DPS Agro

[Xev]

How do you handle agro as DPS?

I've tanked enough things in the game to have a pretty good idea how it works as a Tank.

I can grit my teeth and hang on with a Melee build and tank my way through most fights if I have to no matter what the team - what else am I going to do?

If I can't keep myself up playing Support.. well.. Yeah, As Support, gaining agro is sometimes a form of Support and even when I don't want it I know how to (try to) handle it. Heal/shield the bejebus out of myself and try not to faceplant and still keep everyone else pumped - all pretty equal in priority.

Now we have the Pew - Pews.. The Deeps. DPS.

I went through as many levels of Alerts as is allowed (30?) when I leveled Backfire, my Soldier. I got shredded so many times, So finally I was like screw this I don't want to lose anymore stars. Assuming I ever got any.

I started kiting Alert bosses.

I live. Everyone else lives. All they have to do is follow the kited mob and Pew Pew/Allakhazam it into submission. If there's stuff in the way, deal with it before it deals with you, but you don't have to deal with the Boss because I am tanking it for you tyvm. Think of it as an Escort Mish with an Alert boss chasing someone with 4k hps in the middle.. Sometimes I think of it as PL sessions with my necro in EQ (that ancient game, EverQuest).

I won't do this much anymore but if I'm low on HoT bots and my clickies are on cooldown and I want to keep dishing out dps rather than standing and blocking through most of the fight I will.

How do you handle DPS agro..? How do you feel about having to chase a kited Alert boss as long as the Alert ends as quickly or quicker than if you hadn't?

[Kaos Arcanna]

I can't really offer too much advice to you on this because I tend to take a defensive passive on my toons. Robot Rex the Cowboy is the toon I do alerts on daily, and a good chunk of the time he gets aggro from the baddies because of Two Gun Mojo. He has Regeneration so if things get too rough I hide behind his block till he heals up. (Though if my toons are taking the heat I do try to maneuver so my teammates can attack the baddie from the behind.)

Beyond that, I don't think I've heard too many complain about anyone kiting the baddie. Most meleers in CO take the lunge power once they learn of its existence, and I'd think the other squishies would be happy not to die so long as you don't lead the baddie into them.

[Xev]

1) If you're taking a Defense Passive you (whoever, not you specifically..) aren't dps. All toons can deal dps to some degree but unless you're running an Offense Passive you aren't dps. Not saying a good defense passive player/build can't outdps any offense passive player out there.... I'm saying if you want the t-shirt you have to run the passive and any real dps will de-shirt you if you try to wear a dps t-shirt while running a Defense passive.

(Edit...: How this ^ pertains, is, it's just different running an Offense Passive vs. a Defensive one. You are building for dps which is one of the highest forms of agro in the game and you have the least amount of protection from agro. It requires strategies unique to pure dps toons.)

I dunno.. I don't like screwing things up for other people and I had 1 player who kinda wigged out on what was going on with a kited Alurt boss. Well, and, I never see it done.. I see people running from the Bosses but not kiting them. And I planned to, and did, run a tonnnn of Smashes. Mostly (due to jealousy) to satisfy the itch of finally being able to deeps them decently. And I have a retcon to pay for and had a stack of Resource boosters laying around.

I thought I'd at least turn on the outrage-o-meter here and see if it picked up anything.

Thank you for your calm reaction  : )