The best duo

[MacGilly]

Me and a buddy are trying to pick the best healer/fighter duo. Here are the options we are considering:

Barbarian Warrior & Shammy
Dwarf Warrior & Cleric
Human DK & Blood Mage
HG DK & Shammy

We definitely want decent dps, and a foundation for a good group.

Do DKs have good control for multiple mobs?
How well do warriors perform in small groups vs DKs?

Right now we are leaning from the blood mage combo because they are effete (j/K). But really, how well can they take a punch, which is bound to happen in small group hunting.

If you have other advice for a combo, I'll take that as well. I'm definitely wanting a warrior or dk. Healer is up for grabs.

[Brockhammer]

My girlfreind and I played a Warrior/Shammy combo in beta and plan on doing the same live. As a duo having the Hyatet(phoenix) shaman was the way to go for her, since she doesnt need to do any tanking with a warrior around. The Hyatet shaman puts out good damage, and can heal with the best. The Bear shaman has some great buffs for any DF class too though. The wolf seems to be a bit more of a solo pick of the three shaman choices.

[Cocytus]

Dreadknight will do fine, cannot really comment on what race you will want though. And for your healer you definitely want a shaman. Between the ability to buff you and slow your target's attack speed, there is nothing better for duo'ing. Now as for the shaman's patron spirit... I am going to argue Tuurgin. Very nice melee combat buffs will make the DK's job easier and no matter how good you are at tanking and holding aggro it is difficult to argue with having an offtank available in case of adds. And when this offtank happens to be your healer? It is a beautiful combination and I have abu- I mean used it before. Vulmane make for a decent shaman, what with their innate wisdom bonus.

[Razlath]

My wife and I run with Dread Knight - Cleric. Both are Dark Elves for race.

It seems to work very well. I run in offensive most of the time, and she never has a problem keeping up the heals. I don't know much about the other healers, but the cleric uses a LOT of endurance based attacks. This means she can go crazy on the DPS without being concerned about burning precious mana better used for healing. It does make both classes highly weapon dependent however in case that factors in.

Not sure if it is the "best" as I haven't tried other combinations, but just my thoughts on that one. We are both 22 at the time of this post too, so we are just now getting into the really heavy stuff. Over the double xp weekend we were duoing +2 and +3 4 dot mobs without trouble, and without much downtime between. Usually by the time I had the next mob sselected, targetted, and ready to pull, we were ready to go.

[SmalPackage]

I have duoed a bit with a warrior bloodmage combo which seemed pretty good. Only up to level 13 though so cant comment on anything higher. I also have a 12 dk that i might dust off and try out with the bm.

[Laneil]

My friend plays a disciple and I play a DK. We do ok duoing. I haven't had the opportunity to duo with another healer, so I can't really comment if they are better or worse. I was in a group with a sorcerer and a shaman the other night and we had a 4 mob pull of 3 dotters. The shaman went OOM and was unable to heal me so I ended up taking a dirt nap with one mob left. The sorcerer and shaman were able to kill it before either of them died though. I can't say that I have experienced an occasion where the disciple couldn't heal me since he has other methods of healing besides using raw energy. With that said, I think there have been moments where he couldn't keep up with the amount of damage I was taking. Anybody else try partnering with a disciple? What are your views?

Laneil Feard
22 DE Dread Knight - Woefeather

[Cocytus]

I have never played as a disciple, but having played WITH a disciple I can agree that they have passive/auxiliary methods of healing. In my opinion this makes them more useful in full groups where the indirect contributions can add up nicely. Duo'ing they may have problems keeping up. Whereas a class that has more direct heals usually has no difficulties focusing all of their healing on one target. 'Cuz, you know, that's what they do anyway...

[Laneil]

I know just what you mean, Cocytus. This is my first go at being a tank. In EQ1 I had a 65 cleric, and in EQ2 I had a 63 Inquisitor so I'm very familiar with the healer duties. Hopefully the shaman will become part of our regular little group. He's a new daddy so he hasn't been able to play as much as the rest of our little gang.

[ellestil]

The highest survivability duo is without a doubt a Paladin/Cleric combo, but the downside is, don't expect to kill quickly with this duo (unless the targets are undead).

[Slowfood]

Lesser giant warrior & kojan-human cleric