Surefall Druid
 

Surefall Druid

19 January 2004

Alternative Hunting Locations

The suggestions I have given elsewhere are the best way to level up a Surefall druid for a new player, in my opinion. However, it won't give the absolute fastest experience for a more experienced player, perhaps one who has other characters and a certain amount of spare cash to invest in starting equipment and spells. So I am giving here a couple of alternative suggestions for hunting spots at low levels.

Paludal Caverns

This is the most popular spot for fast levelling from 5 to 24. Take the PoP book to Shadeweavers Thicket and head south using the in game map to the Paludal entrance; use Camo to get there. Head in towards the lake and kill reishi sprouts, then graduate to larger reishi until you run out, around level 11 or 12.

Next, go back to Shar Vahl and through it into Hollowshade Moor, again using Camo. Head south to the Paludal entrance here. Kill everything in the first tunnel up to 16. Use a damage shield on yourself and melee, first standing on top of the creatures so that they don't cause another bug to aggro on you. The glowing muckdiggers are significantly tougher than the rest, and run when low, so always snare them.

At 16, move in. You can kill the fungal fiends, higher bugs and reishi past the first lake (use Camo again to get by), or the outcast shiknar. These will take you to 22.

From this point, move to the Shadowhaven side. Either kill the higher level fiends here solo, or join a group to kill bandits. You can leave at 24 if you wish, or stay to 25. Any further isn't really profitable.

Kurn's Tower

Kurns used to be a very popular place to level, but is relatively small compared to Paludal. You can start at the entrance at level 9, but it will be tough at first, so stick close to the zone out. The mobs on this level will take you to 18 quickly and easily. It isn't worth staying much longer unless you have a group.

Other Suggestions

For teens and below, a few other zones offer equally fast experience, but are either small, out of the way, or usually empty. Look into the Warrens, Crushbone, Black Burrow (already covered in the main guide), Befallen, and Upper Guk. Starting levels for these vary from 5 to 9, but finishing levels vary from 15 to 30 (and more). The zone that will take you the highest with a good experience bonus is the ancient croc camp in Upper Guk.

Beyond this, good exp zones are mainly dungeons, and therefore not ideal for druids. The only area of note that is druid friendly is Unrest - using wolf form, from level 24, all of the denizens are non-aggro. My preferred leveling path is to move from Paludal to the needlites camp in Echo Caverns (to get maximum defense skill) to 30/31; others prefer Marus Seru. From there, the South Karana gnoll spires to 34/35, or Butcherblock crazed goblins, or groups in High Keep. Another alternative is to charm Bloodmaw in the kodiak caves at the south end of the Great Divide, for extremely fast and risky experience to 35 or higher. At 34/35, move to Iceclad and learn to quad cougars. Then at 40/41 quad ulthorks in Eastern Wastes, mixed in with charming rhinos at the same spot for variety, up to 45. Alternate routes from 34 to 45 include Dawnshroud, or Tenebrous Mountains in the higher level range. At 45, start to buy KEI, and move to quad the spirocs in Timorous Deep to 50. After that there are still a few quadding locations, like wyverns in Cobalt Scar and raptors in Timorous Deep, but charming becomes the tool of preference.

51 in 9 days played, with no twinking and mostly solo, is entirely achievable.

Paul Lynch

Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: January 19, 2004
© Copyright 2004 Paul Lynch, All Rights Reserved

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