[SW] General Guide

[diedrake]

Ah i havent looked at it yet. Just made the toon 2 days ago haha

[dansari]

Mix of WS, BS, and armor talis is the way I went.

[szejoza]

Question from newb when it comes to SW, if you are specced for skirmish or scout do you often swap between those 2 stances (for ballistic and range buff in scout and popping skirmish when movement/toughness is needed - not considering stance specific skills here, just general way of doing things) or you just stick to the one stance representing your build and that's all?

For assault I'm assuming you want to harras from range as much as possible vs melees before engaging, but what about fights vs sorcs/magus? Do you charge to melee asap or do some magic tricks of yours?

I'm still low level and stance dancing is a normal thing for me, but considering small amount of skills at my disposal it's not a big deal. I'm more worried about max level when I'll have all bars full of skills I need to remember to use

[dansari]

Stance dancing separates good SWs from recognizable SWs. That said, if you're assault specced (where your secondary tree is in Skirm), you're probably rarely playing in Scout stance. Best you get out of Scout in that scenario is the longer ranged armor debuff (that you can do in assault anyway), or Flame Arrow which is meh. Likewise, if you're Scout specced you likely won't be in Assault a lot unless you get caught and need the extra survivability. Ultimately, if you play enough, you will come to learn all of the abilities on each bar and when to use them.. but don't feel like you're doing something wrong if you're not using one stance very often.

Regarding how to play vs certain classes, that's a larger discussion and ultimately depends on who you're playing against (1v1 queens will know how to play against a SW... no names probably won't so you can get away with more). In general, even though I'm assault specced, I'll normally kite mdps/tanks as much as I can until I can comfortably kill them in melee. Vs. ranged, I'll rush into melee while softening from range since all of my burst is melee. Against good SHs you may be SOL since you lack their range and they can perma kite you, but if you catch one out they'll die pretty quickly. I'd say don't even try against healers -- most know what detaunt does and you lack the burst to kill them solo the vast majority of the time.

[szejoza]

Thanks, so I need to keep my dancing habit up

Another question - skirmish got a lot of AoE skills but are they any useful in bombing/aoe/funnels? Or they act just like a kill-cap in zergs to cap dmg on as many kills as possible (well, and flame arrow falls in this category as well I suppose)

[dansari]

Thanks, so I need to keep my dancing habit up

Another question - skirmish got a lot of AoE skills but are they any useful in bombing/aoe/funnels? Or they act just like a kill-cap in zergs to cap dmg on as many kills as possible (well, and flame arrow falls in this category as well I suppose)

Your main bombing ability is Lileath. It's less spectacular since the Expert Skirm fix. You can build a group around it, like getting a pump AM to get you to FM quickly to dump damage, but you're vastly inferior to a BW bombing even in that scenario. This is certainly fine given your lethality on single targets, just understand your place. If you want to contribute in this way, the best scenario is probably utility based with Pierce Defenses/Leading Shots, especially if you are Slayer heavy. You can go glass cannon Bullseye, but that has diminishing returns if you already have strong BWs in a warband setting.

[szejoza]

It's less spectacular since the Expert Skirm fix

Can you evaluate please? What was the 'previous' version. Currently tooltip from buildes states: Cast times are reduced by 50% when I'm 20feet away from the target. Does it not affect Lileath arrow or the range required for it to work is too small?

And is Leading Shots any useful? I know I'm sacrificing my own dmg output here but 8% from this+ 5% from kotbs aura seems quite strong, in this combo I'm still getting 5% crit from kotbs and the rest of the team gets total 13%crit chance. Or does it look only good on paper (and it's applicable only in weird compositions like 1tank3dps2healers I guess)

Sorry for the nagging, but rarely I'm eager to know about new class and find a people that are willing to answer my questions

[dansari]

It's less spectacular since the Expert Skirm fix

Can you evaluate please? What was the 'previous' version. Currently tooltip from buildes states: Cast times are reduced by 50% when I'm 20feet away from the target. Does it not affect Lileath arrow or the range required for it to work is too small?

And is Leading Shots any useful? I know I'm sacrificing my own dmg output here but 8% from this+ 5% from kotbs aura seems quite strong, in this combo I'm still getting 5% crit from kotbs and the rest of the team gets total 13%crit chance. Or does it look only good on paper (and it's applicable only in weird compositions like 1tank3dps2healers I guess)

Sorry for the nagging, but rarely I'm eager to know about new class and find a people that are willing to answer my questions

You're not nagging! Everyone is a noob in some aspect(s) of the game.

Expert Skirmisher didn't change, but it affects LA differently than before. Previously, Lileath was considered a "self-cast" for purposes of ES. Self casts were always subject to the effects of ES. (This changed Engy too, to the detriment of the tinkerer build). So with ES slotted, you always had 1s LAs. Previously the meta orvr build was Bullseye, Expert Skirm, Instinctive Aim, and a fourth tactic depending on the situation (Replenishing Strikes.. Leading Shots.. Power Draw) and Unshakeable Focus for m2. It was a very strong, mobile bombing build that rivaled BW damage.

Currently, you can still run ES but your main target must be within 20ft of you to trigger the cast time reduction for LA. This can be tough unless you have strong/competent supporting roles.

LS is still good, but it has no room in an Assault build so *most* SWs I know don't normally run it (caveat: most SWs I know are primarily in small scale/scs; that's certainly how I play mine now because my BW >>> my SW in warband play). The increased crit affects damage and healing crits, so it can be beneficial in any group.

[lastalien]

Now sw usefull only in melehybrid spec. For RvR BW much better, for RDD party BW much better.

[szejoza]

Thanks for info Dansari, I'll try not being bad with my SW