Scout
From EQ2-Daily.com EQ2 Wiki
Scouts use stealth and cunning to explore the unknown. Highly skilled at detecting and disarming traps, they are experts at infiltrating the lair of the enemy. In combat, scouts rely upon the element of surprise to inflict opportunistic damage and gain an advantage over their opponents. EQ2 Stratics
Scout is a primary archetype profession (Mage, Fighter, and Priest being the other three). When you first create your scout you must choose one of the scout professions:
Contents |
Resources For Scouts
The Scout's Play Guide
by Mills Fairchild and others from the EQ2 Official Forums
The Scout's Role
We are damage dealers.
Scouts are known as a DPS archetype (Damage Per Second) for good reason. Our main role in a group is to make the enemy hurt. Scouts mirror mages in that some classes are better for DPS at the expense of utility. In fact, at the highest levels it's been said that certain scout and mage classes are able to output very similar DPS against a single target.
Aggro Mitigation - We are not tanks.
- We do not have the AC of a properly equipped fighter.
- Most Scouts do not have taunt skills to hold aggro from going to healers/casters.
- Many of our best attacks require a position behind the enemy.
However, keep in mind that doing rediculous amounts of damage to a mob tends to piss them off. For this reason you will have to tank mobs from time to time. When this happens, don't panic. Stop using your special attacks (in some cases, stop fighting all together). Use your evade line of skills to dump aggro, and let the tank taunt the mob off of you. There are times when you will take aggro and get stuck with it (this often occurs when insulting a gnoll's mother). My general rule of thumb:
- If after 8-15 seconds (depending on the mob's health) the tank is unable to taunt the mob off of you, consider yourself stuck tanking and resume fighting as best you can from a frontal position. This position is rather well suited if your a Rogue because they do have to tank better then all other scouts. Either way it's a always good to keep a nice AC round shield in your pocket for these such occastions. Trust me a healer will thank you.
- I've also found it neccessary to pull mobs off Casters now and again. Usually, I only do this if the tank isn't paying attention and misses an add. But remember: you should only be tanking as a last resort. You're only wasting your healer's power trying to play the tough guy (or girl). This again is a situation best if you throw up a Good Round Shield before you commence.
- In addition, I've found that some Scouts can be too eager to hit for uber-damage. Executing a big hit backstab right off the bat will often turn a mob and his buddies on you. Wait for the tank to get some taunts off before you really start in.
Targetting
- Always assist the main tank or the main assist if the MT and MA roles are split.
This was made very easy in EQ2. By simply targetting the main tank, you'll attack whatever they attack*. This reduces chances of you becoming the main tank for a second mob and doubling the workload of your healers. It's especially important when you have an Illusionist/Conjuror in the group. If everyone is attacking the same mob, they are able to mezmerize the others and avoid hundreds (if not thousands) of extraneous damage from being taken.
- As a personal preference, I like to be able to see mob's health/power on your screen in full size (rather than simply mousing over). I have an /assist macro set up that allows me to quickly target whatever the main
tank is fighting by pressing whatever function key targets the tank, then my macro button. This also sometimes helps with knowing which mob to stand behind in enounters with multiple large mobs (such as Giants in TS).
Awareness
- Know what's behind you.
Since Scout's have to get behind a mob to be most effective, it's doubly important that we are aware of our surroundings. Will moving that little bit behind the mob trigger an add? Will backing up to use a ranged attack bring an add? Can you still flank the mob if they're on the edge of a drop or cliff? These are all questions that need to answered.
Fortunately, most of these situations can be avoided by making sure your tank is pulling to a place that works for you. Let them know how much room you need.
Evac
- Sometimes, it's your responsibility to safely get the group out of a bad situation.
In the twenties, Scout's get the ability to evacuate the group. This will cause the group to lose all aggro and be teleported to a 'safe' location within the zone. There are a few things Scouts need to be aware of with this skill:
Don't be hasty to evac. Make sure, ahead of time, that your group agrees on the proper circumstances under which to evac. It would stink to fight your way deep into an area only to have a trigger happy Scout take you back out because of one add that could've easily been dealt with.
Always be aware of evac drop locations. Test out your evac in a new zone to figure out where it is going to take you. The only one I'm currently aware of is in Thundering Steppes... casting evac will bring you to the docks.
As of the last big patch, evac was changed slightly. It now requires your group members to be within a certain radius of you to be taken along for the ride. When an evac is called for, tell everyone to gather around you and make sure, before casting, that everyone is close enough to be affected. Even if it's not your responsibility to call the evac, it's your reponsibility to make sure it goes smoothly. You do not want to leave anyone behind.
Track
- If your group is looking for something, you're the one to lead them there.
Don't forget to use track. You can save a lot of running around time by simply checking track for the things your group is looking for. Get used to having the track window up and filtering out mobs to find what you want. Also be aware that we can not track mobs that con red. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. *cough cough* ...Doomsqual... *cough*
Poison
- Always have an active poison that is appropriate for your level.
The best guide to poisons is on the official EQ2 forums: Complete Guide to Poisons
Learn about them and use them! When parsing my logs, I consistently find that poisons are my most damaging weapon. If I land poison right off the bat (and I often do), poison will do more cumulative damage than any one of my special attacks. Think of them as your best special attack, and use them.
Stealth
- Just because your invisible, it doesn't mean they can't see you.
When you are in stealth mode, you can easily tell which mobs still see you by the presence of a red tracing around their name. Generally, any mob that has a scouting word in their name (scout, lookout, watcher...) will be harder to sneak past. Also, caster mobs can sometimes have a "see invisible" spell active, so watch out!
Dungeoneering
- Only fools blindly charge ahead
In a dungeon, scouts have an additional role - and that is, quite literally, to scout ahead of the party. Many of EQ2's dungeons are tight, twisty places, where nasty enemies lurk around every corner. A scout's ability to sneak gives them an advantage that few others possess - they can see the monsters before the monsters see the party. When exploring unfamiliar territory, always scout ahead for your group - relay information on enemy strength, positions, and so on back to your tank. This allows your group to come up with a battle plan and fight on your own terms, rather than having to react when the monsters jump out from around the corner and attack.
Traps
- Don't touch that!
Every so often in your travels, you will come across treasure chests. Nearly every one of these you find will also have a trap that will set off when someone tries to open it. As a scout, you have the ability to attempt to disarm that trap, and you always should. While some of the traps are just a nuisance, others can kill not only the person opening the chest, but their entire group. Make sure that you let your groups know you can disarm traps and make sure that you do so - it will save you a lot of pain.
Archery
- An arrow in the back can do just as much as a knife
Scouts are the only archetype that gets archery skills - Most scouts have a few archery CA. You owe it to yourself to have a good bow and arrows on hand (or a good pouch and throwing weapon if you are a Rogue), they can be quite useful in many situations. As well, doing damage from range to an enemy decreases your chances of getting hit, and is very useful in situations where your high damage output in melee combat might pull the aggro onto you.
Darien Starshadow, Ranger of the Steppes
Guildleader, Claws of the Phoenix
- Poisons, poisons, poisons. I'll say it again: Poisons. These are fantastic. Buy them as early as you can, ALWAYS have it active. It lasts a good long time and adds tremendous damage to your attacks.
- Spell upgrades. This isn't just for casters, it's for you too. Upgrade your spells as soon as your ability and bank account can handle it. The brokers offer a nice feature to scan abilities that are usable at your level. Upgrading them as early as possible can add alot to your effectiveness.
- Strangling shot. Not sure what the other lines get, but rogues get this at 16. wonderful ability. Lets you start an attack with a nice range damage.
- Group HO's. You have your own heroic opportunities that you probably discovered by level 4. You also have many abilities that combine with other classes. Often if someone else starts it and you advance it you can create a nice joint HO that will do some fantastic damage, or give you all a really nice buff. Experiment with this as early and often as possible to explore them. (NOTE: I found two things very helpful: A) Make a second chat window...adjust controls so one chat window is for combat stuff and another is for chat. Also asign a different color for heroic oportunities so they stand out better from the scrolling battle text. That way it's easier to see who starts HO's who advances them, and who finishes them)
- I know the rogue line gets a hide that locks you in place (It's on a 30 min. timer), I think the others get one as well. I had someone complaining to me today that this ability stank becuase you couldnt move. Do not be fooled like this. It seems to work like the EQ1 hide, which works in conjunction with other sneaks. Used even in conjunction with your lowest level sneak it allows you to move hidden from all kinds of mobs. It's a fantastic ability and if it weren't for the timer it would almost be unbalancing. As it is I find it almost a class defining ability. Experiment with it, it allows you to do all kinds of things that other classes can't.
- Check your knowledge book often. That skill you got 4 levels ago that has been useless all week will suddenly become your favorite skill when you find yourself in certian new situations. Many skills I found useless soloing become class defining abilities in a group.
- Learn to use ranged weapons, even non rangers. As a swashbuckler I find my bow insanely useful in all kinds of situations. Arrows cost money, but if you buy the cheap tin ones, even early in the game they will prove valuable: dont forget you have pathfinding, snare, and ranged weapons: consider the possibilities of this combination and you find yourself capable of all kinds of new things.
- Jump off high things as early and often as possible. work your safe fall. Raising the level of this ability is a HUGE pain in the butt. I seem to get skill increases fairly rarely for this, but it's a wonderful skill if you can work it.
- Blackhair adds: *As the OP suggested, practice jumping off cliffs. But I will take it a step further. The perfect place to develop your safe fall skill is the Common Lands Docks area. There is a road leading up and away from the docks that is of a very steep grade. I put my toon into auto run and make a constant loop (up the ramp and jump). The better my skill...the higher up the ramp I jump from. Everytime I leave freeport towards the griffon tower, I ensure that I increase my safe fall by 5. My 35 ratonga assassin currently has a safe fall skill of roughly 150 (can't remember exact number). When yelling for help and sprinting, the first escape route I look for is off a cliff. The speed at which you fall is like a super sprint that quickly seperates you from the mob. Often they turn the other way as soon as you hit bottom. Be wary of your health though....landing safley is not automatic and there is an element of risk to it.
- Others will vary on this, but I found it HUGELY benificial to go into options and disable the combat auto facing. We have allot of advantages from positioning ourselvves around mobs. Disengage this stupid feature so you can more easily control your movements in combat. Learn to strafe.
- When soloing: Eat food. trust me on this. When crossing big zones..drink. and use sprint. Trust me on this one too.
I've still got so much to learn about all of this, it's a complicated game, so please, other scouts: Add to this list often.
new stuff (added to top as requested):
There are several threads that discuss combat macro use. For most classes it is a convenience...for scouts it is a must.
- An early skill to get adept 3 at...Cheap Shot. You will use this skill forever (especially in macros). Might as well maximise it.
- Learn HO's ..inside and out. Learn what "flipping the coin" will do. Educate group members about HO's.
- If you have not decided on a tradeskill class, Alchemy works beautifully with the scout class. Might as well make your own poisons (A steady supply of the debuffers is very handy). Potions can be a boon as well. A close second is jeweler (only because poisons are a consumable) to make your own combat art upgrades. I suggest you make an alt for one of the forementioned tradeskill arts. If you really want to go for it...make a woodworker alt to make your bows and ARROWS as well. I can't think of another class that can use more tradeskill support than a scout.
Turbo adds a good tip I didn't know about: The one I wish I'd known from the off is the stun-backstab timer... if you use the basic stun skill at App1 you get 4 seconds to get around for the backstab (which decreases mob agi as well as doing damage, so much nicer than the flank attack)... but get the stun skill at App 3 (10s on broker, or make yourself) and you get 6 seconds. World of difference.
Poisons again: One damage poison and one debuff poison will stack. Use the high-DoT-low-initial poisons over the low-DoT-high-initial poisons. For debuff, I like a poison that debuffs poison resistance - how evil! If you want to help out your mage or fighter buddy, use a debuff that is tailored to their type of damage.
Use player-crafted poisons! Only players can give you debuff poisons. Especially now that resistance is applied to DoT, a nice debuff is key. As for damage poisons - my player-crafted T2 poison does more damage than a vendor-bought T3. 'nuff said.
Seriously consider using one-handed weapons and a shield over dual-wield. These are your advantages of that tactic: - One-handed weapons have a higher chance to land a poison hit ('proc' poison) than dual-wield weapons. Combined with the insane damage potential of player-made poisons, this actually makes one single-handed weapon deadlier than two dual-wield. In other words, DPS is a tiny tick higher with one single-handed weapon. - The shield will give you those extra seconds you need to take down a solo mob or survive being named honorary tank during a group encounter.
HOs are key for large or Epic encounters. Learn HO-Fu, then teach your group how to use it. Scouts can initiate chains that involve all 4 classes and give great buffs - such as added power regen to help out healers - or do upwards of 1000 damage per successful HO. Great timing and teamwork is needed, but the rewards are worth the effort.
Evac
Scouts, wizards and other classes - Evac whenever you want or if someone calls for it.
You have Evac for a reason. If a tank or healer was your Evac master, they would have the skill themselves. If they call for it, then hit it, don't wait for confirmation from someone else. But if you feel unsafe for yourself or your party, flip the switch and don't ask. Absolutely never get mad at someone for evac'ing or question if it was necessary. Thank them for probably saving you from debt, and be glad they are in your party at all. There is never an excuse for saying anything but thanks for evac'ing.
Stats
Agility: The most important stat for scouts = increases avoidance, increases accuracy, also the ONLY stat which affects to our POWER POOL (which is really important to scouts since most of our CA:s cost quite a lot of power)
Strength: Affects you CA:s (atleast non bow CA:s) dmg, also your melee efficiency is more or less determined by this skill (increase STR and your attack rating number goes up, also effect to melee dmg goes sumthing like: 100str = 110% bonus, 200str 125% bonus etc... info posted somewhere in these boards...)
Stamina: Affects you HP, havent really found any other "use" for this stat (heh...)
Intelligence: Gives you a higher chance in procing your poisions at a higher damage rating. For example~ you have a poison that has a rating that can be between 20 to 100 dmg you will hit closer to the 100's with less partial resists.
Wisdom: Only use wisdom has is to increase resistance mitigations.
