1 Month until return to game:)

[blackmist03]

So, for the second time, I have been deployed over seas with the U.S. Army, and am feigning for some EverQuest. I have had 11 months to think about this, and here is what I have come up with. I have 2 max level toons on the Saryrn server, an 85 dwarven cleric, and an 85 half-elf rogue. I have 3 accounts ,and like to run at least 2 toons, and even 3 if I feel like it. I was thinking about making a ShadowKnight, Magician, Shaman (shaman is already level 65, old pet project abandoned for the rogue). Just looking for any information and suggestions on how well this trio would work. The only toon that could be replaced out of this trio is the magician, but I really cannot think of any other toon I could put in his place that would, over all, do as well. I wanted a Wizard, but they are to much "BOOM! SPLAT!" for my liking. I thought about a necro, but they are to oriented toward long fights, and do not really have the spell arsenal for anything short. Just looking for any suggestions.

[Piemastaj]

I would say go with the SK then. Seeing as you already have heals in the cleric and you already have DPs in the rogue. That would give you extra heals, moderate DPS, tanking, and single pulls. Also, it will allow your rogue to actually melee from the back. If you picked mage your rogue would either have to tank or range attack it and that wouldn't be a lot of DPS coming from the rogue. Because mage pets can not hold aggro over a player who is in melee range of the mob.

Mages are great if you have only ranged DPS in the group (that is if your relying on the pet to tank). If you were really set on getting a mage then I would suggest dumping the rogue for a wizzy and making your third a mage. Then cleric, wizzy, mage would tear some stuff up along with mercs.

Hope that helps.

[blackmist03]

What I am saying is, I want to make a brand new trio, and not use the rogue. What do you think about the SK, SHM, Mage combination. How well do you think this would work? I have only leveled a mage up to level 16 before, and a SK up to level 8 or so. I already have a level 65 shaman, so he would not be the problem. I am REALLY looking to get away from my cleric. SK mage and shaman group sounds like they could really tear some stuff up, even in later content. Also, if I wanted to later, I could make a 4th account and either use an 80 druid that was given to me, or use my rogue also. Please advise, oh forum gods

[Piemastaj]

Mage, Sham, SK would be a great combination. Sham with most any class tears smurf up, it will also help during later levels to have a tank so your pet can do more DPs w/o taking incoming dmg. Up until lvl 50 or 55 (I cant remember which one), all mage pets are basically the same. So leveling up a mage is pretty simple, let whatever pet you have at the current lvl you are just tear smurf up. When you hit 50ish then stay away from fire if your soloing with the mage b/c it becomes a caster. I solely use an air pet when I group or solo with a mage, its innate ability to avoid much incoming dmg and its ability to stun make a great tank. It also lowers incoming dmg on regular tanks with the stun. Sadly as a mage you really dont see your DPs increasing into a top-tier DPser until you hit level 70 and get Raging Servant. That is our $$ spell for DPS.

Also, it will help out a ton to get your mage up really fast so that your pet can tank things until your SK actually gets enough HP/AC gear to tank mobs in the higher-end.

Hope that helps.

[blackmist03]

I am just trying to do some research for when I get home. The Shadow Knight Magician, Shaman seems about my best bet for a good, well rounded trio. With 3 healer mercs, I really don't see where I could go wrong, or where I would have any problems until SOF or higher. I have never had a mage or a shadow knight as mentioned before, so this is all going to be new to me. The best way to learn is to do, right? LoL. I will be just duoing at first, with my 65 shaman there for "support",and then as soon as the sk and mage can group with the shaman, I will just use the shaman to catch them up a little bit more. I agree, the mage pet will be doing alot of the tanking, until around lvl 60-70 when the SK gets some gear. I have seen some pretty wicked mages,and some pretty wicked sk's, but they are both rare, from what I have seen.

[blackmist03]

Ok, so I guess I am allowed only one post on here.

I cannot go the the shadowknight site that tweelis linked me because of militray firewall. I am currently in afghanistan until the middle of next month. The Sk, Shm, Mage combination that I mentioned is what I am going with, because it seems like one of the most well rounded groups I can think of. Could you guys maybe throw out 2 or 3 other trios that could work as well as that one? I just want some options.

[Merlaina]

If you didn't already have the shammy I would suggest trading him in for a chanter. That way you get better haste for SK, mez for CC (not that it would be hard to get singles with FD on the SK, it just might be faster to pull several and mez adds), mana reiterate, and mind buffs. Slows wouldn't be quite as good, but since they're mitigated by almost everything now anyways, meh. And if you got really DPS happy you can always try charming stuff, though I wouldn't suggest it while 3 boxing really. If you're going to be running 3 cleric mercs anyway you wouldn't really need the extra heals from the shammy, though the melee buffs might be nice for the SK.

Another possibility would be a druid so you'd have evac, DPS, and you'd keep the backup healing, but then you'd lose haste and slows. Just throwing that one out there.

You can always just try 3 mages. 3 air pets on a mob have it stunned so often it's about as good as slow. All pets would share aggro, so if one goes down just summon up a new one while the other two tank. Pet groups are really a force to be reckoned with.

[Sillaen]

Mage/Shammy/SK is a good combo and the only thing I see missing is a real ability to CC.

I have always boxed a mage/clr and occasionally adding an enchanter, there's absolutely nowhere that trio couldn't handle. However, with the addition of mercs to the game, even though I still box my cleric, it's kinda meh now.

The thing about boxing it that, you don't want to be doing a ton of work on both/all chars. 1 should be your main and the others support with the least amount of effort. That's why clerics were traditionally an optimal boxing class. Personally I would probably go mage/druid/ench or mage/rng/ench or straight silks mage/wiz/ench. All your bases are covered. Really, you can pretty much make a case for just about any class combination nowadays. It's all going to boil down to personal preference.

[Zatpus]

Ok, so I guess I am allowed only one post on here.

I cannot go the the shadowknight site that tweelis linked me because of militray firewall. I am currently in afghanistan until the middle of next month. The Sk, Shm, Mage combination that I mentioned is what I am going with, because it seems like one of the most well rounded groups I can think of. Could you guys maybe throw out 2 or 3 other trios that could work as well as that one? I just want some options.

Ditch the shaman, the mercs will cover the healing and get a bard instead which adds much more on the utility side as he has no healing. (in form of DPS-increasing for pets and nukes, one of the best puller in game, some CC).

Bard, SK, Mage.
Building up a real tank is really a big efford, you need a lot of gear andalso AAs. Mages can do a good job even with suboptimal gear an lower AAs.
Boxing this trio will be challenging.
A mage can still do a good job if he dosen't have your main focus.
The SK would like to have your main focus to be able to do his job.
The Bard would like as well to have your main focus, atleast if you are going to pull with the Bard.

Bard, Mage, Mage.
Maybe the best class stacking with itself is the mage. 2 Airpets on the mob is almost double as good as only one. Having 2 strong pets + RS-Pets lateron is a lot of meatshield between you and the mob. The bard can warrant single pulls as fast as you want. He covers Haste + stat-stuff for the regular pets and Overhaste via aura for regular pets and RS-pets and the debuffing of the mob. Grow up the shaman as buffmule and park him/call him via campfire when you like rebuffs.


You will be using mercs. Tankmercs in the Undefoot expansion are almost useless. So you will have 2 oreven 3 healermercs when you reach lvl 80+, thats alot of spots for priests already in your group. Since the arrival of the mercs I think shaman isn't anymore one of the best choices for a 2-3 char boxcrew.

[Piemastaj]

Shaman is your best bet. If he is trying to trio, holding aggro/positioning while trying to pull and do good DPs shammy is prob best. Not to mention the HP buffs the shammy brings to the table and lynx and stuff like that. With the SK you should not be getting adds since SKs pull just fine. The bard is a good tool, but they need a lot of gear for them to be fully effective not to mention AAs so that when they do take hits they don't hurt as much. And then that means you will have competing classes in terms of gear, where if you went with shammy, SK, mage you would not have much things crossing over. And even if you did have it cross over it would be with the mage/shammy and not the class that MUST have gear to be able to survive.

Just my 2cp.

And blackmist, your allowed to post on here as much as you want to. However, I believe Tweelis was right in saying that this thread was already doing what you wanted to do so it was almost pointless in creating another post to do the exact samething. In all honesty it just makes looking at the boards a tad bit easier so people can answer questions you have in just 1 post instead of 2.