How do you like the STA AA line? for those of you who use it.

[Thavek]

How do you like the STA AA line? for those of you who use it. I tend to solo a lot and was considering going down the stamina line. I just want to get a few opinions from those who have tried it out.  My swash is 42 atm. With about 27 AA points

[Cocytus]

<p>The times I've used it, I've absolutely loved it.</p><p>Once we get our house AA respec things, one of my two setups will be Str/sta.</p>

[Antas22]

STR/STA is, in my experience, the single best soloing setup. In group play, it takes either an adventurous pickup group or a group of guildies/friends for you to really shine (most PUGs, at least in my experience, are appalled by the idea of a Swash tanking, even if you have more avoidance, mit, and HP than the current tank who can't keep agro off anybody to save his life--aren't idiots so cute?).Since you're talking solo though, I always had the most success soloing with STR/STA, over any other spec (and tried every combination short of STA/WIS and anything involving the pointless INT line). The survivability is really underrated, and you can still put out decent DPS, about that of a well-played brawler, perhaps (while having much more mit and nearly the same avoidance, to boot). With STR/STA, in full mastercrafted, I was able to chain solo blue ^^^s in the low 50s, and by the mid-to-upper 50s, I was able to solo Hidden Cache and most of Mines of Meldrath with little trouble. With STR/WIS, or my current all-out DPS AGI/WIS setup, I have some close calls with Cache and can't get nearly as far in MoM. STA line may not shine if you just intend to solo normal solo content that can be burned down in less than 10 seconds, but when you start taking tougher and tougher things, it really starts to show its worth.With 27 points, you could max-out STA (would only need 25 for 4/4/6/8/2), then start down the STR tree (4/4/8/8 always worked better for me than 4/4/6/8/2, the extra avoidance is better for soloing than traumatic swipe, which is pretty good in groups and near-essential for raiding, but fairly useless solo)

[Chanaluss]

currently level 38/42 AAs, im currently str/sta (specifically sta 4 8 8 2 2, str 4 4 4 5) and i have enjoyed it. soloing is pretty easy, and i can tank groups when needed to. my DPS isnt as good as it used to be when i was fencer, but it works well for me. now its not good for everyone, but for some people its excellent. if i were higher level id be able to give more insight into it, but it works well for me for my level.

[GoldynMoon]

<p>I currently just hit t5 last night going through sta/ str line.  So far I have to say i really really like it</p><p>I've got a group i roll with, (fury, wizardX2, warlock)  and they let me tank for them all the time in group instances.  I've not had many problems really.  For solo its perfect, and for tanking it does well as well.  I havn't managed to get full t5 mc yet (did get my serrated bone dirk last night tho), so I'm curious how tanking will play out in places like rivervale and everfrost instances.  If its anything like t4 was tho, it should be just fine.  I was tanking rov and then some runnyeye, with very little problems.  </p><p>The hardest thing i've found with a swash tanking is if you lose aggro, its very hard to get it back.  Just make sure your group knows that you need about 5 seconds for the initial spike aggro and then they can go to town and you'll be fine</p>

[Illyakuran]

<cite>GoldynMoon wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p><b>The hardest thing i've found with a swash tanking is if you lose aggro, its very hard to get it back.</b>  Just make sure your group knows that you need about 5 seconds for the initial spike aggro and then they can go to town and you'll be fine</p></blockquote><p>I just view this as a way to get by back/flanking attacks in.</p>

[Antas22]

<cite>GoldynMoon wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>The hardest thing i've found with a swash tanking is if you lose aggro, its very hard to get it back. </p></blockquote>That isn't a problem unique to Swash-tanks, though. It's true for everybody, and it's why agro control is so essential. To many who've only played their scout, if they grab agro, they just use their evades and see it bounce back to the tank and figure "ah, that's easy", but it's really VERY difficult for any tank to rebuild agro after somebody without a way to directly lower their agro (or whose abilities are down) takes it, short of using Rescue or a similar ability (incidentally, you'll see many DPS complain about how crappy many tanks are these days when they can't control their agro). Of course, with that group you listed, losing agro is GOING to happen, it's not even a question, I don't care who or what the tank is, unless the casters are asleep.Agro is a group responsibility, not just the tank, Swashes can handle it fine, as long as the group is conscious of it, as they should always be.

[Cocytus]

I don't have a problem getting aggro back if I lose it, personally. It lets me use my back attacks, and that pretty much does it. If it's a hugeass single nuke that pulled it though...usually the mob's too close to being dead for not being able to get aggro back to make a difference.

[Hamervelder]

As has been stated, the STA line is great if you're tanking.  However, your dps will be in the tank if you go that route.  I started out str/sta, and liked it, but just couldn't keep up at all as far as damage output.  Str/wis is a more well-rounded combo.  You get added defense from both lines, and can easily clear 50% avoidance in defensive stance.  And yeah, it's really funny to put tanks to shame, when I have almost as much hp, more power, about the same mitigation, more avoidance, double their dps, and can hold agro better than they can.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> 

[Ookami-san]

<p>For soloing, one of the  best combinations I played with was STR/AGL/STA combination.  I don't remember the exact numbers as I mostly raid now but once RoK comes out and we can have two AA profiles, something like this will be my main solo setup:</p><p>STR - 4 (More STR)</p><p>         4 (Torporous Strike) - another attack!</p><p>         8 (bump up defense)</p><p>AGL - 4 (More AGL = more avoidance)</p><p>          1 (Walk the Plank) - invaluable when soloing to get extra back attacks in</p><p>STA - 4 (More STA)</p><p>       - 4 (Swear, nice but not as important unless you plan to tank)</p><p>       - 8 (Improves hit points, etc.)</p><p>       - 8 (Increases DPS)</p><p>       - 1 (Formation!)</p><p>That's 1 point in PP, 16 points in STR, 5 points in WIS & 25 points in STA... leaving you 3 points to put either in Walk the Plank or Blackguard's Luck... depending on your preference.</p><p>This setup gives you great solo ability... back when I had to use a sword and roundshield to get all the benefits... now you can use any weapon.</p>

[Rippitt]

I am still going to say str/wis is the best aa line for soloing, but it requires you to have pretty formidable gear, because you have to throw caution to the wind and place your trust 100% in your avoidance and damage output. The dpsmod increase from the STA line simply can't compare with 68% double attack, riposte, reversal proc, etc. The STA line is still pretty appealing though, I could buff my mitigation to something like 4150, ~60% avoidance, and a roundshield with 1200 protection. Not to mention an extra encounter taunt (not that we need it), and a reactive taunt on our defense stance. Oh yeah 9k hp would be cool too

[Morduth]

<p>Gonna have to agree with Rippitt that STR/WIS is clearly better for soloing.  As a swash that has mostly soloed his way up, our key to winning most fights (being heroic, named or whatever) is putting down massive up front dps right from the start using heal/stun/debuff poisons and def stance.  Str/wis combines both def and offensive bonus while str/sta simply increases hps and avoidance.  The increase it gives to dps is paltry compared to the double attack of the wis line. Howver, for the swash tanking for a full group stam is certainly a viable line.  Although tanking for trio's or dou's I would still stick with wis v/s sta.   </p><p> Morduth 70 swash </p><p>Kith</p>

[Antas22]

<cite>Morduth wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Gonna have to agree with Rippitt that STR/WIS is clearly better for soloing.  As a swash that has mostly soloed his way up, our key to winning most fights (being heroic, named or whatever) is putting down massive up front dps right from the start </p></blockquote>That's exactly why you think STR/WIS is better. As a STR/STA Swash, the key is survivability, with less focus on high DPS. It's a different bag, but an extremely effective one when done properly. If you try your same routine that you use with STR/WIS with STR/STA, yea, it's not going to be as effective. You have to think more like a fighter soloing -- a fighter with a good bit of DPS, albeit.

[Morduth]

<cite>Antas@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Morduth wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Gonna have to agree with Rippitt that STR/WIS is clearly better for soloing.  As a swash that has mostly soloed his way up, our key to winning most fights (being heroic, named or whatever) is putting down massive up front dps right from the start </p></blockquote>That's exactly why you think STR/WIS is better. As a STR/STA Swash, the key is survivability, with less focus on high DPS. It's a different bag, but an extremely effective one when done properly. If you try your same routine that you use with STR/WIS with STR/STA, yea, it's not going to be as effective. You have to think more like a fighter soloing -- a fighter with a good bit of DPS, albeit.</blockquote><p>  What  "routine" do speak of?  Baring the AE taunt, there are no new CA's to add to the mix when considering all points in STR/WIS or STR/STA.  I think everyone here would agree there are certainly specific tactics for soloing certain mobs (be they see invis or not, using mez, large groups v/s single^^^,  etc) But I really dont see how that changes overmuch between those 2 lines.   Please explain how your approach is ifferent using STA v/s WIS?   </p><p>Here is a breakdown for me between the 2 lines.  Both were done with the same equipment, in def stance but adding Feorx's Stony Shield (20str 20stam  115 health 95 pwr 805 mit) for STA line. STR line remained at 4/4/6/8/1 throughout the respec.</p><p>WIS line 4/4/6/8/1 Health 6,191 / Power 5,115 / Attack 1288 / MIT 44.5% / Avoid 56.8% / Haste 28% / DPS 31%  </p><p>STA line 4/4/6/8/1  Health 7,166 / Power 5,226 / Attack 1262 / MIT 47.5% / Avoid 58.9 / Haste 28% / DPS 80%</p><p>So as you can see the Stam line gives a net gain of 978 hps /  3% mit  / 2.1% Avoid / 49% dps.  Not as much defensive capabilities over WIS as one might think when glancing over the both lines.   Giving up 68% double attack and 26 atk for the above gains it simply just not worth it for the soloing swash.  My argument is not that a STA swash cant solo well ( I have).   But if all things being equal (gear, poisons,CA's etc)  that a WIS swash will solo named blue/even/yellow heroics that a STA swash cannot.  And as a bonus, when one is in a group they will retain that dps potential.  </p><p>Morduth 70 swash </p><p>Kith       </p><p>                                       </p>

[Malkosha]

<cite>Morduth wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Antas@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Morduth wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Gonna have to agree with Rippitt that STR/WIS is clearly better for soloing.  As a swash that has mostly soloed his way up, our key to winning most fights (being heroic, named or whatever) is putting down massive up front dps right from the start </p></blockquote>That's exactly why you think STR/WIS is better. As a STR/STA Swash, the key is survivability, with less focus on high DPS. It's a different bag, but an extremely effective one when done properly. If you try your same routine that you use with STR/WIS with STR/STA, yea, it's not going to be as effective. You have to think more like a fighter soloing -- a fighter with a good bit of DPS, albeit.</blockquote><p>  What  "routine" do speak of?  Baring the AE taunt, there are no new CA's to add to the mix when considering all points in STR/WIS or STR/STA.  I think everyone here would agree there are certainly specific tactics for soloing certain mobs (be they see invis or not, using mez, large groups v/s single^^^,  etc) But I really dont see how that changes overmuch between those 2 lines.   Please explain how your approach is ifferent using STA v/s WIS?   </p><p>Here is a breakdown for me between the 2 lines.  Both were done with the same equipment, in def stance but adding Feorx's Stony Shield (20str 20stam  115 health 95 pwr 805 mit) for STA line. STR line remained at 4/4/6/8/1 throughout the respec.</p><p>WIS line 4/4/6/8/1 Health 6,191 / Power 5,115 / Attack 1288 / MIT 44.5% / Avoid 56.8% / Haste 28% / DPS 31%  </p><p>STA line 4/4/6/8/1  Health 7,166 / Power 5,226 / Attack 1262 / MIT 47.5% / Avoid 58.9 / Haste 28% / DPS 80%</p><p>So as you can see the Stam line gives a net gain of 978 hps /  3% mit  / 2.1% Avoid / 49% dps.  Not as much defensive capabilities over WIS as one might think when glancing over the both lines.   Giving up 68% double attack and 26 atk for the above gains it simply just not worth it for the soloing swash.  My argument is not that a STA swash cant solo well ( I have).   But if all things being equal (gear, poisons,CA's etc)  that a WIS swash will solo named blue/even/yellow heroics that a STA swash cannot.  And as a bonus, when one is in a group they will retain that dps potential.  </p><p>Morduth 70 swash </p><p>Kith       </p><p>                                       </p></blockquote><p>Quotes are getting long <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/136dd33cba83140c7ce38db096d05aed.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>I've been led to believe that the Wisdom line requires some outstanding gear to work, namely your weapon. Is str/wis still viable when your weapon is less than fabled or even matercrafted? Most solo players won't be raiding, at least not as actively as a die-hard raider, so their gear will not be on par with someone who does raid a lot. There is a huge difference between riders who take their uber gear and solo vs a solo player with ... well ... solo gear. If the wis part does require outstanding gear, would that give an edge to stam for those who olny have weapons bought off the market or even solo quest items?</p>

[Hamervelder]

<cite>Malkosha wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Morduth wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Antas@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Morduth wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Gonna have to agree with Rippitt that STR/WIS is clearly better for soloing.  As a swash that has mostly soloed his way up, our key to winning most fights (being heroic, named or whatever) is putting down massive up front dps right from the start </p></blockquote>That's exactly why you think STR/WIS is better. As a STR/STA Swash, the key is survivability, with less focus on high DPS. It's a different bag, but an extremely effective one when done properly. If you try your same routine that you use with STR/WIS with STR/STA, yea, it's not going to be as effective. You have to think more like a fighter soloing -- a fighter with a good bit of DPS, albeit.</blockquote><p>  What  "routine" do speak of?  Baring the AE taunt, there are no new CA's to add to the mix when considering all points in STR/WIS or STR/STA.  I think everyone here would agree there are certainly specific tactics for soloing certain mobs (be they see invis or not, using mez, large groups v/s single^^^,  etc) But I really dont see how that changes overmuch between those 2 lines.   Please explain how your approach is ifferent using STA v/s WIS?   </p><p>Here is a breakdown for me between the 2 lines.  Both were done with the same equipment, in def stance but adding Feorx's Stony Shield (20str 20stam  115 health 95 pwr 805 mit) for STA line. STR line remained at 4/4/6/8/1 throughout the respec.</p><p>WIS line 4/4/6/8/1 Health 6,191 / Power 5,115 / Attack 1288 / MIT 44.5% / Avoid 56.8% / Haste 28% / DPS 31%  </p><p>STA line 4/4/6/8/1  Health 7,166 / Power 5,226 / Attack 1262 / MIT 47.5% / Avoid 58.9 / Haste 28% / DPS 80%</p><p>So as you can see the Stam line gives a net gain of 978 hps /  3% mit  / 2.1% Avoid / 49% dps.  Not as much defensive capabilities over WIS as one might think when glancing over the both lines.   Giving up 68% double attack and 26 atk for the above gains it simply just not worth it for the soloing swash.  My argument is not that a STA swash cant solo well ( I have).   But if all things being equal (gear, poisons,CA's etc)  that a WIS swash will solo named blue/even/yellow heroics that a STA swash cannot.  And as a bonus, when one is in a group they will retain that dps potential.  </p><p>Morduth 70 swash </p><p>Kith       </p><p>                                       </p></blockquote><p>Quotes are getting long <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/136dd33cba83140c7ce38db096d05aed.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>I've been led to believe that the Wisdom line requires some outstanding gear to work, namely your weapon. Is str/wis still viable when your weapon is less than fabled or even matercrafted? Most solo players won't be raiding, at least not as actively as a die-hard raider, so their gear will not be on par with someone who does raid a lot. There is a huge difference between riders who take their uber gear and solo vs a solo player with ... well ... solo gear. If the wis part does require outstanding gear, would that give an edge to stam for those who olny have weapons bought off the market or even solo quest items?</p></blockquote>I'm glad you asked.  I switched to Wis at about lvl 45 or 50.  I had a mastercrafted weapon, and mostly Adept I spells at that level.  The difference between STR/STA and STR/WIS even then was phenomenal.  Soloing suddenly became <i>so </i>much easier!

[Steve11418]

For those or you who have gone STA. a few questionsIs STR or AGI and better complement AA line.When Raiding do you switch to DWI am thinking of giving AGI/STA a go.Currently a STR/WIS fabled gear and pass 1600 – 2200 depending on group make up.Willing to sacrifice around 400 DPS for the ability to tank for groups in ROK.

[trevro]

I dont see great benefits of str/agi/or int.  the STA line is great to tank with, the WIS line is great for DPS.  right now I use STA/WIS.  this may seem crazy, but you benefit from coule and DPS buff still while running with shield, and if you just stick with 1hander you receive all WIS line benefits + HP and Mitigation buffs from STA, as well as the encounter and reactive taunts if you wish to tank but still do significant dps.

[Steve11418]

WIS/STA....I did not even consider that.I might give that a try.Thanks

[Hamervelder]

<cite>trevro wrote:</cite><blockquote>I dont see great benefits of str/agi/or int.  the STA line is great to tank with, the WIS line is great for DPS.  right now I use STA/WIS.  this may seem crazy, but you benefit from coule and DPS buff still while running with shield, and if you just stick with 1hander you receive all WIS line benefits + HP and Mitigation buffs from STA, as well as the encounter and reactive taunts if you wish to tank but still do significant dps.</blockquote>Interesting combination.  I've thought of it, but never tried it out.  Care to share more of your experiences with that combo?

[Malkosha]

<p>I must be missing something because I thought you could only get the benefits of the WIS line if your off-hand was empty. I know there have been AA changes but the site I use to plan my AA's with may not reflect this. Since I'm at work and away from the game ... I can't look at the actual trees in game ... can someone confirm this? </p><p>Thanks!</p><p>edit: Nevermind. I missed the point where you could use a shield OR just go 1hand and still get some benefits from both lines. I'm a little slow this morning I guess. I probably still am <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>