Now that we have skill info for RoS, who do you think is the best grouper?

[sutasafaia]

Now that we have a good idea of where skills are going to end up coming the expansion, which character do you think would play best in a group? Solo doesn't matter much, every class can solo (although I do wonder who will be best at that also, honestly).

I plan on starting a fresh character with my fiance once the expansion hits, no twinking, no gems, just fresh characters to get a new take on the game. Which characters do you think make the best party members? The reason I want to figure this out is that I also plan on taking a fresh new solo character through the game as well, I really want to avoid having my solo character and my group character be the same character.

Every character seems to have some kind of group buffing capability, or monster debuffing which makes up for lack of group buffing, so I figured asking on a board where people are constantly number crunching could at least give me a good idea of where to go.

That said, I'm looking at either Monk, Barb, or Crusader. I really prefer melee, as you can tell. My fiance will most likely play a Witch Doctor in the group so that seems to work pretty well, she can be range, I can be "tank". The same applies for my solo character also, that being Monk, Barb, or Crusader would be my preference.

I'm leaning towards Crusader as a solo character, Monk as a group character, but feel free to correct me if that's wrong. I just want some ideas and advice for the coming expansion before it actually gets here, let's me do some planning in advance and avoids frustrating her while she sits there staring at me, waiting for me to decide what to play.

Thank you in advance.

Also: I apologize for posting this a second time, it was posted in Theorycrafting before I realized that forum is basically dead in the water. I would request a mod to close and/or remove that thread but I'm not actually sure to go about doing it, hopefully this post will find a bit more discussion.

 

[skullvomit]

Go for Monk. I've done no number crunching or played Barb but so far I can tank (dodge) MP6. Cyclone (WoW) spam and bells if I need more room. Spirit generator I like to change once in a while, now using Rising Tide.

 

[RazeBarb]

If you look at popular RoS streams, you see that every class is awesome and feels OP if you know how to play.
But I'd go for Barb

 

[sutasafaia]

If you look at popular RoS streams, you see that every class is awesome and feels OP if you know how to play.
But I'd go for Barb

Oh I don't doubt every class has places where it shines as far as it's own unique OP goodness, I'm more trying to find the best class specifically for grouping. Which one ends up as my solo will partially depend on which one ends up as my grouper since I want to avoid playing the same class at the same time. Honestly though, Crusader will most likely end up as my solo no matter what unless it becomes overwhelmingly obvious that it's the best melee group character.

 

[sutasafaia]

It's been over a week, I just wanted to give this a little nudge to try and get some more opinions. As of right now I'm basically aiming at one of two scenarios.

Solo: Crusader
Group: Barbarian
Fiance will be: Witch Doctor
-Not because I think Barbarian will be the best in the group, but because I could get a lot of play with both of them having strength gear

or

Solo: Crusader
Group: Monk
Fiance will be: Witch Doctor
-I do think this group would work better but I'm not sure how I feel about dodge vs armor, I tend to prefer mitigation vs avoidance but I think Monk might be a better grouper, not sure here?

Any opinions are welcome. I could even be talked into making Crusader as the grouper but I have the feeling a character built around using a shield will be a great solo character. I tend to prefer the slow and steady approach and Crusader seems perfect for that.

 

[Disciple of Erebos]

For a completely new start, I would say that either the Crusader of the Monk would be the best for group play. Both have passive buffs that apply to groups (Mantras for Monks and Laws for Crusaders) and both can be played as powerful group support characters. Crusaders have skills and passives specifically meant to help you tank, and Monks have blinds, stuns and healing moves. Barbarians, Demon Hunters and Wizards are best for a more proactive, kill-it-first method in case you don't want to play a supporting role, and the Witch Doctor can fill a role in-between, as it has summons and CC skills.

For higher level play, on the other hand, especially once you have a few legendaries, the Wizard, Witch Doctor and Monk are probably the best choices. The Frostburn Gauntlets give cold skills a 50% chance to freeze instead of chill, so a cold-Wizard can CC things very easily. Monks continue to have the advantages above, while also being able to quickly restore life with life-on-hit, as they can hit a very high attack speed pretty easily. Finally, with access to lvl 70 passives and a few specific legendaries, the Witch Doctor can get up to 5 dogs at once, and can more affordably use high-CD skills like Fetish Army to bolster the summoned ranks.

However, all of that said, none of the classes can really be called a good grouper, as while you can choose your gender, you can't choose to be a fish

 

[sutasafaia]

Blub blub? /fish

 

[sutasafaia]

Blubbing back to the front page again for (hopefully) some more ideas. I have fun reading them, what can I say? It's been a few days, pretty sure I'm allowed to do this...am I? Feel free to scold me if I'm not allowed, or something.

 

[RazeBarb]

Wizards with their new frost orbs sure look like a good choice in parties.

 

[sutasafaia]

Wizards with their new frost orbs sure look like a good choice in parties.

A wizard may be a good choice but it really isn't my thing, I tend to prefer melee. My fiance may end up playing one but I have the feeling she will be doing Witch Doctor.

 

[Disciple of Erebos]

My guess is that for melee, you'll want to play Barbarian. The Crusader has melee attacks, but from what I've seen of the class, it seems to be more of a midrange class. The devs said their idea of the Crusader was that of a walking tank, but from what I've seen of him so far, he seems to be more like a Divine spellcaster from D&D. Basically, he's the more magical version of the Paladin from D2: the Paladin was mostly a melee Knight class, with a few spells as backup; the Crusader seems to be more like a holy magic user who can handle himself in a fight. Thus, for pure melee, your best bet is still probably the Barb.

 

[Steven Hazani]

Seems like every Barbarian is Avalanche now, which is much more like a Crusader. The main melee class left seems to be the Monk, unless you get the thing that makes bells ranged, since everyone is kite spec now.

 

[Disciple of Erebos]

That's a good point. I forgot about the Monk, and I haven't watched many Barb streams, so I didn't know that Avalanche was the new big thing. Thanks for pointing it out; I'll agree then that Monk is probably the go-to class for melee play.

 

[Sulle]

I would say that the wd and barb will be the best groupers because of their ability to create health globes, which will have a much more significant role, now that we don´t have life steal.

 

[shoko]

I would put Monk over all others. 3 of his skills are just too good.

• Cyclone Strike
• Mantras
• Exploding Palm

A barb with globe generation is also nice to have.


My rating without Crusader (i guess everybody will have one in group, because they are new at the beginning ):
Monk>Barb>WD>Wizard>DH

 

[HardRock]

For high Torment levels I would definitely take a WD as well, with a focus on Big Bad Voodoo / Slam Dance through reduced cooldowns. Did a little test on the PTR, and ~31% CDR + Grave Injustice does wonders for BBV.

 

[shoko]

For high Torment levels I would definitely take a WD as well, with a focus on Big Bad Voodoo / Slam Dance through reduced cooldowns. Did a little test on the PTR, and ~31% CDR + Grave Injustice does wonders for BBV.

Don't forget the 4pcs Zuni set and this dagger with reduced CD for BBV and Fetish Army on Fetish Army hit.
This should also help to keep up BBV very often.

 

[sutasafaia]

There's basically no question that my fiance is playing a Witch Doctor, so I guess I just need to figure out the best character to play with a Witch Doctor, specifically from Barb, Monk, and Crusader. I suppose I could consider Demon Hunters or Mages but I don't tend to play characters like that honestly.

 

[sutasafaia]

Instead of starting a whole new thread to ask this exact same question, I'll just give this a nudge and see where it goes.

We now have finalized systems in place for the new classes, so have the ideas changed? It is now a guarantee my fiance wants to play a Witch Doctor in our group, I'm still leaning towards Monk for that group with a Crusader as solo. Is this still going to be a good combination? I played on the PTR a lot but it was virtually all solo since she was unable to get the PTR on her computer (too much work stuff taking up too much space) so we never really got a chance to practice our group together.