My first attempt at 5-boxing, setup & macros, any suggestions?

Hello everyone,

I just started 5 boxing a couple days ago with RAF (Main acct > new1 > new2 > new3 > new4, RAF linking) and wanted to get any thoughts/suggestions on improving/streemlining my setup.

I'm running all 5 accounts on 1 computer with Keyclone Maximizer setup so the left 3/4 of my screen is the main window and 4 PIP windows down the right side. F8-F12 keys are set to swap PIP windows with the main window. I also have macros setup to F8-F12 so when I swap a PIP to the main window, that char becomes the leader (not group leader, but everyone else follows and sets them as new focus target).

Currently i use these addons: Jamba, Xperl, Cartographer, Auctioneer, Gatherer, SCT&SCDamage, plus some others i cant think of atm (at work now, sorry) I have all the addons mentioned in ELBA's RAF 1-60 Horde & Alliance guide and have been following that so far. I'm running a BE Prot pally as main/group leader with 4 Troll shamans (3ele,1resto) as my starter 5-boxing group. Currently we are all at lvl 38 and steamrollin on each day!

My current keyboard setup is: I usually have my left hand on # keys 2,3,4, and pinky on Tab to target with (Tab set to DO NOT PASS in keyclone) and i use the mouse buttons to move/steer. Then I have F1-F7 key bound to the bottom left action bar buttons. I have a macro setup on #key 1 for each toon to target the focustarget, i usually hit it to have all the shamans target what the pally is targeting. Then 2 is lightning bolt on each shaman, 3 is earth shock, 4 is flame shock, 5 frost shock, 6 chain lightning. For the Fkeys i have F1 set for each toon to cast a heal on whatever they are targeting(i dont use this much). F2 is my heal tank macro(heal focus targetstarget with some modifiers, or heal who every the tank is targeting if friendly). F3 is blank atm. F4 is Beserker on each shaman, nothing on pally. F5 is my castsequence macro for dropping totems. F6 is just a follow focus(can probably get rid of this since i have F8-F12 doing the same thing). F7 is my big macro, on the pally it invites everyone to the group, on the shamans it accepts group invites, accepts quests, accepts trades, rezs, etc. The + key is my mount/dismount button. The - is drink on each shaman. I use 0 and 9 for buffs, 0 on each shaman casts water shield and 9 on each shaman puts on flame tounge. My spread out key for the shamans is E, which puts them in a + formation with the resto sham in the back. For the Paladin, keys 1 & 2 are blank, 3 is Seal that adds holy dmg to each melee attack, 4 is judgment that prevents mobs from fleeing, 5 is the Hammer stun, 6 is Concecration, 7 & 8 not used. The rest of the paladin abilities are on the bottom right/left action bars and/or right 2 action bars and i click them as needed. Righteous Fury is set to the 9 key so it gets applied when the shamans buff. I usually run with Blessing of Might on the pally and Wisdom on the shamans. Thats about it for key setup, the rest of the letter keys are default mapped, except B which opens all bags.

A typical pull for me goes like this: target mob on pally, hit 1 to target it with the shamans, hit 2 to LBx4, mob comes running in, hit 4 Flameshock x4 and pally judgement so they dont run off, most stuff dies at this point, if it doesnt its usually at less than 20% and the flame shock/pally beating on it finishes it off.

I've just started doing some multimob pulls, they go like this... Shamans spread out and lay down totems. Pally runs around gets a few mobs, brings them back and concecrates. Then i hit key 1 for all to target and then 6 for the shams to chain lightning and if the pally is able he concecrates again. I've only done this a few times but most stuff is dead before i can get a second chain lightning off.

So thats my current setup, anyone have any suggestions, comments, and/or questions??

I would recommend trading the resto shaman in for a 4 ele. I didn't use a dedicated healer until 70 doing heroics. Then, at times, I wondered why I did. I found myself dpsing with my healer and periodically healing :/

I don't know how you do movement but this was something that I didn't get the hang of until 60 + (because I went so fast with RAF).

I wish I had leveled the profs on the toon I was using as a main for my RAF. Yeah, it slows you down but a) you have some cash for skills if you don't have a main to sponsor and b) you don't have to rerun the same zones later to level them. I am talking about gathering profs. And I recommend taking those on your main, it just makes life a ton easier.

I have all my shamans assist the pally on every macro. My pally is set as the focus for all my shamans.

so my pull goes like this
1) pally pulls with avenger shield, then concecrates
2) I hit my "attack" key with my shamans, which is also mapped to my pally attack key, and my healer heal
3) spam the key and switch targets on my paladins, since my shamans attack whatever my paladin attacks


so
"1" key on paladin does a /castrandom Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous, etc....
"1" on shamans does /cast [target=focustarget] lightning bolt
"1" on the resto shaman does /cast [target=focustargettarget] chain heal

So all you need to do is hit "1" and target stuff on the pally. really easy.

I use this method and can do six different 80 heroics and it works great. Just manually park the shamans like 10+ yards back before each pull, and run in with the pally.

I personally would keep a resto shaman, it makes things a lot easier (earth shield is nice too), you almost never have to worry about your health since you attack key also heals your group.

I would add NumLock to your do-not-pass list. That way, when the current active toon runs, the others are still on follow and don't decide to run somewhere on their own.

Until you're doing heroics, you won't need a dedicated healer.
If you do decide to go with a dedicated healer, my personal favorite is a Dreamstate druid.
Basically, they're a strong enough healer to run any heroic as the only healer, provided the tank is not severely undergeared. So far WotLK raids are very easy; you could raid as Dreamstate through all of BC content.
The strength of Dreamstate for a boxer is that they can put out more dps then any other healer spec.. of course they're a hybrid spec.

While leveling up, go with a lot more Balance and just a little in Restoration.
When you need the heals, for tougher content, go to Swiftmend in Resto and Moonkin in Balance, you'll have a small number of additional points to place in either tree for whatever works best.

While leveling, you'll enjoy Earth & Moon for a dps boost, and the druid will be as strong as an elemental shammy if not stronger.
Once they're dreamstate, for tougher content where you need a healer, they give you Moonkin crit aura on trash, Faerie Fire hit increase chance, a ton of strong hots and swiftmend to counter burst.
Plus Innervate, thorns on tank, puppy paw buff.

The most recent team I've leveled was 4x Boomkin, and they're great.
If you're starting out, I'd strongly recommend one for your team.
Pally-Tank, 3x Elem-Shaman, 1x Boomkin/Dreamstate-Druid.

Thanks for the tips guys!

Coltimar - I have an 80DK thats a miner and a 70 Rogue thats Eng/Ench. I plan on leveling one of my shamans in Skinning/LW after i'm done with RAF groups. I have plans on making a druid team next, then a mage team, and having a druid do herb/alch, and a mage do tailoring/inscription. My buddy has a maxed out Jewelcrafter and Blacksmith so i think i'm good on trade skills. I have plenty of gold, so thats not an issue atm. As for my resto shaman, she mostly just dps's with the others (same key/macro setup) and when needed she has a /stopcast in her healing macro to heal my pally.

Kicksome - I havent written out macros for each specific shaman spell, i just put the spells on the same #key on each shaman and have #1 set on each to assist the focus. I may look into you way as it seems it would cut out a button press and make things a little more smoother when changing targets.

Ualaa - I do have Numlock on DNP, forgot to mention that before. I plan on doing my next set of RAF characters as 4 druids and a warrior or maybe 5 druids, havent decided for sure yet. Once i get all my planned RAF teams to 60 i may mix them up a bit for the 60-70 grind. I will definitely use your advice on my druid team, thanks!



Anyone else with any comments/suggestions?