Returning boxer need advice on 5 team

[Xraptorx]

I am considering returning to wow. I had a paladin a 4x Sammy team. One Sammy was speced restoration and others were elemental dps. Well that was 2 years ago and they were lv 70 and the accounts are likely lost. I thought I fully quit :)

If I were to start again, what 5 man team is best for boxing now?

What team is easiest to control and macro for pve boxing?

What team provides easiest time in 5 man dungeons or contributions to bigger raids?

Any other considerations for a new team I should consider?

[terrhian]

I started a 1 Pally Tank, 3 Elemental Shaman, 1 Resto Shaman team for instance leveling. So far its been working great. Seems Blizzard killed the "rotation" routine to situational spell management for max DPS. So I have my button configs different for each keystoke. A Crusader Strike on my Pally is Lightning bolt on my shamans. I have a toggle key set for Wind Shear and Purge spells on the Elementals. Avenger Shield I cast on a mob is also a macro "/cast [target=pally] earth shield" for my Resto Shaman. Just as examples anyway.

Of course having BOA's on my Pally Tank really helps. After I reach 85 on my other Shamans, I plan on getting BOA's for easier leveling of other characters I want to box (^_^)

I've just been Instance Leveling by utilizing the random dungeon feature. You get a bag of goods that has a chance to give you rare items that you use on your toon. And you get more experience after you down the end boss. As you level higher the reward iLevel increases too, and the experience they give you per completion. Its very addicting! (^_^)

[Xraptorx]

Thanks. Would a 1x pally and 4x shammy team be better for instance grinding than having mixed team of Mage, Druid, priest and shammy?

[Ualaa]

Since you last played, we have Click to Move and Interact With Target, which has opened melee teams.
You could do them before, but now they're easy and far stronger than previous.

You can enable/disable CTM in Interface Options - Mouse.
Or with /console AutoInteract 1 and /console AutoInteract 0.
1 = on; 0 = off.

IWT is a wow keybind, in Targeting Functions (about 2/3rds of the way down for the Keybinds).
While CTM is enabled, an IWT command (pressing the hotkey) results in the same behavior as right clicking on your mob/quest NPC.
While CTM is off, its still a right click on the NPC but that click cannot initiate movement.

Melee DPS can be far stronger for PvP play, and if you're playing both aspects of the game than a melee team is a strong consideration.
I'd have to say 1x Healer (Holy Priest or Paladin, for Arena; anything for BG's or PvE) and 4x Death Knights has been the dominant team for PvP and a strong team for PvE play.

Ranged DPS will still be easier for PvE than melee, because they won't be eating Cleave and/or Point-Blank boss effects.



It boils down to what you find to be fun.

I've highly enjoyed 5x Boomkins, although the Eclipse mechanics suck.
They're currently Feral and Resto (dual spec, which costs 10 gold).
Feral is very fun, with IWT spam as part of the DPS.
Resto is different, but check out the Cyberus video in: The Commons.

1x Tank (usually a Paladin), 3x Elemental Shaman, 1x DPS (with +spellpower, something like Warlock or Boomkin) is very strong for PvE.
3x Shaman can heal and DPS, almost as well as 1x dedicated healer; you lose out on the healer only Cleanse type mechanic which all healers have for assorted debuff removal.
But you have 4x DPS, and need far less healing... plus once you have something on farm, it is far faster.
You could also dual-spec one of the Shammies to be Resto, for when you need the full healer.

The Paladin (Holy) + 4x DeathKnights (Frost), has been extremely fun in battlegrounds and arena.
I'd say easily as dominant, as the 4/5x Shaman teams were towards the end of Burning Crusade.
Death Knights are almost broken, in how good they can be.



If the addon Jamba was not around, definitely get that.
It is modular, so you can enable or disable the parts you need/don't want.

Jamba is so good, I don't think anyone can imagine boxing without it.
If you can throw a donation to Jafula, that will help the development.
But it is offered as a free addon, no donation/fees required.

In short, get it.



IS Boxer is a top choice for your boxing software.
HKN can do many of its functions, but that is script based... so harder to configure than a graphical interface like IS Boxer.
Game Commander Pro and Pwnboxer are the other major current boxing software options, but I'd highly recommend IS Boxer as the top choice (paid) or HKN as the best free choice.

IS Boxer is $36/year, $10/quarter, and has I believe a year or two year option as well.
There is a free 7-day trial, and Lax offers a money-back guarantee too.

The support (here) and on www.isboxer.com (http://www.isboxer.com) and on the IRC on the IS Boxer site rocks.



Definitely consider going with Recruit a Friend (RAF).
Not sure if that was around or not.
I'd only pass on this, if you have a lot of toons on your existing accounts.

Start with one account.
Go into the account management page, on www.warcraft.com (http://www.warcraft.com).
Send yourself an RAF invite.
Use the code from the email you receive to create the account, which is now RAF linked to the inviting account.

Call the initial account as "A".
If you can find one of your initial accounts, have your a tanking or AoE toon as the Account A.

If you're starting on a new server...
Go like this:
A > B > C
A > D > E

Pick a server with a lot of other boxers; playing with 5-10 other boxers in your guild cannot be a bad choice.
US - Alliance - Kil'jaeden - The Legion of Boom
US - Horde - Magtheridon - The Zerg
US - Horde - Blackrock - But Mom I'm Multiboxing
EU - Alliance - Outland - Autobots Roll Out
EU - Horde - Grim'Batol - GIMP

RAF benefits go to 80th.
You get 3x experience, with your linked account if you meet some basic requirements.
B/C and D/E will meet those requirements if A boosts them.
A/B and A/D likely won't meet the requirements, but BC and DE will so when you boost you'll gain those benefits.

For every 2 levels gained on an account you referred, that account can grant you one level.
So if you "boost" or level four teams on BCDE, they can grant free toons back to your accounts.
A - Booster
B - Four Toons
C - Four Toons
D - Four Toons
E - Four Toons

B gives 2 toons (four toons each grant 40 levels, but never to a toon already 80th), to A.
C gives 2 toons (four toons each grant 40 levels, but never to a toon already 80th), to B.
D gives 2 toons (four toons each grant 40 levels, but never to a toon already 80th), to A.
E gives 2 toons (four toons each grant 40 levels, but never to a toon already 80th), to D.

B (and D) received 2 toons (from C and E), which counts as levels gained.
So each of those two toons, can give 40 levels and 40x2 = 80th.
So A gets an extra pair of toons from B/D.

End result:
A - Booster + 4x Granted Toons + 2x Cascade_Levels Granted Toons = Booster +6.
B - Four Boosted Toons + 2x Granted Toons = 6.
C - Four Boosted Toons = 4.
D - Four Boosted Toons + 2x Granted Toons = 6.
E - Four Boosted Toons = 4.

If you're starting from scratch, level any 5x combination together, without boosting.
Make sure the toon on Account A, will be a good booster.
Generally any tank (especially a Pally or Druid) or any AoE class.
Once this team is low 80's (above 80th), due to the massive increase in stats in Cataclysm you'll boost fine even in upper 70's or 80th level instances.

Boosting is...
The main toon (A) groups with BCDE.
And kills mobs for their quests, which they loot and then turn in.
Or once they're 10+ and can do instances... you park them near zone in, gather a lot of mobs and kill with the booster in seconds, then move them in a bit and repeat.
In many instances, you can clear half the instance on one pull.

[Xraptorx]

Thanks for the super helpful post. I wanted to join a server with other boxers and have been spending the day reading the forums. Seems the 4x DK 1x Holy Pally is fun and powerful.
It also appears that pve offers gear that is good enough for pve.

Wondering thought if the 4x frost DK would be capable of running 5 man dungeons with the pally healer? I would not want to have to have a separate team for dungeons. However if pve is not going to provide good gear, then I might as well go with pve focus.

Trouble starting over, but need to anyway. Is waiting to get DKs to open. Need to spend time building up some other chars.

[Ualaa]

You can easily spec one of them to be Blood as well, if you want a dedicated tanking toon.
That one then does +threat moves, while Frost does great DPS...
Howling Blast is 30 yard range, hits everything within a 10 yard radius of the target, applies a Frost Disease which snares the targets, and you have a talent (in Unholy) to instantly restore your Frost Rune once the disease is cured.

Some people have cleared most of the heroics, in the earlier stages of the expansion when we outgeared nothing, by running 4x Blood plus the healer.
This was done in PvP gear, where Resilience eats a large portion of the iLV stat budget and does virtually nothing for defenses against mobs.

Blood x4 would not be fast kills, but it is doable.



It is similar to an idea that was popular near the start of Cataclysm, on the boxing sites.
Running with two dedicated healers, and then three of whatever class.

Two Paladins for example can gain self heals, whenever they heal someone else.
And also set their Beacon of Light to heal another target for a portion of the amount healed.
If they were to both set their Beacon to the tank, they could AoE heal the group by healing the other two DPS.
Or if they each had a DPS as their Beacon target, the tank could get alternating heals (to preserve mana) which would certainly top of the DPS (Beacon of Light targets) for incidental AoE attacks.

Either methodology gets you reduced DPS for increased survivability.



I'd also consider a team specific to PvE.
And another specific to PvP.

You could have something that is near optimal in both aspects of the game.

I do like the idea of one team, that can run both aspects ideally dominant in one and passable in the other.
That way you can collect achievements on the team, from every aspect of play.

Go with whatever is fun.




With the whole LFR (Looking For Raid) system, PvE gear is rather easy to get if you want it.

[Xraptorx]

Thanks Ualaa

I plan on going EU servers with DK once I can get some other chars leveled to 60. What is the easiest / fastest or actually most versatile 2nd group that you would recommend.

Eventually, my goal for main team is:
A = Pally healer
B = Frost DK
C = Frost DK
D = Frost DK
E = Frost DK

But since I cannot have DK until another char is 60 on the account / server, I need to level up others. Given the RAF bonus, what would you recommend as the best way to hit my eventual setup?

[sethlan]

4x and 1 pally is a strong pve combo - I also vote for that.

since you cant have DKs yet, I would say 5 Paladins :) That way you can have 1 paladin ready when you hit 55+ and create 4 dks.

[Ualaa]

Druids are the most versatile; you can go Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Tank or Healer.
Paladins omit the Ranged DPS option; Shamans omit the Tank option.

Nothing came close for me, to the speed of level 5x Ferals.

But mileage varies... 5x Disc Priests, using a volley of 5x Smite would one-shot quest mobs, while 5x Elem. Shaman, using 5x Lightning Bolt, would almost always need a small second cast of something... so Priests leveled faster than Shamans for me (while Shaman end up much stronger boxed once leveled up).

Questing is designed for a one-box toon, who is only semi-skilled and fairly undergeared... when you play 4/5 toons at once, even if your armor blows and you only have one nuke trained... you level up without issues.




If you're alliance, go Outland - Autobots Roll Out.
If you're horde, go Grim'Batol - GIMP.
Both are boxing guilds, with a lot of boxers.

I would go with this RAF set up.
A > B > C
A > D > E

Then for your initial team, probably run something like 5x Druids or 5x Paladins.
Both a Feral Bear/Cat and a Prot Paladin make superb boosters, for your additional teams.
My preference would be the druids, nothing has leveled as fast as 5x Kitties in my personal experience.
The 5x Paladin is a decent choice, as Ret Pallies (5x DPS) will level decently fast, and that's a Pally on account A for you.

Play the first team, without a booster.
Essentially quest stack, using Zygor's Guide if you have it, or a free one such as the Jaime guide (available for both Horde and Alliance).
Stack quests whenever possible, skip collections if they're painful, but try them first as many are quick and they might be part of a chain.
Definitely consider pvp, at every x3/4 and x8/9 level (brackets are x0-x4 and x5-x9), as winning battlegrounds is decent experience.

If you went Feral Kitties, the two basic ingredients to level up with, would be:
a) IWT spam, while CTM is enabled.
b) a macro like this: /castsequence reset=5 Mangle(Cat Form), Rake(Cat Form), Mangle(Cat Form), Mangle(Cat Form), Rip(Cat Form)

Ret pallies, or whatever you go with initially will have something similar.

I would probably take the first team to at least 81st, possibly 85th.
Just because the gearing is so strong, and any solo 85 toon should be able to boost in level 80 dungeons fairly easily.




Once the first team is 80+, boost other teams with your Tank/Booster on Account A.

Consider the first team to be both your booster, and one team boosted on BCDE.
Three more teams boosted, gets you decent flexibility and fully takes advantage of cascading granted levels.

I'd probably do as many combinations during RAF as you can possibly stand to do.
Lots of characters is a good thing for say, Alchemy on numerous toons for daily transmutes to make massive gold easily.
Also, you never know when you'll get the urge to play a new composition (I never really thought of mages, until two expansions after my RAF, with the Team Beeq performance in heroics with 5x Mages).

I'd likely not include the DK's in the teams boosted portion.
They'll start at 55th, and can be the second team leveled if you want.
When you do them, be sure to do five at once, even if you'll be using the booster on the main account instead of a DK there.
The starting area is linear, you cannot skip anything, and most likely will not want to do it again.

[smalltanker]

I have done a 4 Blood DK + Retadin (had toon at 55-57 already) ... was able to instance grind them in no time to 73. You don't need a healer with 4 blood DKS with their healing ability + the paladin's divine storm covering more heals.

I am currently leveling a paladin team prot, 3 rets, 1 holy ... super easy to level, almost all instant cast heals, leveling in instances since 15 has been stupid easy and by havnig an enchanter I am banking money left and right. A new tactic for making money is don't shard the transmog sets (soldier, brigade, etc...) they can sell for up to 1K on the AH for chest/legs and all that. So keep an eye out and loot everything to be AH for transmog if it is green quality and what not.

If you like PVP you can also take teams into AB at low level and earn decent honor per hour that facilitates buying BOAs if you don't have any for the team or what not. Make sure you get a blue/purple guild tabard at earliest opportunity as these are account bound and can be mailed around.

[Xraptorx]

thanks guys

I am getting ready to start off and still pulling together information and trying to make the ideal setup and start off. Does RAF 3x bonus work all the way to level 85? Meaning if the whole team is leveling up to 85, will I get 42 levels to grant to other accounts? I read on some site that RAF can only work up ot level 60 :(

Regarding running lv 80 heroics, do you need a tank or can a pally healer and 4x Frost DK do it? It appears that there are no 5 man dungeons for lv 85 chars. Those are all raids dungeons.

The pally and DK team would be more pvp but since I am limited to playing for about 90 mins a day, I would try to gear up another team for some 5 man dungeons.

[Nikita]

RAF works up to lvl 80 now. And you need a healer for lvl 80 heroics, so pally healer and either 4 frost DKs or 1 blood and 3 frost should be doable :)

[Ualaa]

Some people have gone with 4x Blood, and 1x Healer for heroics.
But that was in 4.0.3 and 4.1, when the average iLV was lower and we weren't as strong in relation to the mobs.

[Xraptorx]

Hehehe I might need to do that as well until I can gear up suitably. That is always the hard part. Work hard to hit max level and the gring weeks to get some good gear to "try" heroics. Since I prob will not raid 10 or 25 man, best pve gear will come from heroic 5 man

[Ualaa]

The LFR is a strong option too.
If you're into PvE type play.