help me mah drood

Discussion in 'Priests' started by Goranothos, Jun 28, 2017.

  1. Goranothos Augur

    Long story short, been 2 boxing mage/shammy for years. Decided to add a third toon a while back. Tried chanter. Decided I wasn't very good at "chanting". Perhaps I'll revisit that in the future. Here's the thing...I'm pretty good at 2 boxing, but add one more toon and it's a bit much of a multi-task for me, so I need a rather "hands off" third toon....something that adds utility and perhaps DPS, but that I can hit a macro button and forget. Yea, bard, I know, but I really don't want bard right now, and the lure of ports is strong, so I created a heroic druid and am PLing her.

    So, max level mage/shammy, and assume max level druid with all autogrant AAs. Looking for any helpful advice on how to play the druid with that setup. Anything will be appreciated, from spell line-ups, to which AAs are good, any specific gear I should go after, etc. On the buffing side, what buffs can the druid cast that will compliment the shammy buffs?

    This is group game only, obviously. Mage pet tanking. Mercs will probably be one healer, two DPS mercs (either caster or melee DPS).

    Edit: Subject line was supposed to say p-i-m-p my drood. Not sure why that triggered a censor. SMH.
  2. Khauruk Augur

    Fire/attack debuffs.

    Fire proc line for spells.

    Use black wolf and white wolf as often as they pop.

    Nuke and dot.

    Ranger is also pretty good for boxing - decent pulling utility, and you can do more dps than you'd suspect with bow and just a bit of nuking.
    Goranothos likes this.
  3. DruidCT Augur

    Dots will be tough with Mage pet tanking. NFW is an Agro magnet
  4. Vindicate Elder

    The problem with mage shaman is they're pretty awesome as a box duo. That's what I played throughout all of CoTF before I took a break. Can pretty much beat the game with those 2. Adding a 3rd is really going to cut into your efficiency, you might even hurt your overall group dps by making the wrong choice and trying to play another class too. I've watched some pretty amazingly bad boxing lately, this one poor fellow was boxing an entire group, no mercs. All good toons, he had the tank, the dps, the healing and everything going. I sat in and parsed quite a few mobs on my rogue and watched how he did with this setup. His entire group DPS was less than I know what even one of his mages was capable of solo. It made me sorta sad. Don't fall into that trap of spreading yourself too thin and thinking somehow its not as bad as it is because you've got all these toons doing something.

    I tend to focus on one primary tanking roll, one primary utility/dps roll, and if I'm 3 boxing it better be a toon that I only have to spend a total of 2-3 seconds on per fight. Like a berserker! A few button presses from one of those and you'll have 50% of a mobs health gone in current content. Then go back to focusing on your other toons. (Compliments well with shaman.)
    Rogue is also good for this. (Compliments well with shaman)
    Ranger only if its a lazy headshooter, otherwise they are completely lousy for dps as an autoattacker.
    Monks.....Do okish, mash a lot of buttons fast and you can tab out for a bit
    Wizards / Mages / BSTs / Necros / Bards / Enchanters / Druids all of these suffer from bad boxing, and in most cases any knight or warrior with a 2h and just autoattacking can out dps the poorly played ones, you will never beat a knight with a 2h in DPS by using a macro on any of the above unless its a very very short fight and the wizard just rolled some high numbers off a 4 or 5 nuke macro, then its a big maybe...These classes need to be played and focused on to realize their potential or they're pretty much just worthless. Sending a mage pet in does not = dps either, mage pets are very very poor dps and I'm really tired of seeing the pet classes send in the pet to act as dps but then not casting any spells. oooo myyy goodness... I've grouped with a BST before that sent in his pet and stayed outside of melee range cuz he was dpsing.....BSTs sound like a great next toon! They're not... to get any dps out of one at all they are incredibly spammy, even with max gear they are poor dps if you aren't constantly smashing keys. A knight with sword shield offtanking a mob will get higher dps or at least equivalent dps to a BST 3rd in line as a box. I've watched BSTs with EoK weapons and at least full tier1 group gear barely break 20k dps, I wouldn't even have thought it possible but they just autoattack and cast a couple of dots. With a shaman in group your knight with a 2 hander just standing behind a mob autoattacking can get 45-65k dps on average with no difficulty at all.

    Your mage is an outstanding dps source and should be your highest dps, followed closely by the shaman who would be mirrored by a rogue or berseker if they where your 3rd box (These two still have the potential at this point to be your highest dps, they're awesome). If DPS isn't your thing, sure make any kind of utility you want. You could make a druid to log in port you somewhere and then log back out, don't even have to put clothes on it, and probably end up playing better than trying to play mage shaman and druid to potential all at once.
    Goranothos likes this.
  5. Goranothos Augur

    @Vindicate That makes a lot of sense and I have noticed that my play does suffer every time I try to add a third toon. But, it is a game after all, so I think I'll try the druid out and see how it goes. You're right though, a lot can be done with a mage/shammy in the group game.
  6. Goranothos Augur

    Can anyone suggest a beginning spell lineup for me to try? Assume level 105.
  7. Pootle Elder

    I box (probably badly) for fun rather than full max DPS.

    Druid setup is (don't remember spell names)...

    Quick Heal
    Slower Heal
    Nuke that heals Targets Target
    Another nuke
    Nuke (wind type) with Stun
    Skin to Seedlings (Debuf: increases incoming fire damage by 10%. Your mage will love this)
    Desease Dot
    Fire Dot
    Natures Firey Wrath (very agro Dot, use with caution)
    Short duration buff (i think skin like reptile or something)
    Short duration buff (really cant remember)
    Evac

    Important AAs (at least ones i use a lot)
    Blessing of Ro -- Every Mob Every Time... I pull with this debuf.
    Entrap -- snare for every mob, no need for spell slot
    Veil of the Underbrush -- Fade. (combined with Entrap is awesome for pulling and splitting groups)
    Paralitic Spores / Spray -- knockback single / group root - ghetto druid crowd control.
    Exodus -- insta group evac.
    Storm Strike -- mana free small nuke
    Innate/Shared Camo -- insta click (even while running) invis

    There are a bunch of others, and I am sure I am not playing to a Druids full potential, but I enjoy my time in game, so thats what counts.
    Goranothos likes this.
  8. S33k3r Augur

    The following is something i posted on my guild's forum on how I boxed my druid. It relies on whoever is tanking been able to keep agro when Nature's Fiery Wrath is running.

    The spell line up is designed so I do not have to swap spells in/out and any toon I box has a similar macro setup (i.e. press 1 for assist, 2 for attack....)

    I used the following spell lineup :-
    1 - Ferocious Growth
    2 - Pellicle of the Reptile
    3 - Wildspark Aura
    4 - Lunasoothe
    5 - Twincast
    6 - Anabatic Roar
    7 - Dichotomic Winds
    8 - Winter's Wildflame
    9 - Remote Sunflash
    10 - Nature's Fiery Wrath
    11 - Agent Thornmaw
    12 - Sunflash

    Yes there is only 1 heal loaded, I rely on a merc healer to keep my SK up (& lifetap like crazy). I do not load any debuffs as I only use Blessing of Ro AA when I am not in raids.

    I rely on GINA a lot and have triggers for my buffs / DoTs dropping so i can track what my boxed druid is doing. I also prefer using /xtar instead of /assist

    Playing can be broken into the following...

    Buffing (every 5-8 mins)

    With a SK & Druid it's a pita to keep up the various short duration buffs. I have GINA timers to report when Growth / Aura wears off and click on the appropriate macro below.

    #Buff macro
    /pause 1,/xtar 5 - target group tank
    /pause 39,/cast 1 - Ferocious Growth
    /pause 40,/cast 2 - Pellicle of the Reptile
    /alt act 699 - Swarm of Fireflies

    #Regen macro (no idea why I call it that)
    /pause 27,/cast 3 - Wildspark Aura
    /pause 10,/useitem 17 - Druid BP
    /pause 13,/alt act 1118 - Distant Conflagration
    /alt act 939 - Group Cheetah

    For mana regen I have the following macro which i cast when needed

    #Mana macro
    /timer 3000
    /pause 48,/mem Mana - Spell set with only Nurturing Growth in slot 4
    /cast 4
    /pause 33,/cast 4 - Spell set with only Lunasoothe in slot 4
    /mem Luna

    This macro will start a 5 min timer, swaps in Nurturing Growth, casts it and swaps back to lunasoothe.

    Fighting normal mob

    I use winEQ and the ` key is setup to switch me to the next EQ instance running. I will cycle through each EQ instance and press 1 & 2 which runs the following macros.

    #1 Assist Key
    /pause 1,/xtar 1 - target group tank's target
    /alt act 1480 - 1st Spire
    /alt act 10397 - Group Black Wolf
    /alt act 15073 - Banestrike
    /alt act 935 - Blessing of Ro

    #2 Attack macro
    /pause 22,/cast 10 - NFW
    /pause 13,/alt act 954 - Firestorm
    /pause 37,/cast 11 - Argent Thornmaw
    /pause 36,/cast 6 - Anabatic Roar
    /cast 9 - Remote sunflash

    The assist macro will make sure Grp Black Wolf and 1st Spire are cast as often as possible. I also have a timer that tells me to cast single Black Wolf when Grp version has ~80 seconds left to run, this way druid gets best use of Black Wolf.

    The Attack macro will load NFW (our best nuke/dot) and Argent Thornmaw (very cheap DoT). There is no point in using any other DoTs so I finish with some nukes (remote adds a little healing)

    Normally that would be enough to kill 1 mob but depending on mob's health I may then hit the following macro which will cast whichever nuke is available. I have a trigger for NFW wearing off so I will recast when required.

    #Nuke macro
    /cast 7 - Dichotomic Winds
    /cast 6 - Anabatic Roar
    /cast 8 - Winter's Wildflame
    /alt act 954 - Firestorm
    /cast 9 - Remote sunflash


    Fighting multiple normal mobs

    I try to pull 2 - 4 mobs depending on location / group setup / mood. If there is more than 1 mob I will cycle through each mob and hit the following key

    # Dot macro
    /pause 1,/xtar 1
    /cast 11 - Argent Thornmaw
    /cast 12 - Sunflash
    /cast 10 - NFW

    On the last mob I use the assist / attack macros as shown in the previous section. Once I kill the target I then pick the mob with the highest health and use assist macro and attack/nuke macro depending on health.

    This way each mob is taken some damage while I target 1 and kill it. I suppose I could AE but I prefer this approach.

    Burning mob

    When I want to burn a mob I will use the Assist macro from above to target them and then one of the following 2 macros. Burn1 can be used every 5/6 mins and I will use this as often as I can. Burn2 can be used every 15 mins so normally reserved for named but if I am just grinding exp I will use it all the time.

    #Burn1 macro (can be used every 5-6 mins depending on Twincast rank)
    /timer 3200
    /pause 11,/alt act 768 - Season's Wrath
    /useitem 17 - Druid BP
    /alt act 386 - Nature's Fury
    /cast 5 - Twincast

    #Burn2 macro (every 15 mins)
    /timer 9000
    /pause 1,/alt act 953 - Destructive Vortex
    /alt act 515 - Improved Twincast
    /useitem 17 - Druid BP
    /alt act 494 - Silent Casting

    Once I have selected the burn i want, I hit the following macro (Burn1 casts a spell so have to be mindful of global cooldown).

    #DPS Key
    /pause 22,/cast 10 - NFW
    /pause 13,/alt act 954 - Firestorm
    /pause 37,/cast 11 - Argent Thornmaw
    /pause 22,/cast 12 - Sunflash
    /cast 7 - Dicho

    This macro will stack 3 DoTs and Dicho. I follow this macro with my Nuke macro and when NFW drops I will use my Attack macro.

    I have timers for all my DoTs so depending on how fight/agro is going I may recast them.

    Other

    I also have the following Glyph macro which I use when I'm in the mood (if you're not max AA then you may not want to use this one)

    # Glyph macro (every 10 mins)
    /timer 6000
    /alt act 7019
    /pause 2
    /alt buy 7019
    Baza and Goranothos like this.
  9. Ofearl Slayer of all things Stupid

    Thanks for the detailed write up on the druid macros, mine is finally 105 and ready to get the grind on. Currently i have only set up one for an assist, snare, and dot. Looking for a way to alt tab and hit a couple buttons for some damage, maybe some heals while i alt tab back to tank. I dont want to run is boxer or key bind. So trying to keep it simple.
  10. S33k3r Augur

    I use Wineq (free version) as this allows me to :-
    • define a hotkey to cycle through my eq clients
    • remove borders from windows
    • have a custom eqclient.ini so main has max graphics and boxed alts have min.
    My hotkey is the ` key so when I am boxing I do the following :-
    • Pull with my alt and drag mob(s) back to camp
    • hit ` to switch to 1st boxed toon and then 1 followed by 2 to trigger my assist and attack macros
    • hit ` to switch to 2nd boxed toon and then 1 followed by 2 to trigger my assist and attach macros
    • hit ` to switch to main
    As the ` 1 2 keys are close together it is easy to quickly cycle through my boxed toons and return to my main where I can concentrate.
    Baza likes this.
  11. Baza New Member

  12. Baza New Member

    WOW TYVM Great Help!!!
  13. Nylrem Augur

    Setting up macros and alt tabbing... ya, it can be worse trying to run 3 toons, than 2...

    Boxed mag/cleric either alt tabbing, or desktop/laptop for years.

    Started using ISB less than a year ago, and added wife's pally...

    Since, have added 4 more accounts. (initially FTP, but buy krono for them occasionally to boost AA, when farm enough PP to purchase, which is MUCH easier to do with a full group)

    Get and use ISB(oxer)... I promise, you will not regret it.

    $50 per year, or can try it for like $15 for 3 months, and it has a wizard, so is super easy setup for just initial keybind broadcasting.

    I can almost promise you, you'll add more toons, and start playing them MUCH more efficiently than alt tabbing.

    I have zero issues with my druid agro and pet tanking, and that's casting NFW within a second or two of pet engaging. Use AIR pet, with proc sword main hand, and agro sword off hand.

    I multibind most everything.

    For my accounts, I spam '1' for a few seconds upon engage, which will engage/assist, and cast each toon's debuff AA/spells, and initial spells, then change to '2' to continue spamming whatever spells/AA want to use to DPS, until mob dead.

    For druid's '1' hotbar, I have:

    Button 1: Assist social:
    /assist Nylrem
    /alt act 768 {season's wrath}
    /alt act 10397 {group sogw}
    /alt act 935 {blessing of ro}
    /alt act 1480 {spire}

    Button 2: NFW
    Button 3: Dissident
    Button 4: Remote sunshock
    Button 5: Typhonic Roar
    Button 6: Cyclonic Roar
    Button 7: Icerend Aura
    Button 8: BP clicky

    For '2' hotbar, I have:

    Button 1: DPS social:
    /alt act 520 {nature's guardian}
    /alt act 1118 {distant conflag}
    /alt act 954 {fire nuke}
    /alt act 3728 {bolt nuke}
    /alt act 956 {frost nuke}

    Button 2: Dissident
    Button 3: Remote
    Button 4: Winter's Wildblaze
    Button 5: Typhonic
    Button 6: Cyclonic
    Button 7: Icerend Aura
    Button 8: Geomantra clicky

    I personally don't use any other DoTs other than NFW for group stuff, too mana intensive, and mobs die quickly enough, that I don't need.

    Can do similar for shaman, with something like counterbias > DoT > DoT whatever, for first hotbar, and Zrelik's > Nuke > Squall > Nuke > Nuke for second, ish.

    For single pull mobs, shaman's heals, plus druid's remote heals, abundant healing procs, plus mage's proc'd heals from chaotic and theft of essence, should be no need to cast targeted heals on pet...

    Sooo… use 3 melee DPS mercs, and have a separate multibind to target pet /xtar # (whatever pet assigned to) and quick heals, for both priests, for multiple mob pulls, help for named, etc.

    ISB, and multibinding for all 3, and 3 DPS mercs, your group should be in the 1 mil + sustained DPS range.

    Alt tabbing just cannot compared to the efficiency of using a key broadcast system, and multibinding.
  14. Herf Augur

    Bard is a good third box for dungeon crawls or XP'ing. So is a wiz.

    With a bard you create several hotkeys with different melodies of mem'd songs. I have one labled Travel (selos speed), one labeled combat (half a dozen different player hastes, mob slows, player buffs), and one labeled Healing (mana + health regen). Also one labeled Stopsong (/stopsong) because there's a bug that can lock up songs and Stopsong stops the bug. Main toon pulls mobs and starts agro...you hit the hotkey for Combat...and leave the bard alone or have him auto attack. GTG. Then turn off Combat and turn on Healing between pulls. Just remember NOT to move from camp to camp while playing the combat songs as the AOE could attract 'volunteers'.


    Wiz is even easier. One hotkey to /assist main, then 2-3 keys that nuke.
  15. Cydonia Elder

    (I know this thread is 3 year old) but, the correct answer here is clearly bard. (You say you don’t want bard, but bard is still the right choice rofl)