Hi from raid noob land

[Skabanis]

<div>I know this has been brought up over and over here but didnt want to troll over old ideas...</div><div> </div><div>we know rangers are flava of the month in terms or dps...what do swashies bring to table in raid...them verse assasins brigands rangers...any help plz thank you...and yeah seems the best players in game play swashies...at least the koolest...</div>

[Luk]

<div></div>Raiding as a swashy is not about pure DPS, our utility in raiding is mostly to do with helping the tank, buffing their hate, reducing damage done, I view our DPS (though still quite good) as secondary to the assistance we give the tank on a raid.

[Elt]

<div>I'm going to answer this question solely from my viewpoint on a raid. </div><div> </div><div>As a raider, my number 1 priority is to debuff constantly.  Now since the majority of our debuffs come also in damage form, this does not mean that we have to sacrifice DPS.  As for buffing the tank, well I am never in the main tank group, it just seems that our lack of group buffs is not worth the effort.  With the exception of Rangers (broker or not out DPSing an entire raid by 200 is a little silly) we have some of the highest DPS on any raid mob that cons the same color to us as our predator counterparts. </div><div> </div><div>Just remember, if we were not debuffing physical resists, magic resists and defense along with many other things (such as DPS), the entire raid DPS would be down.  </div>

[Syrano]

<div></div><p>Your two best friends on a raid are Flash of Steel and Lung Puncture.  This is what you bring to the table.  Reducing base DPS output of the mob by %30 or more is nothing to sneeze at.  Then as an added whallop reducing all attack skills of the mob by 42-56 points (another 10 levels or so) is again a huge damage output reducer.</p><p>For added measure we have a host of mitigation and stat debuffs but these are ancillary to the above two skills.  Primarily because other classes already have mitigation debuffs. </p><p>On any encounter I make sure FoS and Lung P are always on the mob, then I worry about things like Deriding Chicanery (defense debuff) and mitigations.</p><p>As for damage output on a raid?  Not really my concern, between AE's, Jousts, and all that craziness, I do what I can to keep my debuffs on, sneak in some big hits here and there but I try not to worry about it.  You can bet though, if there's lots of AE's, I'm tossing knives when I'm not in range.</p>

[Sadpandaa]

<div></div><div></div><blockquote><p></p><hr><p>Skabanis' quote says:</p><div>Crush Thy Enemies See them Run From The Field!!!Hear The Lamantation Of Their Woman!!!Conan The Barabarian on The Meaning of LIfe!!!</div><hr></blockquote><div>Technically, the quote should be:</div><div> </div><div>To crush your enemies!</div><div>To see them driven before you!</div><div>And to hear the lamentations of their woman!</div><div>- Conan the Barbarian on what is good in life</div><div> </div><div>I hate to be all "off-topic" and "nitpicky" but.... do you really expect more from me?</div><div> </div><div>Sorry, back to your "raid" talk, now....</div>

[Luk]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Syrano wrote:<div></div><p>Your two best friends on a raid are Flash of Steel and Lung Puncture.  .</p><hr></blockquote>I would also add to this Gaudy Strike, (-144 INT) will also reduce the damage the mob is doing.

[Skabanis]

<div></div>Keep them coming!!! and thanks...

[Syrano]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>I would also add to this Gaudy Strike, (-144 INT) will also reduce the damage the mob is doing.<hr></blockquote>Query: This should apply to spell damage only, but does it also apply to AE damage?  Anyone know?