Best DUO Suggestions (Non melee)

[Sicarius]

I finally convince my partner to play with me and I was wondering what the best DUO is that's not Melee as were planning on going slowly through all the story lines etc. 

 

Bonus if one is pet based. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Sicarius

[Erratic1]

If you are not going to have melee, then ATs with a combination of control and healing. Masterminds can definitely fit both of those requisites (filling in tanking via pets).  I would probably suggest Corruptor + Mastermind because you get overlap in control and healing with the proper choices (triple overlap on control with the right choice of blast set on the Corruptor).

[Shred Monkey]

I'd roll up 2 sentinels.  Whatever powers sound like fun to have.  

[dtjunkie]

My kid and I have been having fun with a Mastermind and Sentinel duo. Pretty forgiving all around.

[MoonSheep]

i’d go with two blasters or a debuffer and a dom, keeps things lively and fast paced - makes you think of strategy when tackling difficult mobs too

[0th Power]

Kinetic defender and a plant dominator

Edited February 17, 2023 by 0th Power

[Glacier Peak]

I'd offer for your entertainment the Hero Epic Archetypes Peacebringer and Warshade and the Villain Epic Archetypes Arachnos Widow and Soldier of Arachnos to duo with, if you're looking to have a wide variety of build options. All four Archetypes can play well and be near peer to their Archetypes-focused equivalents for melee & ranged, support, tank/taunt, pets, and debuffs. 

 

Peacebringers can do anything. They have an ally heal, they have debuffs in all their attacks, they have ranged attacks and shields in Human-form, and the highest base ranged damage modifier in the game when in White Nova (Squid) form - higher than a Blaster even! Their access to White Dwarf and Light Form give players the ability to tank and taunt with little concern, though their lack of positional or typed defense (or DDR) makes for a fair balance to risk and reward. They also have fun little White fluffy pets that instantly suicide the moment you spawn them when in combat. Warshades are pretty different in playstyle, relying on mob density and AoE attacks to shine, so I've been informed. I have not had the pleasure to try one out yet, so take that statement with caution as I could be mistaken. 

 

Arachnos Widows are just godmode, plan and simple. You can build one in a way that fits your exact playstyle, particularly the Fortunata variety that focuses on ranged psychic and mez attacks. I haven't played a Soldier of Arachnos yet, but I'm aware that they have access to a great deal of pets, though not as direct-able as a Mastermind's Henchmen are. 

[Snarky]

9 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

If you are not going to have melee, then ATs with a combination of control and healing. Masterminds can definitely fit both of those requisites (filling in tanking via pets).  I would probably suggest Corruptor + Mastermind because you get overlap in control and healing with the proper choices (triple overlap on control with the right choice of blast set on the Corruptor).

This stands out to me as by far the most powerful.  I am on a Corruptor this year and it is very powerful solo and in teams.  Combining that with an army of pets and a rounded out backup set?  O yeah!   If you match themes it would be insanely fun I would think.  

[twozerofoxtrot]

Got here after the right answers were given so I'll say:

 

Plant/Fire Dom

Beasts/Cold MM

 

[Scarlet Shocker]

A Demon/Cold MM and a Plant/TA controller.

 

Own the game!

 

 

[SeraphimKensai]

For a DUO without melee, I would make a pairing that leverages crippling debuffs or stacked buffs. I would also link them via a common theme but that's just me.

 

Examples: an Elec/Kin Corruptor and a Time Manipulation/Elec Defender. Alternatively, an Elec Control/Dark Affinity Controller with a Demons/Electric Affinity MM.

 

In those examples I linked them with electric, as mobs with no endurance or recovery offer a great amount of mitigation of incoming damage.

 

Each character also brings symbiotic buffs to help the other. So if you are exclusively duoing these characters you can take that into account when you build them out with IOs as well. Otherwise any of these combos would be beneficial to most teams.

[serxiom]

I would suggest Earth or Illusion /Nature Controller and Fire/Rad Blaster. /Nature is one of the most complete buffs/heals/debuffs secondaries in the game and will complement a lot supporting a Blaster with heals and Res buffs. Also having a tankie pet as Poop man or PA will let the Blaster go blapping without any potential risk. 

 

You have fun!

[Grouchybeast]

The most enjoyable duo I've played without a melee was a Dual Pistols/Martial Combat Blaster and a Thermal/Sonic Defender.  The blaster can just absolutely go to town blasting everything in sight and blipping in and out of combat to stylishly kick mobs in the face, and the defender performs magic to keep them alive while debuffing the hell out of the enemies.  And then every so often you pull just a little too much aggro and both faceplant.  Top fun, can't recommend it highly enough.

 

ETA: Close second would be a Storm/Energy Defender and an Illusion/Storm Controller.  Total chaos, total carnage, mobs flying everywhere.  Knockback is the best debuff in the game, and a duo is the perfect opportunity to enjoy it to the max.  Plus, pets!

Edited February 17, 2023 by Grouchybeast
Stormies are awesome!

[biostem]

On 2/16/2023 at 10:38 AM, Sicarius said:

I finally convince my partner to play with me and I was wondering what the best DUO is that's not Melee as were planning on going slowly through all the story lines etc. 

 

Bonus if one is pet based. 

If you want a powerful duo, and want to avoid melee, here's an interesting combination to try:

 

1. A Soldier of Arachnos going the Crab Spider route.  You get some great team buffs, powerful attacks, solid debuffs, and you also get a bunch of pets!

 

2. A sentinel of some variety, (I'm partial to dual pistols/radiation armor or assault rifle/invulnerability).

 

Alternative to 2 above, a defender or corruptor could be very powerful with the "Crabbermind" to watch their back.  Pick something like pain domination/sonic and you won't be disappointed - good buffs, debuffs, heals, and ranged damage to boot!

[StrikerFox]

Make both pet based, duo MMs. I've always had the most fun playing on full MM teams. Though learning to play an one can be daunting for a new player. There are a lot of good duo MM combinations that will compliment each other to help fill holes a single MM may have.

[Sir Myshkin]

*watches the thread fill with Mastermind suggestions*

 

Okay, So, like, I'm not a bandwagon kinda person and, like, I'm gonna suggest something totally, like, different, okay? 🤣

 

 But seriously, there's actually a duo concept that's been in my back pocket for a long time that I just don't have the time or second person available to execute it with, but has a lot of high performance opportunities:

Fire Blast / Electric Affinity Corruptors

 

Normally I would suggest Defender in most things, but as a Duo these will loose their +30 solo bonus and pick up Scourge instead. The builds would ideally be identical in power selection and utilize each other for chain bouncing, double Faraday Cage for shielding with some key choice selection in other areas this combo will be able to pack in a lot of Res and cherry pick some good Def bonus structures.

 

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[Snarky]

37 minutes ago, Sir Myshkin said:

*watches the thread fill with Mastermind suggestions*

 

Okay, So, like, I'm not a bandwagon kinda person and, like, I'm gonna suggest something totally, like, different, okay? 🤣

 

 But seriously, there's actually a duo concept that's been in my back pocket for a long time that I just don't have the time or second person available to execute it with, but has a lot of high performance opportunities:

Fire Blast / Electric Affinity Corruptors

 

Normally I would suggest Defender in most things, but as a Duo these will loose their +30 solo bonus and pick up Scourge instead. The builds would ideally be identical in power selection and utilize each other for chain bouncing, double Faraday Cage for shielding with some key choice selection in other areas this combo will be able to pack in a lot of Res and cherry pick some good Def bonus structures.

 

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I have heard it said 8 corruptors can walk on any content in the game.  Pretty sure a duo of ANY two Corrupters will leave a nice trail of destruction behind them

[Scarlet Shocker]

I used to Duo quite a bit on Live. I'm kinda getting the vibe again.

 

Anyone else feeling it?

[Doomguide2005]

There are tons of options as almost any Corruptor or Defender duo can check a lot of boxes for running in a duo.

Simplest would probably be an Empath, Pain or Thermal pairing of some kind especially with a synergistic secondary.  Strong non-foe reliant heals plus buffs, debuffs and mez protection that are all pretty straightforward in usage for a newcomer to the game.