You may have noticed by now that a simple, single mob that does nothing but beat on our main tank on a raid gets pretty boring pretty quickly. Fortunately, SoE has come up with a whole host of tricks for a mob to use to make the fights more interesting. Here, I'll be going over some of the more common ones in detail, and what can be done about them after the mob is already trying to eat us.

Point Blank AE

One of the oldest tricks in the book, this is a spell that is centered on the mob casting it, and which hits every player character within a certain range. This rage will vary depending on the specific mob, but 100 and 200 EQ units of range are very typical AEs, though up to 2000 are not unheard of. This spell must either be resisted, or dealt with via curing, healing, dodging or simply soaking the effecs of the spell.

In most indoor zones, the presence of a zone-wall between you and the mob will allow you to evade the effect of the AE. As well, all PBAEs are on a timer, typically 30 seconds or 1 minute. If the timer is long enough, DPS may run out of the AE range to dodge it, and run back in after the AE has passed. This is no longer typically done. Depending on the mob, it may be possible for many raiders to remain outside the AE's effect.

Fennin Ro and Elite Sun Revenant are typical examples of this effect.

Targeted AE

Often mistaken for a "frontal" AE, the Targeted AE is centered on whomever is the mob's current aggro target, and effects all targets in a radius, much like the wizard and druid's quad-kiting spells. This radius is also highly variable, but typically very small. Confusion often sets in when the AE radius is smaller than the mob itself, and those not near the tank are not hit. However, it is theoretically possible for a mob to cast this on a target behind itself without turning, if aggro conditions support that behaviour.

This is dealt with in much the same way as the PBAE, though it is often easier to dodge.

The Scripted AE

Beginning in Omens of War, the Everquest AI script for some mobs has been given the ability to select and cast upon a list of people depending on the details of the script. A recent example of the sort is Rikkukin, who has several AEs that only affect people on certain arcs of his body. These AEs generally must be dodged as per the script of the mob.

Rampage

Another old trick is Daveon's favorite, Rampage. When a mob rampages, he melees the first valid target on his rampage list. The rampage list is set in order of aggro, with a few other minor rules. Once the rampage list is set, it is set in stone. However, it is possible to becomean invalid target for rampage. Players may become invalid targets by the following:

• Zoning, including death.
• Moving out of range.
• Gaining aggro.
• Completely leaving the aggro list.

On most heavily rampaging targets, a rampage tank will be selected. This tank should either pull the mob to camp, or should damage the mob before the rest of the raid, so as to take the slot at the top of the rampage list. The rest of the raid should avoid aggro before this time. This may mean waiting a moment to heal or slow, turning off bard songs, etc.

The rate of rampage may be reduced significantly via the Cripple line of spells.

AE Rampage.

AE melee, centered on a mob. Stay out of it if you can, soak it if you can't. This is generally kinda rough. Again, the rate of Rampage may be reduced significantly with the Cripple line.

Flurry

This is extra rounds of melee on the character with primary aggro. This cannot be avoided, but may be reduced by the Cripple Line.

Enraged

An enraged mob automatically ripostes all attacks along its frontal arc. This can be avoided by not hitting the front of the mob. It is expected that all melee be aware of the facing of the mob and be prepared to turn off attack if they are faced by the mob during enrage. Enraged lasts a set period of time before dropping.

Infuriate
Much rarer than its other cousins, Infuriate turns all rampage attacks during Infuriate into AE rampage. Avoid as AE rampage, by staying out of reach. Infuriate, like Enrage, has a set duration after which it fades, and the mob returns to normal.