Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
Monk epic clicky is only really a thing for how long though? 3, maybe 4 expansions? Plus, there's always Gina. And once you have /autoskill, a monk is practically 80% of the way to "optimal". A mostly AFK monk with autoskill is going to put out a hell of a lot more DPS than a Bard(although, like I said, that gap narrows a lot come TSS+) and also beat out an /autofire Ranger, especially in GoD+. You go Bard if you want more utility and some extra tricks - plus, their ADPS/buffs benefit both the SK and SHM. You go Ranger if you want less DPS, some slight ADPS utility, and the ability to never really have to worry about positioning.Monks are always a popular choice but I've come to think they're often a bit overvalued. They don't bring real adps and the upkeep for them is a lot higher than other classes. Basically, under optimal and even just mostly ideal settings, a monk is great. Under suboptimal and especially low effort settings, they get really bad. Keeping your epic clicked for example. Ranger, meanwhile, even though headshot shouldn't even be a consideration... is an incredibly low maintenance and low effort alt. Archery is the least effort by far of any box; even a wizard is gonna be more effort. Gear options are significantly easier than rogue and monk. They get piles of buffs and then a consolidated hours-long self buff. So when you compare monk to ranger for example, be fair and compare shaman buffed monk who may not be clicking shit to shaman and self buffed ranger with guaranteed damage uptime.
Bard is nearly always the safest 3rd to add to any duo if you ever aren't sure. Very very few makeups do not benefit. They always scale well and are always a strong class, so unless you have some kind of weird pet based shit (where they still aren't really bad), it's the safe choice.
Druid is an underrated one to consider with knight + shm. You are basically losing a bit of dps over a necro and later direct mez cc, for more potential healing and utility. I'd probably just go nec, myself, but druid is one to keep in consideration along that same line of thinking.
I agree that Druids tend to be underrated because they were mostly played by fat housewives who wanted to pretend they were a "pretty" wood-elf - ruining their reputation as a useful class. Problem with Druids is that they need to stick to places where they can charm and just like Enchanters, require a not insignificant amount of attention.
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