Best two player 4e dynamic

[Sploosh]

A friend and I are interested in a 4e game with just two people as players. Normally I would just go with two dual role classes like a paladin and a strikery controller. I would love any input here on possible class combos that syngergize well.

My real issue comes with the fact that the games will be premades that expect a group of 4 or 5 players. The person DMing is brand new to 4e and thus would not actually be modifying anything if possible. That is the real question: can a group of two players handle fights made for 4 or 5? If so, what would allow them to do it? Is there a threshold? Does it only last for X levels or start at Y levels?

What sprang to mind was a prenerf battleranger dwarf and a warlord. The dwarf should hit hard enough to be a threat to bad guys, the THP would make marked minions and whatnot pretty moot at the lower levels and the defender stickyness can keep the bad guys away so the leader can lead.

Thoughts?

[Evard]

Cleric and Wizard are my choices since you have the healing from the cleric along with some bada$$ powers... And a wizard that can do damage every round no matter what (magic missile). Paladin would work in place of the cleric though :P PLus having all those wizard goodies will help out a lot...

One can be a ritual caster and the other a alchemical caster also :)

[Excession]

That is the real question: can a group of two players handle fights made for 4 or 5? If so, what would allow them to do it? Is there a threshold? Does it only last for X levels or start at Y levels?

I think you're in for a world of hurt. It's going to be very hard for two characters to have the damage to burn through the enemies' hit points while also having the survivability to stay alive while they do it.

You might be able to do something with a bow Ranger and/or a crossbow rogue, relying on stealth, long range, and burst damage. It wouldn't work though, because without the DM playing along you won't have the correct initial engagement ranges, favourable terrain, and so on to really make the combo work.

I would strongly recommend that the DM learns the encounter building rules and reduces the encounters to match the party. It's really not that hard; a lot easier than building characters twice as good as they should be.

[Evard]

Nah most encounters made for 4-5 are to easy for 3 players sooo 2 players shouldn't be to bad

[Excession]

Let's just say I don't share your confidence.

[Evard]

By the book encounters... My group of mildly optimized players bet the pants off them... in like 3 rounds (with a solo brute or whatever its called)

I had to boost the level and abilities of monsters to make it a fair fight ... and even then they were only mildly challenging...

[Mando Knight]

(with a solo brute or whatever its called)

Solos are generally broken one way or another. Either they've been given powers that overcompensate for the action economy, or they can't handle it at all. Tiamat has 5 each of Standard and Minor actions each round, on top of high movement rates, at-will teleportation, Immediate actions that refresh for each head's turn, immunity to perpetual daze or stun, and so forth, making her a rather tough monster to take down. Most other Solos, however, are easily outmaneuvered by the party (even if it's just 3 of them), and can't handle both the Defender and the Striker at the same time (ignore the Striker, and she hits for massive damage. Ignore the Defender, and he hits you again for it... unless he's a Shielding Swordmage, in which case you might just have missed bloodying or dropping that Striker). Dragons in general are good examples of monsters that at least try to avoid this problem: they've got recharging area attacks thanks to their breath weapon, and generally an at-will attack power that lashes out at multiple foes with melee basics in one standard action, as well as superior mobility compared to nearly all adventuring parties.

Try a group of monsters with synergistic roles: Soldiers to lock down the Defenders, Skirmishers to slip around to the flank and spike the artillery, Controllers to keep the players from stopping the frontliners, Brutes to smash soft targets (especially those with high HP but low defenses), Artillery to smack the back from far off or provide fire support for the Soldiers, Minions to swarm (hindering Defenders from keeping the real targets marked, provide flanks for the big guys, etc.), and Lurkers to sneak about and lash out from the darkness.

[Eorran]

I've played a number of 2 PC games, though they haven't used premade modules. One thing I've noticed is at Paragon and Epic levels, the PCs should have enough versatility through multiclass or item powers to get by.

My favorite combo was a Paladin and a Sorcerer. The Pally handled both Defender and Leader roles, while the Sorcerer took the Controller and Striker.

Advice - give the PCs generous stats. High sencondary or tertiary scores can make a difference.
If things aren't working, try a companion character (rules in the DMG2, basically a modified NPC or monster who follows the party and helps out without requiring full PC bookkeeping).
For the DM, suggest that if the fight has reached the point where everyone's just plinking away with at-wills, and no one's really changing tactics, call the fight over and declare the winner.
Also consider allowing more frequent rests. The group has less than half the total number of dailies that a 5-man group would.

[WinWin]

A pair of shielding swordmages. Each taking as many expanded aegis powers and feats as possible. To contribute further, I would suggest Hybrid. One Swordmage/warlock and one Swordmage/Wizard.

Could work toward an Arcane Slasher combo at Paragon for major DPR.

[Anasazi]

I have this two team combo that's worker pretty well for me in the past, battlemind|swordmage and pacifist cleric. if you play with the pref nerf rules for the astral seal you can do a good job at keeping the defender up. The defender can keep up to 3 targets marked without any effort. Combined with the effects of White Lotus, swordburst does a fair amount of damage per round.
Its not a perfect combo but its pretty rock solid for most fights. at level 2 my buddy and I where able to bring down a level 6 encounter. Not too shabby of a team considering we had no magic items.

[Evard]

All in all... Monsters in 4e I think are rather weak compared to the 3.5 monsters... Which is a good/bad thing. This allows for more epic battles with more monsters. And they don't even have to be all minions...

But I believe that 2 players can easily go through a 4e game with not much of a problem if not then have the dm add a npc. I know for certain that 3 players can handle the standard monsters for a 5 wo/man party

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Watersoul Genasi Taclord:
Wield a Greatspear, and place your primary focus on optimizing using your ally. This means using things like the Commander's Strike and Wolf Pack Tactics at-wills to pimp out his already high DPR and/or moving him around to further get the most activity out of your mutual turns.

Bugbear Rageblood Barbarian:
Wield a Large Executioner Axe and focus on hitting hard, hitting often, and staying alive. Pimping out your basic attack will be the key to dishing out the hurt to solos and brutes. There is something really sexy about a level one character being able to toss out an encounter power with a +6 attack bonus that deals 23-47 damage.

Together, the pair just needs to work on getting some AOE attacks going to compliment their tremendous spike potential. With a tertiary goal of building for longevity (via heals, temporary hp, and the like), the pair should do quite well.

[Poison_Fish]

Rogue + a Rogue. Think about it.