Avast ye scurvy dogs...

[Siru]

<DIV>Hi there!  I play a 58 swashbuckler and I have been reading the forums for some time now.  People have been praising str/wis line for a long time, and I am wondering if I am missing something....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I would hardly be able to stand losing Walk the Plank and Avast Ye.  I udnerstand that our dual wield DPS is slightly lower than auto attack DPS when double attacking.  When soloing I will turn the mob with Walk the Plank, use our big attack from behind, then stun, then use both multiple attacks and almost always get an Avast ye proc.  Also, when grouping, its just one more thing to proc inspired daring off of, and it does some pretty impressive damage in itself.  Obviously I have not tried this in every environment, I mainly group in the easy dungeons/instances such as CoI/Mines of meldrath.  I have also had limited raid experience...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am specced with 8 crit, 8 avast ye, and sailwind</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So thats where I am coming from, my real question is what does the wis line offer that can offset the 16% chance for another large attack while behind an enemy?  (Yes I have searched and read the +s and -s of each AA line, but I can't seem to come up with a solid answer for this.)  All responses are appreciated.  Thanks! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[Mion da Peon]

Only if you have a fabled 1 hander.  The dps still might be comparable to str / agl unless the 1 hander has a high damage range thus giving it more of a bonus from crits. Weapons like this have high delays >2.0 and are the best dps obtainable through str / wis.  Using the Claymore 1 hander (1.6 delay) I've pulled more consistantly high dps using agl (sailwind) / wis.

[Siru]

<DIV>Thanks bud <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[khurath]

<P>What brought to me to the STR/WIS is the fact that most of the time I am tanking (duoing or soloing) and thus a proc that requires to be behind the enemy isn't so desirable.</P> <P>Yes, I know that the STA line is for tanks, but I preferred to be able to deal out consistent damage when grouped, and so opted for the WIS line and spent 4 more points on freehand reversal to increase my avoidance.</P> <P>Specced with WIS 4,4,8,8,8 and STR 4,4,4,5 my avoidance is 54% in defensive stance and 43% in offensive stance, and I deal out a fair amount of damage.</P> <P>I currently have a Sword of the Bixie (bought for 1p), not a fabled, and there are other legendary with which you can use WIS line effectively.</P> <P>I also tried Walk the plank (only rank1 though) but found out that against heroics you barely have the time to cast 1 CA, and it is therefore not worth the points expenditure. I wonder if spending more points in it, the time would be enough to cast at least 2 CAs.<BR>If this is the case it could be interesting to try out the WIS/AGI combo. You need to spend most of the time grouped though.</P><p>Message Edited by khurath on <span class=date_text>12-27-2006</span> <span class=time_text>11:39 AM</span>

[Siru]

<DIV>Yeah, i dont play Massively multiplayer games for solo content usually <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  But yes, i can get 2 CAs off easily before they turn back around.  Plenty of ways to get more off.  I like to stand behind the mob as much as possible, so heres a few tricks i've found out.  Avast ye + a backstab + cheapshot + other backstab + another CA (usually our triple attack) works out for a big boost, this means next time you need to get in your mitigation reducing backstab you'll have to knock the enemy down with our big AE or restealth + use that knockdown to get behind, both ways work well.  Try this build out soloing, i think you'll find that you will get avast ye to proc more than you may think.. fighting white and blue non heroics i get 1 or 2 per fight at least, and a free 600 dmg really drops their HP a noticable amount.  When I solo I have found this works out great, the more time the mob is on his [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]/facing the opposite direction, the less you get hit <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Duoing this is invaluable I have found, because I like to duo ^^^s and named mobs.  Without fail, I will get an unlucky string of un-avoided attacks.  Having Avast Ye on hand to turn the enemy away from me and give my healer time to catch up is absolutely a godsend.  Not to mention the extra couple thousand damage you'll get off before the mob is able to hit you again.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In my opinion between the crit in the str line and avast ye/walk the plank theres no room for wis <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>edit:  my avoidance is 52% in defensive stance, dont remember offhand what it is in offensive stance.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Sirune on <span class=date_text>12-27-2006</span> <span class=time_text>11:55 AM</span>

[Cocytus]

<DIV>AGI/WIS will outparse STR/WIS most consistantly until you have a fabled 1 hander. When you have a fabled 1hander, AGI/WIS may spike above STR/WIS from time to time, but STR/WIS will be consistantly higher.</DIV>

[khurath]

<DIV>Yeah, I had my share of unlucky unavoided hits, but in that case you can use walk the plank only if it is ready, which means that you are keeping it for the hard times. I would rather use our mez that way; in adept III it is very effective, and has saved my .... more than one time. You just have to fire it off, disable your autoattack and wait till cheap shot refresh, then you stealth, fire brazening, dps debuff, cheap shot, lung puncture or any other back attack and by this time the healer has had plenty of time to heal you.</DIV> <DIV>Another option is to fire off the restealth, actually letting the healer take aggro, and brazen, cheap shot and swathe the mob, keeping it stunned untill you regain the aggro and the healer has (hopefully) got your health back. I've done this many times and it works pretty well.</DIV> <DIV>Walk the Plank in my opinion is instead to be used as frequently as possible to get out your "back" attacks.</DIV> <DIV>I don't deny that it is useful and fun (as everything which adds more possibilities to the fight) but to get it to rank 4 I would have to forfeit a lot of avoidance, not to mention what I have to lose to get Avast Ye.</DIV> <DIV>I don't know how you can have your avoidance to 52% without all the defense augmenting AAs (I have Black Guard's luck rank4, free hand reversal rank 8 and Coule), please what is your AGI? do you have any +defense gear?</DIV> <DIV>Speaking of the dmg, 600 in a 1 minute fight, means an increase to dps of 10. My 8.7% crit chance, will give me approximately (recalling that the crit increase the damage by 30%) 8.7% x 30% = 2.6% that over a dps of 500 is something like 13.</DIV> <DIV>Doesn't seem worth forfeiting avoidance and damage to have Avast ye unless you group a lot and make it go off more consistently.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Siru]

I wouldnt give up the crit, I'd give up the whole wisdom line (you're right, i must have been buffed when i looked last, its 44 unbuffed) And if you fight for 1 minute straight and avast ye only goes off once you've been extremely unlucky. 16% chance = alot more than 1 proc per minute.

[Skua]

i have 8 points i Avast ye (no full AAs yet so went full waiting to get 8 points <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ...the other day in MMC , i crited avast ye 998 aprox <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />in some poor vampire <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />need to parse it but full will hit very often.

[Siru]

<DIV>with 8 points in Avast Ye for the last 10 dungeons i have run it has been betweeen 6-10% of my total dps <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[khurath]

<P>Where you in a group, consistently behind the mobs or soloing/duoing?<BR>I bet you were in a group, but if you were soloing I could respec to WIS/AGI to try it out.</P>

[Mion da Peon]

<DIV>For agl / wis to *consistanly out parse str / wis (in my experience) you must be flanking 99 % of the time with a 1 hander < 2.0 delay and spam CAs like a mofo with sailwind.  If your dps mod goes over 100 the two lines seem to even out a bit.  If you have a 1 hander above or at 2.0 delay str / wis would most likely parse better.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As far as solo play, I find str / wis to much better with it's superior dps and defense.  Walk the plank is nice, and really shines when fighting heroics in groups, but it's nothing really to write home about on solo mobs unless you can't figure out another way to get positionals off ala brazening & cheap shot</DIV>