DPS or Tanking? Which is the ideal role for a soloer?

[Pyrrhon]

<div></div>I asked this question in another thread (thanks for the comment, Keg), but it was off-topic and I wanted some more advice, so I hope no one minds that I'm reposting it here.I solo more than anything else, and I don't see my playstyle changing. This means that I want to maximize my survivability and versatility when it comes to questing, especially.My question is this: should I focus on DPS ability or tanking ability?If I focus on good armor and the STA AA line, will I find it easier to whittle down a tough heroic quest mob than if I focused on good weapons and the STR AA line?<div></div>

[Gyilok]

<div></div><div>brigands key to soloing is to kill mob before it can kill you, so I would say max dps and learn to use your stuns to maximum effectiveness, and for the nastiest stuff you can add some kiting if there is room</div><div>maybe if you combine max sta line and max agi line resulting in faster casting times and more hp-miti you could get a good solo-tanking combo</div>

[Kegofbud]

<div>Agreed with Stizeyo. Damage is what you are about. Kill it fast. If you use a shield AND defensive stance, you miss a LOT. That stance is reserved for tanking small heroic groups for other DPS. Soloing, for me, has always worked best by going offensive so every single stun sticks. If I'm takign too much damage, snare and kite the rest of the way, or at least until my stuns are back up.</div><div> </div><div>INT line is probably not helpful at all to you. Choose the line with the most useful skills to your play style.</div>

[Aral]

<div></div>Our "tanking" as well as soloing is mostly about landing the stuns and rapidly driving the mob into the ground.  While I do look for high hitpoint/stamina/mitigation armor, strength must be maxable first, and masters / adept 3s of all your damage arts most important of all.  If you are primarily soloing, I'd suggest getting to walk the plank at least in the agility line, the requirement is just a rapier (I believe?) in mainhand.  Be sure to use a 7 second or higher delay bow for your solo pulling... that initial damage plus poison procs helps (slower the bow, higher the proc chance on pull).  The strength line with the defense increase, crit increase, and 50% reduction on mobs' specials will help you last through the solo fights vs ^^^. 

[Pyrrhon]

So, just to reiterate, the general consensus is that the STA AA line is NOT, in fact, a good idea for a soloer. (You don't have to respond to this unless you disagree and think it IS useful -- I'll assume that no responses means people generally agree on this point.)A few questions about soloing in general: a lot of people seem to recommend using throwing weapons so we can make use of our CA. Yet Aralys recommends a high delay bow. What say the masses?Also, and this is probably a very novice question, are our in-combat stealths useful to a soloer? I've never been able to use them, but perhaps I'm just not using them correctly.<div></div>

[Carna]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Pyrrhonic wrote:So, just to reiterate, the general consensus is that the STA AA line is NOT, in fact, a good idea for a soloer. (You don't have to respond to this unless you disagree and think it IS useful -- I'll assume that no responses means people generally agree on this point.)<div></div><hr></blockquote><p>The truth is, nobody has enough experience yet with a STA/STR AA light tank Rogue yet to be able to answer your question. The opinions given have been largely based on experience prior to AAs.... My personal <em><strong>guess</strong> </em>is that a light tank Rogue will make a very effective soloer indeed, especially against multi-mob encounters. I base this wild speculation in part upon how well Brawlers solo.</p><p>To answer your other question...In combat stealths are useful to a small degree for the soloer. You can stun the mob then stealth, then use your stealth attack.</p><p>I prefer throwing weapons as I actually quite like our thrown CA a lot of the time. If you don't, then a bow would be better.</p><p>It's dirt cheap to respec AA the first couple of times. You'll not [Removed for Content] your character by trying a certain build out if you change your mind... If the Rogue light tank intrigues you, try it out, and let us know how you get on.</p>

[Vicenzo]

<div>I was quite surprised just how effective Def Stance was when I used it the other day.   I'm a 35 Brig, with mediocre equipment, no rubbish, but nothing uber either.  I thought I'd try and solo Kregnok in CL to complete his quest.  Its going to be close, so I equip a one-hander and a decent shield (but no procs on either).  I switch on Dexterity (only App4) and I'm about to attack when the girlfriend phones and starts jabbering away.   Nothing important, so I'm going to attack regardless, when a yellow Ranger pops and unloads on me. </div><div> </div><div>I throw my hands up in the air and let him kill me, since I can't fight the Ranger, Kregnok and my missus all at once.   Except he doesn't kill me, in fact he's barely scraped 30% off me.  He's obviously used all his big attacks because now he's bouncing around like a rubber ball on speed trying to avoid mine - which aren't huge since I'm still in Def, but they're whittling his away his health in slow and steady fashion.    Then with us level pegging at 40% or so, he runs the 20 virtual yards to zone.  I couldn't be arsed to chase him, but a moral victory for me I think.  And now I travel in Def Stance everywhere.</div>

[Pyrrhon]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Vicenzo wrote:<div>I was quite surprised just how effective Def Stance was when I used it the other day.   I'm a 35 Brig, with mediocre equipment, no rubbish, but nothing uber either.  I thought I'd try and solo Kregnok in CL to complete his quest.  Its going to be close, so I equip a one-hander and a decent shield (but no procs on either).  I switch on Dexterity (only App4) and I'm about to attack when the girlfriend phones and starts jabbering away.   Nothing important, so I'm going to attack regardless, when a yellow Ranger pops and unloads on me. </div><div> </div><div>I throw my hands up in the air and let him kill me, since I can't fight the Ranger, Kregnok and my missus all at once.   Except he doesn't kill me, in fact he's barely scraped 30% off me.  He's obviously used all his big attacks because now he's bouncing around like a rubber ball on speed trying to avoid mine - which aren't huge since I'm still in Def, but they're whittling his away his health in slow and steady fashion.    Then with us level pegging at 40% or so, he runs the 20 virtual yards to zone.  I couldn't be arsed to chase him, but a moral victory for me I think.  And now I travel in Def Stance everywhere.</div><hr></blockquote>Wow, that's a VERY encouraging story. I think perhaps I'll give this path a go. As much as using Walk The Plank and stunning a mob into oblivion sounds appealing, I have to admit, my lifestyle sounds very much like yours -- one of the reasons I solo is because I have a lot of real life things that draw my attention away from the computer at a moment's notice. If the STA line is going to give me some leeway there and accomodate for a few seconds of inattention here and there, hey, sounds like a dream.Thanks everyone for the words <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></div>

[potatotr0ll]

<div></div><div></div><p>WIth my Brigand, I solo about 95% of the time.  Of course he is a jeweler, so i could afford to deck him out in some good gear.  He has about 7 Legendary items equipped for lvl 30s.  He is currently lvl 35 and has a Mitigation of 1700 with Rough Skin Master 1 and Def stance Master 1.  Basiclly he absorbs 50.5% of incoming attacks from lvl 35 mobs, and his avoidance is 45.1% against lvl 35 mobs.  I solo very well.  I use Drina's Fillet Knife and PGT in combo also.  On my server there are maybe 25 Brigands in all on the server.  So all Brigand Masters for lvl 30s are below 10gp each.  Its probably similar on most servers.  Brigand seems to be one of the least used classes.  Most mobs dont get me below 90% health, even green heroics.  Named green heroics get me to about 50% health.  Of course I have played about a total of about 20 different alts since release of the game, so I have a little experience behind soloing with different class types.  But mix good equipment, with at least Adept I spells, and a little skill and brigand can go to town.  I randomly check people when they pass me, and my Brigand at lvl 35 has more mitigation than most plate wearing tanks in their 40s.  If I only had an AoE taunt i would probably be used as a MT more often.</p><p>So, basiclly, Brigands can tank pretty well.  I didnt really aim at either DPS or Tanking ability.  I just went all out because I could.  Not everyone can do that I know.  But as many said above, go for DPS first, but if you get the chance upgrade your Def buff and/or your Def Stance if you can.  They help alot.  At Master I Rough Skin buff gives I believe 216 Mitigation and I forget how much STR.  But well worth it.  Of course that Master was the hardest one to find.  Knave (the lvl 30 def stance) is a pretty common Master on my server so I think I bought it for 3gp.  This Master is by far your best friend for soloing i think.</p><p>I was actually amazed at how well a chain wearing Brigand could solo.  i had always heard that brigands sucked for DPS and for soloing.  Boy were people wrong.  Even if you don't have master level stuff and legendary gear, you can still solo quite nicely.  My brigand can out solo my 46 Zerker any day.</p><p>P.S. Have a Feysteel chain coat on order right now, so that above mitigation will go up by about 30 after getting that. Also, just for a unique look and all I am going the STR line currently until i have enough points to use my free AA reset to dump all the points in the WIS line to get the double attacks and such.</p><p> </p><p>Message Edited by potatotr0ll on <span class="date_text">04-10-2006</span><span class="time_text">12:04 PM</span></p>

[Rokjin]

<div>I'd say your best options for Soloing would be a mix of both offense and defense.</div><div> </div><div>WIS/STR seems to be a good combo for that. Lunge Reversal is a nice additional damage. The 8% Riposte and 360 parry are great for soloing, the Riposte in particular. Coule will let you be in Offensive Stance almost without penalties to your avoidance, and be in Defensive Stance without real penalties to your attack. The extra defense from STR line will have you hitting near the defensive cap in Defense Stance.</div><div> </div><div>Using fairly crappy equipment and at best Adept 1 skills, my 59 Swashbuckler on Venekor has some 30% mitigation and now 54% avoidance in Defensive stance just from 8 points in Freehand Reversal (8% Riposte front quadrant/8% parry in all other quadrants) and Coule (which is giving me 14.2 parry/def/slash/pierce/ranged at this level)</div>

[verydanger]

I'm totally hooked on the WIS line, especially when it comes to soloing. With Lung Reversal firing off every chance it gets, increased ripostes and the incresed proc rate from double attacks, you are just overwhelming the mobs with hits it seems. Without using any CA's at all (just poison and offensive stance) I constantly recorded 400-500 DPS while soloing, this with pretty mediocre gear (Brakzars Cleaver, FBSS, just 350 STR). This was 4-8-8-8 into the WIS line.Then add the 8% riposte/parry (and defense/parry from Coule if you go that route), and you have added practically as much avoidance as STR and STA line together would have gotten you.Whats there in the STA line for the soloer? IMO, nothing really. If you want avoidance, you'll get more of that from the WIS line. If you want hitpoints, well, you wont even need them if you focus on damage and just kill the mob faster instead. You wanna solo in defensive stance to get the extra mitigation from final STA ability? Yes you're gonna need it when your stuns keep missing. :p<div></div>

[Crimson Dragon]

i didn't read all the responses, but i found that the wisdom line is pretty good for soloing if you don't mind only using one weapon.after you run out of stun & stab in your offensive stance, drop to defensive and let your parry and lunge reversal do some of the work while you keep up the debuffs and frontal skills.<div></div>

[Jeffmaster]

i agree...wisdom for the extra attacks....agility for more quickness

[kyth]

    str/int imo.  Reasons are1) you can pull any mob solo no matter what mobs are social around it.  Pull the mob, hit Thugs, FD.  All but the mob your thugs are on will reset and you can kill it solo.2)  If you dont have to use FD and thugs to pull you can use them to buy you time on skill refresh.  I use this when i need that extra time for Deceitful blow/restrain to refresh.<div></div>

[Wildfury77]

<div></div>Not sure how well it translates to the evil side.....I'm a 70 swashie and i mainly solo or do instances.With Stamina line i can tank most KoS instances very well.Build plan is <u><b><font color="#ffff00">Sta 4/4/4/8 Str 4/4/8/8 (nearly completed)</font></b></u>, <b><i>5 points spare</i></b>. I've got good kit and nearly all masters.To put in perspectice u can match a paladin/SK for HPs (roughly) and should have 60-65% avoidance in defensive stance and Good mitigation. Agro holding for rogues (especially swashies with AoEs and hurricane) isn't a problem.<b><u><i>Example </i></u></b>would be last night in vaults....foolishly let a 69 monk tank instead of me. After 3 wipes and ping pong agro around casters/healers I begged group to let me tank with monk avoidance buff on me. After that no wipes/zone cleared and i didn't lose agro once. I'm sure its similar for Brigands. All I'm saying is don't discount Strength/Stamina.....Its quite good for an instance/solo rogue. I think its discounted by those that haven't tried it or only raid <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> P.S. The HP boost really is huge! and the 54% DPS bonus not insignificant.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Wildfury77 on <span class=date_text>07-06-2006</span> <span class=time_text>03:10 AM</span>

[Malad]

<P>STA line actually worked well for me solo and small groups.</P> <P>What people are not telling you is that when Solo most of your damage will come from combat arts.  Going stamina does not change this but what it does change is how much auto-attack damage you will generally do.</P> <P>In exchange though you get more mitigation and more health plus the taunts (which are great if you truely want to tank).</P> <P>I was all stamina until I recently changed to Strength line to get the debuffs for raids and now working on Int to get FD again for Raid reasons although I am considering changing to a more dps build but that is another story.</P> <P>So in my expereince as a a Rogue Tank I found STA to work great and to help me solo.  Does it help more then say Wisdom?  I do not know but I do know it worked well for my play style and stuff died just as quick and I took less damage.</P> <P>After all you are still going to be using your stuns and jumping arround like a monkey in heat to get off your positionals and they will all do the same damage.</P>

[Owwiee]

I am Stam 4/4/4/4/0 Str 4/4/4/4/0 atm.  I am lvl 67 and have been tanking in SoS since 62 and now Nest  for our guild. (our Brusier just hit 62 so now he can do it with his new armor)  I love the Stam line.  I love haveing a shield and 1 hander.  I have all mastercrafted armor/Jewelery or better ( no Fabled ) and Mostly Adept 3's,  Solo I have no problems and in groups I can quite effectively hold agro better than a SK or brusier ( very few zerkers or Guards on PvP servers)  Light tanks Shine On PvP servers.  I had thought about swaping out the Str line for Wis.  Mabey with my free respec I might try it out for a while.