SK Soloing. Debuffing mobs, worth it?

[IzHaN80]

When soloing, if you steal STR from mob, plus ATK and debuff their STR, does it have an impact at all? I would like to know if someone has tested this before.

[Troxx]

Yes it has an impact. As to whether it’s worth it - that’s up to you.

[Keebz]

If you're just trading hits with a blue con, you won't get your mana's worth out of debuffing. In this case, the most mana efficient thing is to fear kite which also costs mana. Though I generally try to keep STR + ATK buffs up (across multiple fights, not casting each fight), as it helps in aggregate.

If you're fighting one big baddie, you might get your mana's worth. The question is Is -10 STR -18AC and -20 ATK worth ~165 mana worth of life tap (I think casting time is more or less a wash).

[mattydef]

All you really need 1-50 is a pet and lifetaps. Use your pet to tank the mobs initial hits and lifetap between swings (if you have a high delay 2h) or wait until they're fleeing. You should only ever have to worry about mana, which is far faster to regen than hp and will decrease your downtime

[Sizar]

I habitually would make sure most mobs while I was leveling from 1-40ish I stole str from at least. Once I was past like 40 I stopped doing that. Get yourself a Dark Reaver from Cavalier in Lguk. Then once you get Shadow Vortex I would make sure that buff was always on me, so if it meant stealing AC from every 3rd mob, then that's what I went for

[greatdane]

Generally speaking, when soloing typical blue mobs, you'd get more value out of spending that same mana on a lifetap or two. The debuffs have practically no impact and you should be fear-kiting anyway. With a choice between spending x mana to debuff a mob or x mana lifetapping it, it's unlikely that the debuff option would actually result in a faster kill or less damage taken throughout the fight.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

When soloing, if you steal STR from mob, plus ATK and debuff their STR, does it have an impact at all? I would like to know if someone has tested this before.

Siphon STR only costs like 5 mana, so you get good value out of that in terms of mana spent vs. DPS gained. You don't need to cast it on every mob, just cast it when you need to get the buff again.

In terms of the effect you will see from debuffing the mob, it is very minimal sadly. Debuffs are only really noticeable on raid mobs who hit very hard and have nasty procs. Just use your mana on Lifetap/Snare/Fear/Buffs/Pet.

[long.liam]

Siphon STR only costs like 5 mana, so you get good value out of that in terms of mana spent vs. DPS gained. You don't need to cast it on every mob, just cast it when you need to get the buff again.

In terms of the effect you will see from debuffing the mob, it is very minimal sadly. Debuffs are only really noticeable on raid mobs who hit very hard and have nasty procs. Just use your mana on Lifetap/Snare/Fear/Buffs/Pet.

I just us Siphon Strength to pull. The cheap cost, plus the added benefit of not messing with enchanter mezzes. I spam clinging darkness onto mobs if I'm having trouble keeping aggro, but Siphon strength for the initial pull is pretty nice.

[long.liam]

In a solo situation though I'd just save your mana for more casts of Darkness & Fear and occasional lifetaps. Any difference in dmg taken or dps put out will be too small to outweigh the mana cost of casting those spells on every mob. Except maybe siphon strength because it only cost 5 mana to cast.

[Snaggles]

Siphon is cheap to pull with. Not a bad opener either if tanking for a group since the first cast is aggro-locked quite low.

Shroud of hate for your own dps while it lasts. I haven’t done aggro tests with this vs the AC taps but always assumed it was worse. Some say it holds up and might even be equal.

[IzHaN80]

I been testing this constantly, is just feels like Disarm, kinda useless they still hit you as hard as they were hitting you post debuffing and everything. I only keep Shroud of Hate up usually and Vortex when facin ga tough enemy plus i always make sure to get the extra +10 STR and Grim Aura for extra attack.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I been testing this constantly, is just feels like Disarm, kinda useless they still hit you as hard as they were hitting you post debuffing and everything. I only keep Shroud of Hate up usually and Vortex when facin ga tough enemy plus i always make sure to get the extra +10 STR and Grim Aura for extra attack.

Disarm is good if they are dual wielding. They'll do noticeably less damage if you can disarm the offhand weapon. It also generates agro, so you should use it when tanking.

[greatdane]

Sure, but unless you've got your hands on someone's former pet, it's almost unheard-of for mobs to dual wield. By default, ordinary mobs (like the kind that can spawn with fine steel weapons or anything like that) will never spawn with two weapons. Unless a mob has been given weapons by a player, the only time it will dual-weld is if it has a non-random weapon on its loot table and the capability of dropping more than one item from its loot table, such as might happen with raid bosses. You'll never come across a trash mob with two weapons, because they won't have two loot slots that can contain a weapon. It isn't relevant to any soloing player. Almost all ordinary mobs have only one loot slot that can roll a weapon.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Sure, but unless you've got your hands on someone's former pet, it's almost unheard-of for mobs to dual wield. By default, ordinary mobs (like the kind that can spawn with fine steel weapons or anything like that) will never spawn with two weapons. Unless a mob has been given weapons by a player, the only time it will dual-weld is if it has a non-random weapon on its loot table and the capability of dropping more than one item from its loot table, such as might happen with raid bosses. You'll never come across a trash mob with two weapons, because they won't have two loot slots that can contain a weapon. It isn't relevant to any soloing player. Almost all ordinary mobs have only one loot slot that can roll a weapon.

It's relevant when soloing guards, which is good up to level 55. A lot of guard spots have dual wielding guards. Off the top of my head Freeport, Kelethin, and Kaladim guards will often dual wield.

[long.liam]

It's relevant when soloing guards, which is good up to level 55. A lot of guard spots have dual wielding guards. Off the top of my head Freeport, Kelethin, and Kaladim guards will often dual wield.

Even at cap, disarm has a very low chance of working and is often not worth the time spamming it. I wouldn't bother using it, unless you're just one of those completionist types that wants/needs every skill capped.

[long.liam]

It's relevant when soloing guards, which is good up to level 55. A lot of guard spots have dual wielding guards. Off the top of my head Freeport, Kelethin, and Kaladim guards will often dual wield.

Although, not sure why you even need to disarm the mob if you are fear kiting on your SK? You won't be getting hit anyway. Sure guards dual wield, but most are not worth killing past mid 50s anyway. Too low level.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Even at cap, disarm has a very low chance of working and is often not worth the time spamming it. I wouldn't bother using it, unless you're just one of those completionist types that wants/needs every skill capped.

I've had pretty good success disarming dual wield mobs with my Monk. I'm not saying you need it, but it does have benefits if you choose to use it. As I said before, it generates agro, so you should be using it in a group anyway in conjunction with Taunt. Might as well get those agro numbers up as fast as possible.

[long.liam]

I've had pretty good success disarming dual wield mobs with my Monk. I'm not saying you need it, but it does have benefits if you choose to use it. As I said before, it generates agro, so you should be using it in a group anyway in conjunction with Taunt. Might as well get those agro numbers up as fast as possible.

Ok. If you feel like it's worth it, I guess you do you. I myself feel like the skill sucks and is not worth spamming. I'm pretty lazy though and would rather just turn on auto-attack and watch the mobs die.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Ok. If you feel like it's worth it, I guess you do you. I myself feel like the skill sucks and is not worth spamming. I'm pretty lazy though and would rather just turn on auto-attack and watch the mobs die.

You should just tie it to a macro when you are lazy. You can do Slam/Taunt/Disarm all at the same time.

[Jimjam]

You should just tie it to a macro when you are lazy. You can do Slam/Taunt/Disarm all at the same time.

For my ‘the button’ macro I tend to start with attack off and end with attack on. I find it helps to ensure a round of attacks on top of the usual bash/disarm land after taunt and cement that lead taunt gives.

[greatdane]

I've had pretty good success disarming dual wield mobs with my Monk.

Monks cap disarm at 200. Shadowknights cap it at 70.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Monks cap disarm at 200. Shadowknights cap it at 70.

You should just tie it to a macro when you are lazy. You can do Slam/Taunt/Disarm all at the same time.