Better 3rd piece for Pal+Sham trio: Monk or Necro

[stebbins99]

Hello everyone!

Backstory: I spent a fair amount of time duo'ing my monk with my buddy's Shaman. Monk + Shaman has been a great duo. However, we have a 3rd RL buddy joining us that is leveling up a Paladin-- slowly, but surely he is catching up. (Had his heart *absolutely set* on a Pally for whatever reason)

While our 3rd buddy is leveling up his Pally, I've been leveling up my necro alt and having a great time learning how to function in groups (my main back in Live was a necro, though I hardly grouped and was a clueless teenager).

Question:
Now that my necro is catching up in level to our monk/sham, I wondered if I should consider using the Necro as the 3rd piece to this trio? Or, do you think my Monk is a better option to team-up with a Shaman and Paladin?

I am always the puller as Monk (of course) and would probably have to do so as the Necro. I'm very used to FD pulling and the necro has extra utility (snare + FD for instance to split grips), though he is obviously much punier when it comes to taking hits.

Any and all insight is welcome. PS - talking our buddy out of playing a Paladin seems off the table (hah, figured I'd get that out of the way). Thanks!

[stebbins99]

Rogue is the real winner choice for Pal + Shm

Hehe not going to re-roll but thank you! Either Monk or Nec for this trio. It's taking our Pally buddy long-enough to catch up

[Siberious]

Depends your intent. If just for leveling/fun then either monk or necro both work just fine, play the one you enjoy more. If you're looking to farm higher end group content later on and want easier time splitting pulls and such, monks the easy answer.

[Izmael]

Monk all the way imo. Necro really shines solo and some stuff (long efficient dots, undead charm) lose quite a bit of their appeal in a group setting.

[Gozuk]

Monk would be great no doubt but a Necro added to that duo would be much more interesting.... I vote Necro!

[knottyb0y]

A monk would add: more DPS to your group in general, and great pulling ability (sneak, throwing stars and of course FD).
A necro would add: DPS(pet, dots, nukes), crowd control (screaming terror and roots), and backup-backup healing.

Monks are a very fun class, and a well geared monk should outdamage a necromancer. But if you are working with a shaman/paladin duo, you probably are dealing with long-ish fights anyway.. This would maximize the necromancer's damage to mana utility because more dots would sit on a mob for longer.

Personally I think adding a necromancer would mean your party would be able to do more things, particularly in dungeons. The paladin, with lull, can be a powerful puller. Monks are good at feign splitting but it takes a lot of skill, patience and work.

Either way you are in for some fun.

[stebbins99]

Awesome input guys! I have some solid stuff to weigh-out here. Knottyboy, I really appreciate your detailed breakdown; Naethyn, I've also read that about the Nec/Sham duo on the forums as well. Interesting!

Side question - for times when the Shaman cannot play, is it safe to assume the Nec would make a better partner with the Paladin? (ie Nec + Pal > Mnk + Pal)

We plan to mainly play as a trio so this isn't as big of a factor. I love all of the utility that the Nec offers (I believe them to be pretty underrated in group settings when played properly) but fear that we might really be lacking any type of melee punch (pun intended) with the Paladin as our only melee + non-caster.

We are still waiting for the Pally to catch up level-wise , this means I have a little bit of time to deliberate. Any additional input is welcomed and appreciated!

PS – not sure if race is a factor but will mention:

Shaman = Iksar
Paladin = Dwarf
My Monk/Nec = both Iksar

[enjchanter]

Will eternally be jealous of these people who have static leveling groups with friends.

My brothers / friends either don't have interest or can't manage to even play skyrim casually :)

But I vote necro , one of the most underrated classes in the game. Focus on back up heals and keeping everyone's mana bar topped off and being dedicated CC / snare. Don't bother using dots besides darkness unless your dps is actually that low (possible) or if you're fighting a named. Don't forget to fd off that dot aggro !
And at the higher end, rogue pet > all of in a group setting

[Shinko]

Monk necro Shammy

[Raev]

Now that my necro is catching up in level to our monk/sham, I wondered if I should consider using the Necro as the 3rd piece to this trio? Or, do you think my Monk is a better option to team-up with a Shaman and Paladin?

They will feel similar: in both cases you'll be pulling and providing DPS. For leveling the Necro will probably be substantially stronger. This trio is a nearly perfect opportunity for a Necro to flex their versatility:

Completely adequate FD puller. Screaming Terror or Darkness lets you break doubles easily; send in stalking probes while FD for messier pulls.
Permacharm undead for huge damage, or use charm as CC
At 44+ your heals will take a lot of pressure off the Shaman's mana pool
The 53 rogue pet will probably do almost as much damage as a poorly geared monk by itself
Paladin/Shaman will provide plenty of time for dots to tick
A few twitches will keep the Paladin's mana pool up for stuns against casters


Monk in contrast needs lots of high AC Dozekar loots, Primal, Epic, NTOV weapons, Bio orb, etc to really feel overpowered.

Paladins are also hugely underrated for leveling; the snap threat and HP buffs pair really well with both Shaman and Necro, and a few stuns and heals never hurt anyone. The big weakness will be mana regeneration without Clarity. Of course once you hit 60 both you and your Paladin friend will hate the raid game here, but then so does everyone else <shrug>

[Foxplay]

At 60 with torpor the shaman will carry you regardless of which you pick

Imo go with the monk, more dps potential at 60

[trite]

monk to trio with pally shaman is the right choice

[Nexii]

Necro probably better. With pally HP buffs, stun cc, and shaman patch heal you should be able to hard charm safely (dw, haste, etc). That will be much higher dps than a monk while levelling. It's actually a very strong trio combination.

Yea monks scale great with gear so do necro though. If you get epic and soulwell staff each are great DPS especially when DOTing multiple targets. Which certainly can be done with 3 rooting classes and shaman slows.

[kjs86z]

Monk necro Shammy

[Ruhtar]

Necro will probably be your best bet. Monk would be better at 60 with a torp shammy, but the 3 of you would have to get to 60 first. Necros are the most efficient soloers on P99, so adding a tank and a buffer/healer/slower just makes it that much easier. As someone else said, later on, you'll run into circumstances where the shaman heals may not be enough, so having a shaman, necro and pally that can heal? OP.

Mana won't be much of an issue at the later levels either with the shammy canni and your twitches for both of them. Pulling will actually be easier on the necro now that sneak is nerfed.

Everyone here saying monk is a better choice is definitely thinking late game, but between a monk and a necro, you'll run into stickier situations on the monk and you may lose the will to take these characters all the way. You'll probably have more fun leveling with the necro and worst-case scenario, if you find yourself not liking it in the later levels, you'll have a solid solo class to farm plat on for your monk.

[stebbins99]

Awesome feedback! Ruhtar, these are our first toons-- all untwinked of course-- and we are looking at a LONG journey to 60. In fact, we are very much about the "journey there" rather than worrying about how things will look like at lvl 60.

And, I do tend to agree that pulling seems better with the Necro now that sneak pulling is basically obsolete on my monk (wish that would get changed back!). I'm leaning towards Necro.

Major props and thanks to everyone contributing to this thread

[Stroboo]

Necro - but either would be super sweet, necro just adds solid dps and more utility instead of really good dps(not great dps).

[Dreenk317]

Given that these are your first chars, I'd go necro. When I started on this server I was in a duo with a RL friend, he was shaman, I was necro. In our 30's we made friends with a shadow knight and spent a lot of time trioing. Was great fun, and very very efficient. Necros make amazing pullers, especially vs undead mobs with your cheap roots and lulls, add screaming terror and FD, you can split almost any camp.

Focus on undead zones, this will allow the necro and the pally to really shine, a pally with ghoulbane is pretty solid dps against undead. And the shaman doesn't care if mobs are alive or not.

[Frighteous]

non slack enc is what you want. shm can save enc when the shart hits the fan amidst kaesora charms. strathbone healer has 300 hp heal and a nice cleric nuke.

if the player playing the new toon is inexperienced, Cleric would probably be an ideal choice rather than enc. but if it's a decent player, enc ALL THE MAFFKIN WAY.

[Snaggles]

If your RL bud is fairly new to the game the pally is probably a great choice for him/her. You can pull for the pally to chain FOL and stun.

If the friend is somewhat experienced (lulling, parking, etc) and will pull then your choices open up.

[Hodor_]

Hodor

[Pyrocat]

Necro all the way. Monk is way way way more gear dependent. Necro has more utility, which is very important in a trio, and it also has the nice gear balance. Cloth/Int, Chain/Wis, Plate/Melee.

Everyone saying Monk in this thread is either not providing rationale or is talking end game. This is a thread for "what is the best leveling trio", not "what is the ideal raid-geared level 60 trio".

[stebbins99]

Thank you for the input Pyro! Hodor, you too.

Hah, this is very much about us getting to level + exp together. It looks like Necro will be a more-versatile choice and I certainly do love playing him, especially in groups.

Might be time to sell my monk's crap gear and start saving for that pre-nerf CoShadows

[Dulu]

Will eternally be jealous of these people who have static leveling groups with friends.

My brothers / friends either don't have interest or can't manage to even play skyrim casually :)

But I vote necro , one of the most underrated classes in the game. Focus on back up heals and keeping everyone's mana bar topped off and being dedicated CC / snare. Don't bother using dots besides darkness unless your dps is actually that low (possible) or if you're fighting a named. Don't forget to fd off that dot aggro !
And at the higher end, rogue pet > all of in a group setting

I, too, wish I had friends.

I concur with all of the people saying Necro + Shaman > Monk + Shaman.

Since you have the Paladin now, make him pull... and work on getting his pre-epic. It's pretty easy for how strong it is, and will boost his DPS by a ton.

[Bombastic]

level the necro with him, save up for a fungi and solo the monk up.

[Jimjam]

If you think your team has good communication and cooperation, nec. Otherwise monk to prevent the shaman and third player stepping on each other's toes too much.

Bonus points if monk and paladin are both tranquil.

[stebbins99]

Well after some testing, it looks like Necro is the most-versatile fit for this trio! If anyone has a CoS sitting on a mule/alt that is not being used and would enjoy some cash / monk gear, *please* send me a message-- it will be put to very good use. I'm the main puller in this trio and would love the benefit of CoS / invis post-FD for splitting/charming/etc. Thanks again to everyone!
!!

[Troxx]

Late to the party but with a pal/Sham duo I’d strongly recommend necro

-excellent healer when played correctly. This will keep you killing with minimal to no down time
-strong synergy with shaman (for the above reason). At high levels torpor and necro heal over time stack giving you a whopping 425/tick hot potential
-provides critical extras the group utility (snare, Rez, ghetto mez)
-stronger dps than monk. Others may not readily agree but I’ve got an epic TStaff monk 59 and a 58 necro. Even not charming, max summon rogue pet by itself is not far behind the monk in raw dps. A few well placed nukes (esp if you can use undead) and smart use of dots and necro will beat monk easily even with some of the best non raid gear available.

Necro/Sham/monk is one of my favorite and most potent things trios. Since you’re starting off with pal/sham as a base, necro will add a lot more total power, efficiency, etc to the group than a monk will.

Necro is probably the most underrated group class on p99. The class has such a diverse and powerful toolbox.

[Newfangle9]

I hadn't seen some of the utilities that Nercros have, and was going to post them. Troxx just mentioned Necro rez so I'll mention corpse summoning. Your group wipes at the bottom of some huge dungeon and Necros can save the day. My necro is only 30 on P99 but my old one was max level on old live. I was much more likely to solo in dungeons because of that skill.

[stebbins99]

Nice! Loving this input. I finally got my monk and necro both parked in the same spot as my Sham + Paladin buddies (they are lvl 32-34).

Necro is currently lvl 30 and Monk is currently lvl 35. While playing the monk is pretty straightforward, I feel like I have a lot of options/choices in terms of which spells to keep up when grouping on my necro.

Would love some input in terms of spell lineups for grouping -- will post back on here ASAP with the lineups I've been using lately