So I am currently playing Bard/Shaman. In Stratos, I can pull and kill trash no problem, but I am struggling with the namers. I am using my mercenary to tank and one healer merc plus shaman to heal. The Merc won't last the entire fight. My bard is doing 100k+ DPS, and my shaman helps with dots. I am currently maxing out Companions fortification on shaman, anyone have experience using shaman pet tanking tier 1 Namers in TBL, with max companions fortification?
Sorry OP but this will not answer your question, only ask more questions of you. Bard setup? what are singing? You list 100k dps.. but not what your songs are? Maybe a Debuff HoS, Ac, heal crit, ac, pulse, and something else like aria, suffering mix Shaman.. if have time to mix in dots.. im assuming non max peak healing? Triple reckless? which and what HoTs? Aid? Growth? Alliance? Heal merc? anything blocked? what gear/AA? What AA or gear does this Tank merc have? I don't think answer is a shaman pet.. but maybe.. best of luck. I would return all my setup on bard and shaman before this focus on shaman pet. And last but not least.. is the kill just to kill and checkmark? if its only a gear drop.. I suggest GMM over stragos.. the find a way to request tyrant of fire.
Okay, so I did GMM and have full GMM non visable, weapons and shields on my bard and shaman. Non visable is basically tier 1 EoK for both toons. Close to 40 luck on both toons. 18,000AA on Bard, 20,000AA on shaman. Bard was singing Aria, War March, Suffering, Ballad, Poison Dot, Disease Dot and with Tune on I mix in two insults. Also juggling both Bellows and Shout to maximize DPS. Using Epic 2.0 with Fierce Eye and Caco on cool down and lyrical prankster. All my other cool downs I saved for Namer. I used heal/mana echo. Current shaman set up is 3x Recks, Intervention Squal Recourse Chaotic Poison Jinx Ancient Alliance Savage growth Incapacity Road Frosbitten gift I think part of the problem is I never really had to heal on my shaman, just throw dots for DPS, so healing is not muscle memory yet. I did just switch around songs on my bard, to be more defensive. My song lineup now is Spiteful for AC for merc, Sonata for more AC and Resist, Pulse for higher heals, Reckless renewal more more crit heals, war march and arcane ballad for dps and using the DPS aria echo. With Tune up ill use my melody that brings in my insults for more dps.
ok thank you for the additional info imho I think I melody bard with Aria, suffer, both AC, crit mod..and get the insults in under Tune. with 95% melody then really heal focus on my shaman as best as I can.. with bind with 3 reckless.. recourse maybe a forced twin with Frose gift.. use all the growth, alliance procs I can. and maybe mix in proc HOT with spell HOT or AA HOT.. As I learn what healing is needed.. I get that amount and then add in dps as I can.. I understand dps zerking is eq.. but damage inc vs healing input is race here.. I assume its a bad round or possible timing issue with merc running out of option.. but a shaman is fine healer.. a shaman with bard mods is better healer that most.. the waves of reckless are mega nice.. combo hots.. etc I think you talking vis t1 armor.. the Tyrant mission is pretty easy if not slow.. with Shaman AE root for cc.. but that t2 stuff that much better. best of luck.. can always invite XXX and team up.. mercs will be coin no matter what.
m I doubt the shaman pet is going to reliably last the entire fight either. Seems like with a bard/sham combo your dps will be kind of light, especially when focused on healing so much. Your fortify companion will likely fade before the mob dies. You could try to go 2 merc healers with the sham pet, but I think the bigger issue here is your merc AA’s? How muchAA do you have dumped into your steadfast resolve and healing merc? Are they maxed? If not they tend to struggle with current namers. Even at maxed it’s tough but more doable.
I tend to think it's unworkable and that you'd be better off making friends with a knight or warrior. There's not a pet power equivalent to what mages and beastlords get for shaman, which would probably be the only way to make it remotely feasible. AI tanks and AI heals just aren't good for TBL at all. They're unable to anticipate and be prepared to react to the dots and severe DDs.
Both are at 11 for tank and healer merc. I was farming for an hour earlier today, no namer spawned. Heading back to stratos now, lets see if I can get a namer to spawn, see how I do. I also have two shaman pets, one i suspended with fortify resolve on, which is currently at 137/155. So when I pull the namer I plan to bring out the other Pet, so if the merc tank dies, I spirit of urgency, bring then have my pet ready for taunt, and if the fight goes beyond 10 minutes, i can fortify again. Let see what happens.
You will have a much easier time when you max out your merc AA’s. It makes a pretty significant difference.
I think you are right, the namer took out the merc like instantly, before i could even cast the slow. I'll try to grind more merc aa's now before i try again.
So for the tank I need to Max out AC/Damage Reduction and Hit Points? What are the mercs stats unbuffed after those are maxed out? I do have the 105 armor from TBL on my tank Merc.
for what it's worth, i'm a fan of using doggo to tank stuff, but he's really just not up to the challenge of TBL. makes for a decent stop-gap if another pet or tank goes down but that's about it on a named.
I've done a named in Stratos twice with 2 shaman dogs and 2 merc healers but its not fun nor is it a short fight. I don't box so I don't have to split my attention and can't offer any guidance there. Fortify companion for both its passive and active portions is pretty awesome. Without this maxed your missing a bit of pet HP and AC. Not sure this is enough to turn the corner for a named but it certainly can't hurt. I didn't see it mentioned here but Companion's Aegis is also a great tool. Its not a rune to brag about to anyone but pressing it whenever you get the chance allows you to catch up on some healing.
Like Kolani said TBL pretty much requires a tank and the AI with mercs just isn't good enough to anticipate the dots, DDs and nasty AEs. Some tasks you can DPS your way through but overall a tank is a huge help.
