Duoing with a Dirge

[Zelas]

I was wondering what some of your opinions are on a duo with a dirge.  We're only in the low teens currently and of course it seems fine and dandy in the low levels.  I've been told the dirge doesn't necessarily put out too good of damage later on but we're blasting through them currently.  I'm wondering how effective we will be later in the game?  I know my debuffs can most likely improve his damage a good bit and keep us alive longer.  Also, can't decide who would be most effective tanking the mobs...I was kinda thinking my defiler would since I would be wearing chain, but I'm not so sure I could hold aggro at all with him beating on them.  Lastly, could anyone give me any insight on what AA route I should take?  Should I go similar to what was posted a few threads down with the defiler/sk duo?  I know that dirge seems to buff more for melee and troubador is more for caster (from what I hear) so maybe to make the most use of his buffs go for the melee crits?  Thanks for any advice anyone could give and sorry if my post sounds like I'm rambling.<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/49869fe8223507d7223db3451e5321aa.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />p.s. on the AA build ideas, we will most likely be duoing mostly, but I think our use in a group would be too good not to group when ever we find one.

[cggerth]

I duo all the time with a dirge at high levels...a few tipsLet him tank, if you are tanking, you will get interrupted alot more then he will.  If he's interrupted you can still be casting that all important ward on him to protect him.  Plus he'll out DPS you anyway, so it's easier for him to just tank.If you are going to really only be duoing, go for the damage increase AA lines.  You'll down mobs quicker, and you probably won't be fighting nearly the difficulty in mobs as you would in groups and having to do massive healing.i'm not sure what they are on the shaman tree, but take the cannibalize line in the defiler tree.

[arieste]

<p>first of all, a defiler and dirge duo is a TERRIBLE idea.  if it's still negotiable, reroll.  (the dirge not the defiler).</p><p>i mean, it's doable, just like anything else in the game is doable.  but it'll just be very slow and boring.  the two classes just don't mix well. </p><p>if you're set on it...</p><p>well... the meleeing becomes a little more viable since you now have extra double attack from the dirge (Eventually) and permanent +dps from the dirge (too low at the start), you also have double the str buffs...</p><p>I would still say that casting is your best way to do DPS, with the melee being 2nd.. but if you find yourself healing A LOT, then you probably want to spec melee, since you don't have time to cast much... </p><p>there will be other problems... such as dirge getting aggro back from you after you get it with pre-warding...</p><p>as a defiler i outdamage most dirges i group with... but maybe that's not a bad idea, since in your duo, trading aggro might be a good tactic. </p><p>honestly, i don't know what to advise you.. it's just not a good set up... dirges kite, defilers fight straight on... you both have fear as your crowd control, which is the worst form of crowd control...</p><p>You could try  STR 44682 / AGI 447 but I honestly am not sure how good it would work out.  since you have a perma power regen from the dirge, the canni line becomes less important if you aren't going nukey... so anyhow... the above is an option if you want to try to maximize the dirge's melee buffs... but really, i still think it's best to stick to nukes for damage.  </p><p>soul ward might be good if the dirge is doing your tanking since they'll be taking some hard hits... the soul ward line also improves your shroud and recast on other emergency buffs, which i'm guessing you'll be using often with dirge.</p><p>also depends on what you plan on doing... are you planning on mowing down solo quests / mobs at a quick rate or are you planning on (very slowly) trying to do heroic content with just the two of you?</p><p>The way the game is setup now, you don't have to kill a single heroic until 80 and you won't suffer any.  If that's your plan, you want to set up your defiler for max offence, which is canni / int  as per other threads...if you plan to do heroic stuff, you want Soul  Ward, STR line, maybe curseweaving and WIS line also...</p><p>i dunno... it's a poor setup.  go out, kill some tougher stuff and figure out why you're dying.  then pick whatever compensates.  do the mobs need to die faster?  is the spike damage too high?  are you running out of power?  etc...</p>

[Kyrsten]

<cite>arieste wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>first of all, a defiler and dirge duo is a TERRIBLE idea.  if it's still negotiable, reroll.  (the dirge not the defiler).</p><p>i mean, it's doable, just like anything else in the game is doable.  but it'll just be very slow and boring.  the two classes just don't mix well.</p></blockquote>In lower levels I can see it being rocky at times, but on the higher end of things it's actually not as bad of an idea as Arieste makes it out to be.   The dirge will have a parry buff, a strength/agility buff, and in later levels, a stoneskin buff, all of which will make the dirge harder to hit.  Add in some decent chain armor for both classes, a huge dose of debuffs from both classes, and mobs suddenly hit for a lot less than you'd expect.  For Rise of Kunark, I two boxed my dirge from L70 to 80 with my defiler, and prior to that I successfully two boxed the dirge/defiler combo all over Kingdom of Sky and Echoes of Faydwer.  Since you'll actually have two people playing, it should work even better for you. Admittedly, you won't kill as fast as other duos, but both of you will have the advantage of being highly valued in groups should you decide to tackle some of the tougher dungeons.As the defiler, keep wards up on the dirge of course, but be sure to turn on melee attack and get close enough to help hit the mob, as the extra dmg in between nukes will help kill things faster.  If you both play smart and don't get in over your head and you should be OK.

[Wendingo]

<p>I have a high level (70) Dirge and am now working hard on leveling up my defiler and I must say that is about the most unlikely combo I can imagine.  The Dirge's buffs are oriented towards melee classes.  It would seem it would be a better to pair off a defiler with a troubador or a dirge with a mystic, and that is just staying with the shaman/bard pairing which is odd in and of itself.  </p><p>If you are married to that pairing, play to your strengths.  Let the dirge tank while you stand back and heal and nuke.  Do not be too concerned by the comment about out-dps'ing the dirge in the raid that someone made above.  If you are a dirge in a raid or group you <i>should</i> be low on the dps list because you should be spending your time throwing out buffs/debuffs and sneaking in an attack when you while everything else is on a recast timer.  If the dirge is focused on beating the mob rather than supporting a tank he will dps OK (not great, but OK)</p><p> Dirges never run out of power so you have that going for you and he will boost your recovery times on power and health.  Because the dirge will help you recover faster and can do a small amount of healing himself through two of his power lines I would probably focus the defiler more on dps in the AA trees.   For the dirge, I would go with the stamina tree so you can use a shield to maximum effect and the int line to maximize group spell crits.  It also is important for a dirge, in any situation, to get don't kill the messsenger as an AA ability.  Another area of focus if it is in the EOF abilities is to do whatever you can to boost the defiler's power regeneration.  I think the dirge spell line that boosts power regen has an enhancement in EOF AA, but I cannot remember for sure.</p>

[SorrySonOfA]

<p>My defiler was orginally 2 boxed to 70 with my guardian.  It was a very slow process mostly based on questing, but very safe.  Frankly, there was very little that could kill that combo.  Once RoK came out I knew I'd be requested to bring both the defiler and the dirge along at differant times and wanted to level both quickly, so I started 2 boxing them together.</p><p>I've been pretty impressed with how well they do together as a duo.  Granted both toons started with 100 AA and fairly decent gear, and I changed both out to full master crafted or all the extra +s for heals, spell damage, and combat damage but still they do very well at most things.</p><p>I've always wanted to put togeter a group of disease/poision damage sorts.  I'm thinking SK, defiler, dirge, warlock, Necro, and a assassian.  What a group of people causing icky death that would be.</p>