Duel Boxing and the Bruiser

[Orthos]

<DIV>I presently duel box a necro (45) and a Fury (46) and I'm looking to change things up a bit. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm interested in the bruiser class and would like to know if others have had good success duel boxing with this class and what combinations they favor.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I only group rarely and really enjoy the challenge of duoing some of the more challenging content (PvE only). I will likely group at times and may end up joining a guild for higher end content. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have thought of combinations such as Bruiser / Defiler or Fury or perhaps Inquisitor. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've also been toying with the idea of a Zerker / Defiler and would like to know if anyone can comment on the big differences? Particularly the DPS per duo and what type of content may not be possible with one versus the other.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks for any feedback. </DIV>

[Pnaxx]

<P>A Bruiser would be a good pick to Duel Box with as it is pretty self sufficiant anyways, so the extra heals will allow you to kill higher level content at all times...and still not have to split to lewt.</P> <P>Because we are Avoidance Tanks, you want Wards as the main heal...otherwise, you will find that the healer (you) will have to be very dillagent to the damage spikes. We make the mobs miss alt, but then we get hit, and we take a good amount of damage due to our light armor (leather). So pick a Healer with nice Wards I think. That way, you won't have to worry as much on the Healin side. </P> <P>Plus, the Bruiser will give you a ton more DPS than a Zerker which has all the bennies in the world. I have a Zerker in the late 50's, well equipt with Mastercrafted gear from head to toe and it is much less powerful than the Bruiser simulary equipt.</P>

[J4k]

<DIV>Berserkers are better dps then bruisers once you get to 70.</DIV>

[satyr-icon]

I have been boxing bruiser-fury combo for about a year and a half now. Its the unbeatable combo. I have never found any oponent i cant handle on my own. The fury does invis for travel, if that dosnt hold against see invis mobs, autofollow the bruiser and FD your way through entire zones of agro that others can just dream about is awesome.When you encounter too big a challenge, let the fury die. FD and use the rez feather to get your team up and going and try again. In short, any other tank class might be awesome when you finally fight your way to the named mobs in a zone, but when you get there, i trained there hours ago and already killed the named mob twice.....In short... bruiser-fury is the ultra combo. Considering that the fury does impressive dps compared to other heal classes in combo with bruiser. There is no other way to go.Good luck on your enlightenment and to everyone claiming any other combo is better... Sorry your wrong, i have been there, done that, i got the t-shirts and the buttons. Trust me when i say, bruiser-fury combo is the [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn].

[PhozFa]

<div></div>Bruiser with the Int line having crits maxed and the final ability plus a defiler is leathal. Keep your foe debuffed with the great defiler debuffs with the bruiser between 20-29% life and warded at that point. Bruiser will do enough dps with near 100% crits where the healer doesn't need to dps to be effective. Something you can't do with most healers (yea mystic can do it but its easier to have both toons in freeport) A 70 zerker could out dps a 70 bruiser is specced and played right but with this method of getting near 100% crits i doubt it. Plus take into account the mobility of train>FD in dungeons where a zerker would need invis and hope mobs don't see which if they do you are forced to fight. Not to mention if I come across a room with a name and don't feel like clearing it i put on stone deaf (if needed) mit buff and pull the name along with the entire room use the defiler to cast any fast casting spell then FD the rest of the room off the bruiser leaving just the name. I've done a defiler/bruiser combo alot and thats why i think they pwn <div></div><p>Message Edited by PhozFate on <span class=date_text>09-23-2006</span> <span class=time_text>04:57 AM</span>

[djinnz]

<DIV>bruiser is a great tank for 2 boxing heroic stuff, but your wanting to hit high end raids at some point you say, unfortunatley brawlers are not sort after for raids, even worse tanks in general are not wanted after the the main tank and the off tank. you need to ask yourself where your priorities lie, if your serious about  raiding maybe consider rolling a dps class that can tank a little (swashbuckler i read somewhere has some tanking ability, but i have no experience of this type of combo). or go for the tank healer option and accept you may find only your healer is invited to raids (i speak from experience as the later is my own situation)</DIV>

[Orthos]

<P>Thanks for the great feedback and info. I played a monk for many years in EQ1 and really enjoyed the FD and I think it would be a vaulable addition in a duo. </P> <P> </P> <P>Since I already have a Fury fully equiped it may be easier simply to mentor down and work a bruiser up to the mid-40's. </P> <P> </P> <P>I don't really have enough time for serious raiding but in the guilds I'm likely to belong to any type of tank will likely do just fine versus another. </P> <P> </P> <P>I was leaning toward the defiler and starting over but the Fury brings a lot of positives, has reasonable heals and can lay down to damage. </P> <P> </P> <P>Thanks</P> <P> </P>

[PhozFa]

<blockquote><hr>djinnz wrote:<div>bruiser is a great tank for 2 boxing heroic stuff, but your wanting to hit high end raids at some point you say, unfortunatley brawlers are not sort after for raids, even worse tanks in general are not wanted after the the main tank and the off tank. you need to ask yourself where your priorities lie, if your serious about  raiding maybe consider rolling a dps class that can tank a little (swashbuckler i read somewhere has some tanking ability, but i have no experience of this type of combo). or go for the<b> <u>tank healer option and accept you may find only your healer is invited to raids</u></b> (i speak from experience as the later is my own situation)</div><hr></blockquote>This is why i eventully switched my main from my bruiser to my defiler. Noone really wanted my bruiser but my server had a shortage of defilers. I'd love to raid with my bruiser more but whatever. I can't have 2 raid toons but atleast i have one. Maybe one day if they make bruisers more wanted in raids and my guild picks up some defilers i'd switch <div></div>

[Sir_Halbarad]

Another post here has bruisers claiming to be in the top 5 of their raid dps.It can't be that bad then? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[PhozFa]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Sir_Halbarad wrote:Another post here has bruisers claiming to be in the top 5 of their raid dps.It can't be that bad then? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div><hr></blockquote>....with a zerker above them but thats a diffrent story <span>:smileytongue: EDIT: also i'd like to point out just about ANY class can parse top 5 of THIER raid doesn't mean they are top 5 overall. The dps depends on a few things like group being catered to ideal conditions, skill of the bruiser vs skill of the other DPS classes, and the the actual encounters. But being #5 still means there are 4 other classes that can do that job better so why not have an extra actual DPS class over a bruiser? I'd like to see more raids where the bruiser is more useful like 3 princes where they actully get to tank to CD where they are useful burning down the fighter adds. </span><div></div><p>Message Edited by PhozFate on <span class=date_text>09-24-2006</span> <span class=time_text>04:59 AM</span>

[Keshaan]

<div><blockquote><hr>PhozFate wrote:<div></div>Bruiser with the Int line having crits maxed and the final ability plus a defiler is leathal. Keep your foe debuffed with the great defiler debuffs with the bruiser between 20-29% life and warded at that point. Bruiser will do enough dps with near 100% crits where the healer doesn't need to dps to be effective. Something you can't do with most healers (yea mystic can do it but its easier to have both toons in freeport) A 70 zerker could out dps a 70 bruiser is specced and played right but with this method of getting near 100% crits i doubt it. Plus take into account the mobility of train>FD in dungeons where a zerker would need invis and hope mobs don't see which if they do you are forced to fight. Not to mention if I come across a room with a name and don't feel like clearing it i put on stone deaf (if needed) mit buff and pull the name along with the entire room use the defiler to cast any fast casting spell then FD the rest of the room off the bruiser leaving just the name. I've done a defiler/bruiser combo alot and thats why i think they pwn <div></div><p>Message Edited by PhozFate on <span class="date_text">09-23-2006</span> <span class="time_text">04:57 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>I have a lvl 70 monk and is also considering what healer would be best to 2box him with, so I am looking for more information.Exactly how much do they "pwn"? I also have the last ability in the aa int line and i'm often grouping with a 70 mystic friend who has all wards,heals and debuffs as masters/adept III's. In our experience though, as soon as we're duoing nameds and 3 ups that are white or close to that, it gets too dangerous to use the "below 30% hp"-aa ability as a fizzle can easily kill me. In a 2-box situation you have to control both chars and therefore you wont be able play both chars to the fullest, which means that the int line aa line gets even harder to use. Therefore I'm pretty skeptical about how usefull that line is against mobs that are worth killing, when your 2 boxing.As a 2-boxer that doesnt wanna raid, you also have to consider that you have to get 24 aa points before you can use that int ability, and by that time your already getting pretty close to the end-group-game.</div>

[PhozFa]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Keshaan wrote:<div><blockquote><hr>PhozFate wrote:<div></div>Bruiser with the Int line having crits maxed and the final ability plus a defiler is leathal. Keep your foe debuffed with the great defiler debuffs with the bruiser between 20-29% life and warded at that point. Bruiser will do enough dps with near 100% crits where the healer doesn't need to dps to be effective. Something you can't do with most healers (yea mystic can do it but its easier to have both toons in freeport) A 70 zerker could out dps a 70 bruiser is specced and played right but with this method of getting near 100% crits i doubt it. Plus take into account the mobility of train>FD in dungeons where a zerker would need invis and hope mobs don't see which if they do you are forced to fight. Not to mention if I come across a room with a name and don't feel like clearing it i put on stone deaf (if needed) mit buff and pull the name along with the entire room use the defiler to cast any fast casting spell then FD the rest of the room off the bruiser leaving just the name. I've done a defiler/bruiser combo alot and thats why i think they pwn <div></div><p>Message Edited by PhozFate on <span class="date_text">09-23-2006</span> <span class="time_text">04:57 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>I have a lvl 70 monk and is also considering what healer would be best to 2box him with, so I am looking for more information.Exactly how much do they "pwn"? I also have the last ability in the aa int line and i'm often grouping with a 70 mystic friend who has all wards,heals and debuffs as masters/adept III's. In our experience though, as soon as we're duoing nameds and 3 ups that are white or close to that, it gets too dangerous to use the "below 30% hp"-aa ability as a fizzle can easily kill me. In a 2-box situation you have to control both chars and therefore you wont be able play both chars to the fullest, which means that the int line aa line gets even harder to use. Therefore I'm pretty skeptical about how usefull that line is against mobs that are worth killing, when your 2 boxing.As a 2-boxer that doesnt wanna raid, you also have to consider that you have to get 24 aa points before you can use that int ability, and by that time your already getting pretty close to the end-group-game.</div><hr></blockquote>names are a little tricky to keep in low health it really depends on the name and how fast you can burn him. As far as normal heriocs my bruiser doesn't have raid gear (legndary) but mostly masters while my defiler is mostly raid geared with just about all masters and white and +1 lvl heriocs are no problem. Thou on named fights i use health over time mit buff so it makes it alot easier cause when the int line AA kicks in i'm at  80% mit<div></div><p>Message Edited by PhozFate on <span class=date_text>09-24-2006</span> <span class=time_text>06:19 PM</span>

[Keshaan]

kk thx for the info. It sounds like it's a pretty even setup.Maybe the differene is just that as a bruiser you have more mit and can therefore better survive hits.<div></div>

[Orthos]

<DIV>Thanks for the input everyone. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>After a great deal of consideration I have created a Bruiser (ahhh...my EQ1 monk days coming back).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have duo'd with my Fury mentored down to his level. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have flown through levels 1-15 and enjoyed every minute. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So far the Fury / Bruiser combo seems very, very powerful and the duo is simply walking over things that were a bit difficult for my Necro / Fury combo. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I love the play style, really love the fighting graphics and I find the Bruiser has some depth to the combat. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I doubt I will go back and create a Defiler at this point (perhaps this is a mistake) and I'm really liking the Bruiser / Fury combo. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As I get into the 20's / 30's I will re-post again and let folks know how this combo is fairing.</DIV>

[Walker0]

<DIV> Hi, just a quick question. I started a bruiser last night and since I 2-box I decided on a dirge as his backup. Is this a pretty good match? I was looking at the buffs/back positional attacks. I notice alot that say fury, before I got too far along I was wondering if the dirge was viable or if I should switch it up. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Thanks</DIV>

[Nocifer Deathblade]

<P>Yeah bruiser+defiler is very nice combo as well. Defiler has very nice group physical mitigation buff to help bruiser as well. </P> <P>My friend finally joined to play EQ2 so he rolled up Defiler and my bruiser is 62 (with 30 AA). I mentored down to his level and had loads of fun duoing with him. We did SBH HQ quest and completed it at lvl 28. The final mob with all adds were tough but we pulled it off (they were all yelllow ^^^ heroics. Final mob is 30 ^^^ and 2 friends were 30 ^^^  heroic and 30 ^ heroics ) but we managed to do it with help of mezzing and burst dps by killing off healer first then FDed then finished off last 2.</P> <P>I'm more excited for high level areas once defiler gets older. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Bruiser is very capable of soloing all on his own but with slight weakness which is physical mitigation (self 3 min mitigation OWNS) and ward that defiler can supplement nicely to remove that weakness.</P>

[PhozFa]

<blockquote><hr>Nocifer Deathblade wrote:<div></div> <p>Yeah bruiser+defiler is very nice combo as well. Defiler has very nice group physical mitigation buff to help bruiser as well. </p> <p>My friend finally joined to play EQ2 so he rolled up Defiler and my bruiser is 62 (with 30 AA). I mentored down to his level and had loads of fun duoing with him. We did SBH HQ quest and completed it at lvl 28. The final mob with all adds were tough but we pulled it off (they were all yelllow ^^^ heroics. Final mob is 30 ^^^ and 2 friends were 30 ^^^  heroic and 30 ^ heroics ) but we managed to do it with help of mezzing and burst dps by killing off healer first then FDed then finished off last 2.</p> <p>I'm more excited for high level areas once defiler gets older. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Bruiser is very capable of soloing all on his own but with slight weakness which is physical mitigation (self 3 min mitigation OWNS) and ward that defiler can supplement nicely to remove that weakness.</p><hr></blockquote>All priest have mit buffs that have the same value at the same quality. Where they differ is the secondary effect on the buff which for defilers is a constant group ward to magical damage that Is great for damage shields (non trauma). Our strength in buffs is without a doubt the ability to buff raw HPs.<div></div>

[Wildfury77]

LASIEST Dual-boxing........Try Monk/bruiser with <i><u><b>invisible dirge</b></u></i> running behind you......Some of my dirge friends can be AFK an entire instance zone and we still benefit from them <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Nocifer Deathblade]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <P></P> <HR> <P>PhozFate wrote:</P> <P>All priest have mit buffs that have the same value at the same quality. Where they differ is the secondary effect on the buff which for defilers is a constant group ward to magical damage that Is great for damage shields (non trauma). Our strength in buffs is without a doubt the ability to buff raw HPs.<BR></P> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Ah thanks for the info. I know almost nothing about priest class cuz I never played one and hate to play one for 7 years even in EQ1 heh. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </P> <P>Anyway, Defiler got pretty nice AA line-up that I saw like 100% melee crit chance and also pet has chance to proc group ward which is pretty impressive and nice way to support Bruiser and Defiler against several groups of mobs.. My friend defiler is going to specialize in Str+AGI path. Is that a good path for duoing? He just wanted to have strong solo area when I'm not online or duo with me when I'm on so agi helps him more to solo while str helps him more to solo as well as duoing with me.  Agi helps to increase his dps as well to support my dps for faster results. He also can crit heal for better result under AGI.. Am I wrong in thinking that way? I also needed him to support my main lvl 70 SK in group setting later on when he's old enuf.  70 SK + 70 Warlock already generates mad dps heh but missing is a healer. Defiler should fill in that nicely for warding. SK can lifetap health back and defiler wards should help them nicely..<BR></P><p>Message Edited by Nocifer Deathblade on <span class=date_text>09-28-2006</span> <span class=time_text>06:06 AM</span>

[PhozFa]

<blockquote><hr>Nocifer Deathblade wrote:<div></div> <div></div> <div></div> <blockquote> <p></p> <hr> <p>PhozFate wrote:</p> <p>All priest have mit buffs that have the same value at the same quality. Where they differ is the secondary effect on the buff which for defilers is a constant group ward to magical damage that Is great for damage shields (non trauma). Our strength in buffs is without a doubt the ability to buff raw HPs.</p> <div></div> <hr> </blockquote> <p>Ah thanks for the info. I know almost nothing about priest class cuz I never played one and hate to play one for 7 years even in EQ1 heh. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p> <p>Anyway, Defiler got pretty nice AA line-up that I saw like 100% melee crit chance and also pet has chance to proc group ward which is pretty impressive and nice way to support Bruiser and Defiler against several groups of mobs.. My friend defiler is going to specialize in Str+AGI path. Is that a good path for duoing? He just wanted to have strong solo area when I'm not online or duo with me when I'm on so agi helps him more to solo while str helps him more to solo as well as duoing with me.  Agi helps to increase his dps as well to support my dps for faster results. He also can crit heal for better result under AGI.. Am I wrong in thinking that way? I also needed him to support my main lvl 70 SK in group setting later on when he's old enuf.  70 SK + 70 Warlock already generates mad dps heh but missing is a healer. Defiler should fill in that nicely for warding. SK can lifetap health back and defiler wards should help them nicely..</p><p>Message Edited by Nocifer Deathblade on <span class="date_text">09-28-2006</span> <span class="time_text">06:06 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>STR/AGI spec defiler is good for grouping/dou. The meleecrits is nice for worry free DPS esp with haste AA and bruiser DPS buff. My douing has been kinda gimped cause i dropped my AGI line for INT due to raiding <div></div>

[ShaniquaJacks]

I duo with a friend, as a bruiser/defiler combo and OMG it's delicious!  It's gotten to the point where we'll only level if we fight groups of mobs at a time because 1v1 fighters when you have a defilier is BORING.  So I usually fight 4-5 mobs at a time just to give my friend something to do lol. Fury/Bruiser combo isn't bad at all, I just prefer a defiler, if for no other reason than the debuffs.  Defilers, @ 35 have 2 DPS% debuffs that stack [or so I've been told] so, even when a mob DOES hit you, it hits you for a significant amount less. So for debuffs and wards I prefer defiler for a bruiser/healer combo, but fury isn't a bad choice either, I just think you would be stuck focusing almost as much time playing the healer as the bruiser, which I personally find annoying. I never thought about duelboxing the toons, maybe I'll start doing that though, now that I can share 1 mouse between multiple comps, it should be a breeze =P. <div></div>

[Drtydog]

<P>I two-box a 69 bruiser and 61 warden either mentoring or not.  It's pretty easy if you ask me.  I can take heroic ^^^ that con even or yellow to the bruiser.  It's a long fight and if i get an add i'm toast but it's not all that "difficult".  </P> <P>The thing with the bruiser is that i don't get hit that often...when i do it's usually pretty hard though.  Easy enough to reach over and put a regen on me.  </P> <P>for whatever it's worth that's been my experience. </P>

[Zolragas]

My vote goes for the Fury/Bruiser combo.  I have been doing this for almost a year and have also added an illusionist for my third box.  I like the regen line of healing for the bruiser.  Plus the added benifit of agil and str buff, haste and dps proc,  int buff, and finally the minor power regen.  For the most part I think regen heals more efficient than wards and reactive given our avoidance.  The only exception would be if you consistantly take on mobs 2-3 lvl higher than the bruiser.  I noticed that avoidance means a lot less once the mob is 2 lvls higher. <p>Message Edited by Zolragason on <span class=date_text>10-13-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:28 PM</span>

[Pimpsxx]

<DIV>Bruiser-Fury Is Def The Way to god if not that cuz you think youll have issues maybe bruiser-mystic,</DIV> <DIV>the bruisers self buffs then the furys dps/haste proc is such a nice combo ( btw str line on bruiser is awesome if u can get a 23% haste bracer or sumtin)</DIV>