Tell me about Swashbucklers...pleaseFollow

I currently have a 29 Wood Elf Ranger on Guk and rolled a new scout on the IOR. I enjoy the scout class but am considering making my new scout into a swashbuckler. I enjoy hand-to-hand rather than ranged weapons, but still want to keep my DPS high. I considered making an assassin to be more concentrated on melee, but there are just way too many around (on Guk anyway). Can someone please give me some pro's and cons on Swashbucklers? Thanks.

Lierta noted:

Trust me on this... those bears tear everybody to shreads!

With my 25 ranger, I can solo most any mob in T-Steppes that is yellow or under. Giants and griffons are no big threat and skellies and undead are a cakewalk. Wolves, lions and antilope... child's play!

But those bears... even a blue bear can be an iffy proposition! I think that outside of named and heroic mobs, they are one of the hardest hitting critters in the zone!

And another thing, they have a wide aggro radius. There are lots of mobs I can get real close to without triggering an attack, but the TS bears seem to aggro from much further out... especially when I am already engaged with one of their bear buddies!

Yes, I also take on orange bears with my warden but I think that druids are better soloers in general. The ability to self heal when things get dicey always makes me bolder!

You don't get much in the way of buffs as a swashbuckler, and your armor isn't all that good, but I found mine easy to solo as long as I do a couple of things. I use poisons for one thing, you can have two active, and that can make all the difference. For another, I am continually using HO's. Swashbucklers have a good variety available and I make use of them. Also, make sure you dual wield with fast weapons, especially if you use poisons. The quicker you hit, the more opportunities for the poison to "proc". I have been able to solo yellows and even oranges on occasion. Just remember, your best defense sometimes is to run like heck, or hit "escape" if you have it. We are not bound to a code of honor, like paladins. We are rogues after all.

Yanari confided:

Actually, I find the term rather endearing... And yes you're pirates but you're nice pirates... not mean, smelly pirates!!!

at what lvl do you turn to swash? 20?

At 20 I became a Swashbuckler, not a "swashy" (which sounds too much like "swabby" who, as you know, is the lowly scalawag who mops the decks).

For my fellow pirates (yar, ye know who ye be, ya barnacle covered, milk drinking sons of land lubbers), September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!