Building Duo's - Need Advice

[Hannibal]

Hi Everyone! I finally got my wife to play P99. I love this game, but I'm not a pro by any means. I've been here for ages, but my highest toon is a 58 druid (next up is a 30 pally). I'd like to get some fun DUO's going for us. My druid can PL and port, so I figured, her first toon should also be a druid so we can port each other. I have her sitting with a 29 druid ATM. So far my tactics have been to use thorns to PL randoms in LOIO. Should I go somewhere else to keep up the leveling (thinking sarnak fort next, ensuring I only pull the melee types).

Once we clear her druid for circles etc, what's a solid duo? I'm thinking we can PL them past the burdensome newby levels to 30-ish so they can function appropriately. I know the basics, but I was hoping someone may know specifics. For example Monk/Shaman is a well known duo BUT:

Should I pick Troll for root clickie, or do I need Ogre for Stun Immunity? Should Monk be Ikky? Please give some pros/cons and do's/don'ts.

Please feel free to get as detailed as necessary. Also, please note that this is her first MMORPG and I'm still working on "Well if you don't have SoW and you didn't snare the mob...".

Anywho, hoping for a couple options that vary in play style. Thank you for your time.

[Gustoo]

you can each log off and onto your druid to move them around. I wouldn't level another druid.

Log onto your druid and SLN your toons and let them just play through the noob levels. You don't want to rush into the higher mid levels with your inexperienced wife.

The noob levels 1-20 is where she will learn to play the game. Frankly skin like nature is too much of a buff and won't let her learn how easy it is to die. I would go level 1 to 10 with no assistance just grind together like you are both noobs.

Then to speed it up start the PL action by logging your druid and skinning her then she logs your alt and you skin that person too. Vice versa.



Really there are a ton of duos just try to think of what she will enjoy doing most. Do you think she wants a complex toolset or a simpler one? Do you think she will enjoy being vigilant like running an enchanter with a charm pet?

She might enjoy being a cleric, and you be the enchanter. Thats one of the ultimate duos, it allows her to be a goodie race which lets her enjoy towns better.

You guys can both be high elfs or something.

Iksar monk and ogre shaman can be good and fun and can do lots of content. You could both start as iksars too. Really you should choose a landscape she will enjoy most. She probably won't want to spend all her time stuck in the swamp or jungle...thats just my guess.

So many good combos. Try to get her to choose a class and race and then you pick a complimentary one.

[uygi]

I definitely wouldn't level a second druid. If you want two porters, go druid/wizard. That would be some efficient quadding!

[Hannibal]

I think I may have mis-spoke. We have 2 accounts, and therefore need 1 druid on each account. Mine is 58 and can port/buff her toons. Hers is currently level 29. Once she can port toons on my account, we'll be rolling out a duo. I chose druid for her because it's the only class I really know how to play through-and-through and it's easy for her to escape bad pulls, adds, etc as long as we're outdoors.

I like the idea of having one complex class and one simple class. Which is why I was thinking Monk/Shaman.

I've not yet seen a cleric/chanter duo. What races would you suggest for gear/abilities? And what mechanic are they working to exploit? I assume charm on chanter, but then what are you doing with the cleric or is it just for the buffs/heals to the group/pet? I've never really rolled up a chanter and this sounds reasonable for both of us.

Also, I happen to know she's not a huge fan of melee, so something that can cast, but doesn't require crazyness is in line with her tastes. I feel that the game world is small, but she's so new that it appears vast and just about any zone is good for her. If she went evil, I assume she'd enjoy the ikky (The zones are nicer) and Dark Elf (She likes the look). But faction isn't a deal breaker with her good-aligned druid being on the roster.

Again, thank you all for the info! I really appreciate it.

[DMN]

You should be more specific of your goals for this new duo. what are you hoping to accomplish long term?

And do you plan primarily to only play as a duo?

[Tenlaar]

Before I write up a longer post talking about a suggestion that comes to mind I'll wait for you to answer those questions and one of my own...how do you feel about playing a bard?

[Hannibal]

DMN - We intend to almost exclusively duo. Raiding may occur, but she's not in a guild and I just port folks in the BG/AG family, I don't even raid much myself. We're probably looking at some kind of end-game camping (Skyshrine, Ice Worms, WW Dragons, Kael, etc). She hates chatting folks, so unless I can get her on Discord, grouping is kind of out.

Tenlaar - I have NEVER played a bard successfully (I give up around level 10-15). I've been in groups with them and they seem like a ton of fun. I am not averse to trying one again, but I doubt she'd be willing to rock the song rotations, so no double-barding. But feel free to toss some smexy bard builds/ideas at me.

[kjs86z]

You can just make 1 account for each character you play.

I wouldn't "skip" low levels. That's where you learn how to play the classes as your kit builds out.

Do Iksar Shaman + Monk and go take on the world. Can do some twinking, but don't power level. 1-20 in FoB + Kurn's is great!

[Tenlaar]

Okay, so if you're up for trying out bard, here is my somewhat unusual suggestion for you - you play bard, she plays shaman. The two classes compliment each other extremely well as a duo. Points of note, in no particular order...

1. The combination of HP and Mana regen that bards bring is a shaman's best friend and makes it a very low downtime duo.

2. You'll have a variety of ways that you can kill as you level depending on your targets and twink level. Tank and spank with shaman slows, pet tank with slows, fear kite, charming (double charming if fighting animals), root rot.

3. Root rot works especially well at higher levels once the bard gets single target DoTs and the shaman gets some higher damage ones. Bard DoTs have no initial DD component so they don't have a chance to break root. Also, as long as you're quick on it you can use the bard mez songs to interrupt most dangerous spells from caster mobs, which is one of the few real things that limits what a shaman can root rot.

4. The shaman is already one of the most capable solo classes but one of the areas that they are lacking is hard CC, which the bard brings. Between lull, mez, charm, root, slows, and a dogdog pet? Dungeon crawling and breaking dungeon camps is more doable with the duo than most.

5. Shaman stat buffs are great and with you duoing most of the time it's not such a chore to keep them up. Being able to load up on like 130 pounds more loot between the two of you before needing to go sell things off is just a nice bonus at times when you're far removed but don't want to start leaving loot laying around.

6. The two classes combined have a ton of utility and quality of life things. Bard speed and SoW, invis, levitate, enduring breath, see invis. You'll have just about everything except invis vs undead and ports covered, and you'll have both song and buff versions of them depending on if you just need them for a moment or longer.

I'm sure I could think of more things, but I need to head out for a while, so that'll do for now.

[Hannibal]

KJS86z - Why Ikky Sham and Monk? Just curious what the benefits are outside of regen. I always thought something like Ogre for stun immunity.

Tenlaar - That sounds like a great duo and less hectic than solo barding. What would you recommend for bard/sham race for that combo? Not knowing the bard, I'm not sure if they have some end-game restrictions based on their race/deity (I know my halfling druid won't ever get the smexy tunare loot).

And thank you all for your prompt replies. I really appreciate it. These are some super fun ideas I can float to the missus so she can "pick" from a list of solid options.

[Qtip]

No raid gear, go cleric/enchanter. Complete heal doesnt do more damage with raid gear. With C2 you will never go oom playing a cleric when you have to Ch a charmed pet every 2 mobs. With 5k in cha gear you can charm as well as a raid gear character.

Once 60 you can camp names/sell ports for plat to buy skyshrine armor for the enc/clr and a epic mq for cleric epic. That will keep you busy for the next year, enjoy.

[Tenlaar]

Tenlaar - That sounds like a great duo and less hectic than solo barding. What would you recommend for bard/sham race for that combo? Not knowing the bard, I'm not sure if they have some end-game restrictions based on their race/deity (I know my halfling druid won't ever get the smexy tunare loot).

Myself, for the bard I'd go agnostic half elf and put all starting points into stamina. No awesome Tunare loot or anything to worry about I'm afraid. With a shaman partner to buff you and Velious gear your physical stats and even charisma will be plenty good and as you level the extra stamina will work up to being an extra +100 hp. Who doesn't want that? I didn't put the points into stamina on my 58 bard and it still bugs me a little after almost seven years.

For the shaman it doesn't really matter so much, if she doesn't want to be an ugly fatty then barbarian or iksar would be fine. Iksar would honestly be easier to deal with than barbarian would with you having a druid that can port her to EJ right there by the FoB zone line whenever she needs to hit the guild or whatever, that's a hell of a lot shorter trip than taking her through the Karanas to Halas. The ogre frontal stun immunity will rarely come into play since she won't be soloing and you'll be able to pull with the bard and hold agro or mez the mob while she debuffs or roots or does whatever to set the mob up for how you're killing at the moment. The ogre frontal stun only really only comes into play when doing risky solo stuff or when shit is hitting the fan, so not the vast majority of play time. Troll and iksar have the same regen, so all troll offers is better physical stats for less wisdom.

[Yoink1986]

Go gnome Mage/gnome mage. You’ll thank me later ��

[kjs86z]

KJS86z - Why Ikky Sham and Monk? Just curious what the benefits are outside of regen. I always thought something like Ogre for stun immunity.


You're super casual. Starting in the same zone / same race = win.

Also cleric + enchanter is another one to look at.

[darkreap]

Could always do ranger/shaman. Outdoors you will have pulls, dps and a tank which can keep aggro. If you plan on getting both ranger epics and sky cloak, you could do cleric/ranger but it wont be as efficient as shaman while leveling. Earlier posts are correct, enchanter/cleric will probably be the top combo.

[Zellgoddess]

some of the best Duo:

Shaman/Sk
this is probably the bread and butter of all duo. most do this due to the high versatility of both the shaman as a healer and sk as a tank, while neither do the best at there respective roles as say a cleric and a warrior, they far outshine them via shaman canni for mana, plus have better buffs and can slow mobs. SK's have spells too that help with DPS and hold aggro better then warriors.

Druid/Pally
this duo works really well as the point is to damage soak and DS like a mack truck with both being able to heal.

Cleric/Warrior
standard healer tank nothing notable other then they are the best of the best for healing and tanking

Enchanter/Ranger
this due works rather well as they have very nice crowd control

Bard/Bard
this is a kite team

Mage/Mage
this is ok, but for the best effect regularly group with more mages a full group of mages can murderize entire zones

as for Rogue and monk they solo well at early stages however late game they are dependent on having a tank and a healer present. not so much the monk as the rogue however your not gonna OOM often healing a monk tank over a Pally/SK/Warrior.

as for wizard and necromancer these classes purely solo far to well to duo.

[AgentEpilot]

2 halfling warriors, named Shake and Bake.

[Hannibal]

Thanks Everyone! I think we'll try both the cleric/chanter and the sham/bard. I truly appreciate everyone taking time out of their day to reply. Those both sound like very nice combos with the cleric-chanter being the simpler option I intend to try first.

[Tenlaar]

Enchanter/cleric is definitely THE powerhouse duo, it just happens to involve two things that a lot of players don't really enjoy - playing a cleric and managing a charmed pet. If you two can have fun in those roles then I would absolutely say to put that as your #1 duo, once you get the cleric to complete heal it's basically game over. You'll be able to duo damn near everything that isn't raid content.