Kited by mobs.

I've just started playing Guild Wars with a friend. My friend is a warrior and I am a Necro. My friend quit playing after getting discouraged by the mob AI. We have been doing missions with Henchmen. When fighting Charr caster and archers they just run off, usually aggroing more mobs in the area.

Is there any techniques or class skills to stop caster type mobs from running around in circles non stop? I am willing to play any class that can "root", or what have you, to stop mobs from just running away from you.

Any advice I can get so I can get my friend to play again?

- Look for skills which cripple your opponent. This will slow their movement down and help prevent them from running away from you.

- try body blocking. If you have the organization you can try and body block enemies.. this is when you surround them so they can't run.

- Don;t target healer classes first. I've found that if i target caster's first they will always run, but if I target melee enemies first and then switch to healer's.. they don't run away nearly as often. (generally they won't)

- Try to avoid flashy AoE spells/skills - like Firestorm, Cyclone Axe, etc as these type of skills will guarantee enemies spreading/flee'ing. Don't think you can't use them.. just be a bit more smart about when/how you use them - try and end a group with them rather than starting with them.. or use them if you have the enemy body blocked.. etc.

Some snares that you can get from quest rewards in and around the area of the game you're currently playing in:

Warriors can get [skill=text]Hamstring[/skill]
If either of you have Mesmer secondary there's [skill=text]Imagined Burden[/skill]
If either of you have Ele secondary there's [skill=text]Shard Storm[/skill] and [skill=text]Frozen Burst[/skill]

If you're having a problem with henchmen chasing down kiters try calling target (ctrl key + space bar) on a foe that isn't kiting to get them to attack the new target. You can also use the new "flag" system (the commands at the bottom of the compass) to place a flag at your location which will help prevent them from chasing down kiters as well.

Personally I would never bring Orion (the elementalist henchie), he'll spam firestorm on the enemy and break aggro as often as he can. If you see them run, break off your attack immediately, they won't stop running. Following them will only aggro more enemies.

I play a lot with hench (and now also heroes)... for hero's you can set their "actions" to attacking, guard or avoid battle but henchmen have pre-defined "actions". This can be a problem when you come too close to a group of mobs (especially when that is more than 1 group) as hench warriors often run in like a chicken without head.

The key is to learn how to lure... you may wanna bring a cheap longbow and shoot 1 arrow at an enemy (long distance) to get his attention and then run bit back so that there is enough distance between the group you are battling and the next group.

Dont forget that your henchmen are following the target from your groups leader.... So if that target is running away, focus on another enemy for awhile (to avoid your hench run after that target), as you dont want to aggro the next group while you are still busy with the current group (and that target will come back himself).