I’m currently running a war/bard/dru 3box on Phini all level 110 and although I actively DoT on Druid and melee with bard (plus epic, Fierce Eye and other bard goodies), I feel like I’m missing a lot of dps. Considering replacing the bard with a pure melee just to muscle through some tougher encounters. Since the launch of EoK and now RoS it’s become hard to rely on the bard to CC and hope my caster mercs don’t get owned. What pure melee/hybrid box would be a good replacement if any for bard, I’m not ready to give up dru and rely 100% on heal mercs. Any info appreciated!
Well for me I answered this question with beastlord in my current box group. I'm a little concerned that beastlord won't be able to provide enough CC to back up the bard so I need to be more creative in how I CC. I have pulling covered though and still do the old style pulling even though I know a lot of groups skip that now. I haven't tried the latest missions TBL/TOV with any success boxing yet, but I keep working on it. Beastlord offers haste and slow and a back up tank with pet while contributing to DPS and ADPS.
Oh also if you run a bard right you can do a lot of DPS with them currently, but it takes a ton of AA to make that happen.
Hybrids are terrible "box" classes because a large part of their dps comes in the form of casting. If you're not using [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] and are just alt-tabbing back and forth between the classes you will lose A LOT of dps by boxing a hybrid. Not saying it can't be done (I box SK/RNG/MAG or SK/MNK/MAG) and have figured out a playstyle that works for me while maintaining a high lvl of dps amongst each toon. But in order to truly rock a hybrid you need to always be casting. WAR BARD is solid, honestly I would ditch the druid and either roll a shm (shm epic + bard epic = $$) for heals, or roll a zerker and work with 3 merc healers.. a lot of folks look down on merc healers... but i have never had problems with mine... max their hp/mana +healing% merc AA and they are rockstars (mine occasionally can offtank a mob or two and keep itself healed in the process)
Will consider repping dru, but the “survival” line of group heals, dot revamp, and especially exodus make it a tough sell. Not to mention TL bind and being able to mobilize 3 toons to a location relatively quickly.
Shm receive the same "survival line" just in a different form, iirc its actually a quicker re-cast time. They also recieve a second version on their BP click (I used RoS spells/bp as an example because of the level range you listed) https://items.eqresource.com/items.php?id=151070 https://spells.eqresource.com/spells.php?id=56443 Also, once you've played with shaman squall line, you will laugh at druid healing. Shm also received dot revamp, they also have combo dots which imo are far better for boxing (click 1 spell, 3 dots land on the mob) As for mobilizing your force better... With three accounts you can run a fellowship (you may already be utilizing this), simply load your druid with the war bard, port them to your hunting ground.... drop a fire. Then just camp your druid, load shm and click fellowship porter. Bam you're now with the other two toons... It may seem a little less efficient but I promise the shaman will make for a far better 3rd box than the druid with the toons you're playing.
Thanks for the insight. Still doesn’t feel like I’d be getting the burn potential I’m lacking, but I will look into sham for sure.
Add a 4th and go zerker. Switch druid for shaman. Run 2 heal mercs and never have to do anything but group heal on the shaman, or use 1 rogue merc for the dps but probably have to actively heal more with the shaman. Bard can be a melody and burn box to cut down on lost potential on the others, while retaining most of its utility.
Why zerker over monk/rogue? Just curious, also do zerkers still have a tanking penalty like they used to, and/or do they get any kind of utility like monk FD or rogue self evac?
It depends alot on your current merc setup. You might want to replace a CLR with a ROG merc. Using two healer mercs is pretty unefficient in most situations as they tend to heal simultaneously. Bards are a nice class to box for the third PC slot as they need little attention and are great pullers. Your WAR/BRD/DRU setup is great if you focus on the warrior and use DPS mercs. You should use 2x ROG with 1x CLR mercs as you already have reported problems with the WIZ mercs. Then play these funky melee haste songs and a slow song for the mob(s) and you will rock and wont need bard CC ! A half descent warrior can easily tank 2 or 3 mobs. You might also want to check your DRU burn setup as it can make a huge difference in DPS. There are some nice debuffs that do indirectly increase melee DPS while also reducing mob fire/cold resistances. Some of your DoTs could also have a duration that is to long for most fights which does mean less DPS and more mana cost.
Thanks for the suggestions, I think before I go re rolling I’m going to try and maximize bard self-dps and a few other tricks mentioned to see if I can get some better results. I always knew about bard synergy but didn’t realize it’s potential. I know that most of the time it’s not the class, but the player behind the keys that can make or break a good setup.
Don't take this personally....but are you crazy??? Mercs are a terrible solution to a non-issue. A stopgap to an invitation of mediocrity. One well-played Cleric will out-heal, outlast, and out-tank three healer mercs. Not to mention all the bennies: double aura, alliance, synergy, arbitration, mark, battle rez - to name a few. If you're already boxing there is no reason; not one, Not.A.Single.Reason to go without a real Cleric box. Choosing three Mercs over a Cleric box is factorially sabotaging and handicapping your own group. Three "rockstars" to do what a single Cleric box can do? Eeesh. Just, wow
I would agree with I-Love_my_Bandwidth .. a real healer class either boxed or a live player outperforms 3 healer mercs any day of the week and twice on Sunday's . A cleric especially.. clerics rock 2 Divine Arbs , shinning bastion, battle rez's , wards, Aura, Anticipated intervention, ward of assurance , 5 AA heals (mix between single target and group) .. cleric hands down beats 2 or 3 merc healers even boxed .. shamans and druids if played or boxed well ditto .. but seriously any healer that can move from being hit to death and do battle rez is better than any merc healer.. lol I would ditch the caster mercs ..put in melee mercs and keep the warrior/bard/druid combo or switch out druid for shaman only cause with the war/bard and 2 melee mercs shaman has some good ADPS for melee focus group .. I would also add a 4th box and box a mage .. then ya got CoH and druid ports if you keep druid dont forget to block Promised heal line on your warrior for your cleric merc might even block their HoT , but for sure the promised otherwise they wait to heal you till the heal triggers on it ..
Lol, maybe I am? Another reason I run 3 healers mercs is I use them like they're expendable... one dies during a massive pull or to a random AE? No big deal i've still got two up. My accounts are a little wierd too, I really anticipated at some point acct to acct transfers would be brought back and I would be able to mix and match my team a little better. That never happened and I just don't have the will power to level up another SHM and AA/gear it out like mine currently is. My Ideal set up would be to run SK MNK SHM or SK MNK BRD but at this point I make it work with what I have. Acct 1 - Monk/Rng Acct 2 - Sk/Shm/Brd/Dru/Bst Acct 3 - Mag
I’m considering the Shaman, it just feels kind of stupid to have both a bard AND sham in a group only providing adps to a warrior and some rogue mercs lol. I don’t plan on adding a 4th box, on phini we’re still truebox and my wrist is already about to fall off. I think the thing I would miss most about the Druid is exodus/succor if things go south, which at 110 so far has been happening ALOT.
Here's a thought: War, Cler, Sham, Melee DPS Merc x3. Cleric <--SYNERGY--> Shaman Warrior becomes invincible. No need to evac any more. You just faceroll content. Trains become pulls. You're welcome.
Caster mercs are under powered. Use rogue mercs. Caster DPS is very slack, you have little caster synnergy, and melee mercs have much better tanking ability (ie, they die less to adds). The only reason to run the caster mercs is if you go up against a melee immune mob. SHM would out perform druid, as you'd no longer need to slow with the bard. AE hate with the SK and AE slow with the SHM. Cleric merc pickup the slack. That port is nice quality of life, but with a bard you already have track, SK and bard have snare, so the dru only bringing ports doesn't much make up for SHM slow and synnergy, especially if switching to rogue mercs. If you do add a 4th box, consider a mage. Druid ports combined with mage CoH and camp fires is incredibly efficient travel. Even trading DRU for SHM, run mage, CoH the rest, much easier, no follow lag issues. Avoiding trains by autoruninning the puller away or DA on the bard and then CoH. Also Mage pet can offtank by setting MA in Xtar 1, then using a hotkey /pet back, /xtar 2, /pet attack. Mage is very easy to box with /pet and /nuke, pause # hotkey. Water pet and cleric merc is fine for most stuff, but earth pet can be beast. Can completely ignore 1 add by sticking mage pet on it and letting cleric merc handle the pet.
I agree with swapping druid for shaman. Shaman heals are miles better than druid and they can bring decent DoT dps on top of the melee adps. War/brd/shm is a really solid core for a melee team. I think it'll be the best in terms of allowing you to do the widest range of content. The main thing the group lacks is burn but I think it's possible to have good enough dps with 3 rog mercs to not really need it.
To be honest, your group isn’t dps focused, but it’s solid. Pop a cleric and dps mercs and call it a day. Boxing an active healer is hard without broadcasting software. I’m assuming your accounts are gold.
I disagree. I leveled a cleric up to 105 on Phinny but I've decided to retire him. I just don't see any reason to continue on with a player cleric when I can A) replace that slot with DPS and B) let the cleric merc heal and use my shaman as backup if needed. I'm group geared and currently in T2 RoS zones. I'm not having much trouble with a merc healer. My tank is an SK if that matters.
