While I think it’s totally fantastic that I can solo with my Assassin, especially coming off the frustration of the Ranger, I still have to watch the different mobs I try to take on alone as there are different levels of difficulty to a mob besides their obvious level.
There are several different ratings for creatures and NPCs. These ratings are displayed through the various target frames they have surrounding their health bar. It’s become very important for me to pay attention to these ratings to help determine if I’ll be able to take the mob with ease, if I’ll need to use a health pot or maybe two, or, the most important one for me to recognise, if I need to run my ass out of there!!
Target Frame Ratings
The first part to pay attention to is the target frame – the area surrounding the mobs health bar.
|
Rating |
Target Frame |
Recommended Group Size |
|
Normal |
|
Solo |
|
Elite |
|
2 to 4 Players |
|
Hero |
|
1 to 2 Full Parties |
|
Legendary |
|
1 Alliance Group (2-4 Full Parties) |
As you can see on the top one there is nothing really special, while the second one down – the elite – has the double bars at the end and a slightly enhanced circle on the left hand side. And of course Hero and Legendary look like they’ve been to some sort of academy and received their wings…
So long as you’re paying attention, you should be able to notice the differences immediately after targeting. But the mobs difficulty indicators don’t stop there… they also have spots!
Target Emblems
Ok, emblems as they are officially called. Spots, Dots, Emblems… they all refer to the little white markers inside the circle portion of the target frame on the left side of the health bar. The emblems indicates the relative difficulty of a target in relation to others of its kind.
So basically, you can have two mobs who look identical; however they can be different degrees of difficulty. This is what I pay particular attention too in these lower levels.
The first part, which most of you should be aware of by now, is the colour of the emblem background which will denote whether it is a hostile or non-hostile target. Red – for hostile targets – will aggressively attack you. On the other hand, yellow – non-hostile targets – will mostly ignore you.
Note: be wary when attacking non-hostile target when a similar creature or NPC is nearby as some of them will come to the aid of their comrades.
The second part is the actual marks on the mob…
|
|
Novice |
Disciplined |
Seasoned |
Expert |
Veteran |
Master |
|
Passive |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aggressive |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Taking note of those dots is necessary for any soloing class out there – particularly one that can’t self heal well during combat. I know for me, I can take a mob with up to 3 dots fairly easily, however 4 dots can become quite tricky.
No idea if this info helps anyone else out there – I wasn’t aware of the dots (or, more to the point didn’t know what they meant) until my partner informed me. So maybe there’s someone else out there that shares my lack of knowledge about it hehe.
@Velcro_Monkey omg! I’d noticed the elite stuff on the right, but I never even considered the dots meant somethin. *feels dumb* #Aion = deep
via Twitoaster
I haven’t put it to the test, but I’ve noticed that the more lit dots on the icon, the harder they hit. I’ve been going by the following reasoning
The more decorative the boarder, the more hp
The more dots, the harder they hit
It seems to work out pretty well.
Thank you so much for this information!
I knew it ment something but I could not find out what.!
It’s kind of ridiculous we need to figure this stuff out on our own. This kind of thing should be clearly documented.
Wow, thanks! I’ve played to lvl 21 without realising they even existed. Very helpful
Hehe same here, I’m lvl 21 assassin and didn’t know about the dots! Very helpful indeed thank you for your help!
Brilliant – been wondering this for a while now – thanks for sharing
I tought it was something like that. I knew about the led but not the design around the sword…
[...] She has posted a number of helpful guides, and I especially suggest having a look at the latest: How to tell a mob’s difficulty. It contains very useful information that is easy to miss—especially in the beginning when so [...]
Very informative, i never could determine the difference between the elites and regular mobs.
Thats why i always thought i could take on everyone.
Wow….::feels incredibly stupid::….Just hit level 25 last night and have never noticed anything about the indicators at all.
Thank you so much for this information!!
i think the amount of dots shows the amount of skills the mob has. for ex. attack skills, buffs etc…
[...] has a great Aion guide for identifying a mob’s difficulty which is very [...]
Oh thanks. I was wondering what those white dots mean. :p
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