I routinely solo here with my Necromancer, and these Curates are my favorite pets. If you can get a higher level one (I look for dblue at 57), they hit for around 103 max. Just charm, buff, and go. They CH themselves, making them almost invincible unless they're swamped with mobs. They will also CH *you* if you get low enough, which is extremely useful. While you can't force them to CH you, there are a few tricks I've learned. Only once have I had a Curate CH me while not engaging a mob. So, the easiest way to have him CH you is to target a mob a long distance away and issue the attack command, followed by the back off command. Usually, he'll turn to you and start casting CH immediately (provided you're below 30% or so). It's a good idea to have a mob that's already engaged (ie, another group's pull or something), so if he tries to nuke the mob instead of healing you, it's not aggro'd immediately.
There are only two downsides to charming. Firstly, the mobs sometimes aggro your charmed pet just as if it were a PC of the same level(whereas a summoned pet is normally non-aggro). So, for example, if you pull a mob and your pet immediately nukes it, any mobs that are in the area will aggro. You can't use Summon Companion with it either, which can make moving around a bit difficult. Secondly, charm breaks. Sometimes it lasts the full duration, sometimes it lasts 15 seconds. Count on charm breaking at the worst possible time. To minimize risks, I keep Screaming Terror and Root memmed while charm-soloing. Root the mob your pet is on and keep it rooted, so you only have to deal with one mob if charm breaks. When charm does break, mez your pet and recharm.
Using this method of soloing in KC, I can keep the 4 static spawns and 3 roaming spawns on the undead tower, 6-10 of the spawns from the left courtyard, the 5 spawns in the right courtyard, and sometimes even the 3 spawns behind the wall next to the right courtyard clear. That's some serious XP solo, and you can make a ton of cash.
I charmed one of these on my chanter, thinking like you that the CH would be very nice. Instead the thing immediately broke charm, turned around and dispelled my KEI. *grumbles angrily as she walks back to POK* So watch out for these nasty lil buggers.
i am looking for the springwood club myself... besides this lil bugger, where in all of norrath can you pick up these things... i have a blackened mace, but i sure could use the upgrade...
If you pull more than say 3 mobs and one is a Spectral Curate have everyone get on the Curate and kill him fast. Dang thing will heal the other mobs your are trying to kill.
Things can gate. Had one last night that we stunned each time it tried to cast CH (except one) and at the end it said "A spectral curate begins to cast the Gate spell."
Was soloing one as a 45 mage - I beat it down to about 20% life then sat to med - I sure was surprised when the thing gated. It came back after CHing itself and I had to zone(. So Yes the DO gate and CH.
Ok, just some info... Curates are clerics that will buff themselves with ac/hp buffs and absolutely will CH themselves when they get low. Never seen one try to gate before, they usually focus their casting on CH. If they are in assist range they will CH mobs even if you don't have aggro on them. Pay special attention if you are pulling to Rmoat or Lmoat as Curates can hang out in the water undetected. And they do not display weapon graphics if they have one with them...