Kind of hijacking the thread but I was curious to know if self-preservation applies to aegis boon as well.
OT: As for Essential party skill I focus on skill that will help me keep hate and then skills that will reduce the damage I take. My absolute essentials are (at rank 16: Provoke, Taunt, Phalanx, Aegis Boon, Defender, still precision. Eventually when I can get them, I think that obsess, self preservation, heavy slash/stab, prime conditioning, intimidation and possibly accomplice will be invaluable.
I also throw in Concussive Blow, Moonrise, Howling Vortex (usually set that as my 1 WS) Shock Spikes and occasionally Stoneskin and cure depending on who else is in the party and the difficulty of the fight as those are all very valuable.
Other interesting combintions I'm thinking about:
Murderous intent + Shield Bash + Haymaker + Fracture + Phalanx (Low TP High damage build)
Spinstroke/blindside + Raging strike + Ferocity (high Damage Ws to help pull hate off of another character)
Edited, Dec 6th 2010 3:52am by FinalSwag