Tips and Tricks to Charming that Monster
How to deal with most mob charming situations:
Charming and Mez-
There's only one way you can get a mob charmed. To cast charm upon it successfully while it is not in combat mode and it is not damaged. Of course, it doesn't always work to go up to MonsterA, tap him on the shoulder, and cast Wrest Will. Sometimes you'll find that the creature you tried to charm, well, he didn't like the idea much. This is where mez comes in. When mez'd, a creature drops out of combat mode (about 5 seconds), and after 10 seconds, will start to regenerate their health back. A failed charm does not break mez, of course, neither does a successful one. Only when the creature gets mad at you, will mez break (other than its own duration of course).
**Charm breaks AE Mez on ALL but the charmed Mob. Remember this.
Single/Roaming/Loner Melee Creatures-
These are fairly easy, usually, just getting into range and casting the charm is all you'll need to do. Always though, have a mez or a quickcasted mez ready to fire, in case you make it mad :)
Single/Roaming/Loner Ranged Creatures-
This is basically the same, get into range and charm. However, if you're getting "uncomfortably" close to this caster/archer before you're able to charm; or it roams about and you don't want it to aggro just as your about to finish casting (thus putting the monster into 'enraged/combat' mode and uncharmable), mez it first, wait about 5 seconds, and then cast charm.
Creatures who camp together-
One of the earliest examples of this are Bandits. They roam around together, always close to each other, and in groups that are larger than what you want to handle alone. However, they *DO* come single (as opposed to baf), if they baf (bring a friend), then skip this part. How do we drag that little Bandit Thaumaturge/Bandit Leader away from their evil sneaky friends and under our, er your, control? We pull. Charming creatures can be the most dangerous part of a Sorcerer's life, and charming creatures out of camps can be very dangerous. First off, *NEVER* try this while grouped. If you are grouped, and want the pet, let the group pull the mobs however you have been, and just mez and charm the one you want (be sure to tell them NOT to hit the one you want). The solo method for this, if grouped (espeically if your group isn't around) will get you killed.
1) Find the camp, and find a good path to run away from it.
2) Target the one you want, and get into root range. If this requires waiting for some of the creatures to move around to let you get close, wait.
3) Root. And Run. Away from the camp :) If you got resisted, sprint away. If it was a caster, sprint FASTER! ;) (or qc a mez) Don't go too far if your root stuck though, just out of sight, so the mob must run to you.
4) When root breaks, or you run out of endurance from sprinting; face your quarry, and mez. Quickcast might be necessary. Make sure its out of 'aggro' range from its old camp-mates, or his old buddies will come to beat him up for changing sides
5) Wait 5 or so seconds.
6) Cast your charm spell. Cast until it sticks, or until the mob gets mad. If it gets mad, mez, and try again.
7) Assuming the mob is now charmed, if you're under 24, wait for mez to break; if you're 24 or over, cast Clear Mind (Mind baseline), to cancel mez, and off you go!
Creatures who bring their friends-
An early example of this are Spriggarns and Spriggarn Elders, a more contemporary example are the Drakorans. Even if you're solo, you'll get more than one. These are a little more difficult than pulling one from a camp. And for this, it won't matter if you're grouped while you do it (well, not much anyway).
1) Assess your target's friends.
Range- ranged damage casters/archers always need to be mez'd, this includes healers.
Melee- melee monsters are usually incapacitated well enough with a root.
2) While AE Mez might seem like the best option, and, it really should be, its not. Figure out how you're going to control this little crowd you're about to have that wants to kill you, with single target root/mez (or AE root).
3) Control the Crowd. Mezzes first, roots next. Quickcast if you need to. A dead Sorcerer charms nothing!
4) Find the one you wanted, mez it if its not already, wait, and then charm it till it sticks. Clear Mind if you can. Additionally, if you *don't* have Clear Mind, you might want to put up a lower duration mez onto your bar, to use on the mob you want for a pet. This does have some down sides, but so does having every OTHER mob break their cc 5 seconds BEFORE your new pet does.
5) Now, depending on the crowd you still have that wants to get you... RUN or start getting "rid" of them :)
Creatures with a LARGE aggressive range-
Some creatures will see you and start thinking about killing you before you can get to 1000 range to charm them. Things like the Granite giants in Dartmoor, for example. Much like getting a creature out of a camp, you need to pull it to you. The best spell for long range pulling is Amnesia, and its also great for charm-pulls, as it deals no damage (or has a negative effect). Of course, the only way to get the creature to come to you with Amnesia, is to get resisted when you cast it. Use the lowest Amnesia, the level 8 single target version. You're more likely to *get* resisted, and its the only single target version (which is most likely what you want.. you can't charm more than one ;)). Cast until resisted, and the creature comes for you. If its a ranged damage dealer, spam the mez button till it starts to cast; if its a melee range wait as long as you can, but always give yourself room for one cast + a quickcast. There might be some instances (like Tylwyth Tegs, archers) where their attack range is greater than yours. This is a problem. Spaming your highest amnesia (if ae radius allows), will keep them from attacking, generally (debuffs also interrupt, but have a 1 minute duration, which will need to expire before you can charm). You'll either need to wait for the creature to come to you, or you'll need to creep forward to it, till you're in mez range. And then charm as usual.
Anyone else have other situations/tips? [email engymari@lycos.com]