Swashy playstyle?

Malkosha · 04-03-2006, 09:17 PM

I have a low level Monk I've been playing with, looking for the perfect class to stick with that matches my playstyle. Last night I started a Swashy to check them out and I must say that they seem to be lots of fun.

When I compare the Monk and the Swashy, its seems that so far, both can dual wield, the Swashy gets better armor, both have invisibility but the Monk is limited by their power pool. Both use avoidance as defense though like I said, the Swashy has better armor to help out things when they do get hit. The Monk seems to fight head on while the Swashy uses a few positional attacks. In many ways they seem very much alike ... from the outside that is.

The Swashy seems to be on a higher tier DPS wise, while the Monk is considered a tank. On my Monk, there is almost no reason to use HO's since it seems to be better to just spam your CA's. How about the Swashy? HO's for the win?

I solo a lot, plan to play on a PvP server (I know this may not be possible) and as I looked over these two classes, I'm not sure how they compare in playstyle. Is there that much difference between them and if so what? I know that somethings may change at level 1,000,000 but for a noob at the lower levels, how does the Swashy play out in survivability?

Thank you!

canis1 · 04-03-2006, 09:36 PM

Well, for solo play... Id probably have to say the monk is a better solo'er.... with a caviat.Out of the box the monk has MUCH better avoidance, and with the right armor and self buffs their mitigation is only slightly behind ours.However, here is the caviat, A swashy, with the right AA's and gear can almost get to the Monks avoidance, and our mitigation IS slightly better... So it can work out to be a push, in the end.DPS wise, at mid to high levels, a monk will match our DPS in a long fight. At LVL 70 I can peak my dps, for 16 seconds, at over 1000 DPS. But in the long run, and especialy if the monk is equpped for DPS and not tankage, they can easily match our DPS and even pass us.Getting back to tanking, We have only 1 CA taunt, and it is single target. If you go STA AA line you get a second AE taunt. Monks get 3 taunts just for being a monk. If they build their character for tanking, they are a much better tank than a swashy.Like anything, your class is what you make of it. Yes, Swashy DPS is very dependant on positionals, monks are mostly just hit the mob wherever you can. HO's as a monk (like any tank class) are mostly a taunt effect, not damage, so you are right, soloing you wont see much DPS increase from them. As a swashy you can spam HO's (due to our fast cast and recast timers) and see a small DPS increase from them.I know Im not being much help, but you chose 2 classes here that are probably the greates utlity classes of their archetype's. Swashies are the tank/dps/debuff/utility/AOE scout. We can fill any and all of those roles as needed.Monk is the DPS/off-tank/whatever fighter.these classes, because of their versatility are very PLAYER dependant. Some of the worst palyers you will meet in your adventures will be swashys or brawler (bruiser/monk are both brawlers) and thats because the PLAYER doesnt understand their class. One of the best tanks I have ever grouped with is a Monk. One of the best DPS'ers I have ever met is a bruiser (and not because of his insane damage, which he had in spades, but because of his knowledge of the mobs, their weaknesses, and timing on their AOE's).You asked about these classes because of your play style, and I have to say, if you like moving around in a fight a lot, go swashy, if you like to stand their and mock the mob cause it cant hit you, go monk.But honestly, after playing a swashy for almost a year and a half; if I was to make a solo character, I would go one of these (my top choices from each class)::Palladin or Shadowkinght (fighter)Ranger (scout)Conjuror or Necromancer (mage)Fury (healer)

Message Edited by canis187 on 04-03-200601:38 PM

Malkosha · 04-03-2006, 10:19 PM

Thank you. That was an excellent answer and made lots of sense.I will play the Swashy for a bit to see if it matches my style of playing. I agree that the best class for almost any situation (within reason of course) is the one you can play the best. Mostly I suspect, because you love to play it and as such have a vested interest in it.

Keyh · 04-04-2006, 06:45 AM

Honestly, the Swashy is a very decent soloing class. Not the best, not the worse.One thing that's great about Swashbucklers. They can do just about anything except heal.This is good for 2 reasons. As a starter, you'll be able to learn how to Tank, do DPS, and a little bit of crowd control. This is a very nice "gateway" class. If you like the DPS side of a Swashbuckler, but don't care for the occasional tanking or crowd control, then you could go with an Assassin/Ranger. If you like the tanking aspect of the class, you can roll a Berserker. If you like pulling off a little crowd control (We get a single target low duration mez, but it's still decent) you could roll a Coercer/Illusionist.As someone who has played a while, you can fill all of those slots in a group (Not as good as purebreds, but still). I've been invited into groups that can't find a Tank, so I said "I'll tank." and we did completely fine. I've been invited for a group in which to get a named we have to kill 4 mobs at the same time. The Coercer and I kept the mobs mezzed until we got them all together at low health.Don't get the wrong idea though, you typically won't be invited into a group to tank, or to do crowd control, you're invited for your DPS. For tanking, without AAs we lack an AoE taunt, we only have a single target one. Throwing up an AoE is usually enough to keep all of them on you when your group is using a few AoEs, but put a Warlock who excells in AoE damage, and you're going to have a hard time.Also, our mez starts off at (I believe) a 20 sec duration with a 30 sec recast. So there's 10 seconds that it's moving around freely (In the aforementioned story, I had to use all my snares as well). So we're not really the end all be all.That's personally why I like the class. I feel from this class, you can learn just about every trade sufficiently and if you like being all of them rolled into one, then stick with it.

Twoboxer2 · 04-04-2006, 10:27 AM

A little bit more to offer on how each toon plays during the fight . . . with the Swashie you will find yourself totally engaged if you want to maximize DPS. And - if you are - you WILL be rewarded with envious DPS numbers.

In any encounter you will need to switch from front to back of the mob (ideally while firing a CA) - and perhaps to the front and back again depending on how long the fight is - to use all your CA's.

In a multi-mob encounter, you will need to do the same thing while switching to the MA's next target. You might even jump out to ranged and back once in a great while. Oh, and to maximize your AE proc, you will need to position behind Mob_1 but keep Mob_2 and Mob_3 in the frontal cone in which Hurricane is effective.

This is quite a bit more demanding of attention than the average (eg) mage who stands at range and clicks a few buttons.

It is a bit tougher than the monk (as a DPSer) who benefits a bit by standing behind each mob, but doesn't lose too much regardless of his position.

So, if you want to be totally engaged in combat and combat movement, and never bored, Swashie is the class. If you want a little less demanding melee character - who btw is a tank that a Swashie will NEVER be - monk might be a bit better.

If you won't fall asleep clicking a few buttons at range, play a Mage SMILEY

One other thought . . . a lot of the so-called Tier 1 DPSers can rarely achieve their true potential without drawing aggro. So they often wind up as tier 2 in practice. The Swashy's aggro management abilities are without equal, allowing you to go all-out or nearly all out without getting yourself killed.

With 34 AA's, I stopped putting them into hate reduction/avoidance, and am now at maximum crit percentage, hardly ever drawing aggro while always near the top in DPS.

Note: I'm a veteran EQ1 caster-player who started life here in EQ2 as an Illusionist. Then I found my alt Swashie, and I have never looked back.

Swift - 70 Swashbuckler

Hesper - 68 Fury

Hawke - 60 Illusionist

Cambren - 56 Guardian

04-03-2006, 09:36 PM	#2
canis1 Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 15	Well, for solo play... Id probably have to say the monk is a better solo'er.... with a caviat.Out of the box the monk has MUCH better avoidance, and with the right armor and self buffs their mitigation is only slightly behind ours.However, here is the caviat, A swashy, with the right AA's and gear can almost get to the Monks avoidance, and our mitigation IS slightly better... So it can work out to be a push, in the end.DPS wise, at mid to high levels, a monk will match our DPS in a long fight. At LVL 70 I can peak my dps, for 16 seconds, at over 1000 DPS. But in the long run, and especialy if the monk is equpped for DPS and not tankage, they can easily match our DPS and even pass us.Getting back to tanking, We have only 1 CA taunt, and it is single target. If you go STA AA line you get a second AE taunt. Monks get 3 taunts just for being a monk. If they build their character for tanking, they are a much better tank than a swashy.Like anything, your class is what you make of it. Yes, Swashy DPS is very dependant on positionals, monks are mostly just hit the mob wherever you can. HO's as a monk (like any tank class) are mostly a taunt effect, not damage, so you are right, soloing you wont see much DPS increase from them. As a swashy you can spam HO's (due to our fast cast and recast timers) and see a small DPS increase from them.I know Im not being much help, but you chose 2 classes here that are probably the greates utlity classes of their archetype's. Swashies are the tank/dps/debuff/utility/AOE scout. We can fill any and all of those roles as needed.Monk is the DPS/off-tank/whatever fighter.these classes, because of their versatility are very PLAYER dependant. Some of the worst palyers you will meet in your adventures will be swashys or brawler (bruiser/monk are both brawlers) and thats because the PLAYER doesnt understand their class. One of the best tanks I have ever grouped with is a Monk. One of the best DPS'ers I have ever met is a bruiser (and not because of his insane damage, which he had in spades, but because of his knowledge of the mobs, their weaknesses, and timing on their AOE's).You asked about these classes because of your play style, and I have to say, if you like moving around in a fight a lot, go swashy, if you like to stand their and mock the mob cause it cant hit you, go monk.But honestly, after playing a swashy for almost a year and a half; if I was to make a solo character, I would go one of these (my top choices from each class)::Palladin or Shadowkinght (fighter)Ranger (scout)Conjuror or Necromancer (mage)Fury (healer) Message Edited by canis187 on 04-03-200601:38 PM __________________

04-04-2006, 06:45 AM	#4
Keyh Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 294	Honestly, the Swashy is a very decent soloing class. Not the best, not the worse.One thing that's great about Swashbucklers. They can do just about anything except heal.This is good for 2 reasons. As a starter, you'll be able to learn how to Tank, do DPS, and a little bit of crowd control. This is a very nice "gateway" class. If you like the DPS side of a Swashbuckler, but don't care for the occasional tanking or crowd control, then you could go with an Assassin/Ranger. If you like the tanking aspect of the class, you can roll a Berserker. If you like pulling off a little crowd control (We get a single target low duration mez, but it's still decent) you could roll a Coercer/Illusionist.As someone who has played a while, you can fill all of those slots in a group (Not as good as purebreds, but still). I've been invited into groups that can't find a Tank, so I said "I'll tank." and we did completely fine. I've been invited for a group in which to get a named we have to kill 4 mobs at the same time. The Coercer and I kept the mobs mezzed until we got them all together at low health.Don't get the wrong idea though, you typically won't be invited into a group to tank, or to do crowd control, you're invited for your DPS. For tanking, without AAs we lack an AoE taunt, we only have a single target one. Throwing up an AoE is usually enough to keep all of them on you when your group is using a few AoEs, but put a Warlock who excells in AoE damage, and you're going to have a hard time.Also, our mez starts off at (I believe) a 20 sec duration with a 30 sec recast. So there's 10 seconds that it's moving around freely (In the aforementioned story, I had to use all my snares as well). So we're not really the end all be all.That's personally why I like the class. I feel from this class, you can learn just about every trade sufficiently and if you like being all of them rolled into one, then stick with it. __________________ If they ever come up with a swashbuckling school, I think one of the courses should be laughing, then jumping off something.- Jack Handey

04-04-2006, 10:27 AM	#5
Twoboxer2 Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 131	A little bit more to offer on how each toon plays during the fight . . . with the Swashie you will find yourself totally engaged if you want to maximize DPS. And - if you are - you WILL be rewarded with envious DPS numbers. In any encounter you will need to switch from front to back of the mob (ideally while firing a CA) - and perhaps to the front and back again depending on how long the fight is - to use all your CA's. In a multi-mob encounter, you will need to do the same thing while switching to the MA's next target. You might even jump out to ranged and back once in a great while. Oh, and to maximize your AE proc, you will need to position behind Mob_1 but keep Mob_2 and Mob_3 in the frontal cone in which Hurricane is effective. This is quite a bit more demanding of attention than the average (eg) mage who stands at range and clicks a few buttons. It is a bit tougher than the monk (as a DPSer) who benefits a bit by standing behind each mob, but doesn't lose too much regardless of his position. So, if you want to be totally engaged in combat and combat movement, and never bored, Swashie is the class. If you want a little less demanding melee character - who btw is a tank that a Swashie will NEVER be - monk might be a bit better. If you won't fall asleep clicking a few buttons at range, play a Mage One other thought . . . a lot of the so-called Tier 1 DPSers can rarely achieve their true potential without drawing aggro. So they often wind up as tier 2 in practice. The Swashy's aggro management abilities are without equal, allowing you to go all-out or nearly all out without getting yourself killed. With 34 AA's, I stopped putting them into hate reduction/avoidance, and am now at maximum crit percentage, hardly ever drawing aggro while always near the top in DPS. Note: I'm a veteran EQ1 caster-player who started life here in EQ2 as an Illusionist. Then I found my alt Swashie, and I have never looked back. Swift - 70 Swashbuckler Hesper - 68 Fury Hawke - 60 Illusionist Cambren - 56 Guardian __________________

04-03-2006, 09:17 PM	#1
Malkosha Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 69	I have a low level Monk I've been playing with, looking for the perfect class to stick with that matches my playstyle. Last night I started a Swashy to check them out and I must say that they seem to be lots of fun. When I compare the Monk and the Swashy, its seems that so far, both can dual wield, the Swashy gets better armor, both have invisibility but the Monk is limited by their power pool. Both use avoidance as defense though like I said, the Swashy has better armor to help out things when they do get hit. The Monk seems to fight head on while the Swashy uses a few positional attacks. In many ways they seem very much alike ... from the outside that is. The Swashy seems to be on a higher tier DPS wise, while the Monk is considered a tank. On my Monk, there is almost no reason to use HO's since it seems to be better to just spam your CA's. How about the Swashy? HO's for the win? I solo a lot, plan to play on a PvP server (I know this may not be possible) and as I looked over these two classes, I'm not sure how they compare in playstyle. Is there that much difference between them and if so what? I know that somethings may change at level 1,000,000 but for a noob at the lower levels, how does the Swashy play out in survivability? Thank you!

04-03-2006, 10:19 PM	#3
Malkosha Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 69	Thank you. That was an excellent answer and made lots of sense.I will play the Swashy for a bit to see if it matches my style of playing. I agree that the best class for almost any situation (within reason of course) is the one you can play the best. Mostly I suspect, because you love to play it and as such have a vested interest in it.