still using the strgth line?

[Aull]

<p>Ok just wanted to know if any of you lvl 71+ bruisers are using the strgth line still, and if you are what is your opinion of it. My cousins monk is still using the strgth line and through some quest drops he is 100% double attack and is just ruling. His dps is just flat out fantastic and it is very hard for me or anyone for that matter to hold aggro even when he is in defensive stance and reactive taunts off. I was just wandering if the bruiser will benefit from this too vs the new mastercrafted weapons that are available to us.</p><p>I was thinking of trying it out but with the nice weapon stats available I just cannot make myself do it....yet. So any input from you bruiser greats would really help me out in my decision.</p>

[Luk]

Having both a Monk(45) and a Bruiser(71) both currently on STR line I am finding the major difference in the auto attack damage to be from the monks much superior haste, self buffed currently at 75% and will be well over 100% at level 70+ the Monk will have an auto attack ratio of 2:1 over a Bruiser with equal gear, Bruiser though makes up more than the difference from what I have seen by having much higher Combat Art damage.However the 2.5 second delay on bare fists is a horrible match for high haste classes with regard to delay and matching casting/recovery speeds (my main is a Swashy so I have done much research on optimal delay for high haste) 2 and 4 second delay are optimal, however the Monk's casting speed buff may negate a portion of the mismatch but I haven't looked much into that yet due to my Monk only being level 45.

[Aull]

<p>Thanks for the reply. I just still feel that the monks have an excellent or should I say consistant dps margin from what I have seen over my bruiser. Are bruisers combat arts that much harder hitting than a monks? I feel that for a short period of time my bruiser can deal out some very nice damage, but just not on a consistant basis due to the long refresh timers, and I am using the agil line for faster reuse times that helps some. However when grouping I am noticing that with one fight I am really benefiting the group with the dps bursts, but come the next few fights I look like a [Removed for Content] standing there just waiting to swing and for some of the combat arts to refresh.</p><p> One combat art that is so cool is the knockout combination! Mercy I wish I could have had this back in the 30's or a lower version of it, but like before the refresh timer is long and I only use this ability if the situation gets tough or I know we are about to fight a named mob. It is a great ability to have though. I guess what I would like to know Lukia is it true that bruisers are better soloers than monks or is that just a myth. Been thinking of rolling a monk just to find out, but I hate to since I already have the antithesis that is lvl 73.</p>

[Splor]

I tank, and i tank while chain pulling. If you want to understand how to keep yourself at the top of the parse every battle you simply have to pace yourself man. Yeah, I can break 4k in 1 battle and be dead [Removed for Content] on the second round. the trick is always keep your lightning fist as much as you can and reserve some abilities. Use knockout combo, but use your weaker combat arts on the first mob. Second mob use your stronger attack, third mob use crane flock, 4th battle use whatever has come back, 5th round you've usually got knockout back. rinse and repeat, and if you're setup gets kinda screwed up just kinda sit 1 battle out. if your tanking, hold the mobs still with divide and conquer(if your lvl 80) use drag, rescue, ect. if your dps. just auto attack for a round, no one will miss your dps.The comparison between bruiser and monk was pretty simple, however, this expansion has simply blurred it and really the difference now between the 2 classes is we do a lot more burst damage. Our DPS simply SPIKES. a monks DPS is maintained and even, therefore on a battle that lasts 10-20 seconds, we win. and that is the way most group mobs go, is only 10-20 seconds. We also have a proc on our stances, which though it isnt crazy damage, it tends to work in better than having 160 haste, because wow, we can get haste items and group members to get us up there anyways. Theres several items, adornments and cloaks that can get you easily up to 30+ attack speed.The difference in soloing used to be that because of knockout combo we could keep a named stunned for about 40 seconds, mezz the mob(for about 10-12) and then commence attacking again, pop our heal when we got low on life. mezz the mob, get stuns back and keep going, along with other simple tactics. the problem in this expansion is that almost every single named will debuff knockout combo. and if you attempt to save it by waiting for the mobs debuff they wont use it until either the battle ends or you eventually pop it at which point the mob will immediately debuff it off you.Fists though cheap will do decent damage, but only decent damage. I've tanked several instances in RoK already and indeed, I am tank, partial healer, and top DPS, every time.I have 4 weapons, 1 is MC, 1 is my SoD, 1 is a deklium battle club that drops in sebilis, and one is some mace with 25 haste on it. i was gonna give a shot, though i think i'll give it back to the guildy that gave it to me.