Hey all,
I've talked to quite a few people in game and I've encountered people who either swear by BA or swear by Supp with about a 50% split. I did BA from 1-20 and while I liked the damage I didn't like kiting and the downtime. I switched to Supp and I am sitting at 20 Supp right now. I like being able to tank mobs with very little downtime but it is soooo slow. I've talked to some folks who have mentioned a possible dual Supp/BA spec where the tankiness of Supp is combined with the DPS of BA.

My question is this.. At 20 Supp (I know, I should have stopped at 18) if I convert over to BA and pump BA till 40 will I be gimping myself or is this viable?

-Can a single lvl 18 healer pet allow me to tank all the way to 40? The plan would be to bump Supp to 24 after or around lvl 40 for the lvl 24 healer pet...

-BA would naturally be behind my main level the whole way so I am wondering if the lower lvl soldier pet and spec dot would be terribad when fighting yellows/ojs?

If this is a really bad idea please let me know! I don't want to make lvl 20 - 40 any more painful than it already is as a solo class.

Also, would like input on final spec [PvE/Farming]... I've seen these so far:
48 BA, 24 Supp, 6 Dark
44 BA, 31 Supp, 4 Dark
42 BA, 33 Supp, 7 Dark

Talking from a pure leveling point of view.
Suppression is the easiest one. Probably the faster and safest. You tank, lifeleech from monsters, healers help keeping you alive. It requires good armor and weapon and repairing those quickly.

Bone Army, like you said, is either about kiting and cannot be done in close quarters like dungeons, OR it's about being your own group healer, more mana intensive. First case needs a bit of armor, but to a much less extent compared to suppression version. The second case, the healer of your bone armada, doesn't require a specific equipment.

Then there's the mixed spec.. 18 supp for first healer, rest bone army, and pumping only bonearmy till 40-45. This spec helps you skpping on the kite thing. You send the pet, let him get agro to 80%, then dot away. And the healer keeps your commander alive. No armor or staff requirements, besides the focus level on the staff. That's all you need. At first this will be very slow because of being much lower than needed in bonearmy, and because of your grey subpets not hitting.
Oh, on a side note, it seems that the pets hits for less damage than what they used to during beta. Oh, and don't expect to be able at taking down reds and high oranges. Pet won't make it.
So what are the advantages of this spec? Very low mana consumption (you just dot once or twice), downtimes nearly zeroed, chaining through yellows like there's no tomorrow. But at the start it's going to be slow. Very. It should be shining after you reach 30-35. Basicly when your BA subpets become stronger. And spec dot is ALWAYS heavily helping !

BDs are anyway plagued by the xp cut they receive whenever they have a healer pet out, actively healing you or the commander. It's a 25% reduction, which can even grow up if the healer is healing much more than the damage that is being done.
Bone army kiters won'thave this problem, but their ability is situational, and a cave shaman is better adept for the kiting.
So, basicly, the suppression spec is again the winner. If you can deal with the downtime efficiently, then go with the safest way, suppression.

As for the final spec: you don't need more than 18 in supp for the healer pet, if you want to go with the mixed spec for farming. Remember that you can always use more healers, even 3, so they split the agro and can spam a total of 180 healing to your commander, while it tanks. Again, it' should be good with yellows and low oranges. High oranges and reds are best dealt with a suppression spec, with you tanking and the pets keeping you alive, while the commander will simply work as a damage add.

All the above, imho.
Check my issue #1647 if you want. It's still there since august >_>

Seems like the #1647 is fixed now

Was about time.
Let's see if it is indeed getting better and - faster - !

what best lvl 50 spec for solo dia farm at dia/hour (succubus/nightmare/chthonian crawler lvl 59-66)?
BA/Supp 49/18 or Supp/Dark 47/25?

or sapp seals give more gold/hour income?

Suppression spec for sure. Hard to land both dots on red purple mobs, and moreover, the pet won't really be efficient at tanking YOUR red purples (purple +++ for him, dealing 10 damage once each 5 misses probably). So yes, only viable spec would be Suppression, with you tanking and with 3 healers keeping you up. Expect to use nearly a full power bar on purples, and remember that on this patch level we don't have Physical Defence as a realm ability, so you will be hit pretty hard even with full melee resists. You're a caster after all.
Maybe better to stick with sapphires.

(All of the above is pure speculation, since i didn't try it myself. Feel free to deny what i wrote.)

Hybrid spec is more fun to lvl with I think but it only last from 20 to 40, as you may want to respec to full supp at 40, because it's grossly OP.

Why do you want to farm purples?
Exp? no
Drops to salvage? greens are faster

Mero wrote:Why do you want to farm purples?
Exp? no
Drops to salvage? greens are faster

And what is a good spot for farm a green for a salvage at 45-50?

Hi,

has anyone ever tested this skill for PvE/farming?

37 Supp / 38 Bone / 9 Dark

Sounds nice.

Second last Lifedrain and AE dot. Lvl 30 Pets in both lines.

Has anyone ever tried a trispec for leveling/farming/pvp?
37 supp: lvl 31 healer, yellow lifeleech
32 ba: dmg add 7 dps, dot without variance, blue dex/qui, ae dot
22 dark: debuff 15%, dd with less variance, small rupter pet

Farming/Leveling: Dmg-Output per Mana should be higher than supp 47/dark 24
PvP: Huge Dmg per Time

Pets will be Healer 31+27 + 15 caster (pvp) or buffer (pvm) =73
3 Healers or Debuffpet: 27+27+18=72

With the yellow lifeleech you have 21,5 % resistrate compared to 16,5 % with purple in RvR.

@Durek: Why not 38 BA?
Don't get that much for the points.. Forget lvl 31 Soldier, doesn't hit anything.
Just the higher spec dot.
Spend the points in Dark would keep you dressed for PvP as well.

I levelled my BD from 1 - 50 with 24 supp Rest BA spec and quite enjoyed it. Mostly hit yellow mobs with the two dots and tanked the mob while my pets were hitting it. IMO more mana efficient than the Suppression spec, but I guess everyone feels different