Another boxing questions

[Vahrone]

Was talking to some friends and one of the combos i was suggested to try was Shadowknight/Beastlord/Cleric, would that be a good 3 boxing combo? Beastlord playing the roll of a shaman basically,  while still adding dps and offtanking if need be, shadowknight being the main tank/puller, Cleric healing and buffing of course ;). How would this be for higher end named mobs? (think WoS etc..)

[Et^Cetera]

Before I started boxing, I would regularly play as part of a Pally/BST/Cleric Combo in my low 60`s. Despite the Pally/Cleric over-lap it worked ok but really seemed to lack the killer DPS that say a BST/CLR + MAG/NEC would offer.

Positioning of 2 melees might be a problem, especially with 2 pets. But ti seems like a good solid Trio to play.

[Taiglin]

Is this from scratch or do you already have any of those three? The problem I could see with the Bst playing the shammy is if they aren't adding DPS via melee then you are losing out on potential DPS by bringing in another class or a full fledged shammy. Depends also on how comfortable you are with boxing 2 melee toons. Some like/don't mind it but would hazzard to guess that more do not.

[Chickennuggets]

I would agree with Taiglin .  If the beast isn't going to be melee'ing then a normal shammy would be a better option (slows, buffs... the almost rez for bad things happening.  Even if he is going to be fighting, between warder, sk push would be hard to manage (at least in the beginning) and would be easy to forget to keep checking beast in melee range.  As far as higher end named mobs (WoS) it will always come down to gear.  I have out tanked underequipped (over ego'ed SKs), and been outtanked by a chanter.  An Sk would have an easier time gearing up for WoS nameds, and have a much easier time gearing up for nameds beyond... mpg, rss... etc.

[Utqnia]

Trust me, you do not want two melee's !!  I have done it before and its no fun at all, your DPS is cut in half.

Depending what you already have...

Cleric, Sk, (Wizard/Druid/Mage/Necro) are all nice fits here.  Depending what you want more.

I enjoy the Necro option, life taps all gonna stack, another FD, Rez, easy DPS to handle.

I like the wizard option, though a bit dependent on mana, ports would be nice though not as important in todays game, evac is great.

I like Mage option for simple DPS and COH pulling is pretty $$.

If WOS is your goal, you could stick it out with the beastlord, i can tank WOS now, though its close, in my cleric/BL combo.

However, unless you get uber, that is about the limit.

My current setup is Bst/Clr and buddy plays Sk/Shm  we do really well as we can pick up any two classes to fill out the group.  I have tried the SK/CLR/BST combo when he is not on, and it really does suffer on the DPS side of things...


Good Luck

[bham]

/agrees with everyone else about 2 melees. Dont do it if you can avoid it.

I played a Beast first then added a mage. I then tried a SK on the mage acocunt while leveling up a cleric on a third account. At level 62 (this was back in PoP) I got sick of leveling the SK and went back to the mage with my beast and cleric. This combo worked fine for me and i later added a wizard for extra DPS and ports.

Beastlords make suitable tanks for a lot of group content, even with non-raid gear, as long as you have a competent cleric healer. With my 4-box I was able to tank in RSS even before I started getting raid gear. It just takes a lot of AA and top-quality 1-group gear.

Having said that, Im now at the stage where there is little worthwhile doing without a plate tank. I can handle RSS, the nest, the hive, and Ruins of Illsalin if Im lucky, but to do Dreadspire or most of the good DoD missions I need a real tank to hide behind  :-(

[Utqnia]

Having said that, Im now at the stage where there is little worthwhile doing without a plate tank. I can handle RSS, the nest, the hive, and Ruins of Illsalin if Im lucky, but to do Dreadspire or most of the good DoD missions I need a real tank to hide behind  :-(

Don't want to hijaak here but how do you heal this in say MPG.  I havent tried it yet, almost 10k buffed, but to be honest most of my problem I think lies in my inability to properly use my cleric.

I can do the CH chain pretty well, works in WOS.  But I am now looking to up the odds a bit, what type of healing do you do in these higher zones to keep yourself alive?

[Khauruk]

While the mob is inc, pop a Pious Elixir on your tank, use Light when necessary.  CH chain if you can of course...Divine Arbitration is godly for clerics in shitty situations.

[Banvaren]

I have to disagree with folks saying it is too hard to bot Knight + Beast. I routinely duo or 3 box with Pal/Bst and never have any problems keeping both in range. I form a triangle around the mob with the Pal, Beast and warder all at one corner and the mobs barely move. Even if they do move, a quick celestial stun with the Pal gets the mob right back where it needs to be.

I think SK/Bst/Cleric would be a great trio, even better than Pal/Bst/Cleric. I do, however, think that SK/Shammy/Cleric would be even better, but not due to melee push. I feel that trio is the best in the game because you get better buffs, better slows and they can also do respectable DPS with dots.

[Hinthi]

I don't think anyone means it is literally too difficult to box too melee classes.  Just it is more difficult.  Shoot I box two melee classes.  Ideally I'd drop the BL but I feel I get better dps out of the BL then I would an enchanter or shaman.  With my group I lack on DPS so I work a little harder and keep the BL in the group.

[Khauruk]

One thing to think of also is why you're boxing.  Is it for the experience, to kill bigger stuff, or to get faster xp than solo/duo.  If it' the third, you need to put a lot of thought into just what you're looking to box.  Tank/sham/cleric will definitely get slower xp than BST/Druid 2 box.  To up the kill rate, you either need to make some sacrifices in your "trinity," or start adding more boxes (which leads to it's own problems).

Beastlords are not the most box-friendly characters.  They make some excellent duos (w/ cleric, or w/ druid mainly) at high lvls, though many classes can add a lot to a duo - mostly dps tho.  For more boxes though, BSTs start to be both harder to control, and lack in a lot of ways (resists on slows, low dps).

Here's some good box combos (for up to varying numbers of boxes)

Monk + Cleric + Wiz/Ranger/Necro/Mage
Tank + Shaman/Cleric + Puller/DPS (ranger nice)

4 Box  = add more dps/utility.  Some go for enc/bard, many just for for more DPS.  If you've already learned to deal w/ teh constraints of your 3box, the 4th "should" be more DPS, unless you need certain utiltiy to go somewhere you've been dying to go to, etc,

5-6 Box.
Here's where most people seem to start working in niceties.  Some go for a bard puller, and just /harmony songs while killing (mez/haste/dd or melee amplification).  Some add an enc.  Some add shammy instead, or some just add more easily botted (read:  ranged)

War/Monk + Sham + Cleric + Wiz x 3 would work, tho I'd would replace shammy w/ a bard most likely., or throw in some rangers for the wizards.  Some pop in a necro for rezzes, mage for CoHes, etc, etc,...  Either way, to make it worthwhile for xp purposes, you need to keep the DPS way up there, and make it from easily botted classes imo.

[Rhyce]

As others have said for quick exp with a BL your best bet is a druid/cleric partner. My better half and I play a Druid/BL duo often. And at times drag a cleric along for better healing. Then the druid goes into " wizard mode " and uses her healing for spot healing.

That said... we also play a SK/Shaman/Cleric trio, they kill much slower. But we are looking to them for the future farming of bigger content. With the SK's agro ability I've found I can add most any pick up DPS and not worry much. Usually tho we just plod along in the safety of our little trio.