Returning Player: Class Duo With Friend

[Itching]

Hi, I'm not sure how many of you remember Itching but I will be returning shortly. I've been gone for a while in the Navy and the schooling associated with my rate.
My friend is planning on rolling a necro on this server and I was wondering what would be a good duo class to level an alt with him. Currently my main is a shaman, so not rolling that class again so I don't have duplicates. The classes that I am interested in playing is Druid, Magician, Enchanter and to a lesser degree Monk and Cleric.
Any insight as to what would mesh up well would be wonderful!

[wasp23]

i would go with druid, that way u guys can port around when needed. SoW and other useful buffs will also always be handy.

[Itching]

I was leaning towards druid the only reason I haven't rolled it is that I already have a priest class (shaman) and I know other than cleric its hard to heal higher level stuff. That and if I remember right there is like a billion druids on this server.

[phobus]

I was leaning towards druid the only reason I haven't rolled it is that I already have a priest class (shaman) and I know other than cleric its hard to heal higher level stuff. That and if I remember right there is like a billion druids on this server.

You can work around the healing deficit of the druid by charm-killing (and breaking charm, then killing the pet, when he gets low on health) or just root-dotting. Also, the druid and necro dots stack, which is nice and something you don't get with the shaman.

Aside from charm-killing, you will also be able to fear-kite for nearly no mana. Your snare spells are very cheap and last forever compared to the necro's darkness line. If you're killing undead, all the better as the undead fear is a lot cheaper to cast than the normal fear. Charm an animal if one is nearby for great DPS on top of that of the necro's pet, and you won't even need dots.

The biggest thing you will lack is slow, which makes it difficult to take down certain high-level targets (mostly summoning mobs).

On the other hand, though, you guys will have track and the ability to break most any dungeon camp you want to, indoors or out. That's pretty nice for getting gear while leveling, and you'll be a lot more versatile in the strategies that are open to you compared to some other duos.

[Itching]

How effective is charm killing? I've never actually used those spell lines before so I have no clue. And how much does CHA effect it (if I remember right Halflings have horrendous CHA)

[Swish]

How effective is charm killing? I've never actually used those spell lines before so I have no clue. And how much does CHA effect it (if I remember right Halflings have horrendous CHA)

Its one of those things that'll take a few sessions to get the knack of it. But done properly (making sure the "pet" finishes with about 5% or one nuke of death) it can be very quick XP.

Not sure about druids but Propo (enchanter friend of mine) ran a test on charming and found that CHA makes a considerable difference. Aim for over 200 if you can or as close as you can get to it to help keep a decent duration on it :)

EDIT: For druids/necros CHA makes no difference on P99

[Autumnbow]

Bard! Their snare is even cheaper than druid, they do have slow, can charm and selo's! Not to mention mana++, hp regen, mez and resists! :P

[Tarathiel]

rogue

[Bubbles]

Monk + necro is an amazing combo, even at higher levels.. monk dmg avoidance + necro heal pact line is actually pretty effective at tanking mobs straight up even into the mid 50s.

All your original choices are solid, and i also agree with a bard as a great thought as well.

I'd advise against cleric in a duo with a necro, though.. They offer little in the way of dps... Healing a tanking necro pet means stuff is dying very,very slowly.... Even casting fear in a fear kite so the necro doesnt have to is kinda blah as well.. Fear is cheap to cast.. classes like druids and rangers and such who can cheaply snare + do dps/dots .. compliment necro style kills far better.. And darkness spells are far more annoying mana wise (and resist-wise) to a necro than chaining fear spells.

That, of course, is only really pertinent if you insist on the duoing aspect for your whole eq career on p99.. A cleric still offers heals, hp buffs, fear spells, lull spells vs. live mobs, and stuns (for healer/caster mobs in dungeons/places they can't be readily feared).. Which makes them a bearable duo partner at off-peak times. And if you want to add people to your group... heck.. CLR/NEC is a solid basis for any group.. Add some more pets.. or add some melee... and go dungeon crawling.

But yeah if you are sticking to duos... Druid wins for sow ports dots and snare... Mage wins for sheer glorious dps and summonable pet weaps food water n toys.. Enchanters are every bit as versatile as necros and compliment well.. Even wizards add snare and ports and stuns and burst DPS..

All these options are good ones, really. I'd pick a class that either is a role you are most comfortable with, or one thats most foreign to you. When i started on p99, i chose to play the same class i played on live - cleric... But easily the most fun i had on p99 was donking around on the class furthest what i played on live: necromancer. Sometimes the most foreign ends up being the most fun. And its ok to stink at first trying something new. Familiarity can breed boredom. Chaos is the most exciting :)

[godbox]

ench/cleric

[Itching]

I eventually plan on switching back to my shaman when I hit 54 or whatever level it was when I stopped playing. Druid seems like it would be the safest/fastest combo to level up.

[Slave]

monk dmg avoidance + necro heal pact line is actually pretty effective at tanking mobs straight up even into the mid 50s.

It's really not. At all.

[Bubbles]

It's really not. At all.

I hit 55 the first week+ of Kunark sitting in City of Mist duoing with a monk.. Seriously, try it. Any decently geared monk can't take more dmg than the shadowpact line heals, and with lich + taps its a never ending killing cycle with two serious DPSers and 0 downtime.

Plus the added bonus of the monk necro combo - any train whatsoever that passes by is just laughed at by the feigned monk + necro. ;)

[wasp23]

How effective is charm killing? I've never actually used those spell lines before so I have no clue. And how much does CHA effect it (if I remember right Halflings have horrendous CHA)

my main is an enchanter. Charm killing is awsome. With a necro its going to be pretty damn easy to duo stuff. hf and gl

[Wrei]

If you're friend is a skilled Necro player, you should go with a mage (if you don't want another Wis class). Duo indoor/outdoor, necros have all the utility spells needed a mage lacks. Mage would bring a pet that can tank and dps, as well as all of their utility tools. When you flip to shaman later on, you'll have a lvled up mage that can CoH which would be very useful to have as an alt.

[Slave]

I hit 55 the first week+ of Kunark sitting in City of Mist duoing with a monk.. Seriously, try it. Any decently geared monk can't take more dmg than the shadowpact line heals, and with lich + taps its a never ending killing cycle with two serious DPSers and 0 downtime.

Plus the added bonus of the monk necro combo - any train whatsoever that passes by is just laughed at by the feigned monk + necro. ;)

Really, 55? I'm so skeptical man. lol

[Bubbles]

Really, 55? I'm so skeptical man. lol

Well, we're talking City of Mist here, too. Obviously a necro isnt going to keep up with Krup wizards in Seb or any of the wizards caster mobs in Chardok..

I'd just charm the warbones for pets, and lich + lifetap + charmpet/monkdps was just constant killing, zero downtime. This was back when kunark first launched tho, lord knows if monks or necros got nerfed into oblivion since.. /shrug. fwiw - it didn't work that hot war/nec and ranger/nec.. Monk just would avoid enough dmg that necro pact heals + the occasional mend would keep him above 80% pretty much constantly.. Obviously once he got a Tstaff it was even safer. Best part was literally being on the 2nd floor of CoM just running around... no need to 'camp' anywhere and no need to really med between fights. was very liberating. Far from optimal, but certainly viable.

[webrunner5]

Charisma has nothing to do with a Druid or Necro on P1999 for Charming. Just Enchanters.

[phobus]

How effective is charm killing? I've never actually used those spell lines before so I have no clue. And how much does CHA effect it (if I remember right Halflings have horrendous CHA)

Charisma has no effect on druid charm - only level and the mob's MR.

If you were charming solo, you'd have to make sure that you out-DPS your pet (not easy) for full exp, or break charm just before the fight ends (which wipes out the pet's credit for damage done to the mob).

In a group, that doesn't matter - you just let your pets do their thing until one of them is close to death, break charm, and kill it with a single nuke for full exp. Grab a new pet, rinse and repeat. With both of you having root, nukes, and heals, you probably won't even die much as you learn.

[Itching]

Okay so it looks like from what everyone is saying Druids would overall add more to the situation but a Magician would just be a lot faster when it comes to leveling.

[Autotune]

Necro/Cleric duo = awesome on undeads. Sucks for just about everything else.

Necro/Enchanter = awesome with necro playing off the enchanter.

Necro/Monk = good on mobs that don't nuke or hit hard/fast.

Necro/Mage = okay, it's nothing special until later on around max level. Can do some nice stuff with the epic pet a mage has and coth.

Necro/Druid = better than cleric at non-undead mobs (excluding mobs that hit extremely hard, just talking about leveling and so forth) but not much more.

The regen from druids is nice and the heals aren't bad, but as a necro with a healing class, you should be charming mostly and druids level faster quadding later on. Meaning, mostly as a necro you'd rather have a cleric back you up while you charm undeads (clerics get better DD undead spells than necros) and drop DDs/heals/buffs, mainly making the necro more efficient.

How I personally rate the duos.

1) Necro/Enchanter - Necro playing support to the enchanter by pulling/splitting and pulling mobs off the enchanter. Takes a great deal of learning on both partners, need to know what the other is doing without having to talk it out and how they react to "oh shit" moments. Both solo, so if you want to play, you don't have to wait for the other all the time.

2) Necro/Cleric - simple and easy, easily beats necro/druid on undead mobs and both classes really don't have to play "out-side the box". Clerics don't solo very well, but can generally find groups okay.

3) Necro/Druid - good utilites from the druid, but lacks in "oh shit" moments compared to a cleric. If you guys don't plan on sticking to the undead mobs to level, it's probably better to roll with a druid to port you around. Not to mention this also allows you both to solo when the other isn't around.

4) necro/monk & necro/mage - both are tied, I haven't duo'd much with either. However, I do know that neither will perform as well as the other 3 choices. Mage will jump up above the monk toward end game, but monk definitely beats mage early on imo. necro/mage(both good solo classes and don't need much gear)/monks are decent solo and the gear is mostly cheap, but i'd not put monk above any of the other classes imo.

Ultimately go with what you want to play imo, if it doesn't matter to you I'd go with enchanter, it will be the class with the most potential.

[KefkaPalazzo]

the chick above me doesnt know anything about eq. pick a class + druid = win.

[Nordenwatch]

Monk avoidance + 125 hp a tic + monk regen = no dmg for monk. Works in HS, maybe not seb cause theres tons of casters but if the nec is good they'll interrupt em anyway.

Really, 55? I'm so skeptical man. lol

[Scratch&Sniff]

Necro/Enchanter = awesome with necro playing off the enchanter.



1) Necro/Enchanter - Necro playing support to the enchanter by pulling/splitting and pulling mobs off the enchanter. Takes a great deal of learning on both partners, need to know what the other is doing without having to talk it out and how they react to "oh shit" moments. Both solo, so if you want to play, you don't have to wait for the other all the time.