What To Know

Why be a Brigand?

I'm the type of person who likes to be busy and in the middle of the fight. I don't like the responsibility of making sure everyone isn't being beaten on, and that's why a Brigand sits so well with me. This class is designed to do damage and do it very well. If you are the type of person who enjoys supporting the group, sneaking around, and beating the poo out of stuff, this class is for you my friend.

The next inevitable question is, why not make a Swashbuckler? Swashies are a great class, no doubt, but they focus on AOE (Area of Effect) attacks and focus on stealth attacks more. Both classes attack from behind and the side mainly but Brigands have more stuns and some unique damage skills.

What you have to keep in mind, is you WILL have to be evil. So if you don't like Freeport, Neriak, or Gorowyn then you might want to think about playing a swashbuckler.

Solo Play

Brigands are very effective solo but primarily against single targets. Brigands can do an amazing amount of damage right out the gate, sometimes stunning a creature so it barely even touches them. The problem, is refresh timers. Once you've burned your abilities, there is some standing around time. I've found no trouble at all taking down anything yellow conned solo.

There is a method to playing the brigand solo, but once you have it down, it flows nicely. I got into a groove long ago with a attack strategy of stealth attack, front attack, front attack, debuffs, Cheap Shot, then 2 flanking shots. Repeat as needed. Unfortunately, if lag is an issue for you regularly, it makes it hard to get in the Cheap Shot and flanking shots but if you land them, it's a huge help.

Group Play

Brigands can be the heart and soul of the group DPS. It can be very easy while the tank gets beat on to open up and wail on the target. The chain armor, mixed with your defense stance will allow many hits to go right past you. I've been able to solo even conned targets with just a healer with me before. With a good tank, you should be able to let loose and do some nice damage, but keep an eye out for tanks who have trouble keeping aggro. With the sort of damage a brigand can do, it sometimes is necessary to manage that aggro. Take it easy at the beginning of the fight and let the tank build hate, then lay on higher damage attacks on the last 50% of the mob's life.

What Gear should I Carry?

A lot of that is personal preference. As a rule, Brigands wear chain armor. It provides a higher mitigation than leather or that paper cloth crap. For the most part, you'll be dodging hits, but you'll want to be able to take a punch or two.

As for weapons, it's usually recommended you work on your slashing and piercing skills. Some skills require the use of certain weapons and you don't want to have that super nice weapon drop when you can't use it effectively do you? Some people have been known to carry a buckler to dodge more and take advantage of AA's. I don't have much experience with that personally but I've seen it done effectively.

The bottom line, is you should go with what you are comfortable with and what provides you with the best offensive/defensive capabilities. Your power pool is decided by Agility and Strength so those stats are going to be the most important.

Achievements

What achievement lines you choose is highly dependant upon how you play. I suggest reading up on the abilities for both the brigand and the rogue to decide which would be more helpful to you!