Hunting Guide — Mihey

Category: Guide

Tips on hunting efficiently in the Kingdom of Drakkar, covering lair hunts, skilling, experience, coining, and safety. Written by Mihey of PHNX Guild.

• Always gather intelligence on a lair before you attempt to hunt it, especially the first time
• Don't attempt to solo eaters unless you are well prepared and can survive at least two prones
• With a party, make sure you can survive at least a good prone — otherwise you're just another DP to recover
• Always IH the lair (remove all IHs) before the lair crit reaches 1/3 health, or it will use an IH to heal
• You can IH a lair crit on purpose (give it an IH) to gain more skill
• Bring appropriate gear for specific lairs (enmiss protection for Tarak, Chipper & Slith; NO dancers on Slith hunt)
• Set a twig as close to non-twiggable lairs as possible in case you node out
• Zerking barbs: If the lair crit disappears from screen, DON'T press anything — you'll target a party member. Wait for it to reappear.

• Keep your trainer fully paid (“happy”)
• Pay larger amounts at once rather than small amounts frequently
• Killing easy, numerous crits gives better skill than harder, scarce ones — if you can 1-2 shot crits, you kill more in the time it takes to kill one hard one
• Hally users: skill where you can use 2-step or 4-step “dance” tactics — avoid melee damage
• Same applies to ranged users (bow, crossbow, mentalist, healer) — avoid melee
• For melee weapons: wear best defense or skill in easier places
• Thief skilling: Steal from N-1 or N-3.5 crits with trainer paid to reach skill 12 easily. Don't steal from players.
• Ment/Healer skilling: Form disciplines on blue-tagged NPCs (like your trainer) repeatedly. Good for lower skill levels.
• N-3.5 ghost is good skill up to 8; Ogre Chief up to 12
• Aleria is good for skill above 11
• Partying with a thief boosts your skill (as long as the thief uses backstab, steal, etc.)

• Mentalists gain exp fast by forming area effect disciplines (fireball, firebreath) in big zoos of easy crits — Yeti+1, N-4, N-5
• Partying with such a ment gives a nice portion of their exp
• Healers have 1-hex area effect discs — gather a zoo, then blast. Stronger than ment's but costs more EP
• MA can sweep zoos — don't stand on their hex!
• Other classes can only kill 1 crit per round (except pally with multistrike later)
• Aleria is very good for exp (Bowlers Cave is an “exp factory”)
• Just hunt — don't sit in SF too long

• Mentalists and thieves get Transmute — turn floor items into coins
• Hunt places and gather all coins, gems, and valuables to sell in stores
• Faster hunting = more coins
• Succor twigs speed up coining greatly
• Hunt easier crits for faster kills and more income
• Consider skipping coins and grabbing gems only — come back for coins after. Surprisingly faster.
• Don't search corpses — let them decay and grab what you find (saves trip time)
• Too many coins = encumbered = fight poorly (doesn't affect psionic disciplines)
• Aleria is very good for coining

• Shield saves lives. Always keep a spare in locker.
• Greathelm has combat stun protection — don't underestimate it
• Dancers are lifesavers if stunned (requires level 15)
• Hally/bow/ment/healer users can kite — keep moving and hitting pursuing crits
• In stun-danger areas (stunners, healers, harpies): bring Prot Stun (PS twigs from Maeling or PS ammy from Mummy King quest)
• Wear proper gear for each area: fire prot for M-3, ice gear for ice plains, raks for prisons, enmiss robe for Fatepools
• NEVER forget to set a twig to Nork — twigs are lifesavers
• If a place is too hard, hunt somewhere easier. Don't force it.
• Get intel on new areas from experienced players before going
• Hunt in parties with friends. Bring a healer to CC you, and someone with a CC scroll to CC the healer.

• Skilling Guide (ASH)
• Lair Boss Tactics
• Nork Hunt Guide
• All Guides

Source: PHNX Guild