Which AA's are you going to pick?

[Picc]

<div></div><div></div><div>Hey all,</div><div> </div><div>Not to downplay Aegis Crown's <font color="#ffffff">post (it is/was great!), but since launch it is obviouls some things have changed.  :smileymad:</font></div><div> </div><div>I'm wondering if many of you would change what you said you were going to pick now that the system has been released.</div><div> </div><div>Personally I thinking of working both the agility and intelligence line.  Agil for more DPS (faster casting = more dmg) and Int for reducing agro due to all the damage I'll be dishing out.  :smileywink:</div><div> </div><div>Your thoughts?</div><p>Message Edited by Picc on <span class="date_text">02-22-2006</span><span class="time_text">10:56 AM</span></p>

[Severed Ha]

<div>Still sticking to my plan of the follow basically.</div><div>Str-  4-4-5-8</div><div>Wis- 4-4-4-8-8</div><div> </div><div>Depending on what the skills look like as I progress I may or may not change it some.</div>

[Trollb]

<div>If i was a human/ogre with them + defense thingies, i would choose stam/wisdom for them that wants to pretend to tank.</div><div> </div><div>But im troll, so mostly dpser so maybe str/agi, or if aggro becomes an issue, int. The thing is that the not getting hit at all for 12 seconds, seems like quite the priceless skill. So maybe agi/stam.</div><div> </div><div>It seems our chances of being able to tank just improved (i personally suck at it, but thats me).</div><div> </div>

[Dakkon_10]

<div>I'll Probably go Mostly into Wisdom, and start using a 1hander (three of the skills require no secondary)</div><div> </div><div>I think the double attacks gained by using a 1hander can out dps using two dual wield, plus there are the ripost,parry,deflect attacks as well</div><div> </div><div>Fencer is the way for me</div>

[SageGaspar]

I'm thinking about STR, but it depends on how much that CA timer increase works, whether it works on epics, and if people would even want me using it on epics because it might screw with AE timers.I'd really like INT for deaggro and FD, and WIS because it fits my character. I'm not really sure that the WIS based stuff will out damage dual wield, though. Doesn't seem like it'll make up for twice the auto-attacks, and most one-handers don't have that huge of an improvement over dual wields.<div></div>

[m0ya]

<div></div>I'm going wisdom because it rock ... and Int for FD and all the de-aggro (usefull in raid <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> )

[Syrano]

<div></div><p>I'm still torn.  I think I'm going WIS -> AGI.  A one handed, rapier wielding Fencer sounds cool.  Rapier and Dagger is my thing though however I couldn't find a matching setup I liked.  AGI -> INT, didn't really want to do all the weapon swapping.  However, now that a lot of the dagger requirements seem gone from the INT line it is *really* appealing.</p><p>I know another swash going INT->STR.  Pure raid mode, INT for the de-aggro's and STR for the de-buffs that will likely require the de-aggro's <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  And he's in the top tier raiding guild on Permafrost, was in the beta for KoS... so it made me pause for a second as well.</p><p>I'd *love* to experiment with STR-STA or AGI-STA but not something I'm going to put time into right now.  I imagine STA will be the least used line of the bunch, as nice as extra tanking skills are and as big a fan I am of us and our off-tank capability, it is a *secondary* role for us at best and not something highly valuable AP points are worth spending on unless you are strictly a solo swash or a duo/trio swash who is always MT and never plans on being anything but.</p><p>I see a lot of value in a STR-WIS swash, and if I was a bigger fan of raw swords that'd be my choice.</p><p>AGI-INT probably the best line for rapier/dagger folks.  With AGI-STR being the hardest to pull off (that rapier/sword requirement might get annyoing), however it is, oddly enough, the best matched t omy current gear (where I swap a prismatic shortsword and my cobalt sabre regularly). </p><p>Sooo many viable choices.  But that Fencer title is just too damned tempting.</p><p> </p>

[Oxie]

<div>One good thing about going with a 1 hander and nothing in the secondary would be that you'd only have to find one rare forage to make the 1 hander, as compared to having to track down two rare forages for the typical 1 slasher/ 1 piercer combo.</div><div> </div><div>I have 1 cobalt piercer, 1 cobalt slasher, and my prismatic 1 dual wield slasher. I've not gotten my prismatic 2 from Godking yet, so I'm now pondering on picking the 1 hander version (slash?/pierce?) instead of getting the dual wield piercer.</div><div> </div><div>I really hate that Sony is taking us away from the original concept of how this scout/rogue/swashbucker progression has come over the past year+. First, it was our ranged combat arts going away from bow-based, and then we ended up with sub-par throwing weapon slings that can't be imbued and the stats are not even close to the rare wood bows. Now, they're pointing our AA progression towards using a 1 handed weapon without a shield in our off hand or using a 1 hander and a shield.</div><div> </div><p>Next they're going to turn us into leather-only wearers, because of the "suede/leather/frilly sleeves" look that people rogues should have with our feathered hats.  :smileymad:</p>

[Syrano]

<div></div><div></div><blockquote><hr>Oxie wrote:<div>Now, they're pointing our AA progression towards using a 1 handed weapon without a shield in our off hand or using a 1 hander and a shield.<hr></div></blockquote><p>Actually I don't see that as true at all.  I'm not sure why everyone is gravitating towards the WIS line thinking it's the only choice.  The specials it has *offset* the lack of an off-hander, but I don't see it as doing *more* damage than dual-wielding. </p><p>If you want to dual wield we have 3 lines for that. AGI, STR, INT.  Your choice of rapier, sword or dagger main hand.  You *could* take STA to round out your options, but I'd argue AGI/STR + INT is the best way, given INT's got only one ability that requires a dagger in the main hand and it's a nominal one at that (puts you in stealth after doing minor damage).   </p><p>WIS is the *only* line requiring a one-handed weapon, unless you factor STA which gives you options when using a shield, which I imagine you wouldn't always be doing if you weren't tanking.  And again, the WIS line doesn do more damage than dual-wielding, it's rank 4 ability seems speficially designed so that you can counter-act the loss of an off-hander.  And it's rank 5 is just an attack skill boost to allow you to hit more, as it stands, at 60th, I have no trouble hitting any mob in Tier 6.  Tier 7 may change things but the jury is still out.</p><p>WIS to me has always been a choice of style, not effectiveness.  It's only true mechanic benefit is that you no longer have to worry about finding a good off-hander.  The downside being that you are now competing for weapons right alongside tanks... unless you go WIS/AGI as they don't use rapiers.</p><p>Message Edited by Syrano on <span class="date_text">02-23-2006</span><span class="time_text">01:01 PM</span></p>

[Snapdragyn]

<div></div><p></p><hr>But that Fencer title is just too damned tempting.<p></p><hr><p> </p><p>OK, this is the second reference I've seen to titles from AA. Are these actually in? How many points do you have to spend to get them? A cleric in my guild claims to have an AA title after spending only 3 points (haven't been in same zone as him ingame since KoS launch to verify), yet the 4 points I've spent (1 into Pickpocket, 3 into Agi) have not led to a new title on my Persona: Details page.</p><p>Are the titles a rumor, or am I bugged?</p>

[ilucife]

<div></div>at first i was kinda warry about the wis line and the empty off hand, but really its going to be pretty amazing.hers what im doingwis aa's=~24 points, 4-4-8-8 (skipping last rank, not as big an upgrade for 8 aa's)   not sure of the % on the double attacks OR if they stack, i think they will (going to be [Removed for Content] if they dont) we should have about an 80% chance to double attack.   now if you use a sandstorm, and hurricane, thats a pretty [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] powerful combination, ecspecially if poison procs off of double attack. we are     not going to loose much in the way or ID (not sure what the new one is called) b/c i honestly do not think it is going to be fixed. one note though, i think for one to  justify using this you would have to have at the very least 16 aa's to spend as the loss from dps from not DW would be kinda high. but i dunno, i maybe wrongfrom here im not sure but,str=8, just puting 8 to get the +32 stragi=8 again just for statsint=again just for proc dd increseorwis=for resistsnow if you just take the first rank from any branch you more than make up for stat losses on the offhand, and since we just proc weapon effects of secondary your just loosing 300 or so dmg every few minutes (made up by double attack, and 1h higher chance to proc).the problem that arrises when you try to mix branches is trying to find weapons that satisfy more than one braches requirement. from what i can remeber right now(im doing like 3 diff things) rapiers are DW, so you would be loosing some dps if you used that with sta, or wis.anyhow thats my plan...i just go for dps, i think alot of the debuffs etc, are going to get the "does not work on epics" tag. which is lame, but id rather look ahead then get [Removed for Content] later.<p>Message Edited by iluciferi on <span class="date_text">02-23-2006</span><span class="time_text">10:11 AM</span></p>

[overfloat]

<div></div><p>I was tempted by WIS because of the style, but the practicality of it is leaving me cold. Short of seeing cold, hard data, I'm a little wary of throwing hard-earned AA points at a line that will show little/no benefit until it's already soaked up a whole bunch of points. I'm also still disappointed about the 1H weapon situation, because our actual choice will be very limited -- but that's mainly a cosmetic thing (though I worry about how many decent scout-usable 1H weapons there are from quests or drops).</p><p>I've liked the INT line from the word go, even after Boot Dagger lost its de-aggro factor (dangit <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />). The reactive proc on INT.3 is really kinda dumb, but INT.4 and INT.5 are really my aim. Unless WIS is demonstrated to have significant advantages over regular DW (in which case /respec later), INT is the only line I currently plan to max out.</p><p>Other than that, I'll probably spread points across STR and AGI. <em>Possibly</em> I might just max out STR. I'll probably start with the INT line, though. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p> </p><blockquote><hr>Snapdragyn wrote:<div></div><p></p><p>Are the titles a rumor, or am I bugged?</p><hr></blockquote><p>Last word from a Dev in beta was that AA titles would <u>not</u> be implemented at this time, the reason being that respeccing would make it too easy for everyone to get every title. That said, they did like the idea, didn't discount it entirely, and they did add "styles" to each of the AA branch descriptions (e.g.: Blackguard, Pirate, Mercenary, Fencer, Thief - for rogues) as a compromise after people suggested titles.</p>

[the flu]

My plan is to get agi 1, then 1 pt in agi 2 for the turn around- seems that would be a soloer's dream. The rest of the line doesn't thrill me.After that, I plan on putting 4 pts in each of the Int line, and of course 8 in Int. 5After that I am torn- either take wis or sta up to rank 4. Sta. for the role play aspect (My swash is a treasure hunter/merc) or wis for the style of being one handed. Loosing the rank 5 ability of those lines makes the decision a tough choice, though at that point I may respec out of agil completely makeing that not much of an issue.<div></div>

[overfloat]

<div></div><p>Ohhh....</p><p> </p><p>I just noticed something about the WIS branch that I completely overlooked before. <font size="1">(Not sure if everyone else did or if I'm just dumb...)</font></p><p>Lunge Reversal <u>isn't</u> as good as En Garde, like we <font size="1"> (me?)</font>  were thinking.</p><p>In fact, it's not even close. Look again at the wording of the description:</p><p> </p><blockquote dir="ltr"><p><font color="#00ffff"><strong></strong></font></p><hr>Wisdom Branch - Level 2<i>Lunge Reversal</i> <font size="3"><strong><font color="#ff0000">The next time</font></strong> </font>the Fencer or an enemy attacking the Fencer uses a defensive maneuver to avoid an attack, the Fencer returns with a melee attack. 20 sec duration. 20 sec recast. Offhand EMPTY required.Rank4: If target parries, ripostes, blocks, etc, inflict 249-416 melee dmg. Rank5: 285-475 dmg. Rank8: 356-594 dmg.<hr></blockquote><p> </p><p>Compare to En Garde:</p><p> </p><blockquote><hr><strong><font size="3" color="#ff0000">Almost every time</font></strong> an enemy parries, blocks, ripostes, or deflects the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler is granted anothre chance to attack. Almost every time the swashbuckler parries, ripostes, or blocks an enemy, the swashbuckler isgranted another chance to attack.<hr></blockquote><p> </p><p>Lunge Reversal = <strong>one</strong> extra attack <u>only</u>, once every 20s.</p><p>En Garde = extra attacks on 80% of <strong>all</strong> defensive maneuvres in the 30s duration.</p><p> </p><p>Ok, the WIS line is looking worse and worse. Without fail, you <u>will</u> lose DPS until you have Rank 5 or higher in Unencumberance (total of 17+ AA points spent in the WIS branch). Pretty much the only way to actually increase your DPS will be to max out the branch completely (or at least max out WIS.4 and take WIS.5). Too expensive an investment for me, I'll be putting my points elsewhere.</p>

[MasterGlutt]

<div></div><p>:smileysad:</p><p> </p><p>Am I the only one that is going to put more points into the theiving ability?  Seems like it would be fun!  Any reason I would not wish to?</p>

[SageGaspar]

Wouldn't freehand reversal give you 80% just with the first four, and then you get 24ish% with unencumberance? Add in higher damage for a one-hander and it increases damage.<div></div>

[SageGaspar]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>MasterGlutton wrote:<div></div><p>:smileysad:</p><p> </p><p>Am I the only one that is going to put more points into the theiving ability?  Seems like it would be fun!  Any reason I would not wish to?</p><hr></blockquote>I don't think you can <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />It says stealing has a maximum rank of 1 on mine.</span></div>

[Wildfury77]

Hi, i'm Going to focus on <font color="#ffff00"><b><i>stamina </i></b></font>line....i love the idea of being versatile and I think with an adept IV taunt, and the rest of that line we can become a decent DPS/Light tank. Good for solo/small groups.Given that i'm going to have a shield again.....what should i put the spare points in? Strength? to get the +defense? Any ideas <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><b><font size="4" color="#ff0000">SHADOWSCREAM 55 swashie/57 jeweler (Befallen)</font></b><div></div>

[Sabatini]

Current plan is to go Pirate/Fencer (a.k.a. Agility/Wisdom). Seems the lines that sound most fun to me are also the ones that fit my Swashbuckler best RP wise.

[Bishop]

<div></div><div><p><b><span><font color="#ffffff">Strength Branch - Level 1</font></span></b><span><font color="#ffffff"><i>Blackguard's Strength</i> Increases the Blackguard's strength. Passive Spell.Rank4: STR +16.<b>Agility Branch - Level 1</b><i>Pirate's Agility</i> Increases the Pirate's agility. Passive Spell.Rank5: AGI +25.</font></span></p><p><b><span><font color="#ffffff">Stamina Branch - Level 1</font></span></b><span><font color="#ffffff"><i>Mercenary's Stamina</i> Increases the Mercenary's Stamina. Passive SpellRank4: STA +24.<b>Stamina Branch - Level 2</b><i>Swear</i> In-Encounter taunt. Roundshield Required. 20 sec recast.Rank4: 577-705  Threat.</font></span></p><p><span></span><span><font color="#ffffff"><b>Stamina Branch - Level 3</b><i>Conditioning</i> Increases max hit points. Passive Spell.Rank8: 8.0%</font></p><p></span><b><span><font color="#ffffff">Wisdom Branch - Level 1</font></span></b><span><font color="#ffffff"><i>Fencer's Wisdom</i> Increases the Fencer's Wisdom. Passive Spell.Rank4:WIS +32.<b>Wisdom Branch - Level 2</b><i>Lunge Reversal</i> The next time the Fencer or an enemy attacking the Fencer uses a defensive maneuver to avoid an attack, the Fencer returns with a melee attack. 20 sec duration. 20 sec recast. Offhand EMPTY required.Rank4: If target parries, ripostes, blocks, etc, inflict 249-416 melee dmg.</font></span></p><p><span><font color="#ffffff"><b>Wisdom Branch - Level 3</b><i>Freehand Reversal</i> Increases riposte and Parry chance. Passive Spell.Rank4: Caster will riposte 4.0% of frontal, and Parry for same % attacks from other quadrants.</font></span></p><span><p><font color="#000000"><font color="#ffffff"><b>Wisdom Branch - Level 4</b><i>Unencumberence</i> Double attack chance buff. Passive Spell.Rank8: 66%.<b>Wisdom Branch - Level 5</b><i>Coule</i> Offensive Skill Buff. Passive Spell.</font></font></p><p>Rank1: Slashing, Piercing, Ranged +39.</p><font color="#000000"><font color="#ffffff"></font></font></span></div><div><span><font color="#000000"><p><font color="#ffffff">I don't like reactive abilities that you have to "pop"...I'm more the passive "always on" kinda guy.</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff"></font> </p><p><font color="#ffffff">However the template of -</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff">STR 4-4-4-8</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff">WIS 4-4-4-8-8</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff">looks interesting as well.</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff">Decided to move away from the abilites that required a weapon that wasn't DW until I'm sure that there are nice weapons out there that either match or beat DW weapons.</font></p><p><font color="#ffffff">I'm open to any comments on my setup btw......still have plenty of time to decide <img width="16" border="0" src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" height="16"></font></p><p><font color="#ffffff"></font> </p></font></span></div>

[ophidius]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>BishopNZ wrote:<div></div><font color="#ffffff">Decided to move away from the abilites that required a weapon that wasn't DW until I'm sure that there are nice weapons out there that either match or beat DW weapons.</font><div><span><font color="#000000"><p><font color="#ffffff">I'm open to any comments on my setup btw......still have plenty of time to decide <img width="16" border="0" src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" height="16"></font></p></font></span></div><hr></blockquote>The Wisdom line requires an empty offhand, i.e. one handed weapons.</span></div>

[Luk]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Rank1: Slashing, Piercing, Ranged +39.<hr></blockquote><p>Please note that WIS 5 changed on release, as it currently stands to me at lvl 60 (don't know if it scales with level)</p><p>Increase Slashing, Piercing, Ranged, Defense and Parry by 14.4</p>

[Picc]

<div></div><p>This is all really good info...kinda reminds me of old SWG days when trying to pick the best template to PvP or for your Jedi.  Hee hee.</p><p>Let's keep the ideas flowing.</p><p> </p>

[Bishop]

<blockquote><hr>ophidius wrote:<div><span><blockquote><hr>BishopNZ wrote:<div></div><font color="#ffffff">Decided to move away from the abilites that required a weapon that wasn't DW until I'm sure that there are nice weapons out there that either match or beat DW weapons.</font><div><span><font color="#000000"><p><font color="#ffffff">I'm open to any comments on my setup btw......still have plenty of time to decide <img width="16" border="0" src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" height="16"></font></p></font></span></div><hr></blockquote>The Wisdom line requires an empty offhand, i.e. one handed weapons.</span></div><hr></blockquote>So very true....except for the last skill...but...does beg the question....is it worth going all the way?

[SageGaspar]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>BishopNZ wrote:<blockquote><hr>ophidius wrote:<div><span><blockquote><hr>BishopNZ wrote:<div></div><font color="#ffffff">Decided to move away from the abilites that required a weapon that wasn't DW until I'm sure that there are nice weapons out there that either match or beat DW weapons.</font><div><span><font color="#000000"><p><font color="#ffffff">I'm open to any comments on my setup btw......still have plenty of time to decide <img width="16" border="0" src="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif" height="16"></font></p></font></span></div><hr></blockquote>The Wisdom line requires an empty offhand, i.e. one handed weapons.</span></div><hr></blockquote>So very true....except for the last skill...but...does beg the question....is it worth going all the way?<hr></blockquote>Depends, really. I bet it will help a lot going up against orange mobs or even high yellows, and also will counteract some (all?) of the negatives of defensive stance. For my money, it might be better to dump those points into straight STR, or maybe one of the deaggro or double attack skills (might even get more hits vs. oranges and such off double attacks than the stat boosts, but I have no idea).Good news is you have about five tries before it really costs ya to reset <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></div>

[Bishop]

<div></div><div></div><blockquote><hr><span>Good news is you have about five tries before it really costs ya to reset <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span><hr></blockquote><p>you go first <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p> </p><p>edit - smiley didn't work <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Message Edited by BishopNZ on <span class="date_text">02-24-2006</span><span class="time_text">10:59 PM</span></p>

[Keyh]

<span><blockquote><hr>Licit wrote:<div></div><blockquote><hr>Rank1: Slashing, Piercing, Ranged +39.<hr></blockquote><p>Please note that WIS 5 changed on release, as it currently stands to me at lvl 60 (don't know if it scales with level)</p><p>Increase Slashing, Piercing, Ranged, Defense and Parry by 14.4</p><hr></blockquote>That's actually not bad, I honestly like it, maybe a slight increase (20) would make it awesome. But adding the defense and parry is great.</span><div></div>

[Syrano]

<div></div><p>It would actually make defensive stance the way to go against yellow mobs or lower.  That's not a bad thinig.  You wouldn't need the extra attack skill on those mobs. </p><p> </p><p>Curious, how/where do we reset skills?  Not that I want to, just haven't found any information on how you'd go about getting some points back if you change your mind.</p>

[SageGaspar]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Syrano wrote:<div></div><p>It would actually make defensive stance the way to go against yellow mobs or lower.  That's not a bad thinig.  You wouldn't need the extra attack skill on those mobs. </p><p> </p><p>Curious, how/where do we reset skills?  Not that I want to, just haven't found any information on how you'd go about getting some points back if you change your mind.</p><hr></blockquote>I know in Qeynos it's in the mage tower, if I recall up the teleporter that has Rune Shimmerstar, you just talk to the guy and ask him to reset it. 1s the first time, goes up by a factor of ten each time.I assume for FP it would be in the mage building as well.</span></div>

[Iseabeil]

<div>Im goin wis line all way to the last one. Hopefully the dubble attacks will make up for the lack of an extra blade, But as a 60 raiding swashie in DoF, I had issues at times getting stuff to stick on orange x4's wich means Im not debuffing at full.</div><div>Im considering Int line as second, not totally sure on that one tho.</div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Elt]

<div></div><p>As most seem to be I am also stuck between Agi and Wis.  Yesterday in Temple of Scaleborn I picked up "Scalesplitter" a 1hander with a 58.5 damage rating (not in front of me is that is .5 off or so) that also adds to parry, slashing and 20 to str and 10 to agi.  If this is a level 60 legendary, what stops a better weapon from being around later for 70?  I think the wisdom line shows alot of promise.</p><p>What I don't understand is why alot of you aren't considering the 25% cast and more importantly reduction option in the agi line.  If you want more DPS then why not take this and increase the amount of times you can cast Ruthless Cunning, the Finess Line and ID.  Yes its expensive, but to me that alone is worth the 24 AA points required.</p>

[the flu]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Eltee wrote:<div></div></blockquote></span><span><blockquote><p>What I don't understand is why alot of you aren't considering the 25% cast and more importantly reduction option in the agi line.  If you want more DPS then why not take this and increase the amount of times you can cast Ruthless Cunning, the Finess Line and ID.  Yes its expensive, but to me that alone is worth the 24 AA points required.</p><hr></blockquote>It affects cast and recover time, not recast time (cast being obvious, recast being the time between completeing the cast and when you can do something else). So there is no increase in the number of times you can cast abilities, just how fast you can do burst damage.</span></div>

[Syrano]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>the fluke wrote:<div><span><blockquote><hr>Eltee wrote:<div></div></blockquote></span><span><blockquote><p><font color="#ff0000">What I don't understand is why alot of you aren't considering the 25% cast and more importantly reduction option in the agi line</font>.  If you want more DPS then why not take this and increase the amount of times you can cast Ruthless Cunning, the Finess Line and ID.  Yes its expensive, but to me that alone is worth the 24 AA points required.</p><hr></blockquote><font color="#ff0000">It affects cast and recover time, not recast time </font>(cast being obvious, recast being the time between completeing the cast and when you can do something else). So there is no increase in the number of times you can cast abilities, just how fast you can do burst damage.</span></div><hr></blockquote><p>I'm seriously considering AGI.  It dawned on me solo'ing last night that the AGI final AP skill would make it far easier for me to get my attacks in while the mob is cheap-shotted.  You can burst lung puncture, pillage and guile *sometimes* right now.  With that AGI ability you'd be able to do it every time, in under 6 seconds.    Could come in quite handy.</p><p>Though overall, I think AGI lines strength comes from the other abilities.</p><p>And I've seen scalesplitter, that thing was enough to make me consider STR/WIS instead as it's a 1H slasher.. and looks like a Katana.   A "Fencing" swashy using a katana as some unique RP appeal to me, though in the end I really still envision Syrano as a Rapier kind of guy.</p>

[SageGaspar]

After thinking it over again, I think I'm going to go up WIS and put full points in the double attack skills, then get the first two in STR for the crit reduction. Rest between INT1 and STR1. I really wanted that 10% aggro redux, but not enough to spend 20 points on it, I don't think. Now just need to find some neat 1H weapons.<div></div>

[Iseabeil]

<div>Had everythin thought out so well.. till I started thinking of the weapon itself... Goin wis all way looked great on paper, till it dawned.. Int line asks for dagger.. there are some one-handed daggers with nice stats... if ye are a mage.</div><div>The str line asks for sword, thats a lot easier, untill ye start to think of raidloot... DKP usually ends up giving dual weild slash/pierce to scouts, one/two handed to fighters...</div><div>I dont know if there are any fabled scout only 1handed in KoS, I sure never seen it in lvl 1-60 tho....</div><div> </div><div>Im prolly overreacting, but tanking isnt my thing, if it was Id made one.. Agi line has 2 lines i wouldnt consider useless... Str has a few nice thing, and ends up with the most useless end skill of all, and I see int more as support line then a line of its own...</div><div> </div><div>My lil mouse pirate is bout to turn one year old next month... But right now, I dunno if she will ever become much older.</div><div> </div><div>Bahh, need sleep, hopefully feeling better bout this when I wake up...</div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Bishop]

Bah....just noticed the ingame description for Unencumberence requires nothing in off hand...Well...now i have no idea what to get.....

[Dyd]

I'm going STR / AGI:STR: 4 - 8 - 4 - 8 = 24AGI: 4 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 8  = 24Reasoning:I'm in a raid guild - using STR I can still dual wield with a short sword in main (Currently Fang Of Laith the Ravager) and debuff a mobs critical hits. The higher chance of doing crits while help me do more DPS.Agi wise - getting the lower recast will mean I can keep up my buffs infinitly on mobs. For example, Lung Puncture has a 30 sec duration with a 30 sec recast. With the lower recast, it won't go down on a mob. Might not make a huge differnence, but will make it easier to keep debuffs up. Also this will help increase overall dps as arts refresh faster.<div></div>

[mayhem111]

<div></div>What named did you find that sword off of?  Need to get me that bugger as well.

[Mathe]

<div></div><p>I am really surprised how many people are doing WIS. Most of the points spent in it are just going to compensate for giving up duel wielding, and it is burning up a lot of points just to break even. I was expecting more AGI for Avast Ye, STR for Critical Hit improvement, and INT for Aggro loss. I was expecting AGI to be the main one from people misinterpreting the last ability's function.</p><p>I'm not overly surprised Mercenary isn't that popular. It has some nice things, but only for a really specialized type of role, that Rogues don't normally do much.</p><p>Personally, I'm going Fencer and Blackguard. For style mainly. I also solo quite a bit, so improving defense and parry are worthwhile to me.</p>

[Chakk]

<div>Wis all the way I think...I think...</div>

[Iseabeil]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Matheau wrote:<div></div><p>I am really surprised how many people are doing WIS. Most of the points spent in it are just going to compensate for giving up duel wielding, and it is burning up a lot of points just to break even. I was expecting more AGI for Avast Ye, STR for Critical Hit improvement, and INT for Aggro loss. I was expecting AGI to be the main one from people misinterpreting the last ability's function.</p><hr></blockquote><p>With so many high orange raid mobs, the ability to hit them is crucial for our debuffs. Almost all our important debuffs are combined with attacks, and even with offensive stance at adept3, I missed a lot when raiding in DoF before expansion. As long as the AA's scale, any increase in our ability to land attacks will be highly valuable in raids, as we are debuff first and dps second. If i wasnt raiding, I wouldnt go this path as its really not all that usefull soloing/grouping. Then again, if I wasnt raiding I might have done it just for 'style' as my swashie is a lil mouse pirate and dual wielding isnt all that fitting (hey, i play on a RP server afterall :p )</p><p> </p>

[CrazedMut]

<div>I went the DPS route in raids of STR line (Melee crit increase ftw!) and AGI line (Faster casting, recovery ftw!)</div>

[Kwikstri]

<div></div><p>First I’m going to list what I will not take and the reasons so everyone can rip it to pieces in their follow ups. :smileytongue: This argument is in favor of the DW style of play.</p><p>I won’t take any of the intelligence line.  INT.2 (Boot Dagger) requires a dagger as my primary weapon and I don’t want to use one.  Above that I already have agro reducing abilities sufficient to avoid attacks in a large group or raid.  In small groups, when I (rarely) tank, I’ll want to keep agro.  And solo these are a waste.</p><p>For reasons stated by others I want to use DW weapons.  I don’t see much improvement, if any, losing a weapon for the benefits from the wisdom line above WIS.2 (Cross).</p><p>Stamina:  The increased hit points are enticing, but the shield requirement on STA.4 (Opportunistic Cover) and the 12 second duration on STA.5 (Dodge) with a 5 minute recast timer aren’t appealing.</p><p>So now that I’ve rationalized the skills I’m NOT taking.  What should I take? The lines left are strength, agility, stamina through STA.3 (Conditioning), and wisdom through WIS.2 (Cross).</p><p>I believe every Swashbuckler would benefit from the agility line.  The increased combat movement, attack, and reuse rates is a tremendous help in all situations.  Looks like it was meant to be this way as agility is our primary stat.</p><p>Now it comes down to play style.</p><p>If you raid, you’ll want debuffs afforded by the strength line. By debuffs I mean the hit in casting time the enemy takes.  You wouldn’t want WIS.2 (Cross) because it’s not usable on epics.  The extra hit points afforded by the stamina line just aren’t useful as you should avoid agro anyway.</p><p>If you solo, or tank, strength or stamina would be beneficial.  Debuffs and increased defense by the strength line.  Or more hit points from the stamina line. Even WIS.2 (Cross) would help here.</p><p>Granted all of the above arguments may be mute as I am basing them on the information posted at the beginning of this thread.  Who knows how long the information will be correct.  As it stands now it looks as if AGI => STR gives the most balanced benefit for both Solo and Raid players.  Here’s how I have my path planned now.</p><p>Pickpocket     – 1AGI.1 (Deftness)    – 4 increase agilityAGI.2 (Calculated Riposte)   – 4 three ripostes every 5 minutes.AGI.3 (Buccaneer’s Stride)   – 4 always on personal pathfinding.AGI.4 (Buccaneer’s Haste)   – 8 always on personal haste. May decide against maxing this if I find I'm waiting on recast timers.AGI.5 (Rapidity)    – 8 always on recast timer reduction.STR.1 (Strength of the Blackguard)  – 4 increase strength.STR.2 (Torporous Strike)   – 4 increase target’s recovery time.STR.3 (Self Preservation)  – 4 always on increased defense.STR.4 (Torpid Feedback)   – 4 always on may increase target’s casting time.STR.5 (Traumatic Swipe)   – 5 greatly increase target’s casting time.</p><p>If I played one handed no shield I'd go AGI=>WIS.  It's clearly the better choice for them.  Either way, if you start by increasing your AGI first, you'll have plenty of time to decide if you really favor one style of play over the other.</p>

[Kwikstri]

<div></div>Ok.  now that I hear there's a feign death AA in the INT line... forget what I just posted. :smileysurprised:

[SageGaspar]

The lines you are talking about have been completely changed, anyway. You should take a look at the new ones before you plan too much, they really are radically different.<div></div>

[Luk]

<div></div><blockquote dir="ltr"><hr><p><font color="#0000ff">AGI.4 (Buccaneer’s Haste)   – 8 always on personal haste. May decide against maxing this if I find I'm waiting on recast timers.</font><font color="#ffff00">STR.5 (Traumatic Swipe)   – 5 greatly increase target’s casting time.</font></p><p><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#ffff00">As this is a lvl 5 skill, it costs 8 points for 1 rank</font></font></p><p><font color="#ff0000">if you take this skill</font></p><p><font color="#ff0000"> <font color="#3300ff">your Buccaneer’s Haste would have a max of 5 points in it</font>.</font></p><p></p><hr></blockquote><p> </p>sorry, got a bit funky with the colours

[Luk]

<div></div>Personally, I don't think you can really go wrong with any of the AA lines, each has its benefits and suits different play styles. The thing that you can get wrong is to copy someone elses choices cause they are max DPS or max debuff, or max tankage, and then find that it doesn't suit your play style. You should pick AA's that suit you, not change to suit the AA's.

[Keldo]

I am going INT first, after some thought on it.  Overall I want the feign of course, and the deaggro is ok.  Boot Dagger is really nice for getting in extra Shanghai action, which is pretty crucial against some heroics in a pinch (especially if you are doing instances when they are still orange which a lot are atm).  I went AGI originally thinking Silverthorn is a rapier, but uh, turns out its a dagger! So that played into it also.<div></div>

[SageGaspar]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Keldoth wrote:I am going INT first, after some thought on it.  Overall I want the feign of course, and the deaggro is ok.  Boot Dagger is really nice for getting in extra Shanghai action, which is pretty crucial against some heroics in a pinch (especially if you are doing instances when they are still orange which a lot are atm).  I went AGI originally thinking Silverthorn is a rapier, but uh, turns out its a dagger! So that played into it also.<div></div><hr></blockquote>INT... well, I really liked the ideal initially. But first, they boosted taunt and deaggro in the last patch notes, and secondly I don't really have much of an aggro problem in group settings. Raids are a different story, but only one AA in the line would help with that, and that's the fourth one. That's a lot of points. On top of that, the FD is certainly useful, but a three minute timer is pretty bad. I can't think of many situations where FD would help that Lie Low wouldn't do the trick except for feigning to revive a group, and in the claustrophobic and mob-packed KoS, I don't really see that happening too often. The AE avoid would be great on raids, but with a three minute timer, again, still dodging AEs most of the time by jousting. Boot Dagger I just don't really like that much, and I don't want to use a dagger.STA would be amazing if I tanked a lot. I find myself tanking in small groups from time to time, but not enough to warrant dumping my AA into STA. Still, it's a solid option.AGI... meh. The one that spins them around is okay, but to be honest, unless I'm soloing I don't want to spin mobs around. I want them to be facing one direction predictably so everyone else can get into position. In-combat speed, fine, not stupendous, extra attacks from flanking are nice but I don't think they'll be huge. Recast and recovery, I may not be thinking along the right lines, but I don't really have a lot of time when I'm sitting there without a CA to use. if I am, I generally can hit either ID or ... the haste one, and auto attack for a while.STR has a couple arts that look real good. Crit Reduction is going to play a big part in raids and even grouping, I think. Some of these mobs can crit for huge damage, and a 30% reduction of that isn't bad. Extra crits are nice, extra defense is never bad. The only thing I'm worried about with the top one in the line is that recast timers aren't that huge except against against epics, and I think against a lot of epics you want their recast to be predictable. If you change the recast by delaying their cast timers it might cause a lot of problems jousting.WIS... I really enjoy the concept. I think it might work out well, too, if, say, procs worked off double attacks in the way they don't work off dual wield. There are some very, very nice one-handers in KoS. The increase in attack stats at the top of the line is awesome. Will probably make us much more effective against oranges, and against lower cons we can tank in defensive stance without losing much. Lunge Reversal and the WIS stat are the only ones I'm pretty ambivalent about, especially considering En Garde.</span></div>

[Keyh]

I got lunge reversal last night. It's ok, 20 second duration, 20 second recast. So if you don't get the hit for it, you can recast it right away. The buff breaks after the first parry/block/riposte.<div></div>

[SageGaspar]

Just got my first rank in Freehand Reversal. Interested to see if things can proc off double attacks. That would be a pretty significant advantage, I think.<div></div>

[Kwikstri]

<div></div>Thanks for all the feedback guys <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> the changes made to the AA's totally changes everything.  I've only taken pickpocket so far just to open all the other lines.  Even with all the thought I put into it, my arguement just fell apart on second inspection.  hehe... I have no idea which path I'm taking now.  I do like using DW, so I'll look for something to fit that play style.  Thanks for all the advice here.

[Syrano]

<div></div><p>I'm giving some serious thought to different spec lines then I had planned.</p><p>Oiriginally I was thinking of WIS->AGI.</p><p>I've slowly started to slide away from this view.  While I like some of the AGI features (proc'ing on attacks with Pirate's Stab, the mob orientation reversal, and sailwind) I've begun to wonder at ultimate value.  Pirate's stab is the damage compensator in this line, to help keep it on par with other damag eoutput potentials of other lines.   Sailwind isn't as great as it sounds, and assists the solo'er more than anything by making it faster to burst a full attack bar of damage, but not really that much long term DPS change.</p><p>Ther ewas WIS-STR.</p><p>An idea I'm still thinking about, primarily for the innate strength boosts.  The crit increasers and debuffs are mostly fluff.  Crit damage is a very very small amount of overall DPS, and to increase a very small amoutn by a very small amount doesn't really do much.  The big winner here is the final De-buff, %50 increase to mob recast timers.  However there's a lot of mystery around this skill.  First, will it work on AE's of raid mobs?  I don't think mob AE's are actual "casted" abilities, rather scripted events.  The only thing making me think otherwise is that you can stun a mob to delay the AE.  Even so, chances are the debuff will only be on for "part" of the re-cast window, what does that do to the overal re-cast time?  Is it pro-rated? Or is the recast time doubled only if the debuff is on the mob at the time the ability is cast?  Lastly, if it makes the raid mob AE's sporadic in their triggers, you lose the ability to joust effictively because you can't coordinate the AE casting time.  If so, then this is really only good for solo'ing or single grouping, where mob spell damage is a minimal threat.</p><p>Other options look good, the INT line has some value in its deaggro abilities and feign death is always a nice trick but ultimately I started to see these lines as play style options not "must haves".</p><p>So I came up with something I'm debating.  Going near on full WIS.</p><p>Why? Well I like the idea of a fencer, someone so good with a sword he/she doesn't need two weapons.  I'm a rapier/dagger guy myself but the idea of a braggart swordsman appeals to me.  And two weapon fighting was more often then not a defensive choice, not an offensive one in real life (too bad most MMO's don't realise that). </p><p>Full wis, or at least 4-4-8-8-8, incurs the following benefits:</p><p>1. Maximum double-attack rate with a one-hander, which should be (with the right 1h weapon) significantly more damage then base dual wield. We only proc poison off the main hand anyway so this is not a concern, likewise Hurricane etc come from main hand attacks. </p><p>2. Maximum defensive boosts.  Do *not* underestimate %8 to parry from all quadrants and an 8% boost to riposte rates from the front, this boost almost single handedly restores everything we lost from the age old days of AGI tanking.  Is it as good as the STA line? No, but if we went STA line we lose the benefits of the WIS line.</p><p>Arguably you could go 4-8-8-8-8 or 8-4-8-8-8 or all-in for all 8's.  This gets you some tastey returns:</p><p>1. Lunge reversal.  I keep flopping on its value.  I've noticed that it's damage is scaling as I level without putting more points into.  At rank 4, it's a 350pt attack (rank 5 reads it as a 400 pt).  By rank 8 it would be 700 some odd points, competing with some of our other attacks.  It costs no power to use, recast every 20 seconds.  Has real value solo'ing, where the free extra attack can really help.  I still dislike it's implementation but it's not utterly useless.</p><p>2. 32 more points of WIS is another 100 some odd points of resists to all resists.  This is a nice bonus.</p><p>However I'm thinking of putting the remaining points into STR anyway.  Whether I have 4 or 8 points left I haven't decided but it would incur the following benefits:</p><p>1. I'm always short on STR, so at least 4 points in tier 1 is a nice 30 pt strength boost, like a really good T7 or T6 item.</p><p>2. 4 points into the crit debuf of STR can't hurt.  Anything that helps curb spike damage from mobs is a plus.</p><p>The downside is of course that to use option #2 I have to have a sword.  Not easy yet to find good 1h-swords for scouts.  Scalesplitter is a good T7 entry weapon but already I'm finding eye-popping dual wield weapons that have almost identical damage ratings to Scalesplitter.  I have yet to see good one-handed T7 weapons for scouts.  These would, by comparing to the T7 dual-wielders I'm seeing, need something on the order of a 70-75 pt damage rating, and at least 25-30pts placed in AGI/STR/INT, with a + skill modifier to the base skill of the weapon and either +parry or +defense.  (if anyone know sof any, let me know!).</p>

[dagoo7]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Syrano wrote:<p>Ther ewas WIS-STR.</p><p>An idea I'm still thinking about, primarily for the innate strength boosts.  The crit increasers and debuffs are mostly fluff.  Crit damage is a very very small amount of overall DPS, and to increase a very small amoutn by a very small amount doesn't really do much. </p><hr></blockquote><p>Seems to me that the crit increase will add up quite noticeably and nicely and from my perspective is the higlight of the line.  If the numbers they've been posting on the assassin boards are true it looks like the base melee crit% chance is only around 1%.  So it is true that baseline crit rate won't add much to net dps. </p><p>However, if indeed 8 pts in the crit AA does add up to an 10-13% increase over base rate, it would be significant increase to dps. Keep in mind that our CAs also appear to crit not just autoattacks.  So 10-14% melee crit rate would be a huge boost to overall dps over time.  Even if 8 pts only gave 5 or 6% increase, I would still do it.</p>

[Scort]

Well, I took the Intel line. The deagro really works great. I have thief's prowess, on top of avoid censure, on top of evasiveness and it all adds up and I never get agro anymore. Can't wait to get FD.I am thinking of going Wis line next because of the increase in melee accuracy. It will help against those high level raid mobs.I am looking at the raiding Swash because that's what I do 99.99% of once I max level.

[Dakkon_10]

<div>A correction to one of my earlier posts. Double attack does NOT proc off of CA's.</div><div> </div><div>This is what I have found out using the wisdom line and a 1hander.</div><div> </div><div>1. The double attack proc behaves like the hurricane type proc. It only procs off autoattack and can't proc off of itself.</div><div> </div><div>2. Double attack procs (much like the hurricane procs) can proc any other proc but the double attack. So poisons, bravado, intterupt, inspired daring, and many other procs can still take place.</div><div> </div><div>3. This line does way more damage than a dual wield...</div><div> </div><div>When I was in a group in sanctum of the scaleborn, I was never outdamaged by any member of the group. My group consisted of a ranger, wizard, templar, berzerker, me(swash), and defiler. The wizard of the group had a parser and on every fight I would out dps the group. We parsed a fight with a mob whose hp was 75k and I did more damage than the other group members combined. But I did do significantly less dps on fights where I forgot to renew my poison.</div><div> </div><div>I currently only have a 43% chance to double attack so I am guessing that this will become insane when i get up to 72%....</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>

[verydanger]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Dakkon_1007 wrote:<div>A correction to one of my earlier posts. Double attack does NOT proc off of CA's.</div><div> </div><div>This is what I have found out using the wisdom line and a 1hander.</div><div> </div><div>1. The double attack proc behaves like the hurricane type proc. It only procs off autoattack and can't proc off of itself.</div><div> </div><div>2. Double attack procs (much like the hurricane procs) can proc any other proc but the double attack. So poisons, bravado, intterupt, inspired daring, and many other procs can still take place.</div><div> </div><div>3. This line does way more damage than a dual wield...</div><div> </div><div>When I was in a group in sanctum of the scaleborn, I was never outdamaged by any member of the group. My group consisted of a ranger, wizard, templar, berzerker, me(swash), and defiler. The wizard of the group had a parser and on every fight I would out dps the group. We parsed a fight with a mob whose hp was 75k and I did more damage than the other group members combined. But I did do significantly less dps on fights where I forgot to renew my poison.</div><div> </div><div>I currently only have a 43% chance to double attack so I am guessing that this will become insane when i get up to 72%....</div><hr></blockquote>This is intresting, thanks for sharing your observations.While maxed out double attack might not mean that big of a boost for your autoattack damage, it should give you a 72% increase of mainhand procs? (from autoattack swings, not CA's)Do 1H's also have an innate advantage for mainhand procs over DW's, anyone know?With their haste and also hurricane I think, this ability seems like a nice complement for swashbucklers indeed.</span></div>

[overfloat]

<div></div><div></div><blockquote><hr>Dakkon_1007 wrote:<div> </div><div>But I did do significantly less dps on fights where I forgot to renew my poison.<hr></div></blockquote><div>I wondered how double attack would deal with procs now that all procs are on the mainhand.</div><div> </div><div>From this, It seems the double attack rate <u>isn't</u> taken into account when calculating your normalised proc rate. That is to say, you're getting the same proc rate as if you had no double attacks, meaning that you are indeed now getting <em>x</em>% more procs than normal (where <em>x</em>% is your current double attack rate).</div><div> </div><div>If so, expect this to be fixed/nerfed at some point. Tthere is <u><strong>no</strong></u> way this will stay after all the other steps SOE has recently taken to make procs consistent across all wield types, weapon types and classes. (I'm just throwing this out there now, nice and early, so that people have no excuses for whining when it gets nerfed!) <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Personally it's going to take me a while to save up enough points to make WIS worthwhile anyway, so I'll probably avoid putting points into it early on the assumption that its overall DPS is going to plummet some time in the near-ish future.</div><div> </div><div>Thanks for the info though, Dakkon. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></div><div> </div><blockquote><hr>verydanger wrote:<div><span></span> </div><div><span>Do 1H's also have an innate advantage for mainhand procs over DW's, anyone know?</span><hr></div></blockquote><div>No weapon types or wield types have any influence on proc rates any more, they're all equal. For all intents and purposes, it's always your right hand proccing, not the weapon, and your hand just assumes whichever % proc rate is listed on the weapon it happens to be holding at the time.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Rokjin]

<div></div><p>So would this mean that currently double attack + all our procs + hurricane with the slowest 1 hand weapon we can find is most likely the best way to stack up the damage?</p><p>Tridents are the slowest 1Hand weapons, correct?</p>

[overfloat]

<div></div><div></div><p>Not sure you'd want the slowest weapon available. Slower weapons <u>used</u> to give higher proc rates on CAs but that's no longer true, so fast weapons are just as effective.</p><p>In addition, we don't know how the double attack proc rate is calculated yet -- I'd <em>assume</em> it follows the same normalisation rules as regular procs (in which case weapon delay makes no difference), but if it's actually x% chance to proc <u>per strike</u> then you'll want the fastest weapon possible.</p><p> </p><p><font size="1">Edit: so many typing issues today...</font></p><p>Message Edited by overfloater on <span class="date_text">03-03-2006</span><span class="time_text">12:53 PM</span></p>

[Rokjin]

<div></div><div></div><p>No, if it's % chance to proc per strike, then it won't matter..</p><p>ie: a 2 speed weapon double attack is worth twice as much as a 1 speed weapon double attack, but the 1 speed weapon will proc twice as much.</p><p> </p><p>If there ARE proc normalisations in place, then the faster weapons will proc less AND their double attack procs will be worth less..</p><p> </p><p>Also, is Hurricane proc normalized or not? Since it seems a proc with Hurricane with a 2 speed weapon is worth twice as much as a proc with a 1 speed weapon IF the proc rates are normalized.</p><p>Message Edited by Rokjin on <span class="date_text">03-03-2006</span><span class="time_text">03:32 PM</span></p>

[overfloat]

<div></div>Good point, I was forgetting that the double attack "proc" damage will scale to the weapon in this instance.

[Raveller]

Agility all the way. (I solo too much  <span>:smileysad:</span>). After that, probably Int then Str.<div></div>

[Dakkon_10]

<div></div><div>Another great reason to choose wisdom line is the double attack works with ranged weapons as well. When I use grizfazzle's bow I do around 400-900 dmg a hit. But If I double attack I do from 400-900 dmg twice. And on top of that, poison can proc of both hits! With 400-900 x 2 + 400 poison dmg x2 = 1600-2600 dmg!! So in my bow can hit from 400dmg to 2600dmg depending on procs. My guess is this is a bug and double attacks are not supposed to work for ranged attacks... (so keep it under your plumed hats <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></div><p>Message Edited by Dakkon_1007 on <span class="date_text">03-06-2006</span><span class="time_text">01:27 PM</span></p>

[overfloat]

<div></div><p>Heh, yeah, expect to see that disappear. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Bows are meant to be comparable to a full complement of weapons (1x2H, 1H+shield, 2xDW) -- certainly after the next LU -- so you're actually getting a major damage bonus there.</p>

[MaestroX]

<div>From my experience on beta as a Brigand,  this set of AA is firstly about what I am NOT willing to give up and secondly about what I want to do. </div><div>I am not willing to give up DW, at least not until we see a 1-hander with +40 str, +40 ag, Damage over 90 and FT 16, because that is what I am getting from my old T6 gear.  The math just doesn't support using double attack to try and compensate for leaving one hand empty, even if you spent 40 points in wisdom.  The one hand weapons are just not good enough.  Kudos to those that pick max Wis for the RP style of it, but it is not the path of those looking to maximize their DPS.</div><div> </div><div>I am not willing to give up DW ( and therefore my best DPS) to pick up a shield to become a mini-tank.  The stamina line is a gross excercise in inefficiency.  It gives bonuses to the right stats and an AE taunt, but not to a degree significant enough to do the job as tank.</div><div> </div><div>I do like the way the STR, AG and INT lines support our flair for DW DPS while keeping in mind that Rogues are not Preditors and we expect to have debuffs and deaggro to stay close to the action.</div><div> </div><div>First, I am going 4.4.4.4.8 in Agility to maximize my DW DPS and always on mobility.  Walk the plank is mostly a solo skill and I plan to use my Dark Fury sabre for a long time as my primary when soloing.</div><div> </div><div>I am leaning toward the INT line, for the deaggro and the FD/AE immune for when things get crazy.</div><div> </div><div>The STR line has some great debuffs, but the catch 22 is how they work on epics.  They DO work on epics currently, which means they will mess up the timing of AE joust and possibly aggro-wipes and making many raid strategies unreliable.  If they didn't work on epics, many raiding rogues would dismiss them entirely as beiong useless for their main purpose.</div>

[Atmosphear1993]

<div>I am planning to go AGI for one path.  The reversal will come in very useful in soloing, and semi-useful in group situations.  Once in awhile I get aggroe from using my AoE CAs when there are alot of mobs in an encounter to deal with.  By using the reversal ability, I can turn a mob that is attacking me and finishing it off with my Master II Pillage in one shot, then switch back to assisting the tank.  Another benefit from the AGI line (I think) is combining ID with the reduced casting timers from my CAs. </div><div> </div><div>On the RP side, I wanted to be a pirate (one of the ideas pre-beta for EQ2 was player manned boats, too bad that idea never got developed, whole reason why I am a Swash!)  So thats another reason why I am going AGI.</div><div> </div><div>Now I am torn between the STR line and the INT line.  The INT line has that 100% FD, which is very appealing.  The str line has nice debuffs, my favorite being the Crit reducer on mobs.  Decisions decisions.</div><div> </div><div>I will not go STA line, I hardly tank.  And loosing a weapon so I "might" make up the DPS is not appealing for the WIS line.</div><div> </div><div>Decisions...</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Scort]

I totally agree. I won't give up DW. I was thinking of going the wis line jsut for the 5th position that gives an increase in weapon accuracy, defense and parry.Then IF I find a kick [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] 1hs that we can use (which all seem to be fighter only), I will use the skills.Int line is for sure with me. The extra deagro is helping a lot. 6 more points for FD.

[Syrano]

<div></div><p>I'm 4.4.4.6 in the WIS line right now, and I can honestly argue that with a meager 58.6 dmg rating Scalesplitter I haven't really lost any DPS.</p><p>Auto-attack damage for Swashies is a pretty minor component of our damage output.  Something like %20 give or take.  Going the WIS route for "flair" as someone stated here might shave a few percent off that, you most likely won't even notice it when parsing given the high rate of variability from fight to fight on raids.</p><p>I compete for DPS aggresively with a guild Brigand who's 70th (I'm 67th).  In group adventuring he still out DPS's me by 10-20 percent, but on long fights (usually on raids) we're very even and in AE fights I whup his butt.  Fair trade.  Choosing 1-handed style hasn't really affected my DPS.</p><p> </p><p>And yes, I've tested parses between Scalesplitter vs. Tunadramin's Fang + Grimfizzles Dagger (both low/mid 50's dmg rating dagers) and the results are way too close to make any real conclusions.  </p><p>As for lost stats, have you checked what 20 points of STR gets you? For most of our Combat Arts, 20 pts of STR has a nominal affect.  Given that stat boosts to damage are percentage based and the damage on all of our CA's is relatively low (our CA's favor speed over raw punch value) the boost is pretty small on all but the most powerful (our backstabs mainly). </p><p>The biggest loss would be the ability to wield two different FT items but, frankly, I can swap those in as needed.  Besides, with the advent of Mental Breach poison and my Vessel of Fyr'un, I have more then enough means to deal with power loss.</p><p>Can you get more DPS potentially from other AP lines then WIS, assuming you start with DW as your base?  Yes, but if you DW and choose any other two AP lines, you'll find that you can't use some of that line due to what's in your main hand.  Usually it's  not a big loss, but it's still 4 AP points wasted to get something else.  And many of those don't affect our overall DPS that much. </p>

[Keldo]

I parse 35-50% of my DPS in auto attack, especially on raids.  Is that abnormal?  Since the expansion, my auto attack is up around 300 to 500 DPS depending on hurricane.  I wouldn't say auto attack is totally disregarded, in fact a Swash with our self haste, we probably do the most auto attack damage of any scout.<div></div>

[Ookami-san]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Keldoth wrote:I parse 35-50% of my DPS in auto attack, especially on raids.  Is that abnormal?  Since the expansion, my auto attack is up around 300 to 500 DPS depending on hurricane.  I wouldn't say auto attack is totally disregarded, in fact a Swash with our self haste, we probably do the most auto attack damage of any scout.<div></div><hr></blockquote>What level CAs do you have?  What types of poisons?  What level mobs in relation to you? I don't think my auto-attack has gotten above 30% on a raid.  I usually get about 30% auto-attack, 40% CAs and the other 30% comes from procs and poison.

[BKHAWK3]

<div>1 - Mandatory Starter</div><div> </div><div>8 - Int 1 - Never have enough</div><div>4 - Int 2</div><div>4 - Int 3</div><div>4 - Int 4</div><div>8 - Int 5 - FD - ftw</div><div> </div><div>4 - Agi 1</div><div>4 - Agi 2</div><div>4 - Agi 3</div><div> </div><div>8 - Sta 1 - Not alot of gear with stamina worth using that doesn't force me to sacrifice (IMHO)</div><div> </div><div>1 - Whereever</div>

[Keyh]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>BKHAWK3 wrote:<div> </div><div>8 - Sta 1 - Not alot of gear with stamina worth using that doesn't force me to sacrifice (IMHO)</div><div> </div><hr></blockquote>I don't know about you, but all of the jewelery I picked up had a standard +23str +23 agi +23 sta *shrug*.</span></div>

[BKHAWK3]

<div></div>I'm not upto T7 yet.