I asked this question in game and got all sorts of confusing answers. Should i stick with dual-wielding weapons, or equip a single weapon and a shield? I want to be able to kill stuff relatively quickly, and ill mostly be playing solo. ps. side note question - which stats should a berserker be focusing on? (again for mostly solo, high dps)
Ok, this is an easy one and should have no confusion what so ever. Shield! Why, because our best AA line by far is the STA Line which uses a Buckler. You will kill things 10x faster using this AA line. Just me, it's not even much of a discussion around here as far as I can tell. I recently switched to it, and the difference is unreal. I even went to Kylong in my mid 60's and did all the solo quests other than the Kunzar Edge b4 I hit 68. If your not familiar with Kylong, it is very tough until you get your 72 MC usually. I attribute this soly to the Buckler Line. So have at it. Edit....I see you have been a member since 94....so I am sure you know Kylong.
Pnaxx wrote: actually no i dont. i might have signed up years ago, but in all those years ive actually only played about 1 weeks worth of EQ2, and the highest level ive got is about 25 on any one character. ill try and find a buckler, but they seem pretty shoddy stat wise compared to what weapons get on them. (lvl11 currently)
If you use a buckler make sure that you have your AA's in the stamina line. If not it's going to be no different than using a tower shield But Pnaxx is right buckler is a great spec to go, I've done it both on my guardian and zerker and loved it. As for stats, Str-Sta-Agi are the ones I usually work on.
thanks for the replies. what are AA's? i hazard a guess at the achievement points?? also i will get a buckler... but, are you basing your recommedation of a buckler on very high level/rare kit? i can only get whats given as basic quest rewards in qeynos. or possibly something cheap in the auction house. for example - i got a buckler as a reward which gives +1 wis, with about 50 or so protection. i assume thats pretty crap ( certainly seems to be when compared to a using an axe in place of a buckler which has +2str +20power etc. etc ) but its about all im offered. ps.. @ Lorzus, i noticed that you havent concentrated that much on crafting items. i take it then thats its not really necessary to do such a thing (i find it boring and would rather be whacking enemies about) to get to a high level and have plenty of cash?
Yes, AAs are achievements, even tho they should be called AP, but people stick to AAs which they were called in EQ1. To get anything worthwhile from Sta line, you need atleast 16 or so points so you can get the 60% double attack, and that might take you a while.
Needless to say the better the buckler you can get the better it will work but while you are lvling i would sugest that master carfted is more than good enough not only will you continue to kill fast you will also find you are suving a whole lot more
Pnaxx wrote: I was using Sta line up to 65, then switched to 448str, 44861wis and 41int. Sta line is not the only option for soloing. For Kurnak zone, avoidance is king. At 65, only took me about 20 sec to kill a level 69 mob. So 10x faster is way off. I have finished all KP and Ferns quests except the heroic quests with only adept 1 CA and MC gear. At 72 now in MC gear and with 44681int, I can even drop the tower shield and went DW for some fun. Killing level 74-75 mobs at much faster rate but took a lot more damage. I prefer choices when it comes to soloing. Sta line restricts you to using buckler only. Once you are not using the buckler, the entire line goes to waste. That pretty much removes using 2H, DW and using tower shield as soloing option. At low level, I would recommend getting 41str and 41int asap. Only need 10aa for a great burst dps booster.
Good luck holding aggro with a WIS spec and a Tower shield. You need a group that is stacked heavily in your favor for you to generate the necessary aggro to tank. Even with Mythical + Buckler spec, aggro is an issue, I couldn't imagine trying to hold aggro with a tower shield. The buckler spec is, in my opinion, the best solo build. While you have high avoidance with a tower shield, your DPS is horrible, which leads to prolongued fights. And dual wielding you take a significant avoidance hit. At least with a buckler, your avoidance is almost as good as a tower shield, and your DPS is almost as good as dual wielding; a best of both worlds approach. Not to mention you always have a shield on, so no need to swap weapons or armor when things get dicey. And it opens up your shield bash attack, something that dual wielding does not offer. Two handers are horrible damage output compared to both buckler spec and dual wielding.
Bladecaster, since you sound a bit new, let me give you a few tips.... 1. You dont need to do tradeskills. I don't. 2. To make money, harvest the rares in the ore, loams ect..... 3. Use the Solo Timeline to help guid your questing....quests give you the AA's you need and doing the quests levels you fast. http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Solo_Timelines 4. Use Buckler Line when you have ebough points to put into the doubkle attack. If you only can afford a treasured, thats fine, but get one that has fighter stats.......STR/STA/AGI. Until you have enough points for the buckler line, just use a tower shield and one handed weapon. 5. All out of tips
Go ahead and try other AA lines, but inevitably, there is really only 1 "best" way to spec with a Berserker, and that is the stamina line. I hate bucklers, but alas, I have been using one for ages
