beginners 5 man dungeon team?

[illusion077]

Hi, I use to see a couple boxers running around when i use to play and it always got me wanting to try. Now that i have some free time I think its now or never but I'm a little stuck on which team would be the simplest to play. I have pwnboxer ready to go but can't decide on my team ><

I've read that 5 ele shaman teams are great and being that they are all the same it should be easy to control. But at the same time how far would they be able to go without a tank? Maybe a 1 pally 4 sham team would be better for messing around in dungeons? I kind of stink at micro so having to control 2 different classes might mess me up.

I will be playing on a private server since my vacation is limited so it will probly be wotlk with only minor scripting. Will a 5 ele sham crew be enough to get by even in heroics or should i throw a tank into the mix?

[Nghtmr9999]

One of Tim's first teams was a 4 hunter/1 priest I believe. From what I saw, he didn't have a lot of trouble with instances at all. The pets did all the tanking.

[Tim]

We want to keep the talk about the private servers pretty much to nil here since we always want to stay within the rules of the game.

When thinking about the easiest 5 man team, I'd probably say 1x Paladin 4x Shamans. They are extremely easy to set up, healing is easy, and tanking is very easy. Plus you can actually do PVP to boot with that team.

The 4x Hunter 1x Priest team was extremely fun, and I think it was actually a fan favorite. That type of team highlights the awesome advantage of multiboxing: What might not be good in solo play (eg, hunter tanking instances) can actually turn into an amazing strategy when multiboxing (eg, multiple hunter pets tanking instances).

From what I recall, that 4x Hunter 1x Priest was a bit more advanced in its nature (the set up and control), however, I am pretty sure it could tank any instance, including heroic Cataclysm ones. The disposable nature of hunter tank pets, coupled with their really fast re-summons, makes them pretty darn good to tank anything with.

Plus multiboxing hunters literally owns BGs due to their mobility and ranged attacks.

[Ualaa]

Since you said dungeons, I'll assume a PvE focus.



You can run any tank, if you're driving with that toon.
So if you love one, over another.
Or have an existing and geared tank.
Go with that for your tanking toon.
If you don't have a tank already, top choice is easily Paladin for exclusive PvE content.
Or Druid for PvP, because they can dual-spec to both Caster DPS and Caster Heals.
Pallies & Druids are extremely easy to macro for one-button mindless tanking spam.
A DK certainly works, but not as well.
A Warrior has a lot of procs, which if you manage gets a strong tank, but the others are as strong with a lot less effort on your part.



Second portion is healing.
Two very basic approaches.

Either go with a dedicated healer, one toon.
All options are workable, but the Paladin is probably the worst because of a lack of AoE/Party healing.
Priest has the best AoE, and brings Fortitude to the table.
Druids are as mobile as a Priest and quite strong, plus you get Battle Rez, Innervate and Mark of the Wild (redundant with Pally - Kings).
Shaman are the least mobile, but Earth Shield + Riptide is plenty of healing for most non-boss pulls, and totems rock.

Or go with three DPS, preferably who can heal in their DPS form.
The front runners are Elemental Shaman.
You can try Boomkin, but they drop out of BoomChicken to heal.
Ret Pallies have done most PvE content, via Divine Storm, Word of Glory (this is being nerfed to 20sec cooldown on test, and would hurt these as healers) and Art of War procs.

Another approach (which has beaten all current Cataclysm Heroics) is the double healer.
Two paladins or two shammies are the front runners for two of the same.
Pallies, would each Beacon the two DPS toons, and then heal the tank, which results in 50% splash healing to the DPS (via Beacon) plus self healing (via Protector of the Innocent).
Shammies would provide the full assortment of Totem buffs, and Riptide x2 + Earth Shield and Healing Stream Totems are very strong; shammies also actually gain mana from Lightning Bolt spam.
If you were going two different healers, I'd likely mix a Priest and a Druid, for maximum buffs and a very mobile healing tandem, with strong hots, shields and direct healing.



DPS can be whatever you like.
Quite literally.

Casters are generally easier, since they're not in melee range, so don't eat cleaves or boss point-blank aoe's.
Melee are very fun to play, and completely viable with Click to Move + Interact With Target.
Three of the same can work, but again with castsequences and in particular the two-step approach to DPS, you can easily run three different DPS and not suffer a loss of DPS.



A look at the available buffs from the team is worthwhile.

Crowd control effects are a strong consideration for heroics.
Mages can sheep humanoids and animals.
Rogues can sap humanoids, blind anything.
Hunters can trap anything, but traps are a lot harder to reapply than other CC's.
Warlocks can banish elemental/demons, fear anything or seduce humanoids.
Priests can shackle undead, or play with fear too.
Pets/Elementals can off-tank, but will often be one-shot in heroics.

Actual buffs like Fortitude (Hit Points), Arcane Intellect (Mana/Spell Power), Kings/MotW (5% stats), are nice.
But BoomChicken Druids/Warlocks/UnholyDK's bring 13% additional spell power.
Or Mages/Shamans have Heroism/Bloodlust.
Mages provide portals and food/water.
Warlocks provide healthstones, a soulstone, and can summon your toons.
Shaman can self-rez after a wipe, to recover much faster.



Last consideration is gear types.
Some classes use Cloth (Priest, Warlock, Mage).
Some use Leather (Druid, Rogue).
Or mail (Hunter, Shaman).
Or plate (Warrior, Death Knight, Paladin).

Having a mix of armor type using classes, increases the chances that a drop will be useful and an upgrade to someone on the team.

You can also have an enchanter on a team, which is highly recommended for PvE play.
Because you can Disenchant and sell items that are not an upgrade to anyone.
And that will be more gold than vendoring an item (at least until very late in an expansion).