Shadowknight Tactis

[goryf]

<p>This thread is mainly for those who wish to share how they run thier SK's and who also wish to improve thier play styles by studying other SK's.  I am one who knows there is always room to improve and yet when I look through the forums and see pointless chatter that helps me in no way develope my in game Tactis directly.  True it is easy to learn what a SK can and can not do and why but what I look for and what I created this thread for is a place for the 'HOW'.</p><p>Three types of tactics would be nice to see here.</p><p>1. Solo</p><p>     a) While lvling up solo what type of gear did you use, where did you go, what struggles did you have and what did you find easy and effective.  What types of mobs did you prefer to beat on.  Any other areas on subject or tips for those in this catagory you can think of.</p><p>     b) As lvl 80 where do you go and what do you do.  What situation do you use what, and everything listed above and not listed that you think may help other SK.</p><p>2. Grouping</p><p>     a) What classes do you like to group with and why.  How thier buffs effected what you can do and how you do things.</p><p>     b) MT or OT and what's the diffence in your play style.</p><p>     c) Where do you like to go and why.</p><p>     d) Becareful of what in the group and look for what effects you have on the group.</p><p>     e) Turn or burn and any other tips you can think of that would make for a highly desired SK in the group ( I ask this way so that other class players, e.i. assassin, can let us SK know how nice it is to turn the mobs and other such tactics)</p><p>3. Raiding</p><p>     a) Buffs, what to ask for and what doesn't really help but takes up space.</p><p>     b) Class make up of raid that most benefits the SK as what??  MT or OT</p><p>     c) MT or OT and what is the difference in your play style.</p><p>     d) Mobs that drop really nice SK gear.</p><p>     e) The Do's and Don'ts that SK in raids have. ( again a topic that other class players can let us know what they think would be nice).</p><p>Other topics-</p><p>-What gear you think is nice for SK ( not whether you have it or don't)</p><p>-What zones are fun to run as a SK.</p><p>-Questions you have on how to improve your skill. (please do not get too far off topic with the Q&A)</p><p>-Feel free to take an in game picture of your SK and post it here</p><p>-Feel free to post SHORT story adventures that you have had playing your SK.  Funny, bad ending, bad a**, or just plain unforgettable.  (again please do not flood this thread with tales of SK.)</p><p>-Any thing else you  may think of about your SK that you can post that will help others get to know thier SK.</p><p>Again I stress that this thread was created for the purpose of improving your game play as SK.  Please do not post any complaints about how you think the devs should fix the class.  That is not in game discussion.  If you see someone's tactic and you think it is poor or lacking then please do not ridicule.  Be positive in your answers and comments and remember,  this is to help ppl.  New players or young players will most likly look through this post to improve thier game and it would be nice if there aren't any insultive post for them to read.  If you think you are a better SK please do not tell anyone that they stink and you rock, tell us how you rock.</p><p>FOR OTHER CLASS PLAYERS READING THIS THREAD.  I know you may play with SK's frequently and may have a bit of knowlegde on the subject, but please refrain from giving us tips in this post.  Go ahead and let us know what you would like us to do for you but unless you play a SK at the moment then please do not 'inform' us on how we should do it.  Give us the end result that you would like and let us come up with a way to produce that result.  Thank you.</p><p>My main is an SK and has been since launch.  He holds a specail place in my heart.  I am one that is always trying to become better and I am always trying to help out other SK's.  This is a way for me to do that, and you.  We are not posting (that is I hope this is true) to tell others what to do and how to do it unless they ask specificly.  Niether is this thread for ppl to flame others.  Go to eq2 flames if you want to do that.  I didn't start this thread for us to talk about the problems with SK as a class.  If you play them then you will develope your own opinion about that.  Nor is this a thread to brag about how your a god with a harem full of elf slaves or that you are the best tank in the guild or on the server.</p><p>Suprised as you  might be to hear, this isn't a thread about the SK class.  Instead, it is a thread about the SK player.</p><p>Thank you all for your understanding and be sure that others will be thankful towards you as well for the uplifting help one may find in this thread.</p><p>80 Shadow Knight              Goryfis - MM</p>

[Zackinfien]

<p><span ><p><em>2. Grouping</em></p><p><em>     a) What classes do you like to group with and why.  How thier buffs effected what you can do and how you do things.</em></p><p>My dream group,</p><p>Shadow Knight</p><p>Dirge - Melee buffs - Puts Battle Cry on Brig.</p><p>Brignad - DPS and Dispatch</p><p>Mystic - Heals + Bolster ( I don't know why but I love seeing all my stats peg out)</p><p>Illy - Illusory Arm on SK</p><p>Troub - just to double up on fortissimo and allegro</p><p>at this point your (depending on your AA selections and gear) DA should be 80 - 100, Melee Crit 60+ and Spell Crit 100+.  As for what zones to run, a good starter to get warmed up is OOA.  Mobs are easy and the money is good.  Then I would move on to any of the other shard zones that have aoe encounters.</p><p>I'll be back to post more, just wanted to put that out there for you.</p></span></p>

[Costa]

<p>The one thing i do see a lot which annoys me when i'm tanking is the number of sk's that use sacrement as an aoe and not realising it has a MASSIVE taunt built into it. My main is a Zerk (hence the tag) so it would be like me hitting insolence as an aoe rather than as the hate increaser/aoe snap agro ability if i was playing OT.</p><p>It kinda goes without saying that if your running instances with an sk then their is a high chance that if the sk can't be bothered to tank they need to know what their abilities do. All too often i have tanked zones as the sk feels under geared and they end up with the agro for the majority of fights and may as well have tanked it anyways. Even when on my Pally and amends on the sk they still rip agro and it then ends up having a bouncing of agro between the 2 crusaders.</p><p>Oh and 1 other thing Death March as a temp buff which runs for 1min but On The March is 10 seconds. On the march is what gives you the immunity, dps boost etc not death march. You need to kill things to proc on the march so if it is an encounter killing things within 10seconds will keep it going else it gets lost. Again i have spoken to several people (not just sk's) that think the buffs etc last for 1min regardless. Hence why death march is ok if your expecting a control effect on the pull or to use it near the end of a fight to give that last burn. It's also very usefull as a hate tool when somebody is going a little crazy in the dps department but don't expect 1min of godlyness unless your munching through multiple mobs in that time <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>It's been over 6months since my Pally was an Sk so if some of the information is a little vague it's because i can't remember <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Please feel free to correct me if i have gotten it wrong <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[SirDinadan]

<p>I just can't wrap my head around a group with an SK that isn't tanking.  SKs are hate machines, with no way to get rid of it besides FD.   An SK trying to keep the hate meter off red is very simply hobbling themselves unnecessarily by excluding attacks, and may be forcing the group to assign hate reduction away from the classes the benefit most from it.</p>

[Costa]

<p>It's not a common occurance but it does happen. Generally it's someone thats got to 80 but not got any gear so tend to be a little squishy in tso. I hate having them in group with my zerk tanking but can cope with my pally. The best bit however is when i group my pally with an Sk tanking and even not using agro tools i pull agro <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Has to be the uber pally dps <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Back when my pally was an sk i would have guild groups where we had guard as tank and sk as dps/ot. It just takes a bit of care but you can still do damage although you just have to be aware of what your doing. I personally very rarely pulled agro on the sk but would do it and still do it quite freely on my zerk to our guard.</p><p>Like i said in the last post generally speaking it's people sacrementing an encounter and not being aware of what sacrement is or death marching when they are sat high on the hate meter and geting instant agro. Both are easy to avoide if you are aware of what your doing rather than mashing buttons that are avaialbe <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Phelon_Skellhound]

<p>Noob sk's make us vet sk's look godly *nods*</p><p>Sacrement and DM are "Oh scat!!" tools.... you know... when u pull too many, or need crowd control on a single ecounter involving multiples or someone "misfires too early" and everyone is like poopy!!! Yeah that's the time to use those really...  well maybe cept DM where stuns/stifles/fears are actually an issue fights... </p>

[Enoe]

<p><cite>Bazill@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's not a common occurance but it does happen. Generally it's someone thats got to 80 but not got any gear so tend to be a little squishy in tso. I hate having them in group with my zerk tanking but can cope with my pally. The best bit however is when i group my pally with an Sk tanking and even not using agro tools i pull agro <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Has to be the uber pally dps <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Back when my pally was an sk i would have guild groups where we had guard as tank and sk as dps/ot. It just takes a bit of care but you can still do damage although you just have to be aware of what your doing. I personally very rarely pulled agro on the sk but would do it and still do it quite freely on my zerk to our guard.</p><p>Like i said in the last post generally speaking it's people sacrementing an encounter and not being aware of what sacrement is or death marching when they are sat high on the hate meter and geting instant agro. Both are easy to avoide if you are aware of what your doing rather than mashing buttons that are avaialbe <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>I love to grp with zerk for pve or pvp as sk. But every time im appointed MT and zerk is aoe dps machine with ability to grab additional adds. For example go to Nu'roga with sk, zerk, dirge, trub, enchanter and healer with IA(if illu) on sk  and BC on zerk and pull all floors at once <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Now Grave sacrament is aoe rescue with reversal reinforcement for 30 sec on it which can hit 24 targets at once - godly spell but i agree SK need to learn when to use it - especially in raids. Your problem as a Paly with sk in grp is - sk was a noob. GS will increase his hate position by 1 every time mob will hit him with direct attack or aoe (last 30 sec). SK should never cast it if someone else is tanking - unless he want to grab aggro.</p><p>Death march - i agree on above but u need to add 1 thing to it - DM is aggro tool as well - use it on book named in WoE or on adds on Field General and all of them will go for sk.</p><p>Tactics on pull - personally i use endline TSO debuf  (40m range) or on raids myth clicky. On closer pulls i start with miti debuff - 2s cast time with myth clicky right after.</p>

[goryf]

<p>As insightful as all this talk about what other tank works well with a SK it is going off topic here.  If you wish to talk about the problem that you seem to be having with agro managment whether you think it is the class or the player, please talk about that in the topic forum for sk issue's.  This thread is meant to be used as a reference page to those who are new to the SK class or wish to improve thier skills.  Not to say 'I grouped my sk with this other tank and had no probs with agro yet when i am the other tank sk's seem to be agro hungry.  Though that will tell ppl that they may be in need of some serious agro management skills it doesn't tell them 'HOW'.  It's the how a SK works that needs to be posted here.  otherwise this thread will be like all the others.  If you are not an SK please do not talk about problems you have with an sk.  There are places just for that and this isn't one of them.  here is an example of a post that would go in this thread.</p><p>As a lvl 80 SK I find it easier to use 4 hotkey bars to hold my actions.  group wise it looks like this. </p><p>1st 3/4 top bar dps no taunt. last 1/4 strait taunts.</p><p>1st 1/2 second bar dps taunts. last of second bar nuke</p><p>1st section of third bar AoE (ending with tap viens as this is an agro/life saver), last on 3rd bar is mob debuffs</p><p>4th bar self temp buffs- totems ect.- temp target buffs- target buffs until canceled.</p><p>to pull linked mobs for a group i step forward (body pull) step back and cast my 2 fastest AoE spells before i step forward again to turn the mob.  this i find helps to let others know when i have agro.</p><p>when soloing a group i like to cast those 2 fast AoE's right before i steal thier strength.  this weakens them for the rest of my AoE's, which i disperse between bouts of single target attacks.</p><p>these are a few tactics that I use on my SK.  it works for me so please do not tell me i am wrong.  these are aslo not the only way i play.  i typed these down in short crude lines to show you an example of the information desired for this thread.</p><p>thank you again.</p><p>C YA N GAME!!!</p>

[Terron]

<p><cite>Zackinfien@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span><p>My dream group,</p><p>Shadow Knight</p><p>Dirge - Melee buffs - Puts Battle Cry on Brig.</p><p>Brignad - DPS and Dispatch</p><p>Mystic - Heals + Bolster ( I don't know why but I love seeing all my stats peg out)</p><p>Illy - Illusory Arm on SK</p><p>Troub - just to double up on fortissimo and allegro</p></span></p></blockquote><p>Your dream group would seem to include an idiot playing an illu. The Brigand would be a better IA target.</p>

[Lord Hackenslash]

<p>Brig has battle cry, they don't stack.</p>

[Hlaku]

<p>Here I'll go with my solo tactics, since I have solo'd most of my leveling grind.  I have setup three bars with the bottom bar rollable so I can roll it for buffs. My top bar is mapped to the Numpad, while my second bar is mapped to the numeric row as default. 4 slots from my bottom bar are also mapped to the leftover buttons on numpad; I use them as pullers.</p><p>I might be a little off on names but here is my solo sequence:</p><p>PULLING</p><p>1) I start most fights with <strong>Unholy Blessing</strong></p><p>2) I use the <strong>Dreadful Wrath</strong> with snare as my puller.</p><p>3) I follow it up with INT tree DD called <strong>Legionaire's Smite</strong></p><p>4) If mob is still a bit away then <strong>Malice</strong> otherwise</p><p>5) Hit the mob with <strong>Shadow Coil</strong> just before it gets to me</p><p>MELEE</p><p>1) If I used the PULL sequence then I'm already in combat and i'll fire up my <strong>HO</strong></p><p>2) In my first HO I like to use <strong>Cleave Flesh </strong>then <strong>Blasphemy</strong></p><p>3) I follow it up with my AA from STR <strong>Swift Attack </strong>which is a haste</p><p>4) At this point the auto attack kicks in so I give it a sec then fire up <strong>Mana Sieve</strong></p><p>5) Here I'm waiting for my HO to renew and I have choices: if mob is not in red then i'll use <strong>Devour Vitae </strong>if I'm getting low on hp then I'll renew <strong>Unholy Blessing</strong> at this point as it takes a long cast and I can fit it here without wasting auto attack. Also, can use a kick here if can time it before auto.</p><p>6) I have qued up HO so as soon as my <strong>Siphon Strike</strong> flashes I use it and follow it with <strong>Insidious Whisper</strong></p><p>7) If mob is not close to death then I'll renew <strong>Shadow Recoil </strong>and <strong>Devour Vitae</strong></p><p>This ends most fights with close yellow and everything below. For tougher mobs I throw in a <strong>Harm Touch</strong> after first HO.</p><p>In my first bar mapped on numpad I have</p><p>Numpad 1   <strong>Blashpemy</strong></p><p>Numpad 2   <strong>Insidious Whisper</strong></p><p>Numpad 3   <strong>Siphon Strike</strong></p><p>Numpad 4   <strong>Cleave Flesh</strong></p><p>Numpad 5   <strong>HO</strong></p><p>Numpad 6   <strong>Swift Attack</strong></p><p>Numpad 7   <strong>Devour Vitae</strong></p><p>Numpad 8   <strong>Pestilence</strong> (this will change)</p><p>Numpad 9   <strong>Shadow Coil</strong></p><p>Numpad 0   <strong>Harm Touch</strong></p><p>Numpad .   <strong>Mortal Embrace</strong></p><p>Numpad +`<strong>Unholy Blessing</strong></p><p>On second bar I have kick, slam, rescue, mana, EVAC, all teh AEs</p><p>On third bar I have utility, quests, and reaver plus 3 puller spells.</p><p> Lets hear from the rest of you as well <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Zackinfien]

<p><cite>Terron@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Zackinfien@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span><p>My dream group,</p><p>Shadow Knight</p><p>Dirge - Melee buffs - Puts Battle Cry on Brig.</p><p>Brignad - DPS and Dispatch</p><p>Mystic - Heals + Bolster ( I don't know why but I love seeing all my stats peg out)</p><p>Illy - Illusory Arm on SK</p><p>Troub - just to double up on fortissimo and allegro</p></span></p></blockquote><p>Your dream group would seem to include an idiot playing an illu. The Brigand would be a better IA target.</p></blockquote><p>Thank you for your very constructive post.</p>

[Terron]

<p><cite>Melina@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Brig has battle cry, they don't stack.</p></blockquote><p>I have a SK and an Illu but I don't have a brig.</p><p>The only Battle Cry I know of is a Guardian buff (which may have been renamed).</p><p>What is the Battle Cry you mean?</p>

[AziBam]

<p><cite>Terron@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Melina@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Brig has battle cry, they don't stack.</p></blockquote><p>I have a SK and an Illu but I don't have a brig.</p><p>The only Battle Cry I know of is a Guardian buff (which may have been renamed).</p><p>What is the Battle Cry you mean?</p></blockquote><p>Battle Cry is the TSO dirge endline ability that gives a single target Double attack (and also flurry).  In the dream setup noted in this case, the brig should already have that buff from the dirge leaving IA open since one character can't have both buffs.</p>

[Zackinfien]

<p>You beat me to the punch..</p><p>Also the Troub has, or should have upbeat tempo.  Its similar to Time Compression but it adds dot ticks to the target.  I personaly have not played with UT so I am not sure who that would benifit the most.  It sounds like it will work on HOT's but I'm not sure.</p><p>Here are the descriptions</p><p><a href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Upbeat_Tempo" target="_blank">Upbeat Tempo</a></p><p><a href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Upbeat_Tempo" target="_blank">Time Compression</a></p><p><a href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_Cry_(AA)" target="_blank">Battle Cry(aa)</a></p><p><a href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Illusory_Arm" target="_blank">Illusory Arm</a></p><div><span ><a href="../user/profile.m?user_id=422162"><span style="color: #cc66ff;">Hlaku</span></a></span>, nice write up... your gonna make me pay attention to casting order. =P</div>

[Terron]

<p>Thanks for the explanation</p>

[Enoe]

<p>in ur dream grp u dont need IA or BC on SK - illy trub dirge gives 10% DA each to grp so sk should be on 100%+ da already</p><p>if BC goes to brig then IA for trub or dirge imo</p>

[Vaemas]

<p>I'd let the Brigand keep Illusory Arm. I'll take Battle Cry from the Dirge for the AOE melee increase. Of course, stacking a Dirge, Troubador, and Illusionist is a bit of a waste for a single group. But it is a lot of fun.</p>

[Kimber]

<p>Faceroll FTW</p><p>sorry guys could not resist <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p>

[bob777888]

<p>it's too bad this thread went no where, it had potential</p>

[Zerako]

<p><cite>Enoe wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bazill@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's not a common occurance but it does happen. Generally it's someone thats got to 80 but not got any gear so tend to be a little squishy in tso. I hate having them in group with my zerk tanking but can cope with my pally. The best bit however is when i group my pally with an Sk tanking and even not using agro tools i pull agro <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Has to be the uber pally dps <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Back when my pally was an sk i would have guild groups where we had guard as tank and sk as dps/ot. It just takes a bit of care but you can still do damage although you just have to be aware of what your doing. I personally very rarely pulled agro on the sk but would do it and still do it quite freely on my zerk to our guard.</p><p>Like i said in the last post generally speaking it's people sacrementing an encounter and not being aware of what sacrement is or death marching when they are sat high on the hate meter and geting instant agro. Both are easy to avoide if you are aware of what your doing rather than mashing buttons that are avaialbe <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>I love to grp with zerk for pve or pvp as sk. But every time im appointed MT and zerk is aoe dps machine with ability to grab additional adds. For example go to Nu'roga with sk, zerk, dirge, trub, enchanter and healer with IA(if illu) on sk  and BC on zerk and pull all floors at once <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Now Grave sacrament is aoe rescue with reversal reinforcement for 30 sec on it which can hit 24 targets at once - godly spell but i agree SK need to learn when to use it - especially in raids. Your problem as a Paly with sk in grp is - sk was a noob. GS will increase his hate position by 1 every time mob will hit him with direct attack or aoe (last 30 sec). SK should never cast it if someone else is tanking - unless he want to grab aggro.</p><p>Death march - i agree on above but u need to add 1 thing to it - DM is aggro tool as well - use it on book named in WoE or on adds on Field General and all of them will go for sk.</p><p>Tactics on pull - personally i use endline TSO debuf  (40m range) or on raids myth clicky. On closer pulls i start with miti debuff - 2s cast time with myth clicky right after.</p></blockquote><p>GS is a 20s debuff that goes on the mobs within 10m (no target limit) that has a 33% chance to increase the sk's hate to the mob that was damaged by 1 position. Not what the quoted poster said. </p>

[UNTILitSLEEPS]

<p>flurry (aka battle cry): a mythical crusader with knight's stance aa currently is the best class to get a flurry buff, this mainly is due to flurry only working for the main hand weapon. (just compare a crusaders autoattack dps with the autoattack dps of a equally buffed scout and subtract the dps coming from the offhand weapon ...crusader should be much higher unless he massively delays his autoattacks)the only exeption is on mobs where the crusaders hitrate is distinctly lower than the scouts (like when tanking lvl 88 raidmobs in defstance).</p><p>so in the example group mentioned b4 the brig shoudl get ia and the sk should get bc.</p><p>my favourite instance group of all time is:sk, inquis, dirge, troub, illus, coercer... support stacking > all for instances</p>

[Banditman]

<p>One of the things that has most surprised me about playing my Shadowknight, and even a tank in general, has been the amount of mob knowledge you need.</p><p>For example, say you are pulling a group of three mobs.  You really have to pay attention to the mob you target for the pull.  If you target a mob that stands back a few seconds and casts before attacking, you can wind up with a couple mobs that hit camp and start beating on people while you are still waiting for your target to arrive so you can start hate on it.</p><p>That was pretty eye opening for me.  Sure, you can do some things . . . unlocked AE's and all to grab the ones who arrive early, it's more  matter of expectation.  You "expect" the mob you pull to come to you.  When he doesn't, it sort of screws up your timing and stuff.</p><p>I'm one of those "nice" tanks who likes to spin the mob for the scouts, and to prevent any unfortunate frontals or AE auto attacks from hitting squishy people.  I had to really concentrate on the difference between spells and CA's to figure out how to do that gracefully and while holding aggro.  In case it isn't obvious to newer players, the difference is that a CA can be cast on the run, and <em>most</em> spells cannot.</p><p>I actually like to pull with Essence Siphon due to it's exceptional range.  I'll follow that with as many spells as I can while it's still coming . . . Malice, Shadow Coil, Devour Vitae, Mana Sieve . . . just depends on how fast it's coming and from how far.</p><p>As it is arriving, I start moving toward it, while hitting Soulrend and then Painbringer as I go past it.  I have my HO starter macro'ed in with Painbringer, so as I finish the spin, I hit it with Insidious Whisper to complete the HO.</p><p>Generally this gives me a pretty good aggro lead, allowing me to be fairly good about timing my spells with my auto attack for maximum DPS / hate.</p><p>When pulling a group of mobs, I generally do something similar, pounding one member of the group as it comes at me with spells.  Instead of Soulrend though, I lead off with Death Cloud.  It has a longer cast and generally the cast time allows me to get all the way past the mob and have it spun as DC hits.  Then I go to Painbringer / HO and complete with Blasphemy and follow immediately with Unending Agony.</p>

[Geden]

<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #888888;">My perfect group:</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">Druid healer - Fury and Warden both give nice heat/cold resists while Fury can augment mine or scout's attack speed plus raw dps. Both have wicked potent heals that are also fast casting if I start going down too fast.</span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">Coercer - happy healers, happy tank and happy dps'ers</span><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> <span style="color: #888888;">Coercer augments my hate mod to 24% (non-expert), heal crit (up to 16%?) of a group, buffs me for extra reactive damage right before the pull and can put a Peaceful Link (aggro reduction buff) on the most aggro-drawing members of the group. And when I run out of mana he can manaflow the group!</span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">Wizzie/Warlock - SK's Unholy Strength buff gives extra spell crit to group so why not use it on my groupmates? And if a healer is a Fury he can augment them with Lucidity (INT buff)</span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">Swashbuckler (with hate transfer) - good melee damage and can take advantage of Dirge buffs as well as Coercer</span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">Dirge - Battle Cry, temp in combat buffs and all that for which Dirgies are loved</span><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #888888;">For grouping strategies:</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;"> I first and foremost check my buffs - if the mob is hard or healer is uncomfortable healing through a particular encounter then I go defensive. Otherwise - offensive. I will then start by engaging the solo mob with either a body pull or a Shadow coil. The spell is a dot and, therefore, helps my hate control in case if someone attacks before I get full aggro. Then I follow by a Shield Slam which initiates additional hate gain and stuns the mob. The point of disruption is to prevent the mob from damaging me in the first couple of seconds, and gives extra time to your healers to cast their wards/heals. After that I initiate HO followed by Painbringer (another dot) and Insidious Whispers. At this point I got the aggro and focus on dps. Malice (fast recast timer makes it worth using first) - Swift Attack (from the crusader STR tree) - Siphon Strength - Dreadful Wrath - Mana sieve. I time my CA's to let AA happen, which also allows Coercer's reflective buff to proc. After this progression, if the mob is still alive, I proceed to another round of DD spells: Legionnier's Smite (from crusader INT line) - Cleave flesh and Malice if it is up. The reason I learned to start with dot spells is that dot damage seems to slowly increase your hate as your dot spells tick damage on the mob. And if the reader is like me - pre-mythical SK - then it is relatively hard to keep hate off of high dps groups without many de-aggro options. In the fight I reserve my taunts for rogue adds or rogue groupmates when they get aggro from the mob. </span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">If my target is difficult (stuns, aoe's or massive damage spikes) then I squeeze in some lifetaps between my AA to help  the healers and kill the mob faster.</span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">On linked encounter pulls I start the same way as on single, but before starting with a round of single target dots I cast Doom Judgment - Unending Agony - Devouring mist and, if I'm worried about stuns and stifles, Hammer Ground (encounter knockdown from STA line). This aggroes and debuffs my targets for DD spells/CA and prevents me from being potentially stifled. My play style is on a safe side, and as a tank I worry a lot about my group and hate to see us die because I failed to prevent potentially bad situations.</span></p><p><span style="color: #888888;">Hope this helps!</span></p>