Quick Brigand questions for a newb

[Koufax-Drysdale]

<p>Im new to EQ2 and had a few quick questions. Im currently level 16, is it better to go Brigand tree w/1-handed weapon with all the double attacks or go Rogue tree and get some speed increases? Rogue seems to not help lower level toons since after a few points spent youre stopped by level 40 specific stuff. And the Brigand tree seems to be slow, Im always waiting for my attacks to come back.</p><p>The guides didnt seem to answer these, qUestions, Thanks in advance for the help!</p>

[Dareena]

<p>Huh?  What you're calling the "Brigand" tree sounds like the current incarnation of the old Wisdom line that's found under the Rogue AA tab.  (That's the line which is built around using a 1-hander with an empty off hand.  Visually speaking, it's #4 of 5 line when you start on the left hand side.)  The Wisdom line is absolutely horrible.  <em>(It's currently on the Test server and is being altered since it's just so bad.) </em> Even for leveling up.  Please don't inflict that on yourself.</p><p>As a low level character, your first goal should be the old Agility line (#2 of 5) for the Walk the Plank (WtP) combat art.  This CA will root your target and spin their back to you.  Since we're the scout class with the most rear specific CA, it's a must for a Brigand.  I'd suggest taking at least 1 rank of that ability to start off with.  <em>(Each addition rank increases the duration of the root by +.2 seconds.  At around 6 ranks, I find that I can get off x3 rear attacks even with a bit of lag.  Or at 7 ranks, I can get off x3 rear CA and another root effect CA so that I continue with my end game rear CA spree.)</em></p><p>Then your next big goal will be the old Strength line (#1 of 5).  Though I'm personally a fan of the Avast Ye damage proc and end line ability of the Agility line, I find that the Strength line's +Critical ability is more immediately important.  Place the minimum of x4 AA in each of the initial two categories of the Strength line, then throw a full x10 AA into the Crit option (which is Blackguard's Luck?).</p><p>From that point, it's all subjective.  Some people will go back to the Agility line for the end line ability.  Others will start to fill out part of the Brigand AA tab.  While the Shadows AA tab has a lot of good stuff in it for even just the Scout line, you won't be able to take those immediately since they have a minimum AA requirement.</p><p>----------</p><p>But in general, you always want to dual wield.  The dps output is just too important.  Also if you dual wield a Slash and Pierce weapon together, then you'll always have your weapon combat skills in good shape.</p>

[Koufax-Drysdale]

<p>Yeah, you're right it's the Rogue tree...sorry I got confused. Right now I went down the 3rd line for all the double attacks and a few in WTP for the root. You're saying go down the 2nd line and increase the ability casting and speed? How does that help? sorry like I said, I'm new.</p>

[Dareena]

<p>Gah!  So you weren't going down the 4th line which we still call the Wisdom line?  Instead you're going down the 3rd line which is the old Stamina line?  The Stamina line is specifically designed for tanking as a rogue by using a sword and shield.  While I guess that you could potentially use that to level up, it is also a completely useless line once you get to the upper levels.  People will often spend 14 AA in Stamina so that they can max out the +10% health benefit in the second AA ability.  (However that's at level 70+ when the amount of AA that you can spend on the Rogue AA tab is permanently increased.)  But that's about it.</p><p>What I'm suggesting is that you take WtP from Line #2, then the +Critical from Line #1.  Every time an attack crits for a Brigand, you multiply your normal random damage result (for CA or auto attacking) by 1.6 for the net damage that the hit does.  Increasing your damage output by +60% is amazing.  And if you should crit and still have your random damage rolled so low that your modified damage result is still below your old (unmodified) max damage score, then the damage done is automatically raised to <max damage +1>.</p><p>I'd only return to the Agility Line #2 after I've maxed out my Critical potential.  The Agility line is strong, but not as strong as the +Crit from the Strength line at the lower levels.</p><p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Example</span></strong></p><p>Your weapon auto attack weapon has a damage spread of 1,000 - 2,000 points of damage.  Assuming that you crit on your auto attack, there are two extreme results.  If your damage would have normally rolled at 2,000 pts, then the modified damage result would be 3,200 points.  (2,000 x 1.6 = 3,200)  However if your damage would have rolled at 1,000 pts, then the modified result would be 2,001 points since your modified damage was below the minimum value for a crit on your auto attack.  (1,000 x 1.6 = 1,600)  (However since your modified damage is below <max value +1>, your damage is increased to the revised result of 2,001 points.)</p><p>----------</p><p>Now why is the end line of the Agility line good?  While it does speed up some of our longer casting time buffs and it does speed up general utility casting times like Harvests or Call spells, that isn't the primary reason.  To maximize your damage as a melee class, you need to time your auto attacks.  A scout should always be dual wielding x2 weapons with a 4.0 delay.  <em>(All scout weapons which are 80+ have a 4.0 delay.  It's become the new standard.  In addition to that, the player made Mastercraft / Handcraft weapons also have 4.0 delay weapons.  Don't ever use weapons which have lower delays.  And especially never dual wield weapons which have different delays.)</em>  Now after the attack speed penalty for dual wielding takes effect, a low level scout should have a modified delay of about 5 - 6 seconds in between when your auto attacks fire off.</p><p>The key is that you almost never want to delay your auto attacks.  Should your auto attacks normally trigger while you're casting a CA, then they will be delayed until you finish that CA.  Or if you're chain spamming your CAs so that you've always got one in que to follow your current CA immediately, then you won't auto attack at all.  With this in mind, it is your goal to squeeze as many CA as possible in between your auto attacks.  This will let you maximize your total damage potential.  Even though CAs have a fast cast time (when compared to spell casters), there is still a bit of time for each CA.  And in between each CA (or spell), there is an automatic .4 second recovery speed delay.</p><p>The end line ability of the Line #2 Agility line grants you +25% casting speed and +25% recovery speed.  This means that you'll shave off part of the casting time on your CAs, then also shave off part of the recovery speed in between CAs.  By being able to cast more CAs in a short amount of time, you're able to cram more CAs in between auto attacks.  When you only have a few CAs to work with, that end line ability doesn't have a huge amount of value.  But when you're using 20+ CAs at your disposal, the time savings is very noticeable.</p>