Herding? Do you mean "training" with them? (I'll assume that what you meant ^.^)
A PvP summon (which is the only summon useful for training mobs because its so cheap-- this includes Unicorn Mirage, Silh., and Mew) has these basic commands-- Attack, Move to Target, a nuking spell, and unsummon. When training mobs on people or bots, you command the summon to move into areas with aggressive mobs... after its "collected" some aggro mobs, you can easily target the farmer/mob/annoying person with the "move to target" option, and watch the summon bring all those mobs over to the farmer. MOST IMPORTANT-- before your summon dies, you have to press the "unsummon" option, so that all that aggressive isn't transferred to the summon. This is basic technique-- there are many ways of training aggressive mobs onto players.
What makes training with a summon better than other forms of training is that if you do it correctly, there's a 0% chance that the summoner has a risk of dying. In the Branded I practice on a farmer family that has since dropped 4500 CSS and some jewelry, and I have only died a few times (mostly because I forgot to press "unsummon" or I was standing too close to the farmers).
i have heard this too he means at the beast farm that you can control the big pets as servitors and they give you buffs. seems to be hard to 'herd' them.
I think the OP might be referring to the summoning guide found on stratics & l2pets, or heard the term elsewhere... I also have wondered what herding means as this guide never explains it :)
From the summoner guide:
1) What kinds of summons are there? Is it true that they take exp from you?
All summons take some exp percentage directly from you (this means, in a party, the summon will take the exp from you, and not the group). But the summoners are designed so they have 0 downtime, so you won’t train slower than other classes, actually the summons are the best soloers.
There are three kinds of summons:
-The standard grinding summons cost several D grade crystals (starting with total of 9 at skill level 5 in level 40, then adding 1 or 2 more crystals per skill level), and take 30% of the total exp you earn. This summons have skills (one skill per summon) that allow the summoners to train longer without resting.
-The PVP and farming summons cost one D grade crystal but take 90% of the exp from you and have DD skills. This summons have the same stats that the standard grinding summons.
-The summons for herding and sieges cost the same that the standard grinding summons and take the same exp from you. These summons have AoE damage skills. They also have less HP (about one third less) and a little less P.Def, as well as more speed and evasion that the other summons.
In prima guide the term 'herding' is used to describe a process of gathering a group of mobs to kill by AoE attacks. So, herding summon is a summon with AoE capability.
Yes... that is what i meant. I have seen a Unicorn Mirage pulling aggros in AB while i watch the Summoner from a mile away just sitting there controling the summon to pick up mobs for AoE grps. that what "the OP" meant ;)
I'm at a level now where the AoE groups I can two-shot are unfortunately passive, so I can't really "pull".
Worth noting in AoEing with an elemental summoner:
- You want robes - the more cast speed the better. Mana pool is nice too, since more mana pool means a bigger chance to last you through a whole merrow before you pull out your boxer for recharges.
- You want a prophet or bishop there. Acumen, zerk and windwalk are vital as buffs if you're pulling and nuking at once. Prophet can also provide Word of Fear for when your servitor dies, bishop can keep it alive in emergency.
- Keep unsummon on a shortcut if you're doing passive mobs - then you can hit that before your pet dies and just calmly start over in case.
Right now my basic proceeding is to attack a group far away from me, kite it back to myself, and then nuke it once more to kill it. If any are left standing I let the servitor melee them.
I don't feel safe doing this without a sleeper or a prophet/bishop there. ;(
Team a tank and a prophet (can be your outsideteam 2box or a real person). Let the tank grab 30-40 mobs and run back to where your sitting on your behind. Smash your aoe button 2 or 3 times and there you go, you just got a lot XP. No need for special equipement or anything. Just need to be an ES and have BeastSPS with you. Prophet can heal the tank just fine in most cases. If not grab a dedicated healer, your raking in enough XP anyways.
Your not using ANY mana btw, so you can go battleheal the tank a little. Your pet wont get hit anyways. This is also a cheap crystal cost for your summon, as its only in combat for very short times.
Not exactly special equipment, since robes are the PvE survival equipment of choice in C4 anyway. ;)
0_o they are? Robes do not increase your regen. Not that you run out of mana anyways, even with Merrow :p Just got to be careful (with Merrow) and don't overdo it
- The mana pool is relevant since the half HP mobs my level aren't aggro - so I take them in however big a cluster I can find at a time (or sometimes nuking one extra group, but then I'm wasting MP on heals), meaning I have to recharge the merrow quite a bit. If the MP pool is larger, it can last me throughout the whole merrow, meaning I get my full crystals' worth of sparkly blue pony before I resummon my battery.
- If C4 PTS was any indication, cast speed is the determining factor of PvE survivability. I can outheal up to at least 5 adds (I fortunately haven't gotten to try more) for quite a while in avadon robes with acumen effect 3, without an acumen weapon. Light armour is only important to PvE survivability once you messed up and your servitor is gone. Robes help prevent this. Coincidentally, light armour won't let you cast fast enough to re-summon in an emergency situation.
Of course, if you can't afford two sets and aren't a complete carebear like me, LA remains your tool of choice - level more carefully, and you'll find yourself never needing the safety margin the robes provide. And in PvP, the choice between robes and light is a bit more obvious (IMHO).