Off hand weapon since buckler penalty removed

[Barcus Steelfist]

<p>Was wondering if anyone is duel wielding when not MT now that the buckler penalty has been removed. If so what weapon are you using in off hand. Currently I have my epic (working on mythical) but am not usually MT in my guild. I want to maximize my DPS while in group and not MT. When MT and OT I of course am using shield, but none the less would like to hear if others are DWing.</p>

[Xalmat]

<p>Claw of Khalen if you tank. Nox Noctis if you're not capped double attack. Hammer of Swirling Constellation if you are capped double attack.</p><p>Dual Wield tanking is often needed simply to hold aggro.</p>

[Barcus Steelfist]

Thanks Xalmat for the info.

[Curs3]

<p>what you think of kelkrin's axe, xalmat?</p><p>aITEM 653394071 2076142295:Kelkrin's Side Ax/a</p><p>Currently working on it as it only takes a group.</p>

[Besual]

<p><cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Claw of Khalen if you tank. Nox Noctis if you're not capped double attack. Hammer of Swirling Constellation if you are capped double attack.</p><p>Dual Wield tanking is often needed simply to hold aggro.</p></blockquote><p>eq2lootdb.com lists the claw with 2.5sec and Nox Noctis with 1.6sec delay while the mythical has 3sec. I thougt you should go for the same delay on both weapons.</p><p>Edit: spelling</p>

[LygerT]

<p><cite>Besual wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Claw of Khalen if you tank. Nox Noctis if you're not capped double attack. Hammer of Swirling Constellation if you are capped double attack.</p><p>Dual Wield tanking is often needed simply to hold aggro.</p></blockquote><p>eq2lootdb.com lists the claw with 2.5sec and Nox Noctis with 1.6sec delay while the mythical has 3sec. I thougt you should go for same delay on both weapon.</p></blockquote><p>both of those weapons were changed to 3.0 delay some time ago.</p>

[Barcus Steelfist]

I'd like to hear opinions of Kelkrin's Axe as well since it would be easier to achieve than the other 3. Does this make a good interim weapon while raiding for the others to drop. I think I read that the others are only a 4% drop. Obviously if the Claw drops while working on my Myth the point is moot, but it is a highly desirable weapon and there are sure to be more than one fighter class wanting to roll on it in a raid.

[Xalmat]

<p>It's inferior as an offhand weapon to Nox Noctis, the Claw of Khalen, and the Hammer.</p>

[Kunaak]

<p>true - but for a non raid player, its the best there is.</p><p>though I would suggest atleast looking into the nox noctis, since demetrius crane can be beaten even with the most pitiful pickup raids in SOH.</p>

[Splintered]

<p><cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Claw of Khalen if you tank. Nox Noctis if you're not capped double attack. Hammer of Swirling Constellation if you are capped double attack.</p><p>Dual Wield tanking is often needed simply to hold aggro.</p></blockquote><p>So if a zerker uses a shield they have trouble holding aggro? The reason I ask is my guardian friend is soon going to reroll a zerker for our group.</p>

[Xalmat]

<p>Yes, because wearing a shield instead of using an offhand weapon reduces your auto-attack damage output significantly, which means reduced aggro.</p>

[Splintered]

<p><cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Yes, because wearing a shield instead of using an offhand weapon reduces your auto-attack damage output significantly, which means reduced aggro.</p></blockquote><p>But then how do your healers keep up with the reduced avoidance and physical mit? I guess my point is, I run in a group of three, myself as a 70 mystic, a 71 wizard, and my lvl 69 guardian friend who is thinking of going zerker. We have trouble as it is trying to three man all the instances our lvl intended for a full group, and I figured the extra dps from a zerker could be nice. But if he is forced to dual wield just to hope to keep aggro off myself and my wizard friend, it would sound like the class is broken? Am I reading that incorrectly? Also, do you think it is wise of him to switch to zerker to help out group push out a bit more dps?</p>

[Xalmat]

<p>You're talking about 3 manning instances with a less than ideal group, I'm talking about 6 man instances. Wizards are also insane aggro magnets for any class to deal with.</p><p>The simple solution to the reduced avoidance (you don't lose physical mit unless your shield has mit on it) : Improve your gear, kill mobs faster, or tell your healers to not suck.</p>

[Elanjar]

<p>All non-crusaders have agro issues without a hate buffer class in the group. Zerkers just get hit a little harder than most since were entirely depending on damage mainly from auto attack. In that 3-man your guard would seriously miss moderate on that wizard.</p>

[Mysticdraco]

<p>I have been trying to get my hands on Nox Noctis, but unfortunately the last coulple times I've been in Shard of Hate, it hasn't dropped. I did however come into possesion of the Segmented Serrator</p><p><span >aITEM 2105874081 -268102059:Segmented Serrator/a</span></p><p>Is this also a viable off hander? I was tanking for a Shard of Hate run this past Monday and when put into a group with a Dirge and Coercer was second in my raid parse on a couple of trash fights and aggro was almost no problem at all. It seems to be working for me, though.</p><p>I am curious if I should really be considering geting my hands on Nox Noctis or just wait untill my guild gets into Veeshan's Peak, and starts getting the weapons from there?</p>

[Curs3]

<p>negative on that. delay is 4.0 and the stats are not that great, no proc either.</p><p>Should use nox as off tank then the claw of khalen to tank.  but as of right now i cant get the claw so im tanking with nox.  works out fine dps is up there, no aggro issues.</p>

[RafaelSmith]

<p>I recently got this:</p><p><span>aITEM 718427778 -1689810039:Vicious Axe of Nynok/a</span></p><p><em>Vicious Axe of NynokFABLEDLORE NO-TRADE+45 str +15 agi +10 int+210 Health +25 Power+6 Slashing+5 Attack Speed+45 combat art damageOne-Handed SlashingDamage    45 - 253    (99.4 Rating)Delay    3.0 seconds    Weight    4.0</em></p><p>From the 3rd named in WOE.</p><p>While not as good as the Claw and some of the others mentioned here it is rather easy to get and at least for me made a noticable improvement to DPS and aggro.</p><p>Duel wielding weapons with the same delay makes things easier.</p>

[Artalis the Elder]

<p>A lot of people overlook the Segmented Serrator, due to the lack of pretty blue stats but the fact is the spread on that weapon is really good which leads to some nice crits. Unfortunately the delay is less than optimal.</p><p>IMO there are 4 weapons to consider for an off hand.</p><p>Claw of Khalen from Druusk</p><p>Hammer of Swirling Constellations from Traverno the Skygazer</p><p>Ekron's Blade from Elder Ekron</p><p>and</p><p>Nox Noctis which is from Master P'tasa (I think) or is it Crane? Too lasy to look it up. Either way easy mobs in Shard of Hate.)</p><p>It really kind of stinks that all our offhanders come from old content, but I heard from some peeps at Fan Faire that they put some others into TSO content. Where and what remains to be seen though and I'm clearing a good chunk of it.</p>

[Curs3]

<p>nox drops off crane.</p><p>as for the tso offhand.  yeah they have some but like others said, doesn't beat the old stuff.</p><p>Things you can use until you get a better is the one that drops off atrebe's guard. and the one that drops off the 3rd name in woe.</p>

[Mysticdraco]

<p>Alright, thanks for the responses on the Segmented Serrator. I'm using it currently due to the spread and trying to let the rest of my raid force get geared up as well. I'd hate to snuff out Nox Noctis if one of our DPS classes wants it you know? While not the most prefered the Segmented Serrator seems to be working well enough for me at the moment.</p><p>I got my hands on Segmented Serrator because no one rolled on it when we raided in Protector's Realm *shrug*</p>

[Hardkatt]

<p>Not sure if this has been mentioned but you do swing faster with a shield on than when you dual wield.</p><p>Go to SoH and get the Harbringer of Malcontent!!! Hotkey equip it and get either Nox Noctis from SoH or Claw of Khalen from VP and hotkey to your offhand. (Honestly I have both, and I never use Nox Noctis anymore!) The Claw has a very nifty encounter dot to it, but when you first pull an encounter, like most of the TSO instances, the dps in your group doesn't wait for you to establish agro. (That would kill their parse, right?)</p><p>I wear the Harbringer for most zones not only for the sweet stats and avoidance, but because I start hitting all the mobs faster than dual wield, once I have given the encounter(s) a few good wacks, I'll switch to the Claw. I can lose agro to some dps classes (looks at Ukeho), but only because they are going total ape $hit and I'm pretty much letting my auto attack do the talking.</p><p>Making sure you don't delay your auto attack is key. Assuming in a group, most of us here are max dps mod, haste, DA and melee crit, unless you have over 1k combat art mod and a choker on then the meat and potatoes of your agro is melee attack, so don't screw it up!</p><p>I believe a lot of people get excited and start spamming combat arts to hold agro thinking they are doing more dps, when in actuality, they are killing it. With a shield on, just do 1 combat art between attacks. If you can't hold agro, switch to dual wield and do 2 combat arts between. Those are your options, click buttons.</p><p>F- it, put your Jewel and Choker on and give your healer something to do!</p>