Fighter
From EQ2-Daily.com EQ2 Wiki
Credits
- Article written by Lucef.
- Edited by Jaaissa
- Parts by Sigon of Permafrost.
- Combat Arts edited by Taliseian
- Equipment, Arithin
Contents |
The Tank's Role
You get hit and don't let others get hit.
If you choose a tank job, then please realize what your role is. Tank. You have taunt skills for a reason, use them. Use them again, and again and again. If its a group, use AOE taunt and then use single taunts on the target you are currently attacking, when its dead, use single taunts on the next one, and AOE taunts as it becomes available. This sounds obvious, but after 5 parties with level 10-15 tanks, they just don't taunt. Ever. Its madness. The sooner you master hate control the much easier it will be to make friends.
Tanks are not DPS
In regards to the above, and contrary to it - Tanks are not DPS, so don't pretend that you are.
Fighters do decent DPS during the level treadmill. It isn't until the low 40s that anyone can reliably outdamage you day after day. Now once you reach a certain level -- and this is dependent on the rest of your party members, your own spell upgrade levels, and what you are fighting -- taunts won't be enough to hold hate. I was frustrated for a long time wondering why I have all these DPS skills that make me look like I'm throwing toothpicks at MOBs when a ranger or wizard is in my party hurling fireballs for 500 damage. Well once you reach the point where constant taunting is not enough to keep hate, or even at low level to get your habits forming, you do need to do some damage to keep hate. DOT skills like Maim are invaluable for things like this as not only is the MOB mad at you for throwing taunts at him but those toothpicks get annoying enough to make him want you dead more than the healer who holds your life in her hands.
Leadership
The tank is the leader of all groups. Now I don't mean they are in charge, I mean they lead you into battle. Tanks are the players in the game who over time become masters of looking out for agro, determining MOB strength and being the ones who should always get initial hate. This really becomes a problem in dungeons. Healers, DPS for some odd reason love to run ahead of the tanks, and while this is their right to do so, it always seems like they are the ones who get agro when the party isn't prepared because they aren't paying as much attention as a tank's cautious eye can. A tanks duty is to pull any and all hate that is on any member of the party even if they know they are going to die dong so, to be sure everyone else can get away safely.
As a 40 tank I have something like 250 deaths, and no its not because I suck or I party with crappy healers. Its because the people I group with have far less deaths and can thank me for that. And that makes me happy and any tank who doesn't die in your stead is not someone I would group with. I like protecting people or I wouldn't be a tank. But because we take that role of taking your deaths, the very least you can do is stay behind us in places that are MOB dense and let us lead the group onward. Please, for everyone's sake.
Pulling
A simple series of events for pulling and tanking.
First, buy a bow and some arrows. This is very important. Aside from the fact it lets you pull longer so you can avoid the stupid bug that makes your HP and power drop to zero as soon as you get out of buff range - the farther you can pull from, the less likely you are to take damage before you get back. If you don't use a bow, and instead pull with taunt, you run back to your camp at 50% health, your healer has to clean you up from your mess of a pull, gets hate from so much early healing, gets agro, starts healing herself, you cant get it off of her, she dies, you die, then its a classic EQ massacre. A bow lets you pull and take zero damage so you come back full and ready to fight.
Second, run back to camp after pulling - taunt, either AOE or single if its group or single MOB respectively. Then Hold the Line. Once you have hold the line active, grab a MOB, hit it with a DPS skill, which will create hate from hold the line, hate from the damage of the skill and target a MOB so all those assisting you can start wailing on it. Now depending on how long it takes to kill the MOB, alternate single taunts and DPS skills every so often.
Keep an eye on your power. You should never have less than the healer in your party so that you can keep the action flowing. Downtime is bad for everyone.
If its a group MOB, as soon as one is dead, click the next MOB with your mouse. DO NOT USE TAB. This is the devil. If you start a habit of tabing to the next MOB then the first time you are in a crowded area and highlight the wrong MOB and your assisting mage hurls a fireball at it, and now you have 2 groups of 5 goblins killing your entire party, you will never use tab again. So learn to click early. Tab is necessary sometimes, when you cant click the MOB or you are certain it is safe, but it is an exception, not the rule. Go to work on each other MOB in the group alternating hate/DPS until they are all dead.
One note - when you 3/4 done with the fight, turn off hold the line and just single taunt. You will have enough hate built to be in good shape and that horribly long Hold the Line timer will be ready for your next fight sooner.
Healers and Pulling
Determine if the priest wants to call the pull when he or she is ready. They have healing buffs that create instant mass agro if applied after engaging. Mob damage is highest at the beginning of the fight, when enemies are at full power and spam their Heroic Opportunities. These buffs are also much more efficient than direct heals. So to the tanks out there, ask the priest, listen to the priest.
- Templars and Inquisitors: reactive heals
- Mystics and Defilers: wards
- Wardens and Furies: regeneration
The Shaman's role in group should be (personal opinion here) is that of buffer i.e. damage shields (no pain, time to hit back gained), followed by slow (you don't get hit as often) and weaken (the hits don't hurt so much), and DOT when power permits (really useful to help against those that regen). Keep the damage shields up where possible, and the healers role is that much easier.
Scouts and Pulling
If the group is going exceptionally well or the MOBs are really easy, consider having the scout pull more before the fight is over. The scout should time the pulls so that the new MOBs get to the group right after the old ones die. As long as the group's power remains high this is a good tactic for continuous XP.
Pulling Locations
Do not use very small enclosed areas as camps. Being within melee range increases aggro for everyone, and makes the Tanks job harder to accomplish. Give at least twice "melee" range between where the mobs are pulled to and where the casters are. Casters die quick in comparison to tanks & priests.
Consider where you pull the mob to in relation to the party. Don't pull the mob to right in front of the healer & caster DPS classes. Barrages HURT and a lot of mobs use them past level 23 or so. If you must pull them that close (or even if you don't) please backpedal when they're in position so that their backs are facing the healer / DPS classes.
Finally, pulling takes too long and causes your group to level slowly in some places. Move from MOB to MOB with the tank leading the way. Keep MOB pathing in mind as you move, and consider skipping over areas with the help of group invisibility.
Keeping Hate
I want to quickly state tanks options for keeping hate so maybe next time you feel like saying "Why don't you get the MOB off of the healer?" you keep your mouth shut.
Our taunts are not magic "get off the healer" spells. Hate is a value, a number, with the tank hopefully having the most and being #1, then healers, casters and DPS #2-#6 on the list. So if a healer gets hate, they are now number 1. Taunting does not make us #1 again. It adds to our hate value, yes but not that much. We have to do a lot of things to get a MOB off of you and back to #1, so just relax for a second while we try our best.
If you are fighting a group of MOBs and another group agro's, it will be very difficult to keep the attention of both. The tank should not switch off the main group for long to get the second group off the healer. Better one group is on them and one off, than to switch for too long and lose hate on everything and now the healer has 10 MOBs on him instead of just the adds. This is why Evac is in the game. We aren't miracle workers. We are given the tools to deal with a normal fight, not a bunch of adds. That is an enchanter's job.
Warriors
Our primary hate ability is Hold the Line. This is a skill that immobilizes us, meaning we have to stand still until we cancel the skill. And when we land melee hits this generates an AOE taunt on the group or single MOB we are fighting. Because this is so important don't ask a tank to "move back" or move at all unless its really crucial. The timer on hold the line is huge and if we turn it off to get away from another MOB, chances are, unless we are fighting a single monster, then we're going to lose hate. So if you want a tank to move, then be aware that you will very likely get hate from a group of MOBs you are fighting.
We have 1 all-encounter taunt with a very large timer. This means that if 3 MOBs are on you (this happens to healers usually if the tank is taking too much damage or something) then we have to take hate off one at a time if the spell is not up. This enforces the "don't stand there and heal yourself" rule and also means get near your tank if you get hate because if we break hold the line to get to you, its going to make things worse, not better.
The Taunting Blow line of attacks are very good and cheap supplements to aggro; as are the Concussion and Shield Bash lines, as MOBs don't like stifles, mana drains, or stuns.
Warriors can keep aggro on at most two groups at once if combat abilities are upgraded to the maximum. Hold the Line will keep hate on one encounter hopefully and we can AE taunt the other encounter but as soon as a healer overrides the AE taunt on that second group, its not going to come off because Hold the Line only works on the group we are targeting.
Crusaders
Crusaders mainly rely on ranged and damage attacks to hold hate - as there are not many taunts. These same ranged attacks are used for pulling as they cannot use bows. That said, the attacks of the Shadow Knight (not sure about Paladin) are very good at holding the agro of a singe mob, but when theres 2 or more problems occur. Crusaders just cannot hold group agro to well.
Brawlers
need info
Taunting
When a non tank gets hate.
If your tank loses hate, say "on me". They know what this means. If we are fighting a 5 member MOB group, it's not so easy to see one turn and start attacking you, so let us know in case we miss it. If you are near your tank, just stand there and let him try to get it off. If you are not, run to them. Even at level 40 I have 5 hate skills and only 2 of them have even a little range to them. We must be in fighting range for the other 3 so if you don't get near us, we can do 2/5 as much hate pushing to get them off of you. Use your hate reducing spells. Use stun and step away from the MOB. If no one is attacking it use root and step away from the MOB.
If you are a healer do not heal yourself while the MOB is hitting you. All you are doing is adding more and more hate and a tank will never be able to get it off. If taunting doesn't work, and you still have hate, then yes, heal yourself, evac, run away or whatever is necessary to get the fight done or get out.
If you are a caster do not keep nuking the target unless it is down to a sliver. The same goes for AOE spells and group buffs.
Tanks, to get hate off, first just try taunting, use all your taunts, slam them all once and see if that works. Your AOE taunt is usually the strongest, but has the biggest timer. I almost never have it available as I use it all the time I can, so I will use all my singles until the AOE is ready then use it. And then if that AOE taunt doesn't work, which it usually does, then switch to DPS skills and learn which ones do a lot of damage like maim and slam, and which are just fluff things for lowering resistance etc. Hit all your DPS skills as much as you can. Why? Well if taunts don't work after a few, they never will. DPS and healing will override your taunts forever if you already lost hate and cant get it back with taunts the first round. DPS will not only bring you closer to matching whatever the hate person is doing, but also can generate a hold the line taunt on successful hits.
Never, ever get mad at your tank for losing hate. Trust me, we feel very crappy when we lose hate, or God forbid someone dies. 90% of the time it works fine, but that other 10% weird stuff just happens. And when things get messy we get under a lot of stress and its not easy to do 10 things at once. So please just accept their apologies (yes, say you are sorry when you lose hate tanks, as you should be since its your role), and keep things positive. Likewise, never ever get mad at a healer if you die. If they lag out, or cant keep up or simply screw up, so what. Like you never have. Their job is as hard as a tanks so lets all be equally grateful to one another for the good runs and forget about the slip ups.
Groups
Implied Targeting
Everyone in a party should have the tank targeted (unless doing crowd control.)
People don't seem to catch this too early. When you are fighting with the tank targeted you essentially fight, cast spells, use abilities on the tank, and it directs it through at whatever MOB he is fighting at the time. This is called implied targeting. Why do this? Because if we pull 3 MOBs and I, the tank, am fighting one of them, I am generating a lot of hate on that single MOB to keep it off of everyone else. The other 2 MOBs in the group barely have any hate, just enough to keep them on me. As soon as you attack them, they will be stuck on you like glue. Just keep your tank targeted the entire time you are in a party except for DOT, de-buff and the like of course.
There are cases when implied targeting should not be used. If the tank must switch targets mid-battle and if you are using implied targeting then you will switch along with him.
Take an example of three mobs. The main mob is dead set on killing the tank, but a few criticals makes the healer have to hit the tank hard on the heals. Suddenly one of the mobs decides to run over to the healer, a minor problem and the tank can get aggro back quickly. But, everyone switches to attacking the new enemy. In fact, the Wizard just hit a big nuke macro as this was happening, and the mob now makes a B line for the Wizard. Now you have a situation where it's going to be more troublesome to get aggro back. And add to that the fact that now no one is finishing off that other mob who might have been almost dead.
Sometimes the tank will quickly target, say, a mezzed mob to do a quick taunt and then go back to the main enemy in order to make sure when it wakes up it's going after me. (This should be a common practice among tanks. It takes some work (turning off auto attack, then getting back targeting main mob and hitting auto attack back on), but it ensures that I will have hate when he wakes up, making the enchanter a happy guy or gal.) However, if someone is using me for implied targeting, they just woke up the mob and it will run at the enchanter most likely, another bad thing.
One way around this is for the group to have a main assist or MA. This will be the person, perhaps a scout, that everyone will use implied targeting on. Another way around this is to use the /assist command when targeting the tank to switch your target to his.
Positioning
Consider others players' lines of sight and MOB positions.
If you are not the main tank for your group, please do not stand in front of the MOB and or pack of MOBs, stand behind them and at a distance. Also, do not stand in front of the enchanter. Both these people need to see their various targets, while everyone else should be targeting off the tank. You also tend to take riposte damage if near the MOB, which spreads the healer's mana thin. So please stand behind the MOBs and face the main tank, or better yet have the main tank turn the MOB's back to the group. If other members move behind the mobs back to avoid riposte damage please allow the scout space directly behind. Also, stand at a decent distance behind the MOB. Try not to cluster the area around it. If you stand at max melee, it will not hurt your DPS.
The tank should position mobs for the scout. They have positional attacks that require the back of a mob, and the "back" is a pretty small box. Consistently positioning the mobs with backs to the wall or over a ledge or whatever gets annoying for them. Fight on level ground. Trying to find a mobs 'back' is a nightmare when they are on walls and in some cases it isn't possible.
Power Usage
A group's DPS power usage should be the same.
Factoring in caster ability to convert health to power, and healers and tanks power usage is out of necessity and not luxury; you shouldn't have one person in your party who is out of power all the time. If they are, they need a better drink, so give them one if you have it, or ask them to try and balance their power with the group so they do more DPS each fight instead of a lot one fight and none the next fight. This is really the role of each person to monitor, so do yourself the favor and watch everyone's power. Also if you are a caster with full power waiting on a tank/healer during downtime, for crying out loud, power heal them, don't just wait for them to catch up.
If you are out of power, tell your group by saying "OOP" or something like that. They are probably not watching everyone's power and health like you should be. If you run out of power early in the fight, the group is in trouble, and they need to have that info. It will be a clue to them to step up their vigilance or break the encounter.
Equipment
Combat Arts
Combat Arts are the Warriors version of spells. They give you special abilities over and above just swinging your weapon at the mob.
When you gain a new ability, it is given to you at "Apprentice 1" level of effect. This is the most basic level and can easily be increased in power. Each Combat art increases as follows...
Apprentice 2 - bought from Trainers in your home city.
Apprentice 3 - player made from common and uncommon harvestable items
Apprentice 4 - player made as Apprentice 3, but is considered "pristine"
Adept 1 - dropped from chests
Adept 2 - Special upgrades given as you level (Racial Disciplines and Advanced Training)
Adept 3 - player made from rare harvests
Master 1 - Dropped from master chests - almost exlusivly from raid mobs.
Master 2 - Option to choose one of 4 Combat Ability; starting at 14 and every 10 levels there after.
Master 3 - Not in game yet
Master 4 - Not in game yet
When you are upgrading your skills, it is important to take into account the measure of the upgrade. There are some upgrades that are not enough to warrant the price paid initially, but in a level or two are worth it since an upgraded skill takes extra time to "grey out". For instance, your Apprentice 1 skill may cause 5-15 damage, while the Apprentice 4 only does 7-20. If you have the money to spend, then the few extra points may be worth it, but remember that Fighters are not DPS.
Look toward skill upgrades that will increase your Stamina, Taunt or Hate, Defense, or Hit Points.
Gear
Upgrade your gear.
Nothing makes me more upset than a scout using gray daggers or a mage wearing a bunch of stuff with AGI and STR. Why play this game if you aren't the best (whatever your job is) you can be?
Learn what stats you want. Agility improves mitigation and avoidance, stamina improves hit points, and strength improves DPS.
Keep your gear at yellow or orange. Blue means the gear is not leveling up with you anymore, and it is time to shop. There are great quests for some items, but not everything. You will have to actually spend that coin thats sitting in your wallet if you want to be great.
The best way to upgrade is to get a full set of player-made jewelry and armor. Deal directly with the armorers and jewelers and try to get a package deal. Check the brokers daily for stuff better than you are wearing, and plan ahead so you have stuff ready to go before you get to the level that you need it at. When buying from the broker, don't waste you money on anything rated lower than "Treasured".
Next, get access to the instance zones that are appropriate for your tier and swap out your player-crafted stuff with instance zone gear as you find it. Instanced zones almost always drop 2+ pieces of jewelry or gear that are better than player-made crafted, and sometimes better than player-made rare crafted. Doing those two things will put you ahead of most tanks.
Collection quests are another good source of quick and easy gear. There is bound to be someone selling the finished items for the same price as normal player-crafted, and many times you can find it cheaper. These items stand toe-to-toe with rare player-crafted. If you cannot find a jeweler selling at cost on the broker, or one that is willing to give you a package deal, then this is where you can get your slot fillers. It is more time consuming but cheaper to farm collection items in dungeon zones -- Stormhold is a great place for this -- then fill in the blanks with broker-bought collection items. Collection quests also give a large amount of XP.
For weapons it is a little trickier. Imbued weapons are an OK choice to start out with, but I suggest a quested weapon from the broker. Use that as you go for the various heritage weapons.
Provisions
Buy good drinks.
This is so vital. Just like gear you need to upgrade your drinks as you level. Summoned drinks are never good and store-bought are good for the teens but that's about it. Why? Well if 4 of your members are using tequila and you are using FC6000, you are slowing downtime by about 50%. If you are cool with that, then great, but don't group with me. Drinks aren't that expensive. Learn what to buy that is most economical. I recommend Creamed Antonican Coffee for the high 20's and once you hit 30, try and get booze, be it gin, vodka, or ideally tequila. Your power regen will thank you as will your group. Buy "refreshing" stuff when you can. It lasts an hour and 30 minutes and usually doesn't cost more at the vendor. If you're looking for a cheap solution and have the free time, you can craft your own decent drinks in the 1-20 range.
Enchanters are better than drinks. Drinks don't work in-combat and enchanters do. Having a good enchanter is the fastest experience bonus any group can ask for. This is especially important when you get adds in the fight and therefore can't get the effect of your drinks for an extended time (since you stay locked in combat). And to compound that, the enchanter can mez the adds usually and save the healers even more mana.
Food isn't that important unless you are a mage who likes "HP --> Power" convert a lot. Healers can take care of that stuff pretty easily. I use good food because I'm a tank and it saves healers power so I can just heal up after a fight instead of them doing it for me. By all means if you are thrifty then go for the drink first, food second. Always use Fish type foods, which enhance agility.
