I started leveling my Beserker recently. I have always played just one character to cap (Ranger) and with my random playtime I don't have much time to form and stay in groups so decided to level up another toon until my playtime got a bit better. My idea being I can then offer 2 types of classes to a group and often I find the last spot to be filled is a tank when I group as my Ranger. Reading these forums, and EQ2flames, every bit of info seems pretty dated except for a few people constantly complaining about the class. My experience of Zerkers are fine. I'll probably never raid, and I understand there is some issues with usefulness in those circumstances, although I'm not sure why, but for heroic grouping they seem to tank fine. I have a guildie who plays one and he seems to hold his own. I'm now up to L73 and I'm enjoying it. Got my faction for my epic already sorted for when I hit 80. I just wanted to get others opinions on how Zerkers are in their current state? Are they acceptable tanks for heroic content at 92 (I'm thinking Underdepths)? My ranger can practically tank the other bits of Skyshrine! What is wrong with the class? I see in the past everyone wanted to be a Zerker and not a Guardian, but it seems the tables have turned recently, why is that? You'd think as aggro is so dependant on DPS that a Zerker would be the best at keeping aggro, but it seems they're not from what I read. Do we take damage easier than other tanks? Are our CA's kinda useless at cap? Do we have less Death Saves? I must admit I don't pay a huge attention to other classes abilities. My knowledge is growing over time but when comparing to other classes it's a bit difficult to compare without real experiences of each class. Reading CA descriptions only gets you so far. Lastly, any tips for a newbie Zerker in order to be as good as I can at tanking? Macros, gear, adorns, CA/hotkey setups, AA builds, etc. I will eventually figure this out on my own but it helps to have some pointers, and to be honest so far, leveling up with mercs and 2 boxing it hasn't been necessary to really pay much attention to any of it, it's that easy to level. Thanks in advance.
Regolas, My first suggestion is to get your epic weapon at level 80 and your mythical asap afterwards. Having your myth changes the zerker tremendously for the better. My zerker is raid geared and hasn't had a problem with survivability in either group or raid zones at level 92. The quest gear in the Skyshrine areas is a good start. Gear from contested Skyshrine is even better. With the aforementioned equipment, I would then concentrate on collecting Dozekar gear and fabled drops from zones. You should not have any problems with non-challenge mode group dungeons. As for AAs, it is possible as a zerker to spec for both DPS and survivability. You can check out my spec at http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_...il/446678009353. It's still a work in progress as I am playing with the changes in the latest GU, but the spec seems to work well. Overall, you should have a blast playing a zerker. -Markalus
Markalus, Thanks for your comments, it's good to see something positive. Gearwise I know what I can realistically get, and have some heirloom stuff from Skyshrine already. I gathered that the myth buff is important and useful, and I will get my epic at 80 and myth buff at 85 (the lowest level you can complete it by entering the cella) My playtime is a bit low atm (I am lucky if I get enough time to group twice a week right now), but I'm still a way off cap to even worry about it. I am hoping by the time I get 92 I will have been able to run UD on my ranger enough times that I can gear up my zerker in faction armour. But currently because of my playtime I've only managed 3 runs of UD and that armour has been allocated to my ranger. What's the best CA setup to maximise hate gain and survivability? Currently it's so easy to kill things I haven't had the need to look at it. What CAs should I group together? When should I use the temp survivability buffs, etc?
Berserker can tank heroic content just fine. Possibly a good class to learn to tank with, since our AE auto attack gives us easy mode encounter hate (apparently monks and sometimes guards have it tough without trying to stack their AE auto attack.. I wouldn't know) We are squishier than most other tank classes though, do less DPS and generally have more trouble holding hate (no hate transfers). Still love to play mine and heroic content is a breeze. I'm raid geared but it started to be a breeze as soon as I had 1/2 SS contested 1/2 DoV raid jewelery alongside my quest/UD faction armour - which is a really gettable level of gear.
Regolas, I've posted a lot of that info in another thread, http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=512402. I think it is still relevant. Please ignore the zerker haters.
Got my zerker and warden to 80 now and started their epics. Do you think it's best to stay at 80 to gain the 100AA I need before moving on to cap or get to 85 (and therefore get mythical buff) and then get the AAs? I know if I get to 85 I'll be tempted to get 90 and then get the AA (better gear). However, as I'm 2 boxing with a warden I'm aware that staying at 80 will give me the best xp per kill in sebilis/charasis/tso. But certainly won't be as quick as when I have Myth buff and L90 gear.
Regolas wrote: It's always easier to get to level cap, then get the AA. Also, get to level 85 and finish the Epic Repercussions quest line ASAP. You're not really a zerker until you get your Mythical buff.
Ok, think I'm going to set my slider to 80% AA, finish off the epic and start repercussions quest, and if I get to the cella prior to 85 then I'll grind to get there then. While the thought of mass killing mobs at 90 to get my 280AA is acceptable and I'm sure will be fun for a bit, it's much less of a chore if I can get the AA while leveling up doing important quests.
This is more a question to Hanta, but put it here as this seems to be the only active Zerker thread. So what adorments should a Zerker that tanks heroics and small groups but does DPS or offtanks in raids use. Thanks
Sigtyr@Antonia Bayle wrote: Sigtyr, Depends on your gear and the content you run. I recommend filling every adornment slot, even if it's with lesser adorns. This is a game of percentages and every little bit helps. Check out my adorns for a good place to start. Another place to check is EQ2 Wire's excellent Adornment Selector. I hope that helps.
Slightly suprised and disappointed now. Got epic for beserker and warden and up to The Hole section of Epic Reprecussions and only half way through 80 and up only 4AA! Doing library section at level 80 was hard, a lot of red heroic mobs, so it seems like I'll have to get to 85 pretty quick to get through much more.
Well I got my mythical buff at 85 thanks to some helpful guildmates (couldn't 2 box Cella and Research Halls at 85 so needed help). And as I anticipated I found grinding for AA at 85 just a little too slow when I knew that at 90 the WL gear will make it much quicker. So I've got to 90, shelled out 500pp on all the expert spells for him and the warden (most of the masters were stupid money), and I'm just trying to get all the WL gear prior to this weekends double xp (I hope it's happening!). Should make it in time so I can spend 5 hours grinding them both the 80AAs required to move on to 91. I have half a set of 92 heroic gear waiting for my zerker. Even managed to get a droz head for his BP! Just need another 5 or so for the rest of the set! Also need to up my adorning skill on my main another 80 points so I can make adornments for him and the warden, as I can't afford to buy them all. So much to do! But I'm having fun playing which is the main thing.
Well I managed to get to 92 over the double xp weekend (was only expecting to get the AAs to move on from 90 but ended up with some more time). Now the real tests start, grouping! Having fun progressing though.
Im in the process of resetting my AAs to maximise my character and I'm noticing a lot of differences in prestige AA choices (and some differences in heroic AA too). With my ranger it's simple. I'm not a tank, I'm pure dps, so they (dps improvements) always come first. The prestige AAs for rangers are obvious, its just a case of single target or AE. It's more difficult for zerkers. Most of them have some usefulness. As the prestige discussions have been removed, can someone tell me the first hand benefits of the prestige and later heroic AAs? I can read the descriptions but I'd like some opinions from people that have used them.
for the AAs it's easiest to get to 90 and get the better gear then either mentor down to 80 and do all those quests within that range quickly or wait until double xp weekend, pop your potions and grind the hole or sebillis. i was getting about 1 AA a minute for some time even beyond 200, solo. can be pretty competetive solo though so you may do better in a group. i had some clowns come in and start following me around trying to yank mobs off my wizard(super slow to grab mobs) so i camped to my zerk and started pulling all the mobs, even with the now 3 people in their group they were having a difficult time keeping up with my zerk and left soon after... they deserved it though for trying to take my spot. and don't bother with a defiler mercenary if you get one, they are worthless for mercs. zerks are better IMO now than they were 6months-2 years ago. that period is where you will see most complaints from, biggest complaint now is aggro generation relying on DPS with tanks still doing rather low DPS and zerks not having the best of tools for snaps but still better than some. reduce reuse on insolence would be nice.
