Khitai is tough!

[funk-au]

Well I've come back after a few years, I am re learning how to play my HoX smoothly so i know that's not helping. But I just don't remember Northern Grasslands being this brutal.
Should I expect to be squishy, like as in taking on 2 mobs is an epic battle and 3 mobs I'm rolling the dice?
I've got full T1 armour and weapon, Hybrid build.

any thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

[Zoeri]

Slot Enslaving Fire to make your PoiF an AoE stun. Make sure to have Horrible Visage and Avatar of Xotli specced for more stuns there. Use your root and move away.

If you think Northern Grasslands are tough, look forward to Kara Korum and Paikang.

[Petridish]

Kara Korum is just a prick of a zone.

[funk-au]

ha, ok thanks. I had a feeling it was just my noob'ness. I'll just have to learn to play again.
just wondering, should I be going for any diff gear to start the khitai area for this toon. or is T1 gear ok to start?

thanks for tips

[Petridish]

gear should be fine to do grasslands with; just make sure you're training your AAs

look into some of the faction gear also asap

but to start with, you're going to need to be careful and not pull large groups ... and if you do, run away

[Zoeri]

With Horrible Visage feated, you just need to get a few mobs, preload Burn to Death, use Desecrating Essence or Avatar before finisher move, root them, move a few steps back and do Hellfire Breath / Tongue of Xotli, Pillar of Infernal Flames and by then most mobs should be dead.

T1 gear is ok, but as Petridish say, get comfortable with hardmode tactics. Brittle Blade has the best gear for HoX, though some fill with parts from Shadows of Jade (shoulders and belt), and others go for Wolves of the Steppes to max the survivability.

http://aoc.is-better-than.tv/armory.php

The site above is your friend when you want to see where what drops. You can use the text box to search for example

hox epic brittle

[CueQue]

Use 2 and 3 ranks of pillars of infernal flame. It helps alot.

[Supermeng]

pay attention to enemy shielding. they tend to go to stack all on top right away. use your root, or other cc, then move to an unshielded side for your combo ender.

[Suctum]

Well I've come back after a few years, I am re learning how to play my HoX smoothly so i know that's not helping. But I just don't remember Northern Grasslands being this brutal.
Should I expect to be squishy, like as in taking on 2 mobs is an epic battle and 3 mobs I'm rolling the dice?
I've got full T1 armour and weapon, Hybrid build.

any thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

The problem with pre 2.0 armor is it lacks hit rating, critical rating, and critigation. Hit rating needs to be a top priority when doing any Khitai content, missing a HFB or Pillars can be the difference between killing the mob or you dying.

Even Blue faction gear most of the times is better than T1 armor, the only benefit you get from T1 armor is a few more hit points. As you start getting purple 6-man gear I would dump the t1 for vanity only.

BB gear offers the best crit rating, crit damage, and hit rating. You don't have as much hit points as Wolves, but you'll be killing things real fast. You don't have go just for BB though unless your a completionist, getting a mix of wolves, SC, and BB works as well enough, and you can fine tune your gear once you have replaced your t1.

[cins]

Get yourself a full set of blue Wolves armor asap, best stuff for newcomers. After that aim for Blades purples.

As for fighting, pull with Flamelash (even without stacks), transform when your health has gone down a bit, then hit them in the back with Pillar3 or FL as they're stunned. If it's a big bad boss, fire up Phoenix Cloak and Inferno and charge, then go Avatar after health starts dropping to recover. You can't move to its back with Cloak on but you'll be as tough as a soldier then.