How does the Main Assist work?

[Darian]

[i]She always switches her target to the last incoming mob on the pull, assuming that the first will be handled by the assists, and that the intermediate mobs will be taken out with crowd control.

If all the mobs are locked down and she doesn't have an immediate target, she starts a timer, and uses the first 15 seconds to patrol the interval between the casters and the MA/assists to guard the healers from breakaway mobs.[right][snapback]76081[/snapback][/right]

That's an interesting application, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend against it so long as you can verify that everything's under control -- however, I would tend to thing you should still be beating on the main target, with your visual field placed toward the crowd controlled so that you can spring to them if they become uncontrolled. Every second quicker that first mob dies is one more second the controlled mobs effectively (from the perspective of the assists) stay controlled.

When the lifebar of the mob that the MA/assists are working on drops, which is usually less than 15 seconds, Spangles targets the first CC'd mob and breaks into it. She does this because it is easier to gain first place on the mob's hate table alone than in a group, and much easier than trying to peel the mob from a caster after the CC times out.

Absolutely, although what's more important here is not so much the peeling away part, but the "make sure you're the one breaking CC" part. Most non-warriors do not understand this and it's a serious pet peeve of mine, but the chances of them drawing the aggro if they break CC are extremely minimal, whereas I can count on one hand the number of times I was unable to hold aggro when breaking a CCed mob (excepting Mind Control) with a Sunder (and in every case, it's because the caster had been obligated to CC the mob multiple times). Sunder generates more hate than any CC save MC, and even on an MC you can usually get it back with two Sunders.