OK, so I'm still trying to figure out which end of the sword to hang on to, and I'm looking for some advice. As a 105 Paladin in group armor as a tank for my small group of alts (no raiding) I have the Defensive Discipline AA up and running all the time (auto-switching as I go from 1 handed to 2 handed). If I get multiple yellow adds I throw up Armor of the Interrogator and Skalber Mantle. Now, when Skalber runs out I switch to Armor of Ardency. So finally, the question is, Is Holy Guardian worthless unless I drop Defensive Discipline, or how do others work those in?
Defensive Proficiency mitigation is 30% and Holy Guardian is 36%. As a grouper for nearly all scenarios, it makes the most sense to put up Holy Guardian disc then immediately drop it and put on mantle or armor. This way, you can utilize the heal proc buff portion of Guardian via bashing/riptoising. Make sure to be utilizing epic, armor of inquistor, 1st spire and our aura for the heal boosts as well.
Thank you Seldom. But now for stupid follow-up #1. So, Defensive Disipline is left up with it's 30% mitigation, I use Holy Guardian which has it's mitigation blocked by the Defensive Disc. but the heal proc part is gained since it's slot (4) does not conflict, and then I then drop Holy Guardian, still retaining it's heal proc because it is a separate "effect", then use Skalber Mantle for its Mitigation that does stack with Defensive Discipline, right? I'm just beginning to figure out the Lucy DB info, and this helps (if I really understand it).
Holy Guardian has not necessarily became "worthless". It was, before knights received defensive proficiency, the best defensive disc, but became now third best, after Skalber Mantle and Armor of Ardency, due to the fact that these discs stack well with Defensive Proficiency. If you need a long moment of mitigation time, you can always click the Holy Guardian disc when your 2 other discs are down. Also, you don't have to disable the Defensive Proficiency AA in the AA window to use Holy Guardian disc, if this is what you meant by "unless I drop defensive discipline". The game will just revert back to the Defensive Proficiency AA when Holy Guardian is down without having to do anything.
The mitigation is not blocked. It is working totally fine, it's just not a heck of a lot stronger (36% > 30%) than Defensive Proficiency. So Seldom is recommending that when it really matters, that you give that 6% right on back and instead use the Skalber/Ardency discs which are much stronger in their effect than the Protective Proclamation protection they replace (35% on Skalber and it stays up for a while, versus 15% on PP which has to be chain cast) Lucy can be helpful, but isn't the best source for technical information as it doesn't receive updates & maintenance like other sources, or involve what may be called a sophisticated understanding. Its "stacking analysis", for instance, isn't savvy to whether modifiers actually conflict as in overwrite/block-each-other or all-stick-but-only-the-best-works. Due to EQ's complexity, basically no single resource is entirely sufficient. You can try out Raidloot's spell parser and/or EQResource's to see if their formats help make stacking more clear. Running the eqspellparser by rumstil, downloaded here, from your /EverQuest/ folder is the most current information (to the minute!) and has powerful searching, but in the way of powerful tools is best for users with some level of prior knowledge.
I have always used holy guardian while using the 2hander when I need to handle a few + mobs, since it adds mitigation that is lost from dp when using 2hander.
No problem Valtam. Yes to your question by the way, Brogh elaborated on it in extremely nice detail. Kobrah, not sure if you realize or not, but Holy Guardian also lowers hit damage by 60% and critical chance by 10%.
Got a silly question. Is there ever a reason NOT to have Weapon Stances AA Enabled? Speaking for both Pal and SK.
Parsing certain things to see/verify they are working and ascertaining how they are affected by things. Also possibly doing old raids (Solteris event 3) where you don't want to do too much damage too fast
Then you want weapon stances enabled, so you can reduce your dps by using a shield. (although ae aggro and having a necro with their non-crit pet bomb thing is probably the easiest way to go)
In simple terms, you either want to tank, or you want to dps. The middle ground makes you suck at both. So there is no reason ever to turn stances off.
