Shield Swipe- How often do you use it?

[Junk4Brains]

For me its a 'set it and forget it' macro I add on to my Fast Blade.
Just simple 2 line macro.

/ac "Shield Swipe" <t>
/ac "Fast Blade" <t>

If SS is activated it'll use it if not, I'll get Fast Blade. I used to have it macroed on to all my combo builders but I missed how they were outlined when they were ready so I got ride of it and only put it on my combo openers. Can also put it ahead of Shield Bash if you want or one off skills. But I find puting it on Fast Blade is good enough for me.

[Prince_Myshkin]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I'll use it more often when I'm on a single target that I have enough threat built up.

[Sapphidia]

For me its a 'set it and forget it' macro I add on to my Fast Blade.
Just simple 2 line macro.

I did this until I tanked a couple of instances with it. i'd really recommend not doing so - the problem was that when AOE tanking 2-3 mobs I was blocking so often that Shield Swipe was literally up ALL THE TIME. Thus I could never get any fast blades off because i'd end up spamming Swipe. Now for solo DPS this is really good, it's efficient. However for Tanking it's abysmal because Shield Swipe does -terrible- threat. Spamming it locks you out of using Savage/Halone and your threat dives.

As posters above say, NEVER use shield swipe tanking unless you're happily ahead on threat already or -really- need the pacification.

[Norb]

When soloing I have it macro'd to every attack so it's constantly going off.

In dungeons I swap out the buttons so it's on manual control - as others have stated any attempt to automate it in a dungeon can interfere with threat generation, so I leave it on manual control there (though in some PUGs if the DPS is low enough, you can actually put some of the automated macro's back and still hold aggro).

[ZenBear]

silence can be handy against casters but you need melee mobs to trigger it.

Shield Swipe does not silence, it pacifies. This means melee mobs can't use their abilites, but casters can keep right on casting.

For me its a 'set it and forget it' macro I add on to my Fast Blade.

I don't like to do this because I find that having the GCD out of your control at any point to be a major flaw. When threat is low and mobs are attacking allies or are about to turn away from you, you can't spare the time to SS. You need to get your FB>SB>RoH combo out right away, and a macro like this could ruin that and wipe the party in the right circumstances.

I used to use SS every time it was up, but now that I'm at the higher levels threat management is becoming more difficult so I have to pick and choose my moments. I use it for the cheap damage output when threat is secure, but that situation is becoming rarer with every level.