New player boxing on Bristlebain

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Parva, Dec 13, 2018.

  1. Parva Lorekeeper

    Hey all. Just looking for some advice in this 6 box makeup. This is my first time playing EQ. I made a

    Warrior(Tank)
    Shaman(Healer)
    Druid(back up Healer)
    Bard(Support)
    Beastlord(Dps)
    Berserker(Dps)

    Is this a good 6 box for doing most things in EQ? And if so can you guys explain to me how they might all benefit eachother ir is there a better box that I am not looking at that can accomplish alot more.
  2. Voxvixen Journeyman

    Swap the beastlord for mage. You will want coth, already have shaman, already have 4 melee to pilot.

    I'd swap the berzerker for a second mage personally. Having the mage pets as spare tanks is a huge plus. And they complement each other due to number of pets. They will let you tackle more content, esp during times when you are still trying to gear up the warrior.
  3. Parva Lorekeeper

    Im very good at piloting its never been issues for me when boxing.
  4. Tucoh Augur

    I run a similar group that I detail here:
    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/tucos-setup-critique-welcome.240258/


    I'd recommend swapping the druid for a cleric, making the cleric the main healer and using the shaman as a healer against tough mobs and a DoTer against easier mobs. The cleric out-heals the druid (and shaman) by quite a lot while adding a lot of mitigation buffs, and having one enables you to take on mobs much tougher than you could otherwise. Said differently it'll allow you to fight mobs you're not geared for, which will give you more options as you level and gear. Druids also contribute ports, but with modern EQ all classes can find ways to port so close to your ideal destination that a druid/wiz's ports don't save much time. Druids also give caster ADPS, but you're running a melee group.

    One thing about multi-boxing is that it's easy to use fellowship XP to level up new characters, and you sometimes need specific setups to beat specific tough missions (if that's your goal). So you aren't locked in once you set up a team. As I'm starting TBL I'm using a cleric, but once I get the content down, gear up my warrior, get comfortable with the mechanics I'll swithc over to my ranger on the same account and have a glass cannon team (that's actually a lot of fun to play even if I die a lot).

    re: Mage and CotH, bunny hopping aroudn with CotH is a great way to box, but in my opinion if you're playing a melee team you'll want to get really really good at using /follow, so coth is something of a crutch. That being said, in certain zones (Like Stratos...) it's much faster to coth around, and it's also possible to skip right to a named mob even in current content by just running a mage past a bunch of see-invis mobs and using their two escapes to drop aggro.

    Ways to improve auto follow usage:
    1. Set your background FPS as high as possible (I set to 80). EQ's follow system rotates your character to follow a target every frame, so the higher your FPS is the more locked they'll be.
    2. Use mounts when possible (they have an acceleration at the start which gives EQ's follow system time to orient them properly)
    3. For a warrior, get used to using press the attack + grappling strike to position mobs without moving your team.

    I made a video earlier this year to kind of show how I run my team around:
  5. Dahaman Augur

    Welcome to EQ!


    Since it's your first time playing EQ, I'd suggest going a little slower and not 6-box right away. Learn the UI and the generally game first and then rock it with the full 6-box.

    The Hero's Journey quest book gives a lot of good direction for level appropriate quests. Granted, with 6 toons, it will be a little grindy collecting 6x drops. However, if you used that quest line and only completed it on your tank (the most gear dependent), that would work too.

    Crescent Reach is the starting city you want. Starting in Crescent Reach from level 1 is easy and rewarding.
  6. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    4. When turning 90 degrees (like around a corner in a dungeon), go to the far corner and then stop, waiting for the others to catch up. Then, continue down the other hallway.
    Tucoh likes this.
  7. TheStugots Augur

    5. Add a mage so you can Call of the Heroes your entire group. ;)
  8. Parva Lorekeeper

    So if I picked a Warrior, Cleric, Enchanter, Druid, Wizard, Mage, I would be able to kill stuff faster than with a melee team at max level and AAs?
  9. Tucoh Augur

    Maybe.

    I think itd be similar total dps. Where itd shine is in circumstances where you cant engage mobs with melee dmg.

    An ideal caster group would have an sk tank though, not a warrior.
  10. Khazad New Member


    Your chosen group will work well. You'll have fun. Enchanter mezz is beautiful. Everyone is going to have a suggestion on alternatives, but you've got enough DPS with that group to get through most anything. If I was going to suggest a tweak, I'd look at the druid (as cleric has heals covered, you rarely need a backup healer with a cleric in the mix, and Wizard has ports). But druids do very good DPS these days, so it does work. The min max approach is SK/Bard/Healer and Three Zerkers. But I would probably have more fun with your group.
  11. TheStugots Augur

    A druid in a caster group synergizes pretty well. Also, druid provides tracking, a second set of ports/tele to bind like the wizard, and a second evac if you ever get in a bad spot and the wizard bites it...which he will almost always before the druid does.

    A melee group or caster group, boxed well, can both perform extremely well. It's really all about what and how you want to play/how active or lazy you want to be.

    I box SK, Cleric, Druid, Mage, Wizard and Enchanter. Tucoh boxes a primarily melee focused group. I don't think either of us have many issues doing what we need to do, but I just prefer not having to worry about mob/melee positioning.
  12. Parva Lorekeeper

    You said Sk/bard/healer, which healer? Shaman or cleric?
  13. Khazad New Member

    For most content, a cleric is going to over heal. So, most of the time, I think you'll find that a shaman gives you more bang for the healing buck (with slows, buffs, and DPS). I like a cleric, because they are monster healers. Also, when you're boxing, a cleric is just easy to box and healing is a breeze.

    If it was me, I'd end up going with the Cleric. But I used to raid on my cleric too. Most people will advise go with a shaman (especially as an SK can tap up).
  14. Moldar Augur

    Welcome to EQ (as has already been said before)!

    To a lesser extent I somewhat agree that 6 boxing at the start is kind of HARD, but the opposite side of the spectrum -- the game pace at lower levels isn't like other games where you have to constantly keep pressing things over and over (like mages in World of Warcraft).

    EverQuest is weird, and while it may not make sense at this level once you start getting certain items on certain classes you will come to learn synergize better with some classes rather than others.

    If you're looking for a 6 box that can do most content I would opt that you make a team that synergizes well.

    For casters I would recommend the follow:
    • Shadow Knight (tank) -- these guys have a lot of life taps (nukes that deal XX damage and heal that amount in return to you).

    • Druid (healer) -- these guys later on will get AA (alternate abilities) that synergize well with casters to provide improved crit chance, crit damage, and additional procs (extra mini-nukes) to caster spells. They also can track monsters or named monsters down, potentially saving you lots of time being able to directly to them rather than looking for them or waiting for spawn timers.

    • Bard (support) -- honestly no group is ever complete without one, and depending on how much you want to get out of this character it provide a welcomed challenge to set it up to get as much DPS as possible, or it can be a /melody bot for those days where you feel lazy. they also get a limited version of tracking.

    • Wizard (DPS) -- this is the traditional nuke character, they do 2 things 1). Nuke like crazy and are centered around dealing as much spell damage as rapidly as possible and 2.) Offer travel (the Druid will as well, but either 1 can be a backup for the other if your going to die) solutions in the form of Teleports, they can also evacuate you group to safe locations in any zone or instance if you start to die because of a bad pull.

    • Magician (DPS) -- this is basically a wizard, but they wanted to focus almost exclusively on fire damage and summoning pets rather than all branches (like Wizards fire, cold, and magic), that being said their pets are amazing and the swarm pets they can summon also pack a bit of a punch and is a great compliment and alternative to a Wizard if you encounter a fight that favors melee-esque damage rather than spell damage.

    • Enchanter (support + DPS + Crowd/Add Control) / Necromancer (DPS - primarily DOTS) / Wizard 2 (DPS) / Magician 2 (DPS) -- You have a bit of a choice here, essentially if you go with the Enchanter you will get, another support character; however, they can do respectable amounts of DPS, and they come with the added benefit of being the best crowd control in the game, they can charm almost anything and add another mini-super pet (temporarily) to your group, they can mesmerize most NPCs, turning most bad pulls into wins.

      Necromancer -- on long fight, or monsters with a lot of Hit Points these guys are the best DPS, but their damage comes from DOTs -- or damage over time -- thus it can be a lot of micromanagement to DPS well, but I have seen some folks pull it off with success (although it is rare, I myself would not try doing it)

      Or you can choose to add another Wizard or Mage to your party.
    Melee teams, generally unadvised -- mostly because you have to position them for every single individual NPC in each enounter (not hard, but is it simply 1 more thing on the to-do-list for each character) -- but there are ways around that.
    For a melee team I would recommend the following:
    • Warrior or Shadow Knight (tank) -- Warrior will synergize the best with a melee team, but (and this can be an end-game problem) their aggro is based off of disciplines which are hard coded time abilities, essentially the more "threat" an ability generates, the longer its cooldown, essentially warriors have various taunts/aggro discs on timers of ~30 seconds, 1-minute, and 2-minutes (and others as well, but they are not commonly used during each and every encounter). Essentially this will ever only become a problem when you have either A.) more monsters than you were expecting, or B.) when your killing so quickly that essentially you have nothing to cast on the next monster.

      Shadow Knights on the other hand always have some sort of aggro ability at the ready, but that comes at the cost always needing to lifetap and rotate an arsenal of threat abilities (a bit moreso than the warrior), and if you ever have to stop for whatever reason you essentially turn into a warrior.

    • Shaman (healer) -- these guys early on are some weird combination of a weak cleric (same healing power to a druid though), and a necromancer dealing their damage though DOTs, however, once you start getting closer to max level these guys easily become the best AOE healers and possess very strong single target heals, as well as great synergy buffs for melee characters (epic 2.0, melee procs, etc).

    • Bard (support) -- again, these guys rock, and they provide amazing support to melee characters (even more so than casters), they can make each melee toon of your attack 125% faster than normal, and at higher levels provide an amazing boost to providing extra bonus attacks. Again limited version of tracking.

    • Beastlord (DPS and support) -- early on these guys are strictly almost just DPS and support burns, however once they hit level 101, these guys start providing your group with some amazing support in the form of their dichotomic. They are however a pet class, and therefore can be a bit heavy on the button mashing side at higher levels to get peak performance out of them.

    • Berserker -- these guys are kind of like wizards, but are the melee equivalent, their skillset is all about dealing as much damage as possible in as little time as possible, they hit hard and fast by strictly using 2 handed weapons, and all about burns, their sustained damage (used to suffer, but that problem was alleviated slightly around level 105 / EoK expansion). although , their sustained does require some mircro-management

    • Rogue / Monk -- Rogue: these guys (both do, but in very different ways) provide amazing sustained DPS, but only with rotation of their various disciplines, so in a box team these guys might require some slight micro-management, AND they need to have access to the backs of monsters else their DPS suffers a lot (especially early on)

      Monks are unique, essentially they are like rogues, with good sustained DPS but without the angle restrictions rogues have, but later on in the game it revolves around procs off of their special attacks, and some rotation of their disciplines and keeping track of them-- again can require a lot of button mashing (/autoskill is going to be your friend with these guys), in addition they require some micro-management (honestly most melee are going to need it at least once every 15-20 seconds).

    • Ranger or Berserker 2 / or Rogue 2 / or Monk 2 -- Ranger: These guys once at max level offer really good burn ADPS that is going to allow you to easily burn down harder content and long burn DPS (via bow burns, so little bit of pain with just auto-follow, but it is doable), besides this they offer good sustained DPS via arrow nukes and spell damage (they deal both physical and spell damage, similar to Beastlords). They also offer the best form of tracking, allowing you to easily find almost quest npc's you may need right from the zone in, or see if any named monsters are up.

      Alternativly, you can decide to add an additional Rogue or Monk, or double up with 2 Monks, 2 Rogues, or 2 Berserkers.
    OR you can go with a complete mashup of classes, and while they may not synergize well with each other what they lack in synergy they will make up for in versatility. Essentially you would be making a "jack of all trades" kind of group being able to do many different things, but never truly excelling at anything.
    Some classes I didn't mention:
    Paladin (tank) -- Paladins are fantastic tanks, and their playstyle is unique, they are a hybrid tank similar to Shadow Knights, but whereas the Shadow Knight has a more offensive play style, Paladins have a more defensive play style, offering a variety of stuns to keep threat (and assuming the NPC's can be stunned) the best form of damage mitigation completely shutting down NPCs for a limited amount of time. They are a fun class to play, however, their damage is rather limited, and my perspective, and the perspective of many others DPS is king when it comes to any encounter, instance, or mission, the faster it dies typically the easier the encounter becomes. That being said if you like killing undead things, Paladins are arguably the best tank at DPSing them down.
    Cleric (healer) -- Clerics are strictly healers, they have some minor nukes, utility, and AOEs they can cast, but they all pale in comparison to their ability to heal, buff, keep a group alive regardless of the situation. The tradeoff obviously being they kind of suck at everything else, and they provide no ADPS benefits to your group like a Druid or Shaman would, on the flip side, when needed and with the use of AA, they can easily double the healing output of a Druid or Shaman, and they have a variety of heals that cast the quickest, biggest, and flashiest heals available in the game. They also possess some amazing recovery tools that are invaluable in a pinch able to prevent your group from wiping.
    Hopefully this helps your decision, essentially just know that most of these classes and how folks are going to help you they are talking from an almost maxed perspective, which means most of the utility and whatnot are spells, disciplines, or AA (passive or activated) that come later in game, some starting at level 70 (epics 2.0s) and others coming in much later at levels 101+
  15. Moldar Augur


    Yes this is a decent group, there is not much a group like that could not accomplish.

    If I were to make a suggestion it would be to either drop the shaman or druid in favor of a more DPS-centric class. However with that said, both Shaman and Druids thanks to the DOT changes now have respectable DPS numbers (Druids did before as well, it was just more nuke focused rather than a weave of the two as it is now at higher levels). I just want you to understand that (depending on a variety of factors) you may get more mileage out of an actual DPS class as you are essentially playing with 2 priest archtypes.

    Although with 2 priest archetypes, you have the option of attempting even harder content than you would normally be able to do since you will have 2 healers for your 1 tank, which is sometimes invaluable in and of itself.

    And also since you are new I would actually recommend that approach, especially while you are learning the core gameplay mechanics.

    Just understand that as you progress into the later stages of the game your going to need to invest more time and experience (in the form of AA's) (and possibly acquiring some items with click spells on them, or going back and doing older raids for unique spells) in order to make your priests still do respectable DPS and still remain viable healers, the same concept will apply to your Beastlord (and to a lesser extent the Bard) as his power is split up between his DOTs, his nukes, his own melee capabilities, and his pet's capabilities

    Although before I write a novel, yes in short this group will work fine for most content.

    Not necessarily, however, the strength of this type of a group would allow you to essentially do a similar amount of DPS, but at ranged, meaning of instead of having every character follow behind your tank, you could in theory park them in the center of a room, and just run your tank around picking off mobs one or two at a time and not have to worry about moving the group for each monster (unlike with a melee group).

    However, I would recommend either playing a Shadow Knight or a Paladin with this type of group as essentially, your Warrior has no ADPS, whereas your enchanter can support a Shadow Knights nukes, or semi-support a Paladin's weaker nukes built into some of his aggro stuns and AA 's.

    Also, I am noticing in this setup you're using 2 healers again, which isn't going to be too much of an issue until you get to higher levels, in this case you have the Druid, which offers nukes and DOTs and they synergize well with the mage and wizard allowing them to do respectable DPS, but again depending on a variety of factors chances are you are going to be killing slightly slower since you are trying to make a priest archetype into a DPS class. But as I mentioned earlier sometimes 2 healers are a wonderful scenario, and with an Enchanter if you truly get overwhelmed you can lock everything down and kill everything with minimal worry at a snail pace, without much of an issue

    But Honestly if you just like the idea of a Warrior and think they are the best class ever, or you like the way that they sound from a tanking perspective, go for it!

    Honestly, the tanks are all very similar in the amount of punishment they are able to take, they simply just have different play styles and excel (ever so slightly) at some things better than others.



    Either would be fine, Shaman is going to provide great healing, slows, ADPs for the SK's melee-based life tap attacks, and buffs which will boost the damage your SK is capable of doing.

    The Cleric in conjunction with the Shadow Knight is going to be an insane amount of healing, as you will have the cleric spamming heals onto the Shadow Knight, as well as the self healing from the Shadow Knight, based on his melee life-tap damage, his life-tap nukes, and his life-tap proc buffs.

    Honestly though, play what you want to play. You're running around with 6 accounts, worst case scenario if a class doesn't work for what you want to do, you can always power level another class up to that level with the other 5 accounts with relative ease.

    Again, hopefully this helps you out!
  16. Xazier Elder

    Shd,Cleric,Bard,Beast,Ranger,Wizard is my favorite all utility/dps team. You can accomplish everything outside of raiding with team better than any other combo. And did I mention how fast and safe it is? You will be hard pressed to find a better setup. Only thing that is missing is CoTH which is meh imo, only good for some progression.

    I mean you can switch ranger for a mage but honestly you will lose so much dps on big hp named by doing that. Ranger guardian is so OP and is the best adps ability for melee in the game.
  17. Ultrazen Augur

    This. It's not just about being able to manage positioning on multiple characters, it's about triggering all the things you need to trigger to make having that class worth having. Melee characters are very button mash heavy, which only gets worse the higher level you are. You will be leaving a lot of DPS on the table with a bunch of melee, because most of them are going to end up auto attacking and or spending time positioning. The beauty of that group he runs (which to me is the ultimate 6 box), is that only one character ever has to move once you set up a camp. Everything else can be macro'd, so even though you are playing 6 characters, you spend 90% of your time on one of them. That's huge, not just from the efficiency standpoint, but from the wear and tear and just plain burnout of having to position melee characters every single fight.

    EQ is a game where you will spend 95% of your time, sitting in a camp, often for days or weeks, the easier you can make that on yourself, the less likely you are to burn out on it. I've been boxing for years, and the more I do it, the more I want the least amount possible to do on every pull.

    There's also the convenience. There are a *lot* of places in the game, that are a nightmare for box teams to navigate. Being able to teleport to bind, or COH (for me at least), is priceless on a box team. Running a 6 box through multiple zones, vs running your druid somewhere and then TP to bind is just another one of those things that becomes more and more valuable, the more times you have to put up with corners, hallways, lanterns that /follow gets stuck on, etc.

    You can make just about anything work, and that group you have will work fine, but you will get sick of dealing with it at some point, probably about your 10,000th pull.
  18. Sarcogian Augur

    I suggest getting a hold of Koryu on Bristlebane and asking him the best solution to tanking questions you may have while multi boxing