Bruiser AGRO Guide-Mid Range (20-35ish) [Archive]

Schnaup

12-28-2004, 11:28 PM

<DIV> DISCLAIMER: This is all based on a single players opinion: mine. If you disagree with anything or have extra input, please post. First and Foremost: Upgrade your abilities. I have seen and heard quiet a few people commenting that they don’t need to ‘waste time’ upgrading certain abilities because they think they will outgrow them. Well, that’s plain wrong. All the way up to level 33 I have been using Thrust Kick (Level 11 ability) until Throat Punch replaced it, and was doing between 40-70 points of damage with it. Moral of the story? Get Apprentice II, or better yet III ASAP, snag Adepts whenever possible and if you are lucky enough scribe those Adept III or Masters. Even if you are a ‘Power Leveler’ upgrading your abilities is NOT a waste of time. Now on to Bruiser specific AGRO Abilities: Agro Techniques, the BAD: As a general statement, Bruisers currently have a problem holding group agro. Now people can argue this back and forth, I am not addressing that right now, but the simple fact is that a bruisers group agro spells are not the best in the world. The converse of this is that Bruisers are awesome holding SINGLE agro like a champ. Shout and Jeer are the mainstay group agro abilities we have, and these do not work as efficiently as we would all like. Also, we tend to not do well against multiple mobs as say a plate-tank can. Dodging blows is fine, but when you get three or more higher-level mobs on you, those hits get through. Agro Techniques, the GOOD: First off, figure out your play style. Some Bruisers out there can get and handle multiple group agro, more power to them. However, for the average Bruiser, we are interested in using ‘peel’ agro, as in tanking a few extra mobs to give the main tank a rest, or rescuing the errant agro-getting mage or healer type. For peeling, use the buff tricks at your disposal. Taunting Slap is good, but Ignore Pain is a HEAL folks, and mobs HATE healing. Rescue raises you ONE step above in the Hate list, meaning if the Hate list is Tank/Healer/You it will change the mobs list to Tank/You/Healer. (This is important to know since Some Bruisers get confused and think Rescue is immediate agro-getting.) Group buffs are great as well, Intimidating Orders is easy to cast, try to keep it open during fights. (Keep an eye on the recast duration of this buff, and try using it more in battle rather then right before. Also be aware Intimidating orders is a somewhat longer buff to cast if time is of the essence.) Rapid Swings is also good to single peel a mob with if this ability is up. Speed is of the essence when a single mob is killing your caster or healer, so use all the tricks at your disposal. A good rule of thumb is using the following abilities in order: Rescue-Shout and/or Taunt-Taunting Slap-Ignore Pain-Bruising Strike or Rapid Swings-Intimidating Orders, or any other similar abilities. Agro Techniques, the COWARDLY: Sometimes you get Agro when you don’t want it. (Yay, we are tanks, weeeee! Make that Plate-tank jealous with all your wonderful agro-stealing abilities! Umm… why is my health going down so fast….) If this happens, remember you can FEIGN DEATH. (Or Play Dead if you got it.) We tend to forget this ability when we aren’t soloing or running for our lives from an angry gnashing mobs with big teeth. Many a Bruiser has gone down in a group from bad agro, furiously eyeballing the healer type who couldn’t keep up with our declining life, meanwhile our Feign Death or Play Dead Ability is shining like a beacon un-used on your hotbar. Use the ability!! Assuming that you have upgraded it, (Did you see the disclaimer above?) it can be used to instantly clear your agro. I suggest setting the button on your hotbar right next to Sit/Stand and Attack. When you hit your Feign, instantly hit Sit/Stand then attack in succession, and you will be golden because Feign instantly works or it doesn’t, there is not trick to it. So don’t lay on your face for a while trying to WILL the mob from attacking you, stop drop and roll, and come up swinging. (Remember also a successful Feign will drop your self buffs, this can be an indicator whether or not it actually worked, and is important to remember to re-cast those buffs when you got the time.) Keep in mind this will clear your agro list if done correctly, meaning the mobs might go beat on the caster or healer if it thinks you are down for the count!!!! Use this ability to transfer AGRO back the MA, and remember it makes peeling afterwards a bit harder because you have to work your way up thier list again. If you do your job right you hsould never have to resort to the 'Help, I've fallen' trick, but always remember this when things get rough. Agro Techniques, the SECRET: Speaking in the position of support tank or DPS in a group, your job is to insure the healers and casters can cast their spells that save your live. Doing this mean you should try to stay above them in the hate list, and if you are support tank, you should stay 1 step below the main tank to conserve heals spells. (I have seen people mess this up. Yes you probably can tank as well as the MA, big deal. This does NOT mean you need to tank two mobs while the MA is tanking three. If the healers have to split up their spells, it means that you could screw up their agro, as well as making them switch targets back and forth for healing, which gives any good healer a migraine.) Keep in mind most mobs have a separate hate list even from their encounter group mates. Thus, a good secret technique is trying to get up on the agro list in the BEGINNING of a fight. This means that casting an agro spell after the main tank has agro is –NOT- a waste of time. Use Shout, cast a group buff if you have time, use Rescue if it doesn't steal agro from the MA and use that AOE Whirling Blaze once or twice. (Keep in mind our AOEs Hit EVERY nearby mob, whether or not they are in the encounter or not, so don’t screw this up and get extra agro by playing helicopter.) The Secret is not to steal all the agro from the MA, but just enough so the mobs come to you first if the MA somehow loses thier attention. If you keep yourself right on that razors edge on the agro list between the main tank and the healer/caster, your groups will suddenly seem like they can take on the world. Doing this also makes peeling easier because you are already high on the mobs 'things to kill' list, rather then being low on the list and trying to play catch-up. (This is a thankless job by the way, if you are doing your job right no one will notice, because you thwarted a bad situation before it occurred. Just remember that when you do this right and all goes well, you are getting a silent pat on the back from Schnaupps for doing a wonderful job. SIDE NOTE: There is a lot of confusion about the current working of Jeer. So here is my interpretation of it: Jeer, The BAD: This does get you agro if done correctly, and yes it does fear a single mob, even though the description says it fears the whole encounter. Be aware the mob might have pathing problems specifically in dungeons (even outside the mobs sometimes gets lost) forcing the mob to get stuck and breaking your encounter. If you find yourself and your group in constant battle mode because you Jeered a mob away and it won’t come back, simply wait it out, and traverse to another area. Eventually the Mob WILL disappear and ‘unbreak’ the encounter. (Move on to another room and waiting a minute or so works every time I have found.) If this seems to take too long then force your group to log out and in again, but I usually find this a hassle. Jeer, The GOOD: If used correctly, it can retrieve agro in bad situations. It will in fact raise anger the whole encounter, even though only one mob will run away. Combined with Shout and other Agro techniques, this can be a valuable tool in emergency peeling. HOWEVER, I have usually reserve Jeer for Life threatening situations, such as over-pulling or unexpected group pops. Believe it or not, Jeering a single mob to run away can save lives, ESPECIALLY when the mob gets stuck and never comes back. In such a situation where you got too many mobs and group wipe is eminent, try Jeering a mob the main tank isn’t attacking, and Intimidate another. (Always try to announce this when possible, since both of these abilities break when the mob gets hit.) The Jeered mob will run away and the Intimidated one will stop attacking, both for about 30 seconds. Effectively using these abilities and controlling two mobs can result in saving a group from wipe. Hopefully this all made sense, and is helpful. </DIV> Message Edited by Schnaupps on 12-28-2004 10:49 AM

Miyu-Lega

12-29-2004, 09:15 PM

While I disagree with the tone of the previous post being that we are not good tanks, I'll stick to the agro issues.One further tip that was missed is that Brusiers are excellent at holding agro, not getting it back when lost. So when you are pulling mobs make sure you have all agro locked before you reach camp. Nothing more annoying than doing the same mobs for hours and then out of the blue your cleric class pulls agro thru BoV before you even reach camp.

Schnaup

12-29-2004, 09:45 PM

<DIV> My apologies if the tone seems to imply 'not a good tank,' that was not my intent. I was only trying to address what our agro issues are, not the tanking arguement. I find that MOST often our role in a group is a support tank, not the MA. (Notice, support tank still means tank.) However I tried to include as much info as possible in our situations.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> As Brusiers, we certainly do have a problem peeling when we are the MA and someone steal agro. (Which is one of the reasons we have a bad rap as the MA to begin with. ) </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> A trick I use is a ranged weapon: When I pull I use a throwing dagger immediatly followed by switching targets / Shouting *or other taunting techniques* hitting the mob with another ranged attack, rinse and repeating this cycling through every mob then timing my AOE attack swing to go off when 1. all the mobs get hit and 2. right when you get to camp. If you can manage to run backwards well, you can taunt and hit every mob with a ranged attack (If you have the skill high enough this can hit for relatively good damage) and get high on the hate list of every mob even before they get into swinging range. And don't forget the buff trick! If you are the MA and you are pulling, casting Intimidating Orders as you run back to the camp is GREAT agro listing.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Nice wood elf pics btw. I am sure that particular Bruiser won't have any problems finding a group. :smileywink:</DIV> Message Edited by Schnaupps on 12-29-2004 09:04 AM

Miyu-Lega

12-29-2004, 10:01 PM

lol @ pic statement <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. I'm half spoiled really since I always group with old friends and we work very well together. So unless the bard is being a [Removed for Content] (die drus) I don't have to deal with most issues that others encounter. Tho if I ever find myself in a pickup group I bet the issues will be rampant.