The Switch-Aggro Template (49 AA +1) -- Littlebee --

[Trollf]

<div>A great bellow out to all fellow Swashies,</div><div> </div><div>Finally hit the 50th AA on the 2nd of April (2 days ago) and completed my template :</div><div> </div><div><u>The Switch-Aggro Template</u></div><div><u></u> </div><div>Pickpocket: 1</div><div> </div><div>Strength : 4 4 4 8</div><div> </div><div>Wisdom : 4 4 4 8 8</div><div> </div><div>which leaves me with 1 point for customization to my own particular needs.</div><div> </div><div>I will just like to comment on the playstyle of this particular template, which in my opinion offers much to the Swashbuckler who likes to solo/group/raid but dabbles in being an occasional tanker for an xp group/instance.</div><div> </div><div>I went up the Strength line so as to be able to take advantage of the Increased Critical Melee %, which is quite a bang for the buck as it is active for ALL occasions, not like avast ye (flanking/back) or other situational attacks.</div><div> </div><div>It is equally at home when you are soloing, grouping, raiding or even off-tanking for your group.</div><div><div> </div><div>No worries about positioning, lag, current role in group, making it a very versatile choice for the swashbuckler.</div><div> </div></div><div>The  30% increase in damage for your CAs and your auto-attack damage when you crit adds up quickly, especially for the auto-attack when you combo it with the maximised Double Attack in the Wisdom line.</div><div> </div><div>As you know, Double Attack helps out tremendously with our class buffs/procs and stances, as the 2nd attack has a chance to proc effects as well. This goes a long way to maximising our dps potential and class skills i.e. hate reduction proc, off stance proc, poisons, Inspiration, Hurricane etc ...</div><div> </div><div>What I will like to bring to notice is the <u>switch-aggro</u> aspect of this AA combination which I have grown to love...</div><div> </div><div>Usually an aggressive AA combination might lead to reduced defense/tanking ability etc, but with this combination, it allows <em>switching</em> from  "dps-mode" to "off-tank" seamlessly.</div><div> </div><div>There is the defense buff from the Blackguard's Defense line and also the defense AND parry buff from Coule, which gives more avoidance, thus making a more resilent Swashie.</div><div> </div><div>The increased wisdom from the Wisdom stat buff itself is not much but still will contribute to your total resists in the end too.</div><div> </div><div>As a bonus, when you are in tanking mode, you get to make use of Lunge Reversal as an additional damage source, which will help keep hate better. The double attack helps Hurricane out as a potent crowd aggro device.</div><div> </div><div>Coule also allows one to not miss as much, thus TANK better in pure defensive mode as well.</div><div> </div><div>You will become a more aggressive <em>yet</em> more naturally evasive Swashbuckler in one swift bucklin' action.</div><div> </div><div>Cons about this template?</div><div> </div><div>You wont have the safety of Feign. Which might be better for the solo-ing Swashies who is into exploration of harsh lands or the pure-raiding Swashies who could survive wipes etc.</div><div> </div><div>You will have reduced stats as well due to the lack of an off-hand as well, and the loss of the abilities to use the many good T7 dual-wields available. </div><div> </div><div>SOE gave us many respec options and this is just the tip of the iceberg for the multitude of choices we have for our Rogue AAs. But this is my decision for now and I have having a real blast being ...</div><div> </div><div><strong>Mr. Versatility.</strong> (smiles)</div><div> </div><div>Feel free to post any comments and may your path lead you to greater knowledge, glory and riches !!!</div><div> </div><div>Adieu,</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Baron Littlebee Al'Ghul</div><div>70th Troll Swashbuckler</div><div>Bandit Lords of Baubbleshire (LDL)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Severed Ha]

<div></div><p>To be honest.. This is basically the set up that I myself was going for and I believe many others as well.  Some may not put the points so much into the Str Defense area but instead put them into others.  But overall just about anythying you pick is a good pick I think.</p><p>Currently I have my guy set up to be in the middle grounds you could say for Offensive/Defensive perpose.  Although I am leaning more towards the Defensive in the way Gear itself goes.  Currenly trying to figure out if theres a Cap to exactly how much of an Defense Increase one person can really have at any given time.</p>

[Trollf]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><p>Hi SeveredEye and all Swashies,</p><p>Yeap, I know many are going up the same way as us. *smiles*</p><p>I just wanted to post some feedback on the completed template so that we can compare it to other templates that might come about, like the Int/Wis AA template which is cool for a raid-leaning Swashie or the Sta/agi Tank-Swash template etc..</p><p>And as said, playing with the template was a complete joy and fits my playing style to a T.</p><p>Until then, may the acrid blooms be nice to all !!!</p><div> </div><div>Baron Littlebee Al'Ghul</div><div>70th Troll Swashbuckler</div><div>Bandit Lords of Baubbleshire (LDL)</div><p>Message Edited by Trollfie on <span class="date_text">04-05-2006</span><span class="time_text">08:43 AM</span></p>

[Geero]

<div></div><p><font face="Century">Close to what I'm doing...</font></p><p><font face="Century">Wis 4-4-4-8</font></p><p><font face="Century">Str 4-4-4-8-8</font></p><p><font face="Century">Thats going to be my spec, I'm hoping that <em>Traumatic Swipe stacks with attack delay poison.</em></font></p><p><em>I think that would own in most fights. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></em></p>

[Zygwen]

I'm currently atWis 4-4-8-8Str 4-4-3I'm planning on goingWis 4-4-8-8Str 4-4-4-5-8I may respect toWis 4-5-4-8Str 4-4-4-8-8But I'm not sure I want to sacrifice the extra 4% parry/riposte even though the last set up would improve my raid performance.<div></div>

[Trollf]

<div></div><div>A bellow out to all Swashies,</div><div> </div><div>Would be nice to know your experience with the Traumatic Swipe and whether it translates successfully in the Raid scene.</div><div> </div><div>Looks rather foggy to me at the moment, as the mob will get to do his AEs first and <em>then</em> timers from then get delayed.</div><div> </div><div><div>Adieu,</div></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Baron Littlebee Al'Ghul</div><div>70th Troll Swashbuckler</div><div>Bandit Lords of Baubbleshire (LDL)</div>

[KnightMax]

<div></div><p>I am doing a simillar build not sure where to put my last few points</p><p>PP 1</p><p>Str 4-4-4-8</p><p>Wis 4-4-4-8</p><p>Int 4-1</p><p>I am not sure how useful the extra points to our melee skills are so didnt spend the points on the rank 5 wis.  The rank 5 str while interesting seems could be problematic so kind of ruled that out.  Getting boot dagger adds a lot to my dps.  Not only added stuns while grouping but brazening is one of our biggest attacks and adds 2 brazenings a min.</p><p>One problem I am having is that I am unable to get as good of a 1 hander as the 2 dual wields I have.</p>

[Severed Ha]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>KnightMax wrote:<div></div><p>I am doing a simillar build not sure where to put my last few points</p><p>PP 1</p><p>Str 4-4-4-8</p><p>Wis 4-4-4-8</p><p>Int 4-1</p><p>I am not sure how useful the extra points to our melee skills are so didnt spend the points on the rank 5 wis.  The rank 5 str while interesting seems could be problematic so kind of ruled that out.  Getting boot dagger adds a lot to my dps.  Not only added stuns while grouping but brazening is one of our biggest attacks and adds 2 brazenings a min.</p><p><font color="#ff0000">One problem I am having is that I am unable to get as good of a 1 hander as the 2 dual wields I have</font>.</p><hr></blockquote><p>Aye.. Getting a good 1 Hander seems to be the biggest problem thus far for many of us.  I have been thinking about this myself for Stat purposes you will be dropping some stats down simply for not haveing some areas equiped..  It would be nice if they made some Gear ment to be simply 1 handed and then have a secondary effect on them that would only apply itself if secondary slot was empty..  Example could be the following.. Will use Doomrage Blade.. And then well compare it to a Duel Wield Wpn with Similar Stats...  Using EQ2 Item Database..  Sword of the Four Winds. </p><p>Doomrage Blade22 Agility15 Stamina10 Intelligence65 Health50 Power+2 Slash</p><p>Sword of the Four Winds+20 Strength+20 Agility+20 Stamina+6 Slashing</p><p>Now..  Doomrage is Lore and 1 Handed so can only have one anyways.. But Sword of the Four Winds is just No-Trade..  So techniqily can have 2..  So will say for instance that you actually have 2 of them and compare again.</p><p>Doomrage Blade+22 Agility+15 Stamina+10 Intelligence+65 Health+50 Power+2 Slash</p><p>Sword of the Four Winds (x2)+40 Strength+40 Agility+40 Stamina+12 Slashing</p><p>Dont look very even to me...  What I propose is that they add in a secondary thing.. Can have it delve like a Proc effect if they want..  Which states.. If secondary Slot Empty...  So.. Doomrage Blade could look something akin to...</p><p>Doomrage Blade+22 Agility+15 Stamina+10 Intelligence+65 Health+50 Power+2 Slash  (If Secondary Slot Empty- + 15 Strength +15 Agility +2 Parry)</p><p>Basically can have any number of things..  Would defenitly make the 1 handed prospect look more appealing to some I would think.</p>

[SageGaspar]

The DPS on the one-hander line much, much more than makes up for anything the stats on a second weapon would do you. I'm not sure we need weapons with special procs for the narrow range of classes that use a one-hander with secondary empty. It's a built-in disadvantage to partially counter the DPS increase, in my opinion. If more stats are needed to balance that out, they could be given in the one-hander AA line itself.<div></div>

[Severed Ha]

<div>Yes.. the DPS is nice for Wisdom line... but we all know that that will get nerfed/fixed sooner or later.  Im more looking at the long term.  As for it being in the AA line itself.. that wouldnt be as much of an option I dont think since it really wouldnt leave all that much variety that you can get from the Duel Wield.  All that I am asking for is to have Equivalent stats in relation to the rest.  Also....  Even if there isnt that many classes out there that have One hander/Secondary Empty for there AA's.  This can still be a valid way for players to play characters more in line with what they like.  You could for instance.. Have a Fighter that uses the One hander and nothing in the Secondary.  Why?  To get away from Cookie cutter molds of course..  Even Priest could go around with just a One handed Mace and nothing in the Secondary.  It helps to break the mold that is created in every game that exist.  Think outside the box you could say.  Id much rather play my character in a way that I feel instead of how everyone else feels I should have to play.  If they wanted to get really into it then they could put in more things even for different classes.. Such as but not limitited to..  For Fighter..  the one hander option could be something akin to having a +5 Defense and Parry and + 300 to all Mitigation or something.  For a Priest +3% chance to Crit Heal(after all he has the free hand to use hand signs or what not to invoke there Gods power better)..  For a Mage 5% power reduction on spell's cast..  Any number of things are possible.  Every thing has some sort of good vs bad in them.</div>

[Twobox]

<P>Assuming "crits" applied to all of our damage and that the max damage increase for a "crit" is +30% . . . then increasing your "crit" chance to the maximum (call it) +15% means . . . .a whopping 4.5% increase in dps.</P> <P>So if you  WERE doing 1000 dps . . . you will now do 1045 dps.</P> <P>Don't get me wrong . . . I'll take it . . . but it doesn't "really add up" lol.</P>

[KnightMax]

<P>By a good 1 hander I ment with a good damage rating.</P> <P>Turadramin's Fang - 53.9 damage off a level 68ish mob (blue con to 70)</P> <P>Grizzfazzle's Dirk - 52.1 damage off of boss in den (quest blue to 70)</P> <P>Brakzar's Cleaver - 67.6 off a boss in poa (level 71 mob)</P> <P>So for a 1 hander to be about equiv to 2 dual wielders you add the dual wields damage and multiply it by 2/3 (formula I have seen in these boards) the damage should be around 71.  Add to that the 1 hander doesnt have a damage proc widens the gap.</P> <P>All the quest rewards up till final claymore quest that offer a 1 hand option always do crushing so not scout usable.</P> <P>Now lets add insult to injury the best 1 hand weapon is the end claymore rapier ... unfurtunaly its a rapier and I dont know anyone who is going wis who is taking the agi line.  Brakzar's Cleaver is an axe not a sword so for the special attack looks like we have to swap in a dual wield for them then back to our 1 hander.</P> <P>I really hope sony adds more weapon variety of equivelent value off of the same mobs.</P>

[tawek]

<DIV>Grats on getting to AA 50 <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Myself, I've gone Agi/Str for now.  (Agi 4/4/4/4/8  str 4/2)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When I started, everyone was going Agi, and that almost made me stop.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'd been thinking about going Wisdom/Str, but now that seems to be the way everyone's going, so I'm reluctant to respec.  Running around without a second weapon may seem novel to non-swashies, but it seems to be becoming the cookie cutter build for swashies in the know.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'd argue Agi/Str is a debuffing build for groups/raids, because its big benefit is the end Agility skill, Sailwind, which lets you cast your debuffs and emergency skills in 80% of the time.  If a tough mob is debuffed faster, the group/raid dps will be better, and the tank in less risk from undebuffed attacks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you want better overall dps go with wis/str build, but that's not this build's priority.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've found Avast Ye to be disappointing for extra dps: not enough damage, and it doesn't proc enough.  The agilityu in-combat speed improvement isn't that useful, and Walk the Plank is only useful if you can find a great rapier (which I haven't had much luck with), so if the casting-time improvement from Sailwind is of no interest, I'd suggest giving Agility a miss.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What Sailwind does give is that extra sense of frantic activity, a feeling that you are faster on your feet, and better able to react to a crisis when a new skill is suddenly needed.  It may not be as powerful, but that is fun <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Indeed, for the fun of it, I'm tempted by an end-build of Agi/Int.  Like Agi, the first 3 skills in the Int branch don't seem that useful to me, but being faster on my feet, and having feign death, does sound like fun <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>(SUGGESTION to SoE: give us more T7 Rapier choices, both one-handers and dual wield, to make agility more viable)</DIV><p>Message Edited by tawek21 on <span class=date_text>04-17-2006</span> <span class=time_text>08:44 AM</span>

[Trollf]

<DIV>Hi all fellow Swashies,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Yeah, the agility line's Sailwind does give one a more "on-the-ball" reactive feeling which ain't shabby for PvP as well. I have always thought of the agility line as the PvP line that they will more or less max out for the "quickness" abilities. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Feign rocks by the way. Good for raids and everyday usage lol. (smiles)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And one thing that the swashies pointed on on the previous posts is that for the Str/Wis line, you do need a rather good one hander ( me myself using the Right Hand of the Priestess), which is essentially harder to find than 2 good DW ( Grizzy Dirk is one of them ..)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> If not, the DPS increase might not be significant enough to warrant so many AA points invested.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But as a fan of in-combat procs, being able to proc stuff more (even though not as much as when we had 2 "good" hands) is already making me a happy swash. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>By the way, SoE should start making DPS increase items rather than all the cookie cutter haste items so that there can be a good mix of gear we can choose from.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We are rather fast-attacking in some sense already due to our haste proc and having an itemized choice to go DPS or haste will be a nice change too.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Till then, may plats fall at your feet and gold grow on trees..</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Baron Littlebee Al'Ghul</DIV> <DIV>70 Troll Swashbuckler</DIV> <DIV>Bandit Lords of Baubbleshire (LDL)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>