Alright, we need a Ruse guide

[Mideo]

<DIV>I got this skill this lvl, it's apprentice 2, and I have no sweet clue how it works.  When to use it, how to know it worked, what it does, anything.  I read people talking about how great it is, but that's all.  To me all it is is a 3 second FD that results in nothing but me standing up with auto-attack off.</DIV>

[Kiric]

Alright Ruse is a really great spell.. at lvl 25 im doing upwards of 500 damage... You must be in Front of an opponent to use this and when you are (make sure your not tanking in group)... Hit it then you will fall to the ground and it will attack him by suprise dealing mass ammounts of damage... If you have combat turned off you wont see it being hit as well... but if you do have it on then it will say "Monster has been hit for a suprise blow for bla bla points of damage.".. works very well when soloing creatures also

[Zaber]

<DIV>Aye, a few things I have noticed is that if I have the MT targeted it does not seem as the ruse do any damage , so in groups I am very careful about what to target and when. But when it works as normal my personal best with a adept 1 ruse in lv 21 is 590 <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Calroon]

<DIV>I've got some problems with this skill as well even after reading tons of posts about how it works etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When i solo it's just fine. I see the dmg made (not in the logs tough but in grey) however, as soon as i group i don't seem to get it to work. Sure you can miss the number during the dmg spamm but even in non melee heavy groups i can't see it, nor do i hear the sound and most important the cloud that usually goes off when hitting someone.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm at the mobs front, use the skill, fall down, trigger some other attack in queue and wait till i get up (i know you don't have to but still).</DIV> <DIV>As said, solo every thing works out just good. Hit sound, cloud, dmg number - grouped... i "think" not, it's a feeling dunno.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Would help so much more if they would actualy log it or make it a non grey dmg number =/</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>edit:</DIV> <DIV>One more thing.. why does almost EVERY god [Removed for Content] mob seems to have barrage, that really pi**** me off.</DIV> <DIV>Making my group members telling me over and over to not go into the mobs front radius and me having to explain everyone why over and over...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>hmm just saw one post which pointed this out "You have to have 'Other Hits' turned on in your chat text. Since the damage isn't attributed to you, it shows up as being from another source." gonna try this at home later to at least make sure i'm not screwing something up.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Calroon on <span class=date_text>12-15-2004</span> <span class=time_text>02:08 AM</span>

[Tessi]

<DIV>I was having this problem last night... I was using Ruse every time it came up, and only about half the time did I see the damage number float up. Once when it failed to float (I know it went off, cause the mob went from half to dead) I scrolled back in the journal to make sure it DID fire, and there was the Suprise Blow. I think if there's too much going on in combat, sometimes it chooses to not display all the floating numbers, and discards things we don't do first.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Another problem is timing... I don't think this is an artifice of lag, but Ruse seems to do it's damage within a large window of time. Sometimes the hit occurs just as I'm falling to the ground, and other times it dosen't go off until I'm back on my feet and swinging. Confusing.</DIV>

[Leie]

<DIV>Another thing, did anyone try to finish Ringing Blow HO with Ruse? The Ruse icon is flashing when you ready to finish the HO but it never seem to do so. It of course can be related to the fact the Surprise Blow is not listed/considered as the damage done by the brigand but at the same time it removes the HO wheel as if it was completed without the HO damage done.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyone notice anything about it?</DIV>

[Dtrick]

<DIV>I noticed that also.  Circular strike does not complete ringing blow, but it will complete swindler's luck.  I made a bug report about this multiple times in beta, but it is still a bug in release, go figure.</DIV>

[Novastar_Solarfu]

<DIV>I use Ruse all the time. One thing that I have noticed, if you are too low on the mobs agro table, it wont work.  My girlfriend is the tank in our group and if she has too much agro, it wont go off. So before I lauch Ruse, I make sure to Cuss then Gouge then Ruse. I usually don't pull full agro but will be slapped around by barrage on occation, even if I'm behind the target. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Highest Ruse so far is 799 with Adept 1.</DIV>

[Naldiian]

<DIV>Ruse is great damage and all but I cant believe you guys are taking the time to run around to the front of the mob and take some damage and go through the time lost to get off a Ruse when you could easily have done that amount of damage or more just staying at the back or side and firing off the few attacks we have that refresh in the amount of time you spend doing all that. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But then I just do not like to be moving all over in combat confusing the situation and irritating my healers so that I can get an extra 400-500 damage a minute.. especially when it probably does not really produce that much since you skip some other attacks to get it there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That said, I still could swear you have to get attacked to fire it off, like it says in the description. That is why you will not see it generally when yo do not have agro at the time. The damage is excellent when it is functional to use it, but I generally use it when I already have agro due to damage output or when I am tanking or soloing. </DIV>

[Zaber]

<DIV>It does have some small benefits ... </DIV> <DIV>Perhaps things will get differenet later on , but for me the ruse takes about 2-3 seks before I a ready and done for the next attack. so in lv 21 with adept 1 I do around 400-600 damage . That amont of damage is all my backstabbings combined so atleast for now I do benefir from it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Oooh and also it has another benefit .. It never miss and it never gets resisted. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Aral]

<DIV>You do not have to have any aggro at all to use ruse successfully. You can time it and use it as the tank pulls incoming, you can use it to start a fight with a non-agg mob.  Just because you didn't see the grey number that time doesn't mean it didn't go off.  All that matters is that you are in front 180 deg of the mob when you fire the skill, and in front 180 when it goes off.  In terms of damage/time and damage/mana it far surpasses the other skills you could fire off in that time frame, so no it's not a waste <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[TricksyRaton]

<DIV>Ack!  Lemme clear it up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Use Ruse at the beginning of battle, and every minute afterwards.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Use it regardless of aggro.  As soon as you are done, get behind the mob again.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you fall down, then 95% likely it took effect.  It's very difficult to see in battle spam/lag, but if you target the mob the hp's always drop.  Also, when in group the damage  take effect the instant you fall, but when solo it takes effect the second you get up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Since you do 300-700 damage, and use 30 odd power, it's quite efficient, since other powerful attacks like distracting blade and blackjack take about the same amount of power and do 100 odd damage, so if you're out of power, and the ruse timer is almost up, save it for ruse.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This is one ability allows us to keep up with assassins dps wise, and yet not get aggro, which is the weakness of assassins.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>(at least 20-30).</DIV>

[Azr]

<DIV>The only time ruse will NOT do damage is if you use it while infront of the mob and after u fall the mob's front side is turned away from you. </DIV>

[Zerim]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Naldiian wrote:<BR> <DIV>Ruse is great damage and all <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>but I cant believe you guys are taking the time to run around to the front of the mob and take some damage and go through the time lost to get off a Ruse</FONT></STRONG> when you could easily have done that amount of damage or more just staying at the back or side and firing off the few attacks we have that refresh in the amount of time you spend doing all that. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But then I just do not like to be moving all over in combat confusing the situation and irritating my healers so that I can get an extra 400-500 damage a minute.. especially when it probably does not really produce that much since you skip some other attacks to get it there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That said, I still could swear you have to get attacked to fire it off, like it says in the description. That is why you will not see it generally when yo do not have agro at the time. The damage is excellent when it is functional to use it, but I generally use it when I already have agro due to damage output or when I am tanking or soloing. </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>If you don't want to move around in battle, the class with lots of positional attacks is not one you should have chosen. Additionally, when playing with a good tank that holds aggro, you can normally time your Ruse and queue up a Combat Art to miss very few swings while in combat and the extra 600 points of damage in a battle shouldn't be minimized. If the higher level game I have experienced thus far is indicative of what I should expect going forward, if I am tanking for my group then it either means my tank is dead or we are fighting things that are way beneath the skill of my group. Your mileage may vary.</P> <P>Like someone else mentioned this attack should be used every time it is available - in my opinion.</P> <P><IMG src="http://www.zerimarsurfaces.com/images/temp_pics/shank_ya_very_much3.jpg"> </P><p>Message Edited by Zerimar on <span class=date_text>12-20-2004</span> <span class=time_text>10:23 AM</span>

[Zerim]

<P>double post</P><p>Message Edited by Zerimar on <span class=date_text>12-16-2004</span> <span class=time_text>03:34 PM</span>

[SilentZeph]

<DIV>According to the description, you have to be hit in order for ruse to work.  (as you are tricking the enemy to attack you.)</DIV>

[Nagora]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Dtrick wrote:<BR> <DIV>I noticed that also.  Circular strike does not complete ringing blow, but it will complete swindler's luck.  I made a bug report about this multiple times in beta, but it is still a bug in release, go figure.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> Actually, Circular completes Ringing Blow, but it seems to cause no damage.  I think it's because Circular Strike hits multiple mobs, so the HO doesn't know which is the target (something like that?). 

[Nagora]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Naldiian wrote:<BR> <DIV>Ruse is great damage and all but I cant believe you guys are taking the time to run around to the front of the mob and take some damage and go through the time lost to get off a Ruse when you could easily have done that amount of damage or more just staying at the back or side and firing off the few attacks we have that refresh in the amount of time you spend doing all that. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But then I just do not like to be moving all over in combat confusing the situation and irritating my healers so that I can get an extra 400-500 damage a minute.. especially when it probably does not really produce that much since you skip some other attacks to get it there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That said, I still could swear you have to get attacked to fire it off, like it says in the description. That is why you will not see it generally when yo do not have agro at the time. The damage is excellent when it is functional to use it, but I generally use it when I already have agro due to damage output or when I am tanking or soloing. </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>This seems like a pretty bad attitude to have, in my opinion.  Ruse only comes up once a minute, and you don't lose that much damage in the time you need to circle around to the front.  In fact you gain a lot more than you lose.  If you were talking about Gouge, I'd tend to agree with you, but Ruse does a lot more damage.  </P> <P>Barrage doesn't go off that often either.  Even in the worst case scenario, if you eat one barrage, that shouldn't be more than a third of your health.  If you're almost dead, by all means stay at the back.  In fact, if you're really on death's door I'd recommend just falling back and using your bow unless your group really needs your full damage output.  No reason to risk an unnecessary death.  But all scout classes (Brigands included) have medium armor and none of us should be too afraid to take the ocassional hit.  <BR></P> <p>Message Edited by Nagorak3 on <span class=date_text>12-17-2004</span> <span class=time_text>06:28 AM</span>

[Kr]

<DIV>In my experience, Ruse appears to go off as soon as another attack hits the mob. So I can ruse, and they will immediately take the damage with other group members hitting them. Then I fall down, and scramble to get back up. This also appears to happen solo if I que another attack as soon as the ruse power bar is gone. Ruse will do it's damage before I get up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If I don't have the other attack complete, or someone else doesn't hit the mob, it won't take affect until I stand back up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This could be why some people are thinking that their ruse attack did no damage. It's happening way before you get back up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Nagora]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Kroe wrote:<BR> <DIV>In my experience, Ruse appears to go off as soon as another attack hits the mob. So I can ruse, and they will immediately take the damage with other group members hitting them. Then I fall down, and scramble to get back up. This also appears to happen solo if I que another attack as soon as the ruse power bar is gone. Ruse will do it's damage before I get up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If I don't have the other attack complete, or someone else doesn't hit the mob, it won't take affect until I stand back up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This could be why some people are thinking that their ruse attack did no damage. It's happening way before you get back up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> I think sometimes the Ruse damage number simply doesn't float above the mob's head.  I tested it the other day with a Brigand friend of mine, and the Ruse obviously was doing damage (health massively reduced), but no number floated up.  Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, but it always works.