SK 3box

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by CashIsKing, Jan 10, 2018.

  1. CashIsKing New Member

    Returning player. Want to create a Shadowknight 3 box group and mercs. I never played one before and after spending the last week reading up on how the current game works I was thinking of the following 3 box set up but wanted to get some feedback.

    1) SK - Shaman - Ranger - 1 healer merc and 2 melee mercs
    [no porting or evac, how good is ranger bow damage]

    2) Sk - Shaman - Druid - 3 melee mercs
    [everything covered?]

    3) Sk - druid - enchanter - 1 healer merc and 2 wizard mercs
    [no shaman buffs but got crack]

    4) Sk - Shaman - Wizard - 1 healer merc and 2 melee mercs
    [no tracking]

    I have 2 machines that I will 3 box on so ALT-TAB only on one machine. I just want to do group stuff levels 1 - 110. All 3 accounts will be subbed. I know that SK's require gear and AA's and I plan to do a lot of LDoN missions, DoN missions and others as they come available. I am not in a rush to get to the highest level. I just want to have fun leveling and playing EQ again.

    I am leaning toward SK-Shaman-Druid, this group seems to have everything but I wanted to get some feedback from current players.
  2. IblisTheMage Augur

    SK-Shm-wiz, or SK-Dru-wiz. Possibly sk-wiz-wiz.Dps is king, track is really nice. You have all the tanking, CC, and healing you will ever need in group with a sk and merc, so you need dps and utility. I think.
  3. Tucoh Augur

    Sk-Dru-Wiz is probably the strongest trio right now. Second is probably Sk-Enc-Wiz. Third is probably Sk-Sha-Wiz.
  4. Ofearl Slayer of all things Stupid

    Any reason why sk over war/pal? Personally I think a well played sk with appropriate level gear is a great tank! But have you heard sk’s cant tank as well as a pet class... #sarcasmtotrolls

    Shaman mesh well with melee dps/merc melee dps.
    Druid mesh well with casters and merc casters.

    Chanter mesh well with caster mercs also.

    A group content wrecking crew:
    Sk
    Wiz
    Druid
    Heal merc
    2xcaster merc

    Alliance with wiz and the two mercs with destroy mobs.
    Black wolf from druids to help with casters, debuffs from druid help. Get a slow proc belt and life will be good.

    Personally I run Pal/sham/druid, I do pretty well in RoS stuff. There are a few named that stright kick my but tho. Still new expansion and Im sure once I get my boxes their gear it’ll be easier.
  5. CashIsKing New Member

    Thank you for the responses. I want SK because I have never played one. I have leveled up warrior and paladin before. Since I have been gone for so long, I thought I would try something new plus I have never done FD pulling. My previous 3 box groupings are below and this was before mercs or at least I never used them:
    warrior - shaman - cleric
    paladin - enchanter - ranger
    mage - druid - cleric

    So I guess my group will be:

    Human Shadowknight
    Wood Elf Druid
    Gnome Wizard
    Dwarf healer merc
    2 Dark Elf wizard mercs

    No slow or haste but I have everything else. Luckily I have access to a 4 hour KEI caster. I do like that there is plate - leather - cloth therefore no competition for gear.
    IblisTheMage likes this.
  6. scapegoat New Member

    You've made the right choice :) SK-Dru-Wiz, with healer/caster/caster mercs is what I've been running for years and it is really my favorite, as long as you keep your SK geared and AA'd.

    The extra travel and bind locations from having druid & wizard will speed up anything you do, and the druid's quality-of-life utility is unbeatable.

    Plus, if you have a 4-hour KEI caster, you also have haste :) And don't forget haste pots for your SK, too. Campfires are your friend - you can pop back to your buff bot and be back in your combat area in 2 minutes or less.
  7. Ofearl Slayer of all things Stupid

    Since you said you will use two machines, same as I. Run the druid alone and alt tab to the wiz, this way your druid and assisnt heal and dps the snot outa stuff. Set a macro on the wiz to cast alliance once you are of lvl. Also dont run a healer merc off the toon that is the puller. Easier to set caster merc to passive, run out get mob, turn attack, set to burn, tab over fire macro for nukes etc, tab back taunt, smash em in da face!
  8. fransisco Augur

    Don't pick the ranger. Botting 2 melees is a pain.
  9. CashIsKing New Member

    I forgot all about camp fires. :) I was thinking the same thing about sk and wiz on main machine and druid on the other machine. Sk marked as tank and puller with wizard as main assist. I did not realize I had to set mercs to passive, I thought they only targeted what the main assist targeted.

    When does the wizard get alliance? I do not know that spell.
  10. CrazyLarth Augur

  11. jhaimes Lorekeeper

    how much more can the SK/wiz/dru box trio do than mage/chanter/dru box trio? with the mage earth pet tanking of course. Does the tank make it easier to do everything or what?
  12. Phried New Member

    I am in the same boat. After talking with a few friends, A few things were suggested to me to think about and consider my play style. If i wanted to ....
    Solo, go beastlord or mage, their pets will tank.
    2box, go beastlord or mage with a headshot ranger
    3box, go sk (best aggro tank), berzerker (best dps) and shaman (best slows and more buffs)
    Now everybody will have their opinions and that's fine. Look the classes over and make your pick.
  13. IblisTheMage Augur

    Mage pet has no ae aggro, so is only a good single mob tank. For that one mob, it is quite good. Mage tanked progression = hard mode :-D
  14. Kyzvs Augur

    I SK / Mage / Chanty on 2 PCs - second PC has two monitors, but I alt-tab to switch.

    I use Clr / Dmg caster / Melee dmg mercs. Pretty good combo that covers all the basics. I started this go-round with Mage / Chanty / Ranger and a tank merc but it wasn't as flexible.
  15. NameAlreadyInUse #CactusGate

    When properly geared (for any given expansion), an SK and healer merc can solo just about anything that isn't a named, and frankly even most named. The other classes are there to make everything go faster. Or go down faster :)

    In keeping with that idea, having a druid and wizard for transportation and utility will make your whole EQ life go faster and easier. There might be other group make ups that will give better DPS. But that doesn't help you when you die and need to port back to the guild hall for buffs, or when your quest has you fedex-ing back and forth across a huge zone.

    I don't think people realize how much of their time might be wasted on travel, and that is compounded when you box.

    Alt-tabbing is slow no matter what, and any time you spend baby-sitting any toon other than your tank is time that you are risking a wipe. I suggest choosing toons that are very simple/easy to automate (like wizzies). I also strongly suggest giving I S Boxer a look, when you're ready for that step :)
  16. jhaimes Lorekeeper



    I pay for [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] but I absolutely suck at setting it up...To the point I just waste 30 bucks every 3 months. I watch youtube after youtube trying to set up clickable keys but it never works and it just makes me mad and I end up quitting eq again...If I could get it to work I would roll a 5 box or 6 box easy...I have often thought of paying someone to set it up for me but no one lives by me...
    Skewert and NameAlreadyInUse like this.
  17. NameAlreadyInUse #CactusGate

    I can believe that :) I feel like I have spent at least as much time on my "setup" as I have in game playing! For me, it was a natural progression: I played 1 toon until I got bored, then I 2-boxed on two computers until I "mastered" that and got bored, then multiple toons on multiple monitors, as I wanted more control and performance. At this point, it's pretty clear to me that "tweaking my setup" is actually more compelling to me than the game, or is at least an inseparable piece of my enjoyment.
    gnomeboss likes this.
  18. AlmarsGuides Augur

    Send me a private message with *exactly* what you are trying to do. I am currently writing Boxing guides for my website and I'm going to break down how to set up the software as well as your interface and everything.

    Right now I have only done guides for Alt Tab boxers: http://almarsguides.com/eq/gettingstarted/boxing/

    But I am going to cover Key Maps, Key Broadcasting and setting up Key Maps and all that junk... I found the wiki for is boxxxer to be very hard to follow when I first started boxing. I plan to break everything down so simplistically anyone can do it.

    If you can explain what you're trying to do for me, (assuming I can learn it real quick) I will write a guide for you... for free.
    Skewert, IblisTheMage and Tatanka like this.
  19. gnomeboss Augur

    my heterosexual eq lifepartner use to say that you couldn't consider yourself a good boxer until someone accused you of using software to automate your toons. lulz!
    NameAlreadyInUse likes this.
  20. Pikaboom New Member

    Not to hijack the conversation, but I have also been thinking about doing a SK/Druid/Wizard trio..but was also wondering if there would be a noticeable advantage to adding an enchanter as a 4th box or whether the inefficiencies from going to three boxing to 4 boxing would outweigh the adps and cc'ing the enchanter could add to the group