Dual boxing suggestions

[TestPilot]

So I just bought Ravenloft for my secondary account. I don't really *play* the second account, it has very few packs and lacks all of the QoL upgrades that the main has. But I really wanted an extra chest-puller, so here we are. I have exactly 1 character in the epic ranges, a human cleric. TRing him is not realistic, BUT he still has the free +20 heart from a while back, so transforming him into something more useful/survivable is plausible. I will not be farming any gear for this guy or even attempting to level him, though he might get some lootgen/cannith-crafted equipment if he's a good little chest-puller.

What would be the best class/build to LR him into in terms of survivability/versitility? He does not need to solo content but it'd be nice if he could stay alive a bit better(right now he dies if he looks at a trap).

I'm thinking respecing into a PM/EK wizard might make the most sense. Good self-healing and some survivability traits as undead, and defensive spells from EK. Also the possibility to pull off a gunship rescue if things get dicey. The question is can this build exist without gear/tomes/PLs?

Is there a better build for my purpose?

[GeneralDiomedes]

Next three lives I am dual boxing a nuking Sorc and an inquisitive arty/ranger - I primarily use hirelings for healing but between the two I get AOE nuking, trapping, basic buffing and trash clearing for a variety of encounters. They can both perform rescue missions for each other, but neither is very tankey. Doing R1-R2 without a lot of difficulty.

So what is the primary weakness of your main? I am concerned that by not levelling no build is going to be able to do anything other than pull chests and maybe buff or provide divine vitality.

[darkniteyogi]

Perhaps a Sorc/Pal/rogue for wind dance to save time

[vryxnr]

There are a few kinds of dual-box loot passers that I like.

1) the high movement speed bard. Bard buffs at the start are awesome (spell point regen song? yes please), and high move speed to get to chests quickly. EA destiny for wings and a self rez once per rest if things get nasty (unless you just carry the soul stone tothe end and rez there, then move speed doesn't matter).

2) Auralock. Some spell casting/buffs, but can also provide extra DPS via their auras even while piking/afk/not being controlled.

3) Healer: lots of buffs via divine spells, emergency healing if needed (especially if you're not able to yourself).

4) Trapper if you're not one.

[TestPilot]

So what is the primary weakness of your main? I am concerned that by not levelling no build is going to be able to do anything other than pull chests and maybe buff or provide divine vitality.

As a consequence of being a chest-puller, he is going to level eventually, I just have no intentions of ever TRing in any form and don't plan to deliberately grind him. He'll hit 30 some day just by virtue of piking(coming up on 23 currently and only got rloft the other day).

My "main" isn't really the farmer, I have several chars to farm on that park at 30. The primary guy is another pale wizard. His main weakness is that he only gets to open the chest once. He effortlessly solos most content at a speed I am comfortable with. I'm also working on sorc and fvs farmers, the fvs suffers from poor DPS. If there's an item I really, really, really want, I also have a handful of melees and an inquisitive rogue to go a-grindin. For my other farmers, the real weakness is simple DPS; I mostly grind at legendary hard because elite/reaper take too much extra effort for not enough reward. Because of the inherent failings of melee, my bard and paladin don't do so well, and behind the wizard the inq-rogue does best. But the pale wizard with AOE and insta-kills just glides along without a care in the world.

There are a few kinds of dual-box loot passers that I like.

1) the high movement speed bard. Bard buffs at the start are awesome (spell point regen song? yes please), and high move speed to get to chests quickly. EA destiny for wings and a self rez once per rest if things get nasty (unless you just carry the soul stone tothe end and rez there, then move speed doesn't matter).

2) Auralock. Some spell casting/buffs, but can also provide extra DPS via their auras even while piking/afk/not being controlled.

3) Healer: lots of buffs via divine spells, emergency healing if needed (especially if you're not able to yourself).

4) Trapper if you're not one.

Interestingly enough, I first thought I'd dual-box for most of these reasons, but quickly realized paying twice as much(either for 2 subs or buying all content twice) was going to be more trouble than it was worth. I started him as a cleric specifically for buffs... which proved to be too much trouble to actually use.

Exalted Angel sounds like a good idea, if for nothing else than the self-rez. Currently he's mostly going for backpack rides, would be kind of nice if I didn't have to UMD heal scrolls/take him to a shrine/etc. Just end chest POP here I am! Actually currently in EA, should probably visit the fatespinner...

Anyway, unfortunately I do not have Warlock on that account. Only has Artificer and all the F2P classes. Bard movement speeds could be handy but I think for most quests the backpack ride is faster. Another advantage to respecing him into a wizard would be the added bonus of ddoor.


What about like 18 wizard/2 rogue, primarily in EK but a little PM, self-healing trapper with wizard buffs?

The big challenge is to find a gear that can get by ok with no named items...

[vryxnr]

Bards also get DDoor. Sing a song, die, self rez (via EA) when needed. I gave my bard looters 2 LGS items to wear to die quickly when needed (just remember to take off one the moment you come back or be ready to die again).

Though anything with a 2 rogue split is good for trapping. Wiz does have some nice pros too. In the end, whatever works best for your style and needs is best. The above is just what I found works well for me.

(though I've also done solo/shortman raids with mutliboxing, so the time to buff and sometimes idle DPS fits my dual-boxing style more)

[Arcath]

If you truly just want an extra pull of the chest then it really doesn't matter. Just create anything, have the guy run into the first room and die. You main guy picks up the soul stone and carries him to the end chest and pulls out a raise scroll. Extra pull without having to take the time to navigate a second guy through the quest.

Other than that the biggest suggestion I can make is make him a chest blesser. Just raise him at the chest, bless it. The chest will usually still be all ****, but now it's better ****. (Using this method I pulled +17 Intel on a random loot item during a bonus weekend, loot gem, and a chest bless)

With that said something that can heal/raise is always a help in a pinch.

(I like a Horc Warchanter bard that can give you blur, gh, bard songs, etc, then go in and intim everything and take a beating before dieing to give my main a chance to clean up and grab the soul stone. I'll raise him at any good chest, bless it, loot, heal my main, rebuff, then run him into the next room and die. Rinse and repeat as needed.)

Oh, getting him a jibbers too has made him insanely useful (but admittedly a little overboard)

[Arcath]

I gave my bard looters 2 LGS items to wear to die quickly when needed

I like it! I'm going to have to add this as an option.

[TestPilot]

I gave my bard looters 2 LGS items to wear to die quickly when needed

Same, using heroic GS though since LGS wasn't a thing back when I built the guy :P

Other than that the biggest suggestion I can make is make him a chest blesser. Just raise him at the chest, bless it. The chest will usually still be all ****, but now it's better ****. (Using this method I pulled +17 Intel on a random loot item during a bonus weekend, loot gem, and a chest bless)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but chest-blessing only improves rangen loot level, right? Does nothing towards odds of named gear? If I'm wrong that'd be awesome.

Oh, getting him a jibbers too has made him insanely useful (but admittedly a little overboard)

Lol! Yeah just a bit :P oh man the insane low drop rate on that thing. Funniest part? been running that quest 2-3 times a week for years, never saw one until just recently and got 2 in as many weeks.

[Arcath]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but chest-blessing only improves rangen loot level, right? Does nothing towards odds of named gear? If I'm wrong that'd be awesome.

Correct, it does not help with named items. But I figure if I'm going to pulling stuff from chests I'll maximize what i can get. Sometimes that little bump gets you a random loot item worthy of the shard auction.

I tend to be pretty lazy so any deviation from the easy route needs to take minimal effort. For me it's been an easy change to incorporate that has managed to make me enough shards that it's been worth it.

[PsychoBlonde]

What would be the best class/build to LR him into in terms of survivability/versitility? He does not need to solo content but it'd be nice if he could stay alive a bit better(right now he dies if he looks at a trap).

Bard and Arti are both very good for dualboxing, bard especially because you can have them sing the healing song for your main character.

From what I can tell I'm pretty much the Queen of DDO Dual-boxing, you can watch me do it on my Twitch channel, which I have set up so that you can watch the viewpoints of both my characters at the same time. It's pretty fun.

If you don't have my mad skills for moving both characters at the same time (no, seriously, go watch me play DDO on Twitch sometime) the best thing you can do for dualboxing is to deliberately run your off-character into something nasty and let them die so that you can pick up their stone and carry them through the dungeon, so you just want to make sure your main character can resurrect them and it's all good and it doesn't matter if you have an absolute garbage build on your second character.

[lyrecono]

There used to be a rusian guy who had 5 alt accounts, who, on al of them, played an auro burst lock with cone.
He set them up so close to each other and some how managed to duplicate al the input to such a degree that it looked like he had a whole bunch of shadows behind him.
He made short work of any quests and bosses on elite (there was no reaper back then)

Though warlock is stil op for its role compared to other classes, it has been hit by the nerf hamer like 4 times now?
The most broken thing to abuse for your alt account these days is inquisitor.
I bet this rusian guy, assuming he still plays, has 6 of these making short work of content.
Maybe you could do something simular with your alt account?

[Drecas]

I like to use a Shintao monk, because they can cast resurrect on themselves, saves me a scroll.

Also on the topic of dualboxing, has anyone here noticed a strange little bug, where the screen's brightness gets permanently altered by the dualbox?
I have an ancient computer and it takes 15 minute to restart, and therefore it's a quite an aggravating little bug, since restarting is seemingly the only way to fix this issue.
Am I the only one with this and if someone else has found a way to fix, please do share?

[Lonnbeimnech]

int based 16 bard 2 arti 2 barbarian
bard buffs, trapping skills, and movement rate

[cru121]

sun elf bard for songs and deathward SLA

[MistaMagic]

Simple answer is DO NOT bother. When entering a quest just run him forward to die then carry his stone to end chest and rez him for loot

[darkniteyogi]

I like to use a Shintao monk, because they can cast resurrect on themselves, saves me a scroll.

Also on the topic of dualboxing, has anyone here noticed a strange little bug, where the screen's brightness gets permanently altered by the dualbox?
I have an ancient computer and it takes 15 minute to restart, and therefore it's a quite an aggravating little bug, since restarting is seemingly the only way to fix this issue.
Am I the only one with this and if someone else has found a way to fix, please do share?

Could it be an alt-tab related issue? Try to set your graphics option to windowed mode, or windowed-fullscreen as opposed to fullscreen

[Swimms]

Simple answer is DO NOT bother. When entering a quest just run him forward to die then carry his stone to end chest and rez him for loot

This, anything else is a waste of time and effort on an account you don't care about. My chest puller alt is a pure cleric for a quick hit of full divine buffs for my main and then he dies....that's it.

[C-Dog]

Also the possibility to pull off a gunship rescue if things get dicey. The question is can this build exist without gear/tomes/PLs?

In theory, sure. The variable is - how heavy does the gunship need to be?

Is there a better build for my purpose?

The good news is that the build can be very non-standard, since you're not "playing" it, and (mostly) only towing it. It doesn't ~have~ to be able to solo content (again, depending on the towing) - just solo one fight with all Metamagics turned on, for that aforementioned rescue. Invis goes a long way to get past trash.

(If it wasn't question of DC casting, you could even just take enough Wiz levels for utility spells, and grab something else for what that offers, etc - a real frankenstein mutt, but good for your purposes. Static openers can get away with that.

And remember, all you need is one level of the right class, and they can use Wands to get some of the higher level healing spells you need.)

What about like 18 wizard/2 rogue, primarily in EK but a little PM, self-healing trapper with wizard buffs?

The big challenge is to find a gear that can get by ok with no named items...

Well, the Anni event is around the corner, for a Necrotic Forum Post, which is not hard to farm. A ~little~ grinding for a boost toward what you're looking for?

And he'll get "some" gear, as non-target named items drop in chests that he could make use of. And some droploot, esp once you're past Level 10, can approach Named Item values (it's the Tetris that's the headache).

(The alt account) has Artificer and all the F2P classes...

Arti is strong in several of the categories you're mentioning - DPS, trapping, buffing, and some healing. Pet helps w/ some of the trickiest of quest mechanics (and self-rescuing!).

Maybe an Arti/X/X hybrid, for a drone for all seasons?

Another advantage to respecing him into a wizard would be the added bonus of ddoor.

Any Human build can get DD via dragonmark and 6 AP (and those AP are not all useless in and of themselves).

Simple answer is DO NOT bother. When entering a quest just run him forward to die then carry his stone to end chest and rez him for loot

There is a lot to be said for this philosophy, depending what you're after. He's s tool, design him to be used as such.

Other than that the biggest suggestion I can make is make him a chest blesser. Just raise him at the chest, bless it. The chest will usually still be all ****, but now it's better ****.

Actually, it won't technically be any "better" for what it is, it'll just be 1 level higher. :/

I gave my bard looters 2 LGS items to wear to die quickly when needed (just remember to take off one the moment you come back or be ready to die again).

Yeah, I'll second that there is some genius in this. (If you're tight on materials, could they work if they are just blanks? Got a LOT of spare chipmunk funk lying around. )

[C-Dog]

...a strange little bug, where the screen's brightness gets permanently altered by the dualbox?

I have an ancient computer and it takes 15 minute to restart, and therefore it's a quite an aggravating little bug, since restarting is seemingly the only way to fix this issue.

Dual-boxing revolves around your vid card - or your vid chip, in your case? And old(er) video did not have the memory that new(er) ones do. If it's not up to the job, yeah, you can have problems.

Mine is new(ish), but often I'll find my home screen (and so all open programs, including my browser and txt files) gets change to whatever resolution the game is currently at - usually WAY too big for the screen. But it's hit and miss - I'm of the belief that it depends on the load on the card atm (and to what degree Mercury is retrograde).