Help Request: Duo build for learning most quests on DDO

[Aliendel]

Hi guys, my gf and I are quite new to DDO and loving it, however most of the quests are giving us a serious butt-kicking when we're doing it at level or slightly above :/ (Especially them traps). So I was wondering if you kind souls could help us with a duo build that would allow us to clear most of DDO (I'm not expecting to duo the higher level quests without some sort of weird grinding >.>) and experience the most out of the quests.
We are willing to be VIPs but it would be nice to see f2p combinations too. Please note that we have no twink items etc. and are completely oblivious to trap locations and other DDO specific stuff. The reason why we're not partying too much is because we play on a slightly awkward time (GMT 8+) and don't usually see most people then.

Update: Both of us will be VIPs, so no build restrictions :3 (No warforged though, they aren't very aesthetically pleasing (Not my idea!))

Edit : How do you do paragraphing in this thing? o.O

P.S. Could anyone point us to an active oceanic server/guild ? Would be highly appreciated.

[voxson5]

Welcome!

Khyber has a good Aussie & Kiwi population, Thelanis has a wide range of peoples

All servers are mainly populated by people in the States, quite a few Europeans, some amazing Japanese players (here on Thelanis at least, cant comment on other servers).

I'm in New Zealand, so the best play time for me is 10-5 (wish I could play at work). There are people on for most times, but population really drops for Aus/Kiwi primetime.

-------------

As for a duo:

f2p?
human rogue 2/wiz 18 pale master
dwarf battle cleric (2 fighter/18 cleric)

Heal each other, raise each other, handle traps, melee & AoE damage

VIP?

• Warforged FvS (search for "soulsurvivour")
• Warforged Archmage 18 / 2 rogue

For all the same reasons, but more immunities, better melee, you get to be robots tearing the snot out of fairies and unicorns (milage may vary)

If you want to get out and learn the game?

• pick anything you want

Go have fun, learn by mistakes. This is a game after all.

For skills?
trapper-> search, disable, spot, concentration, UMD, 4 points into open locks at creation
melee/divine -> concentration, UMD

There are many many builds on these combos on the forum & some are very comprehensive. A lot of the fun is in the reading & putting it all into practise.

(just google any of the terms you arn't familiar with, or have a read over at www.ddowiki.com)

[Aliendel]

Are the builds listed viable for level 20 raiding ? Could you also link the duo builds you have mentioned ? Thanks for the reply. :3

[Inouk]

Any rogue or rogue splash + any class that can heal is usually a win. Having an arcane is nice because they are crazy powerful, but the possible combinations vary widely. Any 2 self sufficient class combos also work, but many self-sufficient hybrid builds take awhile to reach potential (rangers can't heal til 8th for instance, and UMD to scroll heal can take awhile if it isn't a class skill). Just make sure that at least one of you is a died in the wool killer so you don't struggle to put things down (dedicated healer and a bard/rogue may not be a great combo for instance).

Some good class info to consider, depending on what VIP/bought options you have:
Bards, artificers, and druids are very versatile and self sufficient
Rogues and artificers can find and disable traps (though some traps require to you go through it to disable and artificers don't get evasion)
Cleric and FvS are your dedicated healer classes. With experience and gear they can also be deadly killers and very versatile.
Fighter and Barbarian are fine classes, but really need the help of a healer (until you have gear and experience at least), so unless you splash for traps it limits your options
Rangers, monks, and paladins are self sufficient after a few levels, are fairly versatile, and a good melee to pair with a healer or a self sufficient arcane (pale master, warforged archmage, or sorc with UMD for scroll heals).
Wizards and sorcerers are pure death dealers, and that's very handy to have. Wizards splash well with rogue since disabling traps is int based. Wizard tends to excel more at insta-kills and crowd control, sorcs are the highest pure damage dealer in the game. Both can be self sufficient, but wizards more so.

So mix and match amongst those however you like with those goals in mind.

[jandhaer]

I would agree with the posted suggestions as I immediately thought the same thing 18/2 wiz/rogue and a battle cleric(many ways to do that) but I would suggest human for the F2P cleric as the extra feat (on a feat starved class) and skill points always come in handy, and the extra healing amp is gravy on top, in my opinion any other race but human or half elf on a divine (especially new ones) is simply flavor.

[voxson5]

Pale trapper build:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=394332

Battle cleric build:
http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...1&postcount=75
(I have a lot of respect for the work Tihocan has done for this game, this is just one of his builds)

It is probably worth doing a little research and reading up on a few builds prior to committing. Just google keywords for easy searching "ddo battle cleric" or "ddo wizard rogue"

Both of these builds can be viable at endgame. I say 'can' because a lot is based on player skill, experience and gear; all of which you can get just from playing and learning.

You can take anything and just use hirelings too, remember that there is that option.

I still like the wiz/rog & BC combo. Self support & help each other, almost every buff in game, melee, trapskills, AoE and instakills, strong enough individually to split up for objectives.

Just remember to have fun!

[voxson5]

I would agree with the posted suggestions as I immediately thought the same thing 18/2 wiz/rogue and a battle cleric(many ways to do that) but I would suggest human for the F2P cleric as the extra feat (on a feat starved class) and skill points always come in handy, and the extra healing amp is gravy on top, in my opinion any other race but human or half elf on a divine (especially new ones) is simply flavor.

Max wis HOrc would work well as a BC too, but that's a thread for another day

[Aliendel]

A question about all these builds, how do they fare in the new combat system? As far as I know the combat rolls for attack and AC are no longer D20 am I right? Have there been any builds that try to abuse that fact yet? For example an earlier TWF or weirder melee splashes? Just wondering since melee seems to be the easiest for learning the layouts and enjoying the different quests.

[Rawrargh]

Basicly the changes in the to-hit and AC system has allowed for low strength builds to contribute a bit of melee damage. There is no way to "abuse" it, since you'll still be hitting less, and not hitting as hard as a proper strength build will.
The closest thing you'll get to taking advantage of this, is putting a twohander with lots of damage mods, for example a +1 holy great axe of lasceration on an arcane, a caster cleric or a caster bard. That way, at low to mid levels you can dish out a bit of non-sp consuming dps.

As for the initial question, 18/2 wizard rogue + 18/2 cleric fighter works great, however, I'd say the cleric build linked by voxson is kind of outdated. I'd try to squeeze in cleave and greatcleave to open up for overwhelming critical. That's just my opinion. There's a gazzilion ways of building a battle cleric, but in a duo set-up with a wiz/rog I'd go for more of a melee based build.

[Aliendel]

Since the wiz rogue will be a pale master would it be difficult to heal him with a cleric? Also we have decided to go VIP since there are so many adventure packs to buy anyway, so any VIP builds would be appreciated as well :3

[orbbital]

Since the wiz rogue will be a pale master would it be difficult to heal him with a cleric? Also we have decided to go VIP since there are so many adventure packs to buy anyway, so any VIP builds would be appreciated as well :3

while you are leveling a wizard, you dont usually go in undead form before lv12, and after it, cleric has access to harm spell which could heal undeads.

there are several fun grinding xp methods that are waiting you to investigate in these adventure packs. enjoy them and have them as a part of your fun gaming!

but for really very new players, you might want to investigate in spot skill on wizard particularly. You need that to find out the unknown things in dungeon, especially the traps. anyway it is a very good suggestion given above for 18wiz/2rog and 18clr/2ftr, which basically faces all round situation.

[marinerfan]

My wife and I duoed as a 20 bard and 20 rogue (both drow). We had no gear when we started and really it was a fun combo (the quests were a cake walk with this duo, but some bosses were tough). I would suggest the wiz/cleric duo for much higher burst dps against bosses unless you aren't feeling the spellcasting idea too much.

I wish I could provide you the builds but we just kind of figured it out as we went lol.

I was the bard and I chose to go virtuoso prestige - the healing song was a nice boost for tougher quests where sp was an issue and the CC songs (and otto's irresistable dance if you can slot spell penetration) were unbeatable. I think i went something like 16 str, 16 con, 14ish con and dumped the rest and I used whatever two handed weapon i could find that was decent...but that was secondary. After I CC'd everything, my wife ran in with her khopeshes and assassinated everything. This is not something I would consider an end game build, but it was a fun way to hit 20 and get some platinum into the account.

The rogue build was something like 16 str, 16 dex (need +1 tome to reach 17), 14? con, and the rest in int..not a great assassinate build (low DC due to lowish int), but it got the job done.

This duo had pretty good synergy, especially if you don't know where the traps are because bards can buff trapper skills quite well

PS: we did hit lfms up around the time we reached vale of twilight, usually I was the sole healer and my wife led the kill count much to the chagrin of the multi-TR characters in the groups

[sirgog]

while you are leveling a wizard, you dont usually go in undead form before lv12, and after it, cleric has access to harm spell which could heal undeads.

Zombie form is godmode at level 7 (when you can meaningfully heal in undead form; it's a trap at level 6 when you first get it). A Pale Master should take Death Aura as one of their first level 4 spells and Zombie Form and they will be almost unkillable if they equip a Nullification item.

That said for a newbie, I would NOT recommend an arcane caster. Mana management is quite tough to learn in DDO and an arcane that is out of mana has very few options available to them. Definitely do not play a multiclass caster like the Pale Trapper until you have both gear and experience behind you - those builds have a really tough time in quests where shrines are sparse or in quests where you do not know where shrines are.

For a duo, I'd have one durable melee-type build that can do sustained damage over time and one healing capable offensive casting divine. If you want trapskills in your group, that's probably a rogue-splashed melee and a pure cleric or pure FVS.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

If you're VIP and you have access to druid -- and I believe you might, if I'm reading some current splashscreens correctly -- then consider a caster druid and a rogue.

If you take the Season's Herald prestige enhancement for a caster druid, then you get effective healing without a spell point cost by taking the Spring's Resurgence enhancement. And, druids get spells like wall of fire and ice storm that help with crowds, as well as good spells for taking down bosses. You can still wade into melee with a fire scimitar and a shield and do decent damage, if you'd like, to keep spell point expenditures manageable. Finally, druids get a wolf as a summons which can see invisible mobs for you, open doors, and take aggro so that your rogue can backstab mobs.

Rogues are great for their skills and for DPS and assassination.