Duo advice

[matilda6]

Hi there. A friend and I recently started up and we want to have a duo for when we play together. He is dead set on a wizard. I was thinking of a cleric probably, but from what ive been reading about traps will I need a mixed class with rogue or can you complete adventures without worrying about traps too much?

My friend is Ftp and I am VIP. And if fr some reason disable traps isnt so needed, would a pure cleric be better for a duo than a splash with fighter or monk?

Thanks a ton in advance.

[honkuimushi]

Actually, it might be better if your friend splashes 2 Rogue levels. Both Search and Disable use Int, and he should have plenty.

On your end, a 1 level splash of Fighter, or a 2 level splash of Monk would not be a bad idea. The Fighter splash would give you a few more hp and allow you to use better weapons. Some of the recent changes have undermined the defensive bonuses a clonk has gotten in the past, but the extra feats, skills and Evasion are still good additions. In any case, picking up a couple of hirelings to round out your party is not a bad idea.

Try searching for Wizard 18/ Rogue 2, Cleric 18/ Monk 2, and Cleric 19/ Fighter 1 builds. All of them have been pretty standard builds for a long time, though not always the choice of power gamers.

[Galeria]

I will say that when my husband and I tried to duo a life and neither of us could do traps, it was a huge pain. Hireling rogues are not always capable at level and they tend to ignore you unless you stand them in the right spot, sometimes running into the trap and standing there...

Wiz/rogue is an excellent combination and very playable. Even 1 level of rogue will work for traps as long as you invest the skill points into Search and Disable every level. (Open locks doesn't need as many points, so if you have to skimp, drop some Open Lock ranks.)

Almost anything will work to go along with your wiz/rogue but consider a melee class. Hirelings are decent healers (yeah, sometimes they get stupid but mostly they'll heal you without you having to do anything) and you'll need someone sturdy to round up and beat on the bad guys.

[BTIGER]

You can probably get through just about all quests on NORMAL without a trapper. Just ask him to keep Jump in his spell list. You won't see any of the traps coming though, or any of the sneaky monsters with low spot and listen skills.
That may be annoying.
On HARD you might end up getting killed by traps..might. ELITE, don't even think about it.

The way I go about it when I duo or multi box is if I don't have someone who can do traps, I at least want someone who can sense the traps and see the sneaky monsters. But since he is FTP, you will likely do the same quests over and over (puke) and over so you will know exactly where everything is going to be. Hence JUMP. Resist Energy at correct times. You should be ok if you don't want to be splashing other classes, except on the rare quest with lots of physical traps that could get you...

[Thurbus]

My girlfriend and I play together daily. She's a pure human fighter and I'm a warforged artificer. She handles the jerks and I handle the traps. For heals, we each get a hireling cleric and we're good to go! I'd strongly suggest a similar combination, because it works really well for us.

If your f2p friend is willing spend a little money, I suggest he purchase the warforged race. Then he could use a build like this (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=218205). He could handle the traps and you could be a melee character. If you use hireling clerics then it won't be necessary for you to play one yourself.

[FrozenNova]

I played a fun duo as my 18/2 paladin/monk pajama paladin alongside my friend's 18/2 wizard/rogue human pale master.
Both the toons could take care of themselves, we had traps covered, we had arcane buffs covered, I could cast deathward for myself, the PM was immune to enchantment while my paladin saves meant I was untouched, and we could both ignore enemy reflex-save nukes. It was a fairly comprehensive combination.

(And then update 14 happened and rendered my 18/2 useless, but what can you do?)

[Arianrhod]

Another option if the player playing the wizard can't/won't splash rogue, is to change the healer from a cleric to a bard/rogue (Warchanter bard 16/rogue 2/fighter 2 is a nice mix, though it may need to be carefully planned). Bards don't get the higher end healer spells like Heal & Raise Dead, but with Use Magic Device as a class skill and decent Charisma, they can use scrolls of those spells. As long as your duo isn't planning on doing every quest on elite/epic, scroll healing is a viable (if potentially expensive) option.

[wayreth602]

Another option if the player playing the wizard can't/won't splash rogue, is to change the healer from a cleric to a bard/rogue (Warchanter bard 16/rogue 2/fighter 2 is a nice mix, though it may need to be carefully planned). Bards don't get the higher end healer spells like Heal & Raise Dead, but with Use Magic Device as a class skill and decent Charisma, they can use scrolls of those spells. As long as your duo isn't planning on doing every quest on elite/epic, scroll healing is a viable (if potentially expensive) option.

This is a good option. Spellsinger bard might also be viable to help with reducing spell cost and refreshing spell points. My bard with the 16/2/2 duos with my wife who is a cleric.

Also if he is dead set on wizard and goes the Pale Master route, before long he can self heal, so worry more about yourself than him.