Shadow Meld Question

[Sodieq]

Just got this stance at lvl 25, thought it was at 30 but anyways, I'm having trouble finding a role for it. I have seen posts on it in the past and for the most part ignored them as i didnt have meld at the time. (mistake) So I asked some high lvl dread knights on my server. Several infact. NONE of them used meld. So what is it about this stance? What role is it sopposed to fill?

I dont see it as a tanking stance because steady mitigation and hate seem far better than streaky blocking and no hate.

In a grp situation where i'm not tanking Dps seems to be my role and thus Ebon blade fits this nicely.

Solo Also looking for dps, again Ebon blade.

The resistances it offers are too minor to be of concenquence.

There is the option of stance dancing....but i prefer to avoid "twitch" gaming.

So far I've noticed using this stance when soloing 3 dots my health stays a bit more consistant but not so much it warrents giving up ebon blade. (Just have to lifetap a bit more)

So what is the intention behind this stance? Does anyone really use it? The ones I spoke to were nice enough to answer my questions but when i started asking details....they all admitted they dont actually use it.

[alansirhc]

If im tanking, and need it for agro, I use armor. If the group is pretty good about letting me tank, I use shadow stance.


Otherwise, I always use shadow stance when I can. It helps get DC up quicker, and really has no drawback like our dps stance does.


Sure the damage is a bit less steady than armor, but it works out pretty close. I have somewhere around 45% block with DC4 up and a shield equipped. The agro is worse than armor, but not as much as you'd think, when you can spam the counterattack that much.

[vivienne]

the block bonus doesnt stack with shield of fear so it is pretty useless for taking less melee damage
but it increases resistances and accuracy.
there are only a few mobs that only cast (for example the flying eyes on xenn islands and the flying zull fireballs near rahz inkur) and then it is usefull. i am lvl 45 and shadowmeld increases my resistance by 90 on dc5

accuracy is good when the mob has a too high level
the bonus of increasing dc faster is good as an offtank but i dont offtank ^^

[Tborg]

http://vanguardfighters.com/phpnuke/...ewtopic&t=1403

it was a little lower in the page, you will find other's intersting information.