The value of Atk, your overall combat prowess.

[Goreshade]

Level 18 Swashbuckler here.  This is my first EQ2 character, so I haven't yet figured out what the Atk stat contributes to.  Is it just auto-attack damage?  Or does it help combat art damage, as well?  Also, what is the bonus to damage per say 10 points in Atk?For example, with the best dual wield weapons I currently can find (12.5 each):Offensive Stance   374 Atk, 32.3% Mit, 8.7% AvoidNo Stance              362 Atk, 32.3% Mit, 13.2% Avoid  <- Is 4.5% avoidance worth giving up 12 Atk?Defensive Stance  340 Atk, 39.6% Mit, 27.3% Avoid <- Even bigger difference here... I'm giving up 34 Atk for 7.3% Mit and 18.6% Avoid.I don't seem to see a big drop in damage between Offensive and Defensive stance, while the benefits I gain seem to be very noticeable.  Am I correct in my assessment, or am I just seeing things?  Would the additional DPS from 34 extra attack help me burn mobs down faster so the extra defense is irrelevant?<div></div>

[SageGaspar]

First, as far as I know, ATK is just a rough estimate of your damage abilities. I have no idea how they calculate it or what the number means and I'm a 70 Swash that typically parses near the top of my raids.Here's the trick:Offensive stance gives you a (fairly minor) offensive proc and adds to your Crushing/Slashing/Ranged abilities while lowering defensive abilities. All that the offensive abilities do are help determine your "to hit" on the mob; if you actually land a hit on a mob, it doesn't matter what stance you're in, it's going to do the same damage.Likewise, Defensive stance lowers these offensive abilities and raises the defensive ones. This makes you get hit less often and get hit for less when you do, but it means your chance to hit them is going to go way down.When you're fighting against things you can easily hit, like greens or low blues, defensive is usually your best option. Anything even-con or above you're going to want to attack in offensive stance. These are just general rules I use, there are different ways to do it and your experience may vary.As far as your actual damage, what you want to pay attention to are the quality of your poisons, the quality of your weapon (damage rating, mainly, plus any procs), and try to raise your STR stat as much as possible.<div></div>

[Mathe]

<P>The extra defense is irrelevant in most groups. Unless you are fighting something with a really major physical AE (anything short of a raid mob probably won't be significant enough to make using defensive stance worthwhile), there is no reason a Swashbuckler should be in the defensive stance in a normal group. The proc from the offensive stance does go off a decent amount of the time, and can also interrupt the mob, which can potentially be nice, if random occurance. The difference between the offensive and defensive stance's accuracy is huge. Early on, it isn't a big deal, but later it amounts to well over 10 levels of accumulated combat skill, which is a pretty major accuracy difference.</P> <P>There are situations to use the defensive stance, but if you are in a group as a damage dealer, then you should pretty much always be in offensive stance.</P>

[SageGaspar]

<div><blockquote><hr>Matheau wrote:<div></div> <p>There are situations to use the defensive stance, but if you are in a group as a damage dealer, then you should pretty much always be in offensive stance.</p><hr size="2" width="100%">Oh yeah, definitely. Even against raid mobs there's not a huge advantage to going into defensive stance unless it somehow turns on you. I've never had a physical AE miss me, and the extra percent or two of mit isn't going to save your life in general.Stuff I was talking about was soloing, offensive stance in groups when you're not tanking all the way.Actually, a third option, consider no-stance sometimes. It sounds weird not to have a buff up when you can, but there are times when fighting blues and whites (and maybe even yellows) that your attack skills are high enough without offensive but too low with defensive, and you don't want the defense drop that comes with offensive.</blockquote></div>

[Goreshade]

Do heroic mobs receive bonuses to-hit and defense?  Or do they just have more hit points and hit harder?<div></div>