Best Classes for Duo'ing?

[dmcs414]

Hi all, I saw this topic on another board and it led to some really diverse and interesting perspectives and experiences so I thought I'd ask it here.

What, in your view, are the best classes for duo'ing with a partner? Or if not the best, what classes have you and a friend or spouse or whatever had fun and success with?

I'll start off with my experience. I started playing WoW just after release and tried several different characters, never really getting beyond level 50 or so and generally suffering from alt-itis which keep me constantly re-rolling and suffering from 'grass is greener' syndrome. Eventually I got bored and became distracted by other games and stopped playing for awhile.

A few months passed, and my wife decided to give the game a try so she rolled a night elf warrior (arms) and I a night elf priest (shadow). We're almost 40 now and it's been ridiculously easy and unbelievably fun getting there, much more so than any of my previous characters solo. We compliment each other so well, it's just incredible. I can't even imagine now playing without a partner, and it's made me wonder what other types of classes go well together.

Your turn, what classes have you duo'd with a partner (or want to duo) and what's your experience been like? How would you rate the pairs?

[xmuskrat]

Your turn, what classes have you duo'd with a partner (or want to duo) and what's your experience been like? How would you rate the pairs?

Me and my girl play Shaman/Warlock and I find they work together pretty well.

[ruinz]

I duo with my wife, and as observant readers of this board may recall, that includes duo'ing instances full of elites etc.!

Most class combinations work surprisingly well together. Some work insanely well together. My wife and I have tried a lot of different permutations. Here are some examples.

Druid (esp. Feral) + Backstab/Daggers Rogue - Insanely fast killing, you can both stealth so ALL quests are easy, you have a healer, the rogue can tank single elite mobs surprisingly well (though if you're doing this a lot a Combat/Swords or Maces Rogue will be better). Mostly, though, the Druid pulls, the mob runs at the Druid (who is often in Bear form), the Druid hits the mob at the same time the Backstab/Ambush comes in, and about three seconds later the mob is dead, so the Druid bear runs to the next, and so on. Sometimes you kill yellows so fast that you can't even restealth so you just have to Backstab rather than ambush.

It's kind of hilarious and even "tough" elite mobs tend to get pulverized in a hail of claws, daggers, spell-interrupting kicks and gouges and so on. Whilst we stopped playing these two due to it being TOO easy (and my wife wanted to try a mage), it was pretty amazing. Probably the easiest, smoothest combo I've ever been in. I can't remember anything giving us trouble unless it was red to us (then the misses and glancing blows make it problematic). 9/10

Warrior + Paladin - The Warrior can chop pretty much everything to pieces whilst the Paladin also hits things (and is quite capable of tanking a mob or two), heals, and buffs. The Warrior has excellent interrupts and snares to make up for the Paladin's lack of them. 9/10 for effectiveness. Not hugely exciting though.

Warrior + Shaman works similarly only Shaman heals draw more aggro but because Shamans also have snare and interrupt abilities, it works out about even in easy-ness. 8.5/10

Mage + Hunter - Yes they do often die before they get to you. Extremely fast killing, though all Mages need to sit and drink for a while from time to time. It's not quite perfect because there's no healing except the hunter on his pet, but so long as you can both kite, it's extremely powerful and effective, as well as quite fast. 8.5/10

Druid + Paladin - The first time I played WoW, we played this, and it was kind of a disaster, because we had the Pally tanking and the Druid healing. Not the right way around at all. Later we tried the other way around. Even the other way around, it's dubious because neither class has frequently-usable interrupts, indoor CC, or fear. It works but it's slow, and I've seen some horrrrrrribly long fights with pairs of mobs that can heal each other. 6/10

Warrior + Priest - Less effective than you'd think, but not bad. Theoretically, it should be awesome, but in practice, it's not always so. I'm not quite sure why, as both of us have played both classes as our mains and are good at cooperating. I suspect that the lack of DPS is a factor, as well as the lack of CC. I strongly recommend that you use a 2h-wielding fury-oriented Warrior if you level this way. 7/10

Rogue + Priest - MORE effective than you'd think, I'd personally rate it as more effective than Warrior + Priest at doing quests and levelling up, and whilst I've not taken it to 60, we could certainly duo the majority of BFD at level 25ish with this pair (<3 fear). Use those cooldowns! Less satisfying than Druid + Rogue, though, as you can't both stealth :( 7.5/10

Warlock + Anything - Warlock kills alls. Other person watches. Not quite that bad in practice, but Warlocks are pretty astounding. Does NOT kill extremely fast, though reasonably so. Warlock + Shaman sounds good, I'd also recommend Warlock + Mage, and Warlock + Balance-oriented Druid. 7.5/10

There are lots of combos we've not tried that just HAVE to work well. For example:

Shaman + Rogue - Shaman pulls w/his high aggro spells, wears a shield and a 1h w/Earthwhatsit on, and Rogue does huge DPS to the mobs as they arrive. This would be a monster combo, but my wife hates to play rogues and finds shamans less exciting than most classes so we've never tried it (SADLY). I just cannot imagine how this could fail to be mind-blowingly awesome unless you were both awful lol. Theoretical 10/10

Warlock + Hunter - Should be bonkers, really. Two pets, both of which you can heal in various ways, anytime fear as well the Hunter's CC, the Hunter has a snare, this is another "can't lose" combo. Except maybe in very cramped environments. Theoretical 8.5-9/10.

Pally + Mage - You have CC, the Pally can tank and heal, you can do some amazing AE (with the Pally using consecrate + retribution aura to grab lots of initial aggro), the Mage can kite like a maniac whilst the Paladin uses low-aggro heals, and so on. Plus you can BoP the Mage and they can still AE everything to pieces. I'm told this works pretty amazingly well. Theoretical 9/10

Edit - Haha I forgot the one we usually play:

Priest + Paladin - Not the most effective levelling pair ever, and distinctly limited in the "ability to stop casting" area, but with aggressive, damage-oriented gear on both of you, the fact that both of you can heal, and the right specs, you can do some pretty amazing stuff when it comes to killing elite mobs. 7/10 for levelling 9.5/10 at 60 with the right specs.

[wavsite]

I'll throw in my two cents here... my fiance and I occasionally play our paladin (me, protection spec) and warlock (him, not sure of current spec) combo, both currently lvl 48.

It works really well, as I run in and get aggro, and play tank, while he and the imp blast things. Soulstone + Rez ability is awesome, he has lifetap for mana and I can heal him back up in a jiffy, throw in a few Judge/Seals of Wisdom/Light, and we don't have to stop often. Stamina buff off the imp, Blessings and an Aura from me, all add up to a good combo.

Right now we're working through a questing guide, and I think we should probably try grinding out the last bit to 50 instead, as the quests are taking FOREVER... which is why I can't get him to play very often, I think! :) But I like this much MUCH better than the grind I had from 30 to 40 - paladins get VERY boring sometimes, fights take sooooo long... so those DoTs and 'bolts make me very happy. heh.

[dmcs414]

[QUOTE=ruinz][QUOTE]

Thanks for the great reply ruinz! That's exactly the kind of information I was hoping for. :thumbsup:

You mentioned a lot of cool duos, but I was a little surprised that with such a large list, mage/priest was not among them! I've heard a lot of people say mage/priest reigns supreme in duo'ing for its ability to AE endlessly and keep the mage healed.

For myself, I really like the sound of paladin + mage. If my wife and I ever roll some alts, that will likely be one we consider. (draenei probably) :cool:

[FodderCannoned]

warlock+hunter lots of versatility, should be able to 2 man most of brd with any sort of skill at all

[Idol]

I find Warrior and Priest awesome.

Currently my warrior is fury, and the priest is shadow. We don't really exceptional gear, just blues with a smattering of ZG gear (I got to the two warblades in my first two runs ;D), and a store bought epic or two.

To put nit simply, we own. Whatever enemy we happen to be up against gets showered in melee hits and mind flays. The aggro bounces between us non-stop and the damage output is phenominal.

It gets even better in PvP. I Have 28% crit (In Zerker) so my Overpowers have 78% crit. 2 1.7 attack speeds means a lot of attacks, which means a high number of dodges, which means a high number of overpowers, which means a high number of crits, which means a lot of Flurry procs, which means even more attacks. During all this my shadowy priest is pumping out mindflays, meaning my prey never escapes, and that he does damage around equal to mine. In short, the opponent rarely gets off more than a few spells before they're dead.

Add the fact that theres pretty much always a renew running on both of us and he occasionally drops out to heal and you'll realise it is a fairly good match. Good enough to get us win after win.

The only problem is the lack off CC. We can't take a enemy out of commission while we destroy their friends. Luckily my friend is ectremely profficient at kiting, so a lot of Alliance spend their time chasing him while I mop up their healers.

Shamans are hard though, purge and earthshock means my priest is often defenceless and unable to heal. Luckily, we're Horde, so we only ever meet them in the STV Arena.

[Pin]

The first combo my partner and I tried was rogue and rogue. Amazing fun in pvp, doing quests and levelling. Drawbacks were getting into the same group and the lack of healing (but with x2 vanish, who cares? :D ).

Then we tried rogue and druid. Again, the stealth was nice, but the damage was less. I also hated playing the druid, I missed vanish, it didn't allow for the same pvp "pop up, kill something, vanish" type attacks. Grouping was easy though, until 60 I could be both tank or healer, so we had a group ready to go in 10 mins everytime.

Next combo we tried was warlock and shadow priest. This one was amazing. Insane dps as you can both buff each others shadow damage, you have healing, x2 aoe fear, x2 humanoid CC (MC and seduce), snares (Mind flay and CoEx), you can both heal yourselves (Drain Life, heal, VE, etc). Grouping was easy, so many people are looking for "priest and random".

Even now my partner has respecced to holy priest, it still works. She just heals me while I life tap and nuke. For anyone considering what duo to make, i'd recommend this above anything else I've tried. The problem for us is what to make next, we've done the best ones :D

[Donsta]

My Son and I duo'd with 2 hunters during the beta. It was great and that was before they added talents! I'd think 2 hunters, one with a cat the other with a bear would just tear thru the levels.

[ruinz]

Idol - Warrior and Priest is awesome at 60 with good gear (both hakkari warblades is very nice DPS gear, don't be coy!) and the specs you describe, it's levelling up where it's less than stellar. Fury Warriors don't come into their own until they get a lot of +hit% gear, as I'm sure you're aware, and nice weapons, which you can't guarantee whilst levelling. Still, if ones does level Warrior + Priest, I would strongly recommend Fury spec, Priest can heal the extra damage you might take easily enough, and Fury outputs huge DPS which is what is often missing in that combo.

Dmcs414 - Mage + Priest is theoretically awesome, I'd forgotten that one, mostly because I hate to play clothies myself, though it's one my wife and I considered. The lack of tankage would be a little concerning when it came to elites (you'd both need to be kite-tastic if you wanted to do them, and there's not always room to kite safely), but you could probably just round up greens by the bucketload and AE them into oblivion.

[jabowa]

Mage+Rogue....it's an odd combo, but it works well. Mobs die fast enough that the Rogue can sort of tank and just bandage when need to. The DPS is just insane....Do this in a humanoid instance, you'll eat up a lot of bandaids...Recommend Frost spec Mage, Combat spec Rogue.

[Xanadros]

Well, two that I was thinking of when BC comes out is Pally/Warlock, which has been described above in better detail as they've actually done it, whereas I haven't :)... and the other option is Pally/Pally. The reason my friend and I were thinking this was because of pvp... you would never die.... ever, unless zerged, but who doesn't at that point. I know they don't do tons of DPS, but they hold their own.

And if all goes awry, both of you can bubble hearth! >:)

--Xan

Edit: Forgot to mention 2xAuras, 2xBlessings = 4xFun!

... or something like that.

[Cerberus]

Warrior and shaman
Healing, big boost to warrior dps, spell interupt on a short cooldown, some offtank capabilites, a lot of utility from totems and ofc ressing and ankhing if needed. Bit short on CC, but you probably won't even need it ;)

Main point is boosting dps and keeping the warrior going with zero downtime.

[Volvaga]

I always liked the mage/priest or warrior/healer combo. Pally/nuker or Shaman/nuker is also nice. It all depends on your playing style. Just try to minimize downtime.