Nexion

Coming back to EQ2 after having been away for about 1 & 1/2 years.

Gonna be duoing with a buddy all the way up to 80, but we want to run instances for shits and giggles even if the loot is poor etc.

He is an Inquisitor, but I can't make up my mind what I want to be yet. I am stuck between swashy and zerker.

I had a 40 Brig back in the day, and I went down the sta line with him and it seemed pretty damned good for tanking. Not talking about raids mind you as I dunno about that, but for just instance groups it seemed pretty viable. I presume that on single target fights the swashy might not fare as well due to not being able to stunlock the shit out of the mob for most of the fight, but with better aoe dmg and aggro, and the mez, I don't see why a swashy would be a bad tank while leveling.

What I'm really looking for is what would be a better partner to duo with an Inquisitor. I want to go dps at 80 regardless of what class I play, and just for the sake of making things easier and more fun I'd go down the sta line while leveling if I choose swashy.

I guess I have three questions.

1.) Can zerkers do decent dps at cap when geared/specced solely for dps? Especially in an aoe situation compared to a swashy.

2.) How deep into the game can a sta specced swashy tank before becoming a gimmick or just unworkable?

3.) Which of the two classes would be a better partner for an Inquis?

This is for leveling/farming/instances in pve, no pvp at all.

Thanks for any answers.

Venser 2.0

Zerkers are amazing dps end game with right gear.. but so are swashies.
Swash on AE AND single target fights > Brig, easy. as far as spec for tanking, ive tanked , just about every zone in pure DPS spec (Swash) . dont see a point in going aggro STA line spec if your healer can keep you up. Swash and Zerker are both pretty fun, but Swash > Zerker.

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Baradin

I want to start off by saying that Swashy = awesome heroic tank. Better than the Brigand due to AoE attacks which = better aggro control. You also get a mez.

I duo with my wife who plays a Fury, and we've cleared nearly every dungeon while leveling up. Right now we're lvl 70, so we're going through the KoS content. I've been tanking for guild groups in SoS, Nest, and PoA without any problem at all (lots of grouped mobs). Most of that was done with me in DPS spec, however recently I switched to the Stamina + Agility spec, plus the defensive buffs in the Shadow lines; since the change, I have noticed an improvement in my ability to hold aggro and I also take noticeably less damage. With mostly MC gear I'm sitting at 52.5% mitigation and 57% avoidance while SOLO in defensive stance.

I tend to go offensive and dual wield for solo named so we can just burn it down quickly, and defensive one-hand + shield for large groups. I rarely have issues with hit rates either. <---loves En Garde.