Kiting
From EQ KnowledgePit
Kiting refers to any form of engaging an enemy while keeping yourself at a distance that prevents him from attacking you with normal melee attacks. Summoning creatures were introduced to mitigate this strategy, these were first introduced sometime before Kunark, but after the game was launched.
There are many different types of kiting and generally multiple terms that apply to each type. Here we'll list a few type. Many of these techniques work in PvP as well as PvE.
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[edit] DOT/DD/Bow Kiting
The most common form of kiting, this involves simply doing spell (or ranged) damage to an enemy and then running away before it gets close enough to hit you. Almost always this involves applying a snare effect of some sort to the enemy you're fighting.
[edit] Chant Kiting
Very similar to DOT Kiting, but only done by Bards. The Bard constantly runs while singing one or more Chants on an enemy until it's dead. This is usually used in conjunction with Charm or Swarm Kiting to finish off the Bard's prey.
[edit] Quad Kiting
Mostly the domain of Druids and Wizards, quad kiting involves killing four NPCs at roughly the same time. The goal is to gather up four NPCs and snare all of them, then run circles around them until they are basically on top of each other. The kiter then gets some distance and casts a targeted AE on one of the mobs, the AE will be hitting it's max number of mobs and therefore becomes a very efficient damage/mana cost way of kiting.
[edit] Beam Kiting
Very similar to Quad Kiting, Beam Kiting involves use of a specific wizard spell (e.g. Cone of Cold?) which fires a directional blast radiating in a cone shape from the caster and can hit an unlimited number of targets. This technique can be used on non-summoning NPCs to kill as many at a time as the caster can get chasing him.
This technique is considered by many to be an exploit of game mechanics similar to the now defunct Shakerpaging and a nerf/fix is expected at some point in the not-too-distant future.
With the launch of Secrets of Faydwer, many beam type spells now have a limit of 8 targets. While Beam kiting is still a viable technique, it's no longer at the same level that it was.
[edit] Root-rot
A variation on DOT/DD kiting. The idea is the same except the enemy is rooted in place before applying damage spells to it. This allows the caster to med between casts and eliminates all that annoying running around. Note DD spells have an innate chance to break Root; this chance increases as players progress in levels.
[edit] Fear Kiting
Also known as reverse kiting. This is most common at lower levels where a player will snare an enemy then cast fear on it. While the enemy is fleeing, the player does damage either through melee, spells or pets. A key element to Fear Kiting is to attempt to keep the Fear spell applied the entire time.
[edit] AE Kiting
No longer exists. At one time this was available only to Bards. This strategy involved gathering up as many mobs as you possibly could and running circles around them until they were basically on top of each other. Once this was achieved, the Bard would get very close to the pack and begin to autocircle them keeping just out of melee range. At this point the Bard would begin singing one or more AE DOT songs and simply keep running around in circles until all were dead. This was generally the fastest possible experience in the game, though not without risks. Having such a plethora of mobs chasing you meant that even a moment of lag would likely result in instant death.
This was removed from the game by changing all Bard AE DOTs to no longer do damage to an NPC if it was "trying to move."
[edit] Charm Kiting
A very effective method for any class that can charm. There are several variations for different classes, but they all generally involve having one charmed pet fighting one non-charmed NPC. For non-Bard classes, this pet will generally be buffed heavily and healed between kills. For Bards this generally involves just pitting two NPCs against each other until they are both close to dead and finishing both off using chant kiting. If one is significantly less damaged than the other, then the one is killed and a new NPC is charmed to kill off the damaged former pet.
[edit] Swarm Kiting
Also known as reverse charm kiting. Only Bards are able to do this. This involves gathering up a pack of three or more social NPCs, charming one and having it attack another in the "swarm." The swarm will assist the NPC being attacked and quickly do massive damage to the charmed NPC. The Bard then breaks charm by becoming invisible at the right time (either through their songs, Hide or click effects on items... Fading Memories will not break charm) when the charmed NPC is as close to dead as possible, the Bard then chant kites the charmed NPC to death gaining full experience for the kill in a fraction the time it would have taken to kill the NPC through chant kiting. A new NPC is then picked from the swarm and charmed.
With the increase to level 70 with Omens of War the range on Bard charm songs was reduced to being practically melee range. Due to this, charming your pet to send at the swarm is more time consuming. You can mez it first, drag the swarm away then circle back and charm before the swarm returns. Or you can fade (non-aggressive or non-see invis mobs) and then get close and charm.
