Best solo melee class?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by zelld52 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

they [bard] simply, mathematically, cannot be on par with the other melee classes.

This is not always correct, and I was talking about levels 1-45 or so. The metric for XPing is kills per hour. This is a combination of variables including DPS, Recovery Time, and Pull time. Let me give a simple example:

Level 40 Human Bard (1/12 HP Regen Standing/Sitting with using hymn of Restoration while sitting)

Level 40 Human Monk (6/8 HP Regen Standing/Sitting with using Mend on cooldown)

Both characters have the same stats:
100 STR
100 DEX
1200 HP

Bard is using Vilia's Verses of Celerity (20% Haste) + Tuyen's Chant of Flame (21 DoT damage per Tick) + Selo's Consonant Chain (~25% slow).

Monk is using Mend on cooldown. 1200 x 0.25 = 300 / 360 = 0.833 × 6 seconds = 5 HP per tick.

Hymn of Resoration gives you between 2 and 13 HP per tick, depending on level. At 40 it should give you 9 HP per tick.

Mob is level 35 with 1000 HP and does 8 DPS.

This example is Classic EQ (No Expansions) Solo Self Found:

1. Human Bard Dual Wielding Dragoon Dirk (0.26 ratio) + Obsidian Scimitar (0.26 ratio) using my DPS Calculator:

• 7 Melee DPS + 3.5 DoT DPS = 10.5 DPS.
• 95 Seconds Kill.
• 760 Damage Taken × 0.75 via Slow = 570 - 16 HP from Regen = 554 Damage Taken.
• 12 HP Regen including Hymn Sitting = 277 second recovery.
• 372 seconds total per kill.

2. Human Monk Dual Wielding Bare Fists (0.375 ratio) using my DPS calculator:

• 11.25 Melee DPS + 5 DPS Flying Kick (guesstimate) = 16.25 DPS
• 61 second kill.
• 488 Damage Taken - 60 HP from Mend + Regen = 428 Damage Taken.
• 8 HP Regen including Mend Sitting = 321 Seconds.
• 382 seconds total.

The bard in this scenario is melee killing and recovering at the same rate as the monk with worse ratio weapons.