New L 80 Swashie

[Kitsune]

<p>So here I am, just Dinged L 80 last night. I want to up my armor as I am wearing & using MC L 72 armor and weapons right now. Anything I got in the quests we did in Kunark and so far in the Moors of Ykesha have been pretty worthless compared to the MC stuff.</p><p>My play style is a couple of hours a night and most of the day Sat and Sun, playing with 1 to 3 Guildies or friends as our Guild is a small one by design. Recently I have been playing with one friend, a L 80 Necro.</p><p>I have never Raided as we play more for fun and company than Raids, and as I said, are a small Guild. We have all Raided in other games, though, and to be honest even with graphics at min settings, the lag, the overlapping toons, is such a put-off - you can't see what you're doing and when you do something it takes maybe 2-3 seconds before you move, by which time you were dead. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>I read there will be Solo Shard quests coming in Lavastorm, but until then, and maybe anyway, has anyone got good advice for me on how to go next? I believe getting my Epic weapon is a good idea. Meanwhile, are there any other weapon quests worthwhile out there, that I could do while doing that? I have all the game expansions.</p>

[Greevo]

<p>Deepforge and Scions are your friend... do them daily to get shards to buy T1 and then T2 shard armor. If your group is decent the epic weapon is pretty easy to get. Once you start to get more and more geared you can start doing harder shard instances or if you tag along with a good group.</p><p>Edit:</p><p>Until you have your epic the seb croaking dirk is sweet (buy from broker) and you can get the anaphilaxis (sp?) from doing a VoES quest.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Is that Vault of Eternal Sleep?</p><p>I did ask my friend about doing the Swashie weapon and he said you need a good group of al L80s or we would die as he had trying to do his. Reading up on mine didn't look too bad, a L 83 Heroic Octopus I think it was.He said my Guildies would die instantly being L 72/73 as they were too low for any instances in those zones. Not tht I don't believe him, but he is a Necro and hasn't played a Swashie.</p><p>He also said I hit too hard when hunting with him, and I don't need the weapons to hit harder, at least till I get some better armor.</p><p>Now I have always tried to get the best MC armor and weaopns ahead of time so they are there when I need them, so it is a long time since I have had lower armor than the weapons I planned to get. Is he right? Should I try for armor first?</p><p>My guild is all lower L 70s apart from me so I don't have a group capable of doing the shard quests the friend again says, because, he says, he has tried.</p><p>So is it try to get on a gropu of L 80s doing shards, or try to form one to do that and the Swashie Weapon?</p><p>Sorry so may questions. There are 2 levels of Charm's Way I think my Epic is called - is one significantly easier to do than the other? Can you do the higher one later when better kitted out?</p><p>Thanks so much for the help so far, and any more you can give me.</p>

[stondgoat]

<p>The fabled version of charms way isn't that hard to get. The octopus can be duoed with a good coercer, most of the other fights up until Pirate Jones can as well. There is a good walkthrough on eq2flames you should check out.</p><p>You are going to need to get groups of lvl80's for these but that shouldn't be too hard.</p><p>I would get in some instance groups to get your T1/T2 shard gear as the other poster said.</p><p>The mythical version of Charms Way requires raiding thru xygoz in VP to obtain.</p><p>Good luck!</p>

[PakMonyet]

<p>.....that Necro doesn't know what he's talking about btw!  You definitely want your weapons to hit as hard as possible!</p>

[TygerMeow]

<p>Pirate Jones (last guy for epic) is definitely a tough fight. I finally got a group to do it, no problem, but they were all well geared and experienced people. If you have a bunch of casual players, it's going to be a long fight.</p><p>I've found that moving to 4 second delay weapons I've had to get a lot of haste (attack speed) to get DPS. I actually think you are better to focus on Melee Crit to get your DPS up and stick with lower delay weapons, unless you regularly group with a bard or illy. My self-buffed haste right now is 39 and it's just not enough, even when the ring of STR procs. I'm after two more haste items which should net me decent DPS when I'm not grouped or when I'm in a group and don't have someone to buff my haste.</p><p>If you don't have it already, the Talisman of Thugga is easy quest to duo and has a great amount of MC. (Make sure you decide if you want it neck or ring before you adorn it.) Droag Talon Plugs are also a quest reward, I think and have 2 MC. Finally, there's a quest from the lizards in Moors for earrings with 2 more MC. Finally, the Survival Accord charm item is questable and has 2 MC plus a lot of other buffs.</p><p>The shard armor is really nice. I've got most of my T1 stuff now. Hopefully you guys can learn a couple zones and farm them for shards. You need 38 shards to get the full set of armor at T2 (no forearms at T1/T2), but you get 2 shards from each run or 4 if it's the daily double and you can get some pieces for as little as 4 shards. That's all prices if you get them crafted, which is easy enough. Just ask in the crafting channel and someone will be happy to commission them for you.</p><p>For instance, for 5 shards you can get our coif, which gives you 44 STR, 25 INT, 2 DA, 2 MC and some other stuff. Here's the whole set: <a href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Fearless_Bravado_%28Armor_Set%29">http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Fearless_...%28Armor_Set%29</a>.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Thanks, guys. No longer playing with him now for reasons I won't go into. Now trying to find soloable quest areas till another Guildy is high enough for us to do it. /le sighs</p>

[BaronVonPitviper]

<p>there's also a decent legendary rapier that drops in Deep forge.</p><p>you can get a weaponsmith (with 40k Far Seas faction) to make you a void metal shortsword.</p><p> and in Caverns of the Afflicted, there is a kicking fabled rapier that you would absolutely love.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Will certainly look into those, thanks. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I think it more likely I try to find a weaponsmith, though, as although I am wearing a mix of half MC Incarnadine and half MC Rilisian Chain (Incarnadine has 45 combart art on each piece, Rilisian has only 25, I lose too much Dam by wearing all Rilis) I don't know if I am kitted out well enough to join a party in those places. As I said, I have never Raided in this game.</p><p>You're on Splitpaw Server too? Cool <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[NicolasKL]

<p>One thing about gear that you're hopefully aware of, that I've recently discovered some people AREN'T aware of, is that the STR and AGI and stuff don't really matter at this point, it's the effects and the text in blue on the item descriptions that matters, practically exclusively.  Melee Crit is the most important, Double Attack is also good, +DPS, any kind of effect that does direct damage, etc.</p><p>I ran into a scout that was wearing this really crazy collection of gear and when I asked him about it what he said was that he picked it all to maximize STR and AGI.  He was level 80 with his fabled epic and 145 AAs and I think he literally had +4 worth of melee crit gear (not counting the epic) on.  At the time I had roughly the same # of AA and I probably had my melee crit at about 60.</p><p>The only reason I mention it is because of that, and because of what you said about the Kunark quests.  I remember getting some pretty decent gear from Kunark quests, and I know by the time I hit 80 I was wearing very little master crafted, since it had all been replaced by better.</p><p>Buying the croaking dirk off the broker is going to be a great purchase.  Anaphylaxis would be good too but you're gonna have to group to get it (but it's a RoK zone so shouldn't be too tough).</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>I looked at the Croaking Dirk but it dosen't seem to do as much Damage as my Incarnadine weapons, a Karabella with Venom Pith and a Stilleto the same. I went for STR and INT and then AG to help my poisons.</p><p>So you are saying, effectively, do lesser damage to do more Criticals and Double Attacks? Seems odd to me... Yeah I sold or am selling the Kunark stuff as it didn't offer the protection or damage capabilitues to my eyes. I mean Wis and Int only gear can't be as good for me as stuff with Str and so on and combart art enhances? That stuff is for Casters, right?</p>

[TygerMeow]

<p>Yes, Melee Crit is your friend. Anything that you can get to up Melee Crit (unless your STR is below, say 850 self buffed) is going to help you. There are several good pieces of jewelry and one charm that are avaialable from quests that are easily duoable that offer 2 Melee Crit. Check out my EQ2Players bio for several of them (primarily neck, ears and Survival Accord charm).</p><p>The Croaking Dirk is relatively cheap on the broker, offers 2 MC and 2 DA, plus it gives  a bonus to poison damage. I haven't really parsed it, but several people have stated that it actually does better than the frequently promoted Carotidcutter (can never spell that thing).</p>

[BaronVonPitviper]

<p>The reason they are saying the croaking dagger is better in this case is becuase it greatly increases your poison damage output - not for the actual damage rating or spread. swashys get enhanced mental breach AA while brigands get the vitality. predators will be the ones getting the hemo and caustic aa boosts, so that dagger in combonation with those aas will really benefit them. your best bet would be to get ahold of 3 peices of void-metal and finding me in game for a short sword at 80 instead of that anaphlaxis. I hate that thing.  Time for you to turn in the level 72MC stuff matey.</p><p>nearly every proc you have is enhanced by your INT and gear that effects spells (i.e. soul lancer shoulders and 3 set bonus, and Blodthirsty choker, ect.) a proc on anything is just a spell firing off, so that is why AGI does nothing for a DPS spec swashy other than helps to set a base of your power pool. AGI, on the other hand, helps out in your avoidance if you are running tank spec so it's good to have it then. Try putting on some very high agi gear and watch your avoidance increase <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> You know STR, of course, effects your combat damage - same as the INT does for your spell damage. SO... for DPS, I always try and upgrade to as much STR and INT gear as I can as well as all the adornments i can find for STR and INT.</p><p>hope that helps.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Ah on STR and INT. I read up and it seemed only the Assassin I have went for Str and Int, the Swashie for Str and Agi. No, I don't Tank as I am not good at it - we tried in our Guild to teach me, but I am better at hitting hard than pulling and holding aggro, though I can do it at a pinch in a lower level Duo.</p><p>INT - Eek! Mine is only 299!</p><p>Here are my stats. Looks like I need to reconfigure them.... But I do use Walk the Plank extesively so I will have to add onto the Int line.</p><p>Str 830            Mit   2676Ag  508            Avoid 7284Sta 256            Int 299Wis 242  Health Regen 471Power regen  372DPS       0Haste     1Crit Hit 13%Dam Amt  435</p><p>Double Att 0%Melee AE  43%Acc        0%Hate Mod   0%</p><p>AA points 118 - am now doing the Adventure Packs and other lower level quests I missed out to boost the AARogue TreeStr 5,6,7,4,1Agi 5,6,6,5,1Decided to add to INT line now and have 2 in INT as Feign Death looked good.Swashie TreePotency Line - 3 Kidney stab, 5 Offensive Poisons, 3 Turgur Poisons, 4 Mental Poisons, 1 PotencyReach Line - 4 Lucky Whirl, 5 Velium Throw, 5 Triple Blades, 5 Hurricane, 3 Swathe, 3 Hail of Steel, 1 ReachSneak Line - 4 Sneak, 4 Avoid, 4 Perfect Finesse, 4 Insight, 4 On Guard, 1 StyleTOS TreeGeneral - 1 Bountiful Harvest, 2 Hearty Con, 1 Swift Journey</p><p>Spells almost all Adept 3 now, with Blame Blade Master 2 through Swashie Training.</p><p>Armor is L 77 Rilisian Trooper Chainmail without Imbues as friend who made it can't Imbue yet, except for Leggings and Boots which are still L 72 Imbued Incarnadie (legs) so as to keep the 45 Combat Art plus against the  Rilis 25 CA</p><p>Charms -  Rilis Chicken Foot, Displaced frosty PawBoar's meat satchel,Cloak - Clandestine Swoftcloth - and though only L 20 Crafter I got the Harvestring zCloak done to get Rares for spells etc <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />Weapons - Imbued Incarn Karabela with Fierry Pith, and Imbued Incarn Stiletto with Venom Pith</p><p>I am the only one in our small Guild of Friends at L 80. Also I am in the USA, and they are in Aussie, plus 2 new members, old friends but new to the game, in Denmark.</p><p>I was playing with a friend who helped me get to L 80, but we had a parting of the ways and I can only solo now. Would love to get Shards but a tad nervous of PUGs as I am a woman player, playing female toons, and have learned to be .. um, cautious, shall we say?</p><p>So without friends, even new friends, at L 80, Shards are out of the question afaik, till the LS revamp hits Live. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /> I have never Raided cos that isn't the guild play style by our choice. We're all refugees from Lineage 2 and the Farmers. B ots, PVP ganking and all that crap there, plus the soul-destroying sheer grind and cost of weapons and armor. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /> 40 million adena for my L 40 sword it cost to get it made, and there was % chance it failed and I lost all mats and everything. Ugh...</p><p>If you can tell me a way to get hold of Void metal shards, I will. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> I tried the Instance in Everfrost and got one-shotted, though I did pick up the Quest clicky sword in the doorway of the instance before hightailing it out! I need company to go back, sadly. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>I will get the Croaking Dirk and add new AA to INT line, and would LOVE to get the Short Sword from you. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> But as I said will need info on how to get those shards... My swashie is called Khaose and I am obviously on Splitpaw. Who should I look for, and what time, please? I can convert your time to my PST.</p><p>Thanks to all for the help and advice.. please keep it coming as it seems I don't know nearly as much as I thought about configuring my poor Swashie.</p>

[BaronVonPitviper]

<p>when i was talking STR and INT, i was exclusively meaning stats. when you are talking STR and INT, you are meaning AA skills. You should definately, without a doubt, stay STR and AGI with your rogue AAs first. INT is good for boot dagger, but after that, your AAs are better spent elsewhere. You should grab all 8 in STR line crits. your swashy AAs are fine, you need to get more into the TSO scout/rogue/swashy AAs, they are very helpful in your dps.</p><p>I am Daags and play east coast times. I will be hitting the updated Lavastorm zone for the next few weeks starting today since we dont raid tuesday, if you are on line perhaps we can run the quests together. Feel free to send me a tell whenever. I am very sure if you hang with me we can get you your epic quest done, the last fight will be the only step that will need a full group and i'm sure we can scrape up some peeps to help, especially on a weekend. trust me when i say you want your epic, it's a great weapon and the quest is always good for AA, as well as fun to do. The crafted sword takes three void metals and i think i still have a few charges left on my recipe. Just search the broker - they are usually not that expensive but the zones they generally drop in are rough going and i'd never go in a random PUG, tbqh.</p><p>also, you may want to seriously consider doing the PU raids that run for PR/PB/SoH on our server if they spam needing a swashy. they are almost all run by solid groups of people who know what they are doing and you will get some great upgrade opportunities from all three of those raids if you just go on them. PR and PB will take at most 45mins to an hour if you can sneak on board.</p><p>if you are west coast, you need to get off a euro server, lol there is never anyone on theserver in the evening times for you!!</p><p>EDIT: You are in desperate need of haste. oh my GOD, you are slacking big time in that area. I cannot believe you have gone so long with no haste. Have you done any shard runs? You NEED to get the shard gloves, they give haste.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Oh, I did the Flowing Black Silk Sash quest for that Hasted belt and wore it until I got  L 72 cloak. I may have written those stats with the Harvester cloak on, now I come to think of it. EDIT: Yes, I did, doh. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Proper Stats are here, <em>With </em>battle Cloak and now <em>With </em>Croaking Dirk</p><p>Str 780       Mit      2676</p><p>Agi 540       Avoid 7380</p><p>Sta 256</p><p>Int 278</p><p>Wis 242</p><p>DPS             0                Melee AE remains 43%</p><p>Haste        27</p><p>Crit Hit     15%</p><p>Dam Amt 435</p><p>I was talking overall Int and so on, actually. My mistake. So the Rogue Int line is not worth taking to the conclusion then with Feign Death?</p><p>I tend to play mostly weekends but with levelling my Swashie began after Frostfell playing weekday evenings too as normally there was no one else in the Guild on then due to work - I am currently Unemployed n looking for a job. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" />  But from 6 pm Pacific I can play no problem week nights. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Khaose is the name, Fae Swashie. Now I normally play with Defensive Stance on as we usually have no Healer, and Hurricane off as it causes aggro otherwise. Should I play Offensive Stance in a group? And what about Hurricane? On or Off?</p><p>Ahhh.. They put in LU 51, good. I did get chance to try some of the Solo content quests on test Copy with Khaose. That is going to be great. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> And actually, being on an EU Server has advantages for Harvesting and doing the solo content It's nice and quiet and no either queuing up or waiting. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> My plan is to get myself up and to help my higher level guild friend to get from her L 73 to L 80 too. (as well as helping our noobs of course)</p><p>Yes, I would love to go after the Epic weapon, thank you.  As for PU raids in PR/PB/SoH, which channels do they ask on? I usually have them all off, and only put norrathtrade on if I need help etc. As I said, I have never been in a Raid group so know nothing about Raid ettiquette, so perhaps you can also clue me in on that, please.</p><p>OK I am usually on at about 6pm PST so will keep an eye out for you then. Once again, the name is Khaose. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Thank you again so much for all the help. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Dareena]

<p><cite>Kitsune wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>So the Rogue Int line is not worth taking to the conclusion then with Feign Death?</p></blockquote><p>For soloing, I'm a big fan of the Int line as a Brigand (since we share the KoS tree).  My solo build is based on high burst DPS and finesse.  I save damage over time and survival for my group / raid build.  I've listed my own AA break down below.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Solo</span></p><p>Str: 4-4-4-8</p><p>Agi: 4-6-8-5-2</p><p>Int: 8-4-6-4-2</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Group</span></p><p>Str: 4-4-8-8-2</p><p>Agi: 4-6-8-7-2</p><p>Sta: 4-4-8</p><p>Please note that while I do have the Stamina line on my Group build, I'm still dual wielding.  I want all of the avoidance  (from Str) and health (from Sta) that I can get.  This lets me eat the occassional AE, survive if I temporarily steal aggro, and OT on the fly.</p>

[Greymatter101]

<p><cite>Kitsune wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Khaose is the name, Fae Swashie. Now I normally play with Defensive Stance on as we usually have no Healer, and Hurricane off as it causes aggro otherwise. Should I play Offensive Stance in a group? And what about Hurricane? On or Off?</p><p>Ahhh.. They put in LU 51, good. I did get chance to try some of the Solo content quests on test Copy with Khaose. That is going to be great. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> And actually, being on an EU Server has advantages for Harvesting and doing the solo content It's nice and quiet and no either queuing up or waiting. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> My plan is to get myself up and to help my higher level guild friend to get from her L 73 to L 80 too. (as well as helping our noobs of course)</p><p>Yes, I would love to go after the Epic weapon, thank you.  As for PU raids in PR/PB/SoH, which channels do they ask on? I usually have them all off, and only put norrathtrade on if I need help etc. As I said, I have never been in a Raid group so know nothing about Raid ettiquette, so perhaps you can also clue me in on that, please.</p><p>OK I am usually on at about 6pm PST so will keep an eye out for you then. Once again, the name is Khaose. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Thank you again so much for all the help. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>You are a level 80 Swash.  You can solo most of what you need to, but for the most part, your solo days are over!</p><p>In fact, you are not even really a Swash.  You are a DPSer and/or hate xfer.  Turn on lvl 70-79 chat and look for this phrase " DF group needs DPS/scout xfer" or better yet "Crucible GTG if DPS".  Send the a tell "80 Swash", accept the invite.  When you get there, tell them you don't have a mic and don't talk in group or make any feminine comments (they will assume you are a guy) and you won't draw any more attention to yourself than necissary.  This will be important later after you discover how much you really don't know yet. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" />  Put your hate xfer on the tank.  Turn hurricane back on.  Get behind the mob after the tank pulls it and go to town. </p><p>You will eventually learn casting orders and such by reading these boards, but for now, just get started.   Debuff CAs first, then damage.  don't queue (or spam) your spells.  One at a time to allow for your auto attack.  As you get comfortable in this role, check back for more.  EQ2 only begins when you hit 80!</p><p>And yes, our epic quest is the most interesting and fun to do, but unless something has changed ... Pirate Jones is the hardest non-epic mob in the game <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>PS. Take your friend to Kunzar Jungle and then to Moors and run all the quests.  He/she will be 80 in a week with your help.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Hi Greymatter 101. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Yesterday I did, solo, the Lost Legend of Lavastorm quest - had done the start of Speak Like a Dradon the day before, down in the Eye of Ro... that place is a beautiful nightmare. Thank goodness for Evac to get me out! Still building up the AA and at 132 now with 3 pieces T1 Shard armor and man, what a difference! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Lol, yes, I know what you mean about being a DPSer, and it is part of the reason I love that class - I love dealing the damage.</p><p>Actually I made friends with a grand Guild, and another of my toons joined them, L 42 Fury. My Swashie stays with my own Guild as I helped found it, but I now play regulary with them on both toons. They are causal players, and just beginning to do some part time raiding, so I fit right in there, and they don't mind at ll me being female. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Even started on my Epic along with them and with their help got my Essences earrings, I went for the poison ones, and 3 pieces - ready for 4th now - of T1 Shard armor.</p><p>I'm also building up my Fury with them - she's gone form 35 to 42, getting her AAs on the way and getting kitted out properly as she was just a "for fun" toon till then.</p><p>My friend is, as I said, tied up in her new business so not on at all much, but seeing how I struggled at 118 AA at L 80, she's getting lots of quests done now to build up the AA first.</p><p>Hm, on the casting orders. In a group/our Raid things, I tend to go in with Walk the Plank, Sack, Lung Bleed, then Kidney stab, then Boot Dagger if I can, then Triple Blades n Uncanny Thrusts. I either find no time for the debuffs cos we kull fast, and to be honest, I only find them useful in certain circumstances. Even duoing with a Ranger as I do to get the Essences and Daily solo shard, I use that combo, with judicious use of Throwing Knives of Ferrite.</p><p>I start the next CA just before the current one ends so they are kinda continuous, because if I don't, I cannot do that combo without the mob turning round and breaking it. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> So dunno where I should slip in the auto attacks.</p><p>I also found that hitting them hard from the get go serves me better, takes the mob down a lot, then gives me more time to do debuffs.</p><p>I'm open to ideas and suggestions, though, on ways to improve this.</p>

[Greymatter101]

<p><cite>Kitsune wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Actually I made friends with a grand Guild, and another of my toons joined them, L 42 Fury. My Swashie stays with my own Guild as I helped found it, but I now play regulary with them on both toons. They are causal players, and just beginning to do some part time raiding, so I fit right in there, and they don't mind at ll me being female. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Even started on my Epic along with them and with their help got my Essences earrings, I went for the poison ones, and 3 pieces - ready for 4th now - of T1 Shard armor.</p><p>Hm, on the casting orders. In a group/our Raid things, I tend to go in with Walk the Plank, Sack, Lung Bleed, then Kidney stab, then Boot Dagger if I can, then Triple Blades n Uncanny Thrusts. I either find no time for the debuffs cos we kull fast, and to be honest, I only find them useful in certain circumstances. Even duoing with a Ranger as I do to get the Essences and Daily solo shard, I use that combo, with judicious use of Throwing Knives of Ferrite.</p><p>I start the next CA just before the current one ends so they are kinda continuous, because if I don't, I cannot do that combo without the mob turning round and breaking it. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /> So dunno where I should slip in the auto attacks.</p><p>I also found that hitting them hard from the get go serves me better, takes the mob down a lot, then gives me more time to do debuffs.</p><p>I'm open to ideas and suggestions, though, on ways to improve this.</p></blockquote><p>Glad to see that you have found a home in the game.  The absolute best way to learn how to be a good Swash is to group with friends who will forgive your shortcomings until you work it out.</p><p>The casting order you listed is a good one for solo and/or tanking for your friends to help them level,  but remember in group instances to use the debuffs first, and often.  If you are in a group with a real tank, you should always, always, always be behind the MoB.  You should never have to depend on Walk the Plank to spin the mob for you.  And even when you are solo, remember that Eye Point does good dmg and debuffs as well, so put it higher in your order.  In fact use it first while the mob is still facing you, because you are behind the MoB for the rest of the fight, right?.  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Your auto attack hits as hard or harder than your CAs, but not as often, so you need both.</p><p>You cannot auto attack while you are casting a CA.  You must either cast more slowly, or time your attacks.  There are 2 methods for timing your attacks.  You can download Advanced Combat Tracker (ACT) along with its Double Attack timer plugin and listen for the beeps, or turn off 3rd party damage in your options menu and watch for your character to swing and see the orange numbers.  You can usually get 3 CAs in between your auto attack, 2 if you are grouped with a Dirge.</p><p>One more thing.  Use poisions.  Keep plenty of all three colors in your bag, right click them and choose auto consume.  I keep Caustic poison and Mental Breach (both red).  I auto consume the Caustic and put the Mental Breach on my hotbar so I can use it on long fights where I run out of power.  Just remember to turn the Caustic back on.</p>

[TygerMeow]

<p>Take a closer look at Kidney Stab. Not only does it do decent damage, it's also a debuff for piercing and slashing. Plus it's on a 10 second recast! And you also choose it for your Master II, right? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>I would move Kidney Stab to the top of your backstabs. That way you get your debuff off before your other backstabs and you also give it more cooldown time so it's up earlier.</p><p>When duoing or in a small group without a tank, especially when I'm getting all the aggro, I tend to use my deaggros to drop aggro to group members for a moment, get off a backstab or two, then allow my DPS to pick up aggro again. Just be careful not to kill your friends this way. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> It sounds like you are killing stuff too fast for now, but when you start taking on larger mobs, like 82 and 83 ^^^ this will be a larger factor. If you don't have Evasive Maneuvers yet, when you get it you will lubs. It's a really high hit, plus a de-aggro. The only thing I hate is not being able to use it when I'm playing "tank". (Or when I forget and use anyway and nearly kill the squishies.)</p><p>The shard armor is very nice (although ugly on a Kerra). However, I would definitely skip the T1 jewelry and go straight to T2. The T1 stuff is not at all worth it for a swash. You have to save up a lot for the 3 peices, but each piece is very nice and the 3 piece bonus gives me a good bit of DPS.</p><p>Finally, do get ACT. Its an amazing tool for examining your own progress. I'm constantly amazed at how much DPS Heel Cut does for instance. It tells me all kinds of things, like what kind of damage a mob is doing to what percentage my auto-attack is hitting for. Just search for advanced combat tracker.</p>

[Leenee]

<p>With eye point, even when I am in a group and always behind the mob, I jump back and forth during the fight, because the debuff/damage on it makes it worth it.</p>

[TygerMeow]

<p>We have a fair number of debuffs, but you have to pay attention to what they actually debuff. Eye Point text says it critically debuffs parry, but 51 points against the TSO mobs crazy stats really doesn't amount to anything. Look at your own Parry number, then mulptiply that by 1.5-2 for a heroic 80 and maybe 3 for an epic. The thing to consider is how many times you (or your group mates) are actually parried in the first place. This is another time when ACT is a great thing to have. If you are getting a parried a lot, lead with Eye Point. If your tank is a Monk/Brusiser in Defensive stance, then yes a parry debuff might just what the Dr ordered. If you are just plain not landing on the mob, then remember that our second HO starter, Dirty Tricks, lowers Defense and may be enough for you to hit the mob. This is especially true if you have to be in defensive stance for some reason (or again if your tank has to be defensive stance).</p><p>Back before we had Walk the Plank, before Cheap Shot was nerfed and we had that other stun with the decent effect time, swashies spent a lot of time dancing back and forth front to back on the mob. Don't forget that the graphic size of the mob isn't the real size. Usually you can just walk straight forward and you will edge around them, then turn around automatically to face the mob. However, these days unless I've got IA or some other serious recast buff on me, I don't generally make an effort to move around to the front to use Eye Point unless everything else is down or unless one of the above conditions applies. On the other paw, it depends on how the tank is pulling. If he always pulls the mob straight into the group, then turns (which isn't a great idea) I will try to get Eye Point off while the mob is still facing me, after my ranged attack and Evasive. However, good tanks will turn the mob just before the group, which keeps the mob out of it's general AE range, thus out of our CA range.</p><p>The same debuff rules apply to Bound. It's a great Magic and Divine mitigation, but I look at my group makeup and if there's no magic damage dealers, I don't kill myself to get it off. Conversely, I gorup with a wizzy a lot and when shouts LIFEBURN to the group, I pop Bound if it's not already off. I've parsed before and Bound makes very little difference on my own magic procs. However, that was before the 1000 point hit from the T2 shard jewelry bonus, which again, I'll be losing once I get either the RE:2 scout cloak or finish TSO signature quest (which might happen somtime 2 expansions from now <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" />). Most raiding swashies swear by the Second Sight adorns for weapons that give 2% spell crit chance as those apply to all procs. That combined with the T2 jewelry bonus and all other procs might make Bound an attractive debuff to get off for nearly every fight. However, those second sight adorns are mondo expensive. The only good thing is that they carry over to your Fabled, I believe. At least my adorns carried over from T1 to T2 armor.</p>