Low level hound advice.

[fatherpirate]

just a bit of advice (low level)

If you hear the howl STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING,
get out of regular combat as fast as possible.

let your hirelings tank it and take it down with
long range weapons.

If possible, don't solo.

At low level, Arties have the advantage.

so, you hear the warning howl

1) disengage from regular combat. finish up with what your
dealing with quickly and wait for the hound.

2) try to have hirelings tank it

3) quickly bring it down from range.

don't forget, they drop remies

good luck

oh -------->>> BIG NOTE, the lockout level has changed from prior years. +2 from base level, not +4 like before
SO --------------- If your doing a base level 1 dungeon, and your 3rd lvl ... you have to do elite or higher. At level 4 your locked out of a lvl 1 dungeon now.
you have been warned

[Amorais]

I'd also get Anger's Step which are the expeditious retreat clicky boots. With fast movement you can kite it by running around it fairly effectively. Keep moving it seems and you have a better chance. At least, thats what I found.

[drathdragon]

just a bit of advice (low level)



At low level, Arties have the advantage.

really ? it's confirmed ?
can you explain me why please ?

[LightBear]

Here's what I found about the Hound's howl and the mark of the hunter so far.

The hound's call isn't always hearable for the entire party. Not sure why not, as sometimes I do hear it and sometimes I don't.
The person who is marked by the hunter gets a blue arrow over head, also this blue arrow isn't always visible. Think I saw it once only.
The person who is marked has to be the one who gives the killing blow to the hound or will keep the mark of the hunter.
The mark of the hunter lasts between explorer area (wilderness) and quest instance.
Longer quests will have a hound spawn more than once.

My advice is to bring a stack of pots and chuck em away at will.

[FuzzyDuck81]

really ? it's confirmed ?
can you explain me why please ?

Arties are very powerful at low levels with repeaters for fast rate of fire, damage imbue & elemental or similar ammo all coming into play for damage dealing while keeping at a safe distance from enemies plus solid healing, ablative armour, false life & resist energy spells to reduce incoming damage... renegade mastermaker tree in particular is very defensively focused with a load of extra HP, AC & resistances & if you make it to level 12, there's the emergency automatic forcefield to just "nope!" out of big damage spikes too plus the repair aura. They also have a dog which can be pretty solid in heroics & acts as a handy free decoy at the very least.

[archest]

use entangle and web spells to slow it down spamming them as you blast it run run run blast blast blast . Warlock

[cru212]

use entangle and web spells to slow it down spamming them as you blast it run run run blast blast blast . Warlock

The hounds I saw were red-named, and as such, immune to CC.

[LightBear]

use entangle and web spells to slow it down spamming them as you blast it run run run blast blast blast . Warlock

Goes through his level 1 warlock spellbook to find these amazing spells

[Aelonwy]

Goes through his level 1 warlock spellbook to find these amazing spells

You could have Entangle...but... they are Red Names and as such didn't seem like any CC was working. Anyone know if Hamstring or Leg Shot might work? Assuming we get high enough level to acquire either.

[ekaterina]

We all need to remember that some classes start off very weak compared to others and the hounds hit us at level 1. A strategic fight at level 5 might be instant death at level 1.

Hardcore should not be easy at level one - indeed not. But neither should it have instant death mechanisms. Running is not always an option deep in a dungeon.

Hounds should be challenging - no argument. But a solo player should have a good chance to defeat one, and at any level. Even a 50-50 fight is unfair when death ends the character and the fight is randomly forced on the player not a consequence of any decision her or she made.

[OzmarDDO]

Here's what I found about the Hound's howl and the mark of the hunter so far.

The person who is marked has to be the one who gives the killing blow to the hound or will keep the mark of the hunter.

!!!

Oh, that's good to know.

I have found using bluff/diplo to shed aggro onto hires and pets is a good idea.

-Ozmar the Diplomatic

[Jerevth]

Does Grease work?
Sonic Blast? (Probably not)
Blind?

[Cernunan]

Does Grease work?
Sonic Blast? (Probably not)
Blind?

They are red named, so no to all

[Jerevth]

They are red named, so no to all

Thanks

[C-Dog]

They are red named, so no to all

Are they all red named?

I want to say that I've seen non-red - but, admittedly, it's always been a bit of a panic so I don't always stop to take mental notes.

[KoobTheProud]

Ran a wizard up to 3 today seeing hounds only in Keep on the Borderlands wilderness and not many of them.

How did I avoid hounds everywhere else?

No shrines and always moving. Didn't stop to break any boxes. Didn't care about optionals. Just ran to the end of the quest as quickly as possible, completed and then gated out.

I used the skelly pet and Byron and the few hounds I saw never faced me in the process. Was also running high DPS spells to kill stuff quickly.

I *hate* this meta with a passion but I understand how to survive in it now. Rush, rush, rush, kill, kill, kill and you'll be fine.

This BTW is not a hardcore meta it is a speedrun meta.

[Aelonwy]

This BTW is not a hardcore meta it is a speedrun meta.

Indeed. Not only do they not want us to play slow and steady with care - they want us to be better zergers. As for Red Named Reaper-like mobs in normal difficulty? I guess they just couldn't stand that some of us were NOT choosing to play reaper so why not remove the choice from us?

[Nebless]

are they all red named?

I want to say that i've seen non-red - but, admittedly, it's always been a bit of a panic so i don't always stop to take mental notes.

yes

[Nebless]

I'm running a half-elf dual-weld Tempest Ranger and this is what's working for me.

- When I get the alert I've been targeted I move to the nearest corner and wedge my back into it. Now yesterday the hounds were spawning in behind me and getting trapped in the wall or beside me and not aggro'ing me until I attacked. Today they've been spawning right in under / in front of me and not aggo'ing until I attack, so I've been able to kill them all fairly easy.

I've used this on all the Korthos Dungeons and in the Korthos Wilderness. All total I've had 2 that just never appeared (I'm guessing totally stuck in the wall or even in the 'next' room), 4 trapped in the wall with only their heads sticking out (not targetable so just ignore) and the rest in front / beside that I've killed.

[Dark_Lord_Mary]

Yeah didn't you know you'd be required not only to shift down to Elite Streak +2 for this HCL - which is a huge meta shift for something like 5k, but also DOOM REAPER hounds -

these house are doom reapers essentially

that you're expected to fight in solo/casual content with no gear during an event where you cannot die on SSG servers that are essentially all lag lag lag lag lag

HCL 6 Fey FU - a journey to utter nonsense of a Sadistic DM who does not respect at all, his player base

Its not dungeons and dragons or hardcore - it's an angry dm torturing 95% of the community while 5% of the community cheer and troll schadenfreude over QQs

Pathetic.

I am already invested in this season so will see it out - but this is the problem with no announcements
Had I known that doom reapers mobs would be roaming slayer zones and casual/solo/normal content I would have hard passed.

I like the +2; I like a challenge. I loved the mimics and special champs -but this is way, way beyond those. You could skip mimics by skipping chests. You could CC most of the special champs. These hounds have boss immunity and hit like doom reapers. Fine if i select to enter on Reaper - yes, give it to me; not fine riding to a quest in a slayer zone on an SSG laggy server or doing a solo quest or in korthos (where all the the 1 shot traps were nerfed into jokery bc of their being too difficult - and yet - these doom reaper hound mobs are one-shotting very good players because they are overpowered Sh!t and not fair)

I am an R10 player on Salona, I have placed on the leaderboards in almost every HCL so far, I've been in all 6 and this doom reaper mob is utter complete nonsense and insulting to the event.