Mage/healer duo - Druid, Shaman or Cleric?

[Vexenu]

I've been thinking of a starting up a Mage/healer duo to help introduce a new player to the game, but I'm a bit torn over which healer class (Dru, Shm or Cleric) to pair with the Mage. A strong case can be made for all three depending on how you want to play the duo. I've leveled a Mage and have some experience duoing with each healing class, but am interested in hearing from those who have leveled a Mage/healer duo from scratch and/or who have duoed extensively 55+. Also, I'm not interested in a Necro, Ench or other class to duo with the Mage, so no need to suggest the merits of anything else. It will be one of the healers and the Mage.

From my perspective, the pros and cons of each (ignoring commonalities shared by all three, i.e. root):

Druid:
+ SoW
+ Ports
+ Snare
+ Charm
+ Nukes
+ Regen
+ Harmony outdoors
- Weaker 50+
- DS overlaps with Mage
- Charming constantly is annoying (personal opinion)
- Weak buffs
- Weakest overall healing (no slow or CH)
- DE/Hum Cleric and Troll Shm have access to snare neck to use as needed, providing a lesser but passable version of an important Druid ability

Shaman:
+ SoW
+ Good buffs for pet
+ Slow is amazing, especially 45+
+ Lots of mana for heals
+ Pet for added DPS/offtanking
+ Regen
+ DoTs and decent nukes (esp epic + JBB for mana free damage)
- Fairly weak pre-34, Torpor not until 60
- Very expensive to gear high-end
- Haste is useless for Mage pet with superior Burnout
- Constant cannidancing/very active playstyle gets annoying (personal opinion)
- Slow significantly decreases effectiveness of Mage DS (reduces kill speed)

Cleric:
+ Best AC/HP buffs for pet
+ Best heals
+ CH at higher levels for max efficiency
+ Rez
+ Lull/Calm line for easy single pulls
+ Stuns vs. casters
+ IVU for undead dungeons
+ Relaxing, laid back playstyle (personal opinion)
+ Consistently strong 1-60
- No SoW
- Lowest damage output of the three

After making this list I am leaning Cleric, mostly for the ability to safely level in dungeons due to the Cleric's very underrated CC options. I think the Druid choice would probably allow for the quickest leveling with double pet fear kiting, but I'm not really interested in that playstyle. The Shaman would probably be the most powerful duo at 60, but I'm not sure I want to wait that long or deal with canni'ing constantly. The Cleric seems to synergize best with the Mage overall, providing strong CC which the Mage lacks and not interfering with the Mage's best killing strategy (leveraging fire pet DS) the way the Shaman would with slow.

Interested in hearing supporting/conflicting opinions. Is Mage/Cleric the right call? Have I overlooked some important factors that the Druid or Shaman bring to the table? Is slow preferable to CH at the high end? Did Druids get buffed enough in Velious to make them competitive 50+ as well? Can the forum possibly handle another duo thread? Let's find out!

[Psionide]

Well I would normally say Enchanter but since you seem to not want your boxing to be too complex I would say cleric will be ok. Especially with their undead nukes as well. Also the slows on the those necklaces don't really slow the mobs down that much at all its not a real passable snare, at least imo.

[Raev]

I have a 59 mage and I duoed with clerics a few times. The big problem is that complete heal (400 mana) is about the same cost as recasting the pet (200-400 mana). Now that isn't a totally fair comparison, as you can resummon for a max pet, buff its HP, and recast burnout/DS, but you can see the point.

Leveling with a shaman is kind of similar; a Shaman's best strategy is to root rot 6 mobs at once with the epic. The Magician could send in chain pets, but it would almost be like two solo classes working simultaneously.

Basically I think all of your combinations will work, but they will be OK, not great. As long as there are charmable mobs around Mage/Priest is basically a substantially weaker version of Enchanter/Priest for any choice of priest (I'm sure this comment will draw Nemce's ire). You have problems both offensively (maybe half the dps of a charmed pet) and defensively (no tash/slow/mez/high charisma calms) and even a shaman will really miss clarity.

Where a mage really shines IMO is in something like Mnk/Enc/Clr/Mag. You bring huge DPS, malo for the charmed pet, and COH/goodies for convenience.

[MrHooker]

In my experience as a 60 mage Shaman and Enchanter are great. Which is better? Depends on the mobs you are killing and how good the chanter is. If he can keep a charmed pet and keep mobs slowed you can chew through mobs with your pet and their charmed one and you have clarity for more nukes. Shaman can buff your pet, slow mobs, dot mobs and heal your pet if needed also has albeit weak pet but it's extra dps. It's not always easy to find appropriate mobs to charm and I've always had the best luck with shaman as partner. Clerics can CH and buff but your DPS is gonna suck.

Azyke
60 Mage Anonymous

[Daywolf]

Well, if you choose mage, let them choose whatever class they want to play rather than forcing them to be your very own min/max heal bot slave :D
Did you shudder at the thought when they said "how about ranger?" ;)
hehe

[Evia]

I think Shaman is the best choice of the 3. But ultimately it's going to have to be a class you enjoy so you get to 60, and it seems Cleric is that class for you. So I'd suggest Cleric.

[Baler]

Healer = Cleric

You can buy sow pots.

You'd want a druid or shaman if the mage isn't experienced on how to handle multiple mobs.

Chain summon, Meditate, Complete heal, meditate, Repeat. Utility spells as needed.
Basically ping ponging the mana usage so the other person can get a few more ticks of meditation.

Doesn't beat Enchanter+Cleric though :(

Edit: Whom ever is playing the Magician needs to learn how to use their targeting hotkeys and manage targets effectively. So that when something adds to the fight and is attacking a Player, the mage pet can get it's agro. Plus when you're chain summoning a new pet they need to get the agro of all the mobs again.
I recommend practicing on on lower level mobs. The only warning is if you or the cleric start throwing spells at the mobs,. the newly summoned pet will NOT be able to gather the agro required to keep the mobs off you. So it's probably better to not do any DD, Stuns, high agro spells, etc. let the pet do all the work for you.
Magician is one of the most under estimated classes recently. They cast the most powerful summoned pets in the game. Their own personal tank/dps/utility mob.

Plus with a mage/cleric combo,. Find some pleb who's a SK/Pally/Warrior and the cleric can heal the player tank and the mage focuses on what they do best consistent dps. Trios are fun believe it or not. Exp isn't bad either.
Tank/(Healer/Dps),. the holy trinity of rpgs/mmos.

EditEdit: its mentioned above about DS/Buffing pet after summoning,. That isnt what this combo is about. You'll be using a fire pet 99% of the time. Maybe not through 50-60. The idea is to keep a pet up, not a Player tank in this scenario. It doesn't have to be fully buffed,. without mana regen like clarity you'll drain your mana pool trying to keep it buffed and alive at the same time. When you should be sitting, meditating and commanding the pet, then just before it dies the cleric complete heals it. Then before it dies you summon a new one. and repeat.
I would bet you can outlast several mobs with this technique. downtime might suck tho. but you'll be breaking camps without any mez/calm/harmony.

Fire pet will DS it self when it thinks it is idle is my understanding. The mage should have a macro /pet back /pet follow to make the pet enter a idle stage. then send the attack command half a second to a second after this. <-- How to PL yourself as a mage.

Stock up on malachite, it's cheap. take several stacks with you at all times.

Can anyone say for sure if the agro generated by the complete heals the cleric casts on the pet will be removed after the pet either goes away or dies?

[bktroost]

Clerics also fear and mages can cast Velocity on their pets as well as snare whips.

[Cochonou]

Shaman and cleric both work great with a magician.

You say that you want to introduce the game to your friend. But what would he play ? Healer or magician ? If he gets to play the healer, he should go Shaman or druid for sure because cleric will be very boring as well as granting him the possibility to solo when you are not around.

[bktroost]

I duo'd with a cleric from 1-60. They have all the essential CC needed for splitting, dungeons, heals, etc. That was before Summon Companion too, so with that you should be primo. Now you are going to lose the amazin power of CoTHing your aggro off, so as a mage you are a bit in the negative. But your pet will be a great tank from 1-60.

One of the best pets you'll have is the DDD pet who has an aoe aggro spell and the largest DS (other than epic pet). He can't use weapons but is a great pet to use with a healer.

I don't know if you included Mark of Karn on your list of attributes to the cleric. DS+MoK is a great net shift on a fast attack pet and a fast attacking enemy.

Without slow there are mobs you will not be able to kill, however. PoM is a shaman's zone. You won't be able to duo puppets with a cleric, even with the epic pet. (not without a lot of clicky items and that's a waste on a puppet.)

[Troxx]

I'd argue that in general xp will flow in faster/easier with a shaman partner.

Keep in mind that NPCs (pets included) benefit a lot more from agility and armor class buffs than players do (they are not subject to softcaps). When I duo with mages, once you buff the pet up and keep regen on the pet, they never really need heals if you slow early. Even a max summon shaman pet which sucks by comparison will tank slowed mobs like a champion once properly buffed. Higher level pets regen 30/tick. Add +15 from regrowth and you're looking at a pet that takes comparable damage (or less) than a monk and regenerates more than a level 60 fungi iksar monk. With the slows, it becomes more ideal to keep a single max summon and properly buffed pet up which frees the mage to use all mana towards nuking targets down.

It's a frighteningly powerful duo. Shaman slow really negates the need for any substantial healing and shamans have mana regen capabilities that the other priests can't even begin to approach. Properly buffed, a max summon shaman pet will consistently put out 17-20dps.

The only thing you're really lacking compared to a cleric is pacify and the un-necessary complete heal.


- Fairly weak pre-34, Torpor not until 60
- Very expensive to gear high-end
- Haste is useless for Mage pet with superior Burnout
- Constant cannidancing/very active playstyle gets annoying (personal opinion)
- Slow significantly decreases effectiveness of Mage DS (reduces kill speed)


-buffs are there from the beginning, regen and first canni come prior to 34, slows are there fairly early, and shaman brings ROOT on demand to the table early (big weakness of mage is the lack of on demand CC). Not really weak pre-34, just weaker compared to 34+
-Meh, I got by very effectively with just an iksar regen bp all the way to level 57, so not that expensive. If you insist on BIS and the high dollar spells, then yes they are very expensive ... but very worth it
-not having to haste the mage pet isn't a liability, it gives YOU extra mana to work with (dots/nukes/CC) and less time spent doing the cannidance
-Cannidancing gets tedious, I'll grant you that
-I'd look at it a different way. Slow negates the need for direct healing and saves the mage the bother of casting the DS to begin with. As far as kill speed goes, the shaman's pet and dot capabilities alone will help this pair slaughter faster than either of the other priests. AFK med time won't be necessary. If mana is a bother, let the pets do the work while the regens do the healing, and med through a few kills while the shaman just slows.

[Nirgon]

snare + flame lick (huge aggro) kite for leveling outdoors with druid

boxing tho a cleric

[Roonskee]

man up, do a monk mage duo

[Daywolf]

snare + flame lick (huge aggro) kite for leveling outdoors with druid

boxing tho a cleric
Yep. And if focusing on dungeons, especially those filled with undead, I'd go cleric, or later in general raid content. Cleric can be soloed, but limited to undead (I did it a lot on live but only have a mid-lvl cleric here, yet multi-boxed a leveled cleric on early PEQ). I think the balance between the two is shammy. Though joking aside, if the OP is looking for the ideal class for his own role, I think he should ask himself what is most important in the game, be it leveling or end-game content, or other things.

[bktroost]

If you ever want to raid the cleric will be more sought after, especially paired with a mod rodding mage.