(N)EverQuest Scrolls

Bloodmaw Charming

by on Nov.13, 2003, under Leveling

A very nice spot to practice charming for enchanters, druids and shamans is at the kodiak caves in Great Divide. Bloodmaw, a named kodiak, is your pet, and a remarkably safe one. He is a level 20 undercon with 32k hit points, and will be green at the time you charm him. The other kodiaks seem to range from about level 30 to 37.

I take the Plane of Knowledge stone to GD, cast levitation on myself (or air elemental form for an enchanter), and invis, then run more or less due south west to reach the kodiak caves. The cave you want is the middle of the three all on the same level. Head in (still invis), and straight across the cross roads; Bloodmaw is along with a gnome captive in a room at the back. Take a look around the cave while you are here. A few kodiaks spawn along the main passage and wander around and out, and there are caves to the left and right with several spawns in.

I use a ceramic band, and don’t bother with KEI; I rarely need a break for mana reasons without KEI. If you don’t have a ceramic band, mem a low level damage spell to use to pull.

When you are settled in, charm your pet. For an enchanter, always tash it first, before charm. There’s no need to do anything else. Haste or shielding won’t make much difference to your kill rate. A couple of things you should know about Bloodmaw: he seems to have a very slow regen rate; this may be just a function of his large hit points pool. If he dies, he won’t respawn for several hours (he is usually back up the next day). He is also a quest NPC. If someone comes in to do the quest, I ask them to wait for my current pull to complete, then let them go ahead. Unfortunately, he despawns after the quest hand in. One thing worth remembering is that a level 39+ cleric can heal Bloodmaw; it will take several casts of complete heal while you have him charmed. As a cleric can’t invis, you will need to bribe and fetch your helper.

When I am settled, I head back to the crossroads looking for a kodiak; at first, most will be very red to you. I pull with my ceramic band or low level spell (low MR, so resists are rare, even with the reds). One thing to watch is that kodiaks WILL get stuck in the walls unless you are very careful about guiding them through the tunnels. This means that you WILL take a few hits. If they get stuck, they will pop on you after a few minutes and take a big chunk out of you, usually while you are fighting another kodiak. With limited running around space, this is bad. When they are engaged, root the mob. If you are an enchanter, tash and slow the mob; if you have a druid, snare it; if a shaman, slow it. Keep the mob rooted whenever it breaks. Don’t snare the mob on the pull; they are naturally slow, and they seem to get stuck in the walls a lot more when snared. Snare also generates a lot more aggro, which can mean that you have to kite around Bloodmaw’s chamber for a minute while he builds up aggro.

One other thing to watch is where you sit in the cave. If you are on the room wall at a couple of spots, you will sometimes see an aggro message for a kodiak, which will warp on top of you sometime in the next 5 minutes. Be ready if this happens.

This camp gives extraordinary experience, with very little loot. I was getting between 2 and 6% per kill from 30 (mostly 6%) to 35 (mostly 2%) before the charm nerf; after the nerf a quick test with a level 29 shaman showed him getting around 2% per kill at 29. You will find kodiak pelts (plain ones, not suitable for the coldain ring quest), kodiak claws and kodiak bracers, all of which sell for a few platinum. A rare spawn, Icetooth, who is level 37 and a significantly tougher fight (he can take almost 10% off Bloodmaw’s hit points), also drops a pelt or some claws, which can sell in the Bazaar. I found it very boring, and had to get out into the light in Dawnshroud after a few levels. It is an easy camp for druids, as they can snare their pulls (I do this after engagement) to make breaks easier to handle. For this reason, as well as he inevitable damage you will take from a break at close quarters, my enchanter liked to partner with a druid here.

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