Suggestion for Caster Oriented Box Team

[B33gP3wp]

With double xp weekend, I have decided to start a caster based team as a side project to my melee based team.

While I feel pretty comfortable with my first four choices (Mage/Necro/Bard/Wizard), I was not sure how to fill out the remaining two slots. My preference would be not to double up on classes (otherwise, I'd probably just use another Mage as one of the two slots)

One thought was to use the last two slots on a Druid and Shaman (in order to gain Atk Debuffs, Slow, more mana regen and more port locations for moving the team around)

One other thought was to go Ranger/Shaman which would make the box a bit light on healing, but I'd still have slow. Ranger's burn cycle could still be decent since ranged, but i'd be giving up melee if I pet tanked and it is my understanding that autofire is about 75% of auto melee attack.

The last thought was to use one of the slots on a real tank and have the mage pet off tank. Healer in that case would probably be a shaman as well.

Anyone have recent experience with a caster team that could recommend a good approach for the last two slots?

Thanks!

 

[PeteSampras]

The downside to your all caster group is that you already have a bard. Now you need a healer to heal said bard because your bard is going to get crushed until you get a lot of gear and AAs if you arent just killing easy content. If you are getting a healer, you might as well get an SK or Paladin to tank (those 2 compliment caster group better than warrior).

Now if you used *just* an SK or Pal, you could forgo a healer once they have AAs to tank on their own via lifetap/heal procs. Or you could use the necro to pull and add an enc as mezzer.

In case of enc as mezzer, you want Druid or cleric as healer. I like cleric better for a few reasons, but if you want druid and their ports, then go for that.

If you go that second route, then you can maintain your all caster presence by adding another mage/wiz/nec or a dru/clr whatever you didnt add the first time.

Scenario 1:
MAG/WIZ/NEC/BRD add [SK or PAL] and [CLR or DRU] bard pulls, hybrid tanks. (you play bard)

Scenario 2:
MAG/WIZ/NEC add ENC and [DRU or CLR] and [MAG/WIZ/DRU/CLR]
(suggestion is to add MAG or second healer) (nec is best puller here, but you could use whatever) Mage pet(s) tank.

 

[B33gP3wp]

The downside to your all caster group is that you already have a bard. Now you need a healer to heal said bard because your bard is going to get crushed until you get a lot of gear and AAs if you arent just killing easy content. If you are getting a healer, you might as well get an SK or Paladin to tank (those 2 compliment caster group better than warrior).

Now if you used *just* an SK or Pal, you could forgo a healer once they have AAs to tank on their own via lifetap/heal procs. Or you could use the necro to pull and add an enc as mezzer.

In case of enc as mezzer, you want Druid or cleric as healer. I like cleric better for a few reasons, but if you want druid and their ports, then go for that.

If you go that second route, then you can maintain your all caster presence by adding another mage/wiz/nec or a dru/clr whatever you didnt add the first time.

Scenario 1:
MAG/WIZ/NEC/BRD add [SK or PAL] and [CLR or DRU] bard pulls, hybrid tanks. (you play bard)

Scenario 2:
MAG/WIZ/NEC add ENC and [DRU or CLR] and [MAG/WIZ/DRU/CLR]
(suggestion is to add MAG or second healer) (nec is best puller here, but you could use whatever) Mage pet(s) tank.

Pete,

Of the two Knight tanks, which one do you think would work better in a primarily caster group? Would the SK tend to be able to take better advantage of Reluctant Benevolence than the Paladin?

 

[Quackanator]

Pally and chanter in same team will keep mob semi perma stunlocked pity both classes are lousy dps when stunning (amend that to chanter always lousy dps), but can be offset with two caster mercs on burn.
Eg pally/chanter duo with 2 casters mercs burn down most T4 mobs in 30-40 ish sec, thats about the same kill rate my boxed group. But the occasional resist will get a merc splatted and that slows down kill rate. Lots of fun to leave a train or corpses.

Prefer SK in caster group (usign bard in place of chanter) since single pulls are easier and little to no cc required so fast regular banal xp. Little to no excitement since need to set up in a spot and feed mobs to the kill squad.

 

[efudd]

I run SK, Wiz, Enc, Clr, Mage, Bard and like how it works out. I run the bard as the pulller, SK as tank, cleric as the obvious, mage and wizard as dps. Bard works great for single pulls, or mistakes that the chanter can mez on if I can't get to them manually in time. Plus mage pet works pretty well for an emergency tank.

I sometimes keep a warrior and paladin outside group for extra dps and/or buffs.

 

[PeteSampras]

i had raid weapons/max useful AA on both my SK and PAL. they did virtually identical dps, but PAL burned higher thanks to disc/AAs. So that is a wash:

DPS:
same

Defensive:
Same

Single Aggro:
Same

AE Aggro:
SK has advantage, but maxed beacon on PAL is fine for 95% of time.

Heal group:
Paladin

Cure Group:
Paladin

FD:
SK

Snare:
SK

Mana tap:
SK

Stun:
Pal

Rez:
Pal

Epic usefulness:
SK (but its better for melee group than keeping pets alive)

I would go with paladin if i was to use a tank in your situation. Both are good for sure, but group heals/cures/chain stun are a huge advantage. Also, dont use ENC and BRD as it is a waste of a dps slot. BRD was more than fine for me once I could AE mez and had mana regen AAs for bard. Up until then it is dicey. ENC great all the time, but really low dps and minimal pulling ability until you are defensively AAd.

 

[Chokehold]

Are you starting from scrath with this or do you have some leveled already?
I'd remove the Necro and use a Ench instead. Then go with SK and a shaman.
Mage, SK, Wiz, Ench, Shaman and Bard is a pretty nice setup imo Almost the setup I use. I dont have a bard though but monk for pulls and steady DPS

EDIT: Just read what Pete said - I use my ench to nuke also so its not a waste of spot. Not uberdps on enchanters but they have their uses and they are easily boted. I tend to find Bards hard to manage, but then I'm pretty fresh on this 6-boxing

 

[B33gP3wp]

Thanks for all of the great advice.

I was able to get a few options up to level 50 this weekend and then will play around with them to see what will work best.

Currently I have Paladin/Necro/Mage/Bard/Druid where my one open slot has been rotating in between a Ranger and a Wizard.

I tend to like the idea of a Ranger in that slot once he can Headshot since the team is starting from scratch, but the Wizard has made porting convenient and packs a punch at these levels.

Paladin seemed like a good choice both in terms of stunning mobs to reduce the healing load on the druid and to provide some Group healing. My hope is that once I can get RB on my necro that the Paladin/Druid and RB healing proc'ing from Ranger/Necro/Mage casting will suffice