Does anyone run this trio? I'm thinking full attention playing the Enchanter, when a Necromancer and Druid to complete this trio. I'd be interested to see if anyone runs this setup and how it works in PoP at high levels. Thanks.
Now, I am assuming a full attention Enchanter means you are charming, Druid heals may not be the best but the druid snaring both the mob and the charm means that any charm breaks won't kill you immediately. Necromancer won't do much, charm will annihilate most mobs you will engage with so the DoTs won't help. Really, the necromancer is a mana bot for the enchanter and druid, which means you should replace it with a bard.
... Well, I have never seen that trio, but it sounds interesting. Would work, tough to necro fully when enchanter is busy, but at least it's a pet, and mana battery as was mentioned. Maybe you won't get full potential out of necro unless undead, in which case you might switch attention to the necro for charming. Druid dots maybe not too useful but nukes and travel and snare always a plus.
imo if you're not single boxing a necro you won't be able to play the class close to its fullest extent. You're much better off with a mage (malo, pet, COH), SK (snap aggro, FD, DA), Pal (stuns, supplemental heals, rez), or Cler (stuns, main heals, spell haste, rez). Even a BL would shine over a necro (pet, supplemental slows, snap aggro). Personally, I would go Clr followed by Pal, but really a lot of classes will work with Enc/Dru as the base.
Yes, I completely agree with the above comments. I won't get max out of the necro, but for that matter, neither max out of the druid. I was just considering using the necro for the pet, nukes or dots when needed, corpse summons and reses. Using druid mainly for snares, ports, sow, and heals. But mainly spending nearly 100% focus on playing the enchanter. I really doubt I'm good enough of a player to charm on two or even all three classes. What I'm thinking here is if I run SK, Enc, Druid. I'm focusing on the sk, using enc for debuffs and slow, nuke when needed, and druid for heals, snares, sow, etc, then I'm not using the enc to the fullest. So I was just considering if I switched out the tank and use a charm mob tank. Then insert the necro for the pet damage and necro utility. Kind of an (outside the box idea). just wondered if anyone else has run this or had some thoughts.
If it excites ya, try it out! Druids are amazing once they get all their levels and spells. They don't heal quite as well as clerics, but all the other utility and DPS is pretty great, not to mention the ability to power-level future toons. If you get to the very high end game, you might wish you could complete heal charm pets on tough targets, but the druid should heal fine until then. As an enchanter support class, the necro won't add as much as a mage. Mages can malo pets, making charm last longer. Mage pets can keep mobs rooted, stun mobs, and/or tank decently during charm breaks. That said, the necro's FD, corpse summon, and EE rez will certainly help after the inevitable wipes to badly-timed charm breaks. BTW, it's not obvious to a lot of folks, but bards are great enchanter support classes. They can keep the charmed pet targeted and just roll their mez song. When charm breaks, mez will land within a few seconds, turning the hasted weaponized buzzsaw pet into a drooling chump. This makes charming much safer and lets you AFK mid-session (just refresh tash and roll bard mez on the pet). From a boring min/max perspective, enc/clr/mage, enc/clr/bard, enc/clr/shm and enc/clr/dru are probably the strongest "focus on the chanter" trios. (After enc/enc/clr which is incredibly strong but pretty stressful to play well.) But really, any team with a chanter and a healer in it is gonna be strong. Charm is silly OP in this era.
I really appreciate you guys donating your time and advice to help me and possibly others. I seem to be having a hard time settling down to one trio combination. I guess I just like too many classes and don't have enough experience at the endgame, and just wanting to get it right for my playstyle. Just so you know, and from the advice I've received, I'll main on the Enc, and have Mag and Druid as support. I realize that I may need Cleric complete heals later on, but the durid class just brings so much that I feel I'm going to try that. Thanks again and I hope you all have a Great Day.
The good news is clerics get their strongest spell at lvl 39. So you don't have to spend too much time leveling one up if you decide you need it.
My first experience with a trio was enc/cle/wiz. Did fine, made it to 60. Eventually I leveled up a warrior, bard and mage to sub in. All have their strengths. What's nice with the tank is that when you start into pop, your enchanter won't be able to pac a lot of stuff until 62. A druid changes things instead of the cleric though in the outdoor zones in that respect, so keep in mind a druid can help you split sooner. With with a tank, you can pull 2-3 at a time and work on each add individually to Mez. You'll be limited until 61 until you get apathy but root and Rapture can still manage. At the end of the day, as long as you have something holding the target mob during a charm break (another pet, tank, whatever), that's what's important. I suffered a lot with a wizard as a third because as soon as charm would break and if the target could summon, the enchanter would get pulled in to takes hits from the target and charm pet at once. Mage, necro work because their pet will usually have some agro on the mob to buy you time to recharm.
My main trio is SK/DRU/ENC. Short of very top end, trophy-trio level stuff that requires cleric heals (stuff I don't care about), I believe it's possibly the single most do-it-all trio you can potentially box. - You have a knight tank for snap agro, FD splitting, and all the stuff SKs can do. SKs are bonkers DPS in PoP, so that helps out on all fronts. - You have druid buffs (HP, DS, Sow, Regen at low levels where it matters), ports, agro-free CH, and all the convenience of that class while missing out on only HoTs and rez. The obvious solution is to not die. - You can play the enc as much or as little as you want. You can charm on the enc (perma-snare from your dru is nice - can't do that with a cleric either) and kill faster than full groups, or you can buffbot and focus more on the SK. Options are the most important thing to me. Options means less boredom in what you do each day. This trio checks every box with what most people are looking for in their day to day playing.
What really boosts SK's DPS in PoP compared to before PoP? I have the same trio right now and while not charming is definitely a possibility, I would say my SK is far from a DPS powerhouse .
My SK doesn't have the best DPS endgame weapons yet, but he has a decent setup and my charm pets typically do at least 10x my SK's DPS. Good pets do much more
Your gear I'll probably never get, so I guess it can only go downhill for me DPS wise once I gain levels. https://www.takproject.net/magelo/character.php?char=Kapo Back on topic for the TS, I'd swap out the necro for a mage if you want a more efficient trio. But if you really like necromancer's, just give it a try you can always swap later. I did 3 times along the way.
SKs are more bursty DPS in PoP with non-bugged Mental Corruption. They MIGHT fall under "DPS Powerhouse" standards with bugged MC, but they're more in the decent to good dps category without it if you're utilizing everything you possibly can and actually casting your dps spells inbetween your wep swings instead of just spamming them right when they come off cooldown. No class in the game is even going to come close to a hasted PoP charm pet, let alone one that Dual Wields. (I parsed a frenzied initiate at 1400-1500 DPS in PoTactics) SK/Dru/Chanter would do extremely well if you are decent APM and like to agro kite. One area an SK is an absolute powerhouse in is keeping agro on him. A neat thing about some good PoP zones/exp spots is that the mobs don't actually summon, which means you can just keep the agro on the SK kiting around while letting the charm pet attack from behind while you kite around. A SK isn't required for this by any means, but it's nice to have a fully capable tank class doing the kiting in case of stuff like adds, charm breaks, or even summon tanking certain mobs/boss mobs. A necro could work for that same agro kiting strat, and would keep agro just as well as an SK just not take hits quite as well. Necro brings another "good" pet to the table though, which is going to help your kill speed a lot more than a SK's will. Some good and helpful options in this thread either way, just find one that fits a playstyle that won't burn you out too fast when you're exping. Cause you're gonna be doing a lot of exping
I currently run a Chanter / Cleric / Druid and I'm about to swap out the Cleric for a Paladin so I can have my tank worry about the named and keep it on him while still being able to stun a pet break giving my chanter and druid a chance to debuff and re-charm. Getting back to your original post, Chanter yes, Druid, yes, Necro no ... I just don't see the value in it. The chanter is the DPS period and for many situations can also be your tank ( charmed pet ). If you're going to tank with your charmed pet then you need a cleric to drop the bigger heals.. if you're going to just DPS with your pet, then you need a tank to keep agro and mitigate damage. I don't see many situations where you could safely agro kite and not get a pile more agro doing it =)
PoP mob AC is very low compared to luclin exp mobs. In addition, SKs get a lot of real spells (two castable lifetaps, upgraded spear, reasonable dots in blood of pain, festering darkness and ignite blood) and the 64 pet alone is almost 40dps. My sk was lucky to do 100dps with a pet at 60. I average around 160 now with luclin-era weapons. It's definitely reasonable. As mentioned, nothing will come close to charm pet dps.
Ok I understand now, I thought that somehow my SK would do a higher % of the total dps in PoP but that isn't the case. @Liegezen you talk of kiting, does this mean the SK can't stand toe to toe with mobs anymore in PoP or do you mean this as a strategy for tackling really tough mobs? Enc/Druid/Pal would probably be my favorite trio. The hp buff and rezzes seem very useful (even though I'm leveling up a cleric for the rezzes).
They can tank just fine, it's just a different and arguably more efficient way to exp on non summoning mobs. By agro kiting you don't have to bother healing or slowing the mob. For me, when I'm charming, I try to limit swapping targets away from my charm pet on the enchanter to as few times as possible so that I'm always ready to handle a charm break. It never fails that you'll end up with a charm break when you're in the middle of casting a slow or something, so not only do you need to duck the current spell but you need to retarget a mob that can just obliterate you in less than a sever tick if they're a hasted/weped PoP pet. Now I personally do a sk/clr/chanter when I trio, so the long lasting snare isn't an option for me and I rely on having the mob targeted on my cleric for a quick stun when charm breaks. But yeah, at the end of the day it's just a different way to play the trio, and since I've been tank and spank exping on takp since 2015, It's a nice break from the norm.
Ok, in my trio setup, I've dropped the necro for now. But if I may, I have another question or two. In a SK, Enc, Clr/Dru trio, Mainly running the SK, tanking, pulling, etc, Using Enc for dps using a charmed pet, and Naturally, Clr/Dru for heals. I guess I need more details on how to handle charm breaks? I'll be busy on the SK most of the time, even though I can swap to Enc quickly, I'm guessing that I won't be fast enough. (Maybe I will, I'm really not sure. I'd appreciate some help in the tatics involved in this setup when the charm breaks and how you handle it. I wonder if when the charm breaks, if my sk casts a Terror line of spell if that would pull the ex charmed pet off the enchanter? Next setup, Enc, Mag, Clr/Dru, here Enchanter is tanking with the charm pet, Mage is assisting with pet and nukes, and naturally, Clr/Dru for heals. In this setup, it is suggested that I need cleric heals over Druid heals. I haven't played high enough for the druid's Tunare's Renewal but the mana costs and the cast and recast times are the same. I am assuming that Cleric CH just heals for more than the Druid TR? Could you guys that have played up to those levels confirm if that is the case or am I missing something with Cleric vs Druid heals. In my limited knowledge, I'm thinking that druid tracking, sow, ports would be more useful than the cleric res and slightly better hp/ac buffs. Someone set me straight on this please. Thanks again for any advice. Hugs to all.
Ah cool didn't know that (I never got past 50 before so somewhat new to this game compared to others), I'm already having issues with charm breaks and my high ping, but so far it is worth the risk. But since you are kiting with your SK (basically running in circles) won't you have less time to react on your enc/clr since you'll have to switch over to them first? Right now after pulling with my SK I basically spend most time on my enchanter in case of charm breaks. I spend most of my time on the enchanter after pulling with my SK. When charm breaks I use the following set up stun -> mez -> tash -> charm. Try to position yourself as far away from your pet as possible, extended range focus item helps a lot with this. The SK just keeps aggro on the other mobs and you send your pet back in there when he is recharmed. Oh and for aggro I don't use the terror line, I use snare and shadow vortex. Haven't got that far, but druid heal doesnt go past 75% health and isn't a complete heal (but enough as long as you aren't raid geared). Also it supposedly generates a lot less aggro then the cleric's heal. I switched from that exact combo enc/mag/clr to enc/sk/clr and have no regrest. Sure cleric heals/buffs are better, but being able to port/sow/snare and DS is worth it for me.
So if you're tanking on the SK it's not going to be something you have to watch like a hawk, which is going to leave you plenty of time to watch the other box. If you run a druid, you should be keeping the charm pet snared which is going to give you more than enough time to react with a mez or new charm. Sadly one agro spell will not be enough to pull the Ex-Charmed pet to the SK, and will probably require at least 2 casts + proximity threat (details on what that is is a whole other can of worms that Torven has a very in depth thread about on EQEMU fourms I believe it was). Also while on the topic, Shadow Vortex is a better option for a quick cast snap agro spell. AC debuffs generate a lot of threat, typically more than what is possible by the terror line of spells. It's based on a mobs max hp, which again is a good read located here http://www.eqemulator.org/forums/showthread.php?t=39819. The gimick of the terror line of SK spells is that they are unresistable, making them something you can use at range on belly caster mobs. A spell resist normally has zero effect on the amount of threat generated, unless it's a belly caster in which it will only generate 1 threat if you aren't in melee range. AC debuff line and snare line is a SK's bread and butter when it comes to threat generation. Snare kinda sucks if you're trying to build threat on a mezed mob though, as the dot tick will break the mez. Clinging Darkness though is the most mana efficient max agro generation spell you have in your spell book though otherwise, following by Shadow Vortex at 40 mana, but a slighty faster cast time and ability to not break mez. This really depends on how fast you as a player are, and how much room you have to work with. If the mob makes it to my SK on a bad charm break then that's ok if I take a few hits. Benefit of doing it on a SK is that I'm a full blown tank and fully capable of taking hits if need be. I personally don't have a high ping issue though, and have been playing with the same hotkeys for many years. At this point hitting my hotkey to switch to another box is muscle memory so it's just swap, stun, swap, tash, gcd, recharm without really having to think much about it. That's just something that develops with practice though. The mob is also always snared with Dooming Darkness, so even if you need to stand still for a sec to get ur charm pet handled it will take a sec for the mob to actually make it to you. Land a dooming darkness, then use clinging since you still gain threat from a spell landing even if it doesn't take hold.
I used to main this trio and as long as your charming it’s a fun trio. When charm breaks the necro pet tanks. I usually could do all end game content with the trio pre planes of power. I did have some trouble consistently holding down the juggs camp in seb but 95% of camps I was able to do trio pre planes of power. I ultimately ended up swapping the chanter out for a beastlord because I got tired of charming all the time. Fun trio that can do a lot of content.
It's funny to think of a BL -- the monk/shaman hybrid -- as filling the same niche as an ENC, but they sort of do. Both provide slows, DPS, mana regen, etc. BL is a nice alternative to ENC for folks who don't enjoy charming. BLs also bring very solid tanking, which is handy. Variations on the BL/(CLR or DRU)/DPS theme give a lot of nice trios.
