Soloing as a Swashie, and a few skills I keep hearing about.

[Larsenex]

<p>Since I am new to the class can you here at the forums tell me what I should have 'always' kept up? I see we have debuffs but I rarely use them in combat. Should I? Should I get these to Master or will Adept do?</p><p>What is boot-dagger and how do I use it (and) why?</p><p>I am currently going down the Agility Line and the Strength line. I have found that Blackgaurds defense is great as is the reduced casting times brought about by Sailwinds.</p><p>What is my role (aside from melee dps) in most groups?</p><p>What should I be doing 'first' in combat with a group? What attacks/debuffs to you start off with? Do you try to stealth and go behind (after tank gets aggro of course) or do you just wade in and start wailing?</p><p>Any advice is most welcome!</p>

[Delow]

<p>Almost all our debuffs are tied to combat arts so you really wont have an issues keeping them up. You do want to keep Trickery up on your target, its really the only worthwhile none damaging debuff we have for our benefit.</p><p>If you havent already you should read my <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=455870" target="_blank">guide/overview</a></span> as it covers a lot of these questions already, there is a whole section "Understanding your combat abilities" in it.</p><p>As far as what boot dagger is and how to use it, its a CA that does low-moderate damage and puts you into stealth instantly. This enables you to use Shanghai again in the middle of a fight without having to recast sneak (sneak has a long casting time).</p>

[Perrigrin]

<p><cite>Odeius@Guk wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Almost all our debuffs are tied to combat arts so you really wont have an issues keeping them up. You do want to keep Trickery up on your target, its really the only worthwhile none damaging debuff we have for our benefit.</p><p>If you havent already you should read my <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=455870" target="_blank">guide/overview</a></span> as it covers a lot of these questions already, there is a whole section "Understanding your combat abilities" in it.</p><p>As far as what boot dagger is and how to use it, its a CA that does low-moderate damage and puts you into stealth instantly. This enables you to use Shanghai again in the middle of a fight without having to recast sneak (sneak has a long casting time).</p></blockquote><p>^^ what he said!  Odeius your guide has really helped my Swash a lot, along with a good friend of mine working with my parses, she's doing so much better than before! She's now unmythed, and has the lvl 90 mark of manaar weapon, now just waiting for that rib seperator /drool. Doing the vigilant x2 raid last night she saw some 25k parses, and on ACT's graph she had some spikes up to 60k! I'm still not quite satisfied (I wonder if I ever will be?) but she has shown a great improvement, so at least I'm moving in the right direction <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Delow]

<p><cite>Zemi@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Odeius@Guk wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Almost all our debuffs are tied to combat arts so you really wont have an issues keeping them up. You do want to keep Trickery up on your target, its really the only worthwhile none damaging debuff we have for our benefit.</p><p>If you havent already you should read my <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=455870" target="_blank">guide/overview</a></span> as it covers a lot of these questions already, there is a whole section "Understanding your combat abilities" in it.</p><p>As far as what boot dagger is and how to use it, its a CA that does low-moderate damage and puts you into stealth instantly. This enables you to use Shanghai again in the middle of a fight without having to recast sneak (sneak has a long casting time).</p></blockquote><p>^^ what he said!  Odeius your guide has really helped my Swash a lot, along with a good friend of mine working with my parses, she's doing so much better than before! She's now unmythed, and has the lvl 90 mark of manaar weapon, now just waiting for that rib seperator /drool. Doing the vigilant x2 raid last night she saw some 25k parses, and on ACT's graph she had some spikes up to 60k! I'm still not quite satisfied (I wonder if I ever will be?) but she has shown a great improvement, so at least I'm moving in the right direction <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>I'm glad to hear you get value from my guide, your very welcome <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> and don't worry if you never feel satisfied with your DPS (I don't <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" />). You should keep in mind that although you can master the skills necessary to get the most in combat your gear also plays a heavy role so don't beat yourself up if you think you should be doing more, it will come with the gear.</p>

[Illmarr]

<p>Another big recommendation for Odeius's guide. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /> </p><p>Also remember, no man (or woman) is an island. A parse isn't only about one person's skill or gear or AA. It will fluctuate wildly depending on the skill, gear, and AA of those we adventure with. That said, always trying to improve in all cases as well. It's nice to hit a goal so you can set a new one.</p>