Rogue - Best Duo Partner?

[Cecily]

Rogues require a trio at minimum. In a duo they will either be tanking or unhasted and, while doable, it'll suck on some level. X tank (monk prefered), shaman, rogue has all the amenities to let the rogue work at 100% effectiveness.

[Cecily]

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

I've duod with a rogue on my bard like this before, it works pretty well, but it's very difficult to get haste song to land on the rogue witout getting hit consistently. Even without hasting, they tend to drop fast and there is zero downtime unless something goes wrong.

I think this is the one exception. Bards are the only snare / fear / haste combo. Epic monks have much better duo options simply because of self haste. Even if you only hit the rogue with a few ticks of haste a fight, it'll make a huge difference.

[Wrench]

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

I think this is the one exception. Bards are the only snare / fear / haste combo. Epic monks have much better duo options simply because of self haste. Even if you only hit the rogue with a few ticks of haste a fight, it'll make a huge difference.

also the least attractive xp wise for the partner

youll actually make more xp by the rog just standing there watching the bard aoe kite

[Tuljin]

I would say probably the "best" duo is with Paladin, especially up to level 50. Paladin can pull, tank, heal, CC, and snap agro with Flash of Light while the Rogue goes stab stab stab. Paladin also has unparalleled caster mitigation, which is key for this duo. I have duoed Mistmoore, Sol B, LGuk and other zones completely effectively with Rogue. It was great XP and tons of fun, also very easy to pick up a Shaman or Chanter (or really anybody else) then you're really good to go. Pal, Rog, Wiz is also a ton of fun.

Wizard Rogue is also an excellent duo, you just have to do it mostly in outdoor zones (or indoor zones with big areas to run) Wizard can spam flux staff, stun, and snare and kite away while the Rogue stabs.

I have done both methods extensively and they are both great. I suggest indoor zones due to better XP, which is a general EQ rule of thumb. The big thing is take whatever you can get and move your XP bar however you can.

[Macha]

Wow thanks for all the responses everyone.
Yes there is a big difference between outdoor and indoor partners.
Obviously for indoor, there is probably the need for a tank such that the Rogue does not take damage AND is able to backstab (without moving past the mob and back...).
Shaman seems like a good candidate here followed by Paladin. For indoors though, I think I agree with others; it may be best to trio rather than duo. Monk/Sham/Rogue definitely sounds OP.

As far as outdoors go… I am mainly talking about keeping the mob distracted (snared/aggroed on someone else or feared) so there wouldn’t be need for a tank.
I tried Necro/Rogue last night. It was OK… not having SoW or a good heal was a downfall as was waiting on mana. I was under the impression that heals were not needed since the mob will always be distracted but due to resists and fear breaks, that is not the case.

I really think a Bard shines here since there is no downtime. Bard does a mez/snare/fear (mez because fear is pointblank and without mez he will take some damage), then keeps snare/fear up. This works best with mobs slightly lower than you to reduce resists. If things get really bad, just speed song and run to a zone.
With that said, I will not shy away from trying some of the suggestions here... maybe I'll hit up a Wizard soon

(Wrench)Also as far as bards favoring solo xp… yes it is true that bards can get really fast experience soloing but sometimes the best zones are overcrowded and you can only AE kite 10ish mobs at once.. which isn’t that efficient (hey why are there only rhinos and tigers left in OT? Hehe). Also, some bards want a break from running in circles all day long [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
And... I will seriously run across some bards that don't know how to AE Kite well so they just group for xp haha.

[Cecily]

Yeah, it's not ideal for a bard. But AE kiting gets old and fear kiting is pretty fun. As far as the rogue's exp getting hurt by hybrids, you gotta get over that mindset. Rogues are difficult to exp and anything you can get is better than sitting around LFG. A 40% penalty split between a rogue and hybrid isn't going to be nearly as bad as any 6-way split.

Necros are decent because they can DPS. Druids and rangers really can't contribute to the kill much and they kinda suck for kiting, because it's all on the (unbuffed) rogue. But it works. I see duos as only a thing of necessity, but trios are ideal for leveling. Feel free to sub out any hybrid for that monk slot and you'll gain snap agro in place of DPS. Not a bad trade off.

[ghost182]

Just going to throw ranger out there, I really enjoy duping with a rogue. So easy to hold aggro with snare and flamelick and it uses such little mana. I can buff our str and give us sow. There's no need for healing or other buffs because we don't take dmg. I can use archery to add in some extra dmg, I don't dot or nuke much as it uses too much mama and creates downtime. It's also not hard to grab some haste for sow when you need. However, you could do this with a Druid who could add more dmg, port, and no cp penalty

[evilkorn]

Worst duo is shaman/rogue in crypt. It may work sometimes but I've wiped to it and have seen other people wipe to the named too. I agree with Cec, best as 3rd wheel and good fear/agro kiter partner.

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by ghost182 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Just going to throw ranger out there, I really enjoy duping with a rogue. So easy to hold aggro with snare and flamelick and it uses such little mana. I can buff our str and give us sow. There's no need for healing or other buffs because we don't take dmg. I can use archery to add in some extra dmg, I don't dot or nuke much as it uses too much mama and creates downtime. It's also not hard to grab some haste for sow when you need. However, you could do this with a Druid who could add more dmg, port, and no cp penalty

It works. Druid mana isn't sustainable and neither is a ranger's hp bar though. Having been on both sides of it, it's not my first choice. From a pure agro kite perspective, druid / ranger + rogue is VERY sustainable and will definitely get a ton of kills with minimal downtime if any. Just it's up to the rogue to do 90%+ of the killing.

[Destron]

Rogue/Rogue train intimidate get snare daggers...profit