So Cleric, Shaman and Druid often run around with Tank mercs. Warrior, Monk, and Ranger duo with their Cleric mercs. These pairs seem straightforward given game mechanics.
What should a Mage run with? Cleric, obviously you say.
How about a Wizard? Well, up until today I used a cleric and it worked out well. I twinked my level 71 Wizard with Othni gear and she can take a bunch of hits from pirates in Buried Sea without having to be careful when kiting.
I switched to a tank merc and she is an even better killer.
It just makes more sense for my play style and is less stressful letting my tank get the mob to 80% and then burning it down. (The "Hey, what was that?" aggro reduction AAs rock for this)
Anyone else out there not using a godly OP cleric merc like they are "supposed" to?
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A couple of things to consider:
1. Tank mercs get relatively weaker after 70, so they will have trouble coping with XP mobs without a healer. Of course, a wizard can burn a mob down fast, but it gets harder later on.
2. Cleric mercs bring buffs and rez to the table. Tanks make notoriously poor buffers and worse rezzers.
3. Mercs take a share of XP. With a cleric merc, a kiting wizard can get buffed, suspend the merc and then get 100% of XP from kiting in perfect safety, knowing that he can get a 96% rez on demand.
1. Tank mercs get relatively weaker after 70, so they will have trouble coping with XP mobs without a healer. Of course, a wizard can burn a mob down fast, but it gets harder later on.
2. Cleric mercs bring buffs and rez to the table. Tanks make notoriously poor buffers and worse rezzers.
3. Mercs take a share of XP. With a cleric merc, a kiting wizard can get buffed, suspend the merc and then get 100% of XP from kiting in perfect safety, knowing that he can get a 96% rez on demand.
When in the Hole for my ranger epic, I saw a ranger use a tank merc. He sat back and bowshot then ran in to melee. It can work but as said above the higher mobs, unless you get tier 4 mercs will be more difficult.
/salute to Reyla for doing something interesting.
I'd be curious to hear how far you can push this tactic.
I'd be curious to hear how far you can push this tactic.
I think this is an interesting discussion - even more so in that I guess I've been making a non-standard choice with my 76th level enchanter hiring a tank mercenary. Of course, very little about his upbringing has been standard.
I usually rune the tank so he doesn't take much damage, with Brimstone body and the reagent rune when necessary. Then I let him cut down the enemy as I debuff, slow and suffocate him. My animation provides extra DPS.
Now, I wonder if I'd do better with a healer merc. Can they keep our animation pets alive, I wonder? I don't have the best gear, but I do have about 15k HP and 12k mana when someone is kind enough to MGB buff me in the guild lobby.
Well, this has got me thinking now.
I usually rune the tank so he doesn't take much damage, with Brimstone body and the reagent rune when necessary. Then I let him cut down the enemy as I debuff, slow and suffocate him. My animation provides extra DPS.
Now, I wonder if I'd do better with a healer merc. Can they keep our animation pets alive, I wonder? I don't have the best gear, but I do have about 15k HP and 12k mana when someone is kind enough to MGB buff me in the guild lobby.
Well, this has got me thinking now.
I run Jonwinnie with a healer merc. My shaman pet can handle solo db cons. I have to help wth heals on white. I get in and melee as well when my slows and dots grab aggro.
Using root rot and backing off pets can help as well, but of course you cant do that to an animation.
Using root rot and backing off pets can help as well, but of course you cant do that to an animation.
Quote:
I run Jonwinnie with a healer merc. My shaman pet can handle solo db cons. I have to help wth heals on white. I get in and melee as well scare them to death with my female troll when my slows and dots grab aggro.
Fixed that for you Jon.
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Laen - 105 Dru
Haam - 105 Sk
Laosha - 105 Shammy
Lutan - 105 Bard
Barack Obama
Laen - 105 Dru
Haam - 105 Sk
Laosha - 105 Shammy
Lutan - 105 Bard
yeah jonny I saw I could heal in Valdeholm when I was the only priest class in the group, and I could keep jonwin healed when we were both in the low 60's.
I just think of soloing as melee time.I put a lot of my 140 aa into pet, dot and stat work. Need to have a few more aa in heals then Ill switch.
The scare factor, as Always says,comes into play when I melee as well.
Oh btw Always dont be suprised if my next few heals on you happen to fizzle.
Edited, Oct 15th 2009 3:47pm by Jonwin
I just think of soloing as melee time.I put a lot of my 140 aa into pet, dot and stat work. Need to have a few more aa in heals then Ill switch.
The scare factor, as Always says,comes into play when I melee as well.
Oh btw Always dont be suprised if my next few heals on you happen to fizzle.
Edited, Oct 15th 2009 3:47pm by Jonwin
I went with a cleric merc on my shaman from 82 to well into 85, then switched to tank. I'm using a cleric merc with my bards (70 and 77). For my paladin, I switched from a cleric merc to a tank merc at 55 and still use tank at 58 (I shouldn't have bothered with the cleric in the first place).
As a wizzy I am not sure why you would want to share exp with a merc in the first place when soloing.
The formula for kiting is pretty much the same as the necro and druid. The only circumstance I could see popping a tank merc is to kill mobs that summon, like nameds, or mobs that summon that you may want to kill.
While at lvl 71 you may be able to get away with a merc tanking w/o a healer, that will end very soon. As mentioned above mobs get much tougher as you lvl and try to maintain killing at least dark blues.
In short, post lvl 70 play is a whole different game in terms of strategy and how different classes approach killing mobs in solo play. For example paladins are great at soloing lower and mid levels. They can tank, heal themselves and have decent dps. But past 70 they fall off the cliff (for more reasons to list) and can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag w/o a healer.
Edited, Oct 21st 2009 6:18am by Boomsticker
The formula for kiting is pretty much the same as the necro and druid. The only circumstance I could see popping a tank merc is to kill mobs that summon, like nameds, or mobs that summon that you may want to kill.
While at lvl 71 you may be able to get away with a merc tanking w/o a healer, that will end very soon. As mentioned above mobs get much tougher as you lvl and try to maintain killing at least dark blues.
In short, post lvl 70 play is a whole different game in terms of strategy and how different classes approach killing mobs in solo play. For example paladins are great at soloing lower and mid levels. They can tank, heal themselves and have decent dps. But past 70 they fall off the cliff (for more reasons to list) and can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag w/o a healer.
Edited, Oct 21st 2009 6:18am by Boomsticker
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