Hexenzirkel Multigaming-Community Forum

Sorry for reposting but I had about 5 guildmembers that wanted to read the guide but there was no admin online to accept them for the forum. If u want u can remove the other thread and just keep this one.



Have you ever wondered how some people party with low lvl chars at high lvl mobs without dieing?

Yacha party (lvl 70 mobs) with a full 5x - 6x party


Hi everyone. I have noticed a lot of times that when Hex union players join one of my parties, they don't always know what to do or are not that experienced with euro parties.
I think we should share experiences and help eachother learn to party better! I myself have been having legit (no botters) euro parties for ~5 years on lots of different servers and with this I have managed to get several characters to lvl 100+ on the official server (that's right, 1x rates!), without even touching any sort of bot or tool. With a good party, you can get your character from lvl 1 to 90 in 2 days in this server (no plvl and no higher lvls in your party).

I will also explain a few tips and tricks from partying which you probably didn't know yet.

You don't have to read the entire guide (you can if you want to) since it's quite a lot but I would suggest to at least read 1.1 Party Setup, your own build section and 2. Tips and Tricks.


Content:
1. Partying
1.1 Party setup
1.2 Your build in a party
1.2.1 Cleric
1.2.2 Warrior
1.2.3 Wizard
1.2.4 Bard
1.2.5 Warlock
1.2.6 Rogue
1.2.7 Chinese
2. Tips and Tricks



1. Partying

1.1 Party setup


There are different setups you can use to have a successfull party. However, after many years of partying and trying out these different setups, we have come to the conclusion that the following setup is the easiest to have a good party:

- 1 warrior
- 1 aggro str cleric
- 3 damage dealers
- 2 bards
- 1 lurer

Whereas the 3 damage dealers can either be 3 wizards, or 2 wizards and 1 lock. Chinese are generally not accepted as damage dealers, as they have an overall lower damage output than wizards and less AoE (Area of Effect attacks, that damage multiple monsters at once). Rogues are never accepted as damage dealers, since they have no AoE attacks at all.

The lurer can be one of the following builds:
- Warrior
- Rogue
- Chinese
More information specific for luring with these builds can be found below in 1.2.


This party setup in action, with a Chinese as lurer.

There are other good party setups, such as 2 tanking warriors, but this will not be discussed in this guide.


1.1 Your build in a party

What should you do in a party and what is expected from you?


1.2.1 Cleric

The cleric should always give the following buffs to his party members:
- Use (Holy) Recovery Division all the time. Don't forget to refresh it.
- Holy Spell if the mobs can give you statuses. Don't forget to refresh it.
- Cleric defense (phy and mag) for all party members, including himself
- STR and INT for the damage dealers (wizard or lock)
If you have any STR buffs left (normally you should have 1 left), give it to the warrior or the lurer. Whoever you think needs it most.
If you have any INT buffs left (also 1 left normally), give it to one of the bards. This should be the battle bard (more info on this in the bard section) or the main bard that gives you MP.

After 30 minutes your def, str and int buffs will start to run out. To avoid having all the party members fall without buffs at the same time, use the following tactic: Cancel the buffs of each person 1 by 1 and rebuff them 5 minutes already before the buffs will end. You can do this while continueing to heal, you should not stop healing while rebuffing.
Example: Cancel int & str from wiz1 -> rebuff him with str & int -> cancel int & str from wiz2 -> rebuff him -> next person... while using heals inbetween each step.

The STR cleric
In this setup, the cleric should be a full STR cleric at a decent lvl to be able to tank the monsters. If you are partying at Chasers (85-87), lvl 76+ is acceptable as long as you are 0 gap and have gear of your lvl.

The STR cleric is the tank in this setup, and should try to draw as much aggro as possible so all mobs attack him. How do you do this? With spamming as many group heals as possible! Use Group Healing, Healing Division, Group Healing Breath, Healing Favor and (Holy) Group Recovery. With all these skills you can endlessly spam group heals without stopping.
If you are 80+, use Healing Orbit as well every time you can.

Do not stop spamming these heals, even if your party doesn't need any heals. You are spamming these to get aggro from mobs, not to necessarily heal your party. If played correctly, all the mobs should be attacking the cleric and not the other party members.
The cleric should stay in 1 spot and not move around unless he needs to res a party member.

The INT or Hybrid cleric
IIf you are not full STR, it will be harder for you to tank. However, if you are not too low lvl and with decent gear, it should be no problem. Just do as described in the STR cleric section.
If you are 10+ lvls lower than the mobs and do not think you can be tank, the other party members will need to take aggro. If the wizards are high lvl enough and have good gear, they may be able to tank as long as you occasionally heal them and use Healing Cycle. Otherwhise the warrior will need to take all aggro and tank.

Keep in mind that the cleric is the core of the party. If you are not a good cleric, consider asking someone else to be cleric and you can take a different role in the party.


1.2.2 Warrior

In a party, please always use 1H + Shield. It is a pain in the ass to see warriors in a party with 2H or Axes. They die easely, do no damage and only bother the party with knock-backs.

Warrior buffs
As a warrior in the party, your buffs are TOP PRIORITY at all times! A party with a warrior that doesn't give buffs simply will not function.
Make sure you give the following buffs to your party members:
- Pain Quota to Cleric
- Physical and Magical Fences to Wizards
- Pain Quota to the remaining Wizard or Warlock
- If there is a Battle Bard (see 1.2.4), give him Protect
- Otherwhise Protect to Wizards



If there are 2 warriors in your party, you can give all the wizards (and lock) both Pain Quota and Fences.
If there is no other warrior in the party, you will need to split buffs in the way I have mentioned above. Pain Quota is always better than Fences, so give Pain Quota to the weakest members. The Cleric always gets Pain Quota unless specifically asked not to.
The aggro (STR) cleric should not get Fences, otherwhise you will die from the fence damage. It is better to spread his damage over the party more evenly.

Once you are ready with buffs (asking the party a confirmation "Does anyone else need buffs?" never hurts), you can start to lure. Make sure the cleric is also ready and has started healing.

Whenever you can, use Screens (Physical, Morale and Ultimate) on the cleric or the weakest member that needs it most. Do not use Ultimate Screen together with the other Screens. Either split them (for example Cleric gets Phy and Morale Screen, and wizard gets Ultimate Screen) or wait until the other Screen has ended before you give a new one.

Luring
To lure, you will be mainly using Taunting Target, Howling Shout and Sprint Assault. Use these skills to aggro as many mobs as possible in your area (you can run a bit away from the party to get mobs, but make sure you are not so far away that your buffs cancel) and run back to the party. After a few group heals, the mobs should run to the cleric and you will be able to go and lure again.


Warrior buffing and luring at 109 mobs

Avoiding a party wipe
Whenever someone dies, rebuff them as soon as possible. Even if this means you need to stop your lure halfway. Buffs are always top priority!
Always keep an eye on the cleric HP. If you see that the cleric is struggling, give him Screens. If your screens are on cooldown, use Howling Shout and Taunting Target to help the cleric with tanking.
If really necessary, you can use Shield Trash / Shield Crush to knock-back mobs from the cleric. However, you should avoid this most of the times because it will bring aggro to the wizards instead and they might die. This is only for extreme situations because it is not that bad if a wizard dies, compared to when the warrior or cleric dies (if warrior and cleric die the wizards will die anyways).

If someone dies, you should NOT revive them. As always, keeping your warrior buffs active is top priority. Switching to cleric rod means your party members will lose the warrior buffs, and they will die instantly, even if it is only for 1 second without buffs.
In the very rare case that you are the only one with cleric sub alive, you can switch and res the cleric. However, you should always use either Screens or Bless when you switch, and switch back to warrior as soon as possible to give warrior buffs again.


1.2.3 Wizard

Before you start to attack mobs, make sure of the following:
- You have cleric phy and mag defense
- You have INT and STR buffs
- You have Pain Quote or Fences
If you are lacking one of the following buffs, ask the cleric or warrior to give you these. If you are lvl 90 and have good gear, STR and warrior buffs are not always needed, especially if another party member needs those buffs more.
- Once you have cleric and warrior buffs, use Life Turnover. Don't be afraid to die. Even if you die once or twice, the double damage is worth it. If you keep dieing all the time, someone in the party isn't doing their job right.



As wizard, you will be the main damage dealer in the party. You should use the skills with most damage and most AoE (Area of Effect, skills that can hit multiple mobs at once). The following skills are used best at parties:
- Meteor
- Earth Quake
- Blizzard
- Ground Rave (only use this if you are confident that you can tank some mobs)
- Chain Lightning (use this if you rather keep a distance from the mobs)

If you use these skills from top to bottom (using either Ground Rave or Chain Lightning, not both) you can make a perfect cycle without needing to stop inbetween.
If you are using Chain Lightning instead of Ground Rave, you should try to keep at the maximum distance from the cleric, to be safer.

Please never use the Lightning knock-back skill (Charged Wind) in a party! Using knock-back on a monster resets it's aggro, which means that the monsters are more likely to attack you instead of the cleric. It is also very annoying that monsters get knock-backed and they don't return to the party so they stay out of range.


Partying at Chasers with lvl 7x party. Note that the wizard is keeping a safe distance from the mobs, and using the cycle with Chain Lightning mentioned above.

If a mob attacks you, use Teleport to run away from the mob. Usually the mob will return to the cleric if you do this. Teleport can also be used to keep the max distance from the cleric.

Use Earth Fence every time you can, it is 30-40% Phy def increase. With 3 wizards you can use it almost constantly!

Which mobs to target
Always try to target party mobs or a party champion instead of normal mobs. They will take more damage.
In the case of a Party Giant (PTG), you should focus on targetting small party mobs, not the party giant. Why? So lurers can continue to lure without fearing an overlure. You should continue killing as many small mobs as possible, the PTG will die from AoE. Killing more small mobs during a ptg will increase your zerk, and you need it!
You should only target the PTG while you are in zerk yourself.

Sub-builds
If you are cleric as sub, don't be afraid to switch and throw in a Bless every time you can. You have nothing to lose. Just don't forget to turn Life Turnover on again when you switch back to Staff.
If you are bard as sub, use Noise to protect yourself from random mob spawns. In the case that the lurer or warrior is lacking speed, and the bards are not reacting, you can switch quickly to give them speed.

No lures?
If there are no lures for a few seconds and there are no mobs for you to kill, please don't run away from the party and kill mobs by your own. The other party members won't support you there, and it's really annoying if the lurer comes back with a lot of mobs and all wizards are somewhere else killing 1 single mob.
If you are waiting inbetween lures, pick up elixers and STR/INT tabs. Everyone needs those!


1.2.4 Bard

Tambour and dances
If you are bard, you should always use Tambour. If you are with 2 bards, you can use 2 tambours and 1 dance.
If you are the only bard, you should use Guard Tambour. This is the most important tambour. If there are 2 bards, you should use Guard Tambour, Dancing of Wizardry (or Magic if you are low lvl) and Hit March / Clout March.
If your party lacks defense, and the mobs also do magical damage, you should use Mana Tambour instead of Hit March.

Speed and Noise
Make sure your party members always have speed. Keep an eye on them and when you see some running slowly, use your speed buff. After someone dies, also re-speed.
Use Noise to lower your own aggro.

Mana
If you are a lvl 90 bard, this will be easy. Simply use Mana Orbit all the time.
If you are not lvl 90 yet, this will be more exciting! Make sure your Mana Cycle (MC) skill is on max level, and use it to give your party mp. Make sure to mc yourself first, then the cleric, and then the wizards. The warrior and lurer will not need mp.
If you are working with a STR cleric, make sure he has MC on him 24/7. He should not be without MC a single second, so make sure to refresh the MC before it runs out. Even if he has full MP, you should keep in mind that 1 group heal takes 2/3rd of his entire MP and he will be without MP as soon as he tries to use heals.
If you are with 2 bards under lvl 90, you can easely split tasks. For example: 1 bard MCs the cleric and himself, and the other bard MCs all the wizards.
Remember, the bard is one of the most important assets of a party and the party cannot function without you giving them MP. It is your most important job.

Battle Bard
1 bard can easely take care of MCing the entire party. This is even easier when one of the bards is lvl 90 and can use Orbit. So the second bard has time to do something else, for example attacking and doing damage. This is what we call a Battle Bard. If you wish to battle bard, ask the Cleric to give you an INT buff (str should not be needed) and the Warrior for a Protect buff.
Now you might be wondering, if 1 bard can MC the entire party, why not get another wiz instead of 2nd bard? Well actually, having a 2nd bard will give you a bigger damage output than having an extra wiz. Here are some calculations for you:
Let's say that each wizard does standard 100% damage.
3 wizards = 300% dmg
2 bards = dance = 40% dmg increase for every wiz => total 420% dmg
If one of those bards is battle bard = approx 40-50% dmg extra => total 460-470% dmg
Now if you would choose to get 4 wizards and only 1 bard, this would only result into 400% dmg due to lack of dance.


Battle Barding at PEGs (lvl 64-66 mobs) on lvl 53

While Battle barding, you should try to keep some distance from the mobs to reduce aggro on yourself. If a mob attacks you, run around the party in circles until it returns to the cleric, or use Teleport if you are wiz. A good bard should get ignored by mobs.

Pickup pet
Another job that bards often need to do, is being pickup pet. Currently, the Petfilter tool is not working correctly in parties. The pets only pick up "your own drops", which means if you did the most damage to the mob. However, not all damage dealers in the party always have pets so a lot of elixers usually stay on the ground.
As explained above, 1 bard can easely take care of giving the entire party MP, and the bards often have time left where they do nothing. If you are not confident enough to go Battle Bard (too low lvl, STR bard instead of INT, bad gear, etc), you should pick up elixers and STR/INT/Luck/Stamina tabs.
Being pickup pet is also important to the party, as elixers and stones/tabs are the biggest income for you and your party members.


1.2.5 Warlock

Use DoTs on party mobs, 1 DoT per mob. No need to use DoTs on normal mobs, you can AoE them. Prioritize DoTs that give Bleed and Slow, those are the best to use.
Debuffs only go to party giants.
If there is a str cleric setup, use Shadow Armor and stay next to the cleric so it can constantly hit all mobs around the cleric. Use Scream Mask on the cleric and one of the wizards.
Cast the AoE Vampire Kiss spell whenever it's available.
Use Stun, Blood Trap and Sleep to save wizards from mobs.

More info to be added for lock.


1.2.6 Rogue

Luring
The rogue is a born lurer. Your only job in a party will be to lure. You are not damage dealer, and you will not use daggers in a party, only xbow.
Before you start, make sure the party is ready (all should be at spot, fully buffed and wizards have started killing mobs) and that you have the following buffs:
- Speed
- Cleric defense (phy and mag)
Str buff is useful for you but not necessary. If you think you will need it, you can ask the cleric for it.
- Make sure you do NOT have a warrior buff called "Protect" on you. This buff will weaken your lures greatly, so cancel it (right click) and tell the warrior he should not use that buff on the lurer.

You will use crossbow with Fast Shot and Rapid Shot. Other skills are not needed and you should not use them (some skills, such as knock-back, will only be bad for the party).
Shoot all mobs that you can see within your map range, and wait until they go to the cleric (they should go to the cleric as soon as he uses a group heal). Then run further away from the party (not TOO far) and shoot all mobs you can find with Fast Shot and Rapid Shot. You will notice that if you shoot 1 mob in a group, the whole group will come to you. You can use this to your advantage.
After you have some mobs running behind you, run back to the cleric and wait for him to take the aggro. After that, run away again and continue luring. You should not need to wait inbetween lures unless the party tells you to.


Rogue luring at Penon party

Keep an eye on the party chat and your party members. If someone says "stop lure", "overlure" or if you see that your party members are dieing, stop luring and return to the party as soon as possible.

Every time you can, use Poison Trap near the cleric. It will damage monsters automatically and will help your party gain faster zerk.

Cleric sub-build
A cleric sub-build is very useful while luring:
- You can use bless every 2.45 minutes when you are close to the party.
- If you are luring far away from the cleric, you can quickly switch and heal yourself if needed. Healing yourself can also serve to increase aggro. If you notice that mobs start walking because you are getting too far away, you can use a fast Recovery on yourself to have them start moving fast again.
- When someone dies, you can help the cleric by ressing them, so the cleric does not need to move from his spot or stop healing.- If you have finished your lure and are running back to the party, you can equip shield to increase your defense.
- If your party lacks damage, and you need to wait inbetween lurings because otherwhise the party will die from overlure, you can help the cleric by healing a bit inbetween your lures. Alternatively you can switch to daggers and help deal some damage while you wait. Do remember that luring is still your main job and do not get carried away on daggers or healing.


1.2.7 Chinese

Chinese players should be lurer in parties. You are not damage dealer, even if you are a full int nuker. Your damage and AoE simply can't compare to that of a wizard. If you have a shield or bow, these may be very useful and make it easier for you to lure.
Before you start, make sure the party is ready (all should be at spot, fully buffed and wizards have started killing mobs) and that you have the following buffs:
- Speed
- Cleric defense (phy and mag)
Str buff is useful for you but not necessary. If you think you will need it, you can ask the cleric for it.
- Make sure you do NOT have a warrior buff called "Protect" on you. This buff will weaken your lures greatly, so cancel it (right click) and tell the warrior he should not use that buff on the lurer.

Your only job in a party will be to lure. If you have skilled the Lightning tree, you will mostly use Lion Shouts to lure. If you have the Force tree, you can use the ranged debuffs. If you have none of these, you can either use the Spear/Glavie throw skills or simply equip a Bow (you don't have to have bow mastery) and use simple bow shots (no skills used) to aggro mobs. If you are using Lion Shouts or Force debuffs to lure, I would suggest for you to equip a shield at all times (a weapon isn't even needed) to increase your defense.

Aggro all mobs (with the skills described above) that you can see within your map range, and wait until they go to the cleric (they should go to the cleric as soon as he uses a group heal). Then run further away from the party (not TOO far) and get all mobs you can find with your ranged skills. You will notice that if you attack 1 mob in a group, the whole group will come to you. You can use this to your advantage.
After you have some mobs running behind you, run back to the cleric and wait for him to take the aggro. After that, run away again and continue luring. You should not need to wait inbetween lures unless the party tells you to. While running back to the cleric, you can equip a shield to increase your defense.

Keep an eye on the party chat and your party members. If someone says "stop lure", "overlure" or if you see that your party members are dieing, stop luring and return to the party as soon as possible.



2. Tips and Tricks

- While in a good party, you should always use zerk as soon as you get it, even if you are a bard, cleric or lurer. If you save your zerk, the rest of your party will get slower zerk. If you use your zerk always right away, your party members will get faster zerk too.


- You can click the "Zoom out" button on the mini-map twice to get maximum viewrange. Clicking more than 2 times has no effect because monsters will not show up in a higher range.


- Cannot use dance even though the other bard has Tambour? It's a bug that happens sometimes. Right click the tambour buff in your buff list so it will "Refresh" the buff on you, and you will be able to dance with no problems.

- The Petfilter tool is not working correctly in parties. Your pet will only pick up "your own drops", which means when you did the most damage to the mob (similar as how you get the kill of a unique). If not all damage dealers have pets, a lot of elixers will stay on the ground and need to be picked manually.



B4 party 99 mobs

Zitat von »devcon«

Cuz we dont need a mirror of the guide i archived the copy in the general silkroad revelations thread. This guide focuses just the Hexenzirkel Union and is written in english - fits well here.

I posted it in the general section so newly registered forum users don't need to wait until they are accepted.

Zitat von »MaxtoR«

Nice one

I'm sure is full of important stuff but its too long to read ( for me) and maybe other ppl found it too long as well so a little summary at the end would be nice, like you know , short summary of what you have wrote.

I wrote a content table at the beginning of the post. You don't have to read the entire guide, but 1.1, your own build and 2. Tips and Tricks would be nice

Zitat von »Kalypso«

I really wouldn't recommend that part, unless your STR cleric is extraordinary good and can keep all the aggro on himself, which never happened for me. To be honest, from my experience (mainly KSRO) it just sounds like suicide. Even if you think, that the monsters should be focused on the STR-cleric, they suddenly seem to turn around and hit you, if you are too close to the STR cleric and activate Shadow Armor (Warlock aggro seems to be higher than STR-Cleric aggro unfortunately, at least from what i experienced). Maybe I was just unlucky or my STR-clerics were not good enough, but it was extremely frustrating, that the monsters prefer to attack me instead of the STR-cleric. And as you usually don't have that many warrior buffs in STR-cleric setup, you will die quite fast (at least it happened quite often to me, but my equipment also wasn't that great back then). It's the main reason, why i refuse playing Warlock in STR-cleric pts. In most cases I lost more EXP than i gained as Warlock in STR-cleric pts, mainly due to monsters suddenly turning around and hitting me instead of the STR-cleric.

Lock is the only euro build I'm not so experienced with, so if you would like to rewrite that section, I would be very grateful

Zitat von »Kalypso«

Unfortunately i only had bad experiences in STR-cleric setup with Warlock, so i guess i am not suitable for this guide either (as it is focused on STR-cleric setup). Anyway at least from my point of view, there seems to be quite a problem with Warlock aggro in STR-cleric setups. I honestly don't know, how I should play Warlock with a STR-cleric, i always end up dying and loosing more than i gain. Not sure, who is at fault there. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the STR-cleric, but it just didn't work for me (and i basically played the same way in 2 tank pts without dying too much on TSRO).

Also I didn't play any SRO in quite a while, so probably I don't remember all the details any more. I guess someone else should do it.

Oh, and it's also nice to have you around this forum. I didn't even know, that you were in their union until now. However I am not active in the game, which is why i didn't write "our union". I am still quite active on the forum, but mainly doing other stuff recently (primarly watching Anime etc.)

Wait, aren't you Gloria ingame? o.o

Zitat von »Kalypso«

No, i am not. I guess that is Valkyria/Finsterlord? If i would be ingame, my IGN would be Kalypso most likely (or mabye something else, if i would play as Warrior/Cleric).

Well now I'm completely confused lol. I always thought Kalypso = Valkyria all of the time I played sro.