I'm coming back to the game after a few years off and I'm wondering which off the other 3 casters; Mage, Necro, Wizard, which would you box with an Enchanter and why?
Mage all day. Pet does the tanking mage and wiz merc do the nuking eric merc does the healing and you do the enchanting.
I run a Mage, Necro, Chanter team w/ either 2 dps mercs and 1 healer or vice versa (for nameds). I manage all the DH/BW/4thGate/TEK HAs without issue and can manage most of the named mobs within. I will say, the big downside is I can't really let melee dps tag along since the pet is doing the tanking. I've been considering leveling a melee friendly team to allow more people to group with me.
My usual group is Ench/Mage/Druid with a Cleric, Tank, and DPS merc. I *could* just use the Mage pet to tank but since I'm 3 boxing on one computer it can be a bit cumbersome. But you didn't ask about healers, just casters, and so I'm also gonna go with Mage.
Caster - Mage. (need anyone say more?) Melee - Ranger. (can do melee or range DPS, can off tank Chanter slowed mobs) -Rat
For a 2 box duo, mage all the way. I duo with my mage and can take anything that I can take with my three box crew with some work and time. When I'm three boxing though I use a warrior. Just for those tight corners indoors. However, warrior + enchanter is not a fast killing combo (hence the three box).
Apparently there was a pet nerf last year. Is tanking group content (including named) with group pet focus still possible?
I've been tanking my way through TDS with mage pet. TDS has a couple quests that seem to literally be made to make pet tanking difficult, mostly by forcing you into tight corridors, and/or spawning mobs on top of you. For one of these, I had to recruit a player tank. Em20 air or earth pet cannot tank 2-3 TDS t3 mobs for long with a cleric merc. Quite often with adds the pet would die as I was winding up an aegis on it. The better play is to immediately send a servant gargoyle to the add. And start chaining aegis and heals on the pet. Pet could not tank TDS T2/T3 named with just 1 cleric merc, reliably. It was possible, but requires quite a lot of aegis and healing to pet from mage, and even then pet would still die. The safer play is to use 2 cleric mercs for named, much safer doing it that way, for me. These named hit for like 35kish..... Edit: nerf leveled out the differences between group and raid focuses somewhat, and despite being an overall nerf, pets are still in a very good place, other than their awkward mechanics sometimes with terrain or players near
First, to reiterate what others have said, definitely Mage. The difference between a group and raid focused pet is extremely small. Their AC is basically equal, and raid pets have slightly more HP (in the ballpark of 5%). What this means is group pets and raid pets will be very similar as far as tanking ability. However, both types of pets should perform adequately in group content. Tanking multiples with one healer merc is manageable, but you might have to click a button or two. The good news is you have a slower/CC (and backup tank, if need be) in your group as well, so you should be set for group quests. I boxed all of the Partisan/Hero quests in TDS with Mage+Enchanter except the ones in Arx and the Degmar mission (most of them are likely doable, I just happened to have a group), as well as many of the merc quests. As far as named go, it's very dependent on special abilities. Some have abilities that pets don't deal with well (large damage shields) or abilities that healer mercs don't deal with well. On the other hand, some... don't. So YMMV, but it's definitely a very strong combo, regardless of the pet nerfs.
Wow so no votes for the other two casters? Are mage pets that much stronger at tanking than necro pets? I've heard some interesting things regarding synergy between Enc and Wiz, would anyone mind filling me in on what this new level of synergy is?
Enchanters have a fairly new AA that can improve WIZ nukes. Loading in game to see what it's called. EDIT: Ethereal Manipulation http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spell.html?spell=38422 +1% damage per rank (3 ranks), woo-hoo!
Mage essentially fills 2 roles in one, whereas the other casters don't (wiz) and require too much mashing to be an effective bot (Nec). A mage basically only lacks cc and that pairs exceptionally well with enchanters. At the group level, even after all these nerfs, pet remain immensely powerful, they're (Easily) superior to tank mercs and don't even eat an extra group slot. The mage let's you basically get most of the best aspects of wiz/Nec together in one toon.
The "synergy" described between Enchanter and Wizard is purely DPS related, in that Chromatic Haze (especially combined with other Enchanter ADPS abilities) is a huge boost. Mages also get that boost, but to a lesser extent because of how our spells work and because some of our DPS also comes from pets which don't receive a boost. The issue in that group is you're either reliant on a tank merc or one of the casters tanking, which is less than ideal. If you added a pally into the mix, it's a different story. As far as Necros go, they are a very fun and powerful class. However, their pets are noticeably weaker than Mage pets, and a lot of their utility is redundant once you have a real CC class. Mages are more "one-trick ponies," meaning they get very powerful pets at the cost of a lot of the utility Necros have. Enchanters are able to compliment Mages very well because they are strong in all of the areas that Mages lack. Necro+Enchanter lacks the sheer power of a Mage without much extra utility. The other thing to note is a number of Enchanter ADPS Abilities are more useful to Mages than Necros, further increasing the argument for Mage+Enchanter.
Thank so much for the information everyone. It can be a little daunting trying to get caught up again and you guys have made it easier.
