Shattered Kingdoms

I've found that in my attempt to be a tad more knowledgeable about PK, the stance thing really seems to be a downfall. It's not instinctual and I never know what I should be in unless someone tells me. My first thought is if I am in stance defensive, it's when I'm not going to attack first, and when I'm in stance aggressive, it's because I -am- going to be attacking first. But apparently this is too simplistic. While I'm sure there might be a tad of a debate, could some of the PKers and vets let us know what, generally, might be the best stance in certain scenarios?

-While training
-PVE
-PVP
-First row
-Second row
-Third row
-Per class or weapon (if applicable?) or race (not sure why this one would matter, but you never know)

Is stance neutral ever a good idea?

If you live or die by casting you generally want to be in stance aggressive because it reduces your casting time. You should be in the back row anyways so stance defensive won't help you.

The only exception I am aware of is when you are training dodge.

You should be in stance neutral as a caster, unless you are taking arrow or crossbow fire - then switch to defensive. If you don't plan to cast much, but instead zap wands, brandish staves, recite scrolls and order pets, stay defensive all the time.

Aggressive stance makes you attack faster and deal more damage. However, it also makes you get hit more. It does not make you cast faster. There's never a reason to be in aggressive stance as a caster after you leave the newbie zone. Defensive makes you cast slower, but if you're mainly using pets and magical items then it won't matter.

Stance aggressive makes you
connect more often with physical blows
deal more physical damage on connected blows
get hit by physical attacks easier
take more physical damage (I think)
use a lot more PE on second/third/fourth attacks than on neutral/defensive.

Stance aggressive does not affect spellcasting in any way.

Stance neutral applies no penalties or bonuses to anything.

Stance defensive makes you
attack slower
be harder to hit
take less damage when you are hit (I think)
block more leg attacks with your shield
cast slower


I'd decide for yourself what you want. Casters should almost always be in stance neutral, with the exceptions of shamans in the front row and priests that are being shot with arrows. As a warrior class I usually prefer to be in stance aggressive if I'm not taking hits, and stance defensive if I am.

I keep being told that when you are moving, you go defensive (as a front row fighter), and switch to aggressive if you can handle it.

Never been suggested neutral before... often ignore it myself.

Leveling, use aggro or neutral if you don't like the increased PE loss from attacks. The following is assuming you're GM.

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Aggressive should probably only be used in 1vs1, PvE, and generally only when you aren't the 'main' tank of the group.

If you have 2 PCs behind you in the formation. You should be on defensive, or at least neutral. Never aggressive.

If you are a caster. You should never. Ever. Under ANY circumstances ever type in the words 'mood aggressive'. Never. You get no benefits from it. At all. Literally.

The only classes who should probably consider aggro are scout(who should always be aggro, IMO), rogues for BS/circle/etc, merc, barb, hellion, paladin. And those last 2 should probably never ever use it if they're alone, except for maybe cleave/HAMMERSKILL. Swashies should never use aggro, IMO. Unless you're like, fighting rats or something.

Neutral is perfectly fine to use and most people probably should use most of the time. Casters should always be on it, aside from the rare exception. Which only consists of Shamans and priests being shot at. You get your full set of attacks, and no penalty to anything.

The only classes who should be aggro 90% of the time, IMO are scout and rogue.

Swashies should probably be defensive 90% of the time. And switch only to neutral if they want their full set of attacks.

Per weapon/race/row doesn't really matter.


P.S. My melee characters that aren't swashies always die horribly. And I play a pretty good scout. So. Consider that with my recommendations.

There have been changes to the stances since I played, but my recommendations would be:

Always be on mood defensive when you are hanging around and RPing, regardless of race, class, or other factors. Even as a rogue, I was always on mood defensive if I wasn't expecting a fight. This allowed me to survive four backstab attempts and two hammerskill attempts. It lets you survive an ambush and gtfo, or survive an ambush, assess the situation, and stay and mess people up. If you are not expecting a fight, always be on mood defensive.

Finney's advice concerning casters was completely right.

As melee, I always was on mood defensive, except in the following types of scenarios:
1) I easily outmatched my opponent, and I wasn't worried about dying so much as I was worried about him getting away. Mood aggressive will help you land your bashes when you are not worried that your opponent might actually kill you.
2) In PvP, after a few rounds, I realize that I'm not taking much damage at all. Switch to neutral/aggressive and slaughter the enemy.

As a rogue/scout during PvP, you want to be aggressive.

You shouldn't try bashing people when you are on mood defensive. You usually want to be on mood defensive in PvE except when fighting things that you have to keep bashed.

Your normal stance for any class should always be defensive, run around with it at all times and a shield if possible to help you against surprise attacks etc.

In PVE and PVP if you are taking the damage from melee you should be in mood defensive always. (Unless you're training someplace where they dont do too much damage, then i'm im always in aggressive mood to take them down quicker).

Spell casters should always be in a neutral stance so they don't lose casting time and should immediately switch to defensive if they begin to take damage from arrows.

While training all of my characters are always in aggresive to push the damage output higher which could make training quicker. There is a slight increase in PE loss while in an aggressive mood and if you don't like that you can switch to neutral but really I wouldn't bother. In some places like training in Beozatar or the Temple of Murder if you're taking the damage you might need to be in a defensive mood but really that just depends on how your character is built and how much damage they are taking in the other moods.

If you're a melee class and you're not taking any hits in PVE it is recommended to be in the aggressive stance to make your damage output higher but if you begin taking damage you'll want to switch over to defensive.