Where best does a troubadour fit on raids?

[Skylher]

<DIV>our MT group uses a dirge normally. We have a troubadour also that i am just unsure of where best to place. Right now we put him in the mage group to decrease their hate, but i am not sure if that is utilizing his skills properly.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>can someone explain what exactly a troubadour offers, and what classes they best help? thanks</DIV>

[vinterskugge]

<P>In a DPS group (not pure caster group).  These are the buffs I usually run and what they do:</P> <P>40% less hate (helps everyone)<BR>23-26% haste (stackable, helps the troubador and all melee)<BR>Mana regen (helps everyone)<BR>30% chance for spell procs (mainly casters, but occasionally goes off for melee)<BR>STR/STA (most melee are already capped on STR but STA helps the whole group stay alive)</P> <P>An optimal group (imo) would be Troubador, Fury, Brigand, Wizard, Conjuror, Assassin.</P>

[Dwergux]

<blockquote><hr>vinterskugge wrote:<P>In a DPS group (not pure caster group).  These are the buffs I usually run and what they do:</P><P>40% less hate (helps everyone)<BR>23-26% haste (stackable, helps the troubador and all melee)<BR>Mana regen (helps everyone)<BR>30% chance for spell procs (mainly casters, but occasionally goes off for melee)<BR>STR/STA (most melee are already capped on STR but STA helps the whole group stay alive)</P><P>An optimal group (imo) would be Troubador, Fury, Brigand, Wizard, Conjuror, Assassin.</P><hr></blockquote>Just curious: Why not a pure caster group? Although I'm no expert on troubadours (mine is an alt at level 56) I figured most of our buffs focus on casters. So my general idea would be more of a troubadour for a caster group and a dirge for a melee group (given you have enough of them).

[vinterskugge]

<P>The caster buff thing really isn't true.  We have Aria and Precision which mainly proc casters, and Dove Song which is useless.  These are really our only buffs that affect casters rather than melee or both.  Our buffs help any DPS class, so what you need to look at is how well everyone else in the group fits together - all caster group and you're losing a lot of procs they could be putting on melee not to mention the scouts not living up to their full potential because of a lack of buffs.  Besides, our scouts seem to be a lot more likely to pull hate than our casters, so that makes Alins even more important for them.</P> <P>Instead of looking at it as "Troubs buff casters, Dirges buff melee", try "Troubs buff DPS groups, Diges buff tank groups".  Yeah, a dirge can buff a DPS group too, but they really shine in a tank group.</P>

[Zapdafi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> vinterskugge wrote:<BR> <P>In a DPS group (not pure caster group).  These are the buffs I usually run and what they do:</P> <P>40% less hate (helps everyone)<BR><BR></P> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>actually, the hate reduction does not help fighters so bruisers, monks, and zerkers  still need to be careful. </P> <P>also the 40% was capped in t6 so its not really as effective anymore.<BR></P>

[Dwergux]

<blockquote><hr>Zapdafish wrote:<BR><BLOCKQUOTE><HR>vinterskugge wrote:<BR><P>In a DPS group (not pure caster group).  These are the buffs I usually run and what they do:</P><P>40% less hate (helps everyone)<BR><BR></P><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>actually, the hate reduction does not help fighters so bruisers, monks, and zerkers  still need to be careful. </P><P>also the 40% was capped in t6 so its not really as effective anymore.<BR></P><hr></blockquote>Correct me if I'm wrong, but 40% stays 40% even when generated hate goes up. % buffs stay effective regardless of tier.

[vinterskugge]

<DIV>It doesn't matter your level, 40% is 40%.  It's not a constant, it's a percentage.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As for the fighters, it doesn't help them, but none of them need 40% less hate anyway.  If they're not tanking, the brawlers will have a hard time pulling hate just from their DPS, and our berserker is always tanking anyway.</DIV>

[Bassist]

And just have a pally throw amends on the 'zerker when not tanking.  We call it the aggro hole.

[Jaimster]

<P>I have been raiding quite a lot recently and it completely depends on the mobs the group is fighting. Usually my group consists of:</P> <P>Me (Troub)</P> <P>Templar (they like to keep my husband in my group since we're in the same room)</P> <P>Bruiser</P> <P>3 Mage dps classes OR 2 mage and Zerker</P> <P>Unless we are up against a mob that does Cold/Heat damage or Divine/Mental/Magic Damage (in which case I run those, like in Labs) I have mana regen, avoidance, haste, Daelis (my personal buff), and depending on how many mages in the group either STR/STA, Hate, or Aria's.</P> <P>The avoidance is the best for our group because in many instances the bruiser is off tanking (Not always MA, but grabbing adds, etc).  It seems to work out well for us.</P>