Chaining behavior of Avenger's Shield

[lethario]

Code: Select all

              R
A B                   E F
C D                  G H


     P


Where A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H are mobs, P is our Maintankadin, R is a rat/toad/critter.

I think you know where this is going...

I haven't seen this happen in a BC instance, but I saw it several times in lvl 60 instances before BC when we first got shield throw.

I had it happen a couple of times in earlier BC instances causing wipes. Then I got the hint to throw at C or A all the time and have not had it happen since.

[Slamdorff]

Hitting the far away critter as a second or third jump target suggests there is an aggro generated factor involved in the AS jump.
Why would it jump far if not the low level critter took aggro? Maybe thats worth checking in groups with a level difference or even cloth vs leather etc.

I haven't checked it though, but it might make the Moroes pull more consistent, now that he invites different friends each time. Let's hear it from guys and gals who play far more than I do....

And thx all for making pallytanking easy to get info about. I learn every day.

[elson]

This isn't something I can verify 100% but in my experience I have been able to controll pretty well where AS goes in that 4 setup mentioned.


A B___________________________________________x

C D



______________________P

P is the the paladin. X is the critter I killed to show off my massive continuum blade dps after last pull.


If A is sapped I will shield throw at D and from memory its reliable to hit D, C, and B.

If D is sapped I will shield throw at A, so on and so forth. This depends largely on the space between the monters and the exact layout they are in. It's really an eye judgement call on whether or not you can see which is closest (from my experience it goes to the two closest targets).

There are situations this works and others where it really won't, just takes knowing the individual pull I guess.

*edited because i hadn't slept and wrote the wrong letters*

[jere]

This is all pretty interesting.

I've been watching just about every AS throw I've made, trying to discern if there was some pattern.

Contrary to a couple comments above, I've noticed no pattern whatsoever with the hops that the shield takes.

We run Mech and Slave Pens (heroic) every night regularly. Usually about the same group of players.. and I've noticed it being a different chain every time through.

Imho, it's completely random. I will, however, continue to look for consistency somewhere.

I do mech and heroic mech a lot, so here is something for you to test out. On the pulls before the 2nd boss (the fire elementals one..can't remember her name),there are two sets of 4 peeps lined up in a row. Every time you run mech target either of the mobs that is on an end of the line. Every time it will hit the first (or last) 3 mobs in a row and never hit the last person on the other end. If you target one of the two middle ones, I have not idea what the shield will do, but I totally rely on the "lined up" principle in places like steamvaults, botanica, and mechanar to pull what I want to pull without breaking saps or pulling other groups.

On a side not, I almost always use AS to pull Moroes now. As long as you target one of the two outermost mobs (on either side), you will always hit that mob, Moroes, and the mob between them. That gives me instant threat on Moroes and two of the CC'd mobs. Obviously there are times where the mobs and CC plans don't mesh well with this plan, but it has worked for me 90% of the time so far.

[Prepared]

The most annoying thing - and this may just be post-patch - but I've noticed AS will not only bounce more randomly, but also decide which target to hit first.

IE:

A B C

I will target A, cast, and it will hit B, then C or A and then stop.

I run Heroic Mech like a fiend, and pretty much do all the pulls the same way, so each time it's an adventure in "which targets will I have initial threat on!"

[Dorvan]

AS will always fly to your target first unless it misses your first target, in which case the animation will show it flying directly to the second target. It the situation you've described, you will never cast it at A and see it hit B and then A, but you will occasionally see it hit B and then C because A was a miss.

[Prepared]

AS will always fly to your target first unless it misses your first target, in which case the animation will show it flying directly to the second target. It the situation you've described, you will never cast it at A and see it hit B and then A, but you will occasionally see it hit B and then C because A was a miss.

I just tend to LoS pull a lot, for which I do a quick turn-jump as I run, so I admit I just look at trajectory, not actual numbers. This explains it!

[Jaydin]

i do believe it calculates which is the closest at the time of contact with the target, and proceeds onto that target, where it calcs the next approach, never repeating targets. And yes, critters have a holy magnet which attracts the power of the avenger's shield like nothing else

but hey - i love pulling two mobs and seeing that random 1.2k crit rise up from where i saw no mob... i giggle a bit each time ^_^

[Serrot]

Bottomline: beware of critters messing yer pull

Funny you should mention this. I used AS to break a sheep once. I targeted the sheep, clicked AS and off it went. It killed 3 spiders and never touched the sheep.

[Jaydin]

the best, tho, is when i first started using it in front of the guildmates, they thought that if it twanged off the last mob it would aggro more things...
>-<

[Semirhage]

A _ B
_ E _
C _ D


(R)

P

P = Paladin
R = stealthed Rogue

E = Ripper.
Sap D, and AS A works. This is a pull in Ramparts up that circular ramp.

p.s. I AS on a sheep and it MISSED!