Lead-tame a greater dragon.

[gramarye]

Is this possible? I mean, I've looked back through lots of posts and most ppl suggest peace taming or honoring. My bard has 120 in music/peace/disco/provo and fails mightily peacing GDs so I doubt I could have a tamer use peace. Honor has some sort of timer, so if you fail you have to wait what - 5 minutes or so? So, back in the days when I had a pretty good tamer I used to just lead tame dragons/white wyrms. Could it be done? In fact, does anyone do it? And if so, what kit would you need to prevent getting cooked too often?

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Is this possible? I mean, I've looked back through lots of posts and most ppl suggest peace taming or honoring. My bard has 120 in music/peace/disco/provo and fails mightily peacing GDs so I doubt I could have a tamer use peace. Honor has some sort of timer, so if you fail you have to wait what - 5 minutes or so? So, back in the days when I had a pretty good tamer I used to just lead tame dragons/white wyrms. Could it be done? In fact, does anyone do it? And if so, what kit would you need to prevent getting cooked too often?

Yes it can be done, you will mostly want Orange Petals and Greater Heal Potions, Invis Potions, Confusion pots etc.

In the old days, casting mobs would not cast on you until you did damage to them, not so anymore they will cast on you.

The Orange Petals will mitigate the Poison attack.

The two things I have that make it possible to swim in Greater Dragon infested waters is ....

first a Mage -0 Weapon and Magery at 110 or more

second the highest possible DCI I can get, which normally is around 35 on one tamer and In think 40 on the other.

Now as far as suits go, and I do rate this as 3rd (meaning the previous are more important) vs money and availability.

I try real hard to get the best possible Physical Resist, Fire Resist and Poison Resist I can get.

Physical tends to be hard for me to get but *Shrug* Fire and Poison tend to be easy.

So my PhysResist tends to be low to mid 40's (after the protection spell deduction), fire tends to be mid 60's to 70 and Poison tends to be the same. Cold and Energey *Shrug* 40's to 50's.

But understand I Honor Tame Greater Dragons. If I fail the first time (as in honor time out) yeah it is a 5 minute cool down. I have only needed to go to a second Honor Session 3 times(?) in the last year.

 

[Wenchkin]

I've always done a straight lead tame on greater dragons, so it's perfectly possible. You don't need honour or peace to tame anything in UO, with practice lead taming is still straightforward and fun. It's just a bit more risky, but IMO that's where it gets fun.

Try to wear good resist armour, and I find eating an orange petal just before I start a tame on a magic caster saves me having to worry about a cast poison striking when I need a heal. Pots work too, but I don't use UOA so petals are easier for me

I beat the greater down first - disco + 2 kitsune usually does fine. Quickly stable the pets and return and if you can either stealth to the dragon's feet or invis yourself as you get up close, that gives you a chance to eat your petal and you'll get a couple of secs before the dragon tries to eat you

I try to invis myself when I start a tame attempt so the dragon loses me as target, but I've tamed without that too. Just get to know how much damage you can take before you need a heal and if necessary beat the dragon down again.

I'd suggest you get a greater dragon from the temple on Fire Isle as the spawn is easier to work with and you can pull the dragon you want out into a quiet area to work in. And if you're new to GD taming, look for a wandering healer near the spot you're taming in lol.

Wenchy

 

[Old Man of UO]

I tamed my first greater dragon today using honor on myself. Before, I would try all the various lead taming tricks Wenchkin mentions, and I died an average of 5-6 times each successful tame. It would take about half an hour (and lots of insurance) before finally get it tamed. Today, it took a total of 5 minutes, including the time to stable my cu sidhe after beating it down.

My vote goes to the honor virtue.

 

[gramarye]

Thank you all! Lots there to think about and, hopefully, to try (and die I guess)

 

[Scarab]

of course you can still lead tame. honor taming is just much easier

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Thank you all! Lots there to think about and, hopefully, to try (and die I guess)

Test Server TC1 is very good for trying that dieing part out on.

You get 2M worth of insurance, all the artifacts you could want, all the resources you need to make the best suit you can have etc.

Yes indeed TC1 is a great place to go die on.

Take your experience with trying to bard a Greater Dragon and remember this, it is your experience and others may .... well post that they have a different experience.

One of my 2 Tamers is a Legendary Peacemaker I do not find your experience with barding a greater dragon .... unreasonable.

 

[Samaira]

I lead-tamed my greater, but I had two VERY trusted friends who I had worked with a lot, spamming gheals, cures and invis the entire time.

It is possible to tame them without honor or peace, but I recommend beating down and having a good team behind you

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

...
but I recommend beating down and having a good team behind you

*shrug* I accept that a number of people have that experience.

BUT

Every time I beat down a GD to Lead Tame it, it was in my experience even MORE dangerous as that sucker tended to teleport on top of me a LOT MORE. I mean to say A Wild Greater Dragon Teleporting on top of you can quickly ruin your day.

*Shrug*

If I do the peace taming and I do this on TC1 when there has been a wipe, I get an instrument with Dragon Slayer/Reptile Slayer attribute. Preferably the Flute of Renewal.

I get on my Poof Mount, run up to be in range of the GD and try to peace it. Once I have done this then run up to it dismount and start the Lead Taming Aspect. Once the Taming process begins as often as not I only need to step a few more steps away from the GD and it will tend to become more uninterested in me. Eventually I die. Eventually I do get my Tamed Greater Dragon. Then I go get my Honor.

 

[gramarye]

Further experience my bard has with the GDs - even after a successful peace on, what? third, fourth, fifth attempt? The peace lasts only a few seconds. I think I'll try Enigma's formula of honor taming with high DCI and a good suit. One thing - why a -0 mage weapon? I know it's true as I have often seen this mentioned but...why?

 

[Nenime]

Further experience my bard has with the GDs - even after a successful peace on, what? third, fourth, fifth attempt? The peace lasts only a few seconds. I think I'll try Enigma's formula of honor taming with high DCI and a good suit. One thing - why a -0 mage weapon? I know it's true as I have often seen this mentioned but...why?

It has to do with the hit / get hit ratio. The higher your combat skill is compared to the opponent's, the harder it is for him to score a hit. So a Mage weapon would turn your (presumably) high Magery skill into a melee skill in regard to this formula. Basara wrote an excellent essay about that in Players corner.

 

[weins201]

???

Honor - if oyu honor yourself and are a Knight its a long while before you stop and can tame NAKED they dont attack and if you take longer than a whole sefl honor go. bad luck for you.

If you are a bard then just beat the crap out of it and lead tame.

If you lead a full health GD you need a Awsome suit of armor and I would definatly have a teleport macro set.

But honor is by far the EASIEST way to tame a full health GD

 

[gramarye]

Ok, thanks again for all the very useful info. Looking forward to getting started. I'll post back here when I finally tame one in a year or so *goes off to gain honor*

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Ok, thanks again for all the very useful info. Looking forward to getting started. I'll post back here when I finally tame one in a year or so *goes off to gain honor*

Just to make sure it is said ..... just in case

Exceptional Bard Instruments give a +10% bonus and properly aligned (in the case of Dargons, Hiryu,Wyrms, Reptile Slayer, Dragon Slayer) will give a +15% bonus.

I think I saw one of the Dev's mention something about changing specific Slayers (in our case Dragons) to have an even greater bonus, but the post was in regards to weapons and I am not sure how the coding works so it may not transfer to Bard Weapons, but If I were a Bard I would be a bit peeved if that were the case.

 

[Barry Gibb]

Just to make sure it is said ..... just in case

Exceptional Bard Instruments give a +10% bonus and properly aligned (in the case of Dargons, Hiryu,Wyrms, Reptile Slayer, Dragon Slayer) will give a +20% not +15% bonus.

Corrected Slayer Instrument Bonus (in bold, blue)

Aligned slayer instruments will increase your success chance by 20%, not 15%. Use the Barding Calculator to determine your success against the dragon. Since the greater dragon is not listed, you can use an Ancient Wyrm (difficulty of 160) instead. The Bard FAQ has more information, if you want to read up on what each skill does.

Stayin Alive,

BG

 

[Tina Small]

I generally use honor to tame a greater dragon. However, you CAN solo tame them using just area peacing and lots of healing and invizzing. It is absolutely critical that you wear a decent suit, though, or you will literally be "toast" and spend a lot of your time running to the healer.

I also find that if it isn't going well and I can't even get the taming message to come up, it usually helps to inviz for a moment and let the GD calm down. It also seems to helps to make sure your character isn't extremely hungry and to cast Strength or Bless right before or during an actual taming attempt. I know those are things you shouldn't have to do, but I've had a stubborn animal successfully tame far far too many times after casting Strength on my tamer to think it's just a coincidence.

 

[popps]

I tamed my first greater dragon today using honor on myself. Before, I would try all the various lead taming tricks Wenchkin mentions, and I died an average of 5-6 times each successful tame. It would take about half an hour (and lots of insurance) before finally get it tamed. Today, it took a total of 5 minutes, including the time to stable my cu sidhe after beating it down.

My vote goes to the honor virtue.

I thought that using the Honor Virtue is was not necessary to beat it down.

Yet, you mention beating it down before honoring. Why ?

 

[Barry Gibb]

I thought that using the Honor Virtue is was not necessary to beat it down.

Yet, you mention beating it down before honoring. Why ?

One of the things beating down a dragon will help with is it lowers the damage dealt by the fire breath. The fire breath damage is based on its current hit points.

Stayin Alive,

BG

 

[gramarye]

One of the things beating down a dragon will help with is it lowers the damage dealt by the fire breath. The fire breath damage is based on its current hit points.

Stayin Alive,

BG

Understood, and with other stuff, nightmares for instance however, as I understand it, when using honor to tame, the creature is totally passive while honor is in force no? So why bother to beat down a critter that isn't going to attack? (I think that is what popps is getting at. Apologies if not.)

 

[Tina Small]

The creature also moves a bit slower when it's been beaten to within an inch of its life. Depending on where you're doing the taming, this can be a good thing if it seems the monster is going to have an inclination to do things like climb on top of stuff or go around stuff to make taming more difficult. You only have a limited number of attempts you can pull off while honor is active. You don't want to waste any of it on an attempt where you'll get the message that you don't have a clear path to the animal.

It may also be that some of us still remember greater dragons being able to teleport and land right on top of the tamer. While kind of funny, it still hurt. Beating up a GD may also take away enough of its mana to keep it from invizzing itself. You can't tame something you can't see and the time on the honor clock is ticking away while the big rascal is sitting there hidden from you.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Understood, and with other stuff, nightmares for instance however, as I understand it, when using honor to tame, the creature is totally passive while honor is in force no? So why bother to beat down a critter that isn't going to attack? (I think that is what popps is getting at. Apologies if not.)

Just my opinion, based on my experience with Honor Taming Greater Dragons in Destard, both Felluca and Trammel, is that as you point out, there is no real benefit to beating down the Tame, other than to take longer, expose yourself to interference (In Felluca), if your going to Honor Tame it.

I have never even bothered to lead the Target to a Safer space, unless it is Felluca and I do not want to deal with any one coming into the dungon. Then I will lead it off towards the center, just south of the Lake/Pond were no one is really going to go anyway and just do the Honor Taming there.

 

[Tina Small]

Just my opinion, based on my experience with Honor Taming Greater Dragons in Destard, both Felluca and Trammel, is that as you point out, there is no real benefit to beating down the Tame, other than to take longer, expose yourself to interference (In Felluca), if your going to Honor Tame it.

I have never even bothered to lead the Target to a Safer space, unless it is Felluca and I do not want to deal with any one coming into the dungon. Then I will lead it off towards the center, just south of the Lake/Pond were no one is really going to go anyway and just do the Honor Taming there.

The main reason I lead creatures off to a quiet place, even when using honor, is to keep them from becoming distracted by someone else running through the area.