Duo build advice

[jwhanna1974]

Hey all, just returning to DDO after 3 years. MY son is playing a Pure Barb, and I want to play a Bard or cleric to duo with him. Can anyone suggest a good build to compliment his Barb. I want to be able to Duo most non raid content on hard. Thanks

Suggestions so far:

1) Pure WF Barb & WF 18 Wiz/2 Rog
2) Pure WF Barb & Pure WF Sorc
3) 20 Barb & 18 Warchanter/2 Rog...with Cleric Hirelings

[Fetchi]

Hopefully he will be a fleshy so you can heal him better in the lower levels. With that said, I would recommend just recommend maxing out your WIS score. Any race will do really. I would put at least 14 into CON as well. Your power as a cleric will come from crowd controlling mobs for the barbarian to cut through, such as command and greater command. You will also make sure you carry buffs like resist and such to keep the barbarian from taking too much damage.

Hope this helps.

[barongt]

I would probably play a Warchanter Bard, slot a few Cure spells, and carry Cleric hirelings around for when you need more healing.

[biggin]

You might want to also consider a rogue splash. With you just duoing, it will be difficult to do any quest hard/elite in upper levels where you encounter some nasty traps. Bards have good all around spells (buffs, haste, cc, healing) on top of good haggle skills which will help you not be poor forever. Most duo groups I've seen, both players would multiclass, so that way you can hit at least most of the needed skills to complete the quests.

[jwhanna1974]

Can i pick locks and disable traps at higher levels with only 2 levels of Rogue?

[Murderface]

Hey all, just returning to DDO after 3 years. MY son is playing a Pure Barb, and I want to play a Bard or cleric to duo with him. Can anyone suggest a good build to compliment his Barb. I want to be able to Duo most non raid content on hard. Thanks

u guys should play wf you can play wf rogue and son can be wf barb or ranger they have evasion might make things easier

[Kralgnax]

Welcome back!

Can i pick locks and disable traps at higher levels with only 2 levels of Rogue?

Some, yes, but it's hard to do it with a cleric, because of the paucity of skill points.

I want to be able to Duo most non raid content on hard.

If you stick to most and no more than hard, I don't think you need rogue at all.

My 2 cp worth, YMMV.

[unionyes]

The best duo (and I have three duos, with my kids) is a Warforged Barbarian and a Warforged Rogue/Wizzie.

The Warforged Barbarian is easy to make, and thats what my kids run with. Max out Str, then put whats left into Con. Get an axe, hotkey Rage for them, and show them how to attack.

The Rogue/Wizzie is a little more complicated, but not much. Max your intel, then put your Con up to at least 14. Do whatever you want with any points you may have left. On your first level, take Rogue for the extra skill points, and max out Open Lock, Search, and Disable Device. Spot if you want to, or if you don't know where all the traps are located.

Once you both hit level 2, which won't take long, then start going Wizzie. You have lots of options here, you can load up Repair Light, of course, and Hypno so the hordes are a little more manageable. Masters Touch and Mage Armor or Shield will make you a decent backup fighter. Depending on how you play, you may want to take a second Rogue level for evasion, but it's not necessary unless you get zapped a lot by lightning, etc.

At low and mid levels, you can buff, crowd control, and heal your kid as needed, as well as get any traps or locks that need getting. At higher levels, Reconstruct will keep your wf barbarian companion standing through darn near anything that comes at him, especially if he is well buffed and Hasted.

The only drawback to this combo is that you don't have access to a lot of restorative magic. You can mostly overcome this by carrying potions, and hanging on to any clickies that you might come across. As well, WF's don't get poisoned, or drown, or fatigued after Rage, so you come out ahead of the fleshies in that department anyhow.

[GeneralDiomedes]

The only drawback to this combo is that you don't have access to a lot of restorative magic. You can mostly overcome this by carrying potions, and hanging on to any clickies that you might come across. As well, WF's don't get poisoned, or drown, or fatigued after Rage, so you come out ahead of the fleshies in that department anyhow.

That's why you shouldn't take your first 2 levels as Rogue. Instead, you take your second level later (my personal preference is 9 after 2 INT level ups) so you can make up ranks in UMD. Warforged as of yet are not immune to having less than -9 hit points

Also, you do not need to max ranks in Open Lock.

If you purchase a +2 INT tome at level 7, you should be able to keep the following skills at useful levels: Search, Disable, UMD, Spot, Concentration, Open Lock.

i.e.

Search Disable Spot UMD Concentration OL
1 Rog - 4 4 4 4 2 4
2 Wiz - 5 5 4 4 4 4
3 Wiz - 6 6 4 4 5 4.5
4 Wiz - 7 7 4 4 6 5 <-- INT level up
5 Wiz - 8 8 4 4 7 5.5
6 Wiz - 9 9 4 4 8 6
7 Wiz - 10 10 4 4 9 6.5 <-- eat +2 INT tome
8 Wiz - 11 11 4 4 10 7 <-- INT level up
9 Rog - 12 12 10 12 10 7

vs something like

Search Disable Spot UMD Concentration OL
1 Rog - 4 4 4 4 2 4
2 Rog - 5 5 5 5 2 5
3 Wiz - 6 6 5 6 2 5
4 Wiz - 7 7 5 7 2 5 <-- INT level up
5 Wiz - 8 8 5 8 2 5
6 Wiz - 9 9 5 9 2 5
7 Wiz - 10 10 5 10 2 5 <-- eat +2 INT tome
8 Wiz - 11 11 5 11 3 5 <-- INT level up
9 Wiz - 12 12 5 12 4 5.5

[jwhanna1974]

I like the dual WF idea espcially since i wanted to try out Pale master. Is there any alternative to rogue splash?
I never did enjoy rogue class in DnD and really have no interest. Are trap that bad in DDO? Can't manage them with a hireling or just healing after springing?

edit: actually he has a rogue alt and he seems to like that class too, can he splash 2 levels of rogue with Barb effectively? Thanks for all the advice!

[Braed]

I like the dual WF idea espcially since i wanted to try out Pale master. Is there any alternative to rogue splash?
I never did enjoy rogue class in DnD and really have no interest. Are trap that bad in DDO? Can't manage them with a hireling or just healing after springing?

Yeah, I'd just go pure Wizard as an alternative. As a WF you'll be pulling healing duties in your duo as well. For a first character, it is hard enough to master the Wizard class. Adding 2 levels of Rogue opens up a lot of doors and flexibility, but also REQUIRES dedication and resources to use it effectively. A vast majority of the vets you see posting these 18/2 builds know what they are doing. My experience in game has been most Wizard/Rogues are garbage because they don't dedicate the resources to the Rogue-side and their Wizard-side is always a level or two behind.

[jwhanna1974]

Great Advice. Now I have another question. How viable is it to use 2 hirelings as we level?

Last night my son rerolled his Barb to WF and i made a WW Fighter to level with him till he catches my lvl 4 WF Wiz.
So when we got to the harbor we each got a hireling. Him a Wiz, me a Cleric and used them as healbots. Its was NIIICE! So my question is...how expensive or viable is it to do this at later levels?

Also, does anyone else have a suggestion on alternate DUO combos.
1.) WF Barb, WF Wiz/Rog
2.) ?

[GeneralDiomedes]

If you guys are decent players, I would actually suggest a WF Sorc/WF Barb combo. I think you will have a lot of fun that way as both classes are suited to a run and gun style.

- Sorc can get their UMD high enough for Raise (and other useful) scrolls without multiclassing
- Most traps can still be navigated with buffs, timing and/or a lot of HP (some might even say all)
- Sorc will have enough mana to keep the Barb hasted, displaced and repaired and still have plenty left over for offensive/CC spells

The disadvantage of course is no trap disarming .. and less spell selection for secondary buffs.

[TheBroken_JPK]

I don't think making a cleric with the idea of duoing is optimal. Hirelings are better coded than they used be, and you can rely on them. I also would not do 2 cleric hirelings, because the wiz hireling has insanely powerful buffs.

You will need a rogue, or you'll both need evasion. I prefer a rogue, because there are quite a few quests that have fantastic loot that will need to be picked(Xorian Cypher(sp?) comes to mind). Plus certain quest give very nice rogue xp bonuses.

I'm a fan of the monster build. Instead of 2 monk, though, you will go 2 rogue. Right now, my build is 2 rogue/6 ranger/3 fighter(12 base int is very helpful). Its hard at the beginning due to low AC, but once you hit 9 you are a beast with a ton of HP. I was able to disable all traps on hard in the VON missions(using only my +5 search and disable goggles).

A barb plus a monster build variation will pump out serious DPS. The phrase the best defense is a great offense comes to mind on this. A cleric hireling with the wiz buffs will produce amazing duo results.

PS. My other suggestion is a 2 rogue/wizard build.

PSS. My brother and I almost exclusively duo. Due to the fact groups are really shady at lower levels, and seem to be rare at our current level. I'm the monster variant build, and he is a monk. We haven't encountered a quest that we haven't completely annihilated. We are now currently 11.

We use hirelings all the time. Hirelings are totally awesome, and I'm amazed people don't use them. The wizards have haste, displacement, and greater heroism(not all 3, and sometimes none so look at his spells before you buy). The clerics get heal. raise dead, and the mass cure wounds spells. Hirelings are dirt cheap.

[TechNoFear]

So when we got to the harbor we each got a hireling. Him a Wiz, me a Cleric and used them as healbots. Its was NIIICE! So my question is...how expensive or viable is it to do this at later levels?

It is easier (with the latest cleric hireling AI) and cheaper than pots/wands, even at cap.

I am soloing my paladin and duoing (sorc + ranger/rogue1) with a hireling cleric in the highest level content (inc Amarath quests).

Remember;
Hirelings add to the scaling (make quest harder) but less than a real player and cost 5% XP if they die (so might be better to only have 1).
Hirelings tend to heal their owner, themselves, mass cures and have to be told to heal others (so who uses the hireling might vary, we found the sorc needed the cleric more than the ranger).
If the contract expires within a quest the hireling will stay until you return to town/inn.
The contract last for an hour (and stops counting if you log out).
If you enter an adventure area (like outside Water Works) the hireling will follow you into quests and keep following until you go back to town/inn (this is handy when running a chain/series as you can keep the hireling for hours).