Best 4 person all caster/priest group

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

My friend, my perspective is as it always has been: I'm interested in the question in the context of leveling relatively untwinked from 1 to 60, not endgame camping.

That means no torpor, no fungis, no pocket characters. In that context I rather like the following groups, in a very rough order:
enc/clr/necr/wiz
enc/clr/mage/wiz
enc/enc/clr/wiz
enc/enc/necr/clr

That's good to know. I have always been focused on endgame, as the point of leveling is to get to 60, and a caster group is already leveling fast.

It sounds like you are admitting your arguments against Shaman are not relevant for an endgame focused group, so we can put them aside until people want to focus on the leveling group discussion.

If you want to discuss an endgame focused group, please let us know which camps are better with Cleric over Shaman.

[Topgunben]

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

My friend, my perspective is as it always has been: I'm interested in the question in the context of leveling relatively untwinked from 1 to 60, not endgame camping.

That means no torpor, no fungis, no pocket characters. In that context I rather like the following groups, in a very rough order:
enc/clr/necro/wiz
enc/clr/mage/wiz
enc/enc/clr/wiz
enc/enc/necr/clr

At what point do a clerics heals become so absurdly better than a Druids, that you would be willing to throw away QOL features like regen, sow, porting? I think the obvious answer is probably whenever they get complete heal, but I would think what a PITA when the cleric dies and now he/she needs a port.

[Vexenu]

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

My friend, my perspective is as it always has been: I'm interested in the question in the context of leveling relatively untwinked from 1 to 60, not endgame camping.

That means no torpor, no fungis, no pocket characters. In that context I rather like the following groups, in a very rough order:
enc/clr/necro/wiz
enc/clr/mage/wiz
enc/enc/clr/wiz
enc/enc/necr/clr

I actually like your earlier suggestion of ENC/ENC/CLR/DRU best (although I concede the Wizard in place of the Druid for an ultra-endgame focus with Hate access and TL shenanigans, but most comps would get way more overall mileage from the Druid).

The Druid gives you a third charmer in a good number of zones (which the group could obviously prioritize while leveling) for ridiculous DPS, and just as importantly, provides a massive safety barrier for the group by keeping all pets perma-ensnared. DSM also made a viable point about a group comp being superior if it can split into two duos when necessary or advantageous, and this comp obviously could - both ENC/CLR and ENC/DRU are extremely capable. Throw in all the extra Druid goodies like track, ports, SoW, Harmony, thorns, extra heals, ultimately PotG, etc... and this group is really cooking. Insane safety margins for charming with both the Druid (snare/heals) and Cleric (stun/heals) in support. Can easily run roughshod over all groupable content and dungeons. I really don't think the Wiz comes out ahead of the Druid unless the group wants to specialize in sniping Hate minis.

[bcbrown]

CH is 39, first druid group port is 29, regen is 34.

I love druids, and I think I probably included druid in my first answer in this thread. But I think I'd rather swap the wizard for the druid if I went that way.

[Topgunben]

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

CH is 39, first druid group port is 29, regen is 34.

I love druids, and I think I probably included druid in my first answer in this thread. But I think I'd rather swap the wizard for the druid if I went that way.

I think wizard does make more sense if not replacing the cleric. But wizard is an absolute no if replacing the cleric.

Still, not having constant sow available can be pretty annoying. Nothing sow pots can’t fix I suppose.

[bcbrown]

Yeah, sow is a huge QoL improvement, but with this group I expect I'd be spending most of the time dungeon crawling. Guk, Permafrost, SolA/B, etc. I've spent a ton of time outdoors on my druid, but I can't think of much outside worth bringing a heavy-hitting group to fight. Unless, like, you want to speed-run Unrest/Mistmoore/CoM/KC, but yuck.

[bcbrown]

Yeah, I think adding a druid for snares/charms/regen/ports/spot-heals would at least be a lot of fun. They can nuke if there's nothing else to do. Having a built-in porter seems pretty necessary on a new server. Wizard gives that, but druid gets ya a bunch of nice utility, so I'm pretty close to 50-50 which one to include.

[7thGate]

I feel like maybe we could have some more discussion on stretch targets, and what 4 man comps can do them, and how.

I'm curious what 4 man comp people would use for the following targets, and how they would approach trying for the kills:

--Prince Thirneg
--Vaniki
--Harla Dar
--Overking Bathezid
--Eashen's Guards

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by 7thGate [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I feel like maybe we could have some more discussion on stretch targets, and what 4 man comps can do them, and how.

I'm curious what 4 man comp people would use for the following targets, and how they would approach trying for the kills:

--Prince Thirneg
--Vaniki
--Harla Dar
--Overking Bathezid
--Eashen's Guards

Yeah stretch targets are interesting. I'd imagine Vaniki is off the table for this group, simply because casters/priests don't need Willsapper or Neb's. Would be kind of a dick move to kill it just for a stretch goal, unless you had a melee alt lined up to loot it, or were selling loot rights.

Harla Dar sounds difficult with four people post push-to-interrupt change, since she can gate. Wiki says she gated occasionally even with sieves.

You could fight her at her spawn location to prevent gate, but then you couldn't stop AoEs via the water trick. This means Charmed pets are not very effective. They will just keep getting dispelled and/or feared. If you try to MR buff them, you'll get more breaks between AoEs. If you reduce their MR, they will get feared more.

If she can be blinded, 4x bio orbs and very slowly killing her with Dots might work lol. Bring her to an area where she can be blind kited safely, and just spam bio orbs while weaving in the occasional DoT. You'd want a Shaman and an Enchanter so you can Malo + Tash for maximum -MR. Blind Kiting would prevent her from casting and summoning.

Having summoned pets attacking the blinded mob would stop it from running, and the players will not be summoned. This would allow you to keep her in shallow water so you can land spells and block aoe. Maybe 2 Mages as the last two members alternating between summoning pets might work if the pets don't die too fast. Or 1-2 Necros if you want morr DoTs. But you'd need to stop doing this when HP gets into gate range so she doesn't gate.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Enchanter/Shaman/Mage/Necro with 4x bio orbs would be my pick for Harla Dar if she can be blind kited.

Enchanter focuses on Tash, Slow, Clarity, and Group Resist MR.

Shaman focues on Malo, Healing, and DoTs. This would be a very slow and long fight, so you want a Shaman to be able to maintain their mana, and they get a free DoT clickie via Epic. Could Torpor the pets too as long as your DPS is slowly reducing HP.

Necromancer does DoTs and twitches. Can use their pet if the Mage needs a break. Can res if something goes bad.

Mage just saves all mana for pet chaining to keep Harla Dar in place.

All group members would need to be bio orbing as often as possible. The group would need to be well coordinated so when one caster is doing something, like a Necromancer Doting, at least one or two other members are bio orbing.

Once Harla Dar is down to Gating HP, Mage stops using pet and switches to doing nothing but spamming bio orb. Necro also stops using their pet, and focuses more on DoTs.