The Hidden Forest

The Hidden Forest Guide to Bots

[Update 2013] There have been a few improvements to the bot code. Some of this guide is a little out of date - In particular, healing seems to be much better now than it used to be when I wrote this guide.

Introduction

Love them or hate them, it's an undeniable fact that bots are a large part of THF life for many players, old and new. In my short time here I'd say the most common theme of questions/complaints from players, right after quests, is bots. Most often it will be a complaint about how the bots perform badly, be it in healing or nuking and sometimes it will be a complaint about a difficulty a player is facing where a bot could very well help them. I've found that a common set of complaints can be worked around or even used to your advantage if the right bot is used in the right way and this guide will hopefully help others to realise this as well.

The guide isn't necessarily definitive and it will be left open to input from players who have tips and advice about bots and wish to share it; please post your ideas and suggestions and I’ll update the original post(s) as often as I can.

Sections covered in this guide

• The Quick “How-to” Bot Guide
• Bot facts, limitations and rules
• The types of bots available and their primary use
• Bot-by-class breakdown
• What’s the best bot for me?
• Bot control techniques
• Buffing My Bot and Bot Equipment
  

I've broken each section up into a post for ease of reading and browsing.

Section 1. The Quick “How-to” Bot Guide

This section won’t explain in absolute detail how to create and run a bot but it will point you in the right direction. Only totally new players need pay attention to this section.

Brand these three commands into your brain!

#bot help – Lists all general bot commands available to you. Everyone should read this list in full before even thinking of what bot to make
#bot help create – Lists the information you need to know to create your first (and all subsequent) bots. Read this right after you’ve read the help list above.
#bot group help – A handy and short list of group control commands that you will need, so worth a quick read but I’ll go over these later on in the guide to explain their use and how best to use them

Section 2.Bot facts, limitations and rules

This is a list of things most players should know about bots and how limited they are, as well as the rules enforced on their usage.

• Important: Do not try to give your bot a charm he will just eat it
• You can create as many bots as you like but you can only have one bot in the world at any time
• Each group/raid is limited to one bot only
• If a bot dies or if you tell it to camp anywhere other than the home zone (The Hidden Forest/Shadowed Grove) then you will have to wait three minutes before you can respawn a bot.
• Bots will do nothing unless grouped with their owner; to group with your bot simply /invite the bot as you would a normal player and it will join your group automatically
• Once grouped with its owner, the bot will proceed to follow the owner, by default.
• If it is a caster bot it will attempt to cast any buffs that are missing from itself and any players in the group.
• By default, the bot will attempt to attack any target you attempt to attack when using auto-attack (and only auto-attack; the bot won’t assist you if you use a special attack or cast a spell: alternatively, you can explicitly instruct the bot to attack using the #bot group attack command).
• If you do not wish this to happen, tell your bot to #bot group guard and it will stay put and only attack when you tell it to do so using #bot group attack
• Bots are persistent and will zone with you (bugs notwithstanding)
• Bots do not automatically level up with you until they are spawned again, until they zone or until you tell them to update using #bot update (after targeting the bot)
• Bots take experience as any other group member would, although they don’t level up from it
• Bots do not cause mobs to agro unless you explicitly tell them to attack or unless they heal/assist you in some way after you attack a mob. They are never affected by faction and are ignored by everything in the game until combat is started. This is an extremely useful thing to know.
• Bots do get passive AA abilities available at their level
• Bots do not use disciplines and, so far as I know, do not use non-passive aa abilities
• Bots disappear instantly when they die; they do not leave a corpse and they leave your group. They do not pass ”Go” nor do they collect $200.
• In some cases, particularly with melee-based bots, there is a bug where they can cease to “exist” in the game world without actually disappearing, if their hitpoints get too low – it’s as if they actually did “die” but didn’t (possibly this is caused by them losing consciousness then regaining it before death). This will leave the bot a useless husk, limited to following you around, until healed enough. At this point they can continue to be used as normal (if you don’t die before that time!)
• Bots are not as good as and probably never will be as good as a competent human player. Don’t expect them to be. That said, bots also don’t suffer from some human flaws; they won’t panic when things go a bit wrong and will happily continue to do their job, often healing and tanking (for example) quite well, despite all hell breaking loose. If you can keep your cool and use them correctly, they can save your life.
• Bots can often have limitations in how they perform their roles; the biggest and most common limitation currently is healing. More on this later in the class-based guide
• Bots can, however, also excel at their roles, such as tanking; it could be said a bot tank holds agro on a single mob more efficiently than most player tanks. Again, more on this later in the class-based guide
• You can give bots no-trade items, so long as they do not contain augments: bots won’t accept any item that has been augmented [correction: you can now give bots augmented items]. Be wary of giving bots lore items that you also own (or intend to subsequently loot); if you retrieve that item from the bot at a later time you will probably lose one as the game automatically deletes the offending lore item. This can also prevent you retrieving the item altogether.

Section 3. The types of bots available and their primary use

This is relatively obvious to players that know how EQ works but I’ll go through it anyway, as some still ask the question as to what is the best type of bot to have.

Tank
Holds agro of the mob for you while you either keep the tank alive or cause as much damage to the target as possible (or both). When choosing a tank, bear in mind that they cannot use disciplines. Due to this, a lot of people opt to use the paladin bot as it holds agro, takes a decent beating and dishes out decent DPS (if equipped well): the main boost here is the paladin bot will heal himself while still holding agro and will heal you as well. That said, the shadow knight and warrior tank bots both do very well in terms of tanking and taking damage; they’re just more reliant on someone else to heal them.

Healer
Keeps you alive while you attack your targets. You can opt for the pure heal option and go for the cleric but be aware the cleric will be quite limited in tough battles until you get into the later 60s and level 70 (although this applies to all bots). Find your limit and try not to go past it (if that boss encounter is clearly killing you before your cleric can heal you, you need more DPS or you need to level up before trying again). Shaman and druid bots can heal OK if you realise their limitations (more on class-based guide later) and you get nice buffs as well. Rangers can heal OK as well, plus providing a lot more DPS. Consider which is the best option depending on you and your scenario and go with it.

Damage
This should be relatively obvious but be aware that a caster type bot probably isn’t going to deliver the same level DPS as a melee type. The best DPS you can get if you don’t wish to spend too much time on equipment is the monk bot but the highest DPS of all is available through the rogue bot, with decent weapons. Hybrids give nice DPS as well but, as yet, I haven’t tried the caster bot DPS so cannot comment on this. It should be noted that the rogue bot is going to need a healer as they will lose hitpoints pretty fast.

Utility
Sometimes all you need is to get a teleport/evac to a location, to track for mobs or to get a particular buff. Many bot types offer useful skills you might not have handy so read through the #bot help list and familiarise yourself with the abilities available.

Section 4. Bot-by-class breakdown

This section is not definitive as I have yet to try all bots. Please add your own tips and tricks, limitations and issues if you have any from your experience using bots.

Bard
Plays only one song at a time so is limited at best. Minor DPS isn’t going to boost the use of this particular bot class. Avoid.

Berserker
Not used yet, no comments.

Beastlord
Not used. Probably decent if you need a tank (the pet) and some DPS as well.

Cleric
The best at healing but prone to running out of mana fast early on in the game.

The best way to avoid this is to ensure you #bot group guard often, placing the cleric somewhat on the edge of the battle, far enough away that it won’t engage in melee combat and close enough that it can heal your group. You can also leave the cleric way out of range (don’t worry about losing them, you can use #bot group summon at any time to bring them back, so long as they’re grouped) so it doesn’t heal or nuke or buff at all. This lets the cleric regenerate mana while you kill off some trash mobs that aren’t powerful enough to cause you significant damage.

Cleric bots get better as they level up into the 60s, as they get powerful Heal over Time spells. You can augment this will focus effect items (more on this later). At level 70, in Kael armour, slot 8 jewellery and with nice focus items, a cleric’s HOT spell is more effective than him chaining complete heal and much, much more mana efficient.

Clerics are prone to complete healing you when you just don’t need it (annoying but hopefully soon to be fixed). They’re also notorious for not complete healing you when you really need it most. Both of these issues should be addressed soon but they still don’t take away from the fact that having a cleric bot is better than having no bot at all.

A little used tool the cleric has is calm, something I am sure isn’t known about as the all powerful pulling tool it actually is. Remember, the bot won’t cause agro until it attacks or heals you in combat so invis up and go right into the group of mobs you wish to break (check if they see invis of course), then use the bot to calm each one you need to calm. This fact alone makes the cleric bot a more useful pull splitter than a live cleric in several scenarios.

Make a hotkey to perform this (#bot calm) and click it once. Allow the cleric to cast for a few seconds then try again. If the cleric was successful then he will tell you this. If he isn’t then try again, give it more time to cast or move closer.

Calm lasts for a long time (42 seconds at least) and, so far, appears to only fail on mobs that cannot be mesmerised (so be mindful of this before attempting to use it on boss mobs). It’s literally never failed on me, providing I’ve used it correctly. Brilliant tool and very powerful, particularly for the solo player.

Druid
Not played but druid bots are notorious for not using direct heals when you have a regenerative heal on you. A huge tip here is to click off the HOT either when you need a lot of heals or just as you enter combat. The bot should use direct heals until it thinks you’re high enough to survive with a HOT; this applies to all the healing classes that use HOTs, such as chloroplast (this doesn’t include the cleric as their HOTs are still preferred at most times).

I’d say the benefit of a druid has long been debated, particularly in dungeons (which most of the server’s content comprises of). I’d personally take a shaman before a druid due to the much better buffs and I’d take a cleric/paladin before the shaman.

Enchanter
Never used and probably never will. The buffs are too easy to get and the enchanter brings too little to the table besides the slows and crowd control. If you need crowd control this badly then you’re better off rolling a boxed enchanter. However, if your group already has a tank, healer and DPS then I suppose you could use this bot class, if you know what you’re doing.

Mage
Not used yet, no comments.

Monk
Have not used but the monk will give you good DPS, no question. As the class doesn’t rely as heavily as other classes on their weapons, this is the ideal class if you cannot spare the time to equip them.

Rerfu wrote:Bots do not use active abilities that leaves out FD and Mend. Monk is the highest DPS bot but you have to manually position the mob or the bot so it hits the back of the mob.

Necromancer

Rerfu wrote:Necromancer summons a pet and casts its highest level Damage over time spells on the mob. It used to fear but I believe that was taken out around a month ago. Summon Corpse does not work.

Paladin
One of the best bots you can have! The paladin will hold agro like a rock, will heal itself and you and will do moderate to high damage, depending on the weapon given to it. Give your paladin bot a full set of good armour and it’ll look after you from level 1 to 70.

Ranger
If used correctly, the ranger bot can provide you with a significant boost to your DPS as well as keep both you and itself well healed. Just remember to keep the bot facing the back of the enemy (it doesn’t do this automatically) and always, always click off the regen heal if you want it to heal you properly after level 30 or so.

Ranger bots are also useful because they can provide a decent track option, allowing you to see what mobs are up currently (but not in what direction they lie, unfortunately).

They also SOW you and have nice buffs. You don’t even have to own the bot to ask for a sow, you just have to be grouped with one.

The ranger is an all round quality bot and is well worth having one on your list, fully equipped, for those aa/farming runs, as well as a valuable ally to a tank class as you level up through the content. In my experience, however, they become a little less reliable at level 70 as they burn themselves out of mana far too quickly, thus rendering them an average DPS bot prone to dying after a comparatively short time (when compared to, say, a paladin).

Rogue
The rogue bot is as equally powerful as it is weak. Flat out, the highest DPS bot you can get, if given the right weapons but as it cannot heal itself it relies on you or your group to keep it alive. It will keep itself to the rear of the mob at all times, which is very useful. This won’t stop it getting hit if it gains agro (and it can do so easily if you aren’t a tank class). The rogue works well with a tank class, particularly if you can heal it as well.

Rerfu wrote:Bar none the best bot for a Paladin and Shadowknight as you get some levels. When you outgear content it is also useful on a Warrior and a Cleric

Shadow Knight
Not used but I can imagine this is a very adept tank bot and it probably keeps itself alive adequately due to life taps. If you can heal it then it’ll provide better DPS than the other tank options, I imagine.

Shaman
The shaman is a funny breed for a bot. They have all the hallmarks of an excellent bot (great buffs, good heals, looks after itself) but it’s just very, very bad at mana conservation when the going gets a little heated.

Remember to click off the regen effect if you need direct healing but be aware this will burn the shaman’s mana fast.

In general, I’ve always preferred a well equipped cleric bot over a well equipped shaman bot.

Rerfu wrote:The best thing about this bot is the shaman buffs: Sense, Fortitude, Regen, Wunshi. For some reason its scripted to cast Haste instead of Might so you will not receive a might buff from this bot at the moment. At 70 they cast Crippling Spasm, Balance of Discord, and 1 or 2 Poison Dots.

Warrior
A very, very solid tank bot only flawed in its need to be healed. It lasts for ages, however, and deals nice damage if equipped well (although this is extremely limited at level 70, unless you give it some nice raid weapons). If you can heal it, use it. If not, use a paladin.

Wizard
Never used for anything except as a porter bot. I tried it at a low level and it didn’t cast a single nuke so I’m not sure what was happening there.

Section 5. What’s the best bot for me?

The information above should have given you enough of an idea what is the best bot for you but here is a simple and brief over-view for the TLDR crowd:

I am a solo healer
Simple answer: Tank. Any will do, as you can heal, so go for whichever one you prefer. If you’re a DPS type healer (druid/shaman/ranger) then go for a more solid tank (paladin) but if you’re a cleric it’s more open what type you choose, so it depends what you want (solid tank or dps, etc). Either way, all three are adequate and it’s probably not recommended to use any other type if you’re going to fight some tough battles. A monk is an OK option and will give you more DPS but this will be less useful at the higher levels and will render your ability to take down tough named encounters almost null, until you’ve out-leveled the content considerably.

I am a solo tank
Again, simple answer: Something that heals. Your options are much wider, however (in fact, if you’re a shadow knight or a paladin you might not need to be healed much to begin with, so you could go for the DPS option instead). Until later levels you can get by with a ranger as the combined DPS is nice and they heal OK if you keep the regen off. A well equipped, well focused cleric will keep you going the longest, however.

If you have time, equip up a rogue and use when you’re farming aaxp or crafting items in zones where you’re unlikely to die easily.

I am a solo DPS/Caster
Simplest answer of them all: Paladin, paladin, paladin. No other option is good enough so unless you’re up for a significant challenge, don’t bother trying anything else. You’ll only ever need the paladin in all scenarios until you hit the level 70 group stuff.

I am in a group
Pick the type you’re missing. In most cases this will be the healer because most people tend to avoid playing healers. Go for the cleric; it gives you the most options in the long run. If you have a healer and tank then go for the rogue option, you won’t regret it. If you don’t have a tank or a healer type then go for the paladin.

Section 6. Bot control techniques

This is the true meat and bones of the guide; the primary reason I decided to write it. This is where you can find out the best ways to control your bots because without proper control they’re either useless or liable to under perform.

Basic Control

#bot group follow
#bot group guard
#bot group attack
#bot group summon

These four commands are all relatively self explanatory but they can all be used in very powerful ways. By default the bot follows you everywhere, attacking whatever you attack and this can lead to trouble. Are you the puller for the group? If so, do you want the bot to attack when you do or once you’re ready for it to attack?

Create” follow” and “guard” to hotkeys immediately. The good thing is it’ll work for all bots as targeting is not required, so you only need to make them once per character. Tell your bot to guard at all times, unless you want them to attack with you or you need them to follow you for a pull. There’s really no desperate need for your bot to follow you around unless you’re smashing through content quickly and don’t need to stage your fights. Plant your bot somewhere out of the way then prepare for your pull. When you’re ready, tell your bot to engage using the attack command; if you have the right hotkeys it won’t matter where you left your bot (more on this later).

To summon your bot, no matter where it is, do not use the #bot summon, as this requires you to target the bot (a command probably used when you can have more than one bot active, which is not the case on this server). Instead, use #bot group summon and the bot will appear at your feet no matter where it is in the zone.

Advanced Bot Control Techniques: Pulling

Do you want your bot to pull? Bots can be, believe it or not, very efficient pullers. If it’s a tank, it’s probably best you make the bot pull because then it gains all the agro, rather than you. This makes things a bit easier at the start of a tough fight with multiple mobs (although with correct bot control you can quickly correct a bad pull where you have unwanted agro; more on this later).

Hotkey the following commands and name it “Attack”:

1 #bot group summon
2 #bot group guard
3 #bot group follow
4 #bot group attack

This might seem a bit too elaborate when you could just use line 4 but all of these commands have a purpose and you might as well use this hotkey every time you attack as it covers several uses, all in one key. I’ll go over these uses in later techniques.

The purpose in the pulling technique is to relocate the bot to your exact location and then send it in a direct line to your target.

To complete the pull, you will also need a proper summon hotkey. Use the following and name it “PullBot”, or something to that effect:

1 #bot group summon
2 #bot group guard
3 #bot group follow

Click this hotkey when your bot has engaged the target and you are satisfied with what it has pulled. It will teleport to your location and the mobs will move dutifully after the bot towards you. Allow the mobs to hit the tank bot first, then engage using assist (more on agro control later).

This is a basic pull routine and can be used almost anywhere. The best thing about this method of pulling is that you can pull mobs you would otherwise not be able to, due to line of sight or range restrictions which simply do not apply to bots. Combine this with root or calm and you can split many tough camps, all the while never exposing yourself to agro from the mobs. You can even invis up into the middle of a group of mobs and then attack, as they won’t agro the bot.

All of these factors can compensate significantly for some of the common drawbacks of playing as a solo player.

Advanced Bot Control Techniques: Switching Target

Bots are notoriously bad at maintaining their target and they don’t tend to react to an eventuality that would normally require a tank bot to switch to another target. Often you will need the bot to attack another target, particularly if your bot is a tank and you are a healer/DPS and a mob has decided to start hitting you.

Bots are not coded to respond to this scenario but, thankfully, we can work around this using the “Attack” hotkey above.

Here comes the science:

Bots will attack the target you tell them to flawlessly until they are “engaged”. From this moment on they will be unresponsive to any new attack commands because they will always be agroed themselves by an aggressive act from a mob; they might try to attack the target you specify but they will likely be struck by another mob and that is often enough to keep it locked onto that mob when it is undesirable. Even if you summon the bot it will run straight back at the last creature it was hitting and even if you tell it to guard it’ll do the same when it gets hit by the chasing pack.

So we have to be smart about it, which requires a measure of effort from us.

If you are being struck by a mob and need your tank to take agro, step away from the bot to give it room and target the mob attacking you. Move so that the mob is almost right on top of you and then use the “Attack” hotkey and keep hitting the key until you’re satisfied the bot has regained agro.

What happens is the bot is summoned and told to guard, which brings it to you instantly and then stops it running back into the fight. As the mob you’re targeting is closer than the mobs last hitting the bot, this should give the bot enough time to then attack its new target (often allowing the bot to get a taunt in). If you’ve been clever and chose a tank bot, it should regain agro quickly enough for you to move back and then assist again. This can be done several times to clear all agro off you and place it onto the bot. With practice it can be done in a matter of a few seconds.

N.B. The “#bot group follow” command in the hotkey is optional; I just like to use it to ensure the bot follows me after the fight.

If you use this hotkey, you can quickly direct your tank bot to take agro of multiple targets and quite quickly. If you’re struggling, give yourself and your bot as much space as possible before re-targeting.

Advanced Bot Control Techniques: The Layered Pull

Sometimes you just don’t want to wait for the bot to doddle slowly over to that group of targets to pull them all the way back again. Sometimes you just want to hit them from long range quickly and get the pull started faster but you still want your bot to have full agro of the fight from the first hit.

This is how you do it.

Range attack your chosen target and instantly send the bot in to attack. All of the targets will run for you, because you initiated the fight. As soon as the bot starts beating on the first mob then the mob will stop and that’s taken care of one. As soon as the remaining group of mobs passes the spot your bot is fighting at, target another mob and send the bot off again, using the same hotkey. This will reset the mob to your location and fire him off to the new target and as he will encounter this one before the one he was last hitting, he will stop that one dead and gain full agro.

If you have enough room you can do this several times, ensuring your bot has the whole group of mobs angry at him, not you. Then simply summon the bot (using “PullBot”) and wait for them to arrive. Assist and away you go!

Advanced Bot Control Techniques: The Blind Pull

Know a mob’s around the next corner but don’t want to agro it? Worried it’ll bring the whole room down on you and you won’t have enough time to retarget your bot before you die? Perhaps the blind pull is what you need.

The easiest method of blind pulling is when you have a group of mobs that cannot see through invis. Invis up, run into the room, target the mob you want to attack, run back out of the room to a safe fight spot and then send that bot in!

The timing is important but you should see your bot’s taunt message (if they’re a tank) or hear the battle start. At this time, pull the bot back and wait for the room to appear.

The other form of blind pulling is when you know the mobs can see invis and have no option to expose yourself. In this case, use the corners or doorways to your advantage and edge up until you can see the edge of a mob’s name. Clicking just around the corner should target that mob. Same applies as above for the remainder of the pull.

Be warned! Blind pulling in dungeons and twisty areas, particularly when you are on an elevated platform, comes with significant risks. If you need to blind pull, do so to a spot which has solid ground underneath and in an area where you know you won’t pull half the dungeon down on you due to frenzy/social agro. This can sometimes come down to experience and testing – at least if it does go wrong then it should only be your bot that eats it, not you.

Advanced Bot Control Techniques: Agro Control

Obviously, if your bot is a DPS or healer type you need to treat them like a normal group member and try to keep agro off them as much as possible; the bot won’t stop attacking or try to lower their hate rating, however, so you’ll just need to work this as best you can (being the tank, it is assumed).

However, in the scenario that your bot is the tank then you will need to consider the following things when trying to control agro.

Your tank will hold agro, for the most part, like a dream. On single targets you’ll have to do some serious damage or heal tons to rip the mob off the tank bot. However, against larger groups of mobs, even just two at a time, the tank isn’t quite so clever.

The tank bot tends to be most interested in the mob dealing the most damage to him although mobs that heal might increase the hate rating with your bot as well. In general, your tank will start and end up attacking the strongest target in the group of mobs.

That said, it will tend to hit and possibly taunt more than one target, which could be seen as a benefit but it’s equally a bad thing as this means you must keep assisting, and regularly, to ensure you’re beating on the same target.

This switching of targets happens mostly at the start of a fight, when most of the mobs are fresh; it will happen less and less as the fight goes on and you’ll find the tank should stay focused on the lowest hitpoint target until it dies. However, if a significantly stronger target comes into the fight the tank can often switch his attention to it, leaving the low hitpoint target alive. You can handle this at your discretion but I tend to stay on that low hitpoint target to get it dead, then assist again. This depends how badly that target will hurt you, I would imagine.

Try to keep an eye on the tank’s orientation as it’ll remain fixed unless he changes target. If you have some high hitting attacks (such as triple/chaotic backstab or triple flying kick) then hit the assist key before and right after the attack. If the tank loses agro then try to use the re-target technique, above, particularly if you’re a weak class; it could mean the difference between managing the fight efficiently and failing miserably.

The tank will rarely choose to change targets of his own accord, certainly not to specifically protect anyone being beat on, or to kill a particular mob that probably should be killed first; you will have to do this for him most of the time. You can avoid it in many cases simply by staying assisted regularly or by ensuring he is re-targeted manually.

As a healer, though, you might not be able to maintain agro in this way, which can lead to several mobs rushing you after your first heal, so it can help to quickly re-target the tank on all targets at the start of the fight. To do this, use the re-target technique but make sure you’re stood right on each target as you tell him to attack; this increases the chance that his next attack will hit that mob and will probably be enough to build up the hate required to cover your heals throughout the fight.

Advanced Bot Control Techniques: Bot and Mob placement

Pesky mob in a wall? Bot in a bad location?

Find a solid platform (i.e. not on a bridge or elevated platform) and summon the bot to your location. If this doesn’t work, order the bot to follow you and run in a straight line. The bot and mobs should come out of the walls/from under the floor eventually in most scenarios.

Direct the bot to target the mobs you can see and repeat until all the mobs are visible.

Section 7. Buffing My Bot and Bot Equipment

To give your bot Sune buffs, first ensure you have /tgb off set as this will allow the bot to be buffed in the first place. Then summon the bot to you before you hail for buffs.

Rerfu wrote:One thing to keep in mind is Sune does not buff Group Melee Haste, only Single Target. So if you're using a DPS bot you either have to haste it with your own spells or with a click item.

If your bot is your main healer or tank, keeping its equipment up to date is extremely important. If it’s your tank you probably want to equip it with armour it before you even equip yourself, although that’s within reason of course.

Bots can accept most quest and loot armour you get. If you can quest for it then you can probably get it for the bot, too. Here’s the basics and the rest should come as common sense:

Murgot Class Armour/Weapon Quests
In case you didn’t know yet, you can suit your bot out in full class armour and give it its 1.0 epic weapon at an early stage in the game. Go and buy its planar armour from the free vendors by the bank, then collect the armour items for this quest (guide is here) for both you and the bot. When you wish to hand in the items simply buy the correct class emblem for the bot and hey-presto, you’re good to go.

Sheever Chaotic Armour Quests
The walk through for this quest is here. Sheever always gives you armour that fits you, so if you’re a chain wearer then you always get the chain item of fail. If your bot is also a chain user then you’re good to go but if it isn’t then hand the item back to Sheever and he will replace it with Leather. Do the same again and he’ll give you the cloth version and again will grant you the plate version. This is an endless cycle, so you can keep doing it as often as required.

In fact, the Chaotic armour can quite happily be recycled repeatedly and given to many bots as you need (except the stuff that has augments in, of course).

Kael Class Armour Crafting
A very helpful guide can be found here. This is where you get severely limited if your bot isn’t the same armour type as you and you choose to learn blacksmithing or tailoring to make your Kael class armour. You have two options here:

• Find alternative armour for the bot
• Learn the other skill or farm Kael to get the items to drop (both extremely time consuming)

Beyond that stage, I have yet to go so that’s where my quest advice ends but you get the idea by now, I’m sure.

Use #bot giveitem with the item on your cursor and the bot selected, to give your bot the item. If the item is a weapon, make sure the slot is either free or the bot isn’t using a 2H weapon when you want to give him a 1H weapon. If in doubt, use #bot inventory remove x where x is the item ID for the weapon (in the case of the primary weapon, this is 13). This will clear the spot and let you give him the new item.

Do the same for bracers, as the game can get confused with this as well (bracer slots are 9 and 10).

Conclusion

I hope this guide has been helpful. Please feel free to add ideas and feedback and, over time, I’ll try my best to keep the guide updated and useful.

Ydiss wrote:To give your bot Sune buffs, first ensure you have /tgb off set as this will allow the bot to be buffed in the first place. Then summon the bot to you before you hail for buffs.

One thing to keep in mind is Sune does not buff Group Melee Haste, only Single Target. So if you're using a DPS bot you either have to haste it with your own spells or with a click item.

Ydiss wrote:Monk
Have not used but the monk will give you good DPS, no question. As the class doesn’t rely as heavily as other classes on their weapons, this is the ideal class if you cannot spare the time to equip them.

Unconfirmed: Do monks use mend?
Unconfirmed: Do monks FD?

Bots do not use active abilities that leaves out FD and Mend. Monk is the highest DPS bot but you have to manually position the mob or the bot so it hits the back of the mob.

Ydiss wrote:Necromancer
Not used yet, no comments.

Necromancer summons a pet and casts its highest level Damage over time spells on the mob. It used to fear but I believe that was taken out around a month ago. Summon Corpse does not work.

Ydiss wrote:Rogue
The rogue bot is as equally powerful as it is weak. Flat out, the highest DPS bot you can get, if given the right weapons but as it cannot heal itself it relies on you or your group to keep it alive. It will keep itself to the rear of the mob at all times, which is very useful. This won’t stop it getting hit if it gains agro (and it can do so easily if you aren’t a tank class). The rogue works well with a tank class, particularly if you can heal it as well.

Bar none the best bot for a Paladin and Shadowknight as you get some levels. When you outgear content it is also useful on a Warrior and a Cleric. They always go to the back of the mob so you don't have to micro the positioning.

Ydiss wrote:Shadow Knight
Not used but I can imagine this is a very adept tank bot and it probably keeps itself alive adequately due to life taps. If you can heal it then it’ll provide better DPS than the other tank options, I imagine.

Shadowknight used to be the best bot for tanking mobs that enraged, because as soon as the mob enraged, its pet would die. Then it would start to recast and not auto attack on enrage. Now that no bot eats enrage this bot gets minimal use, though I think it still casts the mana tap, will have to confirm.

Ydiss wrote:Shaman
The shaman is a funny breed for a bot. They have all the hallmarks of an excellent bot (great buffs, good heals, looks after itself) but it’s just very, very bad at mana conservation when the going gets a little heated. Remember to click off the regen effect if you need direct healing but be aware this will burn the shaman’s mana fast.
In general, I’ve always preferred a well equipped cleric bot over a well equipped shaman bot.

The best thing about this bot is the shaman buffs: Sense, Fortitude, Regen, Wunshi. For some reason its scripted to cast Haste instead of Might so you will not receive a might buff from this bot at the moment. At 70 they cast Crippling Spasm, Balance of Discord, and 1 or 2 Poison Dots.

DO NOT GIVE BOTS A CHARM THEY WILL JUST EAT IT.

Well covered guide overall, I know this took some time to type and research.

Awesome Job - Stickied!