Shining Slash: Brands

As I've mentioned in the past, co-ordinating a group's attacks is vital to success in both PvE and PvP. The combined firepower of 24 people on one Cleric is going to bring him down before any other Healers in the vicinity even have time to start casting. But how are you going to make that elusive magic happen? Yelling over Ventrilo doesn't do the job, isolating people with Inescapable Judgment helps, but the final word in getting people to hit the same bloody target is Branding.

While leading a group of any kind, or as the vice captain of a raid, you can mark targets with Brands: bright, obvious icons that stick above the player or mob you put them on until you "unbrand" them. Calling for people to kill the "yellow two" actually gives them a blatant target to hit.



In dungeons, marking targets is the obvious way to go, as it provides dps with a clear kill order, practically guaranteeing that your party will focus fire each mob down in turn, allowing for much easier Tanking and Healing, as well as throwing the dps an easy way to physically select their targets. It also can be used to mark dangerous mobs like patrols, so people can keep an eye on them, or targets for CC (the Zzz Brand is not only funny, but logical!).

In group PvP, it provides the same utility, but as PvP tends to move a lot faster, the prime uses of Brands are to mark up the enemy Healers for quick takedowns, and to mark your own Healers/Tanks, so people know who to stay within range of if they want to live, and who to run to when in danger.

Utility aside, there is one element of skill in Branding, and that is speed. The faster you can do it, the more effective it is. In Nochsana the last two days, I've pulled like lightning (haha, because Inescapable Judgment is a lightning bolt...), leaving barely seconds between most fights. I'm only Branding the primary dps target (Zot is good with CC, and generally trees then sleeps the secondary or tertiary target, or the Nochsana Doc if we're fighting one, since they dispel CC on other mobs), but I still have to be quick about it. As such, I use keybinds.

In your keybind options, you can set any key you want for any Brand. Not only that, but you can set keys to select Branded mobs. I use my Num Pad (1 through 9) to Brand targets, and I use Ctrl-Num Pad (1 through 9) to select the same targets. This is quick, easy, and allows marking of up to nine targets; more than enough in most fights.

Basically? Get some practice using them. If you're leading a group, get used to marking for dps or CC, and if you're not, then why not go bind some keys to select specific Brands that your leader is fond of using, so you can select your target in the blink of an eye. Either way, learn to love them, because you'll be using them in every situation imaginable while in a group.