I have a druid that I have 2 boxed off and on for years. The druid is currently 93 with around 1K AA. I have a bard that I started up and he is currently 87 almost 88. The bard, so far, has been used for mana regen, over haste, and proc song. He basically boosts my beastlord's output but doesn't contribute much of his own DPS. The druid is the currrent favorite since he boosts mobility and he adds additional healing/debuffs for named mobs. When attempting named to tough for me to tank I pop out my warrior tank merc and break out the cleric merc from the druid. With this group I am doing T3 VOA named and T1/T2 ROF named. Things work well until I have to move indoors.
I started the bard because they can pull indoors and outdoors. The melee positioning is a minor irritation. He works great when I want to farm lower zones and can utilize his AOE mez. He is about to ding 88 and has about 500 well placed AA atm.
Here is the question: Which will work better at the higher levels as I progress into ROF T3 and T4 zones? I expect to run a tank merc and a cleric merc, but will a single cleric merc be enough for named in T4 with all the wild AOE spells the named cast? The druid can help mitigate the aoe damage through group healing. Can the bard mitigate AOE damage to any real extent?
Work them both up some more and use each one as the situation dictates. That's what I do.
Druid dinged 94 and the Bard dinged 88 last night. As the Druid's merc gets higher, he can focus more on DPS. Even still I am only getting 2-4K of direct DPS. I do get some added DPS on the beast from the proc auras. The melee DPS on the bard against yellow and red cons is only 500-1K DPS. I do get the overhaste (25% versus the 8% clicky) the proc song and of course mana. The extra mana really lets me crank up the spell damage. His spell boosting song is too low to affect my spells.
I second using both. One helpful thing is that it takes *very few* AAs to have an extremely useful bard, so you can 'develop' the character quite easily.
In group content with self buffs and healer merc buffs I am running about 14K-18K DPS on trash mobs (light and dark blue). When I pop BA, NF, and FS discs I hit around 24K DPS. With the bard in the group I was reaching 30K - 32K DPS popping the same discs and popping fierce eye on the bard. Those numbers are for me and my assortment of pets (warder included) and the bard not doing any melee.
Zorthaz are you group geared or raid or a mix of the 2? I must be doing something wrong since last time I parsed my bst she was doing 10k self and shm buffed at 95 with T4 VoA group gear. I think one of my main issues is agro. Very few tanks are able to hold agro against my bst. Unless I'm flat out missing it, Feral swipe seems to have lost it's power. Mainly I've been getting 2k hits with it. No I haven't bought the hastened line yet. Spells crits and melee crits are maxed. I don't like DoTs because of the long spell refresh timers. It takes forever it seems to be able to cast another spell. I keep my spells greyed out. I hit my melee discs whenever they're up. Not the big ones, only use them for namers.
Nedoriah I am in an assortment of T1-T3 RoF group gear...mostly T1 with a few T2 and T3 pieces. I do still wear some T1 and T3 VoA items for the AC. Weapons are T1-T2 RoF bazaar bought with a 10 dmg aug main hand and 8 dmg aug off hand. Both weapons have a life-tap proc which I use with Bloodlust which I have extended. I pop that when I am tanking named mobs and for the additional DPS. I am also level 100 with most/all Rk II spells.
When I am just exp'ing I am pretty much casting non-stop. I usually start the pull for non summoners with Frozen Carbomate Rk. II to keep them from making a bee-line to the bard. I immediately send in pet with hobble to get a small kite pull. Hit it with slow, then hit it with Kesar's Feralgia Rk. II and maybe Frozen Carbomate Rk. II to get the mob into camp. I then rotate Nak's Maelstrom Rk. II, Kromrif Lance Rk. II, Poantaar's Bite Rk. II, and Frozen Carbomate Rk. II as soon as then are up until the mob is dead. I might toss in Growl of the Snow Leopard II if everything else is down. I don't use DoTs other then the AA one which I think does 1500 dmg per tick.
When I exp I use a lot of the "lower dmg" DPS AA and discs. I rotate the clicky proc on the T1 VOA tunic, vicious rabbit, AA swarm pet, and Group Beastial Alignment.
I use two hot-keys I constantly mash with kick, Feral Swipe, Pummel Rk. II, Clamor of Claws Rk. II, Bestial Evulsing Rk. II, Bestial Bloodrage, Fundament: First Spire of the Savage Lord, Fundament: Second Spire of the Savage Lord, Chameleon Strike, and Bite of the Asp.
For burns I pop BA, Ruaabri's Fury Rk. II, Feral Swipes, and Bloodlust. If those run out I pop Savage Rage II and Frenzy of Spirit. If those run out then go to Group BA.
Yes, I burn through a ton of mana while exp'ing. I use FPOS and Canni as soon as they are up...even during a trash mob fight. I pop POS when I am down below 30% mana and both FPOS and Canni are down. My mana bouces all over the place, but usually I eventually run low on Endurance and have to cycle in Rest RkII between mobs.
Right now I am buffing to just a hair over 80K and my attack is around 4100 with self buffs.
Let me know if you have any questions.
-Z-
Bard dinged 89 last night, but his healer merc still can't keep up a 100 tank merc against VoA Valley named or even 2 trash mobs. The mobs are too high for the bard to mez yet. Pulled named which took out the tank in 20 seconds. I then tanked until blootlust faded and had to back out and pet heal. The named had one of those wonderful AoE DoTs where it hits for 20K and then does 13K a tick. I almost got killed not watching my own health as it dropped down under 5% at one point. Thats what I get for marking myself as puller.
Last night in the Valley I finally came up with a mix of spells and songs that would keep a tank up against named mobs with a 89 merc healer. I use the Bard's level 87 rune song Dirge of Dreams Rk. II - (Mitigate Melee and spell Damage by 8%, 1923 total) and PoS on named mobs. The rune song eats 1 mana, but even after a 2 hour exp session he was still over 50% mana. Picked up a decent set of shoulders for the Bard from the named beetle. The other named spawned but refused to drop the legs I need to replace the Archaic Plate legs he wears.
-Z-
Bard is currently 91 and already 55% to 92 when all the good (2K HP/Mana/End) armor becomes accessible. I have to say that the Bard pulls much faster then the Druid even in out door zones. Once I have broken up the camps it even goes faster. I was using a 100 merc tank and a 91 merc healer and it worked very smoothly. We even pulled a named and took it down with ease. The Bard is still using the rune song in the melody mix to help out the lowly cleric merc. When the Bard dings 92 I will post up a better comparison of the two classes grouped with my beast.
-Z-
Well? How did bard go in double exp time? Cmon Zorth, keep us up to date :)
Btw, I'm with you. I partner my 100 beast with a newly 100 bard (hit 100 on double exp Sunday) and honestly, I can't imagine playing without a bard to pair up with now.
Whoops, I should look at updating Magelo, it's a little out of date.
My Bard managed to get from 94 to 97 over the double exp weekend. I didn't get a lot of play time so I would run him through a T4 mission (future gear, all lvl 100 req) and then take him through the level 85/90/Alternate 90 daily tasks. I was basically getting two missions a day done due to the 6 hour lockout.
I did take him and a mage friend to camp the EM XIV earring in Rebirth one night. We got the named to spawn and had to pet tank it with three cleric mercs. The earring dropped, but the mage won the roll. With the Bard in the group singing spell damage songs I was able to put out 15-17K DPS outside of melee range. The named in the Rebirth zone have 7.8 million HPs.
My best burn in a group setting with my Bard has been 37K DPS. No glyphs, just BA, FS, NF, and quick time and fierce eye on the bard. I always forget to click his HoT chest and I still need to get him his 1.5/2.0 Epic.
-Z-
BTW...the Druid is still 94
Bard dinged 98 last night and has bags full of T4 gear to wear when he hits 100. I am slowly improving my pulling ability with the Bard. I think I am pretty good at splitting mobs in open spaces, but when the confines get tight like the rooms in Mistmoore with 5 mobs tightly packed around the named. I just need to work at it more.
-Z-
Are you using High Sun? It might help, but you have to be a bit close for my comfort when it goes off.
I haven't tried High Sun because I believe that all the mobs spawn in the room and are not wanderers. What happens when you High SUn a mob standing on it's spawn point?
-Z-
Nothing, really, except they agro on you. You would be pulling the pack out of the room then highsunning one back to give you fewer to control as you get towards camp.
Something like tag mob in a group of 4
Run
Highsun
Fade
Run
Mez one of the smaller pack
Run
Fade
Time mez to hit the last add about when you hit camp.
Highsun - Sounds like you need some room to separate a pack of mobs. Would Highsun even work on belly caster mobs like the fire giants in SolB?
-Z-
Yes, you need some room. And no, it probably wouldn't work on them...not w/o burning discs and whatnot.
Just an update: The Bard hit 100 and has managed to ring up 18% into 100 by completing the last task that completed the Shard's Landing mercenanry arc (8%). The 18% also includes one round out daily tasks (85.90, and alternate). He is now outfitted with all the T4 armor I have been farming. Next up are better weapons and augs.
-Z-
I would have thought using the Bard would have taught me precision pulling, but I am even sloppier then before. I just pull 5-6 mobs, hit AoE Mez and kill them off one by one ;-) It saves time pulling and I am sure things will change when I move back to T3 and T4 RoF zones to farm AC augs. It is a nice change of pace to kill in Argath where the mobs don't have 7 million HPs.
-Z-
2-BOXING:
When I was 2-Boxing I made a Druid because they basically fill in the holes that being a hybrid leaves for Beastlord. The Mammoth's Force buff, Damage Shielding, Efficient Heals, more debuffs, and Nukes / Dots to add. Pretty much seems like a no-brainer to me. the Druid is a force of nature and the BST is a spiritual force of nature.
Druid can keep Tank Merc healed as well as whole group if AE s are going off, Group cures, etc.
For Mana Regen USE GRANITEBark Skin or the equivalent for your level, you may have to block credence or Certitude for it to keep from being buffed over by merc, but it adds a nice amount of mana regen. You can use your own AC buff: Shifting Shield for more AC since the merc only will buff symbol then with no AC.
Focused Paragon is worth buying for AA as well, for mana regen. jsut cast it on yourself each time it pops. That will also help your mana regen issues if any.
Beastlord pulls since he can FD, and does very well, even indoors. Even if theres adds, well, that is what druid's Paralytic Spores and root clicky pants are for, can also quick hotkey memspellset for Sporali Spores if you need to knock more mobs back and you're waiting for Paralytic Spores to recycle.
Spirit of the Wood stacks with Paragon of Spirit for added Heal Over Time benefits if you hit an OhS&T moment. Tank merc hardly takes any damage with druid heals and spells going off along with beastllord slows and warder heals. I do throw a Beastlord backup heal in from time to time. Just have to plan out your patch heals earlier for BST because of the longer cast time on the single shot heal. It recycles fast though, so you acn spam it for a while until you regain any compsure you may need.
MOLO:
This is all pretty much moot though since I don't even 2-box anymore. Warder is a way better tank than merc, and Beastlord Pet Heals are quite uber as well. All I do now is molo with a WIZARD merc and heal with Beastlord while range attacking mobs with throwing daggers, DoT's Nukes, also you an stand just outside of closest range attack range and hit mobs with your Feral Attacks without getting hit at all. Pet taunts like a maniac too, so you can set wizard to burn for most of the fight, don't forget to switch back to balanced before pulling again though.
Have Plakt's Protection on him, use Fortify Companion for only if theres multi pulls, and keep Ruaabris Fury on Hand since it adds avoidance as well in some of those situations.
Think I have had Druid shelved for over half a year now, hes 100 with 2250 AA but I don't really need him to tell the truth.
Druid is the best multi-box decision to use with a Beastlord though imo.
Thank You.
When I am just exp'ing I usually run Tank merc, Cleric Merc, with either Bard or Druid. On most named I have to drop the tank merc, switch to a second Cleric merc, and pet tank especially if I am running the Bard. With the Druid I have him patch heal the Tank merc and the merc usually stays up. When I have to pet tank the DPS drops off a cliff. I am thinking about patch healing the pet with my Beastlord and swapping in a Wizard merc for one of the Cleric mercs. The CotF named that aoe the melee/spell casting/movement slows really make for long fights.
-Z-