A couple questions on tanking swashbuckler

[Miele]

Hi all,I've been lured into this "swashbuckler tank" idea and it looks quite cool imo even from a RP point of view, but I'm curious about a few things (and I'm totally clueless about swashbucklers!):Premitting I'm not going to raid ever, the idea would be to tank in a fixed trio of friends, one warden and one warlock are the other 2. The warden may switch to her Inquisitor later in levels. We may occasionally get more people grouped, but as a rule of thumb it's us three.I would have no problems in getting decent/good gear and making Adept IIIs CA myself where needed. We take our time levelling as well, so crafting and harvesting mini-sessions here and there to keep our stuff upgraded are the norm.- What can a swashbuckler tank? I don't even ask to be able to tank epics (I doubt it's even possible), but for heroic content, do I need to stick with blues ^^^ and greens ^^^ or can I go even against white and yellows ^^^?- At which level can I start being a tank for heroic content (meaning, is there a skill I definitely need to have that is accessible only at level X? ) and at which level (eventually) I can't tank anymore at all?- How hard is to keep agro on multi-mobs pulls?- given a tanking AA selection, will my DPS be totally gimped if I group with a tank and leave him the scene or will I still be able to pull my weight?- given the use of a round shield when tanking, is there any reason why I should use 1h+shield also when soloing or can I switch to dual wield in that case?- Aside from the obvious use of stamina, is agility preferred over strenght for a swashbuckler?Lots of questions I know, hope you can enlighten me <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Thanks in advance!<div></div>

[Zygorian]

I myself am a tanking Swash and have tanked almost everything in RoV at level 30, even Yellow and Orange heroics, I maxed Stamina Line AA's and took strength and got 8 ranks in the +defence ability, I also took +5 defence and +5 stamina as race traits while leveling, I have full mastercrasted Feyiron Chain, legs and chest are imbued for the heal and dmg procs. I have Mastercrasted Round Shield and the rest of my gear is mainly STA/Health with a mix of Agi (For avoidance) and Str (For damage as I still want to hurt stuff when grouped or solo) I believe I'm at 42% chance to avoid, 41% dmg absorbed and have about 2200hp, I have 1 single target taunt and 1 encounter taunt with Aggression Maxed, I have a 1 single target stun (2 if you time your stealth and out of stealth stun so you can use them in combat like I do) and a AOE stun. All in all a swash can tank very well if you can convince a group to let you. I went swash tank so I could tank when a group was shouting for tanks or dps if a group is asking for DPS. I didn't want to limit myself to only one role, yes my DPS is slightly lower in this spec but my tanking ability is MUCH improved.<div></div>

[Metal_Starz]

I'm a tanking swash and I can solo Nest up to the last guy. ^^^'s are not a problem at all. 58% avoidence and 51% mit in defensive stance. I respc'd from DW to 1H-Shield and I love it. I have just over 8200hp self buffed. In pvp you last a lot longer and En garde seems to work a little nicer =). Just my 2cp.   Lv 70Sta- 4-4-4-8-8Str 4-4-7-6<div></div>

[Aboun]

<DIV>Due to one of your hunting partners being a warlock, agro would be my concern.  You can take the shield AA for the group taunt, but since SOE said 1pt damage = 1pt hate, lookup the same level warlock AE spells and see this is gonna suck.  You'd really need to go all the way down the line for the taunt-proc and have the warlock hold off until you've taken enough hits to hopefully hold agro.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Zygorian]

You can always use the attack that increases your hate gain for 10 seconds and then use the 2 aoe attacks we have, this tends to give me enough hate in group encounters alongside the encounter taunt.<div></div>

[Illyakuran]

<P>As a STR/WIS specced swashbuckler I can tank and hold aggro pretty well just through DPS. It's probably easier to do at higher levels once you get Hurricane to hold aggro on groups but with 2 ae's and switching targets once in a while you should be able to do ok at lower levels. What I do is try and keep Cheapshot and our single target taunt in reserve in case someone pulls aggro or I get an add that I need to get under control right away. I use Cheapshot to stun the mob, fire off back stabs, then taunt it. As a tank specced swashie I think you will do fine holding aggro against multi-mob encounters. With my current spec I've tanked yellow ^^^'s just fine. For tanking agility may be perferred over strength as it will increase your avoidance.</P> <P> </P> <P>As for how your dps will be when you are not tanking I do not know but I am curious if anyone has any input on it.</P> <P>I've been kicking around the idea of respeccing to STR/STA myself since I am finding myself spending more time solo or duo then raiding nowdays. What I'm not sure of is if the increase in health and avoidance will offset the lower dps. Faster kills means taking less damage but so will higher avoidance and mitigation. Self buffed I am at 7,404 health, 50% mitigation, 55% avoidance. With the STR/STA build I figure I'd break 8k health, 53% mit, and be close to 60% avoidance. With the holidays being over I'll be starting to raid again but would like to keep a solo option open while still doing decent dps on raids. I don't care to be at the top of the dps chart in raids but would be embarressed if the enchanters and druids parse higher.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[the flu]

<div><blockquote><hr>Miele wrote:Hi all,I've been lured into this "swashbuckler tank" idea and it looks quite cool imo even from a RP point of view, but I'm curious about a few things (and I'm totally clueless about swashbucklers!):Premitting I'm not going to raid ever, the idea would be to tank in a fixed trio of friends, one warden and one warlock are the other 2. The warden may switch to her Inquisitor later in levels. We may occasionally get more people grouped, but as a rule of thumb it's us three.I would have no problems in getting decent/good gear and making Adept IIIs CA myself where needed. We take our time levelling as well, so crafting and harvesting mini-sessions here and there to keep our stuff upgraded are the norm.- What can a swashbuckler tank? I don't even ask to be able to tank epics (I doubt it's even possible), but for heroic content, do I need to stick with blues ^^^ and greens ^^^ or can I go even against white and yellows ^^^?</blockquote>For heroic content, I will assume you mean in a group? Last night I tanked oob, with a shaman, wizzy, conji and level 65 bard. We cleared everything but the last named, and had we had a second healer or properly leveled and geared bard, I think we would have taken him too. These are various level 72 groups, some of which come as paired ^^^ (I would consider mini epics)<blockquote>- At which level can I start being a tank for heroic content (meaning, is there a skill I definitely need to have that is accessible only at level X? ) and at which level (eventually) I can't tank anymore at all?</blockquote>I don't know that there is a minimum level, though gear is much more important than skills. You will want the taunt line at a minimum; the group taunt from sta aa line is a huge plus, as is the final ability in that line.<blockquote>- How hard is to keep agro on multi-mobs pulls?</blockquote>I have more trouble with single pulls, since the last sta aa has a reactive hate proc. If I can hold the first mob, the second and third have been building hate the whole time so it's harder for nukers to pull it off you. This is assuming you get initial agro.<blockquote>- given a tanking AA selection, will my DPS be totally gimped if I group with a tank and leave him the scene or will I still be able to pull my weight?</blockquote>Uou will do ok dps, but not as muh as a wis or agi specced swashy. <blockquote>- given the use of a round shield when tanking, is there any reason why I should use 1h+shield also when soloing or can I switch to dual wield in that case?</blockquote>Entierly up to you; I keep the round sheild on unless I'm grouping (dw unless the tank is a complete newb), but you can defiantly kill faster if you go dw agaisnt solo mobs.<blockquote>- Aside from the obvious use of stamina, is agility preferred over strenght for a swashbuckler?</blockquote>For tank spec, defiantly go str. There is a defensive bonus aa there and the crit boost will help make up for some of the lost dps.<blockquote>Lots of questions I know, hope you can enlighten me <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Thanks in advance!<div></div><hr></blockquote></div>

[Cocytus]

<P>As a note, I am not str/sta specced, I am str/wis, and I too can solo Nest up to the last guy.</P> <P> </P> <P>To answer your question, a swashbuckler can tank anything that isn't an epic that hits particularly hard.</P><p>Message Edited by Cocytus on <span class=date_text>01-05-2007</span> <span class=time_text>01:08 PM</span>

[Miele]

I want to thank you all for the replies, it's becoming appealing more and more each level and what you wrote is encouraging to go on to say the least <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>