Hey guys looking for some help deciding on how to finish my 3 box. I run a beastlord main with a bard and love both the characters but have never been able to settle on a 3rd. I think I've narrowed it down to one of these... 1. Druid - best dps of choices(?), group heals to help mercs with aoes, ports, evac, a little adps for bst nukes, atk debuffs(if they are still relevant in todays game) 2. Shaman - dps, best heals of choices, best adps of choices, debuffs, buffs 3. Warrior - decent dps (with bst+brd buffs from what i understand), sturdiest tank for tought fights, easiest tank to box (can focus on bst), no emergency heals for group when mercs brains turn off 4. Paladin - lowest dps of choices, but gives me group heals for emergencies and a plate tank, harder to box then war (might pull more of my attention away from bst) All my reasons for considering the classes are from reading around the forums, some from older post so correct me if any of it is outdated. I'd like to be able to get through as much content as possible with my group. Would it be worth it to level up one priest and one tank and switch them depending on what I'm trying to accomplish at the time? Thanks for any input guys.
What level is your duo? What content are you running now and do you find it difficult? I think your choice will be guided by the amount of time you can put into the game. A plate tank requires a lot of effort to match the beast pet. Gear, aa, progression aa, tribute trophies, augs, etc all make a big difference and these can take years to acquire (for a casual like me). Whereas the beast pet only needs a good earring and pet tank aa. Are you happy with your pet’s ability to tank? If so I think Druid, a melee, or mage would be a good choice. A melee dps would add a lot to the group but are harder to box. Mage would also work well and are easy to box. For some missions it’s really helpful to have two tanks. Also if you had a mage pet you can put both pets on taunt to share overall damage taken.
I play a Paladin / BST / Bard combo and I love it. It’s a 30/60/10 split for attention. But given that, as previously mentioned, any real player tank is going to take a lot of work. But if you’re willing to put in the work, they are hand over fist better than a pet tank I’d only recommend a tank class if you’re planning on jumping into current content. If you’re enjoying the ride and not planning on tackling ToV, then I’d suggest either a Mage or a Druid. With the Beastlord and Bard combo, you’d have a lot of overlap with adding a Shaman.
Thanks for the responses guys. To answer hiolpe's questions: The bst and brd are each 105 now, aaing in eok. I find I can only kill a select few named mobs in eok, haven't been able to tackle the ones with big single target nukes or aoes yet. That is probably mostly me being under geared, but I am slowly gathering armor for my characters. I would like to get into current content eventually and I don't mind putting in the work to gear up a tank if that will let me experience more of the game than one of the priests. I wouldn't mind camping augs and gear for my tank if that's what it takes (I spent way to much time hunting down illusion items on my bard, gearing a tank would probably be a better use of my time ). Maybe I'll level up a druid and pally till the auto-grant aas run out and see who fits my play style better. Thanks again!
Your narrowed list makes sense, though you'd want to add SK in there. A plate tank will offer your three-box by far the most value. Warrior is your best choice followed by sk/pal. As you say, warriors provide the least effort box-tank that lets you focus on your beastlord the most. Additionally, most warrior damage comes from auto-attack which the beastlord buffs dramatically through his dichotomic fury ability, so a warrior in dual wielding mode will generate tremendous damage from a bard/bst ADPS. A dru/sha class would be fine too, but I'd only pursue them if you wanted the focus of the group to be your beastlord and warder. Once you switch to a plate tank you'll probably drive the group with them and your beastlord will feel like a DPS + ADPS box.
Mage is also a good option if you don't want to play a plate tank. Pet weapons, automated pet tank, DS, CoH your group and also it adds caster DPS for mobs resistant to melee. I you are on a server with FTP, you can FTP some boxes like a wizard/mag/dru for quality of life abilities like pet weapons and ports, while using a plate tank. A FTP druid/shm at max level with auto grant AA can patch heal from out of group as well. As FTP they can't earn more AA so no reason to bother having them in group.
Druid: This is a very good choice, Druid debuffs are undervalued by boxers but they are still effective paired up with a Bard they can do some solid DPS as well as decent healing so long as you precast HoT before pulls & keep reptile on the Druid's debuffs will along with a Beastlord slow make this a strong trio. This trio will mean that you need to get used to managing a Merc Tank effectively even if you mainly use the BST pet as a tank, a Merc tank can situationally be almost no work or a lot of work, knowing when to use or not use the Main Tank setting / how to mange positioning with setting the passive/aggressive/assist modes & reducing "run out" by switching puller mode on/off) Tank: Knights work really well in groups as a player class though they have a higher attention workload when boxed & as BST is already a fairly high attention workload class to get decent performance out of it this can be a stumbling block unless you are very capable & can split your attention efficiently, the Warrior is the much easier tank to use but has less flexibility than the Knights and why many boxers choose it. Shaman: Has too much overlap with BST Abilities to really be the strongest choice for a BST in my opinion and is one of the busiest classes in the game, if you aren't almost constantly casting with the Shaman it is being poorly utilised. Easiest three classes to box here WAR/BRD/BST Hardest three classes to box here SHM/BRD/BST
