SA and WS

[kelowelo]

I have been toying around when farming and using my Sneak Attack to obliterate sapplings. I have tried to add Fast Attack to it, but am not sure it is being effective at all.

There seems to be very little difference to adding a WS to SA, instead of just SA.

My question is this, could this be due to my lvl... THF 24/War 12
or just not seeing the right timing. I have had SA and WS in one macro, as well as seperate macros and some timing.

[Valhallodin]

It can be very difficult to get Sneak Attack to go off on a weapon skill at the very start of the fight. There is no way to make a reliable macro for it that I know of. Basically, you have to use Sneak Attack, then engage and quickly use your Weapon Skill before your first regular swing goes off and uses the Sneak Attack. There may be a good way to do it, but I don't know how to.

As for using Sneak Attack and a weapon skill during a fight with a party, I have tried several macros, but what worked best for me was...

/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 2
/ws "Fast Blade" <t>

Then just use the macro immediately after a regular attack and you won't waste your Sneak Attack between using it and the Weapon Skill going off. I have heard people say they use shorter waits as well, but I found /wait 1 to be unreliable for me.

Once you get Trick Attack, you can make a macro for both very easily. My current macro for it is...

/p Sneak Attack + Trick Attack + Tachi: Gekko >>> <t> >>> 3 seconds
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 2
/ja "Trick Attack" <me>
/wait 2
/ws "Tachi: Gekko" <t>

Again, I have heard people say that smaller waits will work, but I found that with /wait 1, it wouldn't work every 8th time or so, which isn't enough reliability when the hate transfer is crucial. Also, if you are closing the skillchain, you can fire the macro right when your partner uses their Weapon Skill and it will time your Weapon Skill perfectly and give the mages time to prep their Magic Burst.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions about

[Ikonic]

If you have the TP and want to SA+WS on your first hit use this macro:
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/attack on
/wait 2
/ws "Weapon Skill" <t>

As for using SATA and a WS in the same macro I always use this one:
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ja "Trick Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ws "Weapon Skill" <t>

If you are in very laggy areas the /wait 1 sometimes doesn't fire, but more often than not I found it to work best for me.

As for some Weapon Skills they are better off solo as stacked with SA the DMG is not much, if any, different.

[Toasty]

wow.. I never considered lag a factor in the /wait count... fascinating.

[Allybaba]

Also fwiw SA doesn't stack with elemental weaponskills. So no SA gust slash for example.

[abalon]

Or you can be slick and do what i do farming as war/thf. /ra (shoot a dam sleep bolt and skip around to the backside of the mob) sneak attack (booya)

[vadeen]

Some things I have been tinkering around with:

1: pop your SA macro before you even engage the mob, then run up to him engage it and as you are pulling out your weapons hit your WS macro. This will almost always ensure that your SAWS hits correctly.

2: A running technique: Land a sleep bolt > Run far enough behind it where you will not auto attack the enemy > hit your SA macro > As you are running towards the mob, you will hit your WS macro. This will take some time and practice though, because there is a chance that either:
A: You will attack the mob before your WS goes off.
B: You will hit your macro to early and you will lose your TP.

3: As you are becoming higher levels you will have much more gear to macro in with your SA and WS macro setups. It might benefit you to just make complete separate macros for SA WS TA this way you will be more used to the concept of hitting 2~3 different macros when the time comes. (This way is not for everyone, many people still see it easier and more beneficial to use a SAWS macro)
My macros when I used 1 macro

/p SA WS <t> Full Attack
/ja "Sneak attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ws "Viper Bite" <t>

/p SATA <t> Full Attack
/ja "Trick attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ws "Viper Bite" <t>

The reason I put the /p chat in there was to inform the one I am SATA'n not to move xD because honestly, as a low level THF your main damage is your WS's and you don't want them to be waisted.

Yeah yeah, my 2nd technique sounds goofy, but it does work ^_^ I hope I have helped some people out with this info. Fell free to hit me up anytime.
~Vadeen~