Bot suggestions...

[Xenergy]

What's a good duo partner for a bst..

I can't really decided between the following:

Cleric
Druid
Shaman
Enchanter

Anyone have any suggetions, etc..

[DiosT]

Cleric
Druid
Shaman
Enchanter

My personal experience is with Shamen/beastlord...


I find the combo to work VERY well, but some people claim they overlap too much...


I think the combination if slightly better slow, resist debuffs, torpor/quint, Huge DoT's, pet, and cannibalization to be a very, very helpful combo...


I have no problems buying KEI, Virtue, Bot9... but hard to buy a nice healer, with resist debuffs, good dps, no mana problems--ever... some extra/slot saving buffs, and a backup slower...



Without going into too much detail, i'll cover the others..


Cleric -- Nice for bigger fights, but dont bring much to the table outside heals/hp buffs/root... I'd go with a druid over a cleric -- Also, Virtue is easily bought..

Druid -- Nice for Bot9, and good healer as well, but IMO they are too mana-dependant (where as a shaman with a cannibalize/sit social does VERY well in never running out.. my shaman does a 4-cannibalize social then sits after he does hit stuff for the fight, regens more mana/hp before the fight ends, casts ~4 dots/fight, slows once or twice, and sometimes tosses a malo, never runs OOM.. and the shaman is only 61st level...


Enchanter -- I think the only problem here is -lack- of heals... enchanters might be ok for 'farming' AA exp, but i dont think much else.. in a duo sense..

In a group sense, putting a major role in the hands of a 2-boxer is not something many groups like...
Enchanters, otherwise, have nice haste/mana regen, but i think the lack of healing is all that hurts enchanters, and that's a major factor...

[Xenergy]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I just wanted to see what other said before I PL one to 65 and drop 250k to make it happy.

[Shere Khaan]

I'm with Dios on this. Shamans make great partners. Personally I prefer the shaman buffs plus in no way does having the better shaman slow "overlap".

As the mobs get tougher and hit harder such as elementals I find landing a slow early very important... especially when 2 boxing. This gives me almost twice the attempts to get slow in, and a better slow when I do.

My second choice would be druid I reckon. I have been levelling one up as an alternate partner or 3rd box, although pales next to my shaman with only 52 aa's.

Shere Khaan

[Favor]

All the healer classes have a lot of good things going for them as beastlord partners.  I personally don't like playing a shaman as a two-boxed character because it requires too much attention.  Even just having to slow mobs with him becomes an annoyance to me.  I prefer to really play one character and just toss an occasional heal with the other, so cleric or druid would be my preference.  

Clerics are awesome for pacify and rez in addition to their supreme healing power.  I think cleric is best if you enjoy trying difficult places and mobs.  Their lulls give you a chance to get just about anywhere and single pull anything, and you can't beat having a guaranteed, hassle-free rez when things go wrong.  If you go cleric, I recommend a dark elf so you can get the quest necklace that casts darkness.  It's not great, but can really come in handy when you have to have something snared.

Druids give extra mana regen, which is always great.  They also have a snare that you don't have to worry about recasting, since it lasts an eternity.  Ports and evacs are always convenient.  Damage shields I don't think are that big a deal against slowed mobs, but still help.  Tracking is really nice to have.  And if you're in the mood and have mana to spare, you can toss some pretty wicked nukes and DoTs.  All in all, I think a druid "partner" probably works best for pure experiencing, due to general convenience, mana regen, and added damage.

Enchanter isn't a class that I would consider.  It would either be a weak partner without charm, or a powerleveler while the beastlord sat on the sidelines leeching experience from a charmed pet.

[Jaeren]

Shaman is a great class but yes, it can be a fair amoutn of work. I have both a shm & clr that i 2 or 3 box with. The cleric is mostly just a temp/heal bot and really doesn't require all that much effort, whereas the shm requires a fair amount of work.

Once I get paid and have a bit of extra money, I'm debating picking up a Nostromo and move the shm to his own computer, just putting the cleric on my main system and alt tabbing for heals. At this point though, it's easier ( I find anyway) to just alt tab from bst once a mob is engaged and do whatever i have to with the shm, then tabbing back. With the gamepad setup for hotkeys, etc though I can imagine it will be even easier with the shm on his own computer.

[Hereki]

I sometimes bot using a Nostromo, and switch between a 65 cleric and (currently) 53 druid as my partner.  For most situations, the druid heals are good enough, which was a little surprising - but then I'm not tanking golems in PoV.  Advantages of the druid are adequate heals, snare, damage shield and ports.  The cleric gives me better heals, virtue (yes you can buy it, but I don't return to PoK that often), and pacify for pulls; I don't usually bother rooting, but I could.

I haven't boxed a shaman (yet, but I will), but I have duoed with them.  They make, in my opinion, very good partners for a beastlord, not necessarily any worse than a cleric or druid.

[Cserk]

Oddly enough nobody has mentioned the duo I play consistently:  mage/BL.

In a xp situation I just chew through blue mobs, I'm a pet group all by myself (if I choose to be) which makes it relatively risk free.  Also, mage toys are fun.  Very fun.

The other advantage I have found is that when joining a group it lets you be a BL, with a mage hitting pet attack and a nuke here or there.  There is no decay in my play when I have 4 or 5 mobs in camp in a big group, I still play 100% on both.

I used to 2 box a rogue and an enchanter, that could be why I've burnt out somewhat on high pressure boxing.

I also think that my roommates are also a big factor in what I box:  war/cleric  and pal/shaman are my roommates.  I think that rogue/enchanter did fill out that group slightly better than BL/mage, but I just enjoy BL/mage far more.

[Tastian]

I really enjoy shm/bst.  Also later on having cleric with paci makes a few spots infintely easier than using root/off-tanking/etc to handle things.  Really it depends on what you are going after though.  Something like mage/bst or nec/bst or even enc/bst can be really good for grinding and mowing through blues.  However, if you are going for bigger game healing will become an issue.  Druids are great with ports and heals that are usually sufficent.  I really enjoy the stuns from my cleric, but I think once you have your duo/trio/etc you'll start to find situations that fit great for you and learn more of the advantages/disadvantages of your group.

[Noriko]

Druid all the way for me.

[Kashmiir Battlekat]

Playing a Beastlord, Ranger and Cleric I feel as though I get the best of many worlds rolled in to 1.

Beastlord: Buffs, Slows, Good DPS, Off tanking pet, dot.
Ranger: Puller, Snare, Root, Attack Buffs, Great DPS (EQ/AM3)
Cleric: Pacification, Uber Heals, Uber Buffs, Occasional DD

With this combination there is almost no zone I cannot 'xp' in. This is certainly not to say I cannot be overwhelmed, but I tend to deal such a large amount of damage I manage to win through sheer horsepower and healing power.

[Shirrkarn Ayge]

Personally I prefer to use druid as bot, very little overlap in spells, and in addition to ports, I would be lost without harmony.

Tried Chanter but found it was not worth the trouble of getting em both logged in.

[Jaeren]

I imagine the bst, rng, clr combo woudl be good. I was three boxing in droga the other day (so bst, shm & clr) and my cousin (65 ranger w/ 60ish aa) joined me for a bit to try and learn the zone. Added nice dps and he ks'd me the first mob when he got there due to a string of bow crits :P

[Kashmiir Battlekat]

Jaeren,
HEHE! Yeah, Ranger DPS is mad. I love boxing my dudes in a nice static situation.

The Belkin Nostromo N52 is your bestest friend if you have a Ranger :)