Best 2-man Team?

[PnP2DDO]

Hey folks,

My son and I are going to make a go at it playing Elite, using our 2-man approach. I'm here to ask you for your opinions on what the best 2-man mix should be. Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?

[AzB]

2 monks.

[twigzz]

2 forged sorc's.

[Icywave]

2 Bladeforged Sorcs.

Put in some Pally/Monk splash if you want ....

Either way, no worries about healing, and burst dps trash.

Reconstruct will become your new friend.. can even reconstruct your son or vice-versa if stun'ed :)

Have fun :)

[PnP2DDO]

Since we are both new, can we be Bladeforged? Is that a Warforged thing? I'll check DDOWiki.


2 Bladeforged Sorcs.

Put in some Pally/Monk splash if you want ....

Either way, no worries about healing, and burst dps trash.

Reconstruct will become your new friend.. can even reconstruct your son or vice-versa if stun'ed :)

Have fun :)

[Memnir]

Since we are both new, can we be Bladeforged? Is that a Warforged thing? I'll check DDOWiki.
Bladeforged are an Iconic Class/Race, and are basically super-charged WF.

To learn more, click here (http://ddowiki.com/page/Bladeforged).

[EllisDee37]

I would do one as a wizard/rogue and the other a pure cleric. More specifically, the "pale trapper" and "necro cleric" builds linked in my signature. Both are new player friendly and completely free to play. (No pay classes or races.)

If you want one of you to have melee ability, I'd probably do a pale trapper and kensei cleric.

[viktorserak]

Since we are both new, can we be Bladeforged? Is that a Warforged thing? I'll check DDOWiki.

Hello, since you are new, I would strongly suggest NOT going inconic, as you would miss many of the best quests in the game.

Also, many of the builds suggested to you here are actually FOTM builds (The most powerfull ones).

They are functional, but for a new ppl.. they may not be that much fun. They are mostly focused one being capable to solo most content, which may not be what are you looking for.

I would strongly suggest 1 build with ability to do traps. Rogue will do very fine (Pale Trapper suggested above will be good), but honestly, I had most fun with Artificer (either go human or Warforged, human is, again, more fun in my book) - it offers trap skils, open unlocks, great ranged support AND good buffing. Also, you can crowd control pretty well and you hvae a metal dog following you and causing trouble :-)

As the second build, I would strongly suggest someone who is capable of frontline damage and can also keep himself and someone else alive. Aither Favored Soul, Cleric or Druid would all do very fine. If you splash any of them with fighter, monk or barbarian, you wont be disapointed. Very nice and already suggested build is Warpriest (cleric), splashed with Kensei (Fighter). Alternatively, you can make this second character Warforged, so the first chaarcter, if artificer, can heal you via reconstruct.


It is not the most powerfull combo, but it is very fun, nicely cooperative and it will definitely work.

[Lauf]

Hey folks,

My son and I are going to make a go at it playing Elite, using our 2-man approach. I'm here to ask you for your opinions on what the best 2-man mix should be. Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?

first off, have evasion.

even if one of you is a healer, life is so much easier with it, especially when 2-manning quests (crucible comes to mind)

I would say human 14 bard / 5 rogue / 1 barb would be a very strong trapper/buffer/melee build, going acrobat for qstaffs.
a nice complement to it would be a divine, best divine build really depends on playstyle.

[viktorserak]

first off, have evasion.

even if one of you is a healer, life is so much easier with it, especially when 2-manning quests (crucible comes to mind)

I would say human 14 bard / 5 rogue / 1 barb would be a very strong trapper/buffer/melee build, going acrobat for qstaffs.
a nice complement to it would be a divine, best divine build really depends on playstyle.

With all respect, I highly doubt two new people will be capable of completing Crucible on their first life.

Especially if we take in consideration, that they no longer have to.

[luvirini]

Hey folks,

My son and I are going to make a go at it playing Elite, using our 2-man approach. I'm here to ask you for your opinions on what the best 2-man mix should be. Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?

Depends a lot on the play style. A ranger/rogue and fighter cleric is a good combo to be able to do most things, as with just two it is good if both of you can fill many roles.

As is a thing like that you normally want trap skills and damage capacity, with healing being a nice bonus. There are however many other options too.

[-Zephyr-]

My advice would be a human staff rogue and a human caster druid. Both of those can of course multiclass/splash for great benefits, but they are also good kept pure.
The rogue provides good melee DPS, good survability (great survability if you throw 6 monk in there but it's not easy to get used to), trap skills.
The caster druid provides ranged DPS, crowd control, and much needed healing.

That pretty much covers everything.

[mna]

With all respect, I highly doubt two new people will be capable of completing Crucible on their first life.

Especially if we take in consideration, that they no longer have to.

On first life? Yes, they'll be able to. Eventually. Elite completion not guaranteed, but at least Heroic Normal before TR'ing.

Or they could join a group occasionally. Not like that's hard... a newbie or two going "sightseeing" in the Gianthold explorer area with the "public" option checked can turn into a PUG Heroic Elite Crucible completion, happened to me at least.


Of course, having at least one toon with Evasion is very helpful in a number of other quests too... Taming the Flames comes to mind.

[viktorserak]

On first life? Yes, they'll be able to. Eventually. Elite completion not guaranteed, but at least Heroic Normal before TR'ing.

Or they could join a group. Not like that's hard... a newbie or two going "sightseeing" in Gianthold explorer area with the "public" option checked can turn into a PUG Heroic Elite Crucible completion, happened to me at least.

In which case they dont need to prepare for it at all,which was my point.

I mean, lets be real there - to me and my buddy, first journey from 1 to 20 took us about a year. Granted, under old XP curve and with no BB bonuses, but still, a VERY long time.

I still remember how brutally we got slaughtered in Delirium. On Normal. At level 15.

Sure, today I solo it on elite.

The point is: If new people are asking for help, advices given to them should not be centred around some of the most difficult quests in game IMHO. Not saying evasion wont be usefull in other content, but using Crucible as an argument seems kinda out of place.

[axel15810]

Honestly, I'd recommend you play the class each of you are the most interested in and will have the most fun with. There are hirelings (computer controlled characters) you can buy that are available to fill other roles as needed (although you have to pay some turbine points for rogue hirelings that do traps). You can run all quests on a variety of difficulties so the game being too hard is not an issue. Don't feel like you have to sacrifice your fun in order to get through the game, because you don't. Just have fun, don't worry about having an optimal 2 man party. You'll be completely fine with any class set up, DDO is not a game that requires a specific party make up. There are potions, hirelings and items that can make up for buffs, healing or other roles that you might be missing. Just have fun.

[hp1055cm]

Hello, since you are new, I would strongly suggest NOT going inconic, as you would miss many of the best quests in the game.

I would strongly suggest 1 build with ability to do traps. Rogue will do very fine (Pale Trapper suggested above will be good), but honestly, I had most fun with Artificer (either go human or Warforged, human is, again, more fun in my book) - it offers trap skils, open unlocks, great ranged support AND good buffing. Also, you can crowd control pretty well and you hvae a metal dog following you and causing trouble :-)

As the second build, I would strongly suggest someone who is capable of frontline damage and can also keep himself and someone else alive. Aither Favored Soul, Cleric or Druid would all do very fine. If you splash any of them with fighter, monk or barbarian, you wont be disapointed. Very nice and already suggested build is Warpriest (cleric), splashed with Kensei (Fighter). Alternatively, you can make this second character Warforged, so the first chaarcter, if artificer, can heal you via reconstruct.

It is not the most powerfull combo, but it is very fun, nicely cooperative and it will definitely work.

Ditto.

Also, you can use hirelings for healing/resurrection so don't feel like one of you has to choose a divine class.

Evasion is very helpful for a lot of reasons. A trapper is helpful in most quests.

[parowan]

Honestly, I'd recommend you play the class each of you are the most interested in and will have the most fun with. There are hirelings (computer controlled characters) you can buy that are available to fill other roles as needed (although you have to pay some turbine points for rogue hirelings that do traps). You can run all quests on a variety of difficulties so the game being too hard is not an issue. Don't feel like you have to sacrifice your fun in order to get through the game, because you don't. Just have fun, don't worry about having an optimal 2 man party. You'll be completely fine with any class set up, DDO is not a game that requires a specific party make up. There are potions, hirelings and items that can make up for buffs, healing or other roles that you might be missing. Just have fun.

^this

If you are only going to be playing these two characters with each other, then you shouldn't care what anyone else thinks, or about optimization. Just have fun. Any kind of build can succeed in this game, even if there are only a handful of flavors of the month that are currently considered optimal (and will change with each update). A static group with people that you have a relationship with outside of DDO is a good opportunity to relax and just try whatever strikes your fancy.

That said, there are many easy ways to cover the core D&D roles (trapping/scouting, healing, killing) with two characters. Build characters that do that and that capture your imagination you will have fun and function as a team, rather than two solo builds that happen to party together.

[marinerfan]

My wife and I both just hit 20 duoing as a (human) pure favored soul and (halfling) pure dex/int-based assassin rogue. This combination was a lot of fun..as the favored soul, I'd run into the mobs and throw a blade barrier and then turtle up or bounce back and forth in/out of my blade barrier..my wife would sneak up and whack everything with assassinate or massive sneak attack damage(use a paralyzer).

It was a combo that blew thru content quite easily. We could only open hard, so we had to hit LFM's to run elite content, but we were always #1 & 2 on the kill count (I know, doesn't mean a whole lot) plus we were the healer and trapper for every group we joined.

[Teh_Troll]

2 Monkchers

2 Shiradi sorcs.

[Loromir]

If you are new to this game, then your initial thought might be best and simplest.

For the Fighter/Clerc go with 1 or 2 lvls of Fighter and the rest Cleric. You will get decent (But not great) DPS but more importantly healing and buffing.

For the Ranger/Rogue...go with 1 rogue/1 fighter/18 Ranger. Keep search and disable maxed out for Trapping. This mix would get Evasion on your 9th Ranger lvl, decent DPS (Both Ranged and TWF). Ranger also gives some light healing and buffing.

As a two man team, you will have almost all basses covered.


These are both prety simple builds that give you alot of versatility.

[Chai]

Cleric and a Wizard. All bases are covered. The persistent AOE spells from both do not conflict with eachother and can be used in the same area to steamroll heroics. Both can change out spells as needed, since they are new they can experiment with what works best on what mobs and are not as locked in with spell selection like a sorc or fvs would be. The wizard can have rogue levels if you want to be a trapper.

[Nahiz]

I would do one as a wizard/rogue and the other a pure cleric. More specifically, the "pale trapper" and "necro cleric" builds linked in my signature. Both are new player friendly and completely free to play. (No pay classes or races.)

If you want one of you to have melee ability, I'd probably do a pale trapper and kensei cleric.

If you are new to the game I would say Ellis´ Pale Trapper and Kensei Cleric. You have wiz, rogue, cleric and fighter in there. Melee and casting and trapping. All in 2 characters. Newbie friendly.

[Grecan]

I like 2-woman teams the best xD

(WF, Horc, and Dwarf females are excluded though :P)

[Blackheartox]

1 Druid with earthquake + 1 esos blitzer cetus robot

[PnP2DDO]

Awesome feedback everyone. I'll chew on this tonight and pick an option and rock and roll.

[Grecan]

Awesome feedback everyone. I'll chew on this tonight and pick an option and rock and roll.
You know i made the best suggestion, why don't you admit it...? xD LOL!

[Loromir]

If you are new to the game I would say Ellis´ Pale Trapper and Kensei Cleric. You have wiz, rogue, cleric and fighter in there. Melee and casting and trapping. All in 2 characters. Newbie friendly.

The main draw back of this is, that if the Pale trapper needs an emergency heal and is in undead form, the Cleric can't help (Unless he has harm loaded).

[Lauf]

The point is: If new people are asking for help, advices given to them should not be centred around some of the most difficult quests in game IMHO. Not saying evasion wont be usefull in other content, but using Crucible as an argument seems kinda out of place.

the advice wasn't centered around crucible, the quest was used as an EXAMPLE for a situation where having evasion can make a big difference. there are many other such cases, and to be honest I view crucible as a fun quest, not a hard one, so whatever you read into the example, wasn't my intent.

more examples where having evasion comes in handy: waterworks, a cry for help, made to order, hiding in plain sight, church and the cult, sorrowdusk.... I could go on.
those are just quests where you would want evasion because of traps. there are many many MANY situations even in quests that don't have "run through" traps in them, where evasion would be handy.

the build I have suggested is not only capable in the upper echelon of questing, but obviously also capable in lower ones. my advice wasn't for min/maxing either, but rather for versatility and cooperation.

I fail to see what ruffled your feathers, hopefully now we're on the same page.

[MartinusWyllt]

I can tell you that a shadar-kai ranger/rogue (that primarily TWFs with some AA action) and a PDK bard (mostly spellsinger)/(1) fvs/(1) fighter combo (two-handed swinger + some CC) works pretty well much of the time but can be failbus in certain situations...or we're just really bad at doing mindsunder on elite at-level...and we got owned by Gnomon on HE, but eventually managed to take him down.

[DakDeFrosted]

It's been said, but having 2 Warforged casters is probably the best 2 man team. If you're worried about traps, one of you could play a Wiz/Rog build the other a straight Sorc.

[MindCakes]

For the Ranger/Rogue...go with 1 rogue/1 fighter/18 Ranger. Keep search and disable maxed out for Trapping. This mix would get Evasion on your 9th Ranger lvl, decent DPS (Both Ranged and TWF). Ranger also gives some light healing and buffing.
What's the fighter level for?


The main draw back of this is, that if the Pale trapper needs an emergency heal and is in undead form, the Cleric can't help (Unless he has harm loaded).
Why would a cleric consistently teaming with a palemaster _not_ have harm loaded??

[Kriogen]

... Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?
Anything that can do damage, self-heal and can heal other (if things go horibly wrong), will do the trick. Two hybrids. You don't want specialists. Only two of you. Both must be 1-man army.

Another thing I noticed is, that you need 2 builds that have compatible combat style. You don't want ranged + melee. Melee + melee or ranged + ranged.

I never played DDO much in big groups, but did a lot of low-man runs. Fighter/Cleric+Fighter/Cleric or Ranger/Rogue + Ranger/Rogue will work better then a mix.

Personaly I'd go with 2 WF Artificers or 2 Rangers (one can have rogue splash for traps) or 2 Wizards (one can have rogue splash for traps).

[elcagador]

For heroic levels repeater/run arm Artificers are very solid, more if forged for self reconstruct and inmunities, Mobs will die before they can reach you, also can do traps and even so can splash 2 rogue or monk for evasion with insightful reflexes for god mode.

Any forged arcane would work too because reconstruct/repair and arcane dps.

[FlaviusMaximus]

If I knew how to put images in threads, I would have two pictures. One would be a movie poster from Double Impact, and one would be a movie poster from Double Team. Below them I would write "It depends on what you are looking for."

Ahhh good times.

[deuxanes]

Hey folks,

My son and I are going to make a go at it playing Elite, using our 2-man approach. I'm here to ask you for your opinions on what the best 2-man mix should be. Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?

With the "new" enhancement system it is debatable if you really need to splash in fighter levels for the Fighter/Cleric build. The warpriest enhancement tree should provide enough melee goodies. But 1 or 2 fighter levels won't harm because of the free combat related feats. There are some cleric buffs which will make an adventurers life easier (e.g. death ward, freedom of movement).

Ranger/Rogue will be good. Such a build is easy and straightforward. You'll only need 1 level of rogue because you will eventually get evasion through the ranger class. Some trap finding skills are class skills (e.g. spot, search) which in turn makes it cheaper to keep trapfinding skills maxed.

As others have pointed out things might be easier with a wizard or sorceror. A wizard/rogue build will be able to handle traps. As intelligence is the prime ability score there will be no shortage of skill points. The feat "Insightful Reflexes" will add the intelligence modifier instead of the dexterity modifier to the reflex saves.

[Stormraiser]

I would do one as a wizard/rogue and the other a pure cleric. More specifically, the "pale trapper" and "necro cleric" builds linked in my signature. Both are new player friendly and completely free to play. (No pay classes or races.)

If you want one of you to have melee ability, I'd probably do a pale trapper and kensei cleric.

Both very solid.

Another option:
WF/BF Arcane caster & Melee focused divine

Monkcher & Artificer

If you're going to be using a ranged weapon, the 2nd person should also have access to ranged.
*I* am not a fan of a melee and a ranged bow user.

[krimsonrane]

Hey folks,

My son and I are going to make a go at it playing Elite, using our 2-man approach. I'm here to ask you for your opinions on what the best 2-man mix should be. Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?

a pure rogue and a melee wolf druid.

[mna]

{1 Rogue/1 Fighter/18 Ranger}

What's the fighter level for?

Extra feat (and opens up fighter haste boost from enhancements) with comparatively little drawback, I'd guess.

(Oh and if you take it early, also medium & heavy armor proficiency for use before you get Evasion.)

[mna]

With the "new" enhancement system it is debatable if you really need to splash in fighter levels for the Fighter/Cleric build. The warpriest enhancement tree should provide enough melee goodies. But 1 or 2 fighter levels won't harm because of the free combat related feats. There are some cleric buffs which will make an adventurers life easier (e.g. death ward, freedom of movement).

Ranger/Rogue will be good. Such a build is easy and straightforward. You'll only need 1 level of rogue because you will eventually get evasion through the ranger class. Some trap finding skills are class skills (e.g. spot, search) which in turn makes it cheaper to keep trapfinding skills maxed.

As others have pointed out things might be easier with a wizard or sorceror. A wizard/rogue build will be able to handle traps. As intelligence is the prime ability score there will be no shortage of skill points. The feat "Insightful Reflexes" will add the intelligence modifier instead of the dexterity modifier to the reflex saves.

Actually, there's then the Ranger/Cleric thing nowadays too. Can be made so as to do traps as well if needed, if going with Ranger/Cleric/Rogue. Versatile, if a bit complicated to play optimally.

And that's not getting into the bard-based builds, those can be very good too. (Didn't the community consensus once land on something like a dex-based dragonmarked halfling trapper mostly-bard for the older half of some kind of a 2-player team? I mean, not all that many months ago...? Or am I remembering things all wrong?)

[EllisDee37]

Right now we are thinking a Fighter/Cleric and a Ranger/Rogue. What do you think? Any better combos to consider?While I did recommend a pale trapper, a ranger/rogue can handle all traps making a wizard/rogue not particularly needed. I do agree with others that you should either go both melee or both ranged.

In terms of the new player builds I've posted to the forums, the two builds you describe are pretty similar to the Kensei Warpriest and Tempest Trapmonkey. Both are melee, and would complement each other quite well. The kensei warpriest gets its healing much earlier (level 3!) than the tempest (level 10?) and the tempest can pull out a bow in the rare situations where you have to range something.

The drawback of the tempest trapmonkey compared to a pale trapper in terms of trapping is that the pale trapper has so much higher int that gear is a non-issue. The tempest will need to keep updating its gear to handle elite traps at level. But of course there's no need to run elite at level, and the tempest trapmonkey will handle normal traps in its sleep and hard traps with minimal gear investment.

[MindCakes]

{1 Rogue/1 Fighter/18 Ranger}

Extra feat (and opens up fighter haste boost from enhancements) with comparatively little drawback, I'd guess.

(Oh and if you take it early, also medium & heavy armor proficiency for use before you get Evasion.)
You can get haste boost from ranger tempest.

Or, if you go rogue 2/18 ranger you can get haste boost from acrobat, along with stuff like threat reduction or trip DC. Also opens up damage boost in assassin tree, so you can have all the boosts you like, plus 1 more sneak die, and maybe other stuff... Also you can get evasion earlier by loading the second rogue level up front, or boost up your skills if you take it late...

Or 1 rogue/1 barb/18 ranger for the extra run speed and power attack improvement. And rage maybe.

Possibly you could even splash some other class...

So yeah, feat, could come in handy, but unless there's some particular build, and it's exactly one feat short without the fighter level, I'm not really sold on the idea.

[EllisDee37]

The fighter haste boost is half the price (3 AP compared to 6 AP) and you also get +3 boosts per rest.

[burlicconi]

I think that ranger/rogue is good combo for first lifers. You must maximize spot, search and disable device (open lock is good favourite if you have enough skill points). Rogue levels are for disabling traps, and ranger class is very funny for first life. You can decide number of ranger/rogue levels when yo usee what are your preferences.

For second class I would suggest paladin. Paladin is somehow similar to your fighter/cleric style of play. Paladins can be good at boosting defense and tanking while other guy can use sneak attack. paladins can also self heal, so it makes easier times in some quests. Also, paladins can be good melee fighters and they also have raise dead spell now, which is very important to new players... paladins have good saves, and it is also of good use in many situations...