What Are The Best Duos?

[Takahashi]

Like the subject says, what do you think are the best two-class sets to play as? Note that this is two-class, meaning no double Dragoon/WM/whatever entries.

I happen to think that Blue Mage/Fighter works rather well once it gets up to speed (mid-teens in level and onwards). Barrier 1/3 on the Fighter once they learn Block allows for a lot of damage soaking, with the option to throw in a Weak 1/2/3 to further tone down the amount of (mostly) unavoidable melee damage the Fighter will be absorbing. Slow allows the Fighter to easily hit most targets without having to rely on Chop and Lunge, and a BLM's magic damage can be consistently formidable provided you pick a proper element (ice is good everywhere except IC, fire is so-so early on but is almost invaluable in IC, lit is solid all-around).

There are other good combinations, including one U Dye would no doubt vouch for the utility of (Knight/WM)... but that's where whoever else still regularly checks this board comes in at.

[Sur Realis]

Knight/Blue Mage is generally accepted to be the 'perfect' pair - as proven by many jack-asses to be a near-unstoppable-duo. For that matter, x/Blue Mage is about as good as you get. White Mage/Blue Mage is an amazing, unstoppable team geared towards survivalism, perhaps only rivaled by the sheer stalemate-ism that is double Red Mages, but those don't count under these circumstances.

A few less-than-known duos that have grabbed my attention:

Knight/Dragoon While completely lacking in any healing power, the mid-late game combination of Lure and Endless Retort makes this a melee force to be reckoned. The Knight, having Defense out the wazoo, can mostly take all of those hits and dish out plenty of damage in return, and it is further mitigated by the Dragoon's ability to get some leeway with Lure and for having a Close Call Auto-Win button.

Thief/Black Belt Okay, okay, I know what you're saying. "Those are the two worst classes in the game!" This is very much true. "How could a duo of them turn out to be good!?" Well, strangely, in my past experiences Thief/Black Belt has been a surprisingly nice combination. Both classes are swift (Thief tier 1, Black Belt tier 3)* and both classes are more or less geared to finishing off weakened enemies by both classes. With a handful of Panic Strategies at their disposal (Silent Retreat, Mantra/Counter spam) they may not be the best but they certainly have plenty of firepower to handle many situations.

Thief/Red Mage Okay, okay, I know what you're saying. "Those are the two worst classes in the game!" This is very much true. "How could a duo of them turn out to be good!?" Well, they can't. I was just joking. These two suck. Srsly.

Ranger/Blue Mage Actually, this has to be the strangest duo I have ever seen. They can't augment each other worth a damn, but that's okay, because if either of them were augmented even more they'd be fucking broken as hell. Sure, the most common interaction between these two is Blue Mage healing the Ranger, and the Ranger Lifing the Blue Mage, and that will hardly even be needed just because these two can annihilate entire parties whether through debuffs or pure damage. (Ranger gets Slow 2, Blue Mage gets Weak 2. They are both pretty damned fast.)

[ * Speed tiers estimated on the spot based on past knowledge of armor weight and agility gains. The fact is, a Blue Mage with ToTE armor is faster than a Thief with ToTE armor. ]

[lordphoenix]

Knight and blue mage is my favorite and just goddamn unfairly powerful on every front. Knight skills with boost 3 running and a good slow 2 on the enemies can rape everything in 0 time, even titans and thunder dragons. The knight is hardy enough for the blue's cure 2 to be more than sufficient, specially with a quick barrier 2 early in the fight.

White Mage and Blue Mage is a pain in the ass off the break but once you hit level 20 or so they just cant fucking die ever unless the player playing them is a total tool. Unlimited healing power and access to every standard buff in their strongest form means give these guys about 4 rounds and NOTHING can touch them short of a cheap magora or ES rub.

Does anyone ever use fighter and red mage? I've offed val with duos of these two as low as level 8 to 9 depending on stat distribution. It is one of the single most resilient pairs you can make, though the red mage just turns into a slightly mediocre white mage by games end in this setup. The great speed and resiliency make up for the lessened utility as a healer though.

Also, purplemage combo, while again not quite the omgwtfeasylmfao of white mage blue mage, is pretty goddamn mean in its own right. Two very independent classes working side by side to take down all comers. Access to tier 1 and 2 of all the standard buffs. Great magical damage from the blue mage, great physical damage from the boosted instilled red mage.

Fighter and black mage, while it totally lacks any real healing, can decimate enemies so quickly that it doesnt matter, even in boss fights.

Those are my favorites that I have used or seen.

[Sur Realis]

Jul 22, 2010 22:41:18 GMT -6 lordphoenix said:

Does anyone ever use fighter and red mage? I've offed val with duos of these two as low as level 8 to 9 depending on stat distribution. It is one of the single most resilient pairs you can make, though the red mage just turns into a slightly mediocre white mage by games end in this setup. The great speed and resiliency make up for the lessened utility as a healer though.

I've seen it used by you, and perhaps Kumog, but was never very impressed by it. The Red Mage itself can either be a great or a terrible partner, depending on if the person both knows how to build the Red Mage and use the Red Mage to the build. I personally have a problem with the latter, wherein I'll build it to be an invincible tank and be pissed off when I can't deal damage, ever, or build it to deal damage and can't be an invincible tank.

As for the Level 8 or 9 Val thing - I've done it Red Mage, Blue Mage, and White Mage by out-Curing him until he runs out of MP. Vallatio is hardly a problem if he just doesn't fucking blast you with tier 2s all the time.

[lordphoenix]

agility hp mp. Try it.

[Jumin]

Jul 22, 2010 21:06:56 GMT -6 Sur Realis said:

Thief/Red Mage Okay, okay, I know what you're saying. "Those are the two worst classes in the game!" This is very much true. "How could a duo of them turn out to be good!?" Well, they can't. I was just joking. These two suck. Srsly.

lol those are the last duos that i have. and yes. they do suck,

[lordphoenix]

One time I red mage and was good but then I accidentally a whole Pits of Pain.

[BigFatBob]

I have a Fighter/Redmage, pure STR and half WP, half MP, respectively. The lacking HP of the fighter's build and the lacking power of a Redmage's Cure 3 work surprisingly well together when dealing with the Rampage threshold. Also, if you ask me, the Redmage gives the fighter the perfect amount of damage resistance. A whitemage's shield 1 can sometimes prove to be ineffective versus a horde of raged Titans, and a Barrier 3 can soak up too much damage to efficiently Rampage spam. Shield 1 + Barrier 1 = the perfect match, as far as I'm concerned. I've only fought a few battles with this duo up at Titans, but they did damn well for themselves. By mid-50s I would expect no deaths at all, ever.

As for Bluemage/Ranger...Realis, you can vouch for my duo. You've seen their success rate with Mona runs. Grizzly + Bar 3 = unstoppable. Hell, they were unstoppable even BEFORE Grizzly. As soon as that Bluemage picks up Barrier 3, everything becomes a joke. Titans are laughable with the Bluemage's Weak 3. This duo is raw power and survivability all in one. It's ridiculous.

Also, I have a knight/goon duo up in ToTe. They're...awesome. lol But they've only earned a few million experience up there, so they're still pretty low level. I do remember partying with a knight/goon in ToTe that was higher leveled and totally badass, but...I can't remember for the life of me who it was. I think the duo was Anaran, but...the name escapes me. Anybody here know who I'm talking about?

Oh, also, my dual thieves = most unstoppable duo in the game, hands down.