The Fine Art of Jousting?

[Verathorne]

<DIV>I finally started doing a little raiding with my 55 Swashbuckler. I see in the forums people talking about "jousting" with melee oriented dps. Is there a strategy to this? I've been using HoS and then meleeing until it is refreshed and then moving back to use HoS again. Any other tips?</DIV>

[Zygwen]

Not the most efficient technique but I stay alive longer. I watch for all the pets dying to aoe. Then I go in and use my debuff combat arts and run back out to range. <div></div>

[SageGaspar]

<div><blockquote><hr>Verathorne wrote:<div>I finally started doing a little raiding with my 55 Swashbuckler. I see in the forums people talking about "jousting" with melee oriented dps. Is there a strategy to this? I've been using HoS and then meleeing until it is refreshed and then moving back to use HoS again. Any other tips?</div><hr></blockquote>For jousting the best way to do it is have someone in charge of calling AEs. They're generally on a timer, so they can tell you when to run in and when to leave for maximum melee time.You really want to be at range as little time as possible, HoS is a huge cut in DPS and doesn't do any of your debuffs. Usually on a joust, instead of using HoS I'll use one of my hexes. You're usually not out long enough for HoS to be worth it so much.</div>

[Keldo]

With T7 bringing all the super nice resist gear, Jousting is kind of pointless in many cases. "Most" of the time, as opposed to last expansion, I find myself standing in the AE and just toughing it out.  Very rarely do I die as many of the '1 shot kill' type AE have been changed to directional, meaning your raid's aggro control is the determining factor, not your stop watch. Still a valueable skill to have tho, not really much to it.  Most of the difficulty comes from figuring out the AE timer, the randomized factor (if there is one) and getting someone reliable to call it out.  Your job as a jouster is simply having a good idea of range and knowing where to run. <div></div>

[UD_De]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Keldoth wrote:<BR>With T7 bringing all the super nice resist gear, Jousting is kind of pointless in many cases.<BR><BR>"Most" of the time, as opposed to last expansion, I find myself standing in the AE and just toughing it out.  Very rarely do I die as many of the '1 shot kill' type AE have been changed to directional, meaning your raid's aggro control is the determining factor, not your stop watch.<BR><BR>Still a valueable skill to have tho, not really much to it.  Most of the difficulty comes from figuring out the AE timer, the randomized factor (if there is one) and getting someone reliable to call it out.  Your job as a jouster is simply having a good idea of range and knowing where to run.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Depends on the make up of your raid. If you're the only swashbuckler your debuffs are important enough where you should be in a healer heavy 'tank' group. This will let you stand in and take group heals to keep your buffs up while eating the AE on most encounters. </P> <P>If you're the second swash though you'll be on the short bus and healing you just isn't that important. In those cases jousting becomes vital because we don't have enough HP to stand in if we're not catching group heals.</P>

[Keldo]

Yeah of course it does rely a lot on what buffs you have. It was just a general observation of mine.  During T6, the prevailing trend was you could get 1 shotted by basically every other AE.  That is not the case in T7, most AE will not kill you out right.  Doesn't mean you have to stand in them, obviously, but you can without the risk of being 1 shotted with decent resist gear. <div></div>

[SageGaspar]

<div><blockquote><hr>UD_Delt wrote:<div></div>Depends on the make up of your raid. If you're the only swashbuckler your debuffs are important enough where you should be in a healer heavy 'tank' group. This will let you stand in and take group heals to keep your buffs up while eating the AE on most encounters. <hr></blockquote>Yeah, I was actually thinking about doing this, as the only swashbuckler in my guild. You think it's important enough on most mobs to take the AE?</div>

[Ddrak]

Work it out with your healer.If you take an AE (and most of them don't kill you outright now as Keld noted) and aren't getting healed before the next AE is due then run out. If the healer is keeping up just fine with you in there then stay in. Swash debuffs are definitely worth keeping on the mob and (in my opinion) worth the healing power on the swash to reduce healing pressure on the tank.Dd

[Luk]

watch out for the stun AE's though, like the tier 6 one, chilling mist, always love the 45 second AE that is also a 45 second stun. 9k cold resist didn't even stop it stunning.