Various aa questions

[casedwards]

<p>Ok guys so I am looking for some advice on my aa setup.  I am a level 69 swashie with 53 aa's.  I know, I know thats not enough but I was leveled up before aa's even came out.  I was only at 30 aa's and 65 a couple weeks ago when I started playing him again.</p><p>My playstyle involves me mentoring and tanking on a regular basis.  I run a guild that is community focused...kind of the civilian version of the eq guide program.  When I am not mentoring down and tanking I am usually either in a full group in an instance or I am in a raid.  I dont solo often except to get aa's by doing old quests.  I have all my CA's upgraded to adept 3's and I am parsing around 420-450 in a regular group and 450-1000 in a raid.</p><p>My current setup is only using 50 aa's because I dont know what to do next.   Basically I have 3 I have not used.  This is why I am posting this.  My current set up is only using the rogue tree.   I have STA 4-4-8-8-2 and I have STR 4-4-7-8-0.  I choose the STA tree all the way down because I wanted the aoe taunt for groups where I tank.  I wanted the defense mostly for raids actually so I was not so squishy and the added dps made sense to make up for my off hand having a shield.  I choose STR because of the added defense and the critical hit.  Critical hit seemed to make the most sense with dps and only one weapon.  I did not choose the final ability because reducing reuse time is probably good but I though with the changes they made that many mobs did lots of their dps with melee now.  I know my illusionist doesn't do anything with his power drains.</p><p>Anyway so I have two big questions the first is:  When we get more aa's would it make more sense for me to max out the STA and AGI lines and then go down the STR line to get the Critical boost?  It would look something like STR 4-4-5-6-0  AGI 4-6-4-8-2 STA 4-4-8-8-2  Would a build like this offer me the best setup for my playstyle?  Offering the dps and the defense needed?  I love my defense but I would like to up my dps a bit...450 and my level seems a bit low.</p><p>My second question is:  What should I do with my swashie tree.  I look at it and I am clueless.  Maybe I am not using things that I should but I look at the poison line and I dont use any of those poisons.  I tend to either use the poison that does straight dps or I use the one that does a lifetap.   The reach line seems kind of interesting...can I fight from a distance instead of jousting?  But the draw back would be pulling stuff all the time with my aoe's.  The style line end ability looks nice but how do you know when to use it?  And the abilities that it upgrades I only use on rare occassions agains names or epics or if the tank is dying ...maybe I should use those more.  Lastly the debuff line.  Do those really help?  The percentages are going to be going off low numbers...maybe they help but its hard to see. </p><p>Hope i was clear enough guys...I am looking forward to hearing some advice on this.</p>

[quasigenx]

<cite>Iezer@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>The style line end ability looks nice but how do you know when to use it?  And the abilities that it upgrades <b>I only use on rare occassions agains names </b>or epics or if the tank is dying ...maybe I should use those more.</p></blockquote>The AoE immunity is good to use on named pulls right at the start, especially if you know they have an AE (last named in Unrest). En-Garde and Inspiration are pretty wicked DPS increasers. I use them whenever they are up, unless I know a multi-mob or named fight is coming up in the next 2 minutes. I am thinking about going STR/STA as an alternate spec once we get the ability to have two totally separate AA builds that we can switch from our house. I think the ideal third line for that setup would be INT, specifically for the FD. I know FD is pretty useful on an SK while tanking, as you can reset a bad pull or even train past some trash fights.As for EoF AA lines, I would take Style and debuffs for a tanking spec. The two style abilities listed above are also great for tanking, as you can cast them on hard pulls to really lock in the aggro, and kill stuff faster. The debuffs are also very useful in a group setting, as you are less likely than in a raid to be capping out on debuffs on a mob.

[casedwards]

<p>I originally had myself specced the inteligence and agility line but I was embaraced with how fast I died and couldn't do much without a tank.  I really wanted the FD though because my  background story really required it.  I moved Iezer to another server for awhile and leveled Iezer as a monk for a story line.  I got him to 60 so the FD ability made sense for the swashie Iezer when I brought him back.  I have since picked up tinkering to allow myself to have this ability again.  It goes quite well and since hate is a non issue for me I wont be going down the inteligence line.  My question about the Str, Sta, agility line is:  Since I wont be maxing out STR because the end line seems useless should I go AGi line all the way down for sailwind?  Im really looking to increase my damage a bit more rather then icrease my tanking ability.  As much as I wish groups would let me tank as a swashie, finding a group even willing to let a swashie pull is a task.  Thanks for the input quasigenx.</p><p>Ive seen some posts that suggest going wisdom line for dps...maybe that would make sense and just drop my shield for fights when I am not tanking.  It seems that Agility would take advantage of the fact that I get a dps boost from using a shield though.</p><p>Quasigenx...about those abilities that you use from the style.  I have about 5 of them...because they last such a short time do you only use one at a time so as not to waste a few seconds of dps?  or do you cast all 5 and then go at it hoping to catch the last few seconds of the first one you cast?</p>

[quasigenx]

<cite>Iezer@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>...about those abilities that you use from the style.  I have about 5 of them...because they last such a short time do you only use one at a time so as not to waste a few seconds of dps?  or do you cast all 5 and then go at it hoping to catch the last few seconds of the first one you cast?</p></blockquote>There are two (DPS and Haste buffs) on a 30 sec+ duration. Cast those first. Then En-Garde, then finally Inspiration. That should give you 10 seconds of max DPS, then about 20 seconds of very high DPS.If you want higher DPS, go for STR/AGI if you have either zero or two good weapons, or STR/WIS if you have one good weapon.