Wissp
04-24-2005, 11:38 AM
<div></div><div></div><div></div>Hi all - I just noticed that although it appears that all of the default skills are accounted for in Mirianna's awesome compilation we have overlooked a major resource in the bonus skills that are available. Here are the ones that I personally use and how they compare to the main skillset : 1. Slate's Invigorating Threat vs. Taunting Challenge @ Adept 1 Power: 48 vs 37 Recast: seperate reuse timers !! - corrected by Rorrak - thanks! Skill: Protection maxed at 200 vs. 173 Benefits: Increase Mitigation of Caster vs Crushing, Slashing, and Piercing by 126 --- Taunting Challenge has no increase Inflicts 57-96 melee damage vs. 44-73 Decrease targets DPS by 5% vs. no decrease Increase Threat by 411 vs. 337 Comments: The benefits here are obvious - better damage mitigation, slows targets damage dealing, and better aggro mgmt. I don't personally use taunting challenge, but if you're low on power might want to have it handy 2. Slate's Steely Resolve vs. Iron Conviction (only have app 1 of this since I never bothered to upgrade it, someone post it?) Power: 128 vs. 116 (not really vital since this is a 10 minute buff) Recast: shared reuse timer - 5 minutes - unsure of stat stacking - Slate's is 10 min. vs. 15 min for Iron Conviction Skill: Protection maxed at 250 vs. 263 Benefits: Increases STA and STR of caster by 23 (@ lvl 4<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> vs. STA only increase of 21 (again only apprentice 1 level) Comments: HUGE benefit to a fighter - the strength bonus is one of the best I've seen for fighter self buffs Not sure if these benefits stack or not, but I imagine that they do not - can someone verify? Also it would be nice to know the Adept 3 STA bonus for Iron Conviction if someone knows it and also if it adds any new benefit. 3. This comparison is slightyly more complicated because of the various combat situations that occur, and so I will seperate each of these skills and list their stats for you to compare in the order of how beneficial I find them : A) Fortifed Stance (only have apprentice 2 atm) Power : 72 Recast : shared 3 minute reuse timer - all of these use 3 concentration so cannot be stacked Skill: Protection maxed at 272 Benefits: Increase caster defense by 8 Increase mitigation of caster vs. slashing and piercing by 96 Increase mitigation of caster vs. crushing by 192 Downside: Decreases slashing, piercing, and crushing of caster by 7 Slows caster movement by 20% Comments: This is the stance I use for most battles unless I am confident that I can defeat the target easily as the added mitigation is a huge advantage. B) Slate's Protective Stance Power : 48 Recast: see above Skill: Protection maxed at 150 Benefits: Increases Parry and Defense of caster by 7 Comments: I use this as my travel stance as it does not decrease my movement speed, or if I'm in a fairly low aggro area I use this because it doesn't lower my attack ratings C) Dig In (Adept 1) -- for comparison purposes Power : 63 Recast : same Skill: Protection maxed at 203 Benefits : Increase defense of caster by 8 (@ lvl 4<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Increase mitigation of caster vs. all physical damage by 84 Downsides : Slows caster movement by 18% Decreases crushing, slashing, and piercing by 6 Comments : I post this for comparison purposes as I now use Fortified Stance exclusively for MTing D) Soldier's Stance (Adept 3) -- again for comparison -- this is the only Adept 3 I have so I thought it would be informative Power: 43 Recast: same Skill : Tactics maxed at 130 Benefits : Increase parry of caster by 4 Increase defense of caster by 6 Downsides: Decreases caster slashing, piercing, and crushing by 4 Comments: As you can clearly see the Adept 3 level of this skill becomes quite useless once you move up 2-3 levels I would highly recommend picking up Slate's Protective Stance over Soldier's Stance when the option presents itself - I still use Slate's at lvl 48 and predict I will still use it through my 50's when that is opened up. I hope this information is useful to you all -- I will most likely repost this in a seperate thread to be added to by everyone and corrected if necessary. Good Ventures to you all! ~Malikai~ 48 Guardian Faydark<div></div><p>Message Edited by Wissper on <span class="date_text">04-24-2005</span> <span class="time_text">12:39 AM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Wissper on <span class=date_text>04-25-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:33 PM</span>