returning sk needs to know more about swarming

[ItchyD]

So I'm an 81sk with fairly poor gear and epic2 I just returned recently after several years off. I have around 300 AA's mostly CA and CS lately. What the heck is swarming? Pulling a bunch of mobs? Where and how does one do this? How can I start swarming now or at least start gearing up for it and focusing my aa's on it?

[Slein Jinn]

Seriously, there is no reason this needs a 500th thread.

[Kodaji]

Seriously I'm a total newbie to this forum but you have to try hard to NOT stumble over the other 5 million swarming threads. You don't even have to search, just click 95% of the other threads which fully answer this question

[Sepcieulus]

I can truth empathize with you, I came back to game a little over 2 years ago and was like "Swarming?!???!!!WTF!!!!. READ READ READ PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!! To me, reading the back and forth discussions in various threads have provided more insight than ,I feel, any single post could. The concept is not hard to grasp ... the implementation just takes practice.

[Brewdude]

Swarming is
1) Ability that gives you hps for melee damage (like 2.0 proc, or mortal coil)
2) Riposte procs.
3) getting enough mobs to hit you with tiny damage compared to the riposte procs generated
4) acquire sufficient stuff to survive until you've got the the woodchuck grinding properly.
5) PROFIT!
Best started at level 71

[aniam]

Originally Posted by Brewdude

Swarming is
1) Ability that gives you hps for melee damage (like 2.0 proc, or mortal coil)
2) Riposte procs.
3) getting enough mobs to hit you with tiny damage compared to the riposte procs generated
4) acquire sufficient stuff to survive until you've got the the woodchuck grinding properly.
5) PROFIT!
Best started at level 71

good advice, i'd like to add most sk's i know beef up there damage shield as much as possible which helps kill the mobs faster. There will be times where epic/mortal coil are not up its up you person swarming to know when to hit fd key or not. Leechcurse disc comes in handy for times when rng is not your friend. If your 1hander came from the same tier as 2hander in most cases you'd be better off using 1hander once you get shield specialist line of aa's maxed. Even if its slightly less dmg output the benefit of the shield ac/shield block more than make up for it. Max double riposte aa,veteran's wraith,mortal coil,life tap aa's,ca/cs,spell crits, and most important one that extends buff timers. This will make epic last longer making it easier to do.

I started swarming at 70 with no epic just mortal coil procs and found hole was great until 72 at latest. At your current lvl of 81 turn aa's on 100% and stay till you can't stand pofire/splitpaw anymore. I would say get at least 1k or so it will help a ton for when you are ready to hit up zones like thal,vald,ashengate,frostcrypt,beza,zeka,kaeasora, mg,fort mech,tosk, whatever other zones people swarm in now a days