Hi I was curious as to if a shadowknght can be specced into a pure DPS role. I really want to use a two handed weapon. Or can they be 2 handed tanks that use Eva more then block.. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
sure you can, BUT you will need specific gear with potency and critbonus, thus sacrificing the ability to tank with this gear, getting this gear is of course easy enough in ToV. If you want to tank you will need to get a 2nd set of armor for that. One Problem you will face is getting accepted into groups as "DPS" because many tanks just wont believe you and hate having a 2nd tank, because they are either afraid you will suck as dps, or you will rip aggro from them, etc. Also SK dps is mostly AOE stuff, which can cause Problems during fights where you are not supposed to hit any adds, you dps will probably suffer a lot when you can't use your blue spells. I am sure it would be a lot of fun, and if you are really good dps, you may make a name for yourself and get groups easy... make sure to put some -hate adorns on or reforge into -hate.
The bigger problem your going to face is getting in a group as a DPS... groups usualy won't take a "DPS-Tank" since they tend to cause problems by randomly ripping hate or pulling extra stuff, especially Crusaders. If you want to be Reckless you need to have -50% Hate since most pug-tanks probably won't hold off you when your at 0% (My Enchanter rips aggro off many PuG-Tanks with 0% Hate mod on her). As Nynaeve said, specific gear is also needed and your going to be squishy doing it as the "best set" strictly damage wise is the Dreadlord set which has no Stamina on it. You can't Reforge into Hate Reduction btw.
I'm just starting the game. What then would be accepted as a melee DPS class? Also, what do you guys mean when you say green and blue spells. I know about aoe but not this green blue terminology
all scouts are melee dps (or ranged in the case of ranger). all fighters are designed to be tanks... they can dps, but a true dps will always be looked for before accepting a fighter in lieu of real dps. green spells (green background on spell icon) are encounter only, meaning they will hit linked mobs - when you target one member of an encounter you will see target rings at the feet of all remaining encounter members. spells with a blue background will hit a certain number of targets around you, linked or not. Blue aoes will also hit mobs you are not currently fighting if they are close enough.
Even if practically you can certainly build a t1 sk dps I will never invite any in my groups (unless it's someone i know and trust). Moreover if you want to dps there are probably better choices, dps classes bring debuf and things lie that that. Group with two tanks are often annoying, the dps one will use a postionnal and so on. If you want melee aoe dps go for a swash.
Ok so just dps is off the table what about a 2 handed tank? Is tanking with a two handed weapon a viable option?
Tanking is not simple, it requires strategy and a keen sense of timing. A tank in all his or her glory? That is gorgeous to watch. It's also a lotta work and practice. If you are worried about being bored 'just tanking', I think you'll find yourself busy enough and challenged enough to have fun just doing the tank roll, no need to complicate it or diminish your skill set by adding in dps stuff. From those I've spoken to, having a tank as ones first chara here can create a very steep pitch to the learning curve. If you like dps, maybe roll a scout for your first?
I actually like tanking, its a bit of a pain to learn how to properly tank with noone to group with really... However i do have intentions of asking other tanks on tips and tricks to maintain hate against AoE's and large group pulls. I guess what i am asking is are we as tanks locked into the classic sword and board combo?
I know plate tanks that use a 2 hander most of the time, but all of them have a Shield around for the Harder Stuff.
It depends on the fight. Without a shield you can't block (unless you're a bruiser or monk) and on difficult fights it will very, very difficult, if not impossible, to keep a tank with 0 block chance alive. On easier fights, you can go 2-hander, but you'll need to swap to sword and board for more difficult fights. Or play one of the leather tanks if you want to strictly two-hand or dual wield.
final verdict - make a Swashbuckler if you want to melee dps. you would make it really painful for yourself as the first character trying pull this stunt, you can try it with your 2nd char I would say - but you still would have problems getting accepted as dps-sk in pugs.
Sk can play dps in a group I have done it a few times and pulled decent numbers. I have also tanked many groups and invited other fighter type class as dps including zerkers and guardians as dps. Some of them were pugs and yes some didn't pull there weight tho some lead the dps charts. Now some are right it will be hard to find groups a lot are closed minded people out there , best to just find a guild that will group. My advise is make a tank set also being able to do multi roles increase group find speed. Or better yet learn to put groups together and than people don't care what you do lol. play what you want.
I would never invite a tank as dps if you want to be dps roll a dps class there are plenty of them. but then I have never understood this mind set of I want to play a tank but I don't want to tank its the same as rolling a healer and not wanting to heal or a dps class that doesn't want to dps
Well I understand. I don't like stealth DPS that is all scouts classes. I don't like most caster to level game play is good just if you make a mistake as a caster you face plant fast. All is left is fighter as DPS for a soild melee class that is not back attack or stealth heavy. Fighters can kill about as fast as rogues with no merc. So that is the draw to fighters as dps. Dont like tanking but want a super easy class to level that is melee
As with all games their are skills needed to use classes effectively, ripping agro as a DPS is always a risk you take, but it's much easier to manage if you focus on getting your dehate abilities mastered and -hate adorns, especially if you are a ranger since you cna be just in-range of enemies forcing any enemies to run to you giving the tank a chance to pull back agro.
It could be based on some games like Rift or Guild Wars 2 where they tried to get away from the "holy trinity". I grouped with some awesome cleric and rogue tanks in Rift while I went dps with my warrior, and in that game, that was a viable option. People forget how old this game is, and that the classes were made with the old established roles mind.
Unless its for a specific reason(quest update, etc) in a guild group or for a friend I will not run in a group with 2+ tanks. Its just more trouble than its worth for the rest of the group. Like others said sounds like Swash might be a good choice. That reminds me ...the other day I accepted invite into a Pug that had 3 fighters....and they were still looking for someone to tank. /wrist.
A group of us run static groups that we build. A friend of mine loves melee classes but hates to tank. We started him off with a Brigand and he loves it. They do great DPS, Great Debuffs and they are not as *soft* as the other rogues (Or at least it seems that way) He currently running a Berserker as a DPS in our second group. He's built it for DPS though, He has -50% hate redux and of course builds for DPS with no tanking stats at all. Works fine. His DPS is getting there .. of course its not as well geared as his Brig' who's in Potent .. so we'll see how he improves with a little more gear and practice playing it. Of course we're all friends and people play whatever the hell they want, we dont care as long as its fun. Saying that we're had no issues clearing current 6-man content (we dont raid) except for Dom which our alt group is not geared enough to tackle yet. Bottom line .. if you have friends who trust you then playing a DPS *figher* role should'ent be an issue if you gear accordingly. Cant speak for pugging, Many seem to take pretty much anything since alot of them run two healers anyway which kinda makes all content endurance fights anyway /shrug.
Until you find a group of friends/guildies that will trust you as a DPS fighter, I would go with either the Brigand if you prefer single target or the Swashbuckler if you enjoy AoE more. Both are very sturdy when it comes to the scouts and neither are huge on stealth like the Assassin and Ranger are. I run a swashy in raids, I have 4 attacks that require me to be to the side or behind and only one attack that require stealth. They are very in your face types of DPS. I think that until you find that trusted group, either of these would be a good choice for you.
