Shaman Guardian Duo Question

[JabC]

<DIV>Hey folks,</DIV> <DIV><SPAN></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV> <P><SPAN>How do you all feel on a Shaman / Zerk duo as opposed to  a Shaman / Guardian duo?  I scrapped my monk after deciding it wasn't the class for me  and want to make a good "educated" choice for my subclass.</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN> </P> <P><SPAN>We will mainly be duo, but I am sure we will be grouping, and not just with guild mates.  I love the tanking job, but just don't know what to pick.  It is hard to dig through the "nerf-or-not" posts that seem to go on here to be able to make a sound choice. </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN> </P> <P><SPAN> Any advice would be appreciated! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  </SPAN></P> <P><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P></DIV>

[RigorreEQ]

<DIV>Shaman / Berserker is a bad choice because the berserker skill is based on getting hit ...shaman wards don't let you get hit.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My wife and I don't do too bad as a Guardian / Shaman duo.  Not real strong on doing harder mobs because we lack the dps without chain HOs, but we have the basis to start any group.  On the other hand, wards work in such a way as to completely make the fact that I'm wearing armor quite useless since it absorbs the entire amount of the hit rather than just absorbing what wouldn't have been mitigated by armor.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've actually been intrigued to try a monk / shaman duo.  They say, with the monk's ability to avoid a lot of damage, and the shaman ward to absorb what doesn't get avoided, they make the best duo.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For a berserker, you would be better off with a druid.  Shaman are more in line with monks.  And they say clerics are the preferred healing class of Guardians, Paladins, and Shadowknights.</DIV>

[Xek]

i disagree. i group with a bezerker quite often and as a defiler, we do quite good. The trick is to change your tactics a bit. Here is our stargagy thats works very well.I ward him and let him pull. While the ward is absorbing, i debuff the mob, and after lets say 15 seconds, the ward ends.I dont immediately reward, but i let the monster punch him a few times, down to orange. The debuffs really lower the dps of the mob and he goes bezerker. I then ward him, fill him up to Full health, and then let the cycle continures. He has prelnty of oppurity to go bezerker and my AC debuffs really make the monster a wuss.

[Errar]

<DIV>My wife and I also play as a duo team.  We played EQ1 for 4 years as warrior/shaman (she the warrior and I the shaman).  This was an awesome combo because of the shaman's ability to slow the mobs attack.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Once we were accepted into EQ2 Beta, we applied the same strategy except I made the warrior and she the shaman.  What we learned quickly is the Warrior(guardian)/Shaman was not a very strong combo.  The shaman slows were not enough to offset the lack of healing power (dmg absorption) for the warrior.  So, we re-tooled her character.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>She dumped the shaman and made a cleric.  We found this duo to be very beneficial.  Battles take longer, but with good armor and her heals, we found it very easy to go to level 19 in Beta within a week.  We both work and have family life playing about 3 hrs per night and 14 hours on the weekends.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In EQ2 we made the same characters, except we added her sister as a Ranger.  The trio rocks.  The Guardian takes it, the Ranger dishes it out, and the Cleric keeps us in the battle.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good Luck in your EQ2 adventures.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Draegger</DIV>