Looking for a little feedback on where Zerkers, Swashs, and Monks sit as far as soloing. I want to be able to quest and solo whatever heroic (green/blue) named I come across as I am questing. I would like to still bring something to groups and get in groups easily if needed. I have been leaning Zerker but am concerned without heals of any sort they wouldn't be very good soloers in general. Thanks for any advice.
Zerkers have a few abilities that heal them and are decent soloers. Monk would be the best choice imo since they can fd and have quite a few tools at their disposal in the way of soloing. Swashie would prob be the best choice for grouping since they can bring alot of dps to the table. Really the best classes for soloing have a hard time getting groups unless you play a healer. Summoners would be the best solo class imo and bards/chanters and shamans most needed for groups. It maybe just my observation but I can't sneeze without bumping into a tank or dps.
I have a 32 'zerker and a 69 bruiser. Both solo yellow heroics and some orange heroics. My 'zerker is working RV right now and everything is yellow and orange. I do stay away from the reds, though! My bruiser is working the catacombs and a bit of the MMC with no problems as well as KoS and LP. I should start in KP but having too much fun. My bruiser also duo'd Estate of Unrest which was a blast. IMO, any character can solo. Question is how do you want to solo? In order for me to handle oranges and yellows, I made sure all my spells were masters or at least experts. I made sure I had at minimum MC gear. And I made sure I had plenty of AAs. The 'zerker has 129AAs, the bruiser has 165AAs. Yeah, can't spend them all (limited to 160 up to lvl 70), but what they can spend is priceless for what they are doing. Highest level mobs I have worked with my 32 'zerker was lvl 40 Orc heroic in Zek (orange). They were ST only, not multiples. Have fun with the challenges regardless of your chosen profession.
Elearik@Antonia Bayle wrote: I have a 32 zerker as well @ 101 AA but if you take the time (and sometimes plat) to master them out on armor and spells, and strategically disperse your AA, you can have one heck of a solo toon that can easily jump into a group as a great tank assett. nb - maxing out the heal on the first tree can heal you close to 900 while out of combat and the reuse timer is relatively short. There are also spells on the zerker that will do more damage the lower percentage health you are - at least from my experience.
I can only speak for monks, since they are my main. Monks are excellent soloers. Not only do we get the FD that was mentioned(which caps out at 96% at level 55 master, 95% if you get expert), we also get Mend. Mend is a percentage based heal that is just awesome. Later on, you will get Tsunami, which is a 100% riposte for about 10-20 seconds. This is awesome cause you will take little to no damage after using this ability. We also get Outward Calm, which is a ward against elemental/arcane/nox damage. There's also several abilities we get that increase physical mitigation. This is just the beginning as far as monks are concerned. AA's and CA's, we're just great. With our avoidance and HP capability, we can take quite a few hits.
A few other things on the monk. What I do like about a monk in everyday norrath is that with enough aa's they are a great combination of defense and offense. Offensively they have haste that is higher than any other melee class. No procs and short durations when it comes to monk haste. It is constantly up. Zerker haste is given via proc and last only 10 seconds but for the most part it does seem to be up more than 50% of the time. Swashbuckler haste will proc but will cancel upon any damage received. Another area is monk ca's. With aa's combat arts like five rings, waking dragon, and silent palm will execute faster and refresh much much quicker. I think five rings with aa's will have like a .27 cast speed and 7.5 seconds off the 30 second reuse timer as an example. Waking dragon will fresh like every 6.8 seconds. Needless to say a monk should alway have a combat art available with little to no down time. Throw in all that haste for quick auto attack and monks are like a buzzsaw if played properly. Tsunami (lvl 55) in everyday norrath is very nice. The master version has a duration of 20 seconds and reuse under 3 minutes. Mountain stance is good to for some extra mitigation but it will root you in place. That root isn't that bad though. Monks are a nice class. At the end game it can get tough since so much content is area of effect based. This area is not a strong place for the monk but there are changes to the crane twirl aa ability (wisdom line) on test that will help monks for the better.
Do monks have a lot of short term buffs? So the consensus is that monks are much better soloers than Zerkers?
Aull wrote: That only applies to one swashie ability. They have two temporary buffs that boost haste as well (one also buffing DPS).
Elearik@Antonia Bayle wrote: I've seen brawlers who could solo nicely. Then I've seen brawlers who could farm dungeons solo and were awesome. I've seen 'zerkers who can easily solo heroics. I've seen 'zerkers who basically stick to level mobs while soloing. Consensus totally depends on how one plays the character and the choices the player makes; whether a player garners and uses AAs to the best of his/her gameplay; masters or at min expert spells; at min MC gear........ Consensus depends on the favorites of the ones posting in this thread, not what you desire to play. Monks have 6 self buffs that are permanent until cancelled; 3 of which are stances. They have 8 short term self buffs plus 4 hate buffs and a few others. Bruisers have about 6 temp buffs, additonal self buffs (perm until cancelled), other group buffs, etc. 'zerkers also have numbers buffs, both self - perman, group, aggro mgt, temp buffs, utility etc. If your deciding factor is buffs, then monk or bruiser tops the 3 withi prolly monks edging out bruisers by a slim margin.
