Raid Aggro

[bummp]

I recently finished weapon affinity 5 and my mainhand weapon is an ethereal destroyer.  I love the fact that it procs like mad.  However, in raid situations, this is a bad thing.  It seems that if the tank goes down, I am really high on the hate list.  For exp, I don't mind this as I would much rather take some hits and possibly die rather than the cleric.  

I am wondering what my weapon choice should be to decrease this aggro problem.  Should I simply switch the ED to offhand for raiding for the short term? Should i stay with 1 hand weapons for raids or is a good 2hb a must have for raids?  I've been thinking of using points to get one for a long time, but I always find something else that I NEED to have.  If I go for a 2hb, the 3 that I would be looking at would be VDD, SoT, and the Cranial Bludgenor (sp).  I know they would decrease my dps...but then again, if they keep me alive...

Any help you guys offer would be great.

[Aneya]

If you can get a Savage Platinum Fist you can put it main hand and ED off hand for nearly the same dps when you want to reduce agro.

[Kherash]

ED will out dps pretty much anything. As for reducing aggro... well, that's another story.

I don't like the 2hb much since they decrease our overall dps (skill caps still suck Sony). However, if you can grab a SoT (Sweet proc btw) or a VDD, then I suggest grabbing one. Dps is still good, but not as good as H2H weapons (Xeg wraps/Shinai).

I treat all Time weapons with respect and would most likely bid on them since our H2H EP/Time drops are few and super rare (Another thanks to Sony).  /sigh

[Dummkopf]

I used the ED in mainhand for a long time. Now there are more jokes about me dieing than about rangers in my guild as a result since i always was the first after a tankchange to die (or even before with bad tanks). Since i got my Shinai i switch to Shinai/Timeweaver for raids and some groups and use ED/Shinai solo and some groups. This way i lose some dps and a lot of aggro on raids (mind you, i still die a lot on tankchanges)

I tried the SoT but even without the stun augment i put in it was a big aggro weapon and i hat at least the same aggro problems as with my ED plus the dps is way lower, still using it for tanking GoD. Cranial Bludgeoner is a lot less aggro but its dps plain sucks.

The ED is a real sweet dps weapon but its aggro problems make it hard to use on raids sometimes, a good one hand setup without the ED can be near or same dps (shinai/jagged onyx staff) and less aggro.

[Cathartic]

I agree Dumm i currently am using the shinai/jagged oynx staff combo and dps is good and have no problem with aggro and i do some good dps with em.  If your guild is not doing much for ikki raids anymore, i know mine is not, the Timeweaver would be a good chioce for the offhand dps would be good and i dont think the summoned pets add to your aggro.

Cathartic

[Urim]

Doesn't really matter, you'll still be one of the first people killed after tank goes down even without ED unless you were to switch to a horrible weapon. Haven't been using ED for a long time but i can almost guarantee that when a tank goes down i'll be the next one dead.

[Rhaynne]

Nuh uh... I'm normally next!

[Rarrum]

I use 2hb in all cases (SoT w/ +4dmg aug), and I'm still often the first person a mob turns on when the tank dies.  I don't think changing weapons it going to make a lot of difference.  Your best bet is to just hit protective spirit, possibly try throwing a heal on yourself, and hope either a tank gets taunt off soon or someone heals you.

[Sempai]

As I posted in my guild forums ...

Hello, my name is Sempai and I am a professional speedbump.

My opinion, learn to love death since we have no way to ditch aggro except turning off attack and not casting.

[Dummkopf]

Hehe, youre so right Sempai, sometimes i get put on the tanklist or just mentioned as a "buffertank" because i get aggro anyway.

[bummp]

As luck would have it, I actually looted a Savage Platinum Fist today.  I have killed that Spider Queen countless times to no avail.  I was in Kael messing around with Tormax when my pals sent me a tell to come loot it.  I was sooo stoked.

Tonight at our Time raid, I mainhanded the SPF with the ED in my offhand.  I didn't get a parse, but I feel like I did some really nice damage.  Not only that, I didn't take 1 death the entire night.  RZ didn't even beat my ass, which was the true test.  Now, I just need to save up some AA's and do all the GoD pet AA's so my SPF pets go nuts.

I really appreciate all the useful info.  BTW, anyone have any experience with a Dagger of Distraction?  Is the proc reliable enough to keep a bit of aggro off of you?

[Sempai]

On every mob that matters, the DoD proc has been resisted for me. Does not seem to work on Gods and Boss mobs, and I can pretty much tank everything else. :lol:

As a side note, we met Zun (Txevu boss) last night for the first time, and I managed to eat the first death! Go Go beastlord aggro.

[Aneya]

Another note on agro. While I get slightly higher on the agro list with ED I still don't end up next in line to get eaten after named mobs kill wars. They usualy burn through my warder, half the wars, SKs and rogues first.

The only time in raids I really worry about agro is when I slow adds and the agro I get there has no relation to the weapons I'm wielding or should not atleast.

[Valsuvious]

I can confirm that urim or rhaynne are usually one of the first ones to die after the main tank goes down.  But I tend to think it's cause they both suck... might just be me though :)

[Caurion Seiren]

Since my guild started doing PoTime, we've had two ED's drop. The first went to my class officer, and the 2nd to a monk. After watching both of them in action (and the aggro they generate with procs) I wouldn't touch an ED with a ten-foot pole. My offhand is pretty solid atm, but I'll eventually go for the 1hb from Ikkinz 2 or Timeweaver. With the news about our skill caps finally going up soon, 1HB is looking better and better by the second. =)