what am i doing wrong?

[shadowedwolf]

Ugh.... I hate to admit this... but lately... I've been doing really horrible with my lvl 80 swashy. I used to think I was pretty good at this class. Started playing one after EoF lanched... had my account hacked and ended up creating a new one on my new account because I really love the class. And like I said, I thought I was doing well... but the last couple of months... well, I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm just distracted because of the stress that comes with working retail but... I'd rather get some advice from some battle-hardened Swashy's. I mean, I'm getting taken out by 80^ in Moors and that just can't be good. All but a couple pieces of gear is RoK legendary.... don't have my epic yet... nor any shard armour... but... yea... here's my stats....

Mit - 2640 (39.9%), Avoidance - 7968 (51.1%), Str - 658, Agi - 871, Sta - 305, Intel - 103, Wis - 41, DPS - 1, Haste - 1, Crit HIt - 24%, Dmg Ammt - 290, Double Attack - 5% .................. I have 130 AA... str and agility lines are maxed on rogue tree, aa put into style and debuff line in swashy tree and a few points into TSO tree  quicken teh reuse timer on cheap shot...

Anyways... any help/feedback would be helpful. I can't help but feel utterly annoyed that fighting mobs of the same lvl in Moors typically comes down to the wire. I've died so many times on teh last mob for 'tracking the croc' it's not even funny and makes me wanna roast some frogs! Seriously though... I can't figure out if I've made bad chjoices gear/aa/stat wise, just distracted, just suck or something else.

Thanks in advance for the help

[Errolflynn]

Well, strength is more important than agility for a Swash. I would also suggest switching debuffs for the reach line.

If you don't have your Epic what weapons do you have? I suggest a couple of good 4 seconds weapons.

[liveja]

Adelita@Butcherblock wrote:

Str - 658, Agi - 871

Swashy is about melee DPS, & melee DPS is generated more from STR than any other stat. Your high AGI may help your avoidance, but I don't think it will help as much as having a lot more STR.

Simply put, even if those are your stats BEFORE you cast Weaver, you need more STR.

Edit: for Swashy AA lines, I think the Reach line is FAR more important than the Debuffs line. It's very nice to pull with a throwing dagger & still get a couple melee CAs in before the mob even gets to you. Finally, while you didn't say in your OP, I assume you're soloing in defensive stance; if you're not, it does help decrease the damage you take, while not hammering your DPS too badly.

Get your epic I just recently got mine, after FAR too long working on the quest, & it really helped. Carotid Cutter (from final boss in CoA) pairs nicely with Swashy epic. Also, if you don't yet have any shard armor, drop off the soloing for a bit & do a few TSO instances. Good for AAs, all-around fun, & for a non-raider, the t1 shard armor is kinda nice.

There's a thread on the EQ2 Flames Swashy forum, listing the best equipment per slot for a non-raiding Swashy. That list helped me quite a bit for gearing up, so if you're also not a raider -- & without your epic, I assume you're not -- check it out.

[Harvash]

As a former Brig gone to Swash, I can say I thought the same thing about being Brig. I felt I did fairly well with the class, until another guildie came on a raid with his "old" brig and shamed me horribly..lol.

since going to Swash, I feel much more solid, sometimes certain classes just "feel right" to you.  That being said, I can see a couple of places for improvement.

Def. agree with the above posters - you need STR, not that AGI doesn't have some import, but find gear with STR on it and it will have enough AGI that you shouldn't be gearing by looking at the AGI stat.

Also, I think your Mit may be a little low, you should be in the 40%'s I think, even a couple of % can make a difference in health loss over a long fight, or several shorter ones.

Also, bringing the pain to a mob is a function of how everything works together - there are a couple really great TSO AA's - cheap shot is not one of them.  Go with Sinster timer reduction, poison damage+, and the others that increase the Hit% and Crit of specific CA's.

Basically, when you watch other swashies solo heroics or give a healthy beat down to solo mobs its because they are damaging the mob at extraordinary rates - this is the key to survival as a dps class.  Healers heal through themselves (during or after), tanks mitagate huge damage and control damage spikes, mages root & nuke - Scouts, Simply "We kill stuff dead"

G.

Edit: disagree with Def. stance - I avoid this like the plague, given the same reasons above.  Not saying it may not work for some, but hyper-damage is the key, we aren't tanks and the general % to Mit does nothing for us the way it does for tanks.  we simply swap damage for mit, violating rule number one "We kill stuff dead".  Yes, there are AA's to improve the Def. stance, they are just as useless.  Now, if you Duoing something hard, or playing fill in tank, by all means experiment.  During KoS, I tanked for my common casual group about 80% of the time - had STA line, nice armor, etc. - last name was even Itank

[Harvash]

Bleh, I should let this go I am sure, but I wished when I was learning the scout class someone actually "helped" when I asked..lol

Your charms are sooo last year, do the everfrost quest or Butcherblock sarnak quests for some upgrades.  Also, your weapons are non matching delays, this will kill your dps.  And your cloak isn't doing anything for you at all, there are quite a few options for cloaks - even some of the diety cloaks would be better - and there are a good couple in the new TSO instances with crits and such on them.

G.

sidebar: I am on BB too, drop me a tell in game if you like.

[liveja]

Genryl@Permafrost wrote:

Edit: disagree with Def. stance - I avoid this like the plague

My experience has been that if I solo in Def Stance, I take considerably -- I'd even say "dramatically" -- less damage than when I try it in Off Stance. My only reason for recommending Def Stance was for that purpose.

[Katanalla]

Flaye raids in defensive stance with sta/wis/int and takes debuff/reach/poison in eof

[liveja]

Katanallama@Mistmoore wrote:

Flaye raids in defensive stance with sta/wis/int and takes debuff/reach/poison in eof

That's how we roll, dawg

But actually, I did do Reach in EOF, & it looks like I'm gonna finish out the Poison line, too. Sooooooo 2 outta three ain't bad

Now, gimmee my cookies, you Al Gore impersonator!

[Keyh]

Hold off on reach for a bit, grab Potency (instead of debuffs) and some Expert's Vitality Breach poisons.

[DngrMou]

Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:

Genryl@Permafrost wrote:

Edit: disagree with Def. stance - I avoid this like the plague

My experience has been that if I solo in Def Stance, I take considerably -- I'd even say "dramatically" -- less damage than when I try it in Off Stance. My only reason for recommending Def Stance was for that purpose.

I've found the defensive stance is worthwhile in certain circumstances.  I don't use it often, but I can think of a few encounters/mobs where it's been a lifesaver.

My general belief is that if you can't take a mob down (solo) with one full cycle of your CA's, you're gonna be in trouble.  Mezz worked great, pre TSO to buy a little extra time, and allow counters to reset...but....TSO mobs, more often than not, seem oddly immune to mezz.  (They also seem to shake off, or ignore the effects of Heel Cut, Constrain, Cheap Shot, Walk the Plank, and Swathe too).

[liveja]

DngrMouse wrote:

TSO mobs, more often than not, seem oddly immune to mezz.  (They also seem to shake off, or ignore the effects of Heel Cut, Constrain, Cheap Shot, Walk the Plank, and Swathe too).

Yes, they are, which is precisely why I prefer soloing in Def Stance -- because with new TSO mobs, I'm less likely to kill them with one full round of CAs, so I need to be able to take some hits.

O, yea, you can add Boot Dagger to the list of CAs that mysteriously fail as often as they work in TSO

[Harbringer Doom]

Your melee crti and DA are kind of low.  You can find some good instance gear to pump those up.

And why is your haste 1?  Get the collection quest from Chardok; for the chokidai collars haste belt, or the void shard gloves in the Moors and get some haste going on.

You need to get your sights set on a list of gear you want to acquire, and start hunting it down.

I also advise downloading ACT and having it ping every time you autoattack so you can learn to get into a rhythm with your CAs between autoattacks.  Your autoattack is going to be the lion's share of your damage.

And what weapons are you using?  Are you using two weaps?  Do they have the same speed?  Do you have your epic?  I reccommend your epic and another 4.0 second weapon, and then start working on your timing.

Good luck.

[Remora]

As mentioned your melee crit and double attack are low.  Boosting these will help you out a bunch (sitting at 76% crit and 38% DA self buff with raid/instance armor).

Also, timing your CA's is a must.  With 4 sec delay weapons that comes to roughly 2-3 CA's per auto attack.

Lastly, what does your cast order look like?  The couple of swashs I have helped benifited a lot from a good cast order. 

If you wanna talk, I'm on Butcherblock as well, just send a /tell to Muleras

[Trojenn]

Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:

DngrMouse wrote:

TSO mobs, more often than not, seem oddly immune to mezz.  (They also seem to shake off, or ignore the effects of Heel Cut, Constrain, Cheap Shot, Walk the Plank, and Swathe too).

Yes, they are, which is precisely why I prefer soloing in Def Stance -- because with new TSO mobs, I'm less likely to kill them with one full round of CAs, so I need to be able to take some hits.

O, yea, you can add Boot Dagger to the list of CAs that mysteriously fail as often as they work in TSO

Eh D-Stance in TSO is almost a must if you do not have a decent set of gear on your shoulders, and yes our Hit Rates and mobs resists to our CA's are getting fairly annoying.

[Morinehtar]

Besides MC, DA and haste, I'd also suggest getting some DPS mod. The mastercrafted imbued strength ring is a good start and not that expensive. Then get some nice instanced gear or shard items (shoulders and gloves are pretty good tbh). There are also some decent quest rewards (e.g. the charm slot item from the brokenskull pirate quest line that starts in firmroot). And get your fabled epic.

As for AAs, I'd also spec out of debuffs and cheap shot. Get reach line (and later potency), then put some points in the shadow tree.

This may be obvious, but get your main CAs as A3 version (or M1 if you can get some) and use vitality breach poison. You can also get stun poison, but that's a bit expensive since it's only available as a T7 MC version. Last but not least, as has already been said time your CAs.

[shadowedwolf]

Bleh... I work to much. Heh...

Been awhile but... to answer the question on weapons, it's Toungecutter (the weapon with the stun affect) and the Croaking Dagger that drops in Seb. I do plan to get a group going for the first major update on my epic this weekend.... just a big PITA getting groups together with everyone wanting to do shard runs the minute they hit 75.

I do want to thank y'all for the pointers. It's a wierd feeling waking up one day and just not knowing the class you're playing anymore. Obviously I need to take out my toons more often so I don't have this thread repeat on a differnt class later. LoL.

Did take the advice, lots of shard runs that have caused neglect to my alts atm, and have 3 pieces (or is it four) of shard armour... though haven't been to Moors yet to see how I do. Maybe later today.

Thanks again all.

[Thunndar316]

Sneak up to the mob and attack in this order.  Requires max AGI line.

Walk the Plank to turn the mob - Recommended 6 points spent

INT Line Attack/Invis - 1 point is enough

Backstab with knockdown that requires invis.

Backstab

Backstab

Cheap Shot

Backstab

Backstab

Then the mob turns and he's either dead or 20% and you are ready to unload your frontals.

[OutcastBlade]

^^^

LOL...

Run up to the mob. Sneak, Stealthy Charge, Trickery, Eye Point, Walk the Plank, Guile, Cheap Shot, Lung Bleed, Run behind mob, Sack, Mob turns to face you, Torporous Strike, and then unload the rest.

[Thunndar316]

Kanolth@Antonia Bayle wrote:

^^^

LOL...

Run up to the mob. Sneak, Stealthy Charge, Trickery, Eye Point, Walk the Plank, Guile, Cheap Shot, Lung Bleed, Run behind mob, Sack, Mob turns to face you, Torporous Strike, and then unload the rest.

^^^

LOL

If you do it my way you dont have to stun and run behind the mob.  You can turn it and keep it turned long enough to land ALL of your backstabs, even your Sinister.

[OutcastBlade]

Cheap Shot does not last long enough on TSO mobs for me to get two backstabs in. The order also reduces his ability to dodge and parry and reduces mit.

And then there's the dreadful lag.

In all honesty I missed your first attack which was "Backstab with knockdown which requires invis". Which is why I went LOL, but yes the LOL's on me this time round.

[OutcastBlade]

Cheap Shot does not last long enough on TSO mobs for me to get two backstabs in. The order also reduces his ability to dodge and parry and reduces mit.

And then there's the dreadful lag.

In all honesty I missed your first attack which was "Backstab with knockdown which requires invis". Which is why I went LOL, but yes the LOL's on me this time round.

[Thunndar316]

Kanolth@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Cheap Shot does not last long enough on TSO mobs for me to get two backstabs in. The order also reduces his ability to dodge and parry and reduces mit.

And then there's the dreadful lag.

In all honesty I missed your first attack which was "Backstab with knockdown which requires invis". Which is why I went LOL, but yes the LOL's on me this time round.

Cheap Shot lasts long enough if you have maxed the AGI line and use Kidney Stab last because it can be hit from the side.  I couldn't remember all the spell names so I was vague.  Here is my true order. 

1. Walk the Plank (Again 6 Points spent is recommended)

2. Boot Dagger to invis  (1 Point is all you need so 5 AA in INT total for this)

3. Stealthy Charge

4. Sack

5. Cheap Shot

6. Lung Bleed

7. Kidney Stab

I guarantee you can unload all of these before the mob turns back around.  Then you are ready to unload on him with all of your other CA's.  The best thing is you dont have to stun and jump behind the mob.

[oldironballs]

Its probably less that your playing your class any worse and more that the mobs in TSO are harder and perhaps have a particular damage type or attack style that is antithetic to your play style. PS I don't know if antithetic is a word but if its not it should be