Question - 3rd box Advice (1 Viewer)

[Scuffman]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

So I am thinking of making a comeback to EQ and since I left in the middle of TBL I have quite a bit of catching up to do. I run an SK-Bard and want to add a 3rd box. In particular I was leaning towards either Mage, Rogue or Berserker with 2 melee mercs and a healer merc. ( I really don't want to do more than 3 box). I am open to other suggestions but I am pretty hard focused on those three. My question is which of these three would be the most powerful to add to my SK/Bard in terms of the objectives I will be trying to pursue. I will be doing progression, named hunting and grinding out kills for exp/evolving items as well as miscellaneous group stuff in general. I haven't really tried any of the MQ2rogue/berserker/magician plugins but I plan to and I have no idea if bard has one but I will probably just use kissassist so he melees and has a burn setup that I can automate. I will obviously be maining and controlling the SK. I just want a setup that aims to do the best or near the best DPS with not much downtime if any, and is just efficient in general. Thanks for any insight!

 

[kalus99]

I would start with Shaman, and build from there, and the plugins are amazing

 

[Doc James]

I'd vote Shaman too. If not, maybe Chanter for CC?

 

[Scuffman]

I would start with Shaman, and build from there, and the plugins are amazing

Well I want something that will add more dps, not more healing. I think between SK self healing and merc healing I should be fine. Unless shaman is actually really good group dps and I am just unaware.

 

[Shadow]

I'd vote Shaman too. If not, maybe Chanter for CC?

He already has CC in the BRD. Run a healer. Honestly, I would do CLR or SHM, then run 3 ROG mercs.

I know you said you wanted DPS, but the game gets more difficult as you go and a Merc healer cannot cut it. Holy Trinity - Tank, Heals, CC.

 

[Doc James]

He already has CC in the BRD. Run a healer. Honestly, I would do CLR or SHM, then run 3 ROG mercs.

I know you said you wanted DPS, but the game gets more difficult as you go and a Merc healer cannot cut it. Holy Trinity - Tank, Heals, CC.

Oh indeed. For some reason in my brain I was seeing SK/Bard as one or the other (not sure why as he said "3rd box". I wasn't quite putting that together. Then Shaman all the way. And I agree that cleric merc will get terribly under-efficient upper levels even with merc gear and AA.

 

[jaybidz]

A Beastlord could give you slow and extra dps. Mage would give you the most/easiest extra dps, plus a DS/COTH/Pet toys. a Rogue could make you some nice poisons, in addition to the dps they add. Any of these could be a right answer. But there really isn't many "wrong" answers here either, besides adding another tank

 

[Scuffman]

A Beastlord could give you slow and extra dps. Mage would give you the most/easiest extra dps, plus a DS/COTH/Pet toys. a Rogue could make you some nice poisons, in addition to the dps they add. Any of these could be a right answer. But there really isn't many "wrong" answers here either, besides adding another tank

Yeah I was really leaning towards rogue because of SoS and poisons procing their alliance. I have always been about a good offense is the best defense. If I get into trouble I would much rather have the ability to kill the mobs quicker than to heal myself better but maybe that is flawed logic. lol

 

[Sippi]

I'd go with a shaman for the slows, buffs and heals. If you so this you can add absolutely anything with your last 3 slots; preferably 3 dps classes.

 

[Emro]

Shaman.. the best choice.

 

[Psy]

Hate to say it but I agree with previous posts about the SHM. Post 100, they do well keeping the SK up even if you use cwtn plugiin in hybrid. Much better than a merc healer and even more so as you get closer to current content. I run SK/SHM as well and SHM does decent dps and if you add 3 melee mercs to the mix, you should tear up content pretty well.

If not, roque, zerk or mag would still be a good fit. I think it really comes down to the class you are most interested in playing!!

 

[Risunabe]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

So I am thinking of making a comeback to EQ and since I left in the middle of TBL I have quite a bit of catching up to do. I run an SK-Bard and want to add a 3rd box. In particular I was leaning towards either Mage, Rogue or Berserker with 2 melee mercs and a healer merc. ( I really don't want to do more than 3 box). I am open to other suggestions but I am pretty hard focused on those three. My question is which of these three would be the most powerful to add to my SK/Bard in terms of the objectives I will be trying to pursue. I will be doing progression, named hunting and grinding out kills for exp/evolving items as well as miscellaneous group stuff in general. I haven't really tried any of the MQ2rogue/berserker/magician plugins but I plan to and I have no idea if bard has one but I will probably just use kissassist so he melees and has a burn setup that I can automate. I will obviously be maining and controlling the SK. I just want a setup that aims to do the best or near the best DPS with not much downtime if any, and is just efficient in general. Thanks for any insight!

I started similar to you with SK/BRD, then added a SHM, then shortly after that a BST. That 4-some was pretty much indestructible, but *slow* up to 85. I then added a lvl 100 Heroic MNK and ROG and things really took off with CWTN plugins for everyone but the bard who uses RGMercs. Recently hit 120 w/ ~12k additional AAs on each character and the group's been a total steamroller with 0 downtime on ToL/NoS content. If it was me I would pick SHM, but if you're set on 3-box w/ the third slot being DPS I would personally go BST, they take a while to pick up, but by ~110 they're really solid DPS with good aDPS + buffs/debuffs.

 

[Risunabe]

I started similar to you with SK/BRD, then added a SHM, then shortly after that a BST. That 4-some was pretty much indestructible, but *slow* up to 85. I then added a lvl 100 Heroic MNK and ROG and things really took off with CWTN plugins for everyone but the bard who uses RGMercs. Recently hit 120 w/ ~12k additional AAs on each character and the group's been a total steamroller with 0 downtime on ToL/NoS content. If it was me I would pick SHM, but if you're set on 3-box w/ the third slot being DPS I would personally go BST, they take a while to pick up, but by ~110 they're really solid DPS with good aDPS + buffs/debuffs.

I had a slow day at work and was curious on the effects of BST/BRD/SHM on my rogue's dps so I did ~10m parses on a level 120 combat dummy with my 120 rogue using a Luclinite Ensanguined Spiral Dagger main/Darkened Steel Gladius with 3676/2027 ATK and 464 hAGI, NoS bp and pants poison. I also cleared buffs/starting at 100% endurance at the beginning of the parse. Shaman and BST were using CWTN plugins and bard used RG Mercs.

The shaman and bard both had epic 2.0s and used them as they came up. I was surprised how rog+shm parsed so much higher than rog+brd. Think I might need to look in to my RG Mercs setup to make sure it's behaving appropriately.

 

[edsarto]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

So I am thinking of making a comeback to EQ and since I left in the middle of TBL I have quite a bit of catching up to do. I run an SK-Bard and want to add a 3rd box. In particular I was leaning towards either Mage, Rogue or Berserker with 2 melee mercs and a healer merc. ( I really don't want to do more than 3 box). I am open to other suggestions but I am pretty hard focused on those three. My question is which of these three would be the most powerful to add to my SK/Bard in terms of the objectives I will be trying to pursue. I will be doing progression, named hunting and grinding out kills for exp/evolving items as well as miscellaneous group stuff in general. I haven't really tried any of the MQ2rogue/berserker/magician plugins but I plan to and I have no idea if bard has one but I will probably just use kissassist so he melees and has a burn setup that I can automate. I will obviously be maining and controlling the SK. I just want a setup that aims to do the best or near the best DPS with not much downtime if any, and is just efficient in general. Thanks for any insight!

Add a Shammy and you will catch up without issues and will be able to do most missions with that setup. It semi easy mode with that setup.

 

[WindowUnit]

Another vote for Shaman.

Of the three you listed: MAG, ROG, BER, I'd go MAG.

 

[RangerDanger13]

I agree with Shaman, you can also take a hybrid approach with the shaman they can do some decent damage as well as slow/heal. If you don't and are set on picking a DPS, I would go Beast for the slow/haste, paragon and even off heals if needed. Pet can even help off-tank in a pinch.