Yet another "best 3-4 box thread" for Mage/Bard?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Hexsim, Jan 24, 2021.

  1. Hexsim New Member

    So after making >this thread< I decided to go with a Mage (pet) for "main tank" since I'm not gonna be able to afford all access/dlcs anytime soon to make a halfway decent plate tank viable. The question then is, what compliments the Mage the best in a 3-4 box?

    I already have a lvl 98 Bard, which is my "main" and too fun/handy not to play, and a level 97 Necro which are each on silver accounts, as well as level 40 shaman and druid on 'free' accounts, that i'll need to decide between but leaning towards Druid for just way more fun. And the Bard is in for sure, but what about the Necro?

    More importantly.. if I do play the Necro then i'd have to put the Mage on fully free account (instead of the Necro's account), which I may or may not upgrade to all access even if I can afford it anytime soon. So I don't know how that will play out if I don't really ever upgrade it for AAs, or I guess I'd simply have to upgrade that instead of the Necro one to keep the Mag pet tank viable?

    Bard and Necro are both just under 3k AA too so it's no huge loss if I don't play the Necro. Fyi all accounts only have up to base DLC = RoS I guess.

    Bottom line/TL;DR Nec/Mag/Brd/Dru for 4 box + 2 T5 heal mercs? Or else maybe just Mag/Brd/Dru since i'm not sure I really even wanna 4box lol.. Or is there any other combos I should consider? And Mage HAS to be all access at some point for pet tank AAs, yes?

    Thanks for putting up with all my "back to the game again/ftp" question threads! lol
  2. Bobbybick Only Banned Twice

    3 Mag / Bard. 1-2 cleric mercs depending on how tanky your mage pets are, drop 1 for a caster dps merc when pets are no longer an issue.

    Why have 1 tank pet when you can have 3 + swarms.
    eqgamer, Etha and Zamiam like this.
  3. Hexsim New Member


    Eh personally I'd just rather have the variety, plus I loved my Necro for years and am finding myself enjoying Druid more and more, so I want to at least consider them. I get the appeal here too but I'm not really one to play the same class on more than one box if I can help it.

    Up until recently I didn't even want to play more than 2 box, just out of principle, but I managed to get past that. However, this idea is still an exception for me and probably always will be. Still open to other class suggestions though and what works well for others.

    Appreciate the response, nonetheless ;)
  4. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Please don't start new threads for what is essentially the same topic.

    ENC and DRU best compliment the MAG.
    Barton likes this.
  5. Hexsim New Member


    I'm sorry what?... same topic as what?... o_O
  6. Goranothos Augur

    Shammy all the way. I've been 2 boxing Mage/Shammy for years, and they complement each other very nicely. Even before I started boxing, my best friend in game was a shammy and we often grouped together. Shammy FTW.

    If you're gonna pet tank, get the best EM you can possibly get, and max out your pet AAs ASAP.
  7. Vitiated New Member

    Mage necro actually works out very nicel. Mage pet tanks, necro pulls,snares, dps. With CoH you can get very creative on your pulls too.
  8. Tappin Augur

    Just go with more dps, unless you’re using broadcasting software. Since you have a bard, you can chose whatever you want.
  9. Accipiter Old Timer


    You won't be able to transfer off the same account. Account-to-account transfers have been disabled for years.
  10. Maedhros High King

    Necro is very difficult to box. I can get away with boxing my bard and necro but even to do some really quick things like recasting bard epic and fierce eye every 3 minutes and getting the melody restarted can throw you off your necro casting rhythm pretty easy.
    I don't use IS-boxer but I know enough about it to expect that of all the classes the necro is most difficult to integrate. I personally try to shoot down peoples hopes and dreams of somehow using a necro in a multibox setup. It can be done, but there really are so many better options.
    On the other hand, as was mentioned above you can really kick some butt on IS-boxer with multiple mages. Mages only really spam cast the same 4 or 5 spells and that is pretty easy to set up to good results. There is a reason we have years of griping about 6 boxed mage groups being so dominant on TLP.
    The way that chanters work in the group game, I can see them being useful in your situation because it wouldnt be too hard to set one up to spam the top dot that has nuke component.and a couple of nukes for chromatic haze procs. There is the utility side of chanters that is attractive too, but the cc side of things takes considerably more effort to manage than a bard. I have a melody that casts bard ae mez every 2nd song, and since melody just skips a song now if it isnt refreshed its like automated ae mez. Additionally bard and chanter in the same group is not exactly redundant but diminishing returns by having both in a group.
    Personally if it were me, and we are going with mage and bard as 2 main components of a 4 box crew, and a tank is off the table then I would select a shammy and 2nd mage to round out the 4.
    Goranothos likes this.
  11. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Necro is very much the same as any other caster class to box. Easier than melee, for certain.

    Just build out hotkey macros
    /pause 60, /cast 1
    /pause 60, /cast 2
    /pause 60, /cast 3
    /pause 500, /cast 4 ;this pause can be set to however long you need it
    /g Recast Necro DoTs! (this is a reminder to swap to Necro and press the hotkey again)



    For the Bard, create two hotkey macros:
    Assist
    /pause 3, /assist main
    /pause 3, /attack on
    /pause 30, /useitem Blade of Vesagran
    /pause 3, /alt act 3506
    /melody 1,2,3,4,5,6


    Epic/FE
    /pause 3, /stopsong
    /pause 30, /useitem Blade of Vesagran
    /pause 3, /alt act 3506
    /melody 1,2,3,4,5,6
    /timer 180
    Zamiam likes this.
  12. Zamiam Augur

    I like this .. took a screenshot of it so i could refer to it later .. I make macro's all the time for my box'd toons and im thinking of adding a necro I like the pause you put in there then the /g recast dots ; line .. nice . never occurred to me to put in a group line to remind me of dots or spells to recast .. so sometimes i would hit macro once and then forget to hit it again unless its a long fight ..

    also anyone know the symbol to put in after the line to put or add a note for like what AA it is .. thx
  13. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Semicolon at the end of a line to add a note. 97% certain anyway.

    You could also link a GINA trigger to your /g Recast Necro DoTs or an in-game trigger for an audible cue.

    Welcome!!!! :)
  14. Maedhros High King

    Ooof.
    This will net you about 10% necro potential.
    I suppose if you are not reapplying dots, and are ok with simply slapping 4 dots on per mob in an exp grind settings you could get by with it, but I am still standing firm with the idea that a second mage would net a better return.
  15. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    You're smarter than that. Come on.

    This isn't intended to be a one-stop NecroDPS shoppe. It's intended to be a primer for macro hotkeys.

    Honestly...."Ooof". :rolleyes:
  16. Goranothos Augur

    Speaking of macros, yesterday I dusted of my 3rd account and found my 105 Druid, which I may add to my mage/shammy team.

    Anyway, it's been a long time since I've changed or added any macros. Where can we find a list of what numbers to plug in to activate an AA in a macro?

    For instance, since I was just 2 boxing, I just slowed the mob with the Turgers AA then hit a macro hotkey to cast three different DoTs, then clicked back on the Mage, where I spend most of my time when fighting mobs. Now that I'm probably adding the Druid, I want to simplify things even more and would like to add the Turgers AA to the same macro that I use for the DoTs, so all I have to to is click on the shammy, hit the one macro hotkey, then switch to the Druid, click on whatever macro I can come up with for her, then back to the Mage.
  17. Zamiam Augur

    Under the AA window on Turgers AA there is an ability ID number on the upper left side just before the description of the AA ..plug that number into the macro /altact #### ; will activate that AA .. add any pauses that you need ..
    Goranothos likes this.
  18. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Yes, that is correct.


    /pause 3, /assist main
    /pause 3, /pet attack
    /pause 20, /cast #; Name of spell for reference (Malo)
    /alt act ###; name of AA for reference (Slow)

    Then toggle back and hit you DPS hotkey. If Malo with the mage then just skip that line.
    Goranothos likes this.
  19. Tucoh Augur

    mag/bard are a dream combo. The bard helps your pets DPS / survivability, helps with your mage's DPS/mana, is a top puller, has track and does respectable DPS themselves. An enchanter/mage is great too, of course. An enchanter does more for your mage, but less for your pet. I personally prefer mag/brd over mag/enc but I think most enchanters and mages would disagree.


    Building on top of a mage/bard combo, a necro is an OK choice because it has utility that complements them (snare, fear). It's also really powerful right now because necro dots got boosted and haven't been nerfed. However, it can be difficult to play properly, like Maedhros says. But you'd do fine with a few basic macros that dumped DoTs on a mob. Other good choices would be another mage. Simple to add, having multiple pets adds backup tanks if one dies.

    Shaman/druid both make a good healers for a mag/brd/XXX. Shamans are in a really good state right now in terms of healing, melee ADPS, DoTs and debuffs/CC, and unless I'm misremembering their Group Pact of the Wolf is one of the few ways you can apply haste to swarm pets. Druids are the defacto healer for casting DPS, so they will complement your mage / necro better than a shaman, but not by a considerable margin. Their healing is considerably worse than a shaman.



    If it were me I'd go mag/mag/bard/shaman. mag/bard/nec/dru is great too. Just be aware that your performance without a subscription and without something like inner space boxer will not be great.
    Maedhros likes this.
  20. Zamiam Augur

    I would go mag/mag/bard/necro/druid :p with 1 healer merc