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Question - Casters Shield vs 2 Hander

Joined
May 13, 2007
RedCents
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Every caster seems to have an option to go 2H or 1h+Shield, Im curious what people are using most and why. Also do you have your casters melee or not? Especially CLR, ENC, SHM, WIZ.

Right now all of mine are using shields with 1H but Im wondering if I am on the right path or not.
 
What setup gives the most Spell damage or heal amount?

My casters never melee, casts only.
 
2hnd on my casters and my casters/shms melee most times (extra dps) unless specific situation calls for something else (nasty pbae or silence ae)
 
What setup gives the most Spell damage or heal amount?

My casters never melee, casts only.
Spell damage and heal amount ain’t worth it to be your focus.

Procs are what make it normally better to go 2 hander.. sometimes the eok tome and current DD proc wand is a good shout. Or mana return one if you struggle with mana.

Cleric always 1 hander and shield, shaman and Druid 2 handers 90% of the time.
 
Easy...2-hander is the way to go. Only 1 ore vs needing 2 for the 1h/shield setup
 
Having those casters melee with dual healing procs really helps with keeping the MT remain steady, especially if the whole raid have it. I don’t even have a dedicated group with just tanks and healers anymore.

Also meleeing with casters is extra dps with all those synergy procs from ADPS. I noticed that CTWN plug-ins doesn’t make the casters look like they’re hopped up on crack anymore if you use stick on a boss that shift constantly, so you’re not losing DPS due to movement.
 
Melee'ing with 2hb on priests is amazing. Shaman and cleric don't need it as much but druid it was bonkers. Last I checked at ~115 in Grind, it was more than 1k mana per tick equivalent from Arms of Holy Wrath procs and the +200 proc mod over an hour of fighting.

The casters, mage specifically I tested with was 300-500 with the pokey pointer with Alleviating Burst. No proc mod, and I haven't tested but I think the druid gets a bonus since the Twinproc might trigger since Arms is a dps proc that recourses for Alleviating vs a beneficial buff proc.
 
My toons used to carry around 2 setups, one was 2h and one was 1h+shield; used whatever I thought was better for content I was doing that day.

I got lazy and these days it's just 2h for casters, shaman. Cleric has 1h and a shield.

Spell damage, yeah, not worth worrying about that.
 
From what I can tell, it doesn't seem to make a huge difference one way or the other. I have never had my casters doing any melee before, I just hadn't given it much thought. Plus with plugins/macro they seem to be casting non-stop anyway. I may mess around with a bit just to see but it would appear there is no real consensus.

I wish we could have done this in the form of a poll just to see the numbers on it.
 
I dont use 2hander cause
1) I dont melee on my casters cause it interrupts their spells (and 1 interrupted spell is gonna do more damage than they will do with melee 100% of the time)
2) the stats are better on a 1hander and a shield and id prefer my casters die less (shield AC softcap and shield block aa) and
3) weapon caster procs are a negligible part of dps (procs are better than no proc, but unless you're dealing with wizard synergy, they are terribly overrated)


same for priests. the proc effect of returning mana when you cast heals is better than detrimental return of mana except on a druid. Only caster/priest class i would consider using a 2hander on is a druid.
 
Only class I use 1hndr on for priest/casters is my clerics, everyone else is 2hnd with procs
 
I dont use 2hander cause
1) I dont melee on my casters cause it interrupts their spells (and 1 interrupted spell is gonna do more damage than they will do with melee 100% of the time)
2) the stats are better on a 1hander and a shield and id prefer my casters die less (shield AC softcap and shield block aa) and
3) weapon caster procs are a negligible part of dps (procs are better than no proc, but unless you're dealing with wizard synergy, they are terribly overrated)


same for priests. the proc effect of returning mana when you cast heals is better than detrimental return of mana except on a druid. Only caster/priest class i would consider using a 2hander on is a druid.
Same, I found my casters would spend too much time moving to get to the mob to whack them when they could've been casting spells the whole time. I will say my experience is limited to group only though. In longer raid fights where the mob is stationary for a good while I could see the melee procs adding up.

I don't melee my casters either but I want to stat stuff them 4 aug slots!!!!
Just to clarify for anyone that might not know: Rob fills the aug slots with proc augs that proc on cast.
 
Get you a raid 2hd or a rare 2hd - memoryforged or blood soaked.. It will let you load two proc augs..
because two proc augs are better than one proc aug
 
I guess one would really have to spend time parsing it out on static bosses to see the difference over say...10 fights melee on, 10 fights off.

In open world, less obvious with melee off and I use 2h for casters, 1h for cleric
 
Also from a defensive perspective, casters get staff block AA (2hb)

I try to use raid 2hb on my caster with two proc augs

With shaman and a bard, swinging does do decent damage if your automation handles it well (don't recommend it with kiss primary healers)
 
Most high level min/max casters are choosing 2hand nowadays. Caster 1handed are rotting on raids cause nobody is using them
 
I think Bloodforge 2hnd weapons for clerics were the beginning of the 2nder. Now that LS has got some crazy procs going on there 2nder weapons, it has changed the game to were it is beneficial in group setting to add the extra dps with some attacking. In raids, for LS, there is alot of cuddle up and avoid ae's, so why not hit the melee while in. Get used to the bandolier and its fun adjusting to the area of game your playing
 
my ENC currently use the 1HP for mana vs DD proc. Seems to help keep their mana longer on raids :)

everyone else is 2H but some of my necros are 1HP and shield just for ac. Help since they argo whores on raids lol
 
2 Hander. biggest boom stick you can find, raid preferred coz they have 2 slots for proc augs. if you have shaman in group make sure they melee for the roar procs too. melee + melee procs equate to ~10% caster deeps.
 
I'm currently using 2 handers on all my toons. The clerics I'll do 1h/shield or alternate at times. I did see an uptick in dps numbers on my mages while using melee but I'll sometimes avoid that to reduce suspicion. It is fun to see proc spam on nukes though... Huge bomb and a twincast with 5-10 procs going off
 
1hander/shield for clerics, shaman
2-hander for all other casters

I have a two-hander for my cleric and shaman that I put in DPS augs like the new Type 3 and Bandolier via a LEM. If they are meleeing, it switches over, or if the Shaman stance is DPS, it will use the 2hander
 
AC aint saving you in modern game if your a caster...
Yeah, that might be true. I play primarily on Mischief so my perception of live is not the best. In RoF my casters have obnoxiously good defenses and the 2h procs aren't as good as they are on Live. I'm sure the time will come when I convert to 2h, I was just saying it's hard for me to imagine.
 
This thread is proof they suck at itemization in modern EQ. I really hope they hire some competent design crew members at some point in the near future.
 
Usemelee on and don't use stick. More dps!
My casters do not melee I don't put them in the shit. Ever! I don't need their minimal melee DPS vs the headache of one of the mobs turning their attention to the caster for whatever reason, Mez breaks and they are closest to whack or whatever. My casters stand back and CAST!!!
 
Kind of off topic but in the general area.

How do you think a mechanic would work for a caster monk character?
basically a caster h2h hybrid where they can use 1hw but if they don't they have gloves and bracelets that have extra augment slots that only work when they have no weapons equipped that massively increase their magic power (think think fire bending if they carry weapons but if they carry no weapons they have lightning powers that are way stronger and don't just burn but stun/paralyze etc.), same with a healer build where you can water bend and choke or drown or knock people over with water but if unarmed you can blood bend and rip the blood out of people to kill them too but you cant use that power unless near water, carrying water in your inventory, or able to steal it from enemies. Like the concept of avatar but based on the EverQuest elements and rules for chromatic, holy etc.
Would this be a mechanic you would enjoy or see use as a solo or group class?

They would be silk or leather armor i assume depending on build so a silk would be like a anime style Japanese witch with magic robes that fly around and grab things deflect arrows, wield swords like pets, and the more powerful the magic robe the better the abilities they have or stronger the pets they have or more sleeve tentacles for example, and the monk would be robe or leather depending if he wants more kung fu or more magic chi fireballs and shock waves, maybe a bard version where they have instruments that are NOT weapons but let them attack like in Kung fu hustle where they play notes that send spectral blades to attacks but they are not plate class fighters at all but silk, more stealth, maybe like geisha spy class skilled in music and seduction, charm, political maneuvering faction adjustment etc.

What are your thoughts on if we bring this up to dbg?
 
Question - Casters Shield vs 2 Hander

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