Hi, I’m a Swordsmith.
…and I’m not particularly happy about it.
DaddyGamer asks, “I am at the moment sporting Fireguard. I wonder how you place it when it comes to tanking. Many say it is THE aggro weapon - when upgraded while progressing. How does it fare against [item]King's Defender[/item]?”
The Journey as a Swordsmith
- When I had [item]Fireguard[/item], I had [item]The Sun Eater[/item] which was about the same.
- When I had [item]Blazeguard[/item], I had
[item]King's Defender[/item]which was about the same. - Before I complete [item]Blazefury[/item], I’ll have [item]Mallet of the Tides[/item] which is about the same.
So, Swordsmithing isn’t worth it?
Well that depends, are you feeling lucky? The benefit of the Swordsmith set is that the first 2 don’t require any luck. The 3rd one though requires 5 [item]Nether Vortex[/item] to drop as opposed to one Mallet. Blazefury certainly is a fantastic weapon and will mean that the Mallet can go to someone else that needs it though.
So, Swordsmithing is worth it?
Well that depends, are you a swordsmith already? If you are and your Blacksmithing is at 375 and especially if you are already holding a Fireguard then it’s worth it. If you aren’t though, I’d recommend going the route of Armorsmithing or if you are just starting then take Engineering (as my post before this one indicates).
My Advice
So to answer your question, DaddyGamer, go for it! It’s about the same as King’s Defender (having both certainly doesn’t hurt too!) and when Lurker Below kills start coming, you’ll be putting together your Blazefury and not having to worry about that silly Mallet dropping.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:43 am
One thing to note is that the swordsmith weapons are some of the best Off Hands available.
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October 2nd, 2007 at 11:45 am
I carry the Fireguard, I love it…. I’ve used it for weeks and weeks, since the KD hasn’t dropped for me. I enchanted the Fireguard with major striking enchant (+7 dmg) and I use it as my primary aggro/trash sword since it has +hit. Although it isn’t a proc enchant, with a sharpening stone it gives me a little more threat and lets our dps’rs start in sooner.
When I face hard hitters or bosses, I switch to my sun eater (can be done in combat) which is enchanted with mongoose. I think the sun eater has better avoidance/mitigation stats.
Is this right? I have no idea, but it seems okay to me!
Good luck,
Fubs
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October 2nd, 2007 at 11:50 am
ah… I forgot.. when I grind, I like to dual wield both of them… I think having a KD and a blazeguard dual wielding would be fun to see. Just don’t forget to stack your +hit for you off hand misses.
Fubar
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October 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I am leveling Blacksmithing now and plan on going Armorsmith. The way I see it the BP of Kings and it’s upgrades are 1 of a kind. Blazefury is nice but you can easily get better or comparable.
With Lurker dropping 3 loots per kill now you will see an increase in the drop rates of the Mallet. Lurker is easy as hell too. If your guild can coordinate clearing Gruul’s lair, you should be downing Lurker imo. It’s not a dps race fight, there is no enrage timer, if your healers are good you can almost make it last infinitely. I think our first lurker kill took about 22 minutes lol. Now we do it in about 10-12 minutes.
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October 2nd, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I wouldn’t worry about the nether vortexes - they drop for us like candy on Halloween.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 4:34 am
Thanks for the reply!
After reading posts about Fireguard vs. SunEater vs. Kings Defender I have come to one conclusion:
To have one increases the drop rate of the others exponentially =D
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October 3rd, 2007 at 4:38 am
And I have noticed one flaw with Fireguard too: It looks whimpy… Like a golden dagger.
KD is almost too big and I still kinda wonder where the sharp part is.
Suneater on the other hand has the coolest graphics imo. Really looks like a blade made out of a shard of the sun - way cool.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 am
The threat generation on the swordsmith swords are greater than the pure tanking swords. Fire Guard is great to have as you enter Karazhan.
If you get the King’s Defender prior to your farming of Primal Nethers to forge Blazeguard, I would use it.
If you forge the Blazeguard, I would that over King’s Defender for threat generation if your defense is over 490 and your total mitigation is 55% or higher.
The primary role of the tank is to take as much damage as possible, prevent as much damage as possible and generate as much threat as possible.
The more threat you generate, the more your raid can hold back less.
If you are tanking Maulgar, I would suggest KD as you will tank by yourself for a little while on that fight. If you tank Gruul, you want to generate more threat as you will have plenty of over healing for the encounter.
Mongoose enchant will make up for the loss of mitigation from KD or MoT as well when you upgrade your swordsmith weapons.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 11:22 am
Honestly, Swordsmithing leaves a little to be desired. Each permutation of the FG line will out threat the competition but by how much? They truly only meet their potential in the hands of a Human. In terms of survivability they are worse although not significantly so.
In Vene’s case the future may hold more diverse tanking Axes and even a side-grade to the Mallet with no DPS stats will out threat a Blazefury. I have difficulty imagining that Zul’Aman won’t contain a single tanking weapon and hopefully Blizz will realize that the game needs more then Swords and Maces.
What about alternate purpose weapons? The Planar line is still a good choice for those times where heavier Devastates are more favourable. An Orc, in particular, will do very well with one. Same goes for the Drake line (assuming they weren’t ninja nerfed too hard). If you like 2Hers to play with both offer better options then Swordsmithing.
Still, in the end, I think Armoursmith is the way to go. Swordsmithing provides modest improvements to existing gear but the Kings line is superiour in terms of both survivability and threat generation even over standard tanking chests. A BoAk is easier to make then any weapon and will last until you hit Kael’thas. Even then, the Destroyer Chestguard is still a side-grade. The future may also be kinder to Armoursmiths and provide a genuine tanking chest. I cannot hold similar hope for weapon smithing upgrades.
PS Respec and make everything. A little OCD never hurt anybody.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Swordsmith is really good for Humans. I missed that. Excellent comment Ivanstone, great points.
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November 20th, 2007 at 8:50 am
- don’t ever drop a crafting profession once you’ve got it at level 350+ because blizzard will buff it big time in the next patch.
- if you are frustrated because you always get better items from drops than you can craft, pick alchemy or enchanting.
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December 12th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
hmm i’m now wondering if there is anything in axesmithing to help an orc warrior. i’m at work atm so all the gaming sites are blocked.
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February 13th, 2008 at 9:42 am
What is everyones’s opinion of the axe that drops off the last boss in ZA?
it has a mixed reception in my guild. I like it alot except im losing the expertise being human. mabye i like it becasue im the only one with it? lol
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February 13th, 2008 at 10:13 am
@Castello:
My opinion is…
- Mallet of the Tides for Humans
- Cleaver of the Unforgiven for Orcs
- Whichever you get first for everyone else.
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February 21st, 2008 at 10:27 am
Once 2.4 hits, Nether Vortexes won’t be a big deal, just fork over some badges and bam.
Good news for those of us whose guilds aren’t quite good at 25 mans.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 am
Wait, did I miss something? Will nether vortices be available through badges in 2.4, or will there be a superior tanking weapon available through a BoJ vendor?
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February 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 am
Saw something on mmo-champion recently that on the 2.4 PTR, Nether Vortices are available for 15 badges and a few gold, AND they’re no longer BoP, so you’ll be able to get them with badges as well as buy them off the AH.
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