2 Returning Players -- Duo Suggestions?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Rhaethe, Dec 3, 2013.

  1. Rhaethe New Member

    So, my husband and I are returning after a good chunk of years, and we were curious as to a solid and fun duo, now that so much has changed. I understand that it really depends on what style you want to play, and what you intend to do.

    We used to play a mage/wizard duo successfully (way before mercs), but this go round we want to play the tank and spank style. We are Silver, but do not plan to go Gold (at least not right now), so we only have access to Apprentice 5 mercs. Though we may only use one (instead of two), depending on the actual cost of the things long term. The intended content is questing, LDONs, that sort of thing. Don't intend on raiding, at least right now.

    The classes he is interested in are SK, Paladin, and Berserker. The classes I am interested in are Shaman, Druid, Enchanter (though I don't care for charming things), and Cleric. We played Paladin+Druid for a bit (admittedly low levels) and were pretty successful and taking down yellow and red cons ... but just took a while. Hopefully are looking for something a little more swift ;)
  2. mage101 Elder

    It's going to get hard playing a tank with just silver after lvl75.
    SK/Shm is a very solid combo from the classes you listed.

    You would have the easiest time with mage/*insert any class here*(bard/any range type preferably)
  3. Urshulgi Augur

    From what I've read, the SK might be the best choice for your husband, because my recent experience is that the apprentice merc tanks are pretty weak, while the journeyman merc tanks are quite strong. Over the long run though, an active SK will be a much better tank than a merc will. The healer mercs are pretty effective even as apprentices.

    I recently came back after 9 years, and I started trying to 3 box an SK/Bard/Shaman, but now I'm just going to do an enchanter/cleric box with two mercs, because it's much easier for me to handle two characters.

    I played a cleric as my main back around 2002-2004, and a mage for the two years before that. I'm fascinated by what enchanters can do though, so I wanted to do a fun combo. Definitely not a great dps combo, but I can live with that. Eventually I plan on seeing how far I can go in dungeons with a cleric/enchanter plus two mercs.

    I went gold on my cleric, because the journeyman tank merc is really powerful for the first sixty or so levels, from what I've been told.
  4. Rhaethe New Member

    While we decide, we opted to give ranger+cleric a go for poops and giggles. :D Whether we keep that combo or not in the long run, I am not sure.

    Edited to add: If we keep with it to our 60's or 70's, we'll go gold.
  5. Lenowill Augur

    Dru/Pal and SK/Shm are both good combos for a tank+healer duo style.

    If you go the tank+healer route, I recommend running two DPS mercs whenever you can, as your damage output will indeed be on the low side. Usually Apprentice 5 damage caster mercs are the way to go imo, but you might find the melee ones more useful once the damage caster mercs gain access to the spell Concussion, as their AI is terrible regarding it and they can easily get stuck in loops of casting it over and over without actually dealing damage, at least in the 50-61 range (where I've been observing that behavior on my alts recently).

    If you're a shaman in particular, you'll eventually have melee damage proc buffs to put on the mercs as well as your husband, so that'll help too.

    Personally I am a huge fan of Dru/Pal and would heartily recommend sticking with it if you're having fun. It's got snare, porting, a nice smattering of crowd control, ways to weaponize your husband's tanking (damage shields, etc.) and a lategame healing kit that covers for each other's weaknesses pretty well, plus tons of emergency healing for those clutch moments when you need it.

    The main downside to Dru/Pal is that you don't have a lot of actual pulling/splitting utility, but if you're focusing on mostly older content then that shouldn't cause you too much trouble anyway, and if you desperately do need to split mobs for some reason (and you aren't able to just pacify the mobs in question) you will generally have still options (even if it's just root+snaring something you pulled and then evacing and running back to it before it can go home to its spawn spot).

    Alternatively you could play an enchanter (for mega crowd control, strong melee haste, and slow) and let him handle some of the healing himself, with a cleric merc available for hard stuff.

    Have fun! :)
  6. Treiln Augur

    Ranger/Cleric combo isn't bad at all. Its actually a lot of fun. Rangers aren't "proper" tanks and I wouldn't suggest going into a group expecting the ranger to be your overall tank, but with a pocket healer and some dos mercs, a ranger will be just fine. Plus a ranger can add decent dps to the group while being the tank as well. And when you get high enough, he will be able to HS for easy AAs for both of you :)

    I'm personally doing an SK/Shaman box and am loving it! So I second that decision.

    If you want your mage back, you can practically play any class you want with that (which was stated before). Mage pets are the "quasi 4th tanks" and do well with anything, but shine with casters. Wizard would be another great choice, a second mage, or even a necro. Never done bard/mage so o ccan't comment on that.
  7. Dandin Augur

    Caster style = Mage / Chanter
    Tank and spank = SK / Shaman
    Melee DPS blast = Zerker / bard
    Purist route = Warrior / Cleric
    Heals galore = Paladin / Druid
  8. Urshulgi Augur

    What do you think of a cleric/enchanter combo with tank mercs?

    My experience so far with it hasn't been bad, but it seems a bit non-traditional. My rationale is that I want to have two classes at high levels that can be useful in a group, and I've always preferred healing/utility to dps/tanking.
  9. RagePaw Augur

    Mage/Chanter
    Zerker/Bard

    The above 2 combos I have used and I can tell you the mage/chanter is the better of the 2,the zerker will either need to tank to keep 2 healers or you will need to lose a healer to a tank merc. Berserkers do not mitigate well near top end content.
  10. Qest T. Silverclaw Augur

    Enchanter/Druid is the most capable duo.
  11. Ratbo Peep Augur

    Unlike the Tank Mercs, the Cleric Mercs remain at least "viable" at the high levels.
    My wife and I run a Ranger / Enchanter duo. (though I suppose a Ranger / Shaman would work too).
    The Chanter handles speeds/cracks on our end, and slows/cripples on the MoB side.
    For mercs we can go with a Cleric/Wizzie or even Cleric/Cleric if the Ranger is bleeding hit points faster than Liz Taylor went though husbands. :)
    We're still viable at 88 and about 4kAA each. (AA come FAST nowadays)
    -Rat
  12. Ratbo Peep Augur

    Edited: This post became moot. Can't just delete it.
    -R
  13. Gladare Augur

    I use ranger/cleric and two wizard mercs.
  14. Fluid Augur

    If you want to go a bit far afield, do some research into SK swarming. Point being since the SK can swarm, whoever is with the SK can get a seat at the AA and leveling banquet.

    All of the choices listed will work well with a swarming SK. For example, if you forgo the Druid's damage shield for the Shaman's slows, you can just buy a spike potion. If you are into trade skills, you could even run up the potion making on the Shaman to make them yourself.
  15. code-zero Augur

    An SK swarming with a Bard using the right /melody and the bards epic click is amazing..
  16. Phrett Augur

    Based on the classes the OP mentioned... SK/Shaman seems strongest to me

    throw out berserker... they're not strong in group content unless raid geared
  17. Dandin Augur


    How does this trump Chanter mage?
  18. Qest T. Silverclaw Augur

    Lots of old raid instances you need a real healer for, for instance. Snare, Tracking, ports...

    It's not the fastest-leveling combo, and they only PL low levels really well up to the low-70's, unlike the Mage, but if you only have two players, the Enchanter/Druid combo can handle difficult encounters that other combos cannot.
  19. Lenowill Augur

    Basically, the Dru+Enc pair has access to every form of AoE CC shenanigans in the game, real healing, ports, tracking, foraging, and the ability to run either two wizard mercs, tank+wizard, or tank+cleric situationally to get pretty much anything they want done, done.

    The combo is strong not because it does things fast, but because it's so hard for challenges to stop them from progressing at a steady pace.

    Also, lulz for having two charmies in areas with animals. (Minor consideration, but can be hilarious and occasionally powerful.)

    And their debuffs can put a major dent in mobs' offensive capabilities when you need it.

    I'm looking forward to the pairing when my friend's enchanter levels up into the 85+ range. :)