Hey, i was curious about the best 3 box available. Goal is being self sufficient. Getting augs, dropping namers, getting exp etc. Was thinking of a few on top of my head, but would love some input Pal + Bst + Dru Sk + Shm + Brd Mag + Clr/Dru + Brd War + Clr + Ench/wiz Any others that would work? How about something like Pal + Nec + Dru? Thanks in advance
Slow is extremely overpowered in early expansions of EQ. Any combination lacking slow is probably not the best. Tank + Slower + Healer is the best combination. It won't kill extremely fast but it will beat things down over time. Almost any combination of those classes will work. Certain Melee DPS can fill the tank role given proper AA and gearing. If you want to bundle Healer and Slower into a shaman you can roll up a DPS. You kill faster but are a lot less sturdy.
We aren't in the early expansions of EQ any more though. The next ~5-10 expansions on Phinny are when slow is at its weakest point. It is highly mitigated, and we haven't hit the expansions yet where mobs hit so hard that you absolutely need it. A decently geared tank has no problem tanking 3-4 mobs with no slow, currently. DPS is king, especially with the relatively slow xp on Phinny. A tank+slow+heal combination that has no real dps is not going to be very effective. I'd consider something like tank+shm+monk. Adequate heals, ae slow for when you need it, and plenty of dps for a trio, especially with panther coming soon.
I run with bard/shm in the six box group my wife and I play together, and have on every server since Fippy, so I am partial to that combo. But not for a 3 box team. Too much adps and too much redundancy between bard/shm and bard/monk for a trio. Monk/Monk/shm would let you basically be able to do all the same things (except run at bard speed) with a lot more dps. The bard overhaste and epic click are only really more useful than another dps toon if you have 2-3 dps in group. It is kinda wasted on just one monk--sure, that one monk will parse great, but the overall group dps will be much lower than if you swap out the bard for a 2nd monk or even a tank. And unless you are an absolutely fabulous trueboxer, you aren't going to be mezzing or charming a lot with the bard in a 3 box setup. Rogue Bard Shm is even worse, unless the rogue and shm are both raid geared, and even then it is not nearly as optimal as several other combinations. TO make the rogue even moderately effective, you have to have the shm tank. Which isn't a super plan for either gaining exp quickly or farming named, unless the shm is raid geared. The bottom line is that a monk will do more dps than the rogue even under ideal conditions for the rogue, while also being able to tank the mob.
One of the three would have to be a druid in my book. Sure, they may not be all powerful and are sorta meh in full groups, but they are just so good to have in smaller groups because they bring a little of everything. Then, there's the porting which still is very convenient even with origin, throne, and pok books. mage + druid + enchanter could probably do pretty well, though I would be somewhat hesitant to not have my own tank.
rogue+pally+rogue pally for tanks and self heals and 2 rogues for ultimate backstab dps. Trust me I know what I'm talking about.
Egads. That setup would be too painful for me to level up until autoactivate bs. Then again, if rogues still had the good poisons....
Tank/shm/bard is a great combo for what you want to do. Heals/slows/overhaste/pulls/manaregen/maxresists all in this combo.
Thanks for all the feedback. SK + Shm + whatever seems generic. And it sorta requires the SK to be a main no? So many SK's around it seems Could you build something around a Nec + Druid + something? Paladin maybe? or is it too niche?
If you are thinking very long term, Nec+Druid+Bard would be a super combination, especially if they ever get around to revamping nec dots. Bard songs boost dot damage at this point, bard mana regen + druid mana regen + necro mana regen all stack, and selos is super nice for kiting. There is very little the necro won't be able to tank with druid heals + lifetaps + bard slow.
Might be to much micromanagement. I feel like the bard is a nice call for afk /melody. But i find to many SK's and they might get trivial. Would Paladin + Bard + DPS work out? Mage maybe? I think i would benefit from being able to tank stuff head-on without having to think to much about CC.
