AA Advice for a Lvl 80 Pally Returning after a 2 Year Break (for Soloing & Grouping)

[atinoco]

<p>Greetings all I just came back from a 2 Year Break, looking for having some fun (Soloing and group fun), and I noticed Everything it's changed (AA Wise), I'm a lvl 80 Pally with 116 Total AA, After playing for a bit I noticed that my AAs had been reset, I looked for a quick fix (to get back to playing ASAP) and started to apply the DPS Spec from the Sticky at this forum. From the Sticky: <a href="http://www.eq2flames.com/paladins/31388-consolidated-paladin-thread-specs.html" target="_blank">http://www.eq2flames.com/paladins/3...read-specs.html</a> <span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Crusader DPS Spec</span></strong></span></span> <img src="http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/Jeal117/crusaderdps.jpg" border="0" /> <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;">Paladin Tree DPS Spec</span></span></span></strong> <img src="http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/Jeal117/paladindps.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Shadows Tree DPS</strong></span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong> Spec </strong></span><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <img src="http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/Jeal117/ShadowNrfllect.jpg" border="0" /></span></span></span></span> </p><p>It would only let me Spend 70 points in the Crusader tree, then went to the Shadows Tree and put some points there (General: 5 Pts in Max HP and Power, Fighter: 5 Swinging Strike, 5 Battle Hardening and 1 in Sneering Assault), so I'm right now like this (for some reason the calculator it's not showing the Shadows AA's): <a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f01y1aa214a@643@2aa2120l@35@15@35@351" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f01y1a...0l@35@15@35@351</a> (with 25 AA points to spend), Can anybody give me some advice on where to put these points, What are the must have AAs for my limited AA availability? I'm looking for soloing quests and small group fun. Thanks in Advance</p>

[Maamadex]

<p>I'd probably go with something more akin to this in your situation <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f0131aa21@44a11u@655@15535555@15555@111120l@35@15 @45@251" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f0131a...0l@35@15@45@251</a> . Grab Str line, Sta for crits because I bet you need it. Then Hero, wraths and support. Grab some shadow stuff, Knights Stance, the phalanx aa and aura of crusader. Then I'd go back to KoS Crusader and either fill out Agi or Sta for DA. Wis is pretty good but only shines when it also has the 6% bonus to potency from SF aa. You could get it tho the group ward and buffs are nice. Really just personal preference, most prefer lance or wis line over Divine Aura. You don't have stonewall yet so Divine Aura might be handy.  As far as INT goes, which i have in my current spec since its really great for raiding, I'd wait to play around with that til you get more gear and aa.  But yeah Fill out wraths too. From there just fill out what you like til you can get the shadow Endlines and move to SF. A lot of the AA's filled out in that dps spec are reliant on being lvl 90 with more aa's to use and better gear. So priority is kind of lost heh. Some of the shadow aa's in that spec i wouldn't take til i got the SF endlines i wanted for instance.</p><p>And if you are still using a 2hander, do your epic asap. Even a MC weapon with a 5 or 6 sec delay. Throneblade of the Ykesha isn't a good weapon for a crusader. And find a good shield. Aside from some raid 2handers at 90, they suck for crusaders.</p>

[atinoco]

<p>Thanks for the Advice my friend, This looks like a solid way to go for now, my deep thanks.</p><p>Just noticed I need to do the Character Traits also, any advice there? I read somewhere STR is king now for pallies. but I'm not sure.</p><p>I'm clueless about the resists traits also, my guess would be physical damage reduction.</p><p>and theres others for increasing max hp and power, and regen on those two. should I put increase hp there?</p><p>Thanks again for the help</p>

[atinoco]

<p>Thanks again for taking the time and helping me out, already did the crusader tree respec and i'm looking like this with 3 AAs to be spent:</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f0131aa21@44a11j@65@25@135555@15555@21120l@35@15@ 35@351" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f0131a...0l@35@15@35@351</a></p><p>Just noticed something about the AA setup you suggested, I noticed that you didn't put any point into the AGI line, most posts suggest to go 4,10 in Agi for trample, there a reason for this? are the wrats/support AAs more beneficial than trample?</p>

[Prestissimo]

<p>Trample is a frontal aoe auto attack. At max points, it's 40% aoe frontal auto attack, and auto attack makes a HUGE percentage of our dps. Basically, you'll want to pull a few mobs if you can take the hits and hold the agro, turn all of them so they're infront of you and back to the group standing pretty much on top of each other, and then swing away at them. Your numbers will go up noticeably, and if you have procs that are proc when on attack, it will make your proc rate scream towards the ceiling.</p><p>An example would be the mark of the ankexfen (runnyeye 2 blue shiney ear/ring that procs a respectable chunk of power) and setting up about 15 training dummies all in one small area infront of you. If you haven't tried it, basically what ends up happening is the proc goes from being up about 1/2 to 1/3 of the time average no overlapping to procing so many times that your ACT will curse and cry blood tears and you'll be sick of seeing "Cannot take effect" messeges. If you consider this concept then insert a group settup where you have a poison buff on you, multiple "proc damage/heals/dps boost/w.e. on attack" items, your 2 inherrent proc on attack buffs, other group member's procs on attacks, etc, you'll see where this is going.</p><p>Now for the reason why it's not really the best way to spec early on; Auto attack at lower levels means much much less than it does at the top levels. Mostly because the weapons (especially mastercrafted ones) just plain do not have the "testosterone mode on!" if you will... behind it that something like your epic/mythical weapon does let alone the weapons available at 85+.  At levels below 80, your auto attack will make up about 20ish% of your dps even if you have a beast mode weapon. For that reason, you're better off looking to maximize your crit so your combat arts/spells will dish out the hurt faster and then invest in some high power regen drink. Since you are level 80, this will only apply to you until you get a higher damaging weapon. The 2 hander you have atm is only a 100 attack rating. The paladin mythical as a one hander is rated at about 124, and the weapon choices in SF quickly out do even the mythical weapon's damage rating. Once you get a weapon with a more beefy damage rating, THEN you will want to go trample spec. Until then, amends on an aoe dpser is going to be a much better option for you.</p>

[atinoco]

<p>great explanation, thanks a lot, will spec trample later on when I get better weapon.</p><p>got a suggestion for the char trait? (stats and resists)</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span ><p>Just noticed I need to do the Character Traits also, any advice there? I read somewhere STR is king now for pallies. but I'm not sure.</p><p>I'm clueless about the resists traits also, my guess would be physical damage reduction.</p>and theres others for increasing max hp and power, and regen on those two. should I put increase hp there?</span></p><p>Thanks again for the help</p>

[Maamadex]

<p>In my opinion its better for everyone to just choose physical mit for resists under character traits. Tanks should choose str along with % to hps.</p><p>As for wraths/support. Wraths itself is an incredible line for paladins, it increases the debuff on our encounter taunt, damage on our ae's and how fast consecrate fires. Smite evil itself is an amazing AE that costs no power. Support is nice as well as it helps our procs, gives mit to non-fighters in group or raid, and gives us a non-trauma cure spell. The cure itself is quite nice, you can cure others of control effects as long as they aren't trauma like your healer.  Its just really good heh. Both of those lines.</p><p>Once again the spec i recommended for you is something I would take myself if i just returned, dps specs and such are for those with max aa, lvl and 90 gear. You can play around with different aas and see what they do for you, just trying to give you a basic spec to give you the most immediate benefit heh.</p>

[atinoco]

<p>Hello again all just wanted to update your guys where I'm at right now, and ask some more good advice.</p><p>I hit lvl 84 Pally with 168 AAs, got my fabled EPIC <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" />, and got 6 AAs unspent,but I am not 100% on where to put them now.</p><p>This is my current AA setup: <a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f01h1aa214a@24a11v@65@2555555555555@211216@35@15@ 35@351@1555@151" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f01h1a...35@351@1555@151</a></p><p>like I told you guys before I dont group much, I mostly solo and every one in a while I join up with guildies for some group fun or heroic kill. they are uber chars so i'm not usually tanking,  I focus my build on dps.</p><p>got any advice for those 6 unspent AAs and the next ones I get.</p><p>I dont see an obvious choice now if I follow the pic of the suggested spec for DPS build from the sticky in the forum (and at the top of the post), the only thing would be Raid Armament (Paladin tree) and then the Cure Spell, but that doesnt raise my DPS, thats why I'm not sure.</p><p>but if a deviate a little bit, the ones i see that would raise my dps would be:</p><p>From the Shadows Tree: Offensive Prowess= increase skill bonuses of the offensive stance (which I always use) .Risposte Mastery=Increase Risposte Mastery, is this worth it?</p><p>From the Crusader Tree:</p><p>Heretic's Destruction looks awesome, but I dont have the Req 10 SF points to spec it yet, and I'm far from it</p><p>From the Crusader Tree:</p><p>Wis Line: Combat Leadership and Battle Leadership (BL look great since its a group buff).Int line: Legionaires Smite and Legionaires Wrath (these look very good).</p><p>What do you think? any advice on what works best would be welcomed.</p>

[Jeal]

get raid armament (5 points) and cure spells