Wild Blossom Star and other TBL names

One of the cooler features of the shm class is that even full-ish dps isn't based on "pure" dps focus. If a battle is chunky enough to deploy DOTs (which the mini bosses in trials Ways-To3-Ashes-Ampi certainly are), then just putting out Fleeting AA with the four dot casts (combopois combodis curse curse) after debuffs & between GiftSwells is a pile of added damage. That damage doesn't cost the group a whole priest, thanks to Roar & Recourse & epic & Aid (& potentially Renewal & Counterbias) HOTs all running and GiftSwells pulsing heals while the DOTs are cast.

No disagreement there. In one of my 3 box teams I use a shaman to main heal and in GMM mission just use hots and the recourse line to heal even with 6-7 at a time.

Given his box setup and his comments though I'm just recommending he focus completely on DPS On shaman and try a cleric merc extra to see if it makes a difference. He will have to play with the setup until he gets it right but wending ways allows him to take his time.

Sham war sham zerker x3..

Smoke trials are insanely easy then.

Update!!! (lots of info)
After my first trial success, I farmed Empyr for awhile, but eventually I got owned by 2 different T2 named mobs. The first was Mischief Darkheart. His DoT and DD are so heavy that when he's quad hitting me, I can't survive him. I tried several times without any luck. I decided maybe he was too much like Wild Blossom (bad for my group makeup) and that I just needed to find other named mobs to farm. I tried the Wilting Flames spider, and I think again, between DoT damage (even when trying to cure it with Radiant Cure on my shaman), plus the regular hits were just too much. I got the spider down to about 30%. I know some people mentioned the T2 bosses were just as easy at T1, but at this point, I realized farming T2 mobs were tougher than T1, at least for me.

I went back to Stratos and found a much better camp where I was killing Starshine, DawnBreeze, and Dour Djinn. I did this until I had farmed all the weeping gear for my SK except for 1 wrist slot (any left overs went to the shaman and mage, so they have a few pieces). I still died from time to time depending on the spiky nature of damage on the SK, but I had much better success at this T1 camp in Stratos, and it helped me gain some HPs, AC, and heroic stats a bit.

With better gear in place, I decided to go back to Empyr. I didn't realize I had to complete another trial again. I guess the "free pass" through instanced Smoke is limited until you complete another trial. I tried the Trial of Three several times, but I could not complete it. I can fairly quickly figure out which mobs based on text I have saved in notepad++, but sometimes my SK dies right at the end of one of the mobs, or one of the melee mercs ends up dying to a targeted DD or AE, which ends up significantly reducing my DPS. I feel like these mobs have a ridiculous number of HPs as if DBG intended to discourage boxing and force folks to group up (which is really hard to do with limited play time). I could get past the first 2 mobs and either rez or buff up before running to the third mob, and right when engaging the mob, I would get ported out. I got too frustrated and quit it.

After three fails on the Trial of Three, I completed Wending Ways again, this time in about 2 hours instead of 3. I know folks have mentioned burning every disc and going AFK, but I can't see how that's even remotely possible. With melee mercs in place (which do more DPS for me than casters, at least for most killing), they still took a while, but I completed it faster than before.

I moved into Empyr again last night, but the spider camp was taken, so the other group suggested I kill Iron Heart and The Burning Mist. Burning Mist finally spawns, and we were dead within seconds; discs didn't help at all. I had a monk friend joining me, so our DPS would have been even better, but were were insta-killed by the large DoT and DD. We rezzed, buffed, and tried again. We were toasted again, even faster than before. 100K from Hot Foot plus quad hit for 40K. We called it a night.

Is all the TBL content intended to be this brutally difficult? I have struggled to "get current" for so long now, and I was hoping to finally catch up and get geared in T3 gear (plus progression) before the next expansion, but this is becoming such a headache.

Also, I've seen so many posts on the forums about using Zerkers. Is it pretty much a requirement to add a 4th box as a Zerker or replace the mage with a Zerker if I want to have a chance at completing any of this content? I really did NOT want to add a 4th box. Three is pretty busy for me. If anything, I might swap out the mage for a zerker but wasn't keen on leveling yet another character and getting him all geared up at 110.

You get about 2.5 days of free passage through Smoke for each trial you beat (unless you can beat all of them at least once . . . I can't).

You probably need to review the abilities of the named mobs in T2 if you want to focus on those (which isn't a bad idea). The abilities you bring to the table will make a difference as to which nameds are easiest for you. For me, that spider and the imp that gave you trouble are among the easiest T2 nameds (as a pally, I bring a big more curing to the table, which helps since some of the debuffs/dots have counters now). Burning Mist was hard for me as well, and the only named I can't kill in Empyr is Sister of the Invisible Heart (frequent mez AND multiple pets).

Shockstone might be a good one to try. Assassin of the Perfect Dusk, as well. Flail isn't bad, but it is comparable to Mischief Darkheart. Realistically you might want to continue on with progression to the best of your ability, so that you can add in the Brass Palace mission to your gear farming (T1 gear in the chest, but can drop T3 muhbis).

I mean I understand having to use mercs of any type if one can't find players available to assist. But TBL content I do not think was created for a merc based grp push threw.

Again, its VERY difficult for you due to having to rely upon merc's in any capacity. If you had available player's to actually take those slots, you would see a vastly different game then you currently do. You would absolutely love this expansion.

Its not just about the zerker's.. its about having multiple's of any class (x3 is best) to utilize "dicho" or the new version "dissident" power's to their max. This in an of itself is a HUGE boost to dps no matter if you have adps for said class or not.

Zerker's just happen to have to not worry about mana for sustained dps, one could just as easily replace zerker's with rogues and have the full benefit as well. I myself chose zerkers because I like them more personally then rogues.

Granted I have no clue what you box. I do however know you use at least multiple dps class merc's as per your post. I don't know the reasoning for that. But thats not the topic, it absolutely 100% with out a doubt effect your over all game play an grp power for named in both T1 an T2 grp content.
If you have any questions feel free to hit me up. I've been boxing all of TBL personally since it came out .

What if I swapped the mage for a wizard? The wizard's alliance spell would still work with wizzie mercs, right? I didn't realize the dicho/dissident spells would stack similarly the way alliance does.

Just out of curiosity, what abilities are you using for burns on each class?(I realize that is a lot of information to ask)

Your SK should be able to tank fairly well with that T1 gear. If you post a parse and your burn set up, I am betting if there is anything to impove that there are quite a few people that can help with it. Checking out Freelances forum's for raid burning can help a lot too.

I’m assuming you mean alliance/covenant. Multiples of any class have nothing to do with Dichotomics/dissidents.

Yes I ment Alliance proc's..

And to answer you as well Bio , Yes your wizard merc's can an will help proc your wizard's alliance 2+ mil dps proc.

You can get fully geared without adding more dps classes, but it will be a chore . . . I have less dps than you (pal/shm/brd), and I got full T3 gear back in December/January, and since done with GMM stuff as well. So I would say changing classes/adding classes isn't necessary . . . but it might be less frustrating. I still can't get three of the five smoke trials or the last two missions done (Strange Magic or the one that comes after it)*.

*Caveat: I do not/will never use third party programs to play part of the game for me. If you choose to, perhaps your results will be different than mine.

For burns, I'll have to check all the details when I'm at home as I don't remember all my hotkeys/ability names off the top of my head.

For the shaman, it's not much honestly. I have one or two that boost my DoT damage, and then I follow up with my usual DoT macro lineup.

For the mage, I'll pop a macro that fires off the AA for increased fire damage and then 2 other AAs I can't remember the names of. Then, I just nuke as usual. Or, I'll spawn all my swarm pets with all characters (and clicky swarm pets like cloth cap), and then cast my "of the many" spell a few times with the mage.

For the SK, it's usually some kind of mitigation disc (to stay alive) plus some kind of leech ability (epic 2.0, current breastplate, the Anguish BP, blood drinker's etc). I usually do one mitigation disc and one leech at the same time, and then I keep moving through all of them. Once I'm stable for a moment and have the mob debuffed with the shaman and engaged with mage pet, I will use Second Spire, Carmine blade (or the new equivalent, can't remember the name), the Tyv(something) Resolve all at once, and then if resources are low, I'll pop Thought Leech for mana/endurance. I either use Harm Touch immediately as well, or, depending on the mob, I may wait and use it near the end as a quick burn to finish it off.

I do use Inner Space. It's faster to graphically switch screens if needed (no video delay), and it helps with managing macros and hotkeys. I refuse to use other unmentionable software.

If that is what you are using, then I would suggest setting up at least 4 keys that broad cast. 1 of them used for an assist macro, 1 for a multibind, 1 for a burn macro, and one for an autofollow macro. Maybe a 5th for a macro for your shaman to dot with.

Just with the SK, I would look at using your HT at the beginning of the fight, after you activated your DD/Dot burn AA. I say this because HT has a dot with it. Might as well make sure you get the chance for all that damage to do its thing.

Wow. I never use that AA because I hardly ever DoT anything except for the debuff DoT. I hadn't even thought that it would affect the damage of HT. Thanks for the tip.

And for that matter, does First Spire or Visage of Decay also affect Harm Touch damage?

You basically never want to use second spire. Always use first spire. If you are having trouble taking down named on your sk, try this. Before engage > get scourge skin on (aa), make sure defiant stance and Tylix's skin (spells) are refreshed, click any burns on your alts that will last several minutes, then on your knight click quick spear, epic, visage of death, first spire, deflection > pull, soon as mob is in range hit harm touch > swap to box's while deflection is going to assist and hit remaining burns, start casting hotkeys, swap back to sk and cast spear, as deflection is about to fade hit shield flash to cover the gap and then hit recondite mantle (or unholy guardian, if the mob is particularly tough for you and with adds). Cast spear/dicho/dire lifetap again, swap to alts and hit cast hotkey again, back to sk to cast and so on. Chain casting lifetaps on the sk will really help with surviving, and you can use leech touch/reflexive rancur if you get a big spike. If you are feeling confident with taking the incoming damage, swap to 2hander and then hit carmine blade, otherwise, always ensure you hit carmine blade while visage of death is running. (Visage of decay won't effect harm touch, however you can run this if you are still fighting after visage of death wears off, for some increased tapping)

A few other pieces of advice : If you get a named to spawn, try to clear some trash and get the kill shot on your sk to get a mortal coil proc before engaging the named. Be quick if you get it to proc, setting up for a named that is...it lasts 4 minutes now max, but the extra higher leech % can help survive if it takes that long.
You don't have to hit epic before deflecting, but I suggest you do to help handle incoming spell damage.
Not having a current powersource and current trophies will hurt your ac a bit. Keep the refute for power recourse on yourself. Run harmonious as well for a bit of extra innate tapping for a few minutes with incoming heals. (If that was you that post about not having trophies etc...I can't remember now =p).
Click geomantra on your toons if you have it before engaging. the extra spell guard may save your butt at the start getting engaged to ensure you have time to get in your groove.

Hope it helps!

First spire, glyph of cataclysm and your luck stat are what you have to boost Harm Touch.