New Swashie - from Paladin

[Koava]

<p>Okay ... I am a convert of sorts. I have a level 70 Paladin in a raiding guild, but I am working on a Swashbuckler.  Can someone lay down the basic tactics for me of solo/group/raid dps'ing ?</p><p> I am really looking for the combat abilities and spells (do swashies have spells ?) to use and in what order. I want to understand the basic stragety versus just pushing buttons ... which is what I have been doing to level 34. I really don't yet see the stuns or other specials abilities working ... what should i be looking for ... watching for ?</p><p>Lastly, at level 70, what do you have in your hotbars and how many hotbars do you have going ?</p><p>THANKS !!</p>

[Shackleton1]

<p>I'm rubbish at remembering the names of CAs. Sorry for that. (CA stand for Combat Art and is our equivelent of spells)</p><p>In general, I recommend you look at each of your CAs. Pretty much all of them have some kind of debuff component, and it's important to learn what they do.</p><p>---------------</p><p>In general, combat in group or raid works like this:</p><p>An opening attack to start combat, either the sneak attack (which stuns) or dazzling swipe (debuffs dps). This puts you in combat and can take the edge off early damage.Start a heroic opportunity.Advance with stun, snare (debuffs magic mitigation), or the other one (debuffs defence and wisdom). I normally go for the other one.Debuff mitigation with guile.Debuff mitigation with the other mitigation debuffing attack, either the double attack or the triple attack I can't remember.Maybe land razor arc (debuffs parry) or lung puncture (debuffs offensive skills)Plunder (High damage back attack)... and then use stuff you have left, basically.</p><p>The HO is important because there is a solo scout HO that raises offensive skills (I think called swindlers luck). This is pretty helpful.</p><p>As a general principle, you want to debuff the mobs defences (particularly mitigation) before using your high damage attacks like plunder. Unless the group is having some other difficulty, such as tank having agro problems or taking a lot of damage. You have tools to help deal with these situations - use them <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>------------</p><p>Soloing is a bit different, and generally revolves around providing opportunities to use your back attacks. You can do this by:</p><p>- Opening with your stealth attack, as this stuns the mob buying time for you to use your back attack CAs.- Using your stun- Mezzing the mob (this allows you to enter stealth and again use your stealth attack, which stuns)- Walk the plank (a CA from the agility AA which flips the mob around)</p><p>------------</p><p>Finally, there's your long re-use buffs. These are temporary buffs that greatly improve your ability to deal damage. They make a big difference in dps and are very helpful when you run into trouble solo. There are four of them, but en garde you don't get until your 50s if I recall. Using them all at once can be particularly powerful.</p><p>------------</p><p>Use poisons. They make a big difference. Poisons which are a different colour stack with one another. Usually, that's 1 damage poison and 2 debuff poisons</p><p>------------</p><p>There's lots more but hopefully that's a decent primer <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> As I said above, it's really worth just taking your time to look at precisely what your CAs do and just spending a few moments thinking about it.</p>

[Koava]

<p>Thanks !!! Thanks so much.</p><p>I have read most of the forums (and am continueing to read them) ... but this is more stragety ... most of the other posts were geared towards just button pushing or spells line upgrades ... which AA is better than which other. Coming from the tank way of thinking, I did not know that the Swashbuckler had so many debuffs. I did know that positioning is much more critical to a scout than to a tank attempting to do DPS.</p><p>I have been using a poison, but did not know that there were three lines and that they WOULD stack ... that is huge (thanks).</p><p>I was surprised that you did not say that in groups and or raiding that you should start stealth'd or invis'd ... to use the back shot that needs stealth or invis as a first attack ... it seems to me that this would be the natural way to land the first good shot. Is this to avoid grabbing aggro immediately from the raid or group's tank ?</p><p>Is there any reason to get a good bow ? </p><p>My main is a paladin, but also a weaponsmith, and I have stockpiled a lot of unused rares. I thought that I would make my alt a few rare weapons. Is there a particular pair that are best ... the leafblade or short spear maybe ... to use until I have better drops or can find something cheap on the broker ? Are there any common rares for sale on the broker that are fitting for a 35+, 45+, 55+ level swashie ?</p><p>Thanks again for the reply and the help.</p><p> Grimsby - Crushbone</p>

[Shackleton1]

<p>In raids, the stealth attack isn't as good because epic monsters are immune to the stun. It's still a fair amount of damage though. Personally, I regard my role as debuffer as more important than my role as dps, so I try and get those debuffs in as swiftly as possible, so I don't waste time with the stealth attack even though it does damage. But that is very much a matter of opinion and personal preference.</p><p>In groups, yes really you should use your stealth attack, unless you're having agro problems. But one can be lazy <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15"></p><p>An oddity of the stealth attack is that you don't actually need to be behind the mob to use it - just stealthed. Took me a while before I noticed that.</p><p>One other thing I totally forgot about but should really mention... you won't have too much trouble with agro, but only if you're using your agro transfer. It's really important to get this on a tank if you can as it helps both you and them.</p><p>A bow is almost entirely useless <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /> And if you get a ranged weapon, you do have a CA or two which use throwing so probably you want something you can throw rather than a bow.</p><p>Equipment, at this point if I were you just get the best damage rating you can, and a decent proc if available. Higher up weapon choice becomes more important (and more complicated).</p><p>Although one useful thing to do is get one piercing and one slashing weapon. That way both skills are advanced.</p>

[Koava]

Thanks Shackelton, more good advice. I feel like such a newb ... lol. Last night (after work ... I read the forums at lunch and on breaks) I went home and tried everything my new mentors said. Nice work guys ... loking forwards to giving todays installment a try.