[holyjugs]

Originally Posted by sheerkya Momentum increases the damage of all your charge abilities and decreases their reuse time. I do not spec this cause it does not help with my basic tanking needs of damage mitigation and overall aggro control.

Can you please let me know if this feat affects all the charges?
I think increases 20% max feated in stun and charge and 100% just on impale.
Thank you!

[Gattssu]

Originally Posted by sheerkya Improved Dulling Blows adds 5% (fully feated) to your Evade for 10 seconds after using the Dulling Blows combo. As Dulling Blow can be used every 10 seconds, this can be up all the time. Statistically speaking, this is like adding 5% to your physical damage mitigation.

Isn't evade the chance to not be hit at all? where physical damage mitigation is simply reducing the damage you take from hits? That said, 5% evade would lower how often your actually hit. I've noticed (brand new to the game) that most heals seem to be HOT's and that being the case wouldn't having gaps in your damage taken substantially help healers?

[Kastos]

Evade chance is a chance to 'Parry' the attack, taking no damage at all.

Personally I wouldn't put it in the same boat as mitigation as they're completely different - Evade chance is random but when it happens is much more noticeable whereas mitigation is a flat reduction.

Over a very long period of time they might equal out to have the same effect, but evading 3 boss hits in a row or not evading for a whole fight can make the difference between survival and an easy kill.

[DrenRawr]

Originally Posted by Kastos Evade chance is a chance to 'Parry' the attack, taking no damage at all. Personally I wouldn't put it in the same boat as mitigation as they're completely different - Evade chance is random but when it happens is much more noticeable whereas mitigation is a flat reduction. Over a very long period of time they might equal out to have the same effect, but evading 3 boss hits in a row or not evading for a whole fight can make the difference between survival and an easy kill.

Can you even evade a raid boss attack?

I use dulling blow for the -combat rating on the mob though. You can spam all 4 versions of dulling blow to keep the boss' attacks in check.

[kash]

Originally Posted by DrenRawr Can you even evade a raid boss attack? I use dulling blow for the -combat rating on the mob though. You can spam all 4 versions of dulling blow to keep the boss' attacks in check.

I'm pretty sure you can, or used to at least but haven't heard it changed. I usually go through the 3 high ranks of dulling blow for the neg combat rating, usually start having to compete for hate at that point since the bleed doesn't stack. Three ranks of dulling blow, shields forward, and the right damage debuffs and gear combos, you're ready to roll and evade can put you in a nice comfort zone.

Not sure what's meant specifically by aggro decay, but I do know that if I don't at least do a white hit on the shadow in the Athyrbast fight, after about 8 seconds or so he seems to de agro and one shot people. Can't say if that's hate decay or a mechanic specific for that badguy.

[brettau]

Originally Posted by kash I'm pretty sure you can, or used to at least but haven't heard it changed.

Screenshots coming when I get home from work.

Originally Posted by kash Can't say if that's hate decay or a mechanic specific for that badguy.

From memory irritate adds ~1000 threat permanently plus an extra ~6000 on top of that but the extra ~6000 "decays" and is removed after ~8 seconds.

So at the imp lord if you're 2nd on agro and 4000 threat behind the top of agro and you irritate, you push yourself 3000 threat beyond the top and pull agro. The previous on top now moves out of the square to stop the debuff from stacking. If you don't generate any extra agro and after 8 seconds the 6000 "bonus" threat decays you fall to 3000 threat below the previous on agro and the imp switches back to them. Since the top of agro is now outside the square, the imp lord starts disintegrating until you either pull agro again or the current top gets back in the square.

[brettau]

example 1
example 2

[kash]

Originally Posted by brettau example 1 example 2

Nice, think I'll show those next time someone tries to tell me evade isn't worth it.

[Kastos]

Originally Posted by kash Nice, think I'll show those next time someone tries to tell me evade isn't worth it.

Same. Would be nice to pm those to Sklane to rub it in but i'm not quite man enough

[Dreadthorn]

Originally Posted by sheerkya Tempest Tree Stormblade adds a damage proc to your attacks, giving a chance of additional damage. I have never specced this so not sure how effective it is. Relentless gives you fear and stun resistance, up to 10% when fully feated. General Tree Recovery fully feated adds 43.4 natural regen. Stoneskin fully feated adds about 5% mitigation against magical attacks. Improved Frenzy Stance increase the damage you cause in Frenzy Stance. Hateful Strikes gives you an ability that you can use every 2 minutes that increases your Hate generation by 20% for 10 seconds. IMHO, best when used in conjunction with DPS buffs (Ardent Battle Cry, Volcanic Rage, Juggernaut) to "steal" aggro. For guardians who want to take aggro, I would recommend this with Overreach combos (provided directional shielding allows) Goad is a single-target ability that can be used once every 90 seconds. It makes the target attack the guardian. This gives the guardian time to build aggro. It also puts a 30 second debuff on the target such that another Goad or Goad Mob will not work on the target. In most instances, you should not use this in Boss fights, you should be managing your aggro with other tools. I consider this a trash and group playing skill. When killing trash or playing in a group (not raid) then you tend to kill things quickly, without giving the tank time to build aggro. Goad gives the tank spot aggro to take the mob off the healer, cause we know a good tank will just let the rogue or mage die, as that appeases Crom! Improved Defensive Stance adds 3% more damage mitigation (both physical and magical invulnerability) to your Defensive Stance. The physical mitigation for this talent is at a different layer of defense than Iron Skin and is not additive to your armor rating. So you will not see a full 3% addition to your "real" physical damage mitigation, you will only see between 1.5% and 2% increase in your physical mitigation. Magical mitigation increase will also be less than 3% depending on your protection rating. Iron Skin adds about 5% physical damage mitigation when fully feated. Burning Vigor gives a chance of getting a health regen proc when you are hit by magical damage. Fully feated it is a 256 hp heal. The proc rate fully feated is 10% chance per magical hit taken with a maximum of 10 procs per minute. Sustained Rage gives a 15% bonus to weapon damage when full feated. As more damage means more aggro, I use this talent. Fully feated Counterstrike Stance does 11 points of damage to something attacking you while you are in Defensive Stance. It does not trigger Bleeding Counterstrikes. IMHO, a poor choice for spending 3 points. Surging Health gives you a chance to get a health regen proc when you are hit by physical damage. Fully feated it is a 6% chance to gain a 256 hp heal with a maximum of 6 procs per minute. Anticipation sometimes does 23 damage to mobs attacking you while you are in Defensive Stance. It does not trigger Bleeding Counterstrikes. Since Counterstrike Stance is a pre-req, I feel this is a poor choice for spending 4 points. Guarded Frenzy decreases the penalty for Frenzy Stance. Cunning Deflection gives you 50% damage deflection for one strike and does 100% damage back upon the attacker. The damage deflection reduces incoming damage by 50%, then your normal mitigation is applied. Lifesave adds 52 natural health regen bonus to Defensive Stance at level 80 when fully feated. Volcanic Rage is a 20 second ability usable every 2 minutes that adds 30% weapon damage. Goad Mob is an AE spot aggro talent that supposedly makes up to 12 mobs within 5 meters attack the soldier. It has a 5 minute reuse timer and puts a 30 second debuff on the mobs such that another Goad or Goad Mob will have no affect. Improved Goad Mob increases the area of affect by 5 meters, extending it to a 10 meter radius. If you remember your geometry, this increases the area of affect by 4 times. My assumption is that aggro has some "givens". a. 1 point of damage = 1 aggro b. "a" is modified by aggro multipliers (both up and down) c. combos and abilities have inate aggro (Ciderheim had a list of some values for guardian from 2008) d. Aggro is accumulated. To take aggro, you generally need 110% more aggro than the person you are trying to take it from. e. Aggro is temporeal? Not sure the decay rate on aggro or whether someone just does more cumulative damage to take aggro. It makes more sense for it to have decay given how Irritate supposedly works. Soldier Class Aggro Tools All soldier classes were given Irritate which is a single target aggro generating ability. The aggro from this ability decays quickly, so a tank needs to generate "real" aggro to keep aggro. All the soldier classes can spec into an AE aggro generating talent that hits up to 4 close mobs. The mobs have to be within 5 meters. For a guardian, this is called Cry of Havoc. For Conqs it is Retaliation. DT's have Seal of Chaos. Goad and Goad Mob put a 30 second debuff on the mob such that another Goad or Goad Mob does not affect the mob. During raid boss fights, these two talents should not be used in most circumstances. I feel these are trash mob talents and group talents. In both these scenarios, people tend to attack prior to the tank getting the mob aggro. These talents allow the group to kill quickly without a tank needing to build aggro. Not sure what Taunt really does. Whether it gives a chance at generating more aggro or whether it generates more aggro per hit. For most abilities, 100 points is 1%, so 800 points in taunt is 8% of something. Maybe 8% more aggro, maybe 8% chance of more aggro. At any rate, my taunt is 800. At any rate, the Taunt skill is hard capped at 800 points (10 times your level). So if you put 800 points into taunt, having additional Taunt on weapons or armor is useless. However, adding bonus Hate is useful and I don't think there is a hard cap for Hate. Conqs and Guards have other talents that can be used to modify aggro. Guardians have Intervene. Conqs have Mocking Sneer. As a guardian, my main combos for keeping aggro are Strike and Guard, Overreach, Dulling Blow and Counterstrike. Then Guard Destroyer and Plexus Strike. I view Counterstrike (III and IV layered) as very important when I have aggro because of the additional damage it does over time due to having Bleeding Counterstrikes talented. If I want to steal aggro, I use Overreach, Strike and Guard, Dulling Blow and Plexus Strike, depending on the shielding. Overreach generates the most aggro. So if the mobs shielding allows for it, spamming Overreach IV and III generates the most aggro. I do not use the low level combos that all soldier classes get except when I want to maximize Fatality chances in a group. I use the fast striking single stage combos to time killing blows. Remember to have tons of potions. MT's drink healing and stamina pots like ale. You can buy crates of healing/stamina/mana pots from the Merchant vendor outside the trade area in Old Tarantia. I welcome your feedback and corrections to my information. Would be nice to have this a stickie so it stays on top.

no shield slam ? it hits almost the same as over reach and has +hate that over reach dosent?