Best 3 box for Bard? (and maybe Necro)

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Hexsim, Jan 16, 2021.

  1. Hexsim New Member

    Posted this on Reddit, but doesn't seem as active as these forums..

    "Haven't played in quite some time, but I have a level 98 Bard (main) and 97 Necro, as well as a level 38 (free account atm) Shaman all on separate accounts.

    Currently I do my (2box) tanking with the Bard + 2 Healer Mercs, which works reasonably well on most same level/slightly higher level content... Named are a bit difficult, but 'usually' doable with enough AAs/avoidance abilities running. Plus I'll probably try to get the Bard raid geared eventually, which will help.

    Now the primary question is.. will this group be enough as it is for current higher level content with all access, once the Shaman is around the same level? Will the Bard be able to continue to Tank having essentially 3 merc healers + Shaman heals/slow/utility? Cus it doesn't seem like the T5 Merc Tank cuts it at all.. dies very easily in most cases already.

    Otherwise, if I were to ever replace the Necro or Shaman (Druid?) with anything - what would the best (and most fun) options be? I like the idea of maybe an SK in place of Necro to tank stuff but I hear they need a lot of AA to be useful.

    List your own picks for Bard 3box, with good synergies, or what you think would work best. Thanks!"
  2. KrakenReality Augur

    Add the SK, it’s a very fun class to learn plus AAs are autogranted up to EOK. It’ll make it very manageable to build your SK as the later expansions (RoS, TBL, ToV, CoV) don’t add any new AA lines. You’ll just have to focus on the main SK items for 106+. AAs always look like a big mountain to climb, but realistically now that EoK has been autogranted it makes a small hill.

    A real tank is going to dramatically improve your gameplay experience versus a shaman.
  3. Hexsim New Member

    Ah see I was going to replace the Necro with the SK.. I hadn't considered replacing the Shaman, but that might actually make more sense, since I have so much invested in the Necro already.. though it seems pretty easy to level anything up nowadays.

    And I'm sure it'll be better for the group's DPS to keep the Necro in. Or is Bard/Sk/Sham at all sufficient dps, maybe with 1 dps merc?

    That would also be going on the free account which I haven't decided if I'm gonna try and all access yet or not, that's one major drawback. And Necro and SK are pretty similar so that's another (minor) drawback I guess.
  4. Tucoh Augur

    Bard/sk/sham is a top tier 3box.

    Bard/sk/nec is a good 3box. Though I don't know how strong necromancers are right now at max level, so I'd recommend talking to a qualified necro before deciding whether to replace the shaman or necromancer. I'd recommend talking to someone ingame vs on the forums, necros are a reclusive bunch.
    Hexsim and IblisTheMage like this.
  5. Hexsim New Member


    Tbh this is exactly what I needed to hear. I didn't go into this thinking I wanted it to be top tier, but the fact that it is makes me want to try it that much more..

    As a curiosity though, are there any other 3boxes you would rate as "top tier" or close to it? Or is there like a consensus or list of such a thing anywhere? Doesn't have to include any of my classes, more just a curiosity as I said.
  6. Tucoh Augur

    war or sk and any two of berserker, bard and shaman are all really strong. Which is best is situational. I only play a warrior so I can't comment with any authority on sk vs war, though I suspect SK is superior in most respects.

    Paladins and other combinations will work fine. Any three box without a plate tank is mediocre.
  7. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Something I recommend when setting up a box group is to stop thinking about classes and think about roles instead. Set your 3-box up as a tank, support and healer.

    So on account 1 you have toons like SK, WAR, MAG, PAL, BST w/e you are going to tank with.
    Account 2 is support, BRD, ENC, SHM, BST, w/e is going to take on the support role.
    Account 3 is healer, DRU, CLR, SHM.

    My 3-box is MAG (tank), ENC (Support), CLR (Priest). If I want to switch something, I would do plate tank in place of my mage, BRD in place of ENC and DRU in place of CLR. I can then switch b/t MAG/SK and CLr/DRU anytime and the box is still efficient.

    You can change these these 3 roles obviously, such as if you plan to always use a cleric merc, you can use account 3 for a DPS, and if you want to use a tank merc you can use account 1 for a DPS.

    So in your current makeup, your bard is account 2, it handles all of your support. You necro is account 1, it is a DPS that subs in your tank slot, and your SHM is account 3, which provides your priest roles.

    Once you think of these 3 accounts as tank/support/priest then you can easily make decisions on which toon to switch with what.
  8. Stageguy Lorekeeper

    I box a SK/Bard duo and it works very well. 115 Bard with good AA's can weave 9 buff songs at a time and basically stand around while the SK/pet/healer merc/dps merc do all the work. If you get in trouble the Bard can slow or mez. The SK and SK pet can feign death and regroup when things go really bad.
  9. Sprained wrist hurts New Member

    sk/bard/sham, like Tucoh said, is a great combo. The tank will take a decent time investment when you get down to farming augs, but it's worth it. Very worth it.
  10. IblisTheMage Augur

    I have grown to believe any box team should be built around SK, BRD, even caster groups.
  11. lumdaen New Member

    I box monk, bard and druid with tank,cleric and rogue merc.Druid is nice for porting group to bind spot.Major problem are named in newer expansions!!Even 2 cleric mercs can't always keep up healing tank merc at times.Hopefully lates patch changes that :)
  12. Zamiam Augur

    Account 1 : Tank <pally :p > Pally self heals and is decent tank
    Account 2 : Bard support role .. CC plus tracking
    Account 3 : Druid or wizzy Ports and DPS or extra healing
    Account 4 : Mage CoH group manuverability is Key , DS , and off tank with pet or swarm also DPS..

    Also with 3+ accounts you get to use Campfire (CF) .. when multiboxing moving toons around with ports and Coh and CF makes all the difference .. and even with 4 box still leaves room for 2 mercs so can use 1 healer and 1 dps .. or 2 dps if your comfortable healing with pally and druid ..
    also 3 of those accounts can remain F2P then when they hit 110 sub 1 at a time autogrant get a few aa's that month and then revert back to F2P . so only account that really needs to remain active is the Tank account