The Spirit Realm

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. The information I've learned here has been invaluable leveling up my shammy.

Lets start this out proper, with a newbish question

I recently came back from a looong break. Quit right before LoY came out. Leveled my shaman from 52 to 68 learning a lot as I go. Now my wife has decided to play eq1 with me. Shes set on playing a bard. I will be boxing my shaman and another toon. Was trying to decide which other toon to box. I'm leaning at Zerker or Monk. I like fast killing groups. Which, in your experience would tank better between zerker and monk? Also is bard snare worth giving up zerker snare and going with monk? Any other classes can be considered, though I do really enjoy slaying stuff quickly I hear that a bard will make a zerker into a killing powerhouse.

I've considered SK and War but honestly, reading about how much aa and gear I would need to be half decent has really intimidated me. Its been tough enough gearing my shaman to keep him from being a laughingstock.

Thanks in advance.

i have seen a tanking zerker and a tanking monk. i am good friends with one of each. both are near the best of their class on the server. tanking with dps classes is possible. it requires gear. my monk friend gets alot of dodges in with his innate skill. during fabled he tanked pofire birds a few times. my zerker friend was tanking ashengate before the level increase. he spent points buying shielding and avoidance gear. his former main was a paladin. he knew how to gear up to tank well.

I've 3boxed my PAL/BRD with a SHM from time to time, and there's very little this 3box can't handle. Their dps is kinda low, but they can outlast pretty much anything that doesn't kill the pally in less than 3 rounds. Going with a tank is the "safe" choice. It'll allow you to do harder stuff, but at a slower pace. Going with a front DPS class such as monk or zerker would limit you to do slightly easier stuff, but at a faster pace.

While you're right that gearing and exping a tank up to a decent level is hard work, gearing and exping up a frontal dps class to the level that he can tank is just as hard, if not harder. It's really about where you'll be spending your time. If you don't mind doing easier stuff that your shaman could probably tank, then go for the dps class. If you'd prefer doing harder stuff that would probably squish your shammy, go with a tank class.

That said, if you're picking between a monk and a zerker, and since you have a bard for pulling, I would pick the zerker hands down.

As long as you are ok with not being able to take out big named - I'd also recommend a berserker. Especially at the stage you are at - you would benefit from the much higher xp gain with a DPS class. If you gear up the berserker to tank he will be able to handle everything up to even and yellow cons.

It all depends on what you want to do with the group. If you're interested in taking on bigger targets as your group progresses, then you need a tank class. While a zerker/monk can tank in some situations, having a plate wearer is invaluable as the mobs get stronger and stronger. Now if you just want to kill a bunch of random stuff quickly, you're better off with a zerker/monk. You won't be able to hit some of the bigger named, but you'll kill a bit faster.

Appreciate the responses all. Kinda decided on a Zerker for now. Really enjoying him but cant wait until he starts cranking out the DPS (Currently working on 1.0). My wife and I don't get to play often, so it may be another year at least before we are even closing in on 75. We plan on getting all the aa's we are interested in as we level up. Currently lvl 51 with 2 aa's

Couple other questions. Considering we probably won't raid enough to really matter, how high could this trio level? If we stuck to some of the weaker mobs we could burn through rather quickly, could we lvl all the way? I hear that from tss up, mobs really hit like a freight train and Plate tanks are very important.

Just in case we do hit a brick wall, I've been PLing up an SK on my own time. Hopeing to have made my final decision before 60 and Its time to buckle down.

Thanks in advance

80+2000 np. maybe 90+3000 by the time you actually get there on the slow road

If you can get some cash together try to get the cultural gear for your zerker. Can do it either by working up your blacksmithing or by straight up buying it in the baz. The AC on it plus the hp you can get from sublime symbols will advance your tankability a great deal.

Little update, level 55 with 16 aa's. Wife is really loving her bard. I enjoy her buffs. Really starting to get discouraged with the berserker though. He tanks well enough, just his DPS is pretty bland. I'm just barely outdamaging a warrior friend of ours, and hes got real crap gear. I have a 57 Monk I've been fighting the urge to replace the berserker with, lol. I read some pretty disparaging things though, regarding avoidance tanking in SoF, which is keeping me going. Anyone know when Berserkers start coming into their own? I hope I don't have to uber gear him to get some decent damage cranking out.

Thanks again all

Does the berserker have his epic? Its ratio is stellar for that level range.

Definetly look into getting the epic for the zerker if he doesn't have it already. One of the main discouraging points with playing a rogue or zerker is that your DPS is going to be very weapon and gear dependent. You will also see good increases in DPS as you start completing AAs. With the zerker tanking, you will want to focus on the defensive AAs first, and your offense will suffer some initially, but once you start getting all the offensive AAs you will see some large gains.

From a weapon perspective, get the best ratio that you can, and as you get into higher levels try your best to keep your weapons augmented with DMG augs if at all possible.

Good luck...

Berserkers definitely have a steep ramp up curve. If you haven't been go visit for more insights. Your top priority should be to get the best weapon possible. The 1.0 sounds like a good option in your level range.

Great insight Muk. I will look into a parse program. He does not have his epic yet, I'll make that a priority. I'll keep plugging away, sounds like the final payoff will be more sweet with zerker. Thanks again.

ive got a pally, and decided to box some dps, so i made a zerker. got him to 50 real fast, and slowly got him up to 70. he didnt start doing much damage untill he hit the low 60's and got a few aa's, he's at 75 aa's now and he already out dps's his crappy pally creater.

I remember when I was helping a guildy level his zerker up, he didn't anticipate tje zerker being real dps until he had at least 400 AA and a dmg auged epic 1.5. Another friend of mine that boxed a small army used his zerker to Offtank (this was back when PoR was about to come out) and said he could handle anything that hit up to 1500. Stick with the zerker, you'll be glad you did once he's built up some.