VF - Fellow Dread Knight question,

[Mahira]

Greetings everyone,

I'am a lvl 43 Dread Knight on Gelenia Server,

I have a few things that really bugging me, about 2hander and using 1h/Shield.

I first started using 1h/shield (short-sword) since it was the best damage I saw on 1h sword Ive seen or could get my hands on at that time, but when I started to level up, I notice at lvl 38+ that its been getting extremly hard for me to keep my hate, espicallly against high dps classes. My rescues werent getting my enough time to keep the mobs on to me so I can gather back my hate, and I was playing ping pong aggro with other classes. Then I was told later on that I should use 2h weapon to keep my hate, when when I switch to a 2h weapon my hate was kept almost through out entire fight, I average of almost a 90% hold rate with my 2hander.

I really do wish to go back to 1/h and shield, I want to be a easy for my healer to heal on, instead of wasting all there mana on me and just on chance when they need to use the mana they have enough for the other members in my group.

Right now I'am over at Bernaid Hills , about to finish my quest for the heroic weapons, my quest rewards are a 1h sword with a 57dps, but I heard the patch will be adding a 2h Maul (which Iam proficient in) Im still wondering if I go with the 1h sword with the 57dps, will I still have the problems keeping my dps? or just go with the maul and forget every using the 1h weapon ever again.

I also notice , when I group with Warriros or Paladins, they can keep there hate alot better than I , when they are using 1h/shield.

Am I doing somthing wrong here? Can anyone please give me some decent advise that could help me out. I would greatly appericate it.

(Note: When I tank, I go into defensive stance, as always )


Thank you,

Myra,

[Nightmare]

I'm a level 43 DK too and I haven't had any problem tanking with 1h + shield. I haven't been in Berranid Hills yet but we did whole Dargun's Tomb and some Vol Tuniel and Thelaseen.

The only problem I have is when my group mates (especially the other DK or Sorcerer) get some nasty crits (or I miss a few times) in the beginning. Otherwise I really don't have any problem keeping aggro. Of course ppl have to know how to play and don't go all out right from the pull.

On the other hand, tanking IS challenging. You really have to concetrate on what you are doing to be able to keep enough aggro. I usually pull with Torture and use Provoke when the mob comes. I also use Provoke and Vengeance whenever its up, keep Torture on the mob and when I feel I'm starting to lose aggro I go for Incite - Inflame instead of typical Wrack - Ruin. Black Wind can help a lot too unless you hit some mezzed mobs with it .

[velzevul]

test out how your hate keeps up if you skip the initial debuffing cycle. Hit the mob with Torture, and go right to melee.

try to use ur refund points to max your strength, as that is a major factor in your melee dmg.

try to put pts into dext/intel for melee crits/spell-taunt efficiency

Scourge4 hits for 1 dmg instead of 200-300 it says in tooltip.

use Provoke every time

wait for melee cycle before each VS/Malice - it ups your dps by like 40% as opposed to just spamming those 2.

try tanking in offensive stance.



basically, in first 3 seconds if you put in enough dmg into the mob, you can be OK for rest of fight, especially if you crit and have the aggro chain go off. I try to get Incite-Infuriate in asap, than Wrack-Ruins, than at the end of fight get the shield/ac chain in for next fight.

Major factor in aggro is who puts in 1st dmg point. If you pull with torture you are set for aggro for at least 10 seconds. If ranger pulls with his 3k crit, than you gotta beat that 3k hate + some on top to even get aggro, and with them doing damage, you aint getting it any time soon. Similar for other classes.

[Mahira]

I'am almost afraid if I needed to respec my stats... I barely worked on my viatal or my int, since Iam a dark elf with high int, and I figured I better work on my CON first and Second my Str and use left overs in other parts of my stats.

[Laneil]

Strength should probably be your first stat to max. Second would probably be dexterity. Intelligence is probably third in the eyes of most DK's since that increases spell damage and hate on our taunts. The benefits of increasing your Con aren't really that spectacular at this point in the game so a lot of DK's don't bother putting points into that stat. Like you I am a Dark Elf who is already getting 2 points to Int every level anyhow, so I'm putting my extra 2 points into Con hoping that they will make that stat mean a little more in the near future.

[Chernobog]

Personally, I'm maxing str/dex each level (which is easy for me - Vulmane are bugged and can only spend 3 points in each. FIX!! GRR!)

After that? I'm not spending a damn point. If they fix Con to matter, or they prove/change Int affecting Taunts (I'm still unsure if this is a tooltip display bug or not - Xaices has stated it is a tooltip display bug. So while it looks like it goes up, it doesn't).

So I'm sitting back and chilling on the rest of my stats until I have a better and more permanent idea of what they do.

---

Also, I've noticed while tanking with my own consistent group (just a monk and a bloodmage) that Defensive Stance's hate seems to be still bugged. With a 2H and Offensive stance, I can keep aggro on 3 targets at once, despite Monk and BM randomly blasting any of the three at will (they like to keep things interesting). In Defensive stance, I'm more prone to losing any of the three. Aggro is, however, only an issue on multiple-mob pulls, even with the monk trying his damnedest to pull aggro ("If you don't pull, you ain't trying hard enough" - that's the theory we have while 3-manning. He behaves in full groups ). The only exception? Sword/board in defensive stance on a single target. He'll pull every time, and NOT always in the beginning of the fight.

This leads me to believe Defensive stance's hate generation isn't up to par. Instead, I've taken to using offensive stance, and after I go through the initial aggro-gaining cycle of smacking, torturing, and/or provoking anything that's incoming, I'll Drain Str every mob we're fighting if I think I can do it safely. It provides the same or better mitigation against 3 and 4 dots at level 20-22 as Defensive stance (possibly just because it's a brand shiny new rank).

Only time I've ever had Hate issues with a 2H and offensive stance was 3-mob pulls with a druid 3 levels higher than me who stated "You'll never hold aggro on me" and proceeded to spam Cyclone on the mobs before I even reached them. I'm willing to believe that was his own bloody fault.

Something to consider. Flame aways.

[velzevul]

Chernobog,

your post is true at 20 to high 20 level range. 30 and up, offensive fighter DPS scales up dramatically, while our hate generation doesn't. Game changes 180 degrees. I find sometimes that InflameIncite is one of the only ways to keep a mob hitting me consistently, along with the hotkey, that reads "BACK THE F*** OFF" in group chat.

[Lynxal]

Originally Posted by velzevul

wait for melee cycle before each VS/Malice - it ups your dps by like 40% as opposed to just spamming those 2.

This is huge...there is a world of difference between someone who spams and someone who pays attention.

Just one of the many reasons it's difficult in this game to come up with meaningful parsing logs.

[LadySirse]

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