Shield Swipe- How often do you use it?

[Prince_Myshkin]

So far I usually use shield swipe once per mob as I assume that they will begin to resist it more after the first hit. Is there any reason to be using it more? It seems that the dmg to tp ratio would be better by using other combat skills, but I could be wrong. When I'm using a small shield, shield swipe is available every few seconds. It would seem to be too much to be using it every time. Thoughts?

[Semont]

I never use it when I'm surrounded by mobs unless it's only two and I know that I've advanced into my aggro far enough to use it.

On single target, I use it every single chance I can get.

I'd say there are six pros and three cons to this skill.

Pros
-Fast animation to deliver damage quickly
-Low TP cost actually makes you recover 20 TP after regeneration
-More damage than Savage Blade
-If you can use it consistently, the total damage output is better than just the standard Halone combo
-If timed properly, can be used as an interrupt to melee red aoe skills
-Does not cancel the Halone combo meaning it's meant to be used while the Halone combo is active (can get off 2 shield swipes in a row before reaching the limit to the combo expiring)

Cons
-Requires a block
-Low aggro buildup
-Window of use is only around 3 seconds

[Viik]

Not very useful, silence can be handy against casters but you need melee mobs to trigger it. Because it also lacks enmity bonus, it generates very little threat compared to Savage Blade (DMG*3) and RoH (DMG*5), so I'd say it's a waste of a global cooldown under normal circumstances.

[CyanDvai]

Never used it in a dungeon or trial.
I have thought about setting it on my solo bar for PLD though.

But pretty much what Semont said, I've found the skill to be pretty useless when it comes to my job, you get better hate from Shield Lob, Provoke, FB>SB>RoH.

[Jahaudant]

When you are tanking a single mob use it whenever it is available unless you are up to Rage of Halone in your combo chain, and using the Shield Swipe proc will time out your Halone window.

It's a strong attack with extremely low TP cost.

[Laela]

I use Shield Swipe in the following cases (which is quite often; it's awesome for single target DPS):
1) When I don't have Fight or Flight up, or it's not currently active
2) I'm on Fast Blade > Savage Blade > Rage of Halone rotation only

If i'm low on TP, be it either the fight goes for a long time or I have to use Shield Lob or anything that gives you net loss on TP gain, I'll pop Bulwark and go to town with Shield Swipe to let your TP recover while still putting out decent damage. By this point, hate shouldn't be an issue as you should have already been using your Rage of Halone combo at least a few times to solidify hate. Worst case scenario, you can Provoke and Flash to put you back on top of the aggro list. For reference, if you have a Holy Shield or Holy Shield +1, using Bulwark gives you 90%+ block rate so Shield Swipe will almost always activate for you. I personally save Bulwark for when I need to refresh TP a bit.

All the other points mentioned are good.

[Chezwick]

When you are tanking a single mob use it whenever it is available unless you are up to Rage of Halone in your combo chain, and using the Shield Swipe proc will time out your Halone window.

It's a strong attack with extremely low TP cost.

Shield swipe doesn't reset the FB>SB>RoH combo. Use while soloing , pacification is nice and allows more uptime on hard hitting mobs with 360 AOE ( if they can't cast it you don't have to avoid it.)

And a clarification to above poster: pacification causes the mob to be unable to use weapon skill abilities, for example, physical special attacks cannot be used by a mob under the effect of pacification. It's not just a silence.

Use every time it procs on a boss fight, when 1. You have established threat, 2. RoH isn't next in your skill chain. SS has low TP cost and hits harder than FB and SB and , while we're not a dps class, any extra damage is nice as long as threat doesn't suffer.

[Firescorpio]

On single target, I use it every single chance I can get.

I'd say there are six pros and three cons to this skill.

Pros
-Fast animation to deliver damage quickly
-Low TP cost actually makes you recover 20 TP after regeneration
-More damage than Savage Blade
-If you can use it consistently, the total damage output is better than just the standard Halone combo
-If timed properly, can be used as an interrupt to melee red aoe skills
-Does not cancel the Halone combo meaning it's meant to be used while the Halone combo is active (can get off 2 shield swipes in a row before reaching the limit to the combo expiring)

Cons
-Requires a block
-Low aggro buildup
-Window of use is only around 3 seconds

but we dont have animation lock... of any kind why would the "fast animation" matter at all?

[Saltheart]

I generally use it when soloing or when I have everything under control and don't need to worry about threat anymore. It a strong attacked with very little TP cost.

[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.