Beastlord Duo

Discussion in 'Hybrid' started by Tuuro, Jul 10, 2019.

  1. Tuuro New Member

    Yo,
    So I’m going to ask the same ‘ole tired question. What is the best box for a beastlord? I only ask instead of searching old threads is that, well, it seems like the ‘best’ is subjective and dependent on the current state of the given classes. Every class gets ‘nerfed’ and then corrected … last time I played my pet couldn’t tank, but I’m given to believe that this is no longer the case.

    About me, Tuuro a lvl 95 beastlord played as a main from PoP until DoN. I’ve come back every year or two after a break since DoN, enough to get frustrated and still want to play to see whats new. In my subsequent returns I’ve leveled up at least one of each character class (except a berserker) on my accounts to at least level 85 - while catching up on my BSTs AA’s (only to fall sadly behind the race when I take a break again). I’ll save you my digression about returning to find Heroic Characters - so many wasted hours on those boxes. Don’t get me started on my gear, depressing; at least I get free expansions each time I do buy an expansion when I return.;)

    I’ll most likely use 1 Tank Merc & 1 Healer Merc, but I do switch or drop depending on circumstances. So the box class as I see them:

    Warrior/SK/Pally - I end up playing the bst like a mage box and it makes me @#$%ing sad.
    Shaman - makes me want to load a tank instead of the bst.
    Bard/Mage/Druid - I like them all, but I’m indecisive.
    Chanter/Wizard - Seem to pair better with a class other than bst, like each other.
    Necro - I like afk’ing FD, other than that, meh.
    Ranger/Rogue/Monk/Berserker - Not feeling a hybrid box duo if that makes any sense, seems like a lot of work tabbing and button mashing to make them all run effectively.

    Not sure if I forgot a class or not, but thats how I work them out in my head. I only want to run 2 toons w/ up to 2 mercs. Oh I had transferred all my characters to FV about a year ago, during my 1 week of logging on that cost me far to much for my lack of effort.

    So what’s best?




    P.S. Asking in part because I’m still waiting for Daybreak to help me recover 4 of 5 account passwords; why is it so strange for them to understand you don’t always keep the same phone number, and after the debit card (used for your subs) is expired for more than a year would I for some reason still remember the last 4 digits of it? Wouldn’t bother me, but the beastlord is on one of those accounts!
  2. Chorus Augur

    around level 105, pairing a tank merc with a cleric merc becomes unusable. Of course, the level 105 mercs were buffed after the release of EoK expansion, but I gave up using those 2 mercs together when TDS was released. CoTF expansion made it pretty clear it was a done deal.

    For mercs, you can rely on the cleric merc for quite a while...Like a really long while up to current expansion (not sure if including, because I haven't bought TBL due to limited time right now), but if you really want to be self sufficient these days, I'd pick one of these options for a bst:

    1. a Knight for tanking + self healing/pulling paired with a cleric merc + dps merc or, later on, 2 dps mercs
    2. a druid (or any priest really, but druid gives you better synergy imo) Gives you option of 2 dps mercs with pet tanking.
    3. Bard or Enc for CC/buffs, tank with pet and use cleric merc/dps merc again.

    I strongy recommened the druid or a bard/enc. Mage works well with bst as well, so does necro honestly, but I find the druid/bard/enc option to be the most interesting and lets you main the bst.

    Tank merc is just going to lead you into the land of ultimate frustration and healing them while playing a healer is annoying as well as you'll find the cleric merc won't keep a tank merc alive very well. My trio is a bard/bst/warrior. Prior to the warrior, i was using bard/rng/sham with the tank merc/cleric merc combo, but as I said, by the time TDS rolled out, that particular combo of mercs was just too much downtime and the annoyance level way too high to continue with it. Yes, you *can* make it work, but the effort isn't worth it imo. I'm sure someone will chime in saying it can be done, completely missing the point :p

    But yah, if you want to avoid being frustrated and leaving quickly again, avoid the tank merc. Ultimately, I recommend building your party to not rely on mercs whatsoever, and use them completely as an auxiliary to your box setup, instead of as a key component. You will do much much better, and be happier overall judging by the background you've described.

    I've since added a 4th box of a druid to my setup to achieve this as I've heard that the cleric mercs can and do get one shot by the AE's in the current expansion.
  3. Waldagar Augur

    If you really enjoy playing your BST, then I would recommend a Bard for the duo. Plan on the pet tanking and use a mix of healer/DPS mercs as the situation requires. Two healer mercs plus the BST with 2 pet heals and 2 runes loaded, you can keep a pet up against most named you will run into. Put ToT heal proc weapons on the Bard and it only gets better.
    Skewert and Elyssanda like this.
  4. Bumkus Elder

    If you are not running any 3rd party software to help with key clicks, then I 100% agree that Bard is best box. It fills in many of the missing gaps in BST abilities (like pulling/splitting and just generally getting around). Bard can also boost merc healing if you run into a tough named.

    Another low click option is Rogue. With proper set up, you only need to tab over and click on him every 30 sec or so, and they can burn like the devil.

    I'm currently working up an SK, but honestly i find it to be more clicky than I'd like. My hope was that SK could help when i get swamped with adds, but i find that it requires too much attention to really help me deal with those "oh sh*t" moments.
  5. Petalonyx Augur

    If you want to get to 110 and gear up, the fastest and easiest will be with a mage duo. The mage will more than double your dps, provide strong tank, and gives u coth, which you can use to help pull singles. For anything difficult, use two healer mercs, one on reactive, one on balanced. Otherwise, a dps plus healer.

    You will steamroll gribble missions with this duo, allowing you a streamlined path to 106, when you can pick up conflag pet ear, and then gear up with cohorts in eok.

    Pretty sure you will be able to kill some current expansion named with that duo after gearing and AA grind.
  6. Bumkus Elder

    I tried Mage, but found it to be too clicky. Now my mage just hangs in lobby and summons pet toys. Have people had luck with Bst/Mage when not using 3rd party software or smart keyboards to help with key clicks? Wonder if i was doing it wrong.
  7. Petalonyx Augur

    Mage is commonly regarded as one of the most box friendly without 3rd party apps. It shouldnt be too clicky, unless you are trying to maximize firebound orb. Make your 'pet attack' hotkey, and a nuke macro hotkey. You'll get a lot out of those two buttons alone.
  8. Tuuro New Member

    Thank you all for your replies, I've enjoyed reading what you all had to say. For the life of me I can't decide :mad: I see benefits to each pairing, but just don't want to have to buy a 2nd PC to run more than 2 toons. I've been fishing in PoK I'm so stumped
  9. Eyezing Lorekeeper

    Going to go with what I know would be the unpopular opinion... I used to box my bst with a hard, and that worked well. Still have the board, but it's taken a back burner to boxing 2 bsts. The dps has been amazing. Covenant is no joke in the group game, and when you're just coordinating with yourself, you really only need about an 18sec fight to fire off 2 covenants. And for the more advanced, you'll have he potential of 4 covenants within 30 seconds killing a named. Pulling might not be the strong suit, but I have no issues with 4 mobs with 2 bsts. May not be for everyone, but I'm killing it with 2 bsts
    Brohg likes this.
  10. Vinjin Lorekeeper



    I've played Necro/Beast for years and loved the duo but always struggled with a third toon that made me truly happy. I've tried Druid, Monk, SK and Bard and while all brought something to the table, the Bard has been the best of the bunch and what I've been rolling with recently. Not unhappy with it either.

    Having said that, it never even dawned on me to try another Beast, which is surprising since I've been very happy with what I've been able to accomplish in the group game because of my current Beastlord. To have another strong MT/offtank pet and reap the benefits of Alliance...I'm kinda kicking myself for not thinking of trying that earlier until I read your post.

    Off to PL up another Beastie and give it a go.
  11. Moege Augur

    There is not a single class in EQ that is not clicky if you want any kind of performance out of them.
    Even the dotting classes now has the short term dots that you pair with the nukes to get dps.

    Boxing is strain it is constant switching between windows and keeping buttons red after 2-3 hours you will be questioning your sanity even just doing 3 boxes. The best way I found is tile the windows, set windows input going to focused window (no clicking to get window focus) then I setup each box with the same spamkey. Drag the mouse over the windows with spamkey going and all the boxes perform adequately.

    If things go sideways my usual response is feign sk, totem shaman watch the rest die.

    When tanking have both pets set to taunt even if one has dps buffs, spreads the damage around a bit and they seem to survive more
  12. BadPallyGuildLeader Augur

    This thread is somewhat easy to answer.....

    BARD.... for beastlord duo

    Unless, you start to get into and know where undead areas are and then a pally becomes fabulous.
  13. Anhur Journeyman

    Hi, can you share how you're tiling them? Not been able to do that without using some type of software, and a Google search isn't bearing fruit.
    Skewert likes this.
  14. Moege Augur

    Here is a good description windows tiling
    Scroll down to the bottom section "Arrange Windows From the Task Manager"
  15. Tucoh Augur

    2x beastlords is an interesting box. I think beastlord+bard would generally be better because of versatility and for a beastlord main it might be more fun having a bard maximizing your beastlord's potential, but a lot of the beastlord's ADPS scales to 2 beastlords well. The major teamwork you'd work at would be
    • Approaching 100% uptime on dissident/dicho
    • Maximizing uptime on Beastlord's incredible Primalist's synergy
    • fulminating alliance/covenant on named / tough pulls
    • Sharing damage on the two pets / splitting mob aggro on the two pets / cycling defensive cooldowns on the two pets
  16. Boze TLP complaint factory

    This 2 beastlords idea has completely blown my mind. Maybe I should start boxing...
  17. Eyezing Lorekeeper

    Wow, I expected hate on the 2 bst concept, lol.

    Im far from perfecting the art, but I'm more than happy to share my experience thus far...

    It really is just as if you were to group with another beastlord and be perfectly in sync with them (I've yet to come across another bst willing to put in the constant effort I am)... Maybe I should preface this by saying it's not going to be effortless, but I thoroughly enjoy putting in constant effort... Otherwise I get bored. That being said...

    I'm going to use the camp at the center of mearatas as an example. Scenario is having 1 raid geared bst with a group geared alt. My concept has been all about alternation. Each toon pulls every other mob. Each toon dots every other mob, casting covenant on mobs they don't dot. Covenant firing will eat up around 25-50% of the mobs go. TBH I can't recall a specific %... I do know breeze sentinels have a guard that pretty much absorbs a covenant trigger, but that's neither here nor there...

    With both pets on taunt, usually ill gear up my main bst's pet with armor and hate weps since he has the higher EM, so obviously the preferred tank.

    I used to dot with both bsts to get both bsts alliance off on each mob, but I had 2 issues with that setup... The group beast couldn't keep up with mana despite both group paragons going on cooldown plus both bsts casting focused paragon on him.... Raid bst does just fine with only getting the group versions. The other issue was even in mearatas, I was killing them quick enough that I had times where the second covenant was wasted by triggering at less than 25%. Not a fan of the wasted efficiency there.

    I saved forced rejuvenation for nameds, which are a guarantee there. For THAT scenario, I got very specific with how I got it done... Going to show my order the best I can... I realize not everyone shares my methods of burns, but ..

    -Pre-engage: fortify / BP both pets. Activate venon's on both bsts. Get geomantra + rune on both bsts. Activate blood drinkers coating and the diplomacy papers


    -Engage named with raid pet, raid bst venon's, raid bst polybiad, raid bst BA 12 Minute burn, raid bst protective spirit.

    -Engage with group bst, group bst RF burn, group bst polybiad.

    -raid bst covenant, group bst ekron's, raid bst ekron's, group bst endemic, raid bst endemic.

    -raid bst covenant triggers... Raid bst forceful rejuv + covenant a second time. Add pet shielding AA + monkey spirit.

    -waiting on second covenant trigger, refresh dots on both bsts, adding BA 12 min burn on group bst.

    -second raid bst covenant triggers... Covenant on group bst and aggro dump on raid bst. (FD, pause 1, stand, attack on hotkey)

    -RF should be dwindling... Hit RF on raid bst on fade. Group bst rejuv + covenant on first trigger.

    -Refresh dots waiting on second fulfillment, aggro dumping on group bst upon second fulfillment.

    *Use roar of thunder if you need to drop aggro before it's time to aggro dump. If you do... Don't be stingy with your remaining defensives.
    Obviously, random mechanics of various named's mitigation would change everything, but this would be the basic template. Sorry if it's confusing, but in my experience, the repetition has made it just about thoughtless at this point.

    Good luck friends!
  18. Tucoh Augur

    I'm not a beastlord expert but this looks like a pretty flawless execution template for a beastlord duo.
  19. Brohg Augur

    Dichotomic not Dissident, unless you're grouped with, like, 2-3 rangers or 4. The boosted mana cost of Dissident isn't paid off by the boosted mana return unless at least 3 characters need it. Self counts, and other beastlord would count. But there'd need to be another character or two really blowing through mana for Dissident to take over at group-available ranks.

    Primalist's Synergy is fine, it's not "incredible" by any stretch. 144k "free" (1200AA) damage per teammate is nice, but that's only a hit or two of regular melee.

    Covenant and Dicho are where you really get paid for running two bst. Covenant most especially when duo since it'll be reliable even on regular mobs; Dicho most especially in larger teams. Full uptime there sounds i n c r e d i b l e
    Tucoh likes this.
  20. Waldagar Augur

    Primalist's Synergy also hits primary pets. It scales really nicely the more BSTs you have in the group.