Hey guys,

recently I've been thinking of starting an alt and im torn between bd and sm.
On live I had a lvl 50 sm which i quit some time after ToA was released. This means that I know the class pretty well. I know the specs are 47/26 Darkness or 49/22 Supp. I guess for leveling Summoning would be the best spec, at least until hitting Braemar where respeccing to suppression might be an option to lvl to 50 as bomb.

On live I only played a BD as a thid twink. I remember that toon being pretty imba. I know pets are missing on Uth but bds still seem to be a strong class due to 4s rut LT, at least for soloing. But do they suck in grp?

I'd like to hear your opinions on which is more fun to play on uthgard, which one has better performances in 8v8,smallmen (which has more utility) and solo and which one is able to dish out more dmg in grp rvr (don't count pbae as it is quite situational).

TLDR: which to play and why (both solo and grped rvr); reasons

Thanks in advance!

Bonedancer: Root, Snare/DD, Instant Lifetap, Instant Body Debuff, Debuff(Str, Dex), TWF, Sick rr5, Pet you can't outrun (Bug)
Spiritmaster: Root, Mezz, Demezz, PBAoE, Lifetap, Pet-Intercept, Debuffs (Str, Dex, AoE S/C, AoE D/Q)

The Bonedancer would probably be more effective as far as SmallMan-Group RvR goes, and still effective for Solo. Their job is simply to interrupt their enemies.

The Spiritmaster would be better suited for Soloing(Darkness) or Zerging(Suppression). Suppression performs exceptionally well in the Battlegrounds but when it comes to the fronteirs . . . nobody is going to let you bomb them in open-field unless they're slammed. Darkness/Split Spec works just okay in Group RvR but I just found it to be a gimped version of the Sorcerer.

Overall, you'll probably find the Bonedancer to be more rewarding as far as Group RvR goes.

Perhaps this may help you decide. When it comes to which class would be chosen first for RvR, this is the general preference:

Runemaster > Bonedancer > Spiritmaster

Thank you for your thourough comment, I really appreciate it.
Following your recommendations I guess I'll give the BD a try and if for some reason I don't feel confortable or don't have the fun I expected on the class I'll switch to SM.

If ayone has other thoughts please feel free to comment as I would like to hear other opinions, too.

Greetings.

Levling Bd is a pain , sm is not.

Roll a bd. SM's is useless on this server! Rather have an extra runie!

SM rulez

Plok wrote:Roll a bd. SM's is useless on this server! Rather have an extra runie!

rc+dark combo is good but sm works better than second runi as second caster if you have sup runi. Also works well with rc runi. Agree that dark sm doesn't have much to offer in group but sm who want to play in group should go for something like 38/38 anyway.

Having a third demezzer with quick cast makes your group mezz imm. Backup mezz/root for emergency, decent single nuke, yellow spirit (makes your bomb dmg close to a full sup sm) and energy (sup and rc runi deals only energy) debuffs, pet intercept (makes pd3 more than enough in group), a pet with stun which helps with rupt a lot. I wouldn't use the word 'useless'.

Ehm as a SM you go 47+ darkness and nuke the hell out of the enemies end of story.
If you want to improve you can also debuff root someone and continue nuking.
Don't make him a utility char, he just has zero utility except damage and root ;p
Pet won't be used for rupt at all since you need it next to you for the motivation!

bd

Well we used to do a Dark sm with (47D/26S) + 2x Runies with (48RC/24S & 47D/26S) and yes it did hurt a lot. But i don't find sm's that usefull on this server.
I would perfer having a extra runie, since the single darkness nuke is way higher. Ml's boosted the SM's a lot but since you don't have that '(s h i t) here i think 3 runies 1bd 1 warr, is the way to go on mid if you wanna kite hard <3 :p

50% debuff and 2x darkness runies on assist boom boom and the bd just lay out some good interupts together with the paccie and shammie in the frontline BOOM BOOM connected!

i think it is not so much a class-related question. both are pretty awesome in different setups / groups. it is more a question if you do play in pugs a lot. because if you do, especially until rr6/7, sm adds great stability to the group due to the intercept pet. vs pugs normally the bds just explode or put their whole group in a bad position right away due to heavy dmg on them. sm has his pet and adds with his uber d/q debuff to a slowdown of incoming damage. double dex debuffs on casters and d/q + haste debuff on tanks helps to reduce pressure alot. and a druid/cleric with double dex debufs might help a pug to actually drop something.

so yes, all the previous comments might apply in a perfect world. but being pragmatic, sm helps alot in pug rvr.