A How to Guide to Not lose dogs in Hound

[croger1520033]

After running several Hound raids since it was released and only ever failing when I played something other than my cleric I got a little frustrated, and never once not finishing a hound on my cleric. I have come to the assumption (it is only that an assumption, maybe circumstances are different but) that it lies on the clerics whether or not this raid is a success. Not to toot my own horn but, more to show you that I am not just the next quack out there. I have run it I think 22 times on my cleric and over 100 on all my characters. I also only pug, and I have solo healed the hound.

Now I understand that having a good grp on the outside and having a good tank in the middle and a good buffer also make this a success or a fail but, more oft than not it is the clerics losing dogs in the middle. So here it goes.

1. When first in concentrate on healing the tank in the middle.

2. when first stones come in use all 3, 2 is such a drain sometimes.

3. When the dogs get charmed make sure they are attacking her and get her aggro before you let the tank in the middle die.

4. Once they have her aggro stop healing the tank in the middle if he has bees and focus healing on the dogs. As soon as he dies rez him because you wont be able to heal effectively if you get agro from a reaver.

5. Once dogs are charmed do not just throw mass cures sometimes it just isn't enough, tab through the dogs or click each one over and over again non stop till one needs a heal.

6. More of a side note do not stand next to the dog, you will likely get aggro at some point and get bee's (try healing through that). stand as far away as you can without engaging enlarge and you can still click on the dogs. Stand to her rear or to her side.

I know a lot of you probably have this down, for those that do this post isn't for you, it is for all the clerics that lose 1-3 dogs on a regular basis. This isn't to toot my horn I am not even close to being a gaming mecca, I just would like to run more pug's on my other characters with a much better chance of success than as of late. If there is anything I am missing please add it, and I will try and update it with any additions to make this as helpful as possible.

Anyways gl and good gaming.

[tihocan]

With 2 clerics, you can have one focus on whichever hound has aggro, while the other one takes care of the two others. This way you usually don't over-heal with mass heals, it's more mana-effective.
It's good when the bard helps with spot heals too. A helpful bard can make a big difference when clerics are in trouble.

[DaggomaticDwarf]

I was wondering do u mass bulls, bears ? or any other mass spells?

[Baahb3]

Mass bull's and bears, Stoneskin and Haste are all good buffs for the little dogs. Bard songs are also welcome to increase their hit and damage potential. You just have to make sure you don't give the dogs any buffs that increase their will save as they will break the charm easier.

[kinar]

Having run nearly 100 hounds on a cleric (I've got 3). I'd have to say that 90% of the times a hound run fails, it is a matter out of the groups control. For example, the little dogs bug and don't attack (last night I ran one where the little dog appeared as though it was attacking but in fact was just running in place near the hound).

[Impaqt]

Mass bull's and bears, Stoneskin and Haste are all good buffs for the little dogs. Bard songs are also welcome to increase their hit and damage potential. You just have to make sure you don't give the dogs any buffs that increase their will save as they will break the charm easier.

There is no Save on the Charm from the stones. It Times out, or can be broken by Beholders.

[croger1520033]

Having run nearly 100 hounds on a cleric (I've got 3). I'd have to say that 90% of the times a hound run fails, it is a matter out of the groups control. For example, the little dogs bug and don't attack (last night I ran one where the little dog appeared as though it was attacking but in fact was just running in place near the hound).

Lol, I do not know what I just did but, I just erased a long post.

Anyways I agree that will contribute to the party failure however, the #1 reason in the groups I have run on my non clerics failed is because one of the clerics doesn's heal his designated dog or they rely only on mass heals. I like to click through each dog so I know they are all healed, I usually heal at 75% health to be safe designate a cleric to heal at 50% and if you get a 3rd have him do 25%.

Anyways these have been my experiences, not all results will be similar.

[kinar]

Ran another last night that almost failed becuase after the 3rd dog was charmed they didn't turn to attack the big dog (only non-friendly target in the middle). They just ran around in circles for about 15s. And even though the chewtoy was still alive, the big dog took off chasing the people on the outter ring. Thankfully we got everyone to the center before the little dogs took off too...ended up finishing it with only a single dog charmed.

[croger1520033]

Ran another last night that almost failed becuase after the 3rd dog was charmed they didn't turn to attack the big dog (only non-friendly target in the middle). They just ran around in circles for about 15s. And even though the chewtoy was still alive, the big dog took off chasing the people on the outter ring. Thankfully we got everyone to the center before the little dogs took off too...ended up finishing it with only a single dog charmed.

I have had that one happen too the only way I have gotten him to attack the dog is stand in front of the big dog until she does damage to me and the dog then the dog gets ****ed and aattacks.

[Inkblack]

4. Once they have her aggro stop healing the tank in the middle if he has bees and focus healing on the dogs. As soon as he dies rez him because you wont be able to heal effectively if you get agro from a reaver.

Of course there a countless ways of doing this. Here's my take on the above point:

If the tank dies, let someone else rez him. The most common reason for failure is dog death -- that's the cleric's #1 priority. Usually it happens because the clerics are all trying to rez someone, or they are healing the same dog. The other 9-10 people in the raid have to be good for something, surely one of them can rez the tank in between keeping an eye out for reavers or beholders.

IMO, the easiest way to do it is to assign a cleric to a dog. The cleric keeps the dog targetted, and keeps the dog healed. Clerics should use party chat to communicate which dog they are healing.

Ink

[miceelf88]

Agree about the charming 3 dogs thing. In my more limited experience- 4 successes, 6 failures, most of the failures were with the "we should just charm 2 and conserve stones" method, and all of the successes were with charming all three..

[Strykersz]

I honestly expected a post shorter than the title, the substance of which would be, "Heal them" or possibly the Joyce version of, "Target the one's getting hit and heal them."