Hunting in Grobb

Class(es):	Enchanter, Magician, Monk, Shaman, Necromancer (and more?)
Levels:	32-39
Zone:	Grobb

Introduction

When most think of Grobb, they think of the starting city for the Troll race. However, because EverQuest was designed for city guards to be viable sources of experience and treasure, just like any other monster, Grobb actually makes an excellent solo hunting spot for good races (evil races can instead hunt Misty Thicket guards, Freeport guards, etc.).

Advantages

Why hunt in Grobb?

Loot

The primary reason is the same as with every city guard: to sell their gear. The Grobb guards ("Bashers") all drop a Long Sword worth 11 plat and some change, depending on Charisma/faction. They also always drop a Round Shield (worth 1p and change), and very often also drop an Intestine Necklace (also worth 1p and change; slightly more than the shield).

The Bashers loot tables sometimes drop Fine Steel weapons, gems, and research components (though not all Bashers - this may need to get patched).

Turn Around and Sell Your Loot in Grobb

Because the Bashers only lower your faction with them (and not the merchants), it's possible to sell the guards' possessions right back to their vendors, if you ...

• can Sneak
• can give yourself Skeleton/Wolf form
• can cast Illusion: Troll, Illusion: Troll, or Illusion: Dark Elf
• repeat the Wolf Meat for Wista quest (it takes roughly 35 stacks of Wolf Meat to be able to vendor)
  • if you "vendor mine" (buy wolf meat off the vendors that newbies sell to) you can acquire enough wolf meat fairly quickly
• create a Troll alt character and drop-transfer items to them
• get a Troll/Ogre/Dark Elf passing through Grobb to sell for you

Peaceful (on Some Servers) Experience

In addition to giving good loot, the Grobb guards also give good experience, and there are enough in the city to support 2 (or more if low level) characters at once. And because it's a player city, on some servers Grobb is frequently overlooked by other players (this is less true on Template:Green).

Rez Possible

Finally, on the Template:Green server, many Clerics are bound at the Timorous Deep firepots, which means that it can be much easier to find a rez on that server (since such Clerics only need to gate and click on the appropriate firepot to get to your corpse).

Even on other servers it can often be possible to find a Cleric in nearby Guk (who may be willing to rez you after they finish there). And if not, any Druid with Circle of Feerrott can bring a Cleric close to Grobb, and with Camouflage from that Druid they can get to you safely. This certainly isn't true of many other dungeon-based camps.

Dangers

Obviously fighting in a city of hostile trolls can be dangerous. Runners are a real issue, so having a way to snare, root, or nuke down low HP Bashers is very helpful. Also a few of the Bashers are located in pairs, so to break them up you either need some form of agro reduction (Harmony/Pacify) or some form of crowd control (Mesmerization or Root). Magicians without these spells can break up duos by "juggling" them with their Earth pet (but before they get the 49 pet this will be very risky).

Another issue is that while the merchant NPCs won't attack you normally, if you fight a Basher next to them some will join the fight. For this reason it's necessary to pull mobs past merchants to safer areas before fighting them.

Also, keep in mind that some Bashers are significantly harder than others. For instance, Basher Scintok is significantly tougher than nearby Basher Nagkuma, and Basher Sutok is slightly tougher than the other front trolls.

Finally, the biggest danger is that several of the Troll guildmasters can Harmtouch or Deathtouch, resulting in a very quick end if you agro them. For this reason it's important to be very careful around the large open area to the right (just before the "front"/"back" separation), and when pulling Basher Thintan (wait until he comes to the end of the tunnel or else risk pulling the guildmaster behind him).

Camps

The zone has a 24 minute respawn time for all Bashers, although Carver Cagrek and non-Troll NPCs respawn faster. This generally results in enough trolls (before respawn) for two players/camps at a time: "front" and "back". However, a single character of a high enough level can clear the entire zone on their own.

All of the Bashers are stationary, except for the ones marked with an asterisk (which move/path). The exact spawn points of pathers may be incorrect, but their dot gives a general idea of where to find them.

Front

Front (Entrance)

Front is the simplest of the two camps, and has the advantage of being near the zone out for quick escapes. All of the mobs in the front can be single-pulled, except for Basher Bibeka and Basher Kumek inside the tunnel (lower level characters, typically <49, may wish to skip these two).

Usually it's best to start with Basher Sutok, as he paths close to the zone-in, and may agro if you try to pull Basher Razbaz first. You'll want to pull Sutok back, well into the zone-in tunnel, the presence of a nearby NPC (the Priest of Discord) will prevent them from running, but if you do pull him back he (and the other Bashers) will run when they are below 20% health.

In fact, it's just a good idea, at least at first while you're learning the zone, to pull all Bashers back into the tunnel, near the zone line. This will ensure both that they run and that you have plenty of time to kill them before they agro others.

There are two main risks in the front.

Front Danger: Basher Nanrum

First, if you go past Basher Kankuk you will find Basher Nanrum. Although Nanrum will appear (and /con) the same as any other Basher (he's only few levels higher), as a quest giver he has far more hit points than the rest (15k!) As such he should be avoided ... except by Enchanters, who may want to charm him.

Front Danger: Hergor

Second, there are several guildmasters across from where Basher Rakguk spawns, including Hergor. If you agro them they will kill you (very quickly), so it's important to pull Rakguk back toward the entrance. Also, two Bashers can path near Hergor (Avisk/Sutok): don't engage them when they are close to Hergor.

Also, pet classes entering the tunnel (to fight Kumek/Bibeka) must be careful not to send their pet in to attack until it has moved well into the tunnel ... otherwise the pet attacking will agro Hergor!

Back

Back can be a little trickier, but it has one major advantage: Carver Cagrek. Although Cagrek doesn't drop swords (as the Bashers do), he does have a much shorter respawn time. This means that the player doing the back camp can kill all the Bashers, and then start killing Carver Cagrek in-between Basher kills if they still have extra time/mana.

Back (Cave)

To start the back camp you'll want to go to the back of the zone (presumably with Invisibility), into the cave area with Basher Bugak. Behind Bugak is a room with a dining table, and if you sit behind the table you can safely drop invis and summon a pet (or otherwise prepare). You can then kill Bugak, and then Banzuk, but beware of Kigak, as he will path into the cave at some point.

Just as with "front", nearby mobs can prevent the Bashers from running, but if you pull them to the empty room with the table in the back they will be far enough away to start running. Also be careful when sitting down while fighting in the cave: if you sit down near a froglok prisoner or the Skeleton (in a cage) they may agro and join the fight.

Back (Butchering Area)

Once you finish the cave Bashers you can kill Carver Cagrek. He doesn't drop a valuable Long Sword, like the Bashers, but if you don't kill him first he may agro when you fight the Bashers in that area.

Do not pull him at all towards Jokca (a Shaman GM) or she will assist and kill you. Instead, pull him back to the cave area, or back towards the entrance. After him you can pull and kill Basher Gamuk and Basher Zazluk ... assuming you have a way to split them, or can take two at once.

A mage can pull Zazluk with a low level DD, wait for both to get close, then send in their earth pet at Zazluk. Half the time the pet will agro both, and the other half you can send the pet at Gamuk to get him off you. Once the pet has both mobs attention you can nuke Zazluk (the lower level of the two) down quickly.

Back (Bank)

If you're careful, you can also kill the two bank guards. First off, DO NOT bring a pet to the bank, or it will agro Jokca. Instead, invis up, then move past the first guard (Basher Stizik), open the door, and go into the bank. Move back, but not so far back that you can see the back guard, Basher Gobzin.

If you have a pet summon it, then open the door and kill Basher Stizik, being careful to not let him run (or risk agroing Jokca or Basher Gobzin). Next, pull Basher Gobzin back, but don't fight him next to the Banker (Spinkit) or he will join. (NOTE: A patch may have changed this? Un-tested).

Back (Valley)

After you finish the Bashers in/around the cave, you can backtrack to the open area closer to front. Here you can either pull Nagkuma from on top of the building to the hallway between the areas, or you can fight Scintok (in the nearby valley area). You could also start killing in the back with Scintok.

Be careful that you don't fight Scintok to close to the tunnel, or you'll risk agroing Thintan when he paths out of the Night Keep. Also, always wait for Basher Thintan to path out: DO NOT go into the Night Keep to try and pull him (or the other Basher in there)! If you try, you will agro a Troll Guild Master along with him (who will kill you).