The Spirit Realm

So I am going to make a new 3 box team once all this craziness is over. I will do a shaman for sure and a wizzy due to ease of boxing plus gate abilities. My question is for the third toon. I really want to play a bard and use a War merc as a tank, but I worry about aggro management. Because of this I am considering an SK. So, what do you guys think? What would make the best box setup? SHM, WIZ, SK or SHM, WIZ, bard?

If you want to tackle named mobs later on, you'll want a player tank instead of merc. I recommend Warrior

my sk buddy tanks nameds just fine and holds agro better than most warriors ive grped with . both the sk and bard can pull . bard does it better of course and is cc but sk can tank

My current crew is SHM, BRD, MAG, which is pretty close to what you're looking to do.

From experience, an SK is going to provide you with better innate mitigation, and obviously better tanking, a more reliable snare than a BRD, and you can still use your SK on a root/rot camp. DPS wise, BRDs and SKs are rough equivalents, so you gain or lose nothing there. Aggro management is all SK. The one glaring problem with playing a BRD as your MT, like I do, is trying to maintain aggro. In my case, I got around that problem by including a MAG. If the BRD loses aggro (which she sometimes does) I couldn't care less because the MAG pet is a fairly survivable tank in its own right. So, aggro management problem solved. If you are going to go BRD, then I recommend that you substitute a MAG for the WIZ for this reason.

Another combination to consider if you choose BRD is, SHM, DRU, BRD. In this case, the SHM would be the healer and DRU would function as a nuker or DOTer depending on the situation. You'd lose some DPS over the MAG or WIZ (obviously) but gain a pant load of survivability, through buffs, damage mitigating debuffs, and extra heals if needed. Throw in ports, super root and super snare for fun and profit. Managing aggro with the BRD in this trio is a bit tricker but your Panther and Sloth lines do wonders for wracking up hate in a hurry.

Bear in mind that SK, SHM, WIZ, or BRD, SHM, MAG are both winners, but I'd recommend in order of preference:

1) BRD, SHM, MAG
2) BRD, SHM, DRU
3) SK, SHM, WIZ

Regards,
Valdemar