ultimate 4 box

[jabby]

hey guys

just wanted to get input as to what yall think would be the ultimate 4-box.

I have been three boxing, and want to add a fourth. I was thinking along the lines of taking my best three box teams and adding to them but that thinking may be flawed.

My best three boxes so far:

1) Beastie, Cleric, Wizz - could add Mage for DS,DPS, Mala. Sounds awesome, but im concerned about beastie tanking at higher lvls, tough ass named mobs... although he can back off and heal pet while cleric heals mage pet perhaps?

2) Warrior, Chanter, Cleric - could add Druid, Wizzie or Mage for utility and DPS. This team works better than I had thought it would, but DPS is gonna be lacking I think even with the mage added - but I could be wrong. A RL friend did War,Chtr,Clr,Mge and loved it.

3) Bard, Mage, Mage - could add *gulp* another Mage or Beast, or Cleric or Druid. I am currently working on this 4-box, Bard, Mage Mage Mage. Its working well now but they are low lvl. 3 badass pets, single pulls, snare, selos, mannasong all kinda neat. Kinda boring too though atm.

4) Shd, Shm, Mage - could add Druid perhaps or Cleric. This three box is talked about as one of the best, able to do Hard LDoN's etc. Druid would give extra heals when needed, or DPS if needed. This may be the best bet.

4) Pally, Shammy, Druid - could add Necro for teamsuperdot? lol. Not sure of DPS on this crew or healing/tanking ability at high lvls

Id welcome all thoughts and speculation. Want a great team fun to play, easy fast kills, good high end toons wanted in guilds/raids - well at least one or two of em =p.

great forum btw

[bham]

I play Beastlord main with mage, cleric and wizard boxes.

Despite having no raid gear I can do level 70 LdoNs, DoN missions and even MPG trash and names.

You are limited by the tanking ability of the beastlord, but with quality non-raid gear and enough AAs you can still tough stuff. The AA generation ability of this team is awesome, thanks to high DPS, mobility and decent survivability.

[jabby]

Hey bham,

first off, thanks for the info

secondly, when you do kill tough ass mobs what is your general strategy? Do you start tanking, send in mage pet first, warder first etc?

Do you back off and heal warder and let cleric heal mage pet?

basically, how hard of a mob can you take down with those 4? And what limits you if anything in doing tougher mobs?

thanks alot

[bham]

For starters, dont  use a pet to tank unless its for off-tanking, or you are naked on a corpse run. A beastlord will tank better than his warder or a mage pet.  Also, by not tanking with the beastlord you are losing all your beastlords personal melee DPS. When tanking with a beastlord, get as many defensive AAs as you can and use either a slow 2-hander, or duel-wield once you get slippery attacks AA (no off-hand ripostes).

Always go for single pulls when fighting tough mobs (ie RcoD, hard ldons, MPG). This combo has various methods for single pulling, including placate (up to level 70), pet pulling and CoH splitting. I mostly use pet-pulling until a camp is split, then un-suspend the real warder and keep it split with well timed pulls. I use CoH as a back up to rescue me from a bad (ie double or more) pull. If I get to camp with 2 or more without realising I will evac rather than risk dying, its not worth the hassle (this is in MPG, in easier zones Ill fight 2 or more)

Against MPG mobs I have my cleric cast the 1170 per tick heal-over-time spell as I enter range with a mob on my tail. My mage casts Mala (its unresistable) and sends pet, while my wizard snares the mob. I then proceed to burn the mob down with nukes from my 2 casters and I chain-cast C-heal on my cleric. As each C-heal gets to about 2 seconds left I check my health. If I have had a few good rounds and my health is 85% or over I cancel the C-heal to save mana and immediately start another. If my health is below 85% I let the heal finish and I start another as soon as the recast time is up, even if I am still at 100% health.

To ensure aggro I slow and incapacitate every mob, if both landed with no resists I also use chimera breath. If my mana is good I throw a few nukes as well.

Once the mob is dead or running (not far, its snared) I sit all my casters and pull another while my pets finish it off.

I can chain pull in MPG using this strategy (I have FT20 on all my guys, plus a bazaar bought KEI).

[jabby]

ok, ive come up with one i really think is gonna rock:


Chanter, Mage, Mage, Druid

Pros -
1) chanter + druid make awesome pulling team. Tash+ensnare ftw.
2) perma-kei and P9 or better on 2 mages
3) Buffs that afect pets most are AC+HP+STR, all of which druid has
4) 2 stunning mage pets, one dies cast another mob aggros on other pet.
5) 3 rains from mage mage druid for awesome dps.
6) Snares, ports, evac, tracking, SoE.
7) Mezz+evac = very few wipes

and finally

when you find some really bad ass named mob, depending on the situation, you can try some off the wall stuff with a chanter, or even druid charmed and hasted mage equipped pet

This combo has everything I was looking for, dont need any outside buffs at all, great dps, great cc, etc. I have a 56 chanter, 64 druid, and 2 36ish mages will keep yall posted on how it goes.

[jabby]

oh, also wanted to say though Bham and others - that one four box of Wiz, Beast, Mage, Cleric seems REALLY nice, as long as Kei is avail. I have a beastie, wiz, cleric all in the mid 50's, and a 35ish mage on other acct will definitely have to try that one too.

[bham]

ok, ive come up with one i really think is gonna rock:


Chanter, Mage, Mage, Druid

Pros -
1) chanter + druid make awesome pulling team. Tash+ensnare ftw.
2) perma-kei and P9 or better on 2 mages
3) Buffs that afect pets most are AC+HP+STR, all of which druid has
4) 2 stunning mage pets, one dies cast another mob aggros on other pet.
5) 3 rains from mage mage druid for awesome dps.
6) Snares, ports, evac, tracking, SoE.
7) Mezz+evac = very few wipes

and finally

when you find some really bad ass named mob, depending on the situation, you can try some off the wall stuff with a chanter, or even druid charmed and hasted mage equipped pet

This combo has everything I was looking for, dont need any outside buffs at all, great dps, great cc, etc. I have a 56 chanter, 64 druid, and 2 36ish mages will keep yall posted on how it goes.

You can try this combo out, but I dont think it will be as good in practice as it looks on paper. If you are chaining pets, the DPS of both the pets and the mages is low. You will only have one pet attacking most of the time, and he wont necessarily be hasted and equipped for max DPS. Also, a mage casting a new pet isnt nuking. That means you are relying on druid and chanter nukes to kill, which is slow.

Charming when boxing (other than DC) is generally bad. Surviving a charm break when playing 1 toon is tricky, survivng everytime when 4-boxing is near on impossible.

I think you would be better off dropping one mage for a real tank (warrior, SK or pally). This means your druid goes to a healer role, but it lets the remaining mage concentrate on damage, which is their forte, rather than chain-pet-tanking which is inefficient.

My 4-box was built up over time, slowly adding boxes with no real plan. If I was to start again knowing what I know now I would 4 box Warrior-Cleric-Wizard-Enchanter or Warrior-Cleric-Druid-Enchanter

Bhams rules for boxing

1. 2 melees is too much trouble, stick to 1 melee supported by lots of casters.
3. Stick to the trinity, its popular in high-end content for a reason...
3. DPS/utility is nice, but DPS/utility is always /lfg or on your friends list, box what you need to survive and add extra DPS/utility as needed.
4. Take the specialists. Warrior, cleric etc, they are the best at what they do. Versatility is nice when you play 1 toon. Versatility comes from having several different classes when you box, each one having a specific role.
5. Spend half you plat / time equipping your tank, split the other half up across your casters. Tank gear > all.
6. A good boxed group must have a tank, a slower, a healer.
7. A good boxed group should have rez, snare, ports/evacs, reliable single pulling or CC, mana regen

P.S. This is to make a group that is effective against 90% of appropriate level content. Fun groups or kite groups can break these rules.

Some sample groups

for duo

Beast + Druid :- Has the tank / slower / healer combo - plus versatility, limited against hard hitting content but great duo against low-mid content.

for 3-box

Warrior or sk or pally + chanter or shaman + cleric or druid :- Your standard 3 box - vary it according to taste

for 4-box

Warrior or sk or pally + chanter or shaman + cleric + druid or wizard :- If you 4 box theres no reason not to take a cleric, the master healer (I recommend in any box, but definitely in a 4) the other 3 slots are then tank, slower and DPS/ports.

People will argue forever on box combos, This is just my opinion..

[jabby]

Yeah - chaining pets would take away from nuking for mages didnt consider that. the other thing is just sending in pets and occaisonally nuking is a pretty boring way to kill thousands of mobs. Having a tank is fun to play.

speaking of tank...

"My 4-box was built up over time, slowly adding boxes with no real plan. If I was to start again knowing what I know now I would 4 box Warrior-Cleric-Wizard-Enchanter or Warrior-Cleric-Druid-Enchanter " - bham


I actually have a 55-56 war, cleric, chanter and a 64 druid on my fourth box. I was boxing em in droga other day, which was working ok.. but DAMN the DPS just is the suck = slow kills slow aa slow progression. of course with better gear and spells will help some but not one of those classes really does decent DPS imo. since the charm nerf, charming isnt worth it. the more dps the pet does the more exp it takes from the group, and every so often youll wipe no matter what.

I do think that this 4 box could do some really really tough ass mobs though, but getting them to lvl 70 with 200+aa's would take forever i think. - hence my fixation on mages. My friend did War, Chtr, Cleric Mage and he liked it. my cleric can snare, but would miss ports and evac i suppose.

War, Chanter, Druid, Mage might actually be a good group with a warrior as MT. But you would have to get cleric buffs every so often, and im not so sure just the druid heals would be enough in high end zones

I dont know, i **love** having chanter and cleric in my boxes but they just contribute nada to dps makes it hard. oh and btw, im using the chanter pet and even nuking with the cleric, but dps still sucks - and i kinda think the disparity in not having a dps class will get worse as they get higher in lvl. The wizzie idea i like, i like wizards and have a beastie, wizzie cleric thats kinda nice but when wizzie goes lom hes just a drag =p. Plus he needs buncha aa's, FT and 63+ spells to start doing nice dps imo

[bham]

There are always DPS /lfg. Always always always. On bertox anyway and I bet all servers.

Send a tell to any /lfg DPS and tell them you have a warrior, a cleric and a chanter already and just need DPS, and they will accept straight away. They may be dubious when they hear you are boxing, but if you prove your competence, they will seek you out next time. What most EQ players want is to be able log on and get into a functional group where the key classes work well together and stick around for a nice long session. How many times have you been in a group that sat around looking for a cleric, only to have one turn up right when the slower has to log? Once people know that you provide a stable effective group, they will clamour to be the DPS classes for you and you can pick and choose.

My 4-box of beastlord, cleric, wiz and mage isnt ideal, but it works in RcoD, WoS and MPG. I used to troll the /lfg for 2 more, but now I dont have to. Within 5 mins of logging on I get tells from people who want to join me, and within 10 mins I have to start turning them away. Most specific classes that I might need for a certain situation; a tracker, an FD'er or a bard or whatever, I can usually /tell one and they join me cause they know my groups are almost always good ones.

If you want to box so you can play by yourself, you have to choose between a survival based group or a DPS based one.  A survival based one can take down tough content but is slow exp gain. A DPS based group can make mucho AA, but cant take down the really big names.

If you want to box, but with other people filling out the group, take a survival based group and add DPS as required. Its easier to find DPS than it is to find a really good tank or chanter or whatever.

My group is a  DPS based one, but as I almost always add 2 others, a survival based one would have been better. Luckily I know a good paladin and chanter (they are a couple), so I still get to do RSS and stuff.

[jabby]

great reply thanks Bham

I love to group also, but its such a pain sometimes, which is why i started boxing. Hmm Im gonna have to think about that, survival based box vs dps based box...

[jabby]

well i made up my mind and re-rolled on FV

Mage, Chanter, Pally, Druid

- very self sufficient, need absolutely no outside buffs of any kind.

Pros - Plate/snap aggro tank, Rez, ensnare, slow, haste, manna regen, mez, SoE, evac, ports, DS, symbol+p9+brells, charm for special situations.

Cons - DPS a bit weak, although on older/weaker content druid can help with doTs, rains, nukes, and pally can help self-heal. And on undead and summoned, DPS is a bit better.

I wanted a combo that could do everything, especially going deep down inside places ive never been. Pulling is easy, let the pally pull the whole room and let chanter mezz. I played a chanter to 65 before, so i love having one in group and doing in camp mezz is so much easier for me than trying to split pulls. Having tash+mala means if it can be slowed, they can slow it. Having single target 12 min snare is soo nice, esp inside where runners kill you fast. Having evac inside a dungeon is godly in a box when you know exactly when to use it.

I guess for me it boiled down to, i couldnt imagine a box without mezz+kei and everything the druid brings. Pally for plate tank+rez+hp buffs+ heals. Mage for dps.

I do drool over the dps of beastie+mage+wizzie+cleric, though.

they are 17 now, doing great, ill keep yall posted.

[Bulge]

I'd be very interested in your progression. :)  Btw, I 5-box a group, Beastlord(Main and tank), Mage, Necro, Druid and Cleric. There's a post from me here where I tell a bit more how I handle them.

Anyway, seems like a kickass group you have there and if you ever want to go 5-boxing, add a Necro. :D

[Vahaus Warder]

Shadow Knight, Bard, Shaman, Cleric

[Krashi]

Paladin Shaman Wizard Enchanter - hands down from my experience. I have a really good friend that does this combo and it rocks. Add my main, cleric, in and we're good to go. On slow night, the beastlord makes an appearance and adds some dps.  Try it, you'll love it.



Krashi

[jabby]

well, i gave up on my

pally, druid, mage, chanter

it was just too damn busy. Problem was, pally had to 1) keep stunning for aggro and 2) help heal (to allow druid to dps and heal), and druid had to 1) DPS and 2) heal, to really be efficient.

Plus i just couldnt get into pally (

so now im doing

Ranger! Cleric Mage, Chanter

lol - yeah i know i know rangers cant tank... but he can tank some stuff, esp with slows and a cleric healing him, can tank into his 50's i bet, and once they get to hard stuff, can let mage pet tank and ranger use bow.

plus still have ensnare+tash+malo for charming pets for named mobs in some zones.

the main thing is though, ranger can do good dps, and is fun to play. Also having cleric in group rocks, although ill miss the ports and evac alot im sure. pally+druid sounds good but didnt work for me. Also, with the corpse summoners evac lost some of its value. if we wipe, we are bound at summoners, just summon rez up and go.