Good 5 man comps purely for pve / dungeon leveling

[zehedas]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've narrowed my choices to these two:
warrior / priest / 3 mages
paladin / priest 3 mages
(warlock would probably be great as well but I want 3 different classes at most to keep it simple)

How do they compare?

[nodoze]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've narrowed my choices to these two:
warrior / priest / 3 mages
paladin / priest / 3 mages
(warlock would probably be great as well but I want 3 different classes at most to keep it simple)

How do they compare?

Both work fine.

Paladin requires you go Alliance which means your Priest can be a Dwarf which is the best Priest racial because you can give your party Fear Wards. Paladin are sometimes easier and sometimes harder depending on the levels ranges and the mechanics you are facing. Paladins are better when facing runners due to Seal of Justice. While leveling up you have phases where you have to body pull though you can offset that via Holy Sunder as early as level 20 (though you may need help from a higher level character if you want to get it before level 29+). Paladins are great for steady AoE threat via Consecration+Sanctuary which are minimum tools for tanking though you can boost it via others tools like Holy Shield as well (which my Paladin Tank does not have) and can lower the threat of the party by -30% via Salvation so pulls are a more passive process (pull, consecrate, let mobs attack some, then DPS). The main pain point with a Paladin will be the few fights will full aggro drops as they don't have a hard taunt (though if you go with 3 Mages they can "Shout" by spamming Greater Blessing of Kings on the 3 Mages). Paladins give lots of utility to the group as you can cleanse, supplement heals, bubble the healer, and even rez the healer if things go bad (or sacrifice the Paladin to protect the party from a wipe). Though not a factor for you since you plan to run 3 Mages, but generally speaking I would NOT run a Paladin if you don't have free Water from either a Mage in your party (or another at cap to give you free water) unless you really want one for a main or what not.

Warrior can go Horde (but if you go Alliance you can get Fear Ward from a Dwarven Priest). They have a more active pull approach with shouts & have ranged pulls from early levels and have hard taunts which can be invaluable in certain fights and/or generally speaking if aggro is lost. They overall have better defensive cool-downs and overall somewhat better damage mitigation from a pure class perspective though a Priest's shield inhibits their rage generation so you don't benefit from that as much as Paladins do. Though not a factor for a pure dungeon grinding team, if you think you may want to try to Main Tank in Raids at some point you really need to have a Warrior so ultimately your overall goals can make the decision for you.

In the end either choice works fine as a Dungeon Tank so I would not sweat it too much (Druids can also Tank Dungeons well and some folk prefer them over Warriors or Paladins). Though I think a Paladin gives more overall utility to the party, a Warrior is the proto-typical choice and likely best choice if you don't feel compelled either way &/or have other overall goals. I wanted to have a Paladin Healer for Raids and PVP so having a class that could both heal and tank from a single spec pretty much dictated my choice.

Best of luck to you.

You mentioned dungeon grinding and not raiding. This might not be common thought but you need a hunter in the mix.

Hunters are top notch dps pre-raid, just fall behind when you start getting geared up.
An owl pet with level 4 schreech is amazing AOE threat. When you lose a mob it turns to the pet not the healer or mages. No chasing it.
Easier gearing as its the only mail wearer if no shaman, easier gearing your clothies as well.
Pair with engineering and feign death gives you one less chance to have to run back from the graveyard after a wipe.

I don't agree that you need a hunter in the mix but you do raise some compelling points (especially if you are only going to use the characters in dungeons & are limited to dungeon and/or reasonably attained BoE gear).

Do you think just 1 Hunter is mandatory or is more better (3+)?

If you don't have other outside goals and just want the most efficient team for the easy grinding of dungeons what 5man team do you think is best?

[CokeZero]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've narrowed my choices to these two:
warrior / priest / 3 mages
paladin / priest 3 mages
(warlock would probably be great as well but I want 3 different classes at most to keep it simple)

How do they compare?

I run a bear tank, priest, warlock, and 2 mages. Mainly because I wanted to provide my team with every available buff

Mages, as far as DPS goes in a multiboxing setup, are far superior in almost every way. The AoE control is just so damn good and they don't go OOM in seconds like a warlock does. Warlocks you need to weave in a lifetap here and there to keep them casting.

That said, I do not regret putting a warlock in the team, and if I had to level a new team all over again a warlock would be a must for me. I love the utility they bring with healthstones, soulstones, more HP if you're running a tank with imp stamina, and if you're running a warrior tank the imp fire shield can help the tank hold aoe threat. The fire shield is useful on the bear as well when you are fighting nature immune mobs, since thorns is nature damage. I guess it's useful for a pally too, not sure if it stacks with whatever they may have, dunno, never played one.

And then of course the main reason I love my warlock, summoning! I love being able to ship a toon back to town to empty bags and sell, then summon him right back and keep on grinding/farming.

[Mordikai]

I have been working on an Alliance team now (novel for me, I always play Horde) and went PaPMML and I have to agree, I will always have one. The Warlock brings so much to the table. I exclusively am using the imp. I am specced full destruction right now so the mana is not as bad and I tap on the run with renews from the Priest to help keep up the pace. The Paladin has fire shield, retribution aura, blessing of sanctuary and a shield spike. He is a total reflect machine! I have a castsequence rotation that if the fight goes a little long he casts drain soul to keep the shards up so I always have health and soul stones. Curse of the Elements really helps the mage's damage as well. The best part though: Staying at dungeons for ever, sending the mages back to sell and then just summoning them back

[nodoze]

I have been working on an Alliance team now (novel for me, I always play Horde) and went PaPMML and I have to agree, I will always have one. The Warlock brings so much to the table. I exclusively am using the imp. I am specced full destruction right now so the mana is not as bad and I tap on the run with renews from the Priest to help keep up the pace. The Paladin has fire shield, retribution aura, blessing of sanctuary and a shield spike. He is a total reflect machine! I have a castsequence rotation that if the fight goes a little long he casts drain soul to keep the shards up so I always have health and soul stones. Curse of the Elements really helps the mage's damage as well. The best part though: Staying at dungeons for ever, sending the mages back to sell and then just summoning them back

I also really like my Warlock with my Paladin Tank and take the improved imp talents for the improved blood pact stamina boost and reflect damage from improved Fire Shield.

Regarding Soul Shards I like the SoulSort addon as it allows me to keep them topped off without filling my bags.