Depends on what you want. Max DPS--MAG will brings you damage shield,pet aura+haste mask+weapon for NEC's pet,very good burst damage when needed.Group CotH is very convenient. Lazy DPS--Bard doesnt need many keyboard mashing.Just set up the song melody and position him right then melee.You get ok DPS and the best puller in the game.
My 3 box team is Shaman, Mage, Ranger and I could not be happier, use a healer merc so I can be lazy on shaman and 2 caster dps mercs. For Pal/Necro I would go with ranger, druid or mage but be warned if you go Mage then in no time at all you will be replacing your Pal with a class that can actually dps because mage pet can tank most group content once you have the aa.
I highly doubt I’d ever consider dropping my pal for a pet tank. Fishing these forums it’s remarkable from a returning players perspective the emphasis these boards put on pet tanks. I am level 106 now and I’d say my paladin is certainly undergeared/under AA’ed and his ability to tank 3-4 at a time in FM while group AEs the mobs down is remarkable. There’s no chance a mage pet can tank 4+ at a time. I am starting to think everyone that touts mage pets are not willing to mash the necesary buttons to play a tank? That being said, I am STRONGLY leaning towards mage for the many synergies it will bring my team.
pet tanks are no substitute for a REAL tank.. although a very good mage can tank 3 to 4 mobs if done right!!
I wanted to make one more point/comment as well. I was grouping with an SK the other day and he was slightly better geared than me so he was tanking. I would just cast my 2 TOT buffs and do the occasionally pad heal and other than that my paladin was just auto attacking. He would very frequently pull agro from the SK and the SK was constantly burning all his mana and having to med while when my paladin tanks I can pretty much go non-stop. This led me to believe that while SKs have better dmg/AE abilities, pallies seem to have significantly better single target agro (even when not wanted) and can tank/hold agro without burning mana as fast as an SK. Are these true or am I just trying to justify my paladin?
This SK is an embarrassment to SKs everywhere. I find it impossible for anyone to pull aggro from me (single or multiple) unless I'm being lazy.... ...or I want them to die for some unspoken transgression.
Burn baby Burn .. seriously .. rune(s), heals, swarm pets, off tank 2 send pet to attack (grab agro) on 1st and 2nd target .. Swarm 3rd and 4th target . burn 1st one down once you get down to 3 .. swarm pet kept on 3rd and 4th burn 2nd one down keep rune and heal if needed .. make sure you have your other activated pet aa's on pet .. FC , FB.. dont forget about mend .. and you should be using Earth pet .. it can be done .. and dont forget why pull 4 when you can CoN and hopefully just pull 2 or 3.. and of course this is all contingent on mercs behaving .. also this is all under the assumption full gear and AA's for pet ..
My normal setup is Ranger/Mage/(Ench or Shammie). I agree that you don't generally try to tank 3 or 4 mobs at a time with this crew. On the other hand, you don't need to handle that many mobs, because you can generally get singles pulling with Mage-assisted Ranger. Just a different play style.
Necro have an AE dot that is our highest DPS spell even against 1 target. if it’s against 3-4 the dps becomes ridiculous. Having multiples in camp is on purpose, not on “oh shoot”. That being said, the necro AE dot is pretty dangerous and I think most avoid using it for this reason. I, for 1, very much enjoy min/maxing and use this spell at every chance I get. It was particularly interesting to use while camping the 60ac aug in TBM crypt with all the fiends everywhere..made for a very interesting camp
3-Box Enchanter, Mage, Druid. Enchanter is my main. Can Pull, CC, Slow, Haste, Clarity line. Mage has Tank pet, decent dps, damage shield, summon junk (especially useful at lower levels) Druid has Sow, Snares, Dots, group transport/evac, limited Tracking, light healing. In tight places, I just invisi up my Mage, run to where ever I want to go, then CoH the rest of my Box.
I'm playing gold account bst +j5 healer merc and a silver account lazy bard who is still working on his instrument skills but will someday be my puller. What would you do for 3rd, also silver? Maybe ranger? Ranger could just autofire, buff, and root/snare...has a super lazy mode or can be more active, synergizes well with bard...or I guess I could macro a few spells and press one button per mob on any caster dps too, though...
mage or druid mage you get CoH which when boxing multiple toons helps with manuverability plus DS and best pet tank and good dps .. druid you get ports again with more than 2 toons to tug around having ports is nice .. CC (snare/root), puller, DS, spot heals, debuffs, sow, cheetah, buffs and tracking , however you get tracking with bard so .. druids also have decent dps if dont have to heal for the most part. and best part you get Evac in an emergency also tele to bind. also with 3 toons you get the added benefit of being able to drop a CF (campfire)
I run SK ,Bard,Mage . Works out very well , bard can single all day and flip to the SK to easily pick up aggro, mage coths to camp and easy low maintenance dps. Have a shaman that I switch in for the bard when i have a named that I need slows and offheals
