Wrapped Entropy Serpent Spine - How Annoying / Dangerous?
 

Almost 40 warrior here. First character on the server - have asked a couple of questions on gearing here with excellent success / advice from people that's allowed me to develop the character really smoothly - so thank you in advance!

My big question - how annoying /dangerous is the Wrapped Entropy Serpent Spine for tanking? What kind of precautions would I need to take to avoid pulling a train to my group due to the "Blinding Poison" effect? Anyone have any experience how much caution you need to exercise using this weapon.

I'm asking because I'm currently rocking a Frostbringer and looking for a weapon to pair it with. I'd happily pair it with Infestation, but I doubt I'm going to have the 10k to buy loot rights for it anytime soon, so I was thinking of picking up a Wrapped Entropy Serpent Spine as an "almost as good" / more aggro generating weapon, but have heard a few people mention some potential risks.

Any tanks out there have any experience with WESS? Does it get you killed a lot? Does it totally rock and people are being babies complaining?

LMK! :)

I've been killed by another tank using this on a hot raid. Blind as a proc is far less controlled. Get a blood point or jagged blade instead. Also, haste is much more important to keeping aggro than procs so upgrade that when you can.

Entropy spine is quite frankly one of the strongest aggro weapons in the game. 4 poison counters alone at 300 each makes each proc massive ... add a bit more for the blind and attack debuff.

The drawback is the blind. Raw aggro is likely a bit better than infestation but I'd consider the poker a better overall warrior weapon due to blind on whip.

For normal hunting I'd use the whip for sure - just need to make sure that anyone who might steal aggro is within melee range. If and when you land the proc, the aggro is massive enough that nobody should be stealing aggro back without being retarded.

Buriedpast - Haha okay, I'll make to let them know they're scrubs halfway through their corpse run. Good call.

Naeythn - I'm sorry to hear that. I do earnestly try to make sure nobody dies when I tank, though I feel very confident that by the time I'm doing HoT raid tanking, I'll have an Infestation. I'm more asking whether it's a good weapon for 40-60 group tanking in levelling zones like Karnor's and Seb. I'm confident that by the time I'm 60, I'll have figured out how to get an Infestation.

I definitely want to upgrade haste too, but I'm thinking the first legit upgrade would be Runebranded Girdle or Runed Bolster Belt? I don't feel like 2% more for SoDB is enough to justify 4-5k personally. Do you disagree? If you believe it is I'd like to know.

Troxx - Great advice - I'll make sure I pick one up then next and give some warnings when using it in groups. Sounds like as long as I give some fair warnings about potential issues it shouldn't be an issue the VAST majority of the time, which is really what I'd be looking to get out of it. All I want is a weapon I can use until I can legit raid Dragon Necropolis myself and acquire an Infestation the old fashioned way.

Any other opinions? Thanks so much guys, definitely feel more encouraged that it's a good pick-up / transition weapon that's worth the 1.5-2k to get me to the point where I can get an Infestation myself without forking over a buttload of money.

I think with the latest patch, as long as you are close within range, blind will work similar to root mechanics but I have had a few times in CoM when you are pulling as a tank and the proc hits right on the pull and it blows because the mob will rubber band back and forth to you and run away in its pathing direction. This is where your wooly spider silk nets come into play.
I currently rock the entropy spine with a Kujuch and I rarely get problems, works great for my ogre at 49 and with an enchanter to give you boon of the garou, or shaman for DEX, all your tanking problems are solved.

Great feedback as CoM is legit THE place I wanted to use the thing - sounds like it's decent there as long as you take precautions. I'm going to try and carry arrow / bow for pulls which I also think will help with that, though it sounds like I should also plan on doing some Permafrost camping :).

Complete side question - is there a place to vendor in CoM for evil NON-iksar nearby? I know it's bindable for melees, which is cool.

Specific to CoM, I found that in the past if you were pulling from stables area, the mobs would try to rubber band through arena with the goal of getting to the reavers in Moat. Seems to be the fear path that was scripted for CoM. because of the distance, if you get a mob that is blind/running away from lets say arena, he shouldn't agro the goos or anything else on the small houses next to rak-ashir but expect to have the mob run through moat ramp and try to get into the moat bulding..this is why it helps to have those snare nets. Of course you can always just unequip the entropy if your pulling as well but it could be a hassle. At the end of the day, consider your dex especially if the entropy is in the mainhand and you have over 200 buffed dex..got a good chance to proc right on swing and then you are chasing a mob while someone else is wondering where you are with a mob beating up your friends back at camp.

For arrow pulls, because of the popularity of CoM and hunger for mobs, single pulls with a full group are not efficient time-to-experience...Ideally, you might get a repop on the way back to camp and bring 2-3 in tow while your party root CC's the adds; much faster to swing, than equip bow and arrow, be still, then shoot...or be too close. Of course 3 mobs takes more effort to down than just 1, but by the time your camp has the last mob down to 50 pct, its time to run out for a pull which leaves the group a good 3-5 minutes to med for the next one. All this assumes you are pulling as a MT anyways which might be the case 20% of the time.

For the selling portion, I assume since your a tank you should have some STR advantage, just hold onto the gear you have and then when your ready to split, run to the point where druids port into from Emerald Jungle and hail a druid coming in for a ride to WC. Sell at the druid vendor there who is indifferent at West Commons then hitch a ride back with another druid right from there since it is a major junction for most porters...if you need to drop off cash, buy a ruby and sell it back or take the run to Neriak once you got a few thousand coin on your character.

Excellent information, thank you again dude as that gives plenty of context. I'd probably be using it in my offhand with Frostbringer in front and my troll isn't the most dexterous fellow, so sounds like it's not going to be an enormous issue. As you said, I'll just have some tools to deal with scenarios where the proc triggers on pull, ideally not having the problem at all using bow /summoned arrows for pulls. I think I'm going to buy one, overall sounds like a fantastic tank weapon!

Frostbringer aggro sucks by comparison. It's not a bad weapon mind you but 60 hate from the DD + debuff is not in the same ballpark as 4 poison counters, blind, and debuff.

If you use it - I recommend main hand it.

Bloodpoint is horrible for aggro. Haste also isn't going to help...the aggro added by the haste isn't going to put you over the top if you have any DPS/Slower in the group.

If you are a newbie warrior and need aggro you can only do it ONE way and that is with aggro weapons. The spine is a good one. Don't use it if you are pulling or if there is a ton of pong in your grps.