As a long time farmer I have seen several different play styles used to defeat large mobs of foes. As the game rules have changed over the years so have some of the strategies for team play. A well rounded team with all the necessary key players is an awesome sight to see in action. Below are a few tips that may help players to become better team members. Feel free to debate or add to what I have here. Perhaps a real guide may just come out of this.
Aggro:
Aggro represents the desire of the NPC foes to attack a specific player. This is affected by taunt and by threat level. Some foes also have intelligence built into the AI (artificial intelligence) to seek out specific player types first when engaged.
The game is currently designed with an aggro cap of 16 foes for any one player. A typical mob for a team of eight can be closer to 20 foes. So even with a tanker or brute taking aggro for the team initially there may be foes that can and will turn to attack the other players.
Taunting:
A tank or brute holds aggro through taunt or gauntlet. (Yeah I know this is obvious for some but there are a lot of newer players who might not understand all of the mechanics.) A foe that has been taunted will continue to attack the tank or brute even when attacked by another player in most cases. It is possible for a taunted foe to still attack another player if that players threat level is high enough. I do not know the exact mechanics behind threat level determination but you should be aware that you can indeed strip the aggro from your tank or brute by dealing a significant amount of damage or debuff to the NPC. When this happens the tank or brute must work to re-establish the aggro on that foe.
A tank or brute can taunt through one of three following methods.
1.) The taunt power. This is a ranged power that has a fifteen foot radius with a fairly long taunt duration. The taunt power also has the effect of reducing the range of the foes attacks by 75%. This effect can be stacked thus forcing a ranged attack type foe to move closer to the tank or brute doing the taunting. The favored attack type of the NPC foes whether ranged or melee varies depending upon the type of foe being engaged. A player will need to pay close attention to the behaviors of each foe type so that they will know what to be expected in future encounters.
2.) A taunt aura. Tanker, brute and some scrapper and stalker armor sets have at least one power in the set that can taunt all foes within the radius of the power. The radius is typically pretty small for these powers and the duration of the taunt is very short once they are outside of this radius. Some taunt auras automatically taunt the foes in the area while others require a hit to occur in order for the taunt to take effect. Many taunt airas also have secondary effects such as damage, slows, and various debuffs.
3.) Gauntlet. When a tanker or brute attacks a foe with an attack from their attack sets that foe will be taunted to attack tank or brute. The duration of this taunt is very short.
Pulling:
Pulling is a technique that can be used to force all or part of a mob of foes to move towards the players. This technique can be very useful when more than one mob of foes is encountered close to one another or a single mob is too great a threat for the team to overcome. There is no exact science to pulling and even your best efforts to pull only part of a mob can result in the entire mob being aggroed.
To pull a part of a mob the player will need to use a ranged attack that does not have an AOE effect or damage over time. The player will want to target a minion for the pull as opposed to a lieutinent or boss. Lieutinent or boss class foes tend to agro the entire mob but not always. It is much more likely to pull only a portion of the mob by targetting a minion. For the best pulling results the team should remain unseen such as around a corner or behind an object that would grant cover from the foes seeing the team. The pulling player should attempt to fire the pulling shot while in motion either away from the mob or behind cover during the pull. In many cases the remaining mob may become alerted but will not aggro if there are no players visible.
To pull an entire mob it is advisable to have a more resilient player perform the pull for the team. Many foe types have considerable ranged attacks and a squishie may find it difficult to survive the initial alpha strike. The pulling player should seek to remain in view during the pull and should target a boss or lieutinent for the pull. The remainder of the team may want to stay back from the pulling player to avoid any AOE retaliation from the foes and to prevent any additional agro from other mobs nearby. The pulling player will want to quickly move out of site behind an object or around a corner so that the mob is forced to move towards the team. It is important for the team to show a little patience during this process. An early immobilization or knockback of the incoming mob can easily disrupt the pull and result in the mob being locked in place in a long line thus preventing the team from leveraging maximum AOE and making it more difficult for melee types to engage without entering the area. The idea behind the pull was to fight only one mob and forcing the melee types into the area can result in additional mobs being aggroed.
In either case the team will want to position the tankers or brutes in front of the remaining team member so that the foes will have to move past them to reach the team. The tank or brute should be ready to position themselves into thickest part of the mob as it arrives and to taunt any stragglers who have not arrived yet. The team needs to realize that while the mob is aggroed on a single player they are not taunted until they reach the tanker or brute and the the tanker or brute has had time to come within melee range of the foes or taunted them at range. Even if taunt was used to pull the mob that does not necessarily mean that the mob is completely taunted. Remeber that taunt is a 15 foot radius targeted AOE. It can easilt miss foes if the mob is not tightly formed.
Herding:
Herding is a technique used to gather multiple mobs of foes together so that the team can leverage more AOE and conal attacks against multiple targets. It is very similar to pulling as described above. A tank or brute is the best choice for herding but other player types can achieve the same effect using objects and corners to force the foes to move towards the player.
While herding is a very effective and efficient method for a team to maximally leverage their AOE abilities, it is also quite dangerous. Herding can easily lead to more foes being aggroed than can be taunted or controlled. The timing of events becomes very critical for this to work well and to prevent the team from experiencing too many defeats. It is very important to allow the mobs to move and collapse into a much tighter pattern before any other players engage. This will allow more AOE to be leveraged against multiple foes and makes it much easier for the tank or brute to maintain taunt over the entire group. The tanker or brute may need to move through the group taunting more than once in order to fully collapse the mob to as tight a group as possible.
During the gathering phase of the herding, the team should refrain from casting any offensive powers with the exception of buffs and heals upon the player that is herding. Once the mob has been gathered into a tight group those players with hold will be the next players to take action. Since the team will be faced with more foes than can be effectively taunted, holds become necessary to reduce the number of actively fighting foes early in the melee. Leading in with any other type of powers can result in the caster taking a large spike of attacks from ranged damage since not all of the foes are being taunted.
For the typical foes encountered in the game a single hold application is enough to control minion or lieutinent class foes. If there are more players on the team with holds then they should attempt to cast hold over different areas of the mob to maximize the number of foes affected. If the team is facing mobs of boss class foes the team may find it necessary to apply holds to a single section so that the effects can be stacked thus holding the bosses. In this case the holding players should agree to hold one area of the mob at a time. This is typically the leading edge of the group. This will force foes further back to have to move past those that have been held.
After holds have been applied it will be safe to apply immobilization effects next to maintain the tight formation of the herded group. The same rules apply for immobilizing effects as it does for holds. Not all immobilization powers are equal in strength and multiple applications or stacked immobilizations from multiple players may be required for the effect to last.
After the mob has been held and immobilized the team will be ready to fully apply as much AOE and damage as possible. Attacking earlier than this can result in defeat since there are really more foes present than can effectively be controlled by taunt. During the attack phase the tank or brute should actively move around the mob to attempt to apply their taunt aura over as many foes as possible. Since there is an agro cap of only 16 foes the effect is a moving window of taunt being applied to ensnare any foes that have not been held or immobilized and maintain the formation of the mob. Remember that the taunt power has a fairly long duration and taunt aura is very short. So the tank or brute will want to maintain as many foes near them as possible and taunt outward to those foes outside of taunt aura range.
Knockback:
Knockback is a secondary effect of many powers that can knock a foe off of their feet causing them to have to stand up. In some cases the level of knockback is high enough on a power to forcibly throw a foe a short distance.
Knockback is an important effect that can be both helpful and harmful if not used correctly. Most tanks and brutes have at least some power capable of knockback. The tank or brute may rely upon this power to assist them in mitigating the alpha strike damage they receive when first engaging a mob. The knockback tends to have the effect of breaking up the initial damage spike that a mob can apply to the tank or brute so that it does not all occur at one time. This can greatly improve the survivability of the initial encounter. For this reason it is imperative that the other players do not apply immobilization effects until after the tank or brute has used this tool for mitigation. By immobilizing too soon the foes will have a chance to apply a damage spike that could result in the defeat of the tank or brute. It is also a bad idea for the player to lead in with an AOE immobilization at this point in the encounter since the foes will not be effectively taunted at this point.
Knockback can be used as an effective barrier between the melee players and the ranged players. Powers such as bonfire and earth quake can be used to create a barrier on the ground that will effectively prevent foes from moving away from the tank or brute to rest of the team. These powers also do significant damage and players tend to cast them beneath a mob that has been formed to attempt to apply this damage to as many as possible. While this is a valid use of the power it is important to note that without very effective immobilization in place the result of this is to scatter the mob away from the tank or brute and very little of the actual damage is applied to the mob because of this. It may also result in the defeat of the tank or brute as many armor sets are designed to be most effective when in close proximty to the foes. This also applies to other powers that have a fear component since they too tend to scatter the mob out thus reducing the effectiveness of the other players AOE.
If your player has knockback or powers that tend to scatter the mob in general it is adviseable for you to attempt to position your attacks in an angle that would result in the foes being knocked into a wall. Simply let the team know that is your intention so that they can adjust for this play style. With a little practice you can become an asset to the team that is preventing the foes from attacking as they are forced to stand up to fight.
As a knockback weilding player you may also want to observe the play patterns of the other players on your team. If the team is attempting to leverage a lot of AOE then you may want to consider holding back your attacks until some of the other players have had a chance to act. It can be very frustrating to a team to see a 40 points of damage torrent completely scatter a mob as the rest of the team is about to apply a 1000 points of AOE damage collectively only to see it hit a very few targets.
Posted
I came across another guide with some of this in it. I will add the information I am discussing to that guide and not bother adding to this one.
As a long time farmer I have seen several different play styles used to defeat large mobs of foes. As the game rules have changed over the years so have some of the strategies for team play. A well rounded team with all the necessary key players is an awesome sight to see in action. Below are a few tips that may help players to become better team members. Feel free to debate or add to what I have here. Perhaps a real guide may just come out of this.
Aggro:
Aggro represents the desire of the NPC foes to attack a specific player. This is affected by taunt and by threat level. Some foes also have intelligence built into the AI (artificial intelligence) to seek out specific player types first when engaged.
The game is currently designed with an aggro cap of 16 foes for any one player. A typical mob for a team of eight can be closer to 20 foes. So even with a tanker or brute taking aggro for the team initially there may be foes that can and will turn to attack the other players.
Taunting:
A tank or brute holds aggro through taunt or gauntlet. (Yeah I know this is obvious for some but there are a lot of newer players who might not understand all of the mechanics.) A foe that has been taunted will continue to attack the tank or brute even when attacked by another player in most cases. It is possible for a taunted foe to still attack another player if that players threat level is high enough. I do not know the exact mechanics behind threat level determination but you should be aware that you can indeed strip the aggro from your tank or brute by dealing a significant amount of damage or debuff to the NPC. When this happens the tank or brute must work to re-establish the aggro on that foe.
A tank or brute can taunt through one of three following methods.
1.) The taunt power. This is a ranged power that has a fifteen foot radius with a fairly long taunt duration. The taunt power also has the effect of reducing the range of the foes attacks by 75%. This effect can be stacked thus forcing a ranged attack type foe to move closer to the tank or brute doing the taunting. The favored attack type of the NPC foes whether ranged or melee varies depending upon the type of foe being engaged. A player will need to pay close attention to the behaviors of each foe type so that they will know what to be expected in future encounters.
2.) A taunt aura. Tanker, brute and some scrapper and stalker armor sets have at least one power in the set that can taunt all foes within the radius of the power. The radius is typically pretty small for these powers and the duration of the taunt is very short once they are outside of this radius. Some taunt auras automatically taunt the foes in the area while others require a hit to occur in order for the taunt to take effect. Many taunt airas also have secondary effects such as damage, slows, and various debuffs.
3.) Gauntlet. When a tanker or brute attacks a foe with an attack from their attack sets that foe will be taunted to attack tank or brute. The duration of this taunt is very short.
Pulling:
Pulling is a technique that can be used to force all or part of a mob of foes to move towards the players. This technique can be very useful when more than one mob of foes is encountered close to one another or a single mob is too great a threat for the team to overcome. There is no exact science to pulling and even your best efforts to pull only part of a mob can result in the entire mob being aggroed.
To pull a part of a mob the player will need to use a ranged attack that does not have an AOE effect or damage over time. The player will want to target a minion for the pull as opposed to a lieutinent or boss. Lieutinent or boss class foes tend to agro the entire mob but not always. It is much more likely to pull only a portion of the mob by targetting a minion. For the best pulling results the team should remain unseen such as around a corner or behind an object that would grant cover from the foes seeing the team. The pulling player should attempt to fire the pulling shot while in motion either away from the mob or behind cover during the pull. In many cases the remaining mob may become alerted but will not aggro if there are no players visible.
To pull an entire mob it is advisable to have a more resilient player perform the pull for the team. Many foe types have considerable ranged attacks and a squishie may find it difficult to survive the initial alpha strike. The pulling player should seek to remain in view during the pull and should target a boss or lieutinent for the pull. The remainder of the team may want to stay back from the pulling player to avoid any AOE retaliation from the foes and to prevent any additional agro from other mobs nearby. The pulling player will want to quickly move out of site behind an object or around a corner so that the mob is forced to move towards the team. It is important for the team to show a little patience during this process. An early immobilization or knockback of the incoming mob can easily disrupt the pull and result in the mob being locked in place in a long line thus preventing the team from leveraging maximum AOE and making it more difficult for melee types to engage without entering the area. The idea behind the pull was to fight only one mob and forcing the melee types into the area can result in additional mobs being aggroed.
In either case the team will want to position the tankers or brutes in front of the remaining team member so that the foes will have to move past them to reach the team. The tank or brute should be ready to position themselves into thickest part of the mob as it arrives and to taunt any stragglers who have not arrived yet. The team needs to realize that while the mob is aggroed on a single player they are not taunted until they reach the tanker or brute and the the tanker or brute has had time to come within melee range of the foes or taunted them at range. Even if taunt was used to pull the mob that does not necessarily mean that the mob is completely taunted. Remeber that taunt is a 15 foot radius targeted AOE. It can easilt miss foes if the mob is not tightly formed.
Herding:
Herding is a technique used to gather multiple mobs of foes together so that the team can leverage more AOE and conal attacks against multiple targets. It is very similar to pulling as described above. A tank or brute is the best choice for herding but other player types can achieve the same effect using objects and corners to force the foes to move towards the player.
While herding is a very effective and efficient method for a team to maximally leverage their AOE abilities, it is also quite dangerous. Herding can easily lead to more foes being aggroed than can be taunted or controlled. The timing of events becomes very critical for this to work well and to prevent the team from experiencing too many defeats. It is very important to allow the mobs to move and collapse into a much tighter pattern before any other players engage. This will allow more AOE to be leveraged against multiple foes and makes it much easier for the tank or brute to maintain taunt over the entire group. The tanker or brute may need to move through the group taunting more than once in order to fully collapse the mob to as tight a group as possible.
During the gathering phase of the herding, the team should refrain from casting any offensive powers with the exception of buffs and heals upon the player that is herding. Once the mob has been gathered into a tight group those players with hold will be the next players to take action. Since the team will be faced with more foes than can be effectively taunted, holds become necessary to reduce the number of actively fighting foes early in the melee. Leading in with any other type of powers can result in the caster taking a large spike of attacks from ranged damage since not all of the foes are being taunted.
For the typical foes encountered in the game a single hold application is enough to control minion or lieutinent class foes. If there are more players on the team with holds then they should attempt to cast hold over different areas of the mob to maximize the number of foes affected. If the team is facing mobs of boss class foes the team may find it necessary to apply holds to a single section so that the effects can be stacked thus holding the bosses. In this case the holding players should agree to hold one area of the mob at a time. This is typically the leading edge of the group. This will force foes further back to have to move past those that have been held.
After holds have been applied it will be safe to apply immobilization effects next to maintain the tight formation of the herded group. The same rules apply for immobilizing effects as it does for holds. Not all immobilization powers are equal in strength and multiple applications or stacked immobilizations from multiple players may be required for the effect to last.
After the mob has been held and immobilized the team will be ready to fully apply as much AOE and damage as possible. Attacking earlier than this can result in defeat since there are really more foes present than can effectively be controlled by taunt. During the attack phase the tank or brute should actively move around the mob to attempt to apply their taunt aura over as many foes as possible. Since there is an agro cap of only 16 foes the effect is a moving window of taunt being applied to ensnare any foes that have not been held or immobilized and maintain the formation of the mob. Remember that the taunt power has a fairly long duration and taunt aura is very short. So the tank or brute will want to maintain as many foes near them as possible and taunt outward to those foes outside of taunt aura range.
Knockback:
Knockback is a secondary effect of many powers that can knock a foe off of their feet causing them to have to stand up. In some cases the level of knockback is high enough on a power to forcibly throw a foe a short distance.
Knockback is an important effect that can be both helpful and harmful if not used correctly. Most tanks and brutes have at least some power capable of knockback. The tank or brute may rely upon this power to assist them in mitigating the alpha strike damage they receive when first engaging a mob. The knockback tends to have the effect of breaking up the initial damage spike that a mob can apply to the tank or brute so that it does not all occur at one time. This can greatly improve the survivability of the initial encounter. For this reason it is imperative that the other players do not apply immobilization effects until after the tank or brute has used this tool for mitigation. By immobilizing too soon the foes will have a chance to apply a damage spike that could result in the defeat of the tank or brute. It is also a bad idea for the player to lead in with an AOE immobilization at this point in the encounter since the foes will not be effectively taunted at this point.
Knockback can be used as an effective barrier between the melee players and the ranged players. Powers such as bonfire and earth quake can be used to create a barrier on the ground that will effectively prevent foes from moving away from the tank or brute to rest of the team. These powers also do significant damage and players tend to cast them beneath a mob that has been formed to attempt to apply this damage to as many as possible. While this is a valid use of the power it is important to note that without very effective immobilization in place the result of this is to scatter the mob away from the tank or brute and very little of the actual damage is applied to the mob because of this. It may also result in the defeat of the tank or brute as many armor sets are designed to be most effective when in close proximty to the foes. This also applies to other powers that have a fear component since they too tend to scatter the mob out thus reducing the effectiveness of the other players AOE.
If your player has knockback or powers that tend to scatter the mob in general it is adviseable for you to attempt to position your attacks in an angle that would result in the foes being knocked into a wall. Simply let the team know that is your intention so that they can adjust for this play style. With a little practice you can become an asset to the team that is preventing the foes from attacking as they are forced to stand up to fight.
As a knockback weilding player you may also want to observe the play patterns of the other players on your team. If the team is attempting to leverage a lot of AOE then you may want to consider holding back your attacks until some of the other players have had a chance to act. It can be very frustrating to a team to see a 40 points of damage torrent completely scatter a mob as the rest of the team is about to apply a 1000 points of AOE damage collectively only to see it hit a very few targets.