Surefall Druid
 

Surefall Druid

6 November 2002

Level 14, Moving On...

In my ideal plan for a Surefall druid, I'd like to reach 14 before leaving the area (with Spirit of Wolf and Bind Affinity). However, exp from 11 onwards slows down considerably without a good Blackburrow group, and they are rare. Tackling lions in West Karana is a possibility, although one made a lot easier with SoW, and the WK bandits can be very tough without a group, although druids can pull these using Harmony reasonably well from the smaller camps. Druids also function best in the outdoors with animals, so I naturally would avoid dungeons apart from the brief foray with a strong group - most of the good druid spells don't work in dungeons, SoW, wolf form, harmony, lightning spells, etc.

One decent progression is in the Karanas. West Karana near the guard towers with lions and spiders from 6/7/8 then bandits (preferably grouped), moving to East Karana at 14/15 (gorge hounds, dark stalkers and cats), then to North Karana at 18/19 (beetles and cats) and South Karana at 20/22 (aviaks, centaurs and gnolls, plus possibly the hermit). However, NK is too full of high level griffons for my taste, and the SK gnoll camps are now too slow to give good exp if more than one group is there.

There is another progression in the East, which is East Commons then West Commons up to 10, North Ro from 10 - 12, Oasis 12 - 18, High Keep pass 17 - 20/22. Oasis crocodiles used to be excellent, but now only orcs there are good hunting, and these are best grouped.

The alternative is to give in and join the rest of Everquest in Paludal from 17 - 24, despite it being on dungeon rules. Paludal is also a good option from 6 - 12 at Shadeweavers entrance, and 12 - 22/24 at Hollowshade entrance.

Level 14 spells. This spell level is both a big improvement on the weak upgrade at 9, and the foundation of a number of different druid techniques. Buy Bind Affinity, Skin Like Rock, Spirit of Wolf and Stinging Swarm. Buy Befriend Animal to start charming, something you should be doing a lot of at higher levels. The rest are all good situational spells.

With SoW, you can now kite effectively. Find a dark blue mob, snare it, and run away. Stop when you are far enough ahead and cast a nuke on it. You can also cast Stinging Swarm, which is more mana efficient than nukes, as your first cast after snare. When it stops chasing you, melee it to death.

To fear kite, find a white/yellow animal, snare then Panic Animal. Cast Stinging Swarm before fear if you like, and run along behind with melee and nukes.

To rott, or root'n'dot, snare something, root it, and cast Stinging Swarm. Sit and med while waiting. The snare is so that you can easily re-root when root breaks. When the first dot wears off, cast another, and repeat until it is dead. Slow, but very mana efficient; this may give you better exp in many circumstances than nuke kiting.

Paul Lynch

Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: April 1, 2003
© Copyright 2002 Paul Lynch, All Rights Reserved

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