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Don't know which class to box alongside my beast. Ideas?

Started by Old Keg, July 03, 2010, 10:33:13 PM

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Old Keg

So.  Looking at finally getting a good box set up(decent computer, dual monitor).

I came back recently(after quitting at 65 right before GoD), geared up, got some AA, fooled around with some alts.  While I always liked soloing, I really enjoyed how much content the mercs opened up. 

Might be coming back for some budget entertainment.  I figure, with a box, that opens up a ton more content.  Especially with the DPS mercs, too.

So of course, now I'm wondering.

What's a good, effective box for a beastlord?  I will likely often have both a healer and melee DPS merc out.  Or would a tanking merc be better?

I'm looking to find a balance between opening up more content and gaining in absolute power.  So I'm looking for either flexibility or durability.  Favorites right now are Bard(lots of flexibility, a bit more durable).  SK(a lot more durable, plus pulling utility) and mage(durability with another, better pet.  Plus good DPS, both burn and sustained).

Being effective with minimal effort definitely a plus!  Sadly, I dislike one dimensional classes like rogues, monks and wizards.  Which would simplify things.  Along that vein I'm leaning away from casters so I don't have to worry about sit/stand if it's an indoor zone.

Here's what I'm thinking of:

Bard: I just now finally read about /melody for bards.  I would previously never consider a bard, because of how much effort they take.  But with /melody, and defiant armor giving isntrument bonuses, they seem like they would be a really great compliment.  But I wonder if they've been diluted with the advent of quick regen.  But they sure are tempting.  I would think you could play them pretty much hands free, just use /melody for 4 buffs(hell, 5 if you get the epic 1.0 for haste).  Just autoattack and go back to managing the beast.  When things get hairy, switch over to the bard and use some CC options.  Or use the bard to pull and prevent things from getting hairy. :wink:

I've always wanted to try a SK, and I will be.  So a 2nd class that does well with either beast or SK is ideal.  Then again, I might go Bst/SK.  Throw in a healer and DPS merc, that should be a pretty solid group. 

Along those lines, I'm a bit hesitant to stay with the beast anyways.  With all the rumblings of people being unhappy at high levels, and feeling we don't match up very well.

But I'm going to try dual boxing beast+something.  Just don't know what.  So here goes.

Dual beast seems kind of silly.  Especially considering the concern of 'are beasts in a good place at 85?'

What are berserkers like?  I wasn't playing when they came out.  How do they compare? 

Cleric?  Hell no.  That's boring, and I'll take the slight efficiency hit of a merc.

Druid: Succor is always nice, porting is still convenient.  But in the age of mercs, do they really offer enough to be worth it?

Enchanter: Okay, mez is awesome.  Always.  Charm is great too, if playing with fire(does it carry through to top levels now?).  But in a 2 box+2 merc group, do they really offer more than a bard?  I'm wondering about their effect on DPS especially. 

Magician: Tempting.  My first class, and I have a lvl 47 epic 1.0 magician already.  I will probably move it over to a second account either way.  Good burn potential, good passive DPS in the pet.  A little bit of CC with the pet and mitigation with air pet stuns too.

Monk's are kinda boring.  Although good pulling and low effort DPS is good.  But I keep coming back to the bard in comparison.  Sure, I can single pull...but I can just pull 3 with the bard, and mez two of them as well.  Or with a SK, just tank a couple.  Or have a mage pet offtank one.  Or hell, just single pull with the SK.  Still, easy DPS.  But I'll have to be convinced to try one over a Bard, Mag of SK.

Except when they were really overpowered, necros never interested me.

Paladin: No idea why, but I like SKs better than pally's.  Any reason to consider a SK over a pally?

Ranger: Is archery still a viable DPS from endless quiver/archery mastery on up?  Track, long range instant pulling, a bit better tank, lots of DPS potential.  Tempting.

Rogue: See monk.  Just not interested, they're kinda boring to me.  Looking to open up content, not just get more DPS.  Are there that many locked doors/traps now?  They don't seem to have enough utility to really broaden the zones I can play.

Shadow Knight: Tanking, lifetaps are nifty, great aggro, both good pulling and the ability to survive bad pulls.  Really want to try one.  Probably will try one.

Shaman: Don't need healing with mercs.  What kind of shape are shamans in, with gear inflation so rampant and max stats so frequent?  Thinking I'll skip this, because I'll have a healer merc, and I wonder how much flexibility or durability I would get from boxing one.  Especially since I already have haste and slow.  Though I might consider a SK/Shaman duo, for slow/haste and dots for DPS.

Warriors and wizards: See monk, rogue.  Classes that one dimensional don't interest me.

SK's intrigue me a lot, so I'm wondering what goes will with them too. 
SK/Bard+mercs offers good tanking, tons of utility, but maybe a bit low on DPS?  Probably not that much lower than Bst/Bard or SK/Beast, which I'm also considering though.
SK/Mage has tanking and DPS but no slows, haste and minimal crowd control.  Is it still viable?
SK/Shaman: Slows, haste, DoTs for DPS contribution.

Mage+something interests me too.

Khauruk

If you want to keep the beast, I would box:
SK - enough pulling, easymode Agro, a bit of dps, great tankability.  Downside:  SK takes a lot of development (all tanks do).  To do good dps also takes a lot of button clicks (other than Harmtouch).  Relying on mercs makes AE-damage intensive fights impossible.
Bard - great pulling, amplifies what your beast can do, easy to box w/ melody.  Downside:  Beast is still tank, and really only fixes pulling/CC weaknesses of ours.  One of hte best boxes for a well-developed (or raiding) beastlord though imo.
Mage - Good very easy dps, air pet stuns help us tank a bit better and pet can take over if you die.  Very low gear dependence, a bit AA intensive.  Learning CoH pulling opens up a lot of doors (at a cost of stacks of pearls, which isn't huge).  Downside:  Still relying on beast to tank, so content limited (but not as much).  One of the premier box partners for many classes though.
Enchanter - good pulling, buffs help us, amazing CC.  Chanter stuns can make us tank like a burly plate tank on stunnable content.  My problem with enchanter is that they really don't need a partner in most content - a solid chanter can charm-solo it.  I'd be too tempted to just let beastlord sit around.  Blarp boxes enc, and loves it, and I can see why...I have one on mayong that I'll be transferring over and lvling some when free transfers happen from there.
Druid - very good heals now, attack debuffs help our tanking a lot, low to mediocre dps now.  Ports are awesome.  Minor CC ability via AE knockback snares/roots.  I have one, and I still like her, but she doesn't bring as much utility as other classes imo.  I'd call druid 2nd best priest partner.
Shaman - great healing, never needs to med, very bard-like in boosting your abilities.  Knockback root AA is very useful for CC.  Inphared boxed one forever, and thought it was the best box for a beastlord.  Very good partner.
Necro - great dps, easy to box, group healing AA w/ UF is amazing.  Nec/Bst duo could tear some shit up.  For grinding, it'd probably be more efficient just to FD the bst and let necro kite.
Monk - pulls well, tanks better than you.  You just become dps and slows.


The rest of the classes I'd calll inferior to this list.  Cleric is great for huge healing if you want to duo old instanced raids and stuff.  Wiz is huge dps and easily boxable and a good choice, but I'm not as keen on them.  Pallies tank/heal great, but you still lack pullability.  Rogues bring good pulls and great dps, but you need to work at it.  Zerker's kinda pointless, unless zerker's your main and you don't like shammies.  Warrior is meh.  Am I forgetting anything?
TURNCOAT!!!!!

Blarp

My bst/ench combo is the best combo i have i can do just abouglt anything.

Hzath

Bard - Great pulling/dps amplifications, added benefit of having almost no buttons to push to maximize dps (don't underestimate this)

Shadowknight - I love the AE agro, lifetaps (epic especially), better FD than ours combined with snare can pull most places.  Gearing up a tank is a crapton of work, I couldn't do it for an alt.

Enchanter - Obviously great CC/Pulling/Stuns on some content.  Don't underestimate the dps auras, not as good as a bard but they're nice.  Can give some decent mana regen also.  Downside is unstunnable content.

I'll throw rogue in from personal experience as a good duo partner with us.  Their smokescreen ability is amazing, smokescreen+our FD has been able to pull anything I've encountered so far.  Backstab+positioning sucks, but if you play a beastlord you're used to tons of clicking already.  The advantage of this partner is the massive burst potential compared to the other 3 I mentioned is very helpful when going after named mobs.  Rogues fury+counter attack followed by escape then hitting protective spirit on the beast while full burning can drop mobs pretty quickly, which you'll need using a beast for a tank.

No matter which box you choose I would suggest 0-2 healer mercenaries using the minimum it takes for the content.

Beastlord Community Round Table representative.  Feel free to PM me or contact me in game (Drinal.Hzathz) about anything you think needs attention.

Zunar

Personally I box the wife's cleric when I camp some tougher things by myself.
She has a wizard merc, and I use an additional cleric merc as well.
Cleric helps with pulling when needed with paci/root+atone.
I've been able to handle almost anything...but I must say it gets hectic to manage the bst and constantly switch to spam light heals on the cleric for the tougher stuff.
I rather have her playing her cleric and we're golden :)

Though I must say I also like boxing a mage, and use 2 cleric mercs.
It's just that even 2 cleric mercs isn't enough heals sometimes for the tanking beastlord in UF, so I tend to go back to boxing the real cleric for more serious stuff.

I have a level 83 warrior too, but needs alot of AA/gear to surpass my beastlord in tanking..
I've boxed a shadowknight too, and I must say I really liked it. For named mobs, Leechcurse, epic click, harmtouch etc helps alot to take it down very fast, and the pulling utility with SK is great.

Enchanter is nice too, but imo offers little/no help with either dps or healing, which is what you need.
Charming is no option for me, atleast not when boxing. Maybe I'd use chanter when 3-boxing though, or for something I have to use mez for.

Inphared

Quote from: Khauruk on July 03, 2010, 11:05:11 PM
Shaman - great healing, never needs to med, very bard-like in boosting your abilities.  Knockback root AA is very useful for CC.  Inphared boxed one forever, and thought it was the best box for a beastlord.  Very good partner.

This is still true, now more than ever.

nedoirah

Quote from: Inphared on July 05, 2010, 10:27:29 AM
Quote from: Khauruk on July 03, 2010, 11:05:11 PM
Shaman - great healing, never needs to med, very bard-like in boosting your abilities.  Knockback root AA is very useful for CC.  Inphared boxed one forever, and thought it was the best box for a beastlord.  Very good partner.

This is still true, now more than ever.

I use a shaman box myself. I was able to box Quarm in a fight lasting about an hour. Shaman never ran oom.

Virulant Paralysis is one of the best aa in the game imo. REally helped when I was fighting in Korafax and had several adds.

Blarp

this is y i run  bst ench sham now =-P tons of healing 1 dps merk 2 cleric merk and cc/ Dps boost from ench aura/panther from shammy plus i can nuke with both toons adding a little more dps if needed on nameds

Karve

My mage has been great but now I'm getting more daring with the T5 nameds its starting to show where the gaps are, the shammy however is now coming up the levels nicely :)

Professional Mad Bastard.

Sharrien

I've enjoyed great success with my beast mage combo.  Takes some AA (just like a beast!) to get the pet up to speed, but well worth it.  Very box friendly since casters don't need to move around much during a fight.  Weakness is in CC.  I can split just about anything with CoH plus Flash of Light when mobs are being really stubborn about pathing together.  However, aggro-linked mobs and timed events are more difficult.  Been trying to beat the Brewmeister Stiegl encounter for the Shawl but splits take too long so probably going to have to enlist some help.
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