]

First off charm is one of the best spells we have. It enables us to kill creatures much larger than us without taking any damage.
However, it has different uses for when we are in a group or if we are solo.

Group use of charm (Level 27 Bard song, Solon's Song of the Sirens) can be a very large hassle. If you don't warn the rest of your group that you are charming a creature magic users will often waste large amounts of mana trying to kill your pet. It would seem that they really hate wasting mana on trying to kill your pets, and it's possible that because of it several people in your group could die. Also since the duration is short you will have to switch between targets several times during the fight. One last thing to remember is that once you've charmed something when the charm wears off it will be very very angry at you and in most cases will not change to a target other than you.
These points aside charm does have its advantages in group combat. Once a creature is charmed its one less creature beating on
your party, and one more thing beating on your opponents. Also while we are not the best tanks neither are mages or those happy clerics who keep us all alive. With this in mind charm is THE best way I know to taunt a creature of a spell caster. With most of the stuff you fight charm will work roughly 80 percent of the time so if you see someone near death you can most likely get the charm off before the person dies, and since this also puts you on top of the agro list for the creature the person you just saved has time to recover.
Over all within groups charm can be exceptionally useful you just have to be careful with its use, like with all bard songs.

Using the charm spell solo is a different story. I find that this spell along with Selo's are my most used solo spells. Most of us have kited something before, and we all know how long it takes, charm will cut down this time immensely. The disadvantage to doing this is you have to have at least 2 creatures that you wish to kill and for one of them you will get exp as if you had a pet the level of the charmed mob. While these are disadvantages in my opinion neither are significant when you consider the benefits.

Ok this is how I believe that charm is best used solo. Find two creatures that you would like to kill. It is nice if they are of comparable size but not necessary. First pick one to charm. It may take a cast or two for the spell to take effect but do not worry (unless you tried to charm something significantly past your level in which case it may be immune to your spells). When the charm takes effect you can quickly tell the pet to attack another creature. The pet will then rush to attack the new target and if you are far enough away they will only attack each other. Then all you have to do is back off and play Selo's (Level 5 Bard song, Selo's Accelerando) for when the charm wears off. When it does wear off you basically do the exact same thing as you would if you were kiting. You run around twinning charm and Selo's until the creature is recharmed, it will then continue to attack the previous target. When the creatures begin to get low on life check to see which one is going to win the fight. Then charm it. WARNING only change targets to charm with a creature that was attacking your pet otherwise the former pet will be very agro on you and will be almost impossible to pull off. Once the fight is over the winner should be injured enough for you to finish off in melee or by a much shorter kiting session. Or if it is not low on life you can keep charming it and run off to find another creature to have it kill for you. If all this is done correctly you should begin to gain quite a bit of experience and loot. I won't tell you what you should charm it's much more fun to find out for yourself. I will say I have been able to make over 500pp a day in cash from the things I've been killing

Wileras Lorekeeper

Cazic-Thule