Hi all I'm pretty new to EQ2. I've got three characters around lvl 40 (Bruiser, Berserker, Inquisitor). I've been enjoying them so far, but what I really like is taking on the heroic content with a merc. I can't schedule my real life around games anymore so having a constant group just doesn't work. I'm wanting to change up my playstyle a bit and try out a ranged class. I don't really know the classes that well (EQ2 is awesomely complicated at times) so I was hoping to get some feed back on which mage and merc have good enough synergy to tackle heroic stuff. Thank you for any advice.
I'd say go for a pet based class. Something like a conjy or necro + merc. You could grab the shadowknight merc and then go full ranged with your mage (say your class + mage pet), or you could grab the inquisitor and use a tank pet instead.
Now that auto-assist is working for pet classes, it's really easy to molo with them. Both summoners also have abilities to help keep their tank mercs going, whether it be healing or stoneskins. I've used the SK and paladin.
I use the paladin, Jennis, with my conjurer (level 47), and the shadowknight, Vittia, with my necromancer (level 26). I've been very happy with the conjurer/paladin combo and usually only run into trouble if I do something stupid. The SK/necro combo has not been as reliable - at least not for my playstyle - so I may change it up. I've also been using Jennis with my illusionist, but she's only level 21 so hasn't hit any of the harder content yet.
I used the Shadowknight with my Conjuror (Level 91) to do withered lands quests. Conjy + Mage pet with the SK. It works very, very well.
Once you hit 95 Necro has some pretty awesome solo healing power. And not just for themselves, the mage pet group heals and you get an AA that make one of your temps a group heal on every spell your pet casts. That combine with 4 second reuse on transfer life (which I have yet to NOT have full heal something even if they have 70K+ HP) makes it very easy to keep a tank merc up.
Illy + pally merc, necro + sk merc -- both are really good combinations. Won't find any combination faster and better suited than a necro + sk merc molo in game (use the mage pet and be healer/utility, they'll do the dps). If you are very well geared for your level you can just bring a healer merc in tow on a sorcerer (shaman merc) or summoner (warden merc) and tank pretty much any heroic content as everything dies so fast they don't have a chance to kill you. The CoE pally merc is a good choice for any mage class though, he has a high tolerance for being swarmed and keeps pretty good aggro considering. Kenny is ideal for sorcerers and chanters, Perrin is best for summoners if you feel like hunting elite mercs.
Yeah I have Matri Dut on my necro and that is just boss dps combo. As stated necro can pretty much complete heal merc (even with matri's near 100k hp) every few seconds so...its not terrible. What is terrible is how the tank pet for some reason cannot hold agro...I must be overlooking something in aa these days.
You aren't missing anything in AA these days, but you should be missing the tank pet from your hotbar -- it is useless, always.
Tank pet is broken, as is the scout pet. They don't use their abilities, so they do only a portion of their potential dps, and almost no hate generation since they use pretty much only auto attack. This has been reported (repeatedly) but ignored for years.
