The Perfect Duo

[Scrubs]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone here had some input on what they would consider the best duo. My girlfriend and I both play, we played the first stress test and the open beta. Got up to lvl 32 warrior and priest. We know this duo works, we aren't really sure if its the best duo...and we're kind of tired of being the damage takers and healers. Backbones of every party but outside of questing and partys...aren't that much fun. We played lineage2 the same way, getting kind of burned out being the tanking class. Promised myself i'd never play that roll again till the first stress test, when playing a warrior for the first time did seem enjoyable and fun. Anyways the point is, does anyone know of anymore effective duo's than the standard tank and healer? Or is it the same in every game! I've considered Shaman and Rogue, they might even be able to kill faster seeing as how my girlfriend likes the holy priests...and deals very little melee dmg. Having a shaman might up the dps and the faster lvling. Along with a rogue, that or maybe a hunter and druid...but I hear both these classes are kinda gimp atm. Anyways if anyone has any suggestions feel free to voice em, I appreciate it.

[Zaknafien]

Shaman/warlock.

The shaman keeps everyone alive, tanks/kites, and disrupts the enemy. Basically, he buys time for the warlock.

The warlock kills everything.

[Renton]

shaman/shaman

you can trade off aggros, lay allllll kinds of totems, and have 2 weapon abilities going at once ( frost for 50% movement, fire for DoT for example). Ecspecially if both are tauren, you get 2 back to back war stomps for some nice healing time, or one a minute for long battles.

[Rekcah]

Hunter/Mage

True both cant heal, but With the mage, aggro control is easy. And for the hunter the pet does all the tanking no matter what if you have a good hunter. First aid is ok too, when I was with friend ( hunter ) we didnt use first aid at all it was that easy 8)

With two of the best DPS w/ a tank ( pet ) Makes WoW seem like checkers. :lol:

[Scrubs]

Problem is this isn't an occasional grouping duo I mean, Sometimes we must group with others for instances n what not. Seems it might be harder for 2 shamans to find a group. Hunter and Mage seems decent, except for times when mage has to regen mana inbetween fights. I still think I'd prefer hunter/Druid over that even tho. Both being able to keep up with each other at 30, druid being able to entangle for the hunter to kite...and hold aggro with the hunters pet. Be able to sleep beasts or even heal during emergencys. I just don't care for what i've heard on hunter and druid in the late game. I consider myself a pretty hardcore gamer, I want to have fun but the duo has got to work to full effectiveness like the warrior and priest...I think to have a good duo u need to have some sort of support class with the damage. Which seems to narrow it down to shaman and warrior? shaman and rogue? or priest and one of those 2 mentioned.

[Rekcah]

Good points.

Yet with the hunter/mage we could go on for hours and not have to med, by the time I really have to use all my mana is when my evocation is already up again. But yes a priest warrior/shaman would be great too!

[Zaknafien]

With a high spirit shaman and a warlock, you can heal the warlock to keep him manad up, and with a spirit shaman you rarely go OOM :)

The main thing I like though, is the power. With this, you can kill elites pretty well, because the warlocks DoT really gets impressive when a shaman prolongs the battle.

I suppose a mage/hunter combination may be better for raw speed though.

[Doodle]

shaman/shaman infact a party of shaman cant loose :lol:
shaman are just a little to good, i cant rlly think about 1 class shaman would be really weak to, they do very well in group pvp too

[Zaknafien]

shaman/shaman infact a party of shaman cant loose :lol:
shaman are just a little to good, i cant rlly think about 1 class shaman would be really weak to, they do very well in group pvp too

That is powerful, but there are some things that just arent necessary, like multiple shamans. Sure theyre nice, but they are far nicer when you use them in addition to a heavy damage class.

[Eko]

Shammy Priest.

Dmg and heals. Case closed.

[alcaras]

Mage/Priest
Mage/Shaman
Shadow Priest/Warlock
Rogue/Druid (stealth to bypass content in instances together when farming them at higher levels :)

and of course, the neoclassical
Warrior/Priest

[Scrubs]

Had some interesting replies, made me think of combinations I've never even considered. I appreciate all the feedback, but I am curious about some of these. If you guys would give me some instances to why some of these would be good together, some I'm having a hard time figuring out. For example? Mage and Priest? Unless your a shadow priest, why would you duo with a mage. Even so I don't see how much better that would be than just dual mages. If your a mage you shouldn't need a considerable amount of healing to begin with because your range. Shaman/Priest also makes no sense to me, shaman can deal dmg but not as much as a damage dealer. They can both heal each other...and I guess when you attempt duoing with this combination if one of you dies...the other one can always rez the other. What I was looking for is not a bizzare it could work type duo situation here, I'm looking more towards something that is better than warrior and priest...somethin that breaks that barrier. Something thats more effective and even more enjoyable, as in not so boring! Some of these ideas have been really creative, but a lot of em seem somewhat awkward to pull off...or wouldn't want to pull off lol. Rogue and Druid i've heard is decent, I haven't heard much about Rogue with support classes, if warrior is the suck in its current form wouldn't rogue shaman or rogue priest be as close if not better? In general priests are for smaller groups and shamans are more effective in larger groups because they can take care of everyone a lot better than 1 person...which a priest specializes in. So are shamans any good in duo's? Would a shaman at lower levels and higher lvls be enough to support a fighter class and be effective? I know they are great in groups.

[rjah]

Dude, I don' t really want to set your gameplay options for you. In all honesty this game is very easy to level in. Blizzard has admitted this on several occasions. The game is geared towards casual gamers (quick levels = quick reward) and end game content. That being said.

It depends on how you want to level. Wanna grind slightly lower level mobs for eternity? Grab a DPS class & a hybrid. The hybrid will be able to heal and contribute to DPS as needed. Wanna grind equal to higher level mobs as nonstop as you possibly can? I would suggest either a warrior/druid, or a priest / dps.

I would never over lock Warlocks, as I think they are gods of PvE in many aspects. They do not put out much burst dps, but their DoTs are awesome for instancing, and allow you to instance with a duo in many places where few other duos would survive. Attack anything that can kite/heal to a warlock and you should have good resulsts.

In reality though, you both need to play characters you are going to enjoy. I know a lot of the guilds are going to rush to 60 and hit that end game farming and end game content, but not everyone has to. You wanna grind and skip content (I do it personally) go hard. But just play something you are going to enjoy, same with your MRS. The point of the game is to have fun after all.

[Scrubs]

Yeah rjah you pretty much cleared it up for me, I'm trying to play this game as if it is a game like lineage2. For those of you who've played it you know what I mean. It was pretty set what was good and what was not as far as grouping, and the entire game was just a huge grind. If you didn't have a prophet you were going to level 50x slower than the guys that did group with em and so forth. I've pretty much made up my mind, thanks for all the feedback.

[Scrubs]

Yeah rjah you pretty much cleared it up for me, I'm trying to play this game as if it is a game like lineage2. For those of you who've played it you know what I mean. It was pretty set what was good and what was not as far as grouping, and the entire game was just a huge grind. If you didn't have a prophet you were going to level 50x slower than the guys that did group with em and so forth. I've pretty much made up my mind, thanks for all the feedback.

[Envie]

For example? Mage and Priest? Unless your a shadow priest, why would you duo with a mage. Even so I don't see how much better that would be than just dual mages. If your a mage you shouldn't need a considerable amount of healing to begin with because your range. Shaman/Priest also makes no sense to me, shaman can deal dmg but not

Ok clearly you have never seen the power of a mage/priest combo, so I am revealing my secrets to you here. I could care less what half of you guys do in final, play what makes you HAPPY and what you have fun with. Choosing a specific class or combo isn't going to get you ahead or more favorable rankings if you're trying to get in Nurfed. Play the game to play it for yourself, not anyone else.

That little rant aside, I will now address your clear misconceptions about a mage/priest combo.

I played extensively in beta for almost 8 months, and Nox and I made many different charater duos. I also duo'd with other players sometimes.

At first, I believed that the 'neo-classical' (as Alcaras coined it) Warrior/priest was the perfect combo because you had the best of melee/defense with the best of healing/buffing power. Over time, however, I learned that this wasn't necessarily true in WoW and that they had done such a nice job of balancing most all the classes at lower levels that it didn't matter... I could duo with another priest and do just as well... or a rogue, or a shaman or anyone really. I appreciated that flexibility.

Nox had a warrior, and then when the hunter came out, he switched to that. At first I was very unhappy about that, but I eventually came to accept it and duo'd with him again as we had before. In some ways it was easier to duo with the hunter, easier to heal him and keep him alive, but in other ways it made the playing drag a little and was sometimes annoying with kiting things around. I was also pretty jaded as a higher level priest by then, so it's not fair to say it was the hunter in specific, nor was it Nox. I just preferred the warrior.

Along in there, I had also duo'd quite a bith with Q, who had a 60 mage and also a nearly capped priest. We duo'd as priests, but later he got Fuleng back out and we played priest/mage quite a bit to grind for xp and cash and cloth. IT WAS AWESOME.

I came to realize that I preferred a double caster duo more than I did a fighter/healer duo much much more.

You ask, why would you want a priest with a mage?? Omg you surely can see the benefit to a mage's AE and power ability if he's got a constant shielding and regeneration battery at his side can't you? The mage can literally pull as many mobs as he wants, CC... kite, whatever and the priest just stands in the middle keeping him alive while assisting with Nukes and DoTs on the side. It takes very little effort to keep a skilled mage alive by a priest... hell I kept Alcaras going once while he was AFK and two dragonkin things jumped us outside near Onyxia's lair... he comes back several minutes later and nukes them flat! It's very easy.

Mages are powerhouses of damage, and priests are powerhouse healers. Put the two together, and your downtime is reduced to only when the mage has to sit and drink... and even then I was rarely out of mana and continued to pull and solo mobs while he drank and then stood up to finish off whatever mobs I had pulled. It's literally nonstop.

You ask for feedback from players you consider experts, so I hope I've cleared up your misunderstanding of how a priest and mage work together.

I would also say a priest and warlock are very effective, though not quite as fast at killing as the priest/mage combo. Less downtime though, so perhaps the time evens out that way.

Shaman or Druid and any of the other fighter classes makes a good combo, as do shaman and druid combined with any other caster.

Honestly, ALL the classes are very complimentary to one another at lower levels. Around level 45-50, you'll start to notice which ones stand out as more efficient.

To me, the mage and priest is by far the most efficient and powerful combo.

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[Zwink]

First time poster . . . :wink:

Envie what spec was your priest when you grouped with Alcaras (mage)? I am trying to make a decision whether or not to level up with a Holy/Disc build or full Shadow and some Holy/Disc. I realise for high instances Holy/Disc is a no brainer, but what about duoing and soloing? Any suggestions would be great.

[rage]

I'll back Envie up here and agree that priest/mage or priest/warlock is a great group but as far as the ability to finish quests and instances w/ your duo goes, I believe that it is inferior to the Warrior/Shaman combo.

Having grouped with Wakee for the majority of Open Beta, I can' even list every advantage to this combo. There is literally no downtime, a shaman's dps overall and dmg mitigation via totems/shocks outweighs a priest in every category as well as overall escapability. Especially since pummel was removed, it is extremely helpful to have a class that can quickly interrupt a spell without requiring you to switch to a shield and bash. In short, this duo will consistently reach level 60 faster than any other in the game imo.

[Envie]

I'll back Envie up here and agree that priest/mage or priest/warlock is a great group but as far as the ability to finish quests and instances w/ your duo goes, I believe that it is inferior to the Warrior/Shaman combo.

Having grouped with Wakee for the majority of Open Beta, I can' even list every advantage to this combo. There is literally no downtime, a shaman's dps overall and dmg mitigation via totems/shocks outweighs a priest in every category as well as overall escapability. Especially since pummel was removed, it is extremely helpful to have a class that can quickly interrupt a spell without requiring you to switch to a shield and bash. In short, this duo will consistently reach level 60 faster than any other in the game imo.

I would not recommend my favored mage/priest combo for instances or high end quests, but definitely for leveling up and xp grinding speed.

I have also heard the shaman is a very complimentary class to fighters, so either warrior or rogue... or any other class really with shaman or druid both. The real truth here is that all the classes were done nice, like I said before, and complimentary to one another paired, at least at lower levels. Somewhere in the 40s it becomes apparent some are more efficient and powerful combos than others.

And to answer Zwink: I was a full Disc/Holy priest all the way to 60 other than once when I tinkered with shadow spec for fun and pvp before they added costs to respec... I will have my profile posted soon. I was supposed to do that yesterday but neglected it do to other responsibilities. My build was a little inefficient use of points because I flipped my weight from the typical 30 something in Holy and 20 in Discipline to the other way around. I was 35 Discipline and only 16 into Holy. I'll go into the reasons why I chose that route instead of the usual for testing and discussion in the priest build thread of Tivoli's... later.

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[Zaknafien]

Envie, have you tried subbing a warlock for the mage?

[Envie]

Envie, have you tried subbing a warlock for the mage?

Yes, and as I said in my first post about mage/priest... the warlock makes a fine partner with priest... the killing is steady and mana consumption is fairly low for both priest and warlock. I preferred mage/priest only because the mage does a little faster damage (even with downtime for drinking) than the warlock, and I don't have to babysit the pet... :wink: Actually, I only got the privilege of duo'ing with a warlock a couple of times, so I can't say how much more or less efficient it is. I had extensive playtime with mage/priest.

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[Zaknafien]

Ah. Ive taken a liking to warlocks myself, because I spent quite a few of my levels with one a few patches ago.

The main part about them I enjoy is that they seem a lot more capable of bringing down elites than mages or rogues. Whenever Im with a mage, rogue or other damage class, they have problems making a dent in things, and needing to find a group is a pain, especially when its something like dustwallow marsh elite dragon quests and noone will enter the zone.

With all the DoT and pet though, I find that our combination is much sturdier, and able to grind through tough areas when necessary.

I have been tempted recently by the pet class/mage options though. As a shaman, Ive seen how useful it is to combine a mage with, say, earthbind, and when you have a pet to do the distracting and another damage class on top of that, I can see a lot of potential. Even mage/mage, one frost and one damage specced, could be very impressive.

So for sheer power I think I would have to stay with shaman/warlock, but for speed when just grinding, Im not sure a healer is necessary.

[Hybby]

Warlocks are especially good with a priest if the priest is specced shadow, as the warlock's shadow spells and such will do more damage when the priest has ramped up shadow vulnerability. ^^

They do good damage at that point. Really good damage.

And if you have high spirit on your priest (which you should anyways) you do basically nothing, cept ramp up shadow vuln and such, have vamp embrace going and use pain and flay. You get healing to everyone, so the warlock can life tap. Plus you keep a renew on the warlock for even more life regen on him, making him have almost infinite mana... moreso.

[undie]

Once upon a time a few noobs decided to form a group to go hunting in Shadowfang. Me (lvl 18-19 undead mage, arcane so far), a lvl 15 priest, an idiot with a lvl 20 warlock, another idiot warlock lvl 18 and a lvl 18 or so rogue..

Of course the warlocks couldn't heal their pets and the rogue had 40% health after 3 seconds, so guess who had to tank ? Your's truly, the mage (well, i had 700 health with the imp and priest buff..).

We managed to get very far with this strange group of adventurers, after a few fears (the whole instance dropping in on us...) they finally stopped using fear and then it went even better.


No, i didn't lose any health at all while the priest stayed alive.. And later on he went away, so we had to rely on the pets. It didn't take long for me and the rogue to heartstone out of that hellhole.

We lived happily ever after and i was happy with my new ghost mantle.

The End.


This little story confirms Envie's little story and well, thats good.. :)

[Anonymous]

Double Shaman maybe !

[Saxony]

Since I have seen many people comparing shadow priests with mages, what are your thoughts about a Priest/Priest duo, with different talent builds? Obviously they would not be as effective in AoE, and maybe that's specifically what you were going for with the mage, but a shadow priest would have significantly less down time and be able to damn near tank if he had another priest present.

-Saxony (Togashi on Archimonde)

[undie]

Priest&priest can't be as effective as priest&mage because a mage is a pure dmg machine. :)

Though they'd be able to hunt of course.

[Saxony]

Shadow priest DPS is comparable or better then mages. With the exception of AoE. That's what I was getting at. There are other classes that can become damage machines, shamans, rogues, etc.... The actual specifics to playstyle and complementing each other is what makes priest/mage a good setup, I was wondering if something similar couldn't be established with Heal/Disc Specced Priest, Shadow Specced Priest. Of course a shadow priest doesn't even start to come into it's own until like 20th lvl.

-Saxony

[fer]

I think when you duo a warlock instead of a mage you get more aggro as a priest.

[Hybby]

I think when you duo a warlock instead of a mage you get more aggro as a priest.

No you don't, not if the warlock is using a pet...

I quested with a warlock for a few levels in Feralas.

That was fun. :D

[Straem]

Hellfire + Shield = PvE Orgasms

[fer]

I think when you duo a warlock instead of a mage you get more aggro as a priest.

No you don't, not if the warlock is using a pet...

I quested with a warlock for a few levels in Feralas.

That was fun. :D

Your right, didn't think about that. (2 weeks ago that I played, waiting for the EU :( )

[VIB]

What I've gathered from previous games, is that high damage output + healing/defensive buffs are always the best combos.

There is surelly a perfect one, but the general rule is DPS + heal. You wanna kill as fast as possible, so get a good damaging class. But those usually got weak defense, then get a healer/buffer to keep him alive.

Envie's mage + priest combo shows this also applies to wow. Mage is probably the best PVE DPSer because of their AoE. And the priest is definetly the best healer.. so yea, that is probably the best combo indeed.

But even if mage + priest is in fact the best possible combination you can pick, any dps + healer duo is great for fast leveling IMHO.

[Shakkha77]

I am playing since release with a RL friend, and in a very efficient duo:

Warlock - Rogue

I was warlock on Beta already, and enjoyed it a lot but was feeling probably like all warlocks do, a lack of DPS... I can do everything else, CC handle multiple mobs pull etc. only thing that was holding me was the slow killing and eventually i couldn't keep the pet up for long enough.

I was thinking about adding a mage for DPS+Port/Buffs, but well my friend wanted to play rogue, and we do quite nicely so far...

[Hogart]

Is Shaman + Rogue a good duo at the higher levels?

[Zaknafien]

Is Shaman + Rogue a good duo at the higher levels?

Yes.

[Hogart]

wiee! =)

[Anonymous]

All duos with a healer are kinda good.