The Swashbucklers role in a group..

[UlteriorModem]

<p>Having played mostly rangers up untill now Im a bit baffled as to how to handle my 'new' swash in a group (not raids).</p><p>As a ranger it was easy, lay back wait till aggro was established and rain down a world of hurt with ranged attacks. Just be careful you dont out damage the tanks and get the mobs attention.</p><p>Swash is a different animal. The biggest problem I have been having is the AOE attacks. Keep in mind shes only 18 and hasent seen all of the skill sets yet. No I dont know what the 'comming' skills are. I tend not to 'plan' and 'twink' and max/min my charecters. I like them to progress in a more natural way.</p><p>Anyhow...</p><p>Now I realize the swashes position is preferably behiind the mob in question however many of her best attacks are aoes. Often quite by accident she will swat a mob not already involved in the fight and ... well complicate things. This usually is not appreciated by the group.</p><p>Id like to hear some of your wisdom on how to conduct yourself in tight quarters with a group. Any discussion and suggestions are appreciated.</p>

[TheSpin]

<p>No matter what class you are playing,  if you aren't tanking you don't want to aggro mobs that aren't already locked in combat.  If you happen to be too close to something to aoe without aggroing it, unfortunately your best bet is to avoid the aoe at that time.</p><p>You will get plenty of single target abilities eventually.</p><p>The main role of a swash is to dps while debuffing (most of your attacks have debuff components)</p>

[Illyakuran]

<p>Dps, Debuffs, Dps, and sometimes tanking.</p><p>If your fighting in close quarters than lay off the ae's unless the group wants the adds. You'll have plenty of other CA's to make up for not using an ae and at higher levels against single targets auto attack damage should be more than the ae CA damage would have been.</p><p>At higher levels you get some nice deaggro skills which allow you to transfer a portion of the hate you generate to another party member or to drop your hate position by 1.</p><p>I try and stay behind the mob and will use ae's if it looks clear. If a mob gets loose or the group gets an add and the tank is not picking it up I'll grab it by taunting and dps, tank it for a bit and then drop it onto the tank using Hideaway (don't recall off hand what/if there is a lower level version).  The down side is if the tank is not #2 on the hate list the mob will go kill the wizzy/warlock/necro...well maybe that's not really a downside.</p><p>Swashies don't have any ranged CA's worth mentioning so get in close, real close, mix it up, make the tank work for aggro.</p><p>Heck get yourself a good bow so you can do ranged pulls even though it won't work with your ca's.</p>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>This is great advice, and most appreciated.     I have a second question to add to the OP's original one.  (My swash was played to level 55, and left to sit for a couple of years.  I recently leveled to 70, but still feel new.)</p><p>From mostly being a healer, I don't always pay attention to what goes on in the group, mostly watch health bars, heal/cure first and debuff/dps when all that's good.   Although not completely unaware of mobs being somehow magically removed from me when I accidentally get aggro (as a healer), hadn't always paid attention to exactly how that was happening.</p><p>As a scout, particularly as a swash (with a taunt), back in the Old Days would grab adds off healers and casters, then drag them to the tank, stop dpsing hard, and let him pick them up.   I've done that a couple of times since I've been 'back', and have gotten a couple of strange looks.  One SK FD'd me when I did that.  Not sure if he was mad, or if that was his fastest way to get aggro back (which was sort of clever if you think about it)</p><p>What say you all?  Do you do this?  Is this an accepted practice?  Will I [Removed for Content] the tank off if I do it?</p>

[quasigenx]

Yeah, if the tank doesn't immediately switch to an add to try to get aggro, I usually do it until it's on me, they I go back to DPSing through the tank.

[Bloodfa]

<p> Swashbuckler has a hate transfer.  Use it.  Get it up to Adept 1 as a minimum.  Roll with as many poisons as you can.  T6 is when I believe you can stack 3 types, been there a while so I don't rightly recall for sure when you can stack three, but using one that drains life or power and transfers it to you keeps some of the healer's duties down.  Combined with Stupefying poison to stun them, and a debuff poison stacked on top, you can lay down a lot of damage.  Hurricane is a kick when you're trying to burn down many targets at once, combined with M2 Flamboyant Swathe and the circle attack; getting a lot of damage out there isn't a problem.  In PvP, when going up against mobs, you need to get them down as fast as possible, because if you think getting an add is bad, try an Assassin jumping in while you're busy and dropping the healer in 4 seconds.  </p><p> Work up the Reach AP line.  Mele attack essentially doubles, and Freezing/Chilling/whatever Throw goes up to range 35, with a snare.  When going after a mob that sees invis and stealth, getting in that first shot, then slowing them for several more ranged autoattacks helps bring them down so that they should be orange by the time melee begins.  Then stun them, leap behind and give them two backstabs, and as they turn back, Poke them in the eye.  You also have some crowd control, in the form of a 20 second Mezz.  Useful for getting them to hold still while you go invis and prep for a triple backstab.  And remember that you have 1 taunt.  Use it wisely, as it can mean life or death with the healer you're running with.  Dual weild imbued mastercrafted as a minimum, adornments on both weapons, and poisons running will make you the life of the party.  One thing to be careful about, if you don't know the folks you're running with, is that you can easily pull aggro from a Guardian, Paladin or Berzerker.  If your tank and healer aren't used to it, you'll probably drop.  If they are, however, you can have the target spread it's damage around a bit.  I used to bust my sister-in-law about how once I pulled aggro, she couldn't get it back.  She had a couple levels on me, and was raid-specced.  Dying like that to an orange ^^^ while running with a Paladin as well (but no healer) made it worth the repair costs.  </p><p> You do the damage, and let the rest of the party do their job, and you should have a blast.  </p>