm run past you, so time the spelll to land as mob stops in melee range when it goes off)
so i don't skill mental skills as often pure normals kill mobs with projection and ranged summon (pref lich as they have range 25 while zarkit needs range 20, values may be off slightly but i think they are pretty close) so its a double edge, use it or not depend on setup.

Another crazy idea many wont agree with maybe, is forgoing most conj defenses other than heals to cover ambitious and mob damage if many evades) even that is simply regen 1 usually, as SM is prebuff heavy and mana use during is covered easily unless you use high mentals (as both summons can be cast and covered with ambitious' return mana every 25 secs.)

But anyways, chances are you are using so many points to maintain a SM setup, defenses are weak or not available anyways, and a zerg hunt party makes any of them in the world pointless, its rarely ever a single enemy. take the loss and go back, (people argue but what if you need to defend a grind group, you'd die without defense...but then you'd be using a support setup not sm anyways..right. Barrier is all i use aside from regen or a heal, i prefer to put those spare points into ally heals, a low synergy etc, just very crude support skills in case you come across wounded grinders in need or a recharge. I'd simply rather use them to support a possible ally if i meet one, without resorting to full support setup, but hey some may enjoy killing enemies so if you want to take a chance, then skill whatever pvp skills you can afford (mb/karma/ss etc)

Then again those are just my opinions, as I also grind my hunter oddly (skilling AS leggings/Cs Pauld/Rol's) using 2 dw shortbows with 10% as and other with 10% cs,
I skill the dmg passives (even specialist lol) dex passives

Start the fight using acro+rapid shot+adapability and as shortbow, using pure normals to kill mobs till duration is up,

bow switch to cs bow and cast evasive (as i dont want to lower acc as rapid shot doesnt work well with another hc malus) casting dual shot first (as its so slow, snare, normals till i can repeat the above process. tons of arrow loss but being rich helps.

I skill cold blood occasionally, or dirty fighting, ambush, stunfist to enhance damage, always skill sudden strike 1 but, admittedly having a rng 30 bow and a rng 25 skill is awkward. tear apart sometimes if having a bad day, tear apart+ stun fist and let the dot tick while i regain range or finish it if possible, or ambush if i can cast it in time due to its pitiful range and cast time.

granted i could do it a much easier way with pets, but i have never used them really since RA, maybe revisions will change my mind, but i find i can grind fine already without one. by no means is it an ideal setup everyone has gear to make it quicker with but thats what i do anyways.
In wz camo and track help as well, even low level, if needed to rest for some reason, rest in camo, and track often. (cant say thats feasible for pet users though with the limitation on them)

I'm guessing i chose a hunter setup that bring a bit of challenge to grinding, since otherwise i get bored, having to focus and pay attention to my cs's, and spells keeps me from quitting so early i guess.

Probably the most important rule though...grind on mobs that are actually worthwhile to kill (rake?/cs debuff from goblins etc) so avoid leopard type cats if possible, ranged mobs unless you outrange them enough to kill them without damage or have good magical resist, i see barbs sometimes attacking ghosts (bad magical resists) and it adds up over time so they have to rest alot more than usual.

same if you have awful blunt gear dont go killing golems much. avoid mobs which give no loot if possible (sadly not always..not high priority for ngd..some mobs do not drop normal loot for 1+ year, and others (golem/kelontes, drop loot far too heavy, I just drop it)

[blood-raven]

I can't put any more info in the original post (text is too long) so i'll post it here:

Barbarian

My barb now got to 50 but i din't use swords for it, i had a decent lvl 43 magical hammer (very slow one) and i must say, it speeded me up faster then slow swords, you don't need to have a magical one, just a shop gear hammer can help you with grinding.
Grinding with very slow weapons needs to have extra AS (attack speed) on your gear (2 RoL's and if possible +4/5 AS on your leggings).
I also found that the best way to grind a barb is with a second barb, i speeded from lvl 43 to lvl 50 in just a week .
With 2 barbs grinding together golems are an exelent target, they take time to deploy and since you're two 1k damage hitting maniacs, they won't have time to hit you.

Grinding with a very slow weapon is even simpler then with a slow or medium, on normal mobs you have a guaranty that mobs die in 2 hits.
You just need to buff berserk and the weapon damage buff, when the later runs into cooldown cast thirst for blood and you can keep going for a while longer.
Frenzy is also a good idea.

This was my setup from 43:

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

(Notice that you will find kick on the place where feint is in the setup, to be clear: i skilled kick).

Roar is skilled because i had a point left and did not know what to do with them .
Roar is handy when suddenly a lot of agro mobs attack you.

Setup lvl 50:

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

I found challenging roar a good buff to avoid those annoying evades, it's not perfect but i notice a difference.

On higher levels you get more points but that i putted in a higher lvl of kick and caution.

You might wonder why i skilled OWTH (off with there heads), it's for the sole reason of giving your grinding companion an extra damage boost, which really works well.

When you enter the wz to grind it's a good idea to skill UM (unstoppable madness), it's a defence against crowd controle spells.
Cause there are always some freaks who hope mommy will finally love them if they kill grinders.

[boert_crandal]

TL;DR. 10char

[ice_zero_cool]

Originally Posted by blood-raven

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.

I only read the first post in this thread, so i dont know if what im gonna say was already said, so please spare me :P

IMO the smartest way to grind a barb is NOT with slash (I actually think slash is the worst choice possible). As a barb, you should use blunt (1st choice) or pierce (2nd choice), depending on whether you have either a good blunt or piercing weapon.

(at least lvl 37)
Setup should be something like this:
- berserk 5 and overwhelming strength 5
- your weapon's buff 4
- your weapon tree's passive spell (the one that give str (blunt) or str and dex (pierce) ) 4
- your weapon's first damaging spell 4
- the rest of your points go to whatever you want. I used feint (now kick), caution and frenzy

also, spiritual blow can be quite handy to have in your setup, even if its only on lvl 1.

I dont really like TFB for grinding, but whoever wants to have it should get it (as soon as you dont need to give up on something from the above, that is)
_______________

Just noticed that raven changed his opinion on how to grind a barb with hammer, too. Well, then you have here a (good) setup for lvl 37 that you can use as a base.

[animalartist]

Hope this helps?

When i was grinding i would set up just to grind. If in wz this sometimes meant that yeah i'd be hammered by hunt parties but the grind was fast. More often than not i was solo grinding and i used a conju maybe a handful of times.

Mana/hp potions are your best friend on a scroll, or if you cant access them grinding as close to a save and dying rather than resting works fast too.

With any grinding, if on scrolls go for max damage and 0 protection. You want to kill as fast as you can.

I was shown dot first for locks and it works best.

For knight i used another knight just knocking or having the final blow to grind with and found this amazingly fast. (my fasted toon to grind)

I see some people say "i wont grind in a party cause I'm on a scroll", but really , the faster you can kill the better it is for you so yeah you might get less xp per creature but your going to kill more of them in the same amount of time.

If your a barb and grinding in a party, think of others and dont use beserk as it sucks up all the xp. (well it used to when i grinded mine). I found the barb the worst to grind.

If grinding an archer/mage in a party with warriors remember its frustrating for them to have to run back and forward to try and get a hit. Let them have the first shot.

Again if scroll grinding, avoid spells like freeze/time master spells as yeah they stop attacks for a while but they suck up a scrolls time too

[blood-raven]

Originally Posted by ice_zero_cool

...

You're very right about hammers and spears.
I started grinding with a spear now and i think it's even better then with a hammer, since you have the 2m range, if you can set yourself right you can avoid a hit from a mob and being knocked or stunned or what ever nasty things mobs can do at you.
I think tfb is good for grinding cause if you can get tfb+ weapn bonus + berserker at the same time you have a chance on a one hit kill strike, which can only increase the grinding speed .
I also like the extra attack speed.
Oh and i use it to bridge the weapon bonus cooldown.
i know it lasts for only 5 hits but that are 3 extra mobs .