My son threw a wrench into the works this AM...says he wants to play SK now not Monk. I'm not nearly as familiar with that class, haven't played it in 14+ years, an even back then it was only to 25 or so. I am wondering what I should play as my primary since we'll primarily be adventuring together. I was planning to play a half-elf druid when he was going to play monk. We've done that combo before, and it works really well outside as I usually snare, stack 2 dots, and kite as he follows behind smacking the crap out of the mob. When we do it right, he pulls agro when mob is about 30%, an we stick with mobs that run at 20%. It's pretty mana efficient, downtime with pot+clarity isn't bad at all, and I rarely have to heal as will use Mend when he gets low every 2-3 mobs. But I'm not sure if SK will work as well in this case. With the SK's ability to fear, would I perhaps be better off with a Shaman? Or Cleric? Of course, then I'd Iose Harmony, which is awesome for breaking camps outside. Looking for any outside the box suggestions. I've heavily played druid / shaman / cleric over the years, but perhaps there is another class I'm overlooking (Bard? Enchanter?) that would make a great combo with SK?
Can't go wrong with any healer really... Druid gives you infinite utility...you can still aggro kite like you were going to do before. Shaman gives you slow / haste + DPS...you can SK kite, but it's just easier to traditional tank at this point. Cleric gives you lull spells to break camps and heal like woah. Mobs will def take longer to kill, but it's slightly safer because of lull and big heals. Of all 3, the shaman duo will probably be the fastest killing. Druid combo might be faster from like 1-30 because of DS, but after about lvl 30 or so, (slow mobs + hasted melee) > (thorns). Edit: if you're going to use a melee, your best bet is to stick with a healing class or maybe a necro. Basically, you either need to be able to heal the melee, or fear kite...and fear kiting is very limited and mana intensive so it's not the best option.
sk got snare+ dot so he's gonna get aggro real fast plus if he use lifetap you won't need to heal him much.Shaman can dot while he attack too but druid will work too put your damage shield on him.
shaman sk is pretty weak at the start, sk in general is very weak for a while, but you can eventually start fear kiting sorta (you go oom at lower levels). It does go well with shaman though and eventually your shaman slows and damage will make life easier, you can also form groups fairly easily with sk shaman. Clerics get pacify which is the best pulling tool, better than harmony (which doesnt work indoors), also SK cleric will make groups very easily. Enchanter/bard won't work super well since you'll lack a real healer, though the haste and slow is nice. Your druid strat would work with an SK just as well, infact SKs get some okaaay dots, you can use fear in conjunction with snare, or you can life tap to keep your life up. Necro might work alright. The necro can fear kite with the SK and you both stack up dots, also you can life transfer to the sk, or you can simply get aggro as your druid did. Wizard isn't a terrible idea. Wizards have pretty bad mana regen, but their snare is good you could snare, nuke hard for aggro and let him wail on you while you run away and med. Monk will do a lot more damage than SK early, so it's probably a better class to play unless he wants to tank groups. I'd go cleric, druid or shaman at any rate.
SK + Shaman works well. Shaman buffs and slow make a big difference and SK can snare for threat. Fear kiting works but in all honesty you don't need to with this combo. Once you get canni you will rarely have any big stretch of downtime. But as others have said this combo does start out kind of slow
SK/SHM is an amazingly natural combo. I played that combo for 15 years and adding mercs later in the game (or a 3rd box for dps) just makes it even more gravy. The extra wolfie pet for a little more DPS also helps.
Wow, lots of great replies. Thanks all. I'm still torn between Shaman and Druid. I do think when it comes to the actual fighting, especially down the road, Shaman would be better. The debuffs, slows, and all. However, I'm leaning toward Druid though due to the sheer utility: ports, tracking, and PL'ing alts in future. Both of us prefer outdoor zones, so Harmony is really useful as well...
Druid is more useful, later on their ATK debuff is basically exactly the same damage reduction as slow.
Druid is an amazing combo with an SK, has a much higher kill speed than Shaman for leveling. Shaman is a powerful combo, with slow and in kunark you would be able to duo in dungeons much easier, and would find it easier to fill a group for dungeons. I personally, would go Druid.. cause nothing powerlevels alts better than having one, and you will both reach higher levels faster. Also, having ports available is amazingly good.
Any wis caster will work but be aware that to main heal with g heal you have to pretty much chain cast it the entire time and if you don't have mana regeneration and cc, preferably from an enchanter, most preferably from an enchanter and a bard, it's far from ideal. I would go cleric, personally. Clerics have a lot of often overlooked utility that's great in small groups and healing is never a problem. Another priest can heal but if you do that you are sacrificing utility simply because there's never enough mana to do it all.
I currently play a Dark Elf Shadowknight and a Troll Shaman, both 56. As a few people mentioned, early on the combo is a little slow. But that is because both classes have not really come into their own with spells and abilities. Early on, I found both characters just melee mobs. As I started to level, the shaman dots were more mana efficient than the slow, because the SK didn't seem to take anything for damage. Once both of them got pets and the shaman got his full compliment of buffs, the SK pulled and tanked, the shaman slowed, casted 1 dot and sat down, both pets attacked. It has worked great. I could see a druid working out just as well. They both have a different type of utility.
