Duo with a Monk - which class

[Shabaza]

My girlie wants to play a monk and I wanna assist her on her way.

Wich of these classes / Dru / Enc / Shm would fit best playing with her on the longer run?

Maybe another class than these 3 would fit far better?

What do you think?

[Tseng]

Shaman.

/thread

[Noselacri]

Absolutely shaman. Shaman+monk is the iconic duo combination, and they complement eachother extremely well. This is by far the most effective and powerful all-purpose 2-man combo in the game.

[Eternal-Elf]

/agree with Shaman.
You can not ask for a better 2 man team.

[Eternal-Elf]

Especially when they are both Iksar

[azeth]

This is by far the most effective and powerful all-purpose 2-man combo in the game other than Necro/Druid or Enc/Mage or Nec/Nec or Sk/Sham.
fixed

[William_Munny15]

Human Druid, Human Monk

[Omnimorph]

Iksar monk, troll shammy. JBB ftw.

[Iceyhot]

Bard + Monk is decent too.

Not as powerful as monk / sham but more versatile

[azeth]

Bard + Monk is decent too.

Not as powerful as monk / sham but more versatile

Can you run down a Bard/Monk duo fight for me? Never seen this before.

[Iceyhot]

- Bard speed for travel
- Hymn of Restoration with a lute to kill downtimes (regen)
- Single pull ability with lull if monk feels lazy for breaking camps
- Haste and battle stats for group
- snares / slight melee slows on monsters
- fear song + snare for fear kiting at 25(I think?)
- Bard can dispell dots
- Charm and Mez on fights with adds

As long as you don't single pull something that 2 of you can't kill with regen on, you should be fine. Once you hit 25 and can do fear kiting it gets easier.

Total experience output ought to be about equal to a shaman. You won't be able to kill higher level monsters like you can with a shaman, but your downtime will be less and your kill rate faster so it about evens out. Personally with charm and mez, I think its a whole lot safer too.. Worst case, turn on the bard juice and take off if you're outside.

Generally before 25...
Pull monster -
Battle Stats / Haste / Regen snare just before monster starts running

Post 25 fear kite
snare / fear / haste
Post 25 normal
Snare + Melee Slow / Haste / Regen / random song (damage shield, absorbtion etc

Hard to say what would be more desirable in a group... I think its a wash, but lots of people swear by Shaman. My main issue with shammy's is the huge down time until much later in there career. Bard brings mana song, regens, haste, slows, snares, fears, mezzes, charms, runspeed and a few more tricks (damage shields, corpse location etc) It's a difficult class to play, but a good bard is a great thing and there isn't much a bard can't do.

[fugazi]

The bard will require a way more active play-style though and won't have the healing power for emergencies - unless you plan on mezzing/healing for a while. Not to diss the combo, but a shaman would seem more powerful in a straight-away fashion.

[Iceyhot]

Yah, both combos have ups and downs.

Shaman / Monk will be able to take on harder stuff for sure. Pulling will be more difficult, and downtime will be higher.

Bard / Monk won't be able to take heavy hitters, but they do have the ability to handle adds well (instead of relying on ghetto mez), and as long as you stay away from heavy hitters, the downtime shouldn't be as bad

[azeth]

Iksar monk + Fungi tunic + bard regen sounds like a decent solution to downtime healing.

[Kender]

shaman is a far better choice than bard... adds? are you kidding me? if the monk is played right there are no adds. besides... shaman can just root the adds anyway.

shaman slow is better. haste is comparible. regen is better (if no lute equiped). buffs are far far superior. hell even the shaman dps is better if they dont need to heal. less downtime as well as you dont need to wait for HP song to regen.

i was a monk in a monk shaman combo and they are indeed the dream team. Especially before the mid velious tankability nerf

[Kender]

Iksar monk + Fungi tunic + bard regen sounds like a decent solution to downtime healing.

2 issues with that...

1) fungi tunic was a kunark item i thought (old seb)
2) even when it's available it was pretty rare so either it's a big camp or alot of money.

[Muzyn]

fixed

Sk/shm? Maybe if you have a couple of rogues making up for the complete lack of DPS. A hasted monk is a beautiful thing.

[Serrack]

before the mid velious tankability nerf

IIRC the monk mitigation change was PoP era.

[Kender]

IIRC the monk mitigation change was PoP era.

actually i think both our memories are blurry heh

did some reading... the mitigation nerf came out in luclin. it was put in place as preparation for the level increase in PoP

[oldhead]

IIRC the monk mitigation change was PoP era.
It was when PoP came out.

They announced it officially just days before POP. I know cus that was the final straw for me. I canceled my pre-orders for pop and sold my accounts.

[azeth]

2 issues with that...

1) fungi tunic was a kunark item i thought (old seb)
2) even when it's available it was pretty rare so either it's a big camp or alot of money.


2 issues with that

1. iksar monks dont premier til Kunark and this thread was in regard to them.
2. Do you have any concept of the amount of horded wealth on this server & the extreme amount of poopsocking to farm these items?

[Kender]

My girlie wants to play a monk and I wanna assist her on her way.

Wich of these classes / Dru / Enc / Shm would fit best playing with her on the longer run?

Maybe another class than these 3 would fit far better?

What do you think?

2 issues with that

1. iksar monks dont premier til Kunark and this thread was in regard to them.
2. Do you have any concept of the amount of horded wealth on this server & the extreme amount of poopsocking to farm these items?

1. nowhere in the original post does it mention anything at all about iksars
2. i'm sure there is which makes it all the more difficult for a regular player to obtain such items

[Iceyhot]

/shrug to each there own. I also played the monk / shaman combo. I won't discredit either.. each one has there own strengths.

I will say, find me a camp in classic or kunark with multiple mobs and I will break it faster as a bard then I can as a monk. I'll also say that without puma line buffs which this server won't see, a shaman's downtime with a monk class (without a mind buff) is significant. Especially if you want your shaman to be doing damage too.

Yes the slow is better, the buffs are slightly better. You can't stop runners without root, you have no spell interrupt (offchance a monk will do it), your travel time is 3-4X's more. The regen is 10 during combat and 20+ outside of it.

In an outside zone, I'd rather play a bard / monk combo any day. Camps are a cinch, there is virtually no death risk, the dps is comparable (at the loss of huge downtime for your shaman) or better. HP's aren't so incredibly out of control presently that even a warrior couldn't be full hp by the time a shaman could after slowing, dpsing, and maintaining buffs.

In an inside zone.. Shamans have an advantage, but bard / monk is still doable as long as you don't bite off more then you can chew.

Easy to play? Shaman / Monk no doubt. Harder to play, but equally capable to level up just as fast? Bard / Monk.

Each one has its strengths.

[Noleafclover]

Anyone mention bind wound + canni = sex? True story.

[Loke]

Come Kunark, I would agree that shaman is the best choice assuming it is 60 and has Torpor. Right now, I would say clerics and druids both compliment monks just as well as shamans.

[purist]

What level exactly are you all claiming this duo really takes off? No way is it a viable duo at every level bracket.

[garyogburn]

The reason shamans and monks go so well together is synergy. No, druids and clerics dont work as well as shamans, ever. Theres no downtime due to canni and regen. Monk single pulls. Shaman buffs/heals. Monk BWs shaman when he gets low from canni. It just works.

[Lazortag]

/shrug to each there own. I also played the monk / shaman combo. I won't discredit either.. each one has there own strengths.

I will say, find me a camp in classic or kunark with multiple mobs and I will break it faster as a bard then I can as a monk. I'll also say that without puma line buffs which this server won't see, a shaman's downtime with a monk class (without a mind buff) is significant. Especially if you want your shaman to be doing damage too.

Yes the slow is better, the buffs are slightly better. You can't stop runners without root, you have no spell interrupt (offchance a monk will do it), your travel time is 3-4X's more. The regen is 10 during combat and 20+ outside of it.

In an outside zone, I'd rather play a bard / monk combo any day. Camps are a cinch, there is virtually no death risk, the dps is comparable (at the loss of huge downtime for your shaman) or better. HP's aren't so incredibly out of control presently that even a warrior couldn't be full hp by the time a shaman could after slowing, dpsing, and maintaining buffs.

In an inside zone.. Shamans have an advantage, but bard / monk is still doable as long as you don't bite off more then you can chew.

Easy to play? Shaman / Monk no doubt. Harder to play, but equally capable to level up just as fast? Bard / Monk.

Each one has its strengths.

In my experience, Bard / Monk is very efficient but woefully lacking in the healz department. I'm not sure what your battle plan would be either - would the Bard tank? Or would the Bard draw lots of aggro and do some kiting trick? What advantage does this have for the Bard, who could just aoe kite if they wanted?

edit: my last question still applies, but I didn't realize you'd answered everything else in another post, so disregard that

[Harrison]

Absolutely shaman. Shaman+monk is the iconic duo combination, and they complement eachother extremely well. This is by far the most effective and powerful all-purpose 2-man combo in the game.

The bolded part is false.

Enchanter/Cleric can literally do everything the monk/shaman combo can do, and more. The enchanter/cleric combo will do things the shaman/monk combo would get facestomped on with no lube.

[Tork]

For classic, monk+druid (thorns, root, travel) is roughly on par with monk+shaman (slow, regen, canni).

Either combination would be fun for both players, and would be able to level up on a wide range of content.

[rioisk]

For classic, monk+druid (thorns, root, travel) is roughly on par with monk+shaman (slow, regen, canni).

Either combination would be fun for both players, and would be able to level up on a wide range of content.

Utterly wrong. Shaman is vastly better than druids when duoed with a monk. Slow is ridiculously OP in kunark/velious. Combine that with heals, torpor, cannabalize, bind wound, haste, root cc, and a melee class that can dish damage and take it, and you got one mean combo.

No doubt shaman > druid when grouped with a monk.

[girth]

Shaman, no question.

[Tork]

I don't recall mentioning RoK or SoV.

[Noleafclover]

Just to throw fuel on the fire, snare is somewhat valuable to a monk. Aggrokiting. That being said, aggrokiting gives the dru or necro very little time to med. But you can fear animals, or necro fear, or intimidation, to fear kite with a monk.

This is more for a change of pace - a - I wanna play a fun/easy duo outdoors with low death risk.

You still won't be killing as fast as shaman/monk, due to lack of haste/buffs/pet and the unshakable mana supply that is canni-bind wound; and your piss-poor dungeon skills.

But the SERIOUS discussion on here makes me think ya'll have never tried canni-bind wound in a monk/shaman duo.

[Loke]

The reason shamans and monks go so well together is synergy. No, druids and clerics dont work as well as shamans, ever. Theres no downtime due to canni and regen. Monk single pulls. Shaman buffs/heals. Monk BWs shaman when he gets low from canni. It just works.

Hours upon hours of personal experience both on live and on this server as a L50 monk in classic disagree with you. Come Kunark, yes shaman are the superior duo partner. I however stand by the fact that both clerics and druids can be equally as strong duo partners in classic (NOT RoK / SoV).

[bmay1011]

Any thoughts on what could be added to the Shaman/Monk combo as far as a third toon? I'm focusing on a caster type class ENC, WIZ, NEC, MAGE preferably.

[wrxBRAH]

druids the best due to hp/ac/speed/thorns/heals/ports. Its the smarter choice. The power of thorns is ridiculous at low levels. Im sure post 35, a shaman is better though.

[Swishahouse]

Hours upon hours of personal experience both on live and on this server as a L50 monk in classic disagree with you. Come Kunark, yes shaman are the superior duo partner. I however stand by the fact that both clerics and druids can be equally as strong duo partners in classic (NOT RoK / SoV).

You can be my wingman anytime

[Noselacri]

Shaman/monk isn't necessarily what levels the fastest, but it's among the fastest, and it's probably the most flexible and dependable duo. You don't have to be outdoors, you don't have to rely on kiting, and you aren't restricted to some risky mechanic like charm. Two necros might kill mobs faster, and cleric/enchanter might have the potential to take on harder named spawns, but neither of these will have the ability to go just about anywhere and level or farm items while having answers to almost every possible scenario. Shaman/monk just has the optimal combination of damage output, tanking and survivability, sustainability, and risk/downtime minimalization. They're not necessarily the best at each of them, but unlike any other combination, they have enough of each to make almost anything possible.

[Karnek]

Back in the original EQ I remember a husband and wife duo who were both monks. They were essentially a fantastic pulling team. They could split any camp with ease and no waiting around either. They were always together and were great dps. In fact the group I was in had me (as a bard) for the tank since mobs died so quick in lguk or solb. They also never died since both had FD... no getting upset that someone didn't do something right and caused the other to die. Heck our group used a druid for snare/dps and a cleric for heals/dps and we just took on everything.