Post by Lance BergThat doesn't make you a bad enchanter, it just makes you not a great
enchanter.
It doesn't even do that, really, it makes you not a DPS enchanter.
Since few groups understand the potential of that, and even if they do
understand it, know that most enchanters aren't going to be good at it,
you won't likely be invited to groups to do that job. Enchanters are
measured by their ability to control crowds, and you can be fantastic at
that without ever resorting to the dangers of charm.
The dangers of charm... sounds like my ex. :) Agreed that enchanters are
measured by their ability to do CC, and there are damn few these days who
know what they're doing. I nearly went mad, playing my mage in a group with
a 49 enchanter who was chain-casting AOE Mezz on a three-pull... anyone who
plays a pet class knows precisely what I'm talking about. But the
enchanters who DO know their job are remembered!
Remember that charm can be a crowd-control tool as well. On a nasty
overpull, especially at lower levels when mezz doesn't last long, charming a
mob and using it to offtank uses one spell to take two mobs out of the mix
for as long as a full minute, and returns them both as damaged goods when
charm breaks and it's time to fight them.
Post by Lance BergBut, if you -can- master charm, you'll be more flexible, and since as
you've noted there's less and less call for a standard enchanter
(paladin lull pull + shaman slow if slow is even called for = no CC no
slower) you can create a new niche for yourself.
I'm not an expert at enchanter charm duty by any means, but here's what
I've seen: mez mob, get it ensnared and malosied and tash it yourself,
then charm it. Now its resistances are low for when it checks for charm
break, and if it does break relatively soon, also low for recapture.
The ensnare means it lumbers about when it breaks charm giving you
plenty of time for the recapture effort. Commit to keeping it as your
pet; haste it, feed it some treats (ok that last is just for fun).
Unlike your animation, this pet will listen to standard commands. His
DPS is also probably double that of your animation, and his HP probably
quadruple that of your animation.
Quick note: the level 62 animation hits for 40 to 60, and has about 2k hp.
A dire-charmable bird in PoN (the lowest level mob available in that zone)
hits for 200 to 300 and has 15k hp. You make the comparison!
Post by Lance BergWhen charm breaks, if its relatively
early, stun him and recharm him, stun will wear off very soon
thereafter, send him right back in to the battle. This means you need
to keep your distance from him at all times; use guard here whenever you
aren't on the move, so you can go to the other side of the room. If its
been a long time since the last charm break, use mez instead, giving you
time to retash and get ensnare and malosi reapplied.
Keep two color stuns, mezz, and charm loaded. Use your level 4 stun and
then your best stun, with your finger hovering over your hotkey for the
level 4 stun. When you sicc your pet on a target, immediately retarget your
pet. The relatively-new ability to switch between your last two targets is
a godsend to the charming enchanter.
When charm breaks, both mobs are going to head for you ASAP. If you can,
keep the target mob rooted - then only your pet will charge you. Before the
mob(s) are in range start firing your low-level, fast-casting stun. They'll
run into it and lock down for 2 seconds. DONT MOVE AWAY, just fire your
best stun as soon as the gems reset - that will lock down the mobs for 6 or
8 seconds (depending on which stun you have) which gives you time to
re-charm, hit your 'swap target' hotkey, hit your 'pet attack' hotkey and
back away. Once you have the timing down, you can do this without getting
hit.
Always keep a rune up when charm fighting. It's more than worth the cost of
the gem. If you're too cheap to spend money on gems, keep the Berserker
Spirit line up on yourself.
Post by Lance BergEnsnare isn't necessary if you don't have a druid/ranger in the group.
Other snares are too short lived to bother with. Plus in an LDoN style
run, where you are constantly on the move, it can be crippling. Its
just much safer for you if you can arrange it... and consider it
"training wheels" while you are first learning.
Malosi isn't necessary either, really, in fact I'm not sure it helps at
all; what resist do charm, stun, and mez check against, does malosi
reduce that resist? At any rate, you may not have a shaman or mage in
your group to do it for you; again its just helpful at best. You have
Tash yourself, after all, and you can pick your target; don't charm the
high level high resistance mobs, go after lower level mobs that are
easier to tag and keep tagged. With experience in a given zone you'll
find which mobs suit you best: ones that don't resist much, do good
damage, and don't move extremely fast.
Here's how charm works; when you charm a mob, a resist check is made on save
vs. magic, with a factor of your current charisma as a modifier on the
resist check. Testing has shown that an enchanter with a charisma of 75 has
seventeen percent more resists on charm than an enchanter with a charisma of
150 - but that's a pretty big gap. Every tick after the inital charm, the
mob gets to check against magic again to see if it breaks charm. Thus, tash
and malo* are huge factors in keeping a pet charmed for any length of time,
as is keeping your charisma *at least* above 115.
Keeping your charmed mob ensnared, also known as keeping it 'leashed' is a
very good idea. When soloing, you can stay as far from the mob as pathing
allows, but in a group you're usually going to be much, much closer. The
slower your charmed mob moves, the closer you can be when charm breaks to
move away and recharm. Investment in Jboots, Tboots, SoW potions, and
friendship with beastlords/shamans/druids/rangers is also advisable.
Post by Lance BergWith a charmed pet in a group which doesn't need you as CC you can
really concentrate on keeping the pet on a leash and being major DPS.
If the group does need you as CC, you'll have to be careful, because at
any moment your pet can become one more member of the crowd of mobs...
and he's the one you need to control first because he's hasted and hates
you with the fury of a white hot sun; charm wipes his memory of anything
anyone else did to him. You may wish to forgo haste in this sort of
situation, thowing away some DPS for your own safety, particulary if you
aren't keeping him ensnared.
I never use charm in a CC situation except for in emergency (i.e. charming
an add and using it to offtank another add). Too risky.
Post by Lance BergYou can even be the MA for small groups; your pet probably has more HP
than any tank in the game, and outdamages them as well. Pet taunt
sucks, though, so some care has to be exercised, and pet taunt is
useless if any PC is in melee range of the mob, so you need an all
caster (or archery ranger) group to take advantage of the charmed MA.
I've had some killer groups in HoH basement with a mage and a ranger.
Ranger shot, pulled, and took care of snares; mage DS'd my charmed mob and
sent in his water pet to backstab (with taunt off); I did what chanters do
best. :) We kept two rooms cleared and part of the third. Our biggest
problem was the inability to heal my pet - a cleric, druid, or shaman would
have been ideal additions.
Post by Lance BergAnd you can solo this way too, although now you'll be lacking snares,
and healing, and "get it off me" talent.
Problem with either MA or solo charm is that now when charm breaks, you
don't just have the former pet out for your blood, but also whatever he
was fighting.
All of this may sound more daunting than it is, though. Fact of the
matter is, any good enchanter should be used to seeing multiple mobs
suddenly gunning for his throat, and should already have high speed CC
like PB stuns loaded up ready to roll at a moment's notice. Charm
breaks are just a matter of an angry mob or three coming at you that
-you- need to do something about. SoW, Shrew, JBoots, Run 3...
something that can buy you distance if you need it, plus a focussed
attention (until dire charm you can never ever relax with a charmed pet
about) and you've got the principle tools of the trade.
Oh, and charisma gear, but you already have that like it or not as an
enchanter, and you already like it as a luller.
Splendid One, 52 Gnomage, Firiona Vie
Llyric, 57 bard with lots of charm experience, Morell-Thule
Matte, 30 enchanter with some chanter specific charm experience,
Morell-Thule
ps: I don't think of this as highly qualified to describe the job,
because like many spells, charm sucks at lower levels for an enchanter,
short on duration on light on "stickiness", plus your tash line spells
at lower levels don't lower resists as much. This means that your pets
break sooner and more often, which trains you to think that they aren't
functional as a plan.
I didn't snip the above because I inserted comments into it; if you missed
'em go back up and scan for them.
My charm lineup for soloing is:
Tash
Rune
Color 1
Color 2
Root
Charm
Mezz
Gate
I will swap Root and Slow as needed - show me an enchanter who has enough
buffslots!
In a group, the lineup is the same except Gate is replaced with Boggle and
Root is replaced with Slow.
Soulfrost DeDanaan
65 Enchanter
Xegony