Starting a Troub "alt"

[evercrak]

<p>Hello all!</p><p>I am starting a Ratonga Troub and need some good advise.What spec is the "best" for lvl'ng?</p><p>What Master2 to take?</p><p>What is crusual to upgrade to Adept3? (nothing befor lvl 30 i think but..)</p><p>What Weapons to take (this is for solo play) Any good quest weap or any thing you can help me out whit.</p><p>Ever</p>

[Blistor]

<p>Leveling a Troub alt as well, would love to hear from a High Level Troub here.</p>

[Inggy]

<p>You'll find for solo'n you have two camps.  One that uses the same DPS spec as most raiding bards and the other using Shield spec for more defense at the cost of DPS.</p><p>I went with DPS spec.  Int line first though DKtM.  From there its your choice, STA to Fortizimo is a good choice but there are others.  Some solo'n Troubs do not like the AGI poison proc stating it breaks snares, I never had an issue with it.</p><p>Tough mobs Kite, ie snare and bow while using ranged spells.  Simple, effective, albeit a bit boring at times and you need room.</p><p>Master II choices are really not important till your much higher level as you'll be leveling very fast compared to a few years ago.  Typically you can be level 30 in a day.  Adept III choice would be whatever maximizes your DPS output. Aria proc, nukes, and snare will most likely be your best friends especially when you are kiting which is quite often.  Bards are not DPS kings and that is what makes solo'n so painful at times.</p><p>Weapon choice, go with matching delay Mastercrafted Slash (you Epic/Mythical is slash) and a pierce.  Alot of good pierce weapons in the game so till you get your Epic+ you'll need both skills.  Your bow shots can be pierce, slash, and crush depending on the type of arrow used.  By using two damage type weapons while leveling you'll level both skill sets.  Using matching delays helps with finding your Auto Attack / spell - CA rhythm. </p><p>Have fun,</p><p>O</p>

[Mew]

<p>Yeah, soloing a troub to 80 can be downright agonizing at times - especially when you get to RoK content.  But very few groups will want you before then.  Personally, I went sword and board and prefered that for soloing.  Even in some groups having that knock down can be handy.  But dps spec is really the way to go then.  On raids it's really the only way to go.  For AA's I focused on the bard (KoS) stuff first.  When I got to 50 AA's there I went over to the Troub AA's (EoF).  Get at least 130 AA's by the time you hit 80 (140 is much better).</p>

[Kulaf]

<p>Probably the most useful AA to get when soloing as a Troub is the Cheap Shot enhancer.  Learn to do most of your damage from range and then when they close Cheap Shot em and get to their back and use your back attack.  If they are really tough mez em until your arts refresh and start all over.</p><p>The only thing to really avoid is the poison AA if you plan to do any mezing at all......unless you are really good about canceling effects prior to mez landing.</p><p>Other than that have fun and experiment a bit and see what style works best for you.  Respecs are cheap.</p>

[Mytilma]

I went with dps spec until I hit Kunark, then I respeced to shield usage until level 80 and respeced back to dps. Using a shield in Kunark definitely saved me a lot of time. Sure you can either kite (costs time kiting) or facing them upfront while dual wielding (costs time healing). But with a shield I just went out of fights with more health on average. Plus, an adding roamer was less a danger to wipe, and some tougher boss (yellow one-up Kunark nameds can hit HARD) was doable on a lower level.

[Pendant]

<p>Talking about mezzing, I don't use poison (but only coz I'm a goodie and poison seems kind of evil) so I wouldn't know whether it interferes with mez.</p><p>But I don't use aria often, because that does break the mez, quite often, if you use hexes. Which I do. Though perhaps I shouldn't coz they sound kind of evil too, thinking about it... <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Inggy]

<p><cite>Seefar@Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Talking about mezzing, I don't use poison (but only coz I'm a goodie and poison seems kind of evil) so I wouldn't know whether it interferes with mez.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">But I don't use aria often</span>, because that does break the mez, quite often, if you use hexes. Which I do. Though perhaps I shouldn't coz they sound kind of evil too, thinking about it... <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>You should run Aria all the time.  As for breaking mez don't think I've ever seen that while solo.  Now anything that proc's"after" the mez can.  I've used (and others) mez + Aria proc to kill a mob, albeit very slowly but when you are almost dead and out of options put on HP regen and mez + pet <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</p>

[Mytilma]

<p><cite>Onoes@Kithicor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>You should run Aria all the time.  As for breaking mez don't think I've ever seen that while solo.  Now anything that proc's "after" the mez can.  I've used (and others) mez + Aria proc to kill a mob, albeit very slowly but when you are almost dead and out of options put on HP regen and mez + pet <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />.</p></blockquote><p>I've killed the yellow triple-up in the moppet shoppe this way, lol. Took only about 15 or 20 minutes, with help from the bone clasped girdle and the proc earring.</p>

[Aaramis]

<p>For what it's worth :</p><p>- learn how to kite.  Bards are the squishiest of the Scout types.  We haven't the tools to quickly dispatch enemies like the Predators do, nor do we have the utility of neutralizing an enemy's attacks like the Rogues do.  But we *can* use most of our abilities on the move, so you'll want to take advantage of that by opening up with your ranged attack(s), and possibly kite until an enemy is at half or less health.  Get yourself a decent bow while you're at it.</p><p>- equipment.  Don't skimp out on it.  I decked my Troub out in good gear as soon as he hit 30+ and it made a world of difference.  Before that, soloing was difficult.</p><p>- AAs.  As suggested above, the WIS line end AA (DKtM) is the trademark of all Bards.  Get it asap.  Other lines are typically the STA line for shield useage and double attack, as well as dabbling into either the STR or AGI lines.  Personally, I love using Cheap Shot -> side attack -> Bump -> backstab.  Great damage, and actually makes use of backstab (which sat unused on my hotbar previously).</p><p>By this point, you'll know the class well enough to be fine on your own and be able to pick a path through the Troub AAs and TSO AAs.</p>

[aelder~]

<p><cite>Seefar@Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Talking about mezzing, I don't use poison (but only coz I'm a goodie and poison seems kind of evil) so I wouldn't know whether it interferes with mez.</p><p>But I don't use aria often, because that does break the mez, quite often, if you use hexes. Which I do. Though perhaps I shouldn't coz they sound kind of evil too, thinking about it... <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>Aria & poison don't conflict with mezz... the procs hit first and then mezz lands.  use both early and often.  You run into trouble with hex dolls (or any debuff in general) because you expect them to do no damage and then something procs.  You will be better off wearing as much proc gear / buffs as possible, and using only critical debuffs.</p><p>So = snare (mental debuff) -> Spell Rebuff (magic debuff) -> Overture -> Shrill -> Mezz</p><p>move away from the mob and wait for mezz to refresh (or nearly) before repeating (don't have to recast Spell Rebuff as its longer lived)</p><p>If snare or spell rebuff proc then you re-mezz rather than casting damage songs (if the mob is going to one/two shot you or it stuns/stifles frequently).  If mob is very dangerous, drop overture and stick to snare/shrill/mezz.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Aelder</p>

[Pnaxx]

<p>I enjoy my Troub. He is level 60 now and stuck in Loping Plains. He is a little low for there as many mobs are orange. So, it's a real grind. Iv'e gone back to grey areas to finish quests and level up through those one level, then maybe I can get through more of LP. In general it sucks right now. Can't really find a group easy and solong my way through. But, the Trouby is coolio.</p>

[Inggy]

<p><cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I enjoy my Troub. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">He is level 60 now and stuck in Loping Plains.</span> He is a little low for there as many mobs are orange. So, it's a real grind. Iv'e gone back to grey areas to finish quests and level up through those one level, then maybe I can get through more of LP. In general it sucks right now. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Can't really find a group easy and solong my way through</span>. But, the Trouby is coolio.</p></blockquote><p>Have you done any of the TT and Barren Sky quest lines?  I did those in the 60s and moved to LP around 68.  There's also a 60s zone either GFay or LFay, sorry never ran EoF outside of raiding and the LP quest lines.</p><p>Yep been leveling a Dirge alt on another server so no support from my main toons.  As for groups I've had 1 and hes now 70.  Yes its been a pain.  Either way hes just a fun toon for those evenings I'm not raiding and I don't feel like finding a group on the Troub.</p>

[Aaramis]

<p>^^ Agreed.  Sort of.  I remember on my Assassin he went through Loping at 60ish, did the 60-63ish quests, then moved over to Barren Sky / Bonemire timeline until late 60s.  Then went back to Loping to finish various quests off (i.e. there's a 65 heroic quest there as part of the typical solo timeline).</p><p>Barren Sky, Bonemire, finishing off Lfay or Sinking Sands timelines, etc. are all options.  You could even do the Isle of Mara series of quests for some xp, or find a group and venture into Sanctum of the Scaleborn.</p><p>Plenty of options, but the most important thing I've found on my Troub was to take things slow.  You don't have poison access (short of that AGI line AA), nor do you have 10+k backstabs to use.  You do, however, have plenty of ranged attacks and some pretty impressive runspeed capabilities, as well as charm, mez, and some other toys.  Gotta play to your strengths.</p>