Fighting in groups

Fighting as a Group
Also known as "Why are they shouting at me?"

DDO is a game built around adventuring in groups, yet the actual experience of doing so is sometimes very frustrating, particularly with impromptu pick-up groups or 'PUG's. With the exception of the rare player who really IS a social misfit instead of merely pretending to be, this is usually due to a lack of knowledge about how to play different roles in a group.

In Korthos you can get away with charging at the baddies all together and hacking or blasting them to death. While satisfying, this is poor preparation for the exacting ballet that will be required in the combats to come, where every character has their own role to play. (Notice the word “role”. This has no formal definition but the informal usage is consistent in the game, and I use it to distinguish it from Classes which are not the same.)

An example group ...
How do the veterans do it then? Every actual fight is different, and usually much messier than the participants intended, but certain simple principles apply almost every time. These are best explained by example, so let us look at a hypothetical fight.

Our brave party consists of Jeets (a halfling trapsmith), Cellimas (a human healer), Talbron (a warforged caster), Fred (a dwarven tank) and you. You play an elven archer, which for some reason is one of the most popular choices for newcomers. (You have yet to discover that in DDO archery is under powered, and that the -2 ‘Con’ handicap to elves is painful at higher levels.)

Everyone also has a secondary role. Jeets and Fred have decent 'DPS', and even you have discovered when to drop your bow and swing a pair of swords. Cellimas and Talbron have good (but different) buffs, and Cellimas can exert some 'crowd control'.

... in a typical battle
So, at about level 4, which is when fighting as a team starts to be important, you decide to mount your first Assault on Splinterskull Fortress. At the entrance you all stop for Cellimas and Talbron to do their thing, and fortified with spell-based goodyness, you manage to beat off the ambush of spiders. You trot down the rocky passageway with Jeets in front, ready to stop dead if he was to shout “TRAP” in chat. (None of you would ever impatiently run on ahead, or edge forward just to see where the so-called trap lay.)

Now the walls ahead change to neatly built masonry. Clearly you are approaching some sort of habitation. And there, pointing at you in alarm, are two hobgoblins. You, as the archer, do not just let fly at the nearest, because then the two of them would charge after you in person. Instead you wait until Fred has landed the first blow before loosing arrows to help take them down.

Unfortunately a third hobgoblin runs for a large gong hanging there, and suddenly a whole squad of enemies is charging down the corridor. With great self-discipline, the rest of you dispose yourselves properly, while Fred alone attacks them front on. Jeets drops into sneak mode, and heads for the wall to get around the side of them. Cellimas jumps up on a box, out of danger but where she has a good view of the proceedings. Talbron steps back so he is away from the action but still in casting range, and you step to one side to get a good line of sight on the enemy at the back.

As soon as Fred has landed his first blow (thus ensuring that the enemy aggro is centred on him) the rest of you let fly.

Jeets the DPS
Jeets attacks the nearest hobgoblin in a whirl of steel. He does good damage, because he has trained in two-weapon fighting to reduce the penalty for having a blade in each hand. He only has a longsword and a shortsword, but he is hitting twice as often as Fred, and he has the sneak attack bonus. He knows that he does not need to be actually sneaking to get this, just attacking an enemy with its back to him.

Jeets takes down that hobbie quickly, but he is aware of his weak armour and low health. He is safe only while the hobgoblins are focused on Fred, so he backs up to the wall to avoid attention. Jeets might even use Diplomacy (often wrongly regarded as a useless skill) which can help creatures of small brain-power to decide that the little halfling is no threat, and that they really ought to focus on that big fighter over there.

One look around reassures him that no-one is looking his way so he dives in again, to demolish the Slayer that for some reason is sitting there looking dazed. "Get in there quick", he mutters, "before they recover". He moves on at the back of the crowd, and every time he slips round to a new enemy he takes half a second to plant his feet firmly, before each new attack. (Without the Spring Attack feat, this is the only way to avoid the big penalty for attacking while moving.)

Fred the Tank
Fred is wielding his enormous two-handed great sword to good effect. It does more damage than any single handed weapon, but its real advantage is that it hits more glancing blows, damaging all the enemies in front of him at least a little. His job is not just to kill things, but to keep them all worried about him. Even if he does not land the killing blow on any one of these hobbies, he is enabling Jeets, Talbron and you to get on with it.

When things get a bit too hot, he drops to a blocking pose, and sends out a wave of Intimidate. Every enemy affected will now concentrate on him for the next six seconds, whether he hits them or not. Six seconds is plenty of time for Jeets (or even you) to take out one of these guys from behind. At the same time Fred waits patiently for the ‘heal’ he knows is coming.

He has good armor, and his shield reduces the damage but many of the blows get through. He also knows that the higher he gets in the game, the more often enemies will hit him. No, what he relies on is his robust health. He has lots of hitpoints and he trusts his healer.

Cellimas the Healer
However Cellimas did not start with heals. Instead she managed to land two shots of Command on Hobgoblin Slayers, and those two sitting on the ground are looking pretty stupid. She knows that neutralising some of the damage heading towards her fighters can be more effective than healing them afterwards. But now she starts sending Cures at Fred. While he is her main focus, she also keeps an eye on the other red bars, and sending one to Jeets (who caught a couple of glancing blows) is as easy as pressing his party ‘F’ key then the spell hotkey. From her elevated position everyone is always in sight, and she need not bother with trying to actually target the spell on her recipient.

Talbron the Caster
Talbron tries a web but unfortunately the hobgoblins save against it, so he follows up with a couple of shots of Electric Loop. He is going for spells that affect more than one enemy, and still do half damage even if they save against them. Although he does not yet have firewall (the caster’s main weapon), he is doing a lot of damage. As the levels get higher and the spell damage gets better, it common for casters to have a higher kill count than the melee hackers you would expect to be leading the list.

and you, the Archer
And you, mean while, loose off a series of arrows at one of the two hobbie clerics at the back. You aim at them partly because they have less armor and less health than the hobgoblin warriors, but also to get them to target their spells on you rather than on the front line. This is much more important than adding your meagre arrow damage to Fred’s output. You have elven spell resistance, high ‘reflex’ and ‘fort’ saving throws, and (thanks to well chosen jewelry) adequate ‘will’ saves. Even if a spell does land, you are by yourself so no one else in your party will be affected, and if you are frightened or frozen, there is no scimitar-waving hobgoblin in front of you to take advantage of it.

You manage to take out one cleric, but it takes too long, so you change to your twin swords ready run at the other. But at that moment one of the Slayers breaks away and charges for Talbron, presumably upset about that last lightning blast. The wizard runs, but not backwards. Instead he runs towards you, then stops and blocks. The hobbie stops in front of him and prepares to slash at him. But the heal from Cellimas arrive almost before the first blow, and your attack on the hobgoblin causes it to change its target. By the time it has sorted out who to go for, it lies dead.

Talbron safe again, you leap into the fray. Yes, literally jump over the heads of the front line. You do have high jump, remember? Your first priority is that other cleric, who has started casting spells on the other members of your party. Fortunately it falls quickly to your twin weapons and a well timed heal from Cellimass enables you to carry on. If that had not arrived you were going slip away from the fray for long enough to chug a few ‘pots’. (Yes, you always carry heal potions, even when there is a cleric in the party.)

You move on to the hobbie ‘Infiltrators’ who are lurking at the back. You can see them, thanks to your high spot, and as they are primarily ranged enemies, you can handle them toe-to-toe where you would be struggling against a heavy hitting ‘Slayer’. You polish off those two, then return to help Jeets attack the backs of the crowd around Fred, now fast shrinking. Although you are not a Rogue, and miss their nice sneak attack bonus, everyone gets the flanking attack bonus for hitting an enemy from behind.

Victory!
And then suddenly, there are no hobgoblins left. Yay!

In fact, the DPS is more often handled by a Barbarian, Fighter or Ranger than a Rogue, but the point is that covering the roles is more important than having the right 'classes'.

Hopefully you noticed;


 * It is all about handling the aggro. "Who do we want those mobs to go after?"
 * Attack the right enemy not the nearest. "Who is the most dangerous or the most vulnerable to my attack?"
 * archers and thieves can make melee attacks safely IF properly choreographed.
 * Protect your healer and your caster.
 * If in trouble, run towards your friends, not away from them.
 * It doesn't matter who makes the kill. A fighter is as good as his back up.
 * Class names don't matter. Having clear roles and fulfilling them properly does.

Congratulations. Coordinated teamwork has defeated the baddies again. But remember, this was the simplest and most obvious of battles. Never be shy about saying, before you open that door, "This is my first time. How do we do this one?" It may still go wrong - but at least you will know why.

The Roles
Now the detail. This list describes the roles you can play, (i.e. what you can do). Although this is linked to your class and your race, (i.e. what you are) and some classes specialise in certain roles, there is a lot of overlap and duplication.

Tank
Just as the name suggests, this is a defensive fighting machine. Your goal is to attract the main assault on your group and to control the main targets' movement by maximising the mobs' Hate (more commonly known as Aggro). Tanks always have high hit points and either enough DPS to attract attention or significant skill in Intimidation. You may use two-handed weapons to get more glancing blows, or a shield to provide damage reduction. At low and mid levels good armour helps, but at high levels it is usually irrelevant.
 * Usual classes - Fighter, Paladin.
 * Usual races - Human, Dwarf, Warforged
 * Can combine with DPS, buffer, archer

DPS
‘DPS’ stands for melee 'damage per second', which says it all. DPS characters are fast hitting killers concentrating on attack rather than defence. While having good Constitution and enough hitpoints to survive life in the front line, you prefer not to be the focus of attention for too long. You think shields are for wimps and often go for Two-weapon fighting rather than two-handed fighting.
 * Usual classes - Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, Monk.
 * Usual races - Human, Dwarf, Warforged.
 * Can combine with tank, trapsmith, archer.

Archer
Unfortunately ranged damage in DDO is not as powerful as it is in 'pen and paper' or in many other games. However there are many explicit situations where the ability to hit the enemy from a distance is valuable. The most obvious is in returning fire to ranged mobs standing out of reach, but more useful is the ability to grab the 'aggro' of enemy casters or the boss from a distance. Clearly, don't do this if you do not have a good plan for how to deal with them afterwards! Note that the pure archer is rare, and frankly not always useful, so mix it in with other roles.
 * Usual classes - Ranger, Fighter.
 * Usual races - Elf, Drow, Human
 * Can combine with tank, DPS, trapsmith

Healer
Good healing (not to be confused with the almost useless Heal skill) is essential in many dungeons, and guarantees your character more invitations to groups than any other profession. You need to be able to keep track of the health of a dozen people while juggling multiple hotkeys, and stoicism helps, to enjoy playing what is essentially a support role. Adding capabilities like offensive casting and crowd control makes the role both more challenging and more rewarding.
 * Usual classes - Cleric, Favored Soul,
 * Usual races - Human, Dwarf, Halfling.
 * Can combine with buffer, crowd control, caster.

Buffer
This is another support role that can make all the difference. You not only prepare the party with defensive buffs before opening the door, but also enhance the DPS dealt with timely short-term buffs like haste. Bards have songs, which add yet more power to a melee fighter's elbow. Note that Bards, Clerics and Wizards have different buffs, while Rangers and Paladins have a small set of Cleric buffs.
 * Usual classes - Cleric, Bard, Wizard
 * Usual races - Human, Warforged, Drow.
 * Can combine with healer, crowd control, tank

Caster
The word always implied before "caster" is "offensive". Your main job is blasting mobs of enemies or taking out that one tough boss, and many fight strategies are built around the use of Firewall. You will often have certain specific buffs, and should have the Repair spell to fix Warforged.
 * Usual classes - Wizard, Sorcerer.
 * Usual races - Warforged, Drow.
 * Can combine with buffer.

Trapsmith
The thief finds secret doors, disarms traps and unlocks everything that can be unlocked. There are parts of certain dungeons where sending one shadowy figure around the back can avoid many minutes of hacking through enemies. But the best thieves are also assassins, creeping up on an enemy for a sneak attack. The sneak attack bonus keeps adding at every other level, so stay with Rogue if you want to become a back-stabbing assassin. However even one level of Rogue unlocks ‘Disable’ etc., and enough skill to be useful with the right skill points and equipment, so this is a common second profession. (Note, if taking a Rogue level, always make it the first one to maximise the initial skill points on character creation.)
 * Usual classes – Rogue, Ranger, Bard
 * Usual races - Elf, Drow, Halfling
 * Can combine with DPS, archer, buffer

Specialists
Crowd Control [needs expanding]

Undead slayer [needs expanding]

Selecting members for a group
Clearly there are more possible roles than the number of places in a group. As a bare minimum you need enough DPS and some healing, but beyond that is a judgement call. Most roles can be combined, few quests need all of them, and different quests have different priorities.

The first consideration is which quest are you doing. Prior knowledge is best, but even without it the game setting and the story usually offer clues. How does the dungeon relate to the characters' levels? Will it have traps, or locked doors? Will the quest have runes that need Strength, Intelligence, or Wisdom to open? What might the boss vulnerable to?

The second variable is your own playstyle. Will you be creeping carefully or zerging against the clock? Do you play a tank and healer pairing or rely on casters blasting away?

Simple questions like these suggest which character roles to look for when advertising for members in the Social panel, or alternatively, which quest your current group should be considering.

Combining roles
Many players find playing a pure specialist to be limiting, and so their characters have both a primary and secondary role. Common examples are given in the list above, but if a particular secondary activity lends itself to your play-style and your character's best statistics, then try it out.

This adds fun and flexibility at low and mid levels, but becomes less useful in the higher levels of the game. Later on, going solo or in small groups becomes more difficult, and the raids at end game levels, with parties of twelve and extreme challenges, favour the use of specialised characters leading to the so-called 'Min/Max" builds.

Special Techniques
[needs expanding]

The wall
[needs expanding]

The doorway
[needs expanding]

The pull
[needs expanding]

The kite (and when not to use it)
[needs expanding]

Build Examples
You should expect your first character or two to be 'learning experiences'. Only after you have a good feel for how fighting in groups works, and you have decided which roles you want to aim for, should you invest time in your first serious character build.

Straightforward builds;
 * Starting a Barbarian - DPS
 * Starting a Bard - buffer
 * Starting a Cleric - healer
 * Starting a Fighter - tank
 * Starting a Favored Soul - healer
 * Starting a Monk - DPS
 * Starting a Paladin - tank
 * Starting a Ranger - archer
 * Starting a Rogue - trapsmith
 * Starting a Sorcerer - caster
 * Starting a Wizard - caster

More complicated builds;
 * Bastion of Light - tank then healer
 * Benedictine Healer - healer then CC
 * Dwarven Footman - tank then DPS
 * Elven Bladesinger - DPS then caster
 * Elven Mage - caster then CC
 * Floating Leaf - DPS then tank
 * Forest Warden - pure DPS
 * Frenzied Brute - DPS then tank
 * Hired Blade - DPS then trapsmith
 * Lyrical Poet - CC then buff
 * Reformed Thief - pure DPS
 * The Gladiator - tank then DPS
 * Whirling Dervish - pure DPS
 * Syndeo's Guide to Being an Effective Cleric - heal then buff
 * Syndeo's Guide to Being a Revered Ranger - Archer then DPS
 * Syndeo's Guide to Being a Respected Rogue - trapsmith then DPS

Read more about Powergaming Groups for a more analytical approach on how to inflict the most damage on those mobs.