Which to upgrade first: Combart Arts or Armor or Weapon?

[DrRothchild]

What would you suggest as the first priority to upgrade? For solo and group play, not raiding yet.Edit: forgot to add, this is for the final tier when combat arts won't be replaced with upgrade spells. My taunts are master/adept 3 already<p>Message Edited by DrRothchild on <span class=date_text>10-23-2006</span> <span class=time_text>10:03 AM</span>

[Nembutal]

Kind of difficult.Armor helps you mitigate attacksWeapons and combat skills (non-taunt) help us do the DPS we require to hold aggro.Ignoring 1 will make you suck... I mean you could hav 7000 MIT but if you can't hold aggro due to low DPS you are just a very low damage highly armored scout... and your job is a tank.By the same token... if you have a DPS parse over 1k but your mitigation sucks... well they still need a tank... and one that can out aggro your DPS.I would say buy full Xegonite armor, weapon, shield... and your AD3 taunts (which you stated you have)After that I would be looking for a healthy mix rather than a 1 sided  "focus on this" type statement.Look for the Grizzfazzle quest in Drednever crash site, hoolok helm in Barren sky, and buy a curiass of protection... after that I would say upgrade whatever gives you the highest % return over what you already have.... in other words if you have Legendary boots... don't buy fabled boots for 20 plat... buy legendary legs, wrists,and sleeves OR fabled legs.  Basically use your money wisely.I will say.. upgrade your Jewlery last (belts, earrings, rings, bracers, neckless, etc) and your charms dead last.For Jewelry (when you get to that point) I recommend : Wrists - Zorv's wrist guards Rings - Feathered Ring, Light Chitin Ring, Dark Chitin ringEarring - Look into Planar Orbs Collection quest it gives you a mediocre one.All of that stuff has some +DEF, +PARRY, or +Vs.MeleeThere is also I think a Vuluk Shortbow that has +Parry one it that I like for ranged... should be cheap.None of this stuff is really "end game" but it gets you to the point that you can play in the end game and unless you can play in the end game you won't get the end game gear.<div></div>

[Huna]

<DIV>I would say, start working on claymore quests, use the money you get to upgrade your CAs, you'll get all your jewelry from the claymore quests, plus some decent boots, legs, and nice shoulders.  Just the claymore will give you good mitigation.  Once you get claymore at least through the PoA quests (shoulders being important).  Then I would start trying to raid or do some instances and start getting the left side armor upgraded.  Or maybe go for some relic stuff.  Get a good weapon, but don't spend too much on it unless you find a deal on one of the 75+ dmg rating one handers.  I'm up to the AoA step on claymore, and I can solo the nest now up to the kettleleader  (can get him to about 10% or so).  So, once a day I log in and solo the 3 named in nest for a shot at some masters to sell.  The drop rate isn't great with just the 3 nameds, but it's a 100% chance I'll get it if something does drop.  So far I get a master every 3 days or so, usually 2 a week just from nest.  Throw in some other instance farming and you'll get plenty of money to upgrade your skills.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So I say Combat Arts, Weapon/Armor.  CAs are easier to buy, and weapons/armor are easier to loot yourself.  Plus CAs will help you alot more than armor if you are on a raid where you aren't tanking.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Sorry if I rambled on, I'm at work, so I was switching back and forth to type heh.</DIV>

[khufure]

Xego + Grizz shield + Hooluk hat + (most importantly) cuirass of protection from Blackscale Sepulcher should be enough to let you tank all non-raid content in the game.  Halls of fate and Palace of the Awakened have the top legendary gear to replace Xego.As for your skills, I would get your group taunt master2.  You said you have open wounds etc. already master/adpt3 so you should be ok for a bit..  especially in pickup groups.<div></div>

[arieste]

<DIV>I'd say Armor, Spells, Weapon.  There are a couple of spells that are a MUST, but you get your group taunt at M2 for free, which saves a lot of trouble.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For tanking, you need armor.  Because in groups you wont have a benefit of a 6-8 solid healers to keep you up.  You have one or two and one of them is usually sleeping.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Personally i found that Xegonite is completely useless.  There is easily obtainable Legendary or Treasured gear that is better and cheaper than xegonite.   You first priority is to do whatever is necessary to get a Cuirass of Protection.  This is the best **defensive** bp in the game and you can usually get one for under 5p (or as low as 1p depending on whos selling).   You get a free legendary hat (hooluk) that has excellent AC.  Greaves of the arisen (i think that is the name) are legendary pants with FT4 that have better AC than xegonite and cost about 1/3rd on broker.   That's 3 easy pieces right there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There are treasured bracers and shoes that drop in SoS that have +crush/slash/pierce bonuses putting them on par with xegonite.  These are dirt cheap, I'm talking 10g a piece. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There are some excellent gloves from Nizara (you can buy) as well as the haste gloves from MoA trial1.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You also want the rings from Den.  Just do Den 10 times and you'll have a nice pair of rings that add to mitigation (Light Chitin/Dark Chitin).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You can get shield from Grizzfazzle, bow from Blyze (i think 2nd claymore quest - be sure to take the bow and not the buckler, there are many better bucklers, but very few better bows!) and a good 1h weapon from the Infiltrating sanctrum questline (yes, I know it's a gimpy dagger, but it has a 68dmg rating and acts as a 2nd manastone).  The dagger should tide you over well until you can manage a fabled weapon of some sort.  You can buy one of the ghostly weapons frmo DT, but not worth it imo.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyhow, this is my advice on getting cheap and viable equip while leveling up a tank <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   I know it works, cause i just went through it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Obviously if you have more money, you can buy scalelord and fabled armor.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[DrRothchild]

Great info guys thank you very much!

[khufure]

<div><blockquote><hr>DrRothchild wrote:Great info guys thank you very much!<hr></blockquote>NP <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Nobody else has mentioned it yet, and I can't believe I didnt' after all the pain it brought me... but as a tank you NEED to do the claymore line of quests.  Tanks get some of the best gear in the game from it.  Top raid tanks still wear some gear from <a href="http://eq2.ogaming.com/data/4091%7ETheClaymoreQuest.php" target=_blank>Claymore</a> even though they have fabled as an option.   Do it now and you won't notice it as much as later.  Trust me, at least start it now.  The rewards from Palace of the Awakened are _amazing_.P.S. you'll need <a href="http://eq2.ogaming.com/db/quests/ToSpeakAsaDragon.php" target=_blank>Speak as a Dragon</a></div>

[Thor Of Hal]

<P>Aye claymore is doable... did all of it (apart from aoax2 and haraghur the deathless) in a group of 3 ppl. Me, SK and Necro/healer. </P> <P>- Fitzpuzles Earcog is uber + in EoF you can wear two earings... so Fitzpuzle + Dragonscale earing.   </P> <P>- The belt you get is uberest belt... dont wear nething else for tanking. </P> <P>- Dragonscale Shoulderpads are best ones you will get out of raid, they are okay but not uber.</P> <P>- The final reward, tbh with ya sucks balls, qeynos guard is reported to hardly ever proc, and and 1hander is okay, got a nice debuff but its not overly fantastic.</P> <P>- As everyone says claymore line is a good way to level you + gain AA exp + get money + get equipment.  You get all 4, not in uber amounts but good enough <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>And for the love of god DO NOT OVER EQUIP YOURSELF WITH XEG ARMOUR!!! Hahah imho that stuff is a bunch of [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn], only buy pieces of it for that you are missing other t7 armour for.  Somtimes i see tanks running around in ful xeg equipment with most of their resists below 1k!!! Let me tell you, you WILL get owned easy with that stuff on... Better, as ppl say, get stuff from quests or drops of mobs.  HoF is a good place when ya can get in it. Other then that Vaults/SoS/PoA/Claymorelinequests/Den/HoF are good bets to leveling up <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. </P> <P>Lol xeg so crap that i stopped leveling my armour at 43 coz there was no point... recently coz of EoF tradeskill stuff, i have leveled to 53 tho <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P> <P>Vladnor The Berserk</P> <P>70 Berserker </P> <P>Unity </P> <P>Splitpaw </P> <P> </P><p>Message Edited by Thor Of Halla on <span class=date_text>10-26-2006</span> <span class=time_text>08:40 AM</span>

[Ni]

Spells first. With EoF only 3 weeks away, one would be crazy to invest too much in equipment. Either EoF will have much cooler equipment that you can get for yourself and prices on KoS equipment will drop as EoF stuff starts entering the market.

[Nembutal]

<P>Xeg is crap... I know... But at lvl 62 you can get a full set for like 2 plat.... there is no hunting for stuff required... and everyone knows what it looks like.  Basically what I am saying is when you join a group in full Xeg people know you have mediocre gear... when you join a group in a bunch of treasured mis-matched stuff they look at ya funny.  2 plat is really nothing at all to pay out.... I only use the legs and boots anymore... been having a hard time finding other gear to replace it.  I get my gear from raids not camping instances or farming cash.... so it's just a matter of time until I get some really nice stuff you would never see on a broker.  I'm a pretty patient guy.</P> <P>While the resists on Xeg are bad.... they are well distributed.... keep that in mind... if you don't have any resist gear of a particular type and armor slot... Xeg is a decent fill in because it will have SOMETHING for ya plus decent MIT and stats.  I wouldn't say you should buy a set for resists... but it can be recycled on occasion for that purpose until you can afford real resist gear in every slot and for every resist.  Having boots with 600 resists to 3 stats is great... if you happen to not be standing in AE for one of the types it doesn't cover....</P>

[fenixilius]

<DIV><SPAN class=time_text></SPAN> </DIV><p>Message Edited by fenixilius on <span class=date_text>10-25-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:54 PM</span>

[Thor Of Hal]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Nembutal wrote:<BR> <P>Xeg is crap... I know... But at lvl 62 you can get a full set for like 2 plat.... there is no hunting for stuff required... and everyone knows what it looks like.  Basically what I am saying is when you join a group in full Xeg people know you have mediocre gear... when you join a group in a bunch of treasured mis-matched stuff they look at ya funny.  2 plat is really nothing at all to pay out.... I only use the legs and boots anymore... been having a hard time finding other gear to replace it.  I get my gear from raids not camping instances or farming cash.... so it's just a matter of time until I get some really nice stuff you would never see on a broker.  I'm a pretty patient guy.</P> <P>While the resists on Xeg are bad.... they are well distributed.... keep that in mind... if you don't have any resist gear of a particular type and armor slot... Xeg is a decent fill in because it will have SOMETHING for ya plus decent MIT and stats.  I wouldn't say you should buy a set for resists... but it can be recycled on occasion for that purpose until you can afford real resist gear in every slot and for every resist.  Having boots with 600 resists to 3 stats is great... if you happen to not be standing in AE for one of the types it doesn't cover....</P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>aye thats what i did say in my post.. only use it to plug the gaps.</P> <P>If it improves from your tier 6 resists sets then by all means go for Xeg... coz mitigation is always nice on it.</P> <P>But with, my tier 6 was always better then xeg stuff... then they added resists, then increased resists then inc mitigation.  But imo... alot of fabled/legendary tier 6 stuff will beat xeg.   And trust me in SoS at level 63/64 with a full xeg set and say 700 disease miti u better have a very good healer in ur group or healers... coz any DoT with positivily own u!! And u will get eaten alive by Chamberlains DoT... does 900 divine dot even with resits at like 4/5k!  It would do silly amount if urs was at 1k!!</P> <P>=  If i were leveling my zerker... I would check what stuff drops in what zones that are in early level t7 zones (plenty of places online u can do this.. ogaming is one) ---> I would then build up a picture of what i want before 65 say ---> Then i would look at my current gear, any [Removed for Content] tier 6 stuff i would replace with Xeg... or even treasured stuff. --->  Then i would only level in groups in those instances where my stuff drops -->   I would never get a full set of xeg unless the t6 stuff had [Removed for Content] miti on it... and even then if it had uber resists compared to xeg/tier 7 treasured id still keep one or two.</P> <P>but im 70 now... and when i was 60... xeg was the plate antichrist in its purest form!!!</P> <P>Vladnor The Berserk</P> <P>70 Berserker</P> <P>Unity</P> <P>Splitpaw</P>

[khufure]

<div><blockquote><hr>Thor Of Halla wrote:<div></div><p>aye thats what i did say in my post.. only use it to plug the gaps.</p> <p>If it improves from your tier 6 resists sets then by all means go for Xeg... coz mitigation is always nice on it.</p> <p>But with, my tier 6 was always better then xeg stuff... then they added resists, then increased resists then inc mitigation.  But imo... alot of fabled/legendary tier 6 stuff will beat xeg.   And trust me in SoS at level 63/64 with a full xeg set and say 700 disease miti u better have a very good healer in ur group or healers... coz any DoT with positivily own u!! And u will get eaten alive by Chamberlains DoT... does 900 divine dot even with resits at like 4/5k!  It would do silly amount if urs was at 1k!!</p></blockquote>T6 gear will get worse and worse by the time you get higher in level.  Just look at your absorption % to see what I mean.  You can hardly tank SOS in legendary cobalt.  Xegonite is a bit better.  Of course, there are much better equipment and you want to replace it ASAP.  But usually a stubborn piece or two will stick with you for a bit...Claymore is the best place to get gear that starts to get good.  It sucks and takes forever but is worth it as a tank.</div>

[Thor Of Hal]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> khufure wrote:<BR> <DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Thor Of Halla wrote:<BR> <BR> <P>aye thats what i did say in my post.. only use it to plug the gaps.</P> <P>If it improves from your tier 6 resists sets then by all means go for Xeg... coz mitigation is always nice on it.</P> <P>But with, my tier 6 was always better then xeg stuff... then they added resists, then increased resists then inc mitigation.  But imo... alot of fabled/legendary tier 6 stuff will beat xeg.   And trust me in SoS at level 63/64 with a full xeg set and say 700 disease miti u better have a very good healer in ur group or healers... coz any DoT with positivily own u!! And u will get eaten alive by Chamberlains DoT... does 900 divine dot even with resits at like 4/5k!  It would do silly amount if urs was at 1k!!</P></BLOCKQUOTE>T6 gear will get worse and worse by the time you get higher in level.  Just look at your absorption % to see what I mean.  You can hardly tank SOS in legendary cobalt.  Xegonite is a bit better.  Of course, there are much better equipment and you want to replace it ASAP.  But usually a stubborn piece or two will stick with you for a bit...<BR><BR>Claymore is the best place to get gear that starts to get good.  It sucks and takes forever but is worth it as a tank.<BR></DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Aye, well you should be able to get yourself some decent tier 6 fabled gear, from instances or from raids... 2 groups of lvl 70s can do courts np so....</P> <P>Vladnor The Berserk</P> <P>70 Berserker</P> <P>Unity</P> <P>Splitpaw</P> <P> </P>