Seems like a great combo. No duplicate skillsets really. I wonder if you'll have enough heals for some content.
It's the combo I use. I like it, but there's some large level gaps between my characters still so I haven't really explored it at its best. Even then, it's an incredibly autopilot setup: Pull using pacify, load up the stuns to hold agro, send the pets in and unload debuffs/dots, stun and nuke as needed. Paladin can heal themself between swings decently and the shaman becomes a much better healer at later levels. You can charm undead on the necro to really boost DPS, but that requires more effort than I'm capable of. As rosenthm1 points out, this becomes more challenging in PoP and in particular encounters. If there's very high damage output or mobs are immune to pacify, you become really dependent on the paladin being overgeared, creative methods of CC, or uhhh making the necro pull (yuck). But, to be honest, the only thing I think it really misses is the ability to track. Tips for getting up to speed... Get a DW helm for the paladin. Helm heal is like having a 70hp/tick regen on the shaman and you can easily fit in 3 casts of Canni between helm clicks. It's especially great if you can't get Canni 2 at 39 or if you skip it altogether. Get a Clawed Knuckle Ring for the shaman. Absolutely clutch for making the shaman buffs last longer. Get Words of Darkness on the necro. Instaclick from inventory and such a great item when you have access to regen from the shaman. Burning affliction 2 and Affliction haste 2 anyway you can find it for both necro and shaman is great. BA2: Kobold-hide boots, Reed Belt, Serp bracer, Siryn Hair Hood. AH2: Silken cat-fur girdle, green silken drape, chrysoberyl talisman, and iksar hide boots. I also recommend going Cazic Thule on the Shaman, because no one should be deprived of the opportunity to do the Cudgel quests.
What's the DW helmet and this cudgel you speak of? I know itll be a very long road for me to level because of playtime but instantly the thing I thought of with this group was undead at higher levels. Necro slow and snare in PoP and pally slay undead, the crypt of decay will be a fun playground.
I played around initially with Pal/Sham/Wiz and I’d say if you’re not married to the concept of necro I might consider wizard instead. Evac is pretty powerful as an “oh crap” button particularly when you can pop LOH to grab Aggro off the Wizard then start casting it. I do like necro though for the more gradual dps rather than bursts from the wizard which made it feel like the mob’s HP bar was on pause in between wizard casts.
Well I started with sk mag shm. Idk if it's my long term though coming back to the game. I've been away like a year haha.
it should work well, and there are lots of druids/clerics out there to group with if more heals are needed.
Deepwater Breastplate I believe also will heal. It does consume 1 Jasper each cast, but at 300 HP for 1 Jasper, it is a superior version of the Deepwater Helm. I personally use the BP for regular grinding activities to provide extra HP to my casters without using precious Peridots because I am cheap. I tend to keep a 10 slot bag of Jasper stacks for this purpose. I would imagine the several Trakanon trioer/single groupers will have some cheap DW BPs available for sale at a reasonable price as well.
Yeah, as Fadetree already mentioned, Deepwater Helm. Cudgel is Skyiron Cudgel of the Ancients, iksar shaman progressive questline that is pretty cool. Much harder to do the quest if you don't have Cazic Thule as your deity, because iksars have a deity based faction penalty. Or you can just skip the quests and get the primal cudgel off the AC burrower. Yeah, every piece of Kunark class based armor is clickable at level 45. There are some great pieces and some not so great pieces. But I think paladins got some good ones on average. Heh, I've been trying to be self sufficient since coming back, and the money constraints are pretty rough. New spells periodically for the shaman and necro make saving up for gear very challenging unless you dedicate time specifically to farming plat. I also think there's a lot of value in investing in shaman alchemy, which is pretty costly on its own.
Fair enough! A friendly reminder that Shaman Alchemy is skill capped based on level. I may or may not have done 1000 combines on AK before realizing I was at my skill cap for the current level my shaman was on.
Something often left out, is the ease with which you can do the quest for a Fine Antique Ring (3ac 30hp 30mana, Mana Preservation 2) in PoK. Tiny rockhopper eye, undead froglok tongue, cockatrice beak and high quality cougarskin (the hardest item to acquire - level ~30 cougars in Iceclad). The rest can be done by level 15-20.
The Fine Cut, Diamond Inlaid Mask (Spell Haste II) is even easier. All it takes is a Sarnak Blood--often found on merchants--and a scary invis run through Droga. If done before level 10, though, there's no real consequence to dying if invis wears off.
And it gives a very big chunk of exp. It will get you from 1 to 6 in one turn-in, and I think it will go 6-8 on the next turn-in.
I play warrior shaman necro. I think you’ll eventually find shaman healing is your limiting factor. You’ll be able to do pretty much whatever exp content you want. That said, I found the combination of slowing and healing to be a bit rough as you start pushing harder content. You fall into this loop of getting a mob slowed delays your healing which is already not as good or strong as a Druid or clerics to begin with. So it’s harder to catch up from time spent slowing. I also thought about replacing my warrior with a paladin but ultimately decided against it. Why? Paladin's do not get an upgraded lull in pop. So i'd be back to pulling with my necro. (life without lull sucks). Also, shaman pop healing ... Shaman's healing in pop really really takes a hit imo. they get an upgrade quick heal and and upgraded torpor. The quick heal starts out around 1100. So if you max out your AA and have a healing focus maybe you get this up to 2k, which is what your CH currently does. Torpor upgrade really isn't an upgrade heal wise. Quint heals for 300 per tick (same as topor) there's just no snare / slow. Druids get better upgrades and of course this isn't close to what clerics can do. Ultimately, i replaced my necro with a cleric. So currently playing Cleric Shaman Warrior. I am much happier with my shaman as a support / DPS than a healer.
Possibly relevant: pallies get good heal upgrades in PoP: a 250 HoT (Torpor is 300), a 1-second 850 spot heal, and a 3-second 900 group heal. Pallies will heal about as well as shammies in PoP. Their stuns can also preempt a lot of incoming damage and make aggro a non-issue. Of course, how often you can use those tools will depend on your mana pool, FT and AAs. Pallies scale really well with gear.
I started in classic with Necro and shaman then added the paladin. It's not what I use now but it's a strong trio. You excel versus undead mobs. My only problems I found with it later on was your pacify stops working, and lots of micromanaging with the shaman and necro buffs/dots. KEI lasting 4+ hours changed things and makes it a lot less painful at lower levels. Remember to get your defense skilled up on your casters.
this was my main trio back when i was playing i levelled up as PAL / NEC / DRU then swapped the DRU for my SHM once I got higher up. having a pocket druid around is nice anyway, might be the better way to level up. SHM doesn't come into their own until higher levels anyway, before they get good slows the DRU is probably better for the combo PAL / NEC / SHM is one of the better dungeon crawling trios out there I'd say, with the ability to easily single pull, slows for big named melee mobs, stuns for big named caster mobs... one warning, the starts of fights are especially hectic with all the actions you need to input, and the rest of the fights aren't exactly "set and forget" either. also means there's a pretty high player-skill cap compared to a mindless trio like WAR / CLR / MAG (i.e. even a bad player can probably do WAR / CLR / MAG well, but if you want to do as best as possible at PAL / NEC / SHM you're gonna have to work for it) when i was levelling up / back when the server started, i continually had people surpised at the content i was able to do at the level ranges i was at, and had a lot of people tell me i should change characters. i stuck with it, tho, and apparently between me and Necra and some others the combo is getting some respect these days. good to see. it really is a good one! oh and GO IKSAR there's very few reasons not to.
