Wife Duo

[melandis]

So, I finally convinced my wife to give p99 another try.

First time around she was all set on a pair of rogues (!) despite my misgivings and it didn't work out so well, and is going to take some advice on classes this time from me.

There are a lot of incredibly powerful late game duos like monk/shaman or enchanter/cleric but I really need something that works well from low levels onwards.

My current idea is a pair of iksar necros as we won't need to worry about losing xp to pets, spells will work together well without the need to add other classes to form a group even when we get to higher levels, and are relatively hard to get killed unless you afk.

Is this a good plan or are there other duo I should consider that will work well from low to high levels?

EDIT: If it matters we're going to play on blue and we can afford some modest twinking [fire wedding rings etc] or starter weapons for other classes if needed but are not going to be rocking zlandi hearts or fungi

[A Knight]

I think the most important thing is to play something you want to play. Even necro/mage could work just so it doesn't get stale. Mage is the guaranteed win. Necro is the guaranteed win with a little work.

[Gustoo]

Does your wife want to be a rogue?

She can play the rogue and you can be a necro. You can fear mobs and she can stab them in the back. It's not the best combo because the necro can pretty much do that without the rogue but its not a bad combo at all.

SK/Shaman
Monk/Shaman

Those combos work well from level 1.

Necro / Necro works well from level 1 also and you can do a lot and have fun. It makes sense to make a combo like necro / mage just to have more variety of utility but it isn't neccesary.

Shaman + any melee is pretty great for straight forward everquest enjoying. The reason its a shaman and not a druid or cleric is because the shaman has slow and haste spells which make you much more efficient.

[Tunabros]

my girlfriend thinks eq is old and gross

lucky you

[A Knight]

I think probably one of the best bets for learning to play EQ while having fun would be barbarian shaman and rogue. It might be rough finding your corpses sometimes. Maybe even take a couple days if things go bad.

People often hate Everfrost Peaks if its solo because its quite a dangerous place. But halas area is a great area if you are not alone and there is something magical about that place. Just remember there are roaming high level skeletons in the ice mazes that can one hit you.

Barbarian shaman might be hard to solo by itself but shamans are known for being very strong. But with any other group member it would make things easier. And then she can drag your corpse for you until you get invis.

[melandis]

she picked a rogue last time as it sounded pew pew fun. she's not going to play one again after last time and realises we need something where the two of us is greater than the sum of the parts.

I've played a monk before but not an SK so that could be interesting if she wants to shaman.

I've always been a bit wary of mage because of the reputation for needing to chain summon pets from mid levels onwards just to kill stuff. Is that overblown?

[A Knight]

Sk and Shaman is good too. Just need to wait until 30 when Sks shine.

Shaman is good too but might be a little much responsibility for learning the game. I had a troll shaman with barely decent gear, and I was chopping things up.

[Stroboo]

SK/Sham is totally doable but will be really light on dps and SK doesn;t get FD unitl 29 :( Shaman/monk as others have mentioned is very similar in gameplay but more DPS and i think monks get dual wield at 1 so that is great early game dps.

my suggestion would be sham/warrior though. typical thought is need monk to pull but once shaman gets root that is totally adequate CC on multi pulls in dungeons, tons of times warriors pull for grps, just learn to recognize the root emote and backup once you see the emote and shaman can line them up for you guys. once shaman slowed mobs are easy...have warrior carry 1000s of bandages to bind wound and you guys will have little down time.

plus you can walk into any dungeon and pick up any 4 randoms and have a solid grp.

[Gustoo]

Mage doesn't neccesarily "need" to chain summon pets it is just the most efficient way to kill mobs. Mages are pretty much OP for anything that they can get to aggro their pet instead of the mage itself.

[Zipity]

Necro + sham and mage + sham are great

[DMN]

Well enchanter/cleric is actually not too bad at low levels on both blue and green now. the enchanter mainly is there for the animation damage/haste/mana regen the cleric can tank/heal and use a cheap/high DPS weapon like poison wind censer. Even melee classes don't get double attack until 15-20.


For pure kill speed effectiveness, I've always really liked the necro/enchanter combo. Easily the fastest killing combo in the game if you stay in undead areas. Though I think it should be noted that the enchanter is a high burnout class which you might want to avoid for that reason alone. And this duo also makes the nec into a bit of an enchanter themselves so they too can get burnt out on it. However you don't have to push the limits all the time via charming and can simply chill out with some fear kiting when you get burnt on charming or ench can just slow with animation and you just ride the pets DPS.

Necro/shaman is also quite good. While shaman are pretty limited at lower levels much like the cleric above you can simply just melee with a high DPS weapon. Again, like with enchanter, it's especially strong in undead heavy areas once charming starts to become more viable.

Necro/necro certainly works quite well but you both are going to generally be wanting the same items and you might get a bit bored with double dipping on same class.

[Bardp1999]

You need a healer and a tank, from there you can do just about anything

[Zephina]

My husband is a necro and I am a druid and that is a fun combo. Snare and fear, and DoTs are a good time.

[Dokuton]

Sister and I did Monk/Shaman duo to 40, earned enough plat to lightly twink ourselves and just started grouping in City of Mist and we've greatly enjoyed the process thus far. We're already planning on leveling Cleric/Enchanter next and hopefully many more.

[Nocht]

SK/Sham is a great combo from my personal experiences. I remember back in the day duoing with my SK bud. We would run Sebilis for plat. Between slow and snare there wasn't much we couldn't camp.

This was during PoP though so we had better gear than classic EQ. Having the clicky iksar cudgel helped whenever focus dropped off and I couldnt afford a rebuff.

[ScottBerta]

Let your wife play whatever she wants and then you pick something to go with it.. most likely you will be picking Enc or Shaman.. maybe necro.

[Toxigen]

Let your wife play whatever she wants and then you pick something to go with it.. most likely you will be picking Enc or Shaman.. maybe necro.

Solid advice there, exactly what I was going to say.

How capable of a player could your wife be if she really got into a class? Is she the type of person that could delve into a higher skill-cap class and play it well or would she be more comfortable (and have a more enjoyable time) on something simple? The two (very different) options for simple but strong imo would be cleric or monk for her.

I know its a dead, beaten horse...but if you're keen on enchanter and she wants a nice easy time...there is really no reason not to try enchanter + cleric. She will feel super strong with you and won't just be a pet-CH bot. Cleric stuns on charm breaks, roots, etc all help out along the way but you will be doing the heavy lifting. You could also pair enchanter with druid, necro, or shaman but it will never match the cleric in strength.

If she liked the idea of melee dps, try to talk her into a monk. You can play shaman and do most of the busy stuff and let her do the smacky smacky thing. Both Iksar, start at same spot...run a character over full of starting gear and hit the ground running.

With all that said, best thing is to let her decide on a class and pick the best possible duo to go alongside her. Happy wife = happy life.

[Stonewallx39]

I’d recommend Shammy/Necro duo. Can be very powerful and you cover each others weak spots. There are some DoT overlaps at certain points but overall very nice combo.

[Issar]

Just my guess, but if you want your wife to stick around in Norrath, I would have her read through each class description on the wiki, look at the spells and abilities below the descriptions, and let her choose whatever class she’s in to. Then you can pick a complementary class. If you pick a class for her and she’s not invested, she’s not going to stick around.

Any two classes work fine at lower levels. In some cases synergy doesn’t really become a thing until the 20’s. Keep in mind the problem with rogues, warriors, and somewhat with monks, is they have limited buttons to use and can become tedious for some people.

The most important thing to keep her playing is to have a character that she is invested in from the start. One button wonders in 2021 probably won’t fill that gap.

Best of luck to you guys.

[Zipity]

Having two wives has many benefits but don’t let them conspire against you.

[ewjax]

My brother and I did necro + necro and it worked great. You can play together just fine, and you can also play solo just fine (just stay close in levels to one another).

[Arakash]

No mention of Warrior (husband) Cleric (wife)? The classic duo of all medieval wargaming.
Add an enchanter friend and you have the holy trinity of old eq.

[Master Roshi]

Go Necro, have wife play rogue. She just acts like your pet as you fear kite or aggro kite. Perfect for newb and easy to gear.

[melandis]

thanks for all the advice folks.

Wife has decided to play an iksar melee class as she likes the look of the race, still gets to hit things and I'll be providing support as a shaman. Not sure which of the three options she will go for but see you soon in kurns.

[Jibartik]

my girlfriend thinks eq is old and gross

lucky you

HAHAHA

I had a gf once that liked wow, and so I installed EQ and showed her this superior game she would love!.. The look on her face was like I was trying to make her watch some ISIS beheading video.

[Toxigen]

thanks for all the advice folks.

Wife has decided to play an iksar melee class as she likes the look of the race, still gets to hit things and I'll be providing support as a shaman. Not sure which of the three options she will go for but see you soon in kurns.

persuade her to go monk

she will thank you later

[Master Roshi]

thanks for all the advice folks.

Wife has decided to play an iksar melee class as she likes the look of the race, still gets to hit things and I'll be providing support as a shaman. Not sure which of the three options she will go for but see you soon in kurns.

You got yourself a keeper! Wife wanting master race right out the gates!

Monk and Shaman is probably the most overall star duo for ikky, but I think Necro and Monk can go a long way too, plus you both get FD for some really fun dungeon crawling adventures.

[Issar]

You got yourself a keeper! Wife wanting master race right out the gates!

Monk and Shaman is probably the most overall star duo for ikky, but I think Necro and Monk can go a long way too, plus you both get FD for some really fun dungeon crawling adventures.

Totally agree, is a solid setup too. I think Shaman/SK is a duo gets overlooked a lot itself. There is a lot of utility to synergy between the classes, and adding snares and fears to a shaman toolkit, you can get a lot done.

[Toxigen]

Totally agree, is a solid setup too. I think Shaman/SK is a duo gets overlooked a lot itself. There is a lot of utility to synergy between the classes, and adding snares and fears to a shaman toolkit, you can get a lot done.

except for the whole low dps thing

monk is the best possible pair with a shaman and it really isnt close unless you're talking mega-twinked warrior on blue

[Naethyn]

I like necro + shaman. So much synergy.

[XeroKill]

except for the whole low dps thing

monk is the best possible pair with a shaman and it really isnt close unless you're talking mega-twinked warrior on blue

The low DPS is not that big of a deal and doesn't become very evident until after level 20. Prior to level 20 just equip a 2-hander that hits for DMG cap and yer all set. I would agree that for the sub 50 game the MNK wins pretty handily, but later on in the game having a proper tank/slow combo will become invaluable. Not to mention you are 2/3 of a perfect group already in the making. If you are a SHD/SHM duo, you just shout that you are looking for more... any will do, really. If you are a MNK/SHM duo, you still NEED a tank to get a proper group going and the tank is usually the hardest part to fill, and usually the one that breaks the group when they leave.

I duo'd Iksar MNK/SHM with a friend of mine, and by the time we hit 57 I thoroughly regretted my decision and wished I had gone SHD instead of MNK. We were trying to do dungeon crawls and my ability to tank became too much of an issue. Threat was difficult between slows, dots and heals, and even with a Fungi and decent twinkage, the MNK just needed too many heals. God forbid we got into any trouble because the MNK has practically zero ability to contribute anything beyond MOAR PUNCH!

A torpor SHM with a well geared SHD can duo practically anything. Yes a MNK would do well, but for what a SHM needs/wants to succeed the most, being able to hold agro and take the hits is FAR more useful than a slightly faster time-to-kill.

I think the best argument here is that there are no things a MNK can do that a SHD cannot, even if the kill takes longer. However, there ARE targets that a MNK could not tank for the SHM but a SHD could handle easily. Their DPS doesn't add up to enough of a difference to overcome their lack of agro, utility and damage mitigation.

[Toxigen]

The low DPS is not that big of a deal and doesn't become very evident until after level 20. Prior to level 20 just equip a 2-hander that hits for DMG cap and yer all set. I would agree that for the sub 50 game the MNK wins pretty handily, but later on in the game having a proper tank/slow combo will become invaluable. Not to mention you are 2/3 of a perfect group already in the making. If you are a SHD/SHM duo, you just shout that you are looking for more... any will do, really. If you are a MNK/SHM duo, you still NEED a tank to get a proper group going and the tank is usually the hardest part to fill, and usually the one that breaks the group when they leave.

I duo'd Iksar MNK/SHM with a friend of mine, and by the time we hit 57 I thoroughly regretted my decision and wished I had gone SHD instead of MNK. We were trying to do dungeon crawls and my ability to tank became too much of an issue. Threat was difficult between slows, dots and heals, and even with a Fungi and decent twinkage, the MNK just needed too many heals. God forbid we got into any trouble because the MNK has practically zero ability to contribute anything beyond MOAR PUNCH!

A torpor SHM with a well geared SHD can duo practically anything. Yes a MNK would do well, but for what a SHM needs/wants to succeed the most, being able to hold agro and take the hits is FAR more useful than a slightly faster time-to-kill.

I think the best argument here is that there are no things a MNK can do that a SHD cannot, even if the kill takes longer. However, there ARE targets that a MNK could not tank for the SHM but a SHD could handle easily. Their DPS doesn't add up to enough of a difference to overcome their lack of agro, utility and damage mitigation.

So your shaman didn't like to root mobs, got it. You had a crappy duo partner which made it feel like a slog.

You are quite possibly the only person on P99 that would even try to argue SK > Monk for duo w/ a shaman.

[Issar]

except for the whole low dps thing

monk is the best possible pair with a shaman and it really isnt close unless you're talking mega-twinked warrior on blue

You missed the whole point there, Toxic Gen...

[Danth]

You are quite possibly the only person on P99 that would even try to argue SK > Monk for duo w/ a shaman.

He isn't. I know others who feel that way. I know Shamans who feel that way having duo'd with both. For my own part I rate the Monk and Shadow Knight-based duos as largely equivalent given typical gearing. Monk/Shaman and Shadow Knight/Shaman do the same camps. Kill rate for either duo isn't usually all that different. Either setup has some strengths and weaknesses vs the other, depending on opponent.

Danth

[Jimjam]

Whats the magelo of this 57+ shaman monk duo?

[Stroboo]

When I leveled a shaman I felt the best partners were warriors. Once mobs are slowed anything can tank them so what a shaman needs for a partner is dps. Both warriors and monks provide good dps but monks re really really slow pullers and eventually you’ll just start pulling rooms full of mobs and have the shaman root and slow each of them. Warrior much better in this scenario...esp once you are comfortable with keeping the warrior in berserker mode