Furless Velium Hounds

[Tineras]

I'd held off doing velium hounds until my druid hit 53 (took to much mana without winged death).

So, yesterday I'm in WW killing velium hounds. Died on the 6th one, and then waiting and hoping a cleric would wander by I killed 2 more for a total of 7 velium hounds and 0 furs....

Am I just incredably unlucky or what? With the velium hounds resisting snare and beating me up, taking half a bar of mana per hound, and then a death from 3 resists and 2 interrupts of panic/snare, I'd have to say that the drop rate on furs is way way way way way to low.

[celesta windpetals]

Furs

Its basically random. The next time you go out there you could get 7 straight furs. I've done alot of fur farming and I'd say its 50-50 for all I have killed.

[Mendan]

You're a druid, master of animals, there's no reason to waste mana dotting hounds to death. Just ensnare a hound, mastodon, or bronto, hit it with glamor of tunare, and then call of karana. Buff with savage spirit and a damage shield, and you're ready to rain terror upon the zone. Tell your pet to guard and pull stuff to him, and keep enough distance so that if charm breaks you can reapply it before your former pet reaches you.

[Morgrist]

Also,remember that WW dire wolves ALSO can be known to drop fur.

Weird,I know. But I've seen reports on it-try them also.

[EnragedFilia]

you think you have it bad, try finding hounds at all without track or sow when everyone and his charmed dog cleared out the zone twice last patch day and your invis icon doesnt feel like flashing before it breaks today.

/petition we need a nice little static camp of hounds for me to quad at, about 10 of them, outside assist range, maybe on a plateau or something like in SD. oh and put esorpa on coldain faction or something else i'm nonkos to... and cut ice burrowers down to 10k hp, kkthxla...

oh well, back to wandering aimlessly looking for a wolf

[kiatek]

re

Actually my preferred method for fighting solo in Western wastes is to use charm. HOWEVER, i do NOT haste my pet. I let the my pet and my target slaughter each other, keeping my pet alive until the end. Sometimes I break charm before either one is dead, then finish both off with root, snare if they will flee, and click dots or nuke if i have extra mana. Then I repeat.

I have found that a hasted velium hound makes for a very very quick killer-me that is. Yes I can run, but hounds are known to break charm at weird times.

So my method is: Find an animal. Pull with glamour of tunare. Go find another animal. Snare and charm the first animal. Pull second animal and sick pet on him. DS pet if it looks like he is weaker (I have gloves of earthcrafting for manaless DS). Take out the popcorn and watch the fight. IF pet is losing, break charm when he is close to dying (have to be quick timer here) or heal him (i dont usually heal pets though).

I can usually get 3 or 4 furs in an hour but I do not usually focus just on hounds. I kill all animals, including glacier mastodons (their furs are even rarer i have found). Then again I usually go to forage and exp and furs are just an added bonus.

[Velurian]

Re: re

I have found that a hasted velium hound makes for a very very quick killer-me that is. Yes I can run, but hounds are known to break charm at weird times.

Trust me...everything breaks charm at weird times.

The RNG...it knows.

[Tinile]

one more tip to charming these lovely animals.... pull with snare.... snare on your charms is your friend. it will save your life many times.

[Ndainye]

Charming for Farming:

Always keep your pet snared.
Always keep your pet's MR debuffed.
Unless you are using a rare spawn as a pet healing your pet will take more mana than changing pets.

I only buff my pet on the rare occasions when I am using it to tank a big mob and am expecting to evac/die when charm breaks (killing Yeld in WW is an example).

Hounds are not the best pet to use in WW since they are more MR than Bronto's or Mastadons. I normally charm a bronto and then fear kite the hounds and mastadons.

[Meirril]

I think 53 is a bit low for a druid to start hunting WW. Wait a level, it makes a diffrence. Being ever so slightly lazy, I perfer fear kitting to charming in WW (while I perfer charming in planes), mainly because finding a second wolf can take quite a while. It realy depends on how cleaned out the zone is.

P.S. for the non-trackers out there, the best 3 places in the zone to check are near the zone in tunnel, and the 2 vallies that lead to other zones. Wolves usualy spend quite a bit of time wandering the bottom looking for a way up. Personaly, I perfer pulling a wolf to ToV just to avoid unwelcome adds.

[EnragedFilia]

i thought someone said glamour of tunare was no aggro a while back

[Mendan]

Glamor was no aggro at first, but was changed just before PoP went live. I always pull with glamor then snare, to give snare a better chance of sticking, unless it's a velium hound or something else that runs at a very high speed. The reason I usually choose hounds over brontos and mastadons is because they seem to hit a lot harder, but any animal in the zone can make for a nice pet. I also always use savage spirit and thorns on my pet, with ensnare on him my pet will never reach me before I can recharm on a break. Makes fights go much faster, not to mention I love using my Sand Eroded Shell, an item every druid should invest in.


PS- There is also a very easy way to solo ice burrowers once you hit level 57. Glamor, ensnare, and savage any charmable animal and have it sit down (thorns is not needed for this). Find an ice burrower, and pull it to the area where your pet is. Then snare it with bonds of tunare (15% slower than ensnare so your pet will be slightly faster), cast flame lick 3 or 4 times (very low mana decent aggro spell), and then tell your pet to attack. You will have built up enough aggro that the burrower will continue chasing you and ignore your pet beating on it's backside. Run it around in a circle while casting flame lick to maintain aggro, refresh bonds of tunare every minute of so since it only lasts for 1 minute 48 seconds, and be ready to run ahead a bit when charm breaks to give yourself room to reapply it. The burrower should drop, and your pet will have received no damage at all. Happy hunting.