Well **** my Gladiator levels fast, when using the right combination of place, equipment, mobs and buffs.
Earlier I used to hunt with my SH-61 in VoS with top OOP PP+SE buffs and in lvl61 I could make like 10-12%/hour. Now my SH is lvl64 and leveling is a little slower, like 8-10% (I think).
I have always thought that my SH(nuker) could level much faster then any other class(when not counting bigboom and such), but right now my lvl61 Gladiator levels much faster.
My Gladiator also get OOP PP+SE buff and I use the PP to heal during fight and my SE to recharge mana every 4-5 group.
I hunt the 5-mob-groups up at Ancient Battlegrounds and I mainly hunt the bloddy queen(or whatever they are called) groups because only one of the mobs stun. the Gladiator earns around 25-5000 -26.000 XP for each group and he can kill them none stop. I use a combination of Sonic Storm + Sonic Buster and pure smacking.
The Gladiator earn 15-17%/hour and around 500.000a in pure adena drop.
Personally This is by far the fastest way I ever leveled a character.
Does anyone of you know any similary or even better way to level?
ESs can do the same, except they can probably pull two or three groups fairly safely - their only problem is having to melee down the standing mobs (1-2 swipes each). It depends on your skill and concentration, I guess.
An ES would also only need a PP, not an SE. =)
I imagine a PS might also be able to do the group mobs to great effect with a recharger, but the soulless is a pretty huge drain on summoner MP.
Yes, I agree, but the different between a Gladiators "Sonic forces" and a ES, SH or any other mage using AoE, is that the Sonic forces is not a magic attack, so mobs with strong M.DEF doesent matter.
I also tried the same tactic, by using my SH and AoE Tempest, but most of the time two of the mobs resisted, due to strong M.DEF. and then they stunned my SH and started dealing quite some damage to me.
If my SH did fire off a Tempest and a second group just spawned up on top of the first group, then hell is loose for the SH :(
But my Gladiator on the other hand can "easily" attack two groups at the same time and still handle a third group if it spawned right in his face.
I have not played a summoner, but what happens if the summon is killed, will all the mobs then run to the summoner?
How does a summoner handle that situation?, can he/she summon a new sevitory before the mobs gets over and start wacking him?, or what tactic do you use?.
Well, an ES is not a mage only - the merrow packs a hefty punch in melee, so if you load up shots, whatever remains standing after the two nukes will go down in very, very few hits.
Yes, if you are bad enough to let your summon die, you are in deep trouble. However, this only happens if you're reckless with your MP, or if you're practicing in a new area. Generally, I die a few times before adjusting to a particular kind of mob.
I bet a WL could do the same with the same OOP buffers.
Or a archer, I did the group mobs in frozen lab with my archer, was really good up till 58 you can go higher I just got tired of the same spot, mobs, and drops after a while.
but the issue with mages is MP regen and that really limits the playablity of them.
I imagine a PS might also be able to do the group mobs to great effect with a recharger, but the soulless is a pretty huge drain on summoner MP.
Soulless isn't too bad, though tanking group mobs always means quite a bit of healing; the soulless' AOE nuke needs a corpse, so it's harder to AOE solo with a PS.
I always use soulless; I generally have an OOP buffer w/ VR and I almost never have MP issues except on bad pulls. Soulless' MP drain isn't that bad; even using soulless and transfer pain at the same time, in C5, doesn't actually reduce my MP, although it pretty much negates MP regen.
I have not played a summoner, but what happens if the summon is killed, will all the mobs then run to the summoner?
Yes.
How does a summoner handle that situation?, can he/she summon a new sevitory before the mobs gets over and start wacking him?, or what tactic do you use?.
First, I would UD my summon before it died, and spam heals on it. A PS has a servitor heal that is stronger than a bishop's, of course for pet only, and we get servitor UD which adds as much PDEF as the tank version. Of course there are situations (like where the pet is being nuked by many monsters, too spread out to get all in melee range at once) where that doesn't help. You can also use UD as a way to escape -- the monsters will ONLY transfer aggro to you if you are in range (range is approx. the outer ring of the radar). So if the summon can last long enough UDd, you can make an escape to a safe place.
If that won't work? I BSOE. Then I resummon, buff up, and go get my revenge on the monsters for making me waste cash on a BSOE. In general it's no longer practical to resummon in combat; the cast time was doubled and the chance of interruption is really high.
The servitor heal is not stronger than major heal (I don't get why we didn't get major heal for servitors, but meh - NCSoft and thinking their design through consequently would be news anyway).
I could resummon easily enough when I could still unsummon (to get a clean count-down), but now, waiting for the summon's corpse to fade is a death-trap.
I also tried the same tactic, by using my SH and AoE Tempest, but most of the time two of the mobs resisted, due to strong M.DEF. and then they stunned my SH and started dealing quite some damage to me.
If my SH did fire off a Tempest and a second group just spawned up on top of the first group, then hell is loose for the SH :(
I have some experience with hunting group mobs on my SH. I mostly have farmed SBs in Frozen labyrinth, but have killed groups near Oren and in VoS.
In my opinion Tempest is a poor choice when you are "solo". You are too close when you cast the spell. Probably most or all of the mobs will get to you. Assuming all the mobs are 1/2 health, I hit the leader with my overhit spell. It dies immediately. Before that spell is finished I target a second mob for hurricane. As the mobs run towards me, I hit the third with death spike. Sometimes I kill the fourth mob before it gets to me. Even if it gets one swing on me, the damage I take is minimal.
The servitor heal is not stronger than major heal (I don't get why we didn't get major heal for servitors, but meh - NCSoft and thinking their design through consequently would be news anyway).
Yeah, I forgot that; I was thinking of Greater Heal in C4, which level for level was weaker than Servitor heal.
I could resummon easily enough when I could still unsummon (to get a clean count-down), but now, waiting for the summon's corpse to fade is a death-trap.
Unsummoning was nice in that it didn't transfer aggro, so it was easier to do that. Although with DE cast speeds, resummoning in combat was never really practical since they increased the time.
Nah I meant unsummoning when I already had aggro (from standing too close). Run a few paces, then, as servitor is about to die (it doesn't last long against multiple adds without assistance), hit unsummon and a bsps, start summoning. Pray.
Not to be executed without acumen potion. ;)
Now though, without being able to start resummoning as soon as the servitor drops, it's a lost cause.
I bet a WL could do the same with the same OOP buffers.
Or a archer, I did the group mobs in frozen lab with my archer, was really good up till 58 you can go higher I just got tired of the same spot, mobs, and drops after a while.
but the issue with mages is MP regen and that really limits the playablity of them.
MP regen is not an issue for any A-grade SH that knows the proper way to use b2m.
Yes, I agree, but the different between a Gladiators "Sonic forces" and a ES, SH or any other mage using AoE, is that the Sonic forces is not a magic attack, so mobs with strong M.DEF doesent matter.
I also tried the same tactic, by using my SH and AoE Tempest, but most of the time two of the mobs resisted, due to strong M.DEF. and then they stunned my SH and started dealing quite some damage to me.
If my SH did fire off a Tempest and a second group just spawned up on top of the first group, then hell is loose for the SH :(
But my Gladiator on the other hand can "easily" attack two groups at the same time and still handle a third group if it spawned right in his face.
I have not played a summoner, but what happens if the summon is killed, will all the mobs then run to the summoner?
How does a summoner handle that situation?, can he/she summon a new sevitory before the mobs gets over and start wacking him?, or what tactic do you use?.
The problem is that you're not leveling your SH in the most efficient way. Killing group mobs with a nuker is no longer the fastest way to train, as their AoE spells are officially (for the SH at least) trash.
Find the strongest mob you can 2 shot for a full over-hit, and go for it. One mob at a time. At 61, I went to FP and killed shamans. If you hit them with a wind-strike first, they'll usually transform into a tiger, and a full overhit on them in tiger form is worth 16k exp per shaman. It's quick experience, and you don't run the risk of dying, because at that level they're easy kills.
You were using melee methods to level a nuker. Doesn't work that way.
Use the SH to aoe the area your glad is ( I was too afraid of lag to solo aoe it but... ) go ahead and try it. You might like it.
Find the strongest mob you can 2 shot for a full over-hit, and go for it. One mob at a time. At 61, I went to FP and killed shamans. If you hit them with a wind-strike first, they'll usually transform into a tiger, and a full overhit on them in tiger form is worth 16k exp per shaman. It's quick experience, and you don't run the risk of dying, because at that level they're easy kills.
That's where I leveled my SH at 58-61. Over hit of 8k exp. It's also where I farmed Inf Ore =)
But... do you realize that mobs gives this ( and more ) at VoS without over hit? Overhit being 10-12k? Still 2 shot?