Starting out multi-boxing with 5 accounts. Need team comp help

[saintlyn]

Hey guys,

I'm joining the ranks of multiboxers! Starting out with 5 toons. To begin I think they should all be of the same class (for simplicity).

Any advice here? I can't pick between:

5 x paladins. Run them either as 5 x prot or 1 prot, 1 holy, 3 ret.

5 x druids. Probably Boom x 5.

5 x ele shamans.

My main focus would be on dungeons and epic farming on raid trash.

Thanks!

Pumped to get started! W00T!

[luxlunae]

I'd say make one of each team and play them to level 15, preferences are very personal and you'll develop strong opinions very quickly. Offhand I'd prefer the druids because the paladins are melee (harder to learn out of the gate) and the shaman cant tank if you decide you want to try to do real instances later on.

[luxlunae]

Also, you might feel comfortable after you've put in the time to get all three sets to 15 to mix and match and do a mixed group.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I have 5x Prot at 100. They level like mad, have a +run-speed passive and AoE pull like nobody's business. Lots of fun leveling and instancing.

Also have 5x druids at 100. I played them as kitties during WotLK, which was fun. I leveled them to 90 and then 100 as balance, and they did very well and leveled fast, too. Very versatile class, if not quite as forgiving as the prot paladins.

Also have 5x hunters at 100. Don't underestimate them for farming, leveling, and instances. They are currently my favorite group, high DPS, very forgiving, come with their own pocket tanks, speed boosts, self-healing, switchable ammo types, etc. etc. Highly recommended; would buy again. A+++. The only drawback is that you don't have resurrection in this group; Goblin Jumper Cables work sometimes, and you do have the Guild Perk resurrect if you don't die too much. ;)

Also have a 100 caster group with 1x arcane mage, 1x disc priest and 3x demonology warlocks (which I should probably switch to affliction). They were fun as well, but not as versatile or forgiving as any of the above groups. Good AoE, though. This group is nice in that you have portals and summons in the group.

Really comes down to what you'd like to play. Play a class(es) that's fun for you and multiboxing them will only be more fun. :)

Incidentally, what software/hardware are you using to multibox? If ISBoxer, setting up mixed-class teams is a little bit time-consuming at first but once you get it configured, it's really slick at managing things so you don't have to get crazy with macros and multiple keys.

Good luck!

[saintlyn]

Thanks for all replies! Crazy-awesome community here.

I like the point of trying everything to level 15. Would get me into the loop faster. Will do.

I got my hands on a PwnBoxer - gonna try that. ISBoxer looks a lot more complex.

What are you guys using? Should I invest the time into learning ISBoxer from the start?

Thanks again. Big ups to luxlunae, Ughmahedhurtz ;)

[CDNProdigy]

PwnBoxer is a discontinued product if I remember correctly. The author does not support the software any more. I've tried both... ISBoxer is superior in so many ways. ISBoxer just looks intimidating when you first try it - it is actually easier to set up your first team using ISBoxer.

Definately level as many to 15 as you can. It should only take an hour or two to get 5 toons there when they are RAF linked. Having options for leveling teams is the only way to go.

[saintlyn]

Thanks CDNProdigy!

Are there any good guides for initial ISBoxer setup?

[CDNProdigy]

Watch this video that MiRai made and hopefully that should get you started for your first Isboxer team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GhvGBIqehg

MiRai also has more videos covering various Isboxer features for when you get more used to the program. They can be found on his youtube channel or in the movie section on this website.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ5MzOO5Yt38CJeN035Wtrg

If you have questions feel free ask! :D

[Andreauk]

I have 5x Prot at 100. They level like mad, have a +run-speed passive and AoE pull like nobody's business. Lots of fun leveling and instancing.

Just wanted to ask.. what method do you use for keeping the paladins together? On my hunters I use an assist key and another bound to interact with target - but that's only for looting bodies for quest items...was wondering if I'd be best off with Jamba strobe for a melee group? Oh and what stats do you gear for with your prots - tank or dps stats?

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Just wanted to ask.. what method do you use for keeping the paladins together? On my hunters I use an assist key and another bound to interact with target - but that's only for looting bodies for quest items...was wondering if I'd be best off with Jamba strobe for a melee group? Oh and what stats do you gear for with your prots - tank or dps stats?

I do not use strobe follow ever, nor is IWT in my combat rotation; separate assist+IWT key and my "move forward" key is linked to /follow on the slaves. I found they did the runaway thing far too often with IWT in the rotation.

As for gearing, I went mostly tanky gear. They got much more benefit from tank stats than DPS stats (bonus armor vs str, etc.). With 5 of them, it was more important that they be survivable than speedy as the only thing that ever gave me trouble was heroics. I did one of those and decided I was sorely undergeared. I think they were at about 635ish when I got bored and took a break.

The great thing about tanky setup (Holy Prism, Holy Shield, Sacred Shield talents) is that you group heal well and are hard to kill, and trash packs just melt. The bad thing about tanky setup is that you have a hard "breakover" point where your survivability isn't high enough for you to kill the target(s) before you run out of health. It's somewhat of a sliding scale; in lower-level content, you want to favor DPS because you can blow things up fast and farm like mad. In heroics and up, depending on gear, you prefer tanky setups because the DPS setup gets killed before you can finish the kill. Tricky stuff, and definitely has some fights that are stupid easy and some that seem impossible until you overgear them. It's definitely nowhere near how awesome it was in WotLK, where I was farming heroics and actually completing the Glory of the Hero achievements on current content. ;)

[saintlyn]

Thanks for tips!

So far I have decided on the following 4 teams:

5 x Druids - range, can be all roles, fast movement
5 x Paladins - paladin is my best class, most exp with it, fun!
5 x Hunters - looks like a good setup, pets, damage, buffs
5 x DK - lvl55 start, easy leveling of all profs by free boost to 90

One question, how do you guys control your team when it's a mixed comp (1 tank 1 healer 3 dps)? Do you control from tank?

[Wubsie]

Thanks for tips!
One question, how do you guys control your team when it's a mixed comp (1 tank 1 healer 3 dps)? Do you control from tank?
Most people tend to favor leading from their tank characters and I'm no exception. On my mixed team I lead from a Monk tank and on my 5x pally I quite like leading from 1 as prot and leaving the rest as Ret. Makes monitoring aggro a whole heap easier and you can work on positioning the mobs instead of moving your other toons.

[Andreauk]

I do not use strobe follow ever, nor is IWT in my combat rotation; separate assist+IWT key and my "move forward" key is linked to /follow on the slaves. I found they did the runaway thing far too often with IWT in the rotation.

As for gearing, I went mostly tanky gear. They got much more benefit from tank stats than DPS stats (bonus armor vs str, etc.). With 5 of them, it was more important that they be survivable than speedy as the only thing that ever gave me trouble was heroics. I did one of those and decided I was sorely undergeared. I think they were at about 635ish when I got bored and took a break.

The great thing about tanky setup (Holy Prism, Holy Shield, Sacred Shield talents) is that you group heal well and are hard to kill, and trash packs just melt. The bad thing about tanky setup is that you have a hard "breakover" point where your survivability isn't high enough for you to kill the target(s) before you run out of health. It's somewhat of a sliding scale; in lower-level content, you want to favor DPS because you can blow things up fast and farm like mad. In heroics and up, depending on gear, you prefer tanky setups because the DPS setup gets killed before you can finish the kill. Tricky stuff, and definitely has some fights that are stupid easy and some that seem impossible until you overgear them. It's definitely nowhere near how awesome it was in WotLK, where I was farming heroics and actually completing the Glory of the Hero achievements on current content. ;)

My x5 hunter team I just hit 47 - I rolled them yesterday.. I logged into the new palas and it just seemed a bit too much hassle for me.

I used to swear by having a healer with hunters but things are just dying so fast it's crazy. Just hope they stay this good later on at max level with a bit of gear. If they turn out good this will end up being my one and only team, that way I can have time for a solo alt or two when I need a break.

[CDNProdigy]

@AndreaUK:

Welcome to the hunter addiction. The hunters only become more powerful and fun as you get closer to max level. Your going to enjoy it.

@Saintlyn & Wubsie:

I used to control from the tank but these days I usually opt for the healer. I have found that controlling the tank along with everything else just seemed too rushed and overwhelming when five boxing dungeons or 10 boxing raids.

From the healer I feel more in control of what's going on ... (key 1) send tank and melee in to battle (key 2) start DPS rotation and lastly heal when needed.

Overall, it comes down to what your style is and what your used to really but I think that everyone should try either way to find out which they prefer.

[emitchell109]

I want that controlling the tank from the healer thing to happen with my boxing, but I like to pull and go fast/risky. Tank positioning is way to easy to fumble when moving him from the healer.
At least in my experiences, this is the case.

I have multi sets of hunters, a few trinity groups, 5 man lock/paladin group, doing so far the best TANKY tanks I have found [again I run a bit wild] Warrior, and Brew master.
Favorite healers are Shami/Priest

"Ughmahedhurtz" I need to mix up notes/builds/play styles with over that paladin group, bc that was one of my least favorite 5boxes so thus far. I was torn over trying to decide if it was due to the tanks lack of tankyness, or the holy paladins slow heals and or lack of healing thru put..*shrug

However, play a mix of any and all sets find your happy!

[Bittersweet]

The only drawback is that you don't have resurrection in this group; Goblin Jumper Cables work sometimes, and you do have the Guild Perk resurrect if you don't die too much. ;)

I believe there are two pets that can give a rez--quilen requiring BM spec and cranes for non-BM specs. :)

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I believe there are two pets that can give a rez--quilen requiring BM spec and cranes for non-BM specs. :)

Forgot about the Quilen thing. Thanks for the correction. ;)

[Vegasboxing]

I realize I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to share my teams. I only box 5 man teams of one class. I have 6 teams currently at level 100; here is my ranking of them in terms of DPS/playability. This ranking is for PVP only btw, which is all I do. I do not raid.

1) 5x Marksman Hunters - By far the strongest 5 man multiboxing team ever since the MoP auto-healing talent came out. Beastmaster also works well as a secondary spec. If you want pure damage, this is the team.
2) 5x Disc Priests - Good damage, very strong healing. This is my toughest team for others to kill in PvP. I once took out 12 people in Ashran by myself when I got cut off from the rest of the group. (Well, I killed 5 or 6 of them before the others got smart and ran away :P)
3) 5x Boomkin - Decent damage with the instant cast Starsurges. Starfall is nice but too weak in dps... and they keep nerfing it for whatever godly reason. The "Ysera's Gift" passive healing talent is very nice because it is cumulative; if your lead toon for instance is the only one that has been damaged he gets a 20% heal every 5 seconds. I can imagine Boomkins being the best choice for a 10 or 15 man boxer as this talent and Starfall get very powerful in numbers.
4) 5x Holy Pally - Get the "Holy Prism" talent at lvl 90. This combined with Holy Shock will give you some decent kill potential in PvP. Prot pallies also have some success but I found myself dealing more damage with Holy for whatever reason. Ret is too squishy.
5) 5x Elemental Shaman - The state of the elemental spec is sad... it was so strong in Wotlk... I dunno what happened. Resto spec almost does as much damage as ele if it weren't for the mastery. I haven't tried 5x Enhancement spec yet, but I've heard it is better.
6) 5x Rogue - Pure garbage dps. They are good for world pvp when you want to gank just one person and re-stealth. (I had fun with them in Timeless Isle.) For Ashran or bg's, pure garbage. Doesn't seem to matter what spec you play but I've had the most success with Assassination.

I also have lower level teams, Monks, DK's, Warriors, and Locks, but they aren't even impressing me enough to max level them. I mostly play my hunters or priests. I have the most fun with them.

[Gumiebear]

I realize I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to share my teams. I only box 5 man teams of one class. I have 6 teams currently at level 100; here is my ranking of them in terms of DPS/playability. This ranking is for PVP only btw, which is all I do. I do not raid.

1) 5x Marksman Hunters - By far the strongest 5 man multiboxing team ever since the MoP auto-healing talent came out. Beastmaster also works well as a secondary spec. If you want pure damage, this is the team.
2) 5x Disc Priests - Good damage, very strong healing. This is my toughest team for others to kill in PvP. I once took out 12 people in Ashran by myself when I got cut off from the rest of the group. (Well, I killed 5 or 6 of them before the others got smart and ran away :P)
3) 5x Boomkin - Decent damage with the instant cast Starsurges. Starfall is nice but too weak in dps... and they keep nerfing it for whatever godly reason. The "Ysera's Gift" passive healing talent is very nice because it is cumulative; if your lead toon for instance is the only one that has been damaged he gets a 20% heal every 5 seconds. I can imagine Boomkins being the best choice for a 10 or 15 man boxer as this talent and Starfall get very powerful in numbers.
4) 5x Holy Pally - Get the "Holy Prism" talent at lvl 90. This combined with Holy Shock will give you some decent kill potential in PvP. Prot pallies also have some success but I found myself dealing more damage with Holy for whatever reason. Ret is too squishy.
5) 5x Elemental Shaman - The state of the elemental spec is sad... it was so strong in Wotlk... I dunno what happened. Resto spec almost does as much damage as ele if it weren't for the mastery. I haven't tried 5x Enhancement spec yet, but I've heard it is better.
6) 5x Rogue - Pure garbage dps. They are good for world pvp when you want to gank just one person and re-stealth. (I had fun with them in Timeless Isle.) For Ashran or bg's, pure garbage. Doesn't seem to matter what spec you play but I've had the most success with Assassination.

I also have lower level teams, Monks, DK's, Warriors, and Locks, but they aren't even impressing me enough to max level them. I mostly play my hunters or priests. I have the most fun with them.

Wow, it's awesome that you have had success with so many different classes. I have only been able to be competitive in bgs with deathknights.

How do you manage to turn the hunters when others run around you in circles? I would love to see a video of a bg with 5 hunters tearing it up!

[Vegasboxing]

About the circle question, if a melee is on you and within a few yards the direction doesn't really matter. Blizzard made it long ago so that melee attacks (or point blank ranged attacks) would still go off no matter what direction you are facing as long as you are within a few yards of the target. This was to assist people playing with lag.

If they are running large circles around me, I could just run to the other side of my toons and they would all face my direction again, then light them up. Back before /follow was removed, I used an addon called kfollow that ensured that my follow never broke. This allowed me to turn them whenever I needed very easily. Also, if a melee engaged me at close range, I usually just trapped and disengaged and lit him up.

You can see a video of me playing them back when MoP first came out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3p2T53vcPk
I played BM back then. Sorry I don't yet have any videos of me playing nowadays.

[Gumiebear]

Very nice, thanks for the reply. I may use my 90boosts on hunters and give them a try in bgs.

[Fat Tire]

I realize I'm a little late to this thread but I wanted to share my teams. I only box 5 man teams of one class. I have 6 teams currently at level 100; here is my ranking of them in terms of DPS/playability. This ranking is for PVP only btw, which is all I do. I do not raid.

1) 5x Marksman Hunters - By far the strongest 5 man multiboxing team ever since the MoP auto-healing talent came out. Beastmaster also works well as a secondary spec. If you want pure damage, this is the team.
2) 5x Disc Priests - Good damage, very strong healing. This is my toughest team for others to kill in PvP. I once took out 12 people in Ashran by myself when I got cut off from the rest of the group. (Well, I killed 5 or 6 of them before the others got smart and ran away :P)
3) 5x Boomkin - Decent damage with the instant cast Starsurges. Starfall is nice but too weak in dps... and they keep nerfing it for whatever godly reason. The "Ysera's Gift" passive healing talent is very nice because it is cumulative; if your lead toon for instance is the only one that has been damaged he gets a 20% heal every 5 seconds. I can imagine Boomkins being the best choice for a 10 or 15 man boxer as this talent and Starfall get very powerful in numbers.
4) 5x Holy Pally - Get the "Holy Prism" talent at lvl 90. This combined with Holy Shock will give you some decent kill potential in PvP. Prot pallies also have some success but I found myself dealing more damage with Holy for whatever reason. Ret is too squishy.
5) 5x Elemental Shaman - The state of the elemental spec is sad... it was so strong in Wotlk... I dunno what happened. Resto spec almost does as much damage as ele if it weren't for the mastery. I haven't tried 5x Enhancement spec yet, but I've heard it is better.
6) 5x Rogue - Pure garbage dps. They are good for world pvp when you want to gank just one person and re-stealth. (I had fun with them in Timeless Isle.) For Ashran or bg's, pure garbage. Doesn't seem to matter what spec you play but I've had the most success with Assassination.

I also have lower level teams, Monks, DK's, Warriors, and Locks, but they aren't even impressing me enough to max level them. I mostly play my hunters or priests. I have the most fun with them.

Nice write up. I am glad someone is having fun in pvp.

[JohnGabriel]

[..snip..]
2) 5x Disc Priests - Good damage, very strong healing. This is my toughest team for others to kill in PvP. I once took out 12 people in Ashran by myself when I got cut off from the rest of the group. (Well, I killed 5 or 6 of them before the others got smart and ran away :P)
[..snip..]

I guess I need to work on my Disc priest rotation as I hear so many people say they have good DPS. While mine has great healing he only does 12k, roughly 1/3rd of my shaman/mage/warlock and 1/4th of my hunters output.

[Andreauk]

I have 5x Prot at 100. They level like mad, have a +run-speed passive and AoE pull like nobody's business. Lots of fun leveling and instancing.

Are you still playing your prots? I rolled 5 today to try something new..