Swashbuckler Guide

[Mandallorean]

Originally posted by Rygel:

Ok so you saw Pirates of the Caribbean and you want to be a Swashbuckler. Just a few thoughts on the class to give you an Idea on what your in for. Swashbuckler for me has been a blast, they fit well with my play style (solo and small groups). So if you fell lucky give it a try.

Pros:
Solid DPS, if played right you will be at the top of the dps chart most of the time.
Great melee damage, especially from behind but you can dish out the hurt even if its in your face, until you can get back behind it of course.
Stealth, you can invis at will and you can invis the group as well (as long as they stay close to you, oh, make sure everyone is finish casting spells, wards and buffs before you group invis or it will be broken)
Evac,(as all scouts) it saves my butt all the time and even lets you get updates from areas you have no business being (Do like Ross Perott, run in, stir things up, Jump the hell out).
Good armor, chain armor is second only to plate
Safe Fall, love jumping off stuff, to quote Lydos "never put autofollow on a scout" the bad thing is it take forever to raise it up so jump off everything you can.
Poison, it took a while for me to start using it but it make a big difference in the damage you can do, USE IT.
Hi avoidance, because agility is your power pool you will have to have a high agility and that raises your avoidance, (you can't kill what you can't hit)
Good hit points, not as good as a tank but hey, your not a tank.
Major debuffs, you can make a tough mob "not so tough" in short order.
Manipulate Aggro, you can really effect the aggro in a fight (you can have some of your hate automatically transferred to the tank which helps him or her hold it in a fight, believe me you will generate some hate..LOL, you have one taunt that also debuffs and you also can "slip away" and drop your hate position by one if you decide you don't want the aggro. I know this is hated by some tanks but if the healer or a mage draws aggro in a big fight i will pull it off them with a backstab and taunt and then slip away and usually the aggro goes back to the tank as he or she was getting the blame for part of what i was doing in the first place.

Cons:

No Group buffs, besides a crappy 16% run speed increase you have no group buffs.
Weak Ranged damage, unlike a ranger you have to be up close and personal to dish out the hurt. That really blows butt chunks if the mob has a mean aoe. You do have one good ranged attack that slow the mob, this attack works well for pulling those mobs that see invis.
No Plate armor, but hey at least you ain't in cloth..LOL.
Very positional, this ain't a stand back and smash buttons class, you will need to be fairly adept at moving around to make the most of this class so if you lag a lot or you never played much FPS in your life you will have a tough time playing a Swashy.

I'm sure I left some things out but I will move on now to Race selection. Agility is king followed by strength so keep that in mind when selecting a Race.
Combat: Solo
Swashy Motto: "Kill fast or Die" you should sneak up behind the mob, invis of course, use ambush attack which stuns, followed by
Back stab (or your race selected master attack if applicable) then side swipe (which works from behind or the side) and finish your opening volley with your triple attack which lowers mitigation vs. slashing and piercing. Hopefully one of these attacks will poison your prey. When soloing usually if the mob ain't half dead by the time this is over you may be in trouble so keep evac in mind, "he who fights and runs away...." After your opening volley start a HO and get in your frontal and non position attacks once your backstab recharges start a HO, trigger it with "cheap shot" which stuns and quickly get behind and backstab again (this is where the fast fingers come in handy, it takes practice but it works) by now if it ain't dead or almost dead EVAC.

Group Combat:
Assist on the tank, like any good dps, place your hate transfer on the tank (hey it wasn't me that hit you it was that tin can..LOL). Invis before a fight (even if the mob can see throu it because you have to be invis to use ambush) let the tank get in a couple of licks to establish aggro then "Unleash Hell" I use the same opening volley as when solo (hey it works) then get in my debuffs according to the group make up. If you are in a well rounded group you should start the HO's but if you lack one class (fighter, healer, mage) then let someone else start them. Remember you can change the ho once its triggered if you want too. I try to find out which attack symbols are harder for a group member to hit and change them when needed. Keep in mind if you do your job (dishing out the hurt) too well, a.k.a. you pull agro from the tank, you can "slip away" which invis you and drops your hate position by one allowing you to get back behind the mob and start dishing out damage rather than receiving it. Keep your aggro reducing wards up and cast your hate reducing spells so the tank don't have to work as hard, hey he's getting beat on enough. I keep an eye on the healers and mags in big fights if one critter jumps them i will pull it off if the tank has his or hers hands full. No I don't want to be a tank but I have better avoidance than a healer and am way tougher than a mage. Then I blame everything i just did on the tank..LOL.

AA line, I chose Agility, it is most important for scouts, this line works well if you dual wield (which you should) and "Walk the plank"
rules, to use walk the plank you will have to have a rapier in your primary slot so keep and eye out for the best rapier you can get and keep piercing maxed. The rapier you get from "God King" is sweet, get it if you can because the T7 xeg rapier adds to intelligence (what the hell were they thinking??)

A word on "walk the plank" this spell forces the mob to face the same direction as you are (it turns its back to you, YUM). This ability is invaluable for soloing because it allows you to get in your big attacks and it is very useful in group combat when there is so much going on that you aint really sure which way the mob is facing. Just hit Walk the plank and back stab away. This spell rules max it a.s.a.p.

Thats all for now, will add more later on Swashy's, Feel free to comment on this post.

Later Yall, Rygel

[Shirak]

I have a little bit of input for you or any one wanting to make a swashy.
IF you want a diety then go Bristlebane.
Every thing about his bestowed abilitys screams swashbuckler or even assasin to some degree.

[Drakaz]

Hey all Swashies Drakaz is back -- would be happy to discuss tips tricks aa set ups gear weaps anything at all -- more than happy to put a couple heads together and see what we can do to raise our dps -- hit me up in game or here ..!!

[Aetites]

Just a note, the game has changed a lot since Mand made that post.

I don't play a Swashie, I play a Brigand but naturally, both being rogues and positional dps we share a lot of traits, aa's and abilities. Brigands are like Swashies except they have style, class and are not gay. And they do less dps... *grumble*

Strength no longer governs damage, it only affects your carrying capacity on scouts. So be sure to max it as it's obviously the most important stat... Seriously though agi now determines your power pool, your avoidance and your damage.

On a side note, int does nothing, wis = higher resists and sta = hp. An order of priority for most scouts should be Agility > Stamina > Wisdom > Strength > Intelligence. Agi is king, always take it over everything else. Enough Sta will usually come with the same gear which will also contribute more to your resists than wis. Enough str will also tend to come with any gear. I included the full priorty list above to be comprehensive but if you take the simplified Agi > all, you can't go too far wrong. The closest thing to an exception, if your tanking a lot and dieing you might want to priortize sta, but even then, more agi will mean more dps (and avoidance) which will mean you will need less hp.

The agi line also has Capo Ferro and Sailwind, you wan't both maxed asap.

As Mand said, Walk the Plank is an amazing ability. It can't turn raid mobs (ooh if we could I could be the biggest ass ever, I mean even bigger than normal!) but it can turn heroics. Just watch where you turn the mob as it can screw up other positional dps' positioning. If I have a tank I usually let them control the facing and use WtP on the same direction the mob is facing anyway. When I have agro though I use it with a little more reckless abandon, though not all the time. I might use it at the start of a fight but once the fight is going I try to keep the mob facing the same direction. All of that is assuming other scouts in the group. Make a judgment call based on said positional classes you have in the group. It also no longer requires a rapier.

If anyone cares I can look at making a Rogue specific thread to discuss what we have learned over the years for anything that applies to Swashies and Brigands, and to a lesser extent other scouts.

[Drakaz]

so far everything said is basic rogue common sense 101 stuff -- all usuall info -- some other more important things that need to be examined are --

1. AA spec -- also common sense stuff but got some good points that probably need to be examined
2. Wisdom line -- use it or not use
3. DoM (dance of metal) -- what ca's work with it what dont when to use it
4. Coordinating -- when to debuff when to Ae block if used or applicable timing with CoB or PoM etc...
5. Buffs -- what buffs we should be getting -- as us scouts know buffs could mean the difference between 10k or 20k for us -- as to not hinder the raid by getting them

Now this is just some things off the top of my head im sure there is alot of other things like casting orders group make ups etc...

Alot of the above mentioned are mainly topics for raid concerns but some do apply for group zones

Plenty of rogues in the guild that are willing to answer and help out when needed with anything -- Drakaz Adaac Ankariel just to name a few