At classic launch I'm going to be maining feral druid and probably no-lifing for a few days after release; my 2 irl friends who are also playing won't be going quite as hardcore so I'm going to play an alt to level with them in a 3 man group. They have already decided to play Warrior and Priest, so I need a suitable class to go with them and be useful. I'm thinking Shaman or Hunter, likely troll in both cases, and wondered if there are any particular synergies which would make either more useful? It'll mainly be for levelling and lower level dungeons; we'll be on a pvp server but no seeking out pvp particularly.
I've played Hunter before but never really played Shaman, is there any particular build/talents that would help in a group levelling scenario for either class?
Also, if there are any other classes which would be really good as a 3rd in that team that I might not have though of, I'm all ears.
Cheers :)
I'm not super familiar with Hunter, but I can say Shaman is a popular choice for pairing with a Warrior thanks to Windfury Totem at 32. You get Strength of Earth earlier on in leveling, which is also helpful of course, and having double healers will make you a pretty safe trio. For a particular build, it'd mainly be grabbing Enhancing Totems and Improved Weapon Totems on the left side of the Enhancement tree. You'd probably be fine without them too if you want to sink points elsewhere in the Enhance tree, but if you're going to strictly play this character with your friends you'll be getting enough utility out of the stronger totems to make it worth it, I'd say.
Otherwise, since you've got a tank and healer already squared away, you'll probably be pretty successful with whatever you pick for your third class. Only things you're really missing are CC and adding more DPS, which you could fulfill pretty well with a mage/rogue/hunter. For all of them, that extra hard CC from Poly/Sap/Freezing could help smooth out an otherwise tricky pull.
Just pick what sounds fun to go with them. You already got a tank and a healer, so getting into any dungeon group will be super easy. And even doing group questing will be easy. So pick whatever sounds fun. Playing a hunter adds some crowd control to the group with traps. Another idea would be to play rogue so you can pick locks and control saps during dungeon pulls. Then you'd have your tank, healer, and CC roles locked down.
Just pick what sounds fun to go with them. You already got a tank and a healer, so getting into any dungeon group will be super easy. And even doing group questing will be easy. So pick whatever sounds fun. Playing a hunter adds some crowd control to the group with traps. Another idea would be to play rogue so you can pick locks and control saps during dungeon pulls. Then you'd have your tank, healer, and CC roles locked down.
If I was picking with a combo of Warrior and Priest, I would chose Mage.
Same as a rogue, you get the CC and good dps but instead of lock picking you get food/water and portals!
But out of those two, I like Hunter for the CC and support as well as dps.
And plus as you have stated you have played it before and there is probably a good reason why you did!
Yeah a mage would be a good addition. Especially with a warrior up front, let the warrior tank and you can blast away from a distance. That would make group questing fast too.
Yeah a mage would be a good addition. Especially with a warrior up front, let the warrior tank and you can blast away from a distance. That would make group questing fast too.
And I forgot to add that a mage would most likely be at a distance compared to Rogues.
So you don't need to be constantly be healing the warrior and rogue because of aoe damage or the rogue pulling.
With a Mage he will most likely not be taking damage so you can concentrate on the warrior and help dps.
Without hesitation: mage.
Free food, Arcane intelligence, CC and portals that shave off hours of time waiting for a boat.
You can probably even do dungeons without 2DD but it would be a bit slow.
I instinctively think mage would be a great fit (portals for the group a nice bonus as well) but I like the hunter and rogue suggestions as well. Note though that with a mage you probably have a little competition for gear with the priest. On the other hand, it might be preferable to compete among yourselves and fill your dungeon group with leather/mail wearers.
BTW, can we assume that your warrior friend wants to tank and your priest heal? As a shaman you would have some versatility in the role you play (although I'm not sure if enhancement tanking really is viable beyond the lower level dungeons).
Mage without a doubt. Food, portals, dps, CC. That's a perfect trio.
BTW, can we assume that your warrior friend wants to tank and your priest heal?
Yep, I just need to dps and provide utility 😊
Looks like mage ticks a lot of boxes... I haven't played mage much (last time was In classic the first time round) so is there any particular mage spec that might work best?
Yep, I just need to dps and provide utility 😊
Looks like mage ticks a lot of boxes... I haven't played mage much (last time was In classic the first time round) so is there any particular mage spec that might work best?
Yup the fun one!
With two other people leveling with you, unless your trying to get to lvl 60 first, it wont matter!
I would try them all as well as experiment to see what frostbite does and other talents.
Maybe you like one over the other!
Raids and some dungeons you will be forced into frost so I would learn that but leveling you can go fire or frost.
Play the class and learn it, try all the talents and specs you find or create one.
Like I said what is an extra 10% more efficient killing while leveling when you have two others helping dps?
Plus gets you experience when you hit 60!
In general your utility doesn't change much as a mage if you spec either way, but Frost does have some improves slows and roots which might be useful.
You'll always have Frost Nova and sheep anyway so it shouldn't be a problem for utility
mwaf has a good point - if you have a mage and a priest in the same group then you guys are gonna compete over gear. If you rolled a leather or mail wearing class instead, then the warriors gets all the plate gear (once plate starts to drop..), the priest gets all the cloth and caster stuff, and the leather or mail wearer gets that gear. I'd probably do this just to make the best use of all the gear that drops.
In any combination where you want to play with two other players, you really need to consider if you might like to play a Warlock.
Being able to add the utility of summons for a dungeon group, especially in your case as you already have a pocket tank/healer, it can be almost too good to pass.
Also with a Warrior possible being your meat shield in group levelling you can retire your giant blueberry and give your group a much appreciated Stamina buff and considerable extra free DPS.
@mwaf has a good point - if you have a mage and a priest in the same group then you guys are gonna compete over gear. If you rolled a leather or mail wearing class instead, then the warriors gets all the plate gear (once plate starts to drop..), the priest gets all the cloth and caster stuff, and the leather or mail wearer gets that gear. I'd probably do this just to make the best use of all the gear that drops.
This is main reason why I didn't consider Mage originally - and as I'm maining feral druid I don't wanna play rogue, which is why I'd narrowed it down to Shaman or Hunter... our group agreed that the gear consideration is important so I think it will definitely be a mail wearer; I think I'd prefer Shaman, but I have literally never played the class... probably time to smash out some time on a private server :D