How often do you use 'combat skills' vs just letting your toon swing

[Uumuuanu]

<DIV>So I have watched alot of people play and I have even gone as far as making an inquisitor so I could watch other people tank, but it still comes into my mind,  how often are you using your 'combat skills' or 'special attacks' or whatever you call them.  IE are you spamming the buttons one attack after another during combat or are you using aggro only skills and thumping away at whatever pace your weapons pace.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I usually blend aggro skills and a full round of combat skills (I love retaliate) in and the mob is dead in a group.  Soloing, I just keep spamming down through the combat attacks until I am OOP or the mob is dead.   What are your thoughts.</DIV>

[tsaav]

It all depends on the pull rate (grind/quest) and the group power regen. Your goal if doing a xp group should be to never have the group wait on you (or each other cuz of you) to regen power. Now keeping that in mind, if you can sneak some damage in and not lose agro, why not!? Retilate is always a fun one <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> If you have like 1 healer and all DPS then don't even bother, stun the mob more often or something to make healers life easier. If you end up with 3 healers, then hell fold that shield up, pull out the 2hander and jump in there. <div></div>

[Pa]

Most combat skills have a debuff component that adds hate just like our taunt attacks, I spam pretty much everything thats high dmg or has a debuff but I always grp with an enchanter.

[Grumpy_Warrior_01]

<P>If you are using HO's, which I think you should be whether you are soloing or grouped, there are going to be certain combinations of combat arts that will be preferred, and all of the warrior HO combinations end with a taunt.  So it's a little more involved than just clicking the icons down the line one after the other.  And since the game designers relaxed the HO system so it won't break if a player chooses an art out of sequence, it's a bit of an interesting puzzle to decide which arts you can slip in between heroic opportunities, which will change depending on the group's makeup.</P> <P>But to answer your question directly, I rarely have a gap of more than a couple of seconds during combat when I'm not casting something in addition to melee.</P> <P> </P>

[adrian]

Depends on the situation, if I'm in a duo or trio, then I'll go through a rotation of most of my high damage (not sarcasm) attacks. If I am in a full group, and we are hitting a named, I'll stick to maybe 1-2 debuffs to work through HOs, and save my power for taunts. It's just something everyone gets a feel for I guess. For most named mobs, I try to keep my power 10% higher than the main baddies health if at all possible. That leaves me a few outs if aggro gets weird, but still allows me to get a few hits in from time to time. Since damage adds to hate, it doesn't hurt to get a couple of smacks in from time to time, even if it is a token gesture.... hell what else am I going to do while I wait for my taunts to refresh <span>:smileyindifferent:</span> <div></div>

[Drulak]

<P>Yeah , as a basic overview i use combat damage melee non-stop when solo.</P> <P>When grouped i will spam taunts - while waiting for them to regen i will hit with my four highest melee damages - always drop in the dot attack , then back to taunts - then melee again.</P> <P>as stated above - depending on group make up i either spam non-stop - lots of healer/chanter - or i use power reservedly and keep plenty for more taunts , to crowd control - lost of dps in group.</P> <P>cheers.</P>

[Kryog]

Completely dependent upon situation.   When I'm fighting low leveled mobs, I tend to save power by rotating maybe 3 high damage attacks out, and nothing more.   When we're up against something meaty, I start pouring more into buffs and taunts, which really eat up the power bar. <div></div>

[Dav]

<DIV>Have to, takes all I got to keep agro off my friend (brigand) who claims to be able to spam evades but still pull agro. :smileymad:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Belce]

<P>I think it is situational.  It depends on how the fight is going, how long it looks like it will take, what the power situation is for others, are we going to get adds, etc.</P> <P>With drink, power regens pretty quick and it is foolish to have a full power bar at the end and no one else does, I try to keep power consumption close to the group average.  I also want to be able to surge power use during a fight if something comes up, I loose agro, we get an add for instance.   I like to help with group HO's as well, so I tend to keep a few things always available if it is needed, kick for instance I will try and save for when called for in an HO, also a strength move and a buff as well.  </P> <P>There is a reason why you can see everyone's power and hp stats throughout the fight, they are all meant to be used by the group to be successful.  Any downtime should be group downtime and not just yours or someone else's.  </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>