Duoing, possibly trioing with a Rogue/Shaman/++

[Neau]

Finally have some spare time to get some serious AA grinding done on my Shaman. While I'm working on it, my wifes character (Rogue) needs it as well, so I figured duoing a shaman/rogue somehow.

Now, I know there are a couple of ways to go about it. I've throught about 3-boxing with a tank type (Warrior, SK, Pal), but its a lot of work when you're playing on a single PC (Laptop). I wanted to entertain some ideas first before I go that route...

Shaman magelo is >>
Rogue Magelo >>

Guild just entered CoA a monthish ago, and also just broke into Tacvi last week (For damage augs, gearing up apps, etc). Obv, gear will go up rather quickly, but right now..thats what I have to work with. Its not the greatest, and AA wise, I'm far behind anything as I just switched recently to this character.

I see...3 ways of doing this.

1. The Shaman tanks - Rogue does the damage...At my current gear/aa level though, I'm not sure Neau could tank anything that would even give EXP at 75...Suggestions?

2. Reverse the above...but similarly, I dont think the rogue can handle it. Not only that, but I'd lose a hell of a lot of DPS from no Backstabbing.

3. The rogue looks sexy while watching me root/rot...Almost thinking this is my best option right now, unless I can get one of the above working, or decide to 3 box.

Input?

Thanks!

[Veril]

[Kianor]

[Neau]

[Veril]

[Cattywumpus]

[St_HotPants]

[Mojarda]

[Samanna]

[Neau]

[St_HotPants]

A rogue can do mediocre dps throwing if they have the mobs back due to their innate ability to "deadly strike" while throwing (I *think* a deadly strike quadruples the normal damage). I classify it as mediocre dps because it truely pales in comparison to what we do melee. With Ton Po's Pouch I put out an average of around 300-350dps without using the rogue throwing disc and can hit 6-700 with the disc (btw.. do NOT use the throwing disc when root rotting as it has a DD component that will break your VP3 root).

Pulling from memory when I'd root rot duo in the nest, my rogues throwing basically saved me almost 1 full dot cycle (my dot cycle was Nector, Yoppa, Sisslak) and allow me to kill the mob at/prior to VP3 wearing off around 95% of the time. Root Rotting solo with my shaman would always require me to reapply root (VP or regular) for an extra cycle of dots to kill the mob.

Another posted mentioned the Stoneroot Starfish.. Yes, it is another viable summoned throwing item. I discounted it simply because I found it to be much more rare than the Pouch of Curses in DSK and have inferior damage. If you have to camp one or the other... camp the dsk one (and while your at it camp AC augs, poison based damage augs, etc...) as both are random zonewide rare drops.

[Kruzar]

I personally just made a shammy to duo with my Rogue main. Tanking as a Rogue takes patience, and gear/AA is going to be intregal in your success. Your gear on your Rogue is decent, but there are many obtainable upgrades out there that you should look into. Personally, if you can get to 10k in hp you will be better off and things won't kill you so fast. I did notice that your Rogue has the Chaotic Stab AA, and if you are going to be tanking you want to make sure you have as many levels of this as you can. This does help with doing backstabs even if you are in front of the mob. They won't be as powerful as if you were in the back, but all the help you can get is good. Also.. if you are tanking look into the Defensive AAs. I find that these have been a major difference in my tanking ability as a Rogue, and they do help. Also when it comes to taking hits.. really look at the Lithe Disc that Rogues got in the TSS expansion. This disc is very long running and is a huge upgrade to our old Nimble disc. With Lithe going you can take alot more damage than you would normally and it will make things much easier on your shammy.

The biggest issue I think you are going to run into, and one that is going to take alot of practice on is aggro control. Rogues are used to not having aggro. We do not have a taunt ability like other tank classes and it it takes practice to keep the mob looking at your Rogue and not your shammy. First thing that I would recommend is the Blinding Flash disc from TSS. This Disc is for level 71, and it is an upgrade to our short duration mezz. This is a great little tool for snap aggro. Next thing I would recommend is rooting is your friend. Rooting the mob and having the rogue closer will have the attention on the Rogue.

Some things that I would definetly get if you are going to be duoing the Rogue with the Shammy..

1st off- Lithe and Mezz disc mentioned above
2nd off- If you are Root Rotting and don't have a good throwing item- make some of the javelins mentioned or look into farming a Dusty Soriz Workers pouch in SSRA. In my experience it is much more common than some of the options out there. The fangs are also better than those summoned from the Mrylokar bracer.
3rd.. Damage Shields are your Friend.. There are several in the game that stack and this will help out in your Rogue tanking.

Hope this helps..

[Neau]

[Brohg]

Well, I tank for rogues when I duo with them, but we're on pretty much opposite ends of the raid gearing process.

Throwing uses /autofire just like bows, yes.

Besides generic exp spots, you really ought to consider more focussed goals... but this isn't a gear forum, it's a hunting forum.

[Eloco]

I leveled my shaman using my main Rog as a tank. He has COA and TSS gear and about 700 aa's. I did fine in OOW up to MPG and in TSS up to Sunderock and Steppes. After that, things just hit to hard to make it worth your while imho. Like was said Chaotic stab aa helps dps a lot when tanking. I also used blinding flash for agro. In addition I used twisted shank and ligament slice too, and was able to keep agro on up to two mobs fairly easy with them. Just have to keep HoT running on them and patch heal as needed. Mobs that run will save you a lot of healing, and ligament slice helps deal with runners.

Now that both my toons are 75 I find it a lot easier to just form a group or borrow my friends monk to tank. When I do have to duo, I stick to mission based camps, like the various TSS mold camps in Sunder or Steppes. If you can manage playing 3 toons rogues make a nice dot and wont pull agro off a decent tank if you stick to auto attack. The only time I do pull agro off a tank is if I pour on the dps at the start of a fight or get a ton of resisted procs. Plus with a good tank you can slow, drop a HoT, sick pet, panther, turn on the rogue dot and then fight on the tank. I use a lot of sound triggers when playing 2 or 3 accts on one PC, and they help a lot. When the mob gets out of the rogues range I can hear the sounds of attacking stop and tab over.

If I was you I would give all three options a try and see what works for you. A lot depends on your system and play style. Another option is to find some mobs that run and you can root rot. When the mobs gets below half you can drop a HoT on the rogue and send them in to finish them off.

good luck!

PS: I just wanted to add if you dont have a good summoning item for throwing items, then that really isnt a good option. I have the pouch from SSRA and your going to waste a large amount of time summoning enough items to throw. IMHO your shaman is going to be sitting around FM while you summon enough stacks. I think it would go faster if you root/rot them down most of the way and send in the rog to finish them off.

[Veril]

Here is what I think would pwn:

Load the mob with DoT's so that it totally hates your shaman.

Get the rogue closer than the shaman in melee range. Cast Blinding Luminesence on the mob, then back the Shaman off out of melee range. You will need to recast BL every 12-18 seconds or so.

The mob then runs around blindly hoping to find the person at the top of it's hate list, the shaman.
I think the rogue could then be able to stay on the back of the mob, back-stabbing away.

Might be tricky to do this while 2 boxing, especially on the same PC

[Mudcrushy]

[Kruzar]

[Neau]

Appreciate all the info.

[Tracor]

[Kruzar]

[Tracor]

[reamas]

[Kianor]

[Ingvie Nordloch]

I had overlooked the value of getting Lingering Sloth and now see the benefit of getting it. I duo with 75 Rog main () but the main reason I came to be was to duo with my now 73 Pal. The Pal gear and AA lack abit but hes getting there. Great info from you all, thanks.

P.S. Howdy Mud and Kru