Hey guys I figured I would post this here because you're the vets and you know best! I'm playing on Ragefire with my roommate. Or rather I've convinced him haha. Im already a 50 shaman, he's pretty set on necromancer. I see this as a great time to roll a box with him. So lets just say back in the day I was really jelly of guys that could 3box named that most groups couldn't handle very well, and I wanna be that guy! Think WOS named but for now im thinking like, efreeti camp. Gear isnt a problem for me so assume at least one character is raid geared in a nutshell whats your favorite flavour of Nec / Shaman / X. And why? . I ask mostly because im not sure how classes evolve and age power and symmetry wise! I really appreciate any replies. Thanks guys! Ps I did mage to death way back
Shamans buffs are better suited to melee types then casters so I would suggest a tank for your group, you have the heals and DPS down with the Shaman / Necro so something like a Paladin (who would also give you cleric type buffs and a ress eventually) would be good choices over the long term. SK or warrior would be good choices as well.
If I were in your shoes, I would say two choices. 1) bard - can be left afk mostly to increase necro and shaman output, but without picking up a tank for the group the bard will be unable to melee. 2) tank (sk, pal, war) - arguments could be made for each of the above being the best choice, it breaks down into how the team wants to play. The SK makes a good group tank and with the lifetap series combined with shaman heals should do very well. The pally adds stuns and some group healing and still makes a good tank. The warrior will mitigate the damage better but will give up some of the sk / pal tricks to do it. The bard will help out with the group and pets even if it's not actively played, the tank will (probably) be a better tank than pets (most days) but will require active attention and probably have to be first priority for drops / gear
Wiz or druid, running sucks even with sow. Later druid debuffs help necros, can use to heal while shammie dots. Not as good nukes as wiz later in game, later in game boxed wiz is great dps .
only trouble with using a bard would be then you're relying on the pet to tank, and necro pets in the 50's and 60's turn into monks and rogues with less HP's than the 49 warrior pet for the most part ... they will not be able to tank for the group very effectively which is why I would suggest a PC tank for the group.
From what I see, I'm mostly looking to be putting a tank in the party to support the nec/sham. What would you guys suggest? I really like warrior but most people tell me they have wicked aggro problems so nec/sham wont really be able to go full out. I'm approaching this from a min-max perspective and I'm not entirely sure how the warrior/knights/monk would be suited to the group. Rhaage was really helpful. I'm just wondering if going warrior would have massive aggro problems or going Paladin would hurt my DPS too much, stuff like that.
Some really good advice given so far, and let me add that nec/sham is already a great team. I guess it really all depends on what kinds of nameds you're going to be doing, and how "far along" in the game you're aiming for. For example, if a mob doesn't summon and can be rooted, not only would you not need a tank at all, but a druid would be an excellent addition due to MOAR DOTS. Heck, even if it DOES summon, but can be FEARED, you still don't need a tank, and MOAR DOTS from a Druid, IMO, would be preferable to a melee or nuking class that's going to require constant attention to maintain max dps while you're trying to box the other toons. Overall, however, and generally speaking/addressing the widest variety of possible encounters, I have to agree that some kind of tank would probably be best. I'm a little rusty with the game, but iirc warriors don't get really good with holding aggro until later on in levels (tho still within the classic bracket, I'm talking closer to 50) but at that point they do suddenly become "the best" at it. Coming back to the game from the classic-era Project 1999, it seems the common lament is that nobody wants a warrior to tank for their groups while leveling up, yet they become the necessity for raiding at 50. Thus, regarding the warrior vs other tanks, it's kinda one of those "be better now or be better later" kind of choices. Pally and SK both seem like good choices, too, I personally would go for SK over Pally at this stage of the game because it seems SK's hold aggro better (again, at least at this stage of the game) and they have their own additional self-heals via lifetaps. The pally's do get rezzes eventually, but if you're in it for the long haul, necro's get a 93% rez at lvl 53 too, although it does consume an Essence Emerald. This said, I THINK it's practical to eliminate Pally from the list of possibilities. SK can heal himself just fine + you got the shammy heals, and you'll have the rezzes covered eventually with the necro, so what would the pally bring to the table that you don't already have? I have probably been no real help at all, but it was fun running my mouth and at least maybe I gave you a couple of additional points to consider.
Not to mention if you created a tank and your friend quits, you're left with a very solid duo of tank/shaman. Shaman can be pretty button-intensive if you want to heal and dps later on, so a more hands-off tank might be best. Not sure about aggro generation however Back in the day monk/shaman and SK/shaman used to be considered some of the stronger duo's in the game. I've always felt SK's made better pairs with shaman than paladins due to shaman eventually getting those group panther line proc buffs and both the shaman and SK pets would be proc'ing it. There was a time when 2 pets with haste and and an SK with haste would be shredding mobs with panther procs. Then eventually mob hp got so big that weapon procs stopped mattering
Mage by a country mile. 1. No gear required, better DPS and tanking than player characters, all in one class. 2. Summons for necro pets 3. No positional problems, easy to macro, easy to box. 4. Overpowered OOE damage. 5. With shaman slow and heals, a mage pet will be able to tank just about anything in game for the next couple of years at least, and will always be at least good at it. I've actually run necro/sha/mage on live as a 3 box for a long time, it's a real powerhouse, and there is very little content you can't handle.
I've done mage to death so I'm just not sure if I want to do it again. I get that mages are incredibly strong right now. But due to me being burnt out on mages and the incentive to having a "instant group just add dps" with Tank/Shaman/Necro. I'm more inclined to do that. I appreciate the input though Ultrazen! I think I'll go with Shadowknight / Shaman / Necro. Looks pretty solid I don't think I'm being crazy.
Shadowknight. You need a puller and tank so the SK fills all those positions. I played a four box shaman, sk, necro, and bard on Vulak and I could handle pretty much anything. Bard was mostly for resists, splitting and keeping aggro off the nec/shaman but you could do quite a bit with that three box setup.
if you are set on a tank, id go paladin. between the paladins lulls, and the necro snare and fd you should be able to pull anything for the next couple expansions. also gets you access to some rezzes, and another decent healer. but mage would be optimal, or wizard for more dps.
I've run Sk/Shaman/Wiz for a long time on live, which is also a real powerhouse. Sk/Sha/Necro will be just fine. There isn't much you can't do with that trio. The best thing is, none of those classes ever suck, regardless of expansions, and in general just get better as expansions unlock. It's super easy to macro the shaman which is good, because you will have to be pretty busy on an SK to get anything out of it. Good choice!
