Most Effective Class Combations

[Hottbiscuits Dreadmuffin]

**Most Effective Class COMBINATIONS** (Typo in title, sorry)

What classes duo the best with each other? I play a Cleric and duo quite often with a Mage, and it works out quite well. We'd been brainstorming together to try and figure out another pair of classes that we could play that'd be just as (or more) successful.

We're looking for a duo that can be completely reliant, and pretty much go anywhere without too difficult of a time.


Mage/Cleric PROS: Both have gate. Mage can invis, make a variety of pets for different situations and summon bags for long hours of farming. Mod rods, waterstones, levitation. Cleric is a cleric, healing/rez/buff etc etc, and invis vs undead. Very little CC with Cleric's root and if the Mage has an Earth pet out.

CONS: No porting or run speed buffs, somewhat slow DPS. No mana manipulation other than mod rods, which can be difficult to deal with considering they drain health too. If mobs see invis, corpse runs can be difficult or impossible.

Necro/Wizard PROS: Both have gate. Necro can heal/mana dump and snare, also pet can tank. Wizard helps mobility with porting and is great DPS.

CONS: No run speed buffs, wizard is very squishy, and without big heals (shaman, druid or cleric heals) may die very quickly if the necro/pet can't get aggro off.

Bard/????? I've heard Bard/Bard works, but I've never seen it.

What have you all had experience duoing with? Do Druids do well with anything?

Does any class work with a Ranger?

[Ele]

Shaman/Monk /thread

[SirAlvarex]

Shaman / Monk is a great combo. Heals, pulling, DPS, debuffing, buffing. Everything is there but Porting. But how often do you really need to port?

Mage / Mage is a good combo for obvious reasons. Pets are very powerful, so having two of them makes them even more powerful. It will also allow splitting of camps of up to 4 pretty easily.

Enchanter / Mage (Or anything with an enchanter) makes a great combo for the pulling, downtime mana regeneration, and the awesome buffs.

Typically Warriors and Clerics are both pigeon-holed in their responsibilities that they don't make a great duo-partner.

Rangers would be great if their abilities didn't overlap those of their most logical partners. Heals and buffs won't matter with a Shaman, and all of their spells bring nothing when a Druid is paired up. Maybe Ranger / Cleric, but that leaves a lot to be desired.

[baalzy]

Necro/Shaman

Fear kiting always rules, root rotting can work (necro uses lifetap/fire/darkness, shaman uses poison/disease to prevent overlap). Once 34+ both have pets for kiting/tanking with. Shaman gives you SoW + buffs (Str buff will raise a necro pets DPS by missing less and hitting toward the upper end of their dmg cap more often). Necro gets self invis & can undead invis the shaman, shaman can invis themselves, both have gate. Both are capable of increasing their mana regen and benefit from regeneration/chloro.

[Hottbiscuits Dreadmuffin]

Necro/Shaman.. Hmm.. I like that!

Any ideas for Bard match-ups?

[Bubbles]

Necro / Monk.

Necro heals monks, taps, Two of the best dps classes combined with the added perk both can feign flop at a moments notice and laugh at whatever danger runs by.

Other pros:

-Undead Lull
-Necro Res
-Monk pulling
-Crowd Control via ST / Root.
-Caster interrupt w/ ST on Healing mobs.
-Levitate (DMF)
-Neither class needs much in the way of gear that can't be easily obtained, unless you wanna whine about dragon haste and Tstaffs and Hand of Reaper (lol)
-This duo just as effective indoor as outdoor.
-If you are completely talentless and afraid, you can even fear/kite
-Both can be iksars, if you are just starting out now. Yeah, monk/shaman both with innate regen. EZ mode just got easier.

If you get a third buddy, make him the shaman. Then laugh at his mana regen issues.

[Bubbles]

Necro/Shaman

Fear kiting always rules, root rotting can work (necro uses lifetap/fire/darkness, shaman uses poison/disease to prevent overlap). Once 34+ both have pets for kiting/tanking with. Shaman gives you SoW + buffs (Str buff will raise a necro pets DPS by missing less and hitting toward the upper end of their dmg cap more often). Necro gets self invis & can undead invis the shaman, shaman can invis themselves, both have gate. Both are capable of increasing their mana regen and benefit from regeneration/chloro.

Biggest problem with this combo is the only real 'fast acting' necro dot is VotS / Ebolt, which is shares with the shaman class. The only reason people respoind to shaman /tells is for their ability to Haste, buff, and slow things, 3 things in which a necro has 0 use for--since necros don't tank or pet tank much, haste their own pets, and get MR built into their shielding line which Altuna overwrites. Having regen is nice, but a necro actually preferes it's Vexing/Bond line of DoTs since it's practically 100% unresistable.

SHM/Necro would be built for outdoor soloing, and if all you want to do is donk around skyfire, at least a druid would be able to track, snare (the biggest needless drain of a necro's mana), port, and still be able to regein and throw magic dots (they stack with ours, if we're even bothering to cast splurt in a duo..)..

Now pretend you wanna move indoors and get loot. Whats shammy adding to necro? Necros CC better, roots last longer, our 49/56 pets tank better, we *heal* better, nuke better, Dot better, split camps better, deal with caster mobs / aggro better, and have better escape mechanisms for bad situations.

I'm not saying shaman suck, they're a great class. They just don't offer as much to necros as you might think, especially in the form of a duo. Now if you add a monk in to the 3rd slot, the Shaman is going to dramatically effect the ability of that monk to deal damage + tank. And if you remove the necro, the shaman/monki combo can almost rival the necro/monk.

Easiest solution? Just get a 3rd buddy and cover all 3 bases: necor/monk/shaman. Add in a cleric if you wanna get wtf deep in places like seb and chardok.

[Wenai]

Biggest problem with this combo is the only real 'fast acting' necro dot is VotS / Ebolt, which is shares with the shaman class. The only reason people respoind to shaman /tells is for their ability to Haste, buff, and slow things, 3 things in which a necro has 0 use for--since necros don't tank or pet tank much, haste their own pets, and get MR built into their shielding line which Altuna overwrites. Having regen is nice, but a necro actually preferes it's Vexing/Bond line of DoTs since it's practically 100% unresistable.

SHM/Necro would be built for outdoor soloing, and if all you want to do is donk around skyfire, at least a druid would be able to track, snare (the biggest needless drain of a necro's mana), port, and still be able to regein and throw magic dots (they stack with ours, if we're even bothering to cast splurt in a duo..)..

Now pretend you wanna move indoors and get loot. Whats shammy adding to necro? Necros CC better, roots last longer, our 49/56 pets tank better, we *heal* better, nuke better, Dot better, split camps better, deal with caster mobs / aggro better, and have better escape mechanisms for bad situations.

I'm not saying shaman suck, they're a great class. They just don't offer as much to necros as you might think, especially in the form of a duo. Now if you add a monk in to the 3rd slot, the Shaman is going to dramatically effect the ability of that monk to deal damage + tank. And if you remove the necro, the shaman/monki combo can almost rival the necro/monk.

Easiest solution? Just get a 3rd buddy and cover all 3 bases: necor/monk/shaman. Add in a cleric if you wanna get wtf deep in places like seb and chardok.
You are forgetting Shaman pets.

Shaman pet's mana-free DPS >> Any dot DPS a druid is going to be using.

Really the only benefit I see to a druid over a shaman in that duo is the snare and track. If you are going to be dungeon crawling, you are sure as hell going to want shaman slows over anything a druid can offer. Combine that with the fact that SHM and NEC have the best mana regen in the game. I would definitely prefer a SHM over a DRU if I was a NEC. Druid is going to do nothing but slow down a NEC. :p

[Bubbles]

You are forgetting Shaman pets.

Shaman pet's mana-free DPS >> Any dot DPS a druid is going to be using.

Really the only benefit I see to a druid over a shaman in that duo is the snare and track. If you are going to be dungeon crawling, you are sure as hell going to want shaman slows over anything a druid can offer. Combine that with the fact that SHM and NEC have the best mana regen in the game. I would definitely prefer a SHM over a DRU if I was a NEC. Druid is going to do nothing but slow down a NEC. :p

What i was hinting at is that outdoors a druid and shammy are pretty on par in terms of necro duoing, and indoors a necro would do worlds better with a monk than a shaman. All the utility in the world can't match the fact that a monk/nec combo can simply feign and laugh at the trains that go rolling by in Chardok/CoM/Seb/Karnors/etc.

In fact, the main reason a necro duos with anyone outdoors is to have someone else pull for them, and to snare mobs and not waste necro mana on dooming, which is why i'd rate a druid or wizard higher than a shaman (track/port/regen/SLN for druid, port/flux staff for the wizard). Added bonus : both wiz + druid can invis (without killing a pet) while looking for pulls. If you're actually insane enough to be using skyfire as your solo spot (and please, god don't), wizards generally rate even higher, since a druid is far less likely to have jboots and will get positively raped by chromodrac adds.

We're talking min-maxing bs here. I've obviously duo'd with shaman many, many times and it's worked out quite fine.

[baalzy]

In Velious I feel like you might find the Shaman + Necro combo to be super amazing (WW dragon duo'ing anybody?).

[Messianic]

Wizard is only a force multiplier in an AoE group. Anywhere else, you're better off with a mage or other misc DPS.

[Frytard]

If starting from scratch, necro and Druid is the best power leveling outdoor combo in the game ( maybe necro necro if you want to play same class ) don't think there should be a debate about it.

[Frytard]

Actually shaman necro as well, but reason why I say Druid is because of track and easier to get around

[Bassracerx]

really sick of threads like this

[shuklak]

really sick of threads like this
Call me a doctor then, because I've got your treatment.

Stop reading them.

[Caravelle1]

TBH one of my favorites was enchanter/paladin

Best haste in game / clarity
Slows on mobs / CC mobs for single pulls

With the CC Debuffs and clarity the pally can usually just heal himself after a mob

Oh yeah and rune for tough fights

[azeth]

Bard/????? I've heard Bard/Bard works, but I've never seen it.

Might be brutal on your exp bar, but you can't really go wrong with a bard if you have the patience for it.

[falkun]

Bard/????? I've heard Bard/Bard works, but I've never seen it.

Anything and everything is slower than a bard soloing. But, if you want to run something with a bard, and want to exploit their absolute expertise at kiting, then bring along a non-target-capped AE (usually reserved for the PBAEs) class. I know wizzies and druids have PBAEs, but I also think clerics have some too. Mostly, just buff the bard to his highest chance of survival (all the AC/HP you can toss on him), let him pull the whole zone, and then stand in his kite path (preferably a circle), and after he has some aggro drop the PBAE bomb. If he has enough mobs, you might also want to turn off the spell landing/damage spam, it can literally make you crash to desktop without warning. Just be sure to stay under the bards aggro; if the pack turns on you, you will get a loading message before you get a damage message.

[Hottbiscuits Dreadmuffin]

Anything and everything is slower than a bard soloing. But, if you want to run something with a bard, and want to exploit their absolute expertise at kiting, then bring along a non-target-capped AE (usually reserved for the PBAEs) class. I know wizzies and druids have PBAEs, but I also think clerics have some too. Mostly, just buff the bard to his highest chance of survival (all the AC/HP you can toss on him), let him pull the whole zone, and then stand in his kite path (preferably a circle), and after he has some aggro drop the PBAE bomb. If he has enough mobs, you might also want to turn off the spell landing/damage spam, it can literally make you crash to desktop without warning. Just be sure to stay under the bards aggro; if the pack turns on you, you will get a loading message before you get a damage message.

I've seen quite a few Bard trains in OT lately, and it looks really fun. I'd imagined a wizard with a bard before doing exactly as you're describing and I was worried that the wizard would catch aggro and get himself pulverized.

Clerics have the "Word of ----" line, but it's really weak. I use it for faction farming, but other than it seems like a waste of mana in a regular group if I don't have clarity.

Would it be counter productive to have two bards kiting together? I can't imagine their damage spells stack, but it would make it easier for them to each twist the maximum amount of songs at once? Devil's advocate makes me ask why I wouldn't just get better at twisting at that point. It seems fun, but is it worth it?

[falkun]

I was worried that the wizard would catch aggro and get himself pulverized.
I've done this with a guild wizard. We die frequently because he likes to push the aggro boundary, and I also get distracted by watching his flames. If the wizard dies, I keep kiting the pack and wait for him to get back to finish off the pack. If the bard dies, both die.

Clerics have the "Word of ----" line, but it's really weak. I use it for faction farming, but other than it seems like a waste of mana in a regular group if I don't have clarity.
Since the cleric can't heal the bard during the kite for fear of pulling aggro (unless the bard has sufficient aggro from AE dotting down already), the cleric can throw those mana inefficient PBAEs to contribute something. Damage is better than no damage.

Would it be counter productive to have two bards kiting together? I can't imagine their damage spells stack, but it would make it easier for them to each twist the maximum amount of songs at once? Devil's advocate makes me ask why I wouldn't just get better at twisting at that point. It seems fun, but is it worth it?
I do not believe their damage spells do stack. However, the other bard could play chords (LVL2 dot) and as long as he stays under the aggro will be good to go. They can't both kite the aggro, the tight circle that bards run is required for their PBAE dot to hit. One bard needs to have the entire pack on him and in a tight little bunch just outside his hip pocket for the kite to work. Also, and my wizard buddy will attest, if aggro does turn on you, chances are you are dead before you can run away.

Kiting is also not a matter of twisting the max number of songs. I sing 2 songs: selos, and the 18 dot (denons?). If i get hit, 99% of the time I'm dead, so hymn won't help. If I sing a single target dot, then my target dies long before my pack. If I mess up and selos drops, there's a 80% chance I'm dead. I only need 2 songs to AE kite, and I can easily accomplish that without a 2nd bard.

[Skifire]

A friend of mine and I use a Mag/Dru Combo, get a quad going like normal, toss out a few AE's for agro, let the pet do the rest.

[Pescador]

Deejay, why do you only use the level 18 dot? The level 2 aoe dot stacks, and you can almost cut your kiting time in half if you twist it in. Same with the level 49 (?) aoe dot - it overwrites the level 2, but stacks with the level 18 aoe. I can do over 100 damage per tick to unlimited mobs around me if I twist the two.

Not sure about the level 59 and 60 aoe dots and how the stack yet.

[lanystvyl]

mage/necro

was a great combo we leveled from 1 to 70 together.

[Dr4z3r]

Deejay, why do you only use the level 18 dot? The level 2 aoe dot stacks, and you can almost cut your kiting time in half if you twist it in. Same with the level 49 (?) aoe dot - it overwrites the level 2, but stacks with the level 18 aoe. I can do over 100 damage per tick to unlimited mobs around me if I twist the two.

Not sure about the level 59 and 60 aoe dots and how the stack yet.

Also, how do you even run in a tight-enough circle past lvl 35 that your dots are actually landing without you being hit? I've never been able to get that to work as well as it did in the mid-20's.

EDIT: However, in the right place a bard and a rogue/monk/ranger can make a great solo-kiting duo. Bard snares and walks in circles while the melee obliterates the mob.

[falkun]

Deejay, why do you only use the level 18 dot? The level 2 aoe dot stacks, and you can almost cut your kiting time in half if you twist it in. Same with the level 49 (?) aoe dot - it overwrites the level 2, but stacks with the level 18 aoe. I can do over 100 damage per tick to unlimited mobs around me if I twist the two.

Not sure about the level 59 and 60 aoe dots and how the stack yet.

Whats the range on the 48 dot? (answered: 30 (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spell.html?spell=746), the same as L2 chords). To me, the added risk of coming 5 units closer to mobs does not outweigh the rewards of faster kills. If you can pull it off, more power to ya!