New BL Druid combo

[Bloodgod]

Hi guys.  I'm going to be 2-boxing for the first time.  I currently have a 65 BL with 70ish AA's for my main.  I'm going to try to do the 2-box thing with a Druid as my alt.

What I'm looking for here is some possible advice for hot keys and/or tactics to assist my BL with the Druid.  Keep in mind, I've never run a 2nd box before  :)

[Tastian]

Snare
/assist yourBstName
/pause 5, /cast #ofSnare
/pause 5, /cast #ofSnare

Delays may/may not be needed but fizzle proofs the key some and allows for a bit of lag if you have it.

Heal
/target yourBstName
/pause 5, /cast #ofHeal
/pause 5, /cast #ofHeal

You kinda get the idea.  Can have hot keys for snaring/dot'n a mob on inc.  Can have hot keys for saying things well casting, etc.  I personally don't use hot keys.  I still type everything I do well two and even three boxing hehe.

[Rumtum Tugger]

That is my current mix as well.  This reflects my spells list so yours will differ of course, leave out the ( ) words and use your name instead of mine.

I use an assist key that has:

/sit off
/assist rumtum
/assist rumtum
/cast 5 (snare)
/cast 5

Sometimes there is lag and it does not always get there fast enough to effectively do it.  

Follow:

/sit off
/target rumtum
/follow

Yes you can shorten the commands but I wanted it clear.

Heals:

/target rumtum
/sit off
/cast 1 (chloro)

and

/target rumtum
/sit off
/cast 3 (druid complete heal)

You will note the lack of pause and sit commands at the end.  I noticed in most cases I can keep the agro fine as long as the druid does not sit immediately.  Though two crits on avalanche is gonna get agro if you have snared as well.  Keep tainted going for fast agro.  Have had snared / rained mob head for the druid but one cast of tainted and it walked back to me.  

Also, keep the damage shield going.  Things to keep in mind is that storm strength is more then raging and stacks with IoS and Kragg as does the dex buff.  I also love the skin spell line from the druid.  I have an entire spell set for quick buffing the ones that stack with the beasts.  Play with them till you find the manna efficient buff set.

I also I use the druid as direct damage not dot.  Learn to love the rain spell Avalanche, pet on one you on the other and trade which ones you are on.  Drop a slow on two mobs and tainted breath and rain away.  490 X 3 with crits in there is a lot of damage.  Besides the faster the mob dies the less damage it does that needs to be healed.

The druid is lower and will eat up the AA as you go and the complete heal is plenty for the beast.  

Don't use the shared wolf form if you are an ogre, takes away slam iirc.

I think that covers most of the major stuff I do, find a zone that is easy to solo for you and practice a bit.  You will find what you like and then it will be second nature to you.

[Bloodgod]

Thanks for the info guys.  I should get plenty of practice in non threating situations since I have to level the Druid from level 1  8)

[Rumtum Tugger]

Level 1 druid?  ack!  New strategy....

Learn to quad, dot, nuke and all with SL and mostly learn to play a druid.  I have found myself in a position where I needed to ignore the beast to get a train rooted and spread out.  Work on ghetto crowd control and efficient ways for the druid to kill.  I guess I am saying "Learn the Druid."  I know everybody claims druids are made for stupid people that are not evil like necros and so solo all the time and are only good for ports.  Don't forget to do the Pure Blood quest for the druid as well.  A generic disease / poison removal is more useful then you might think.

I have taken my little duo into a group and had the druid complimented on how well she handled situations.  I then point out that it is two boxed and they are amazed at how much more I do with a two boxed druid then most of the druids they have been grouped with in the past.

Remember, while leveling, don't use the DS.  That way when the mob is under half you can kill it with the beast pet and still get exp on the druid.

Good luck!

[Bloodgod]

Thanks a lot for the tips.  It is my first time playing a Druid so as you mentioned, I need to "learn" to play one.  I'll definitly keep this thread marked as I progress.

[Undreadll]

I'm not sure if I can help but let's see...

I PL'd my druid with my necro to have a utility character and to PL other chars as i saw fit (such as my own BST later on heh). I was familiar with how druids were played from a lvl 50 druid I had on a different server (back when 50 was the highest level  :shock: ).

As a necro what I did at low levels was twitch and heal my druid as she porcupined mobs with whatever DS she had at the time. When the mob was below 50% I sent in pet to finish it off and she got the exp. As a BST our lowest mana/hp regen will have to substitute for twitch, but the rest can remain the same.

When she could quad (lvl 34 or so when druids get their first decent AE nuke) I would quad with her and finish off mobs with my pet as I did before as they got lower than 50% or so life. Since she was only responsible for 50% or so of the damage I could grab 8+ mobs and finish them off fairly easy before she was OOM (of course i could twitch any time needed also). A BST can do the same with the exception of the twitching.

When she was finally high enough to group with my Necro I would solo stuff with my Nec with her grouped since well...Necros are killing machines  :wink:

Hope that helps in some way.

[Hereki]

Hot keys:

I double up the cast to reduce fizzles, always have sit off, and include a message so that I know I have the right target.  For grouping friendliness, I don't include targeting in the macro, and have a separate key for this.

So most of my hot keys look like:

/sit off
/cast n
/gsay casting xxxx on %t
/cast n

An alternative to the gsay is to send yourself a tell instead, if you want to be more secretive about it.  Having a separate /sit toggle key is a good idea, as mentioned above.

Levelling druids:

Beastlord buffs help skillups considerably, so make sure that you buff everything you can.  It's a shame that we can't buff agi.  You only need to get the druid to 43 this way, then you can group and kill stuff yourself.

Druids get their first DS at 9, for 5 points, but if you are serious about this you might consider getting a Coldain ring on the druid for the DS, or use shaman potions.  Before that, borrowing a level 49+ druid is the quickest way, otherwise you'll just have to heal them (unless you can borrow a 54+ cleric, they have a great single mob DS).

The way damage shield work is that the damage they do is considered neutral damage.  So if all the damage is DS, the corpse will pop with no experience.  This happens more than you might think.  If a mob has 100 hps, your druid does a hit for 5, and you send in your pet at 50%, then the odds are that he won't get exp for that kill either.  Sending in the pet works for quadding, but not for DS killing.

I'd use DS up to level 34, when they can start to quad.  The melee skill benefits are worth it.  Newbie area, Paludal, SolA, Split Paw - all popular locations.

For quadding, you want them to have SL and clarity if you can get it, plus as much wis as you can get.  You should be able to get them FT2 at least easily - Solstice earring (get 2, so they have the druid only version as well as the regular ft one), and eye of the owlbear mother.  A luminescent staff (clicky quad nuke) plus a moonstone ring (ER2) means you can do almost mana free quadding.

At those levels you can quad snow cougars in Iceclad, dire wolves in GD and Iceclad, then ulthorks in EW, and possibly finish with spirocs in TD.

From 43, group with them and mass kill mobs that are yellow and low red to the druid - Dulak can work well for this, but so can Chardok, Nurga, Velks and Sebilis.

[Undreadll]

Sending in the pet works for quadding, but not for DS killing

Ah, well like I said it's been a while. Something I forgot to mention is that obviously if you're using DS killing you have to use your judgement when to send in the pet to finish the mob off by how much damage the druid has done to the mob. I've never had a problem with it, and it just gets easier as you level since the druid gets better nukes/dots (You don't just use the DS and the druid's poor melee--again obvious but maybe I need to mention that also  :P ).

[Hereki]

Druid melee is fine for it, in fact.  Best of all is PBAE spells, of course, they will hit all mobs in a pull for sure.  I think the first druid PBAE spell is at 24.  But you run the risk of being mana/casting skill limited in your levelling speed.  The casting skills have to come at some point, but that is probably after you get the druid to 45 and can have KEI.

[Sempai]

I learned to play a druid while 2 boxing one, and I can also play the druid in groups and raids now rather effectively. However, since my main continues to be a beastlord, I can say that I am a terrible solo druid.

My advice for your two box scenario is to get the druid to a high enough level to group with your beast by whatever means possible. Then start to 2 box in places where your beast could solo and learn to solo faster with the help of the druid. Once you master that, then you can start to tackle harder and harder stuff. I usually recommend Droga as a great spot for a druid partner, as the snare really comes in handy and your beast should be able to solo without heals unless you have some bad luck.

Just remember that the play style for a 2 boxing druid is very different than solo our grouping, at least in my experience. My druid is my primary healer and I am always the tank. So, you need practice 2 boxing, and the sooner you can start that the better.

[Bloodgod]

What exactly is quading?  Is that kiting 4 mobs at once?

Also, how often do you guys see the luminescent staff selling?  I've checked the bazaar all week and have yet to see it.  If/when I get the staff, at what level does the clicky work?

You guys have been very helpful...my druid is now 28 and moving up...thanks.

[Hereki]

Lumi - rarely, and I expect it works at 45 or 46, and is useful up to 51 or so.

Quadding is snaring 4 mobs (or more) and hitting them with an AE nuke, which only hits 4.  Then repeat until dead.  As with a bard, bunching up the mobs is important, as is range.  Typically a quad takes a full bar of mana, unless you are very twinked or have improbable mana regen (or KEI).