Question - Can't decide between two boxing set ups, help?

[poopyfarts]

I'm torn between Zerk/Bst/Bard and 3x healer mercs vs Mage/Wiz/Bard and 3x healer mercs. Any suggestions or input on either of these? Or something that would be better to grind xp, augs, quests, old content?

 

[da Man]

if at all possible I would add a tank other than pet I think any of the 2 will work

 

[Akatora]

I dont see why you are wanting to use mercs at all with MQ and kiss at your command here. mercs are ok but regular characters are so much better.

 

[Dobber123]

A real tank is just about required for group missions and ha's. It is extremely Hard to round up adds and multiple triggered spaws with a pet. The next group I build will have aoe hate and aoe dps and focus. Remeber to Just read up on what they can do and how to use there aa's, abilities, buffs, and spells. BTW, If you switched the zerk for a cleric you could then use 2 dps mercs and one heal merc.

 

[da Man]

if I had a kiss cleric I wouldn't use merc healers at all

 

[Thalondor]

if I had a kiss cleric I wouldn't use merc healers at all

Amen! I couldn't have said it better myself!

I have a druid in my team of three. I recently balanced his INI to make him much more heal happy and now my cleric merc rarely has to heal much anymore -- in some areas I could even drop the healer merc. If I could do that with a druid, I can't imagine what a real cleric would be like with MQ2+KA.

 

[Marnan]

Between these two groups, Zerk and Bard are a lot of fun and the Zerk will likely be your top DPS between either of the groups. But you have COH and Port with the second group. It's hard to overstate the "makes like easier" value of COH combined with port and port to bind. For that reason, I'd take the second group over the first.

For something that would be better in terms of grinding exp., augs, quest, and old content. Add a tank to your group and specifically, I suggest you add a shadow knight. SK, Zerk, Bard would be a strong three many group. There is also a lot about keeping in mind that you can use FTP clerics, wizards, etc., to round out your group and drop the mercs. Conflagrant gear works FTP.

Solid tank really helps finishing out Heroic Missions. And an actual cleric is an amazing healer. But I also run around with a bard and zerker and my zerker can plow through yellow mobs in EOK at 110 without needing a tank.

 

[poopyfarts]

If a bard or a beastlord were to be my real main- what 3 box would you craft with it? I'm all for the multi-char approach I just don't want to pay for that many accounts. At most it would be 4, I do have a cleric, and I do have a SK and warrior somewhere.

 

[eqtrader74]

Bard = Do a melee heavy group.

Bst = Bst pet can tank if needed, though not really in missions. Bst also add the most to a melee group. Their buffs overlap with shammy, so I'd pair them with a different healer.

If you just have certain classes you're excited to play and want to stick to grind/exp and some named hunting, you can make any setup work.

If you're concerned about paying, you can go full free-to-play on any class and still do well. Tanks are easier if you play them Gold as they can use T2/chase/raid gear and all the augs. If a tank is FTP, the non-prestige aug hunting is a little more challenging. If you want to use FTP you can level them to 100, then burn one Krono for auto-grant AA. Then you have 30 days to get as many AA as you can.

I play SK-Clr-Bard-Zerk-Zerk-Bst. Only the SK and one Zerk are Gold, rest are max AA FTP toons. I had just the SK Gold for a long time, but got a chase weapon for the Zerker and wanted to try it. That team has done all the 6-man RoS heroic missions.

 

[Akatora]

If a bard or a beastlord were to be my real main- what 3 box would you craft with it? I'm all for the multi-char approach I just don't want to pay for that many accounts. At most it would be 4, I do have a cleric, and I do have a SK and warrior somewhere.

if anything come to test, its free gold so you arent paying for the subscription, plus until you max level you can run the free accounts as they dont really need much to power through content

 

[swarmhost9922]

Right now I am thinking about running this comp:

Tank - WAR
CC - BRD
Heals - CLR
DPS 1 - ROG
DPS 2 - BST
DPS 3 - MAG

I am not looking to min/max or anything crazy, just want a nice stable group. I figured the only thing I could really do to "boost" this more would be swap BRD for ENC and the ROG for a WIZ. But all casters is kind've zzzz.

Edit: Are porters really that viable or is it kind've whatever at this point?

 

[Sic]

I rock:

Main group Warrior, Cleric, Ench, Bard, Necro, Beast - a little overkill with the utility, but I enjoy this group.

Shitter f2p diamond group - SK, Clr, Ench, Wiz, Wiz, Mage

I meant to add: The point of my reply is that while my main group is not an intense crazy dps group, I am very sturdy, and it suits my necro being able to ramp up and then pull another mob with constant mobs and no downtime

I find that a SK/Warrior and Clr and very strong, and I wouldn't run a group without them

I just came back after a break completely missing RoS and within a few hours was able to get my shit together and go finally kill the Hero of Kor-Sha Lab Atrebe event with my little 105 group of silvers (I golded my tank today)

I think your group setup looks very strong. Good luck to you!

 

[scotsbiker]

sk, shaman, bard n 3 x zerkers rock, if things get tough can drop a zerker or shammy for a cleric toon or merc

 

[da Man]

I feel sorry for you sk types, war is so much more potent

 

[Tovin]

I feel sorry for you sk types, war is so much more potent

SK is far more versatile than the warrior. I’d put my SK up against any warrior in any situation. I can’t think of a single situation I’ve been in where I would have preferred a warrior over an SK, but there are plenty of situations in which I would prefer an SK over the warriors.

 

[da Man]

lol war did it first, war does it best, war does it relentlessly. war has the better discs and that's why they will always be raid tanks. also warriors do it with lesser armor and do it with less aas. as far as utility why single pull, just pull it all and kill it all. basically it comes down to do you like to live through sticky situations? or die pretty like a sk?

 

[Marnan]

Looking at your question,

"... torn between Zerk/Bst/Bard and 3x healer mercs vs Mage/Wiz/Bard and 3x healer mercs."

Zerk, Beast, Bard, will give you by far your best DPS. The times when a mage or wizard beats your zerk in DPS stand out, because they are relatively rare (assuming relatively equivalent AA and gear). But you will be severely limited in post tier one EOK content when it comes to tanking. My zerker can tank up to Frontier Mountains but after that ... forget about it.

Mage/Wizard/Bard is a strong combination in terms of tanking and versatility. Plus the DPS is very good. Mage can rival a wizard in DPS. There is something to be said about how smoother COTH makes grouping and ports are so nice. I think you'll find the second group more fun to box. The change I would make with the second group is drop the bard and slide in an enchanter. Their crowd control is just better and I think you'll get more bang for the buck with an enchanter over a bard with a mage/wizard combo.

I find I use my bard more on missions that don't involve crowd-control, but do emphasize DPS. For example, Fell-Foilage is a mission where I prefer the bard. But in Tyrant of Fire, with the damn NPC PC Chanters, I like the enchanter with his -1000 resist Noctambulate and -125 resist Deluding Flash. With the bard, I do 4 out of 5 missions without a hiccup, with the chanter it's 5 out of 5.