Sk ups and downs

[Squigglle]

<p>Hello my sk just hit lvl 40 today. heres what i think for all you that are considering a sk.</p><p>goods:</p><p> solo excellent, and also very good tanks for instances, support healing is great to. i love the dps they can put out too. very good, fd saves the day alot too.</p><p>bads:</p><p>taunts suck really bad, they can hold agro but got to keep pumping them fast, they also really really suck the power. worse then a mage probablly. not much to complain about though.</p>

[soulpurge]

<p>70 SK here and I have no problem what so ever Holding aggro. </p><p>well.. except when a fusion hits for a crit..</p><p>but thats why we have.. deathmarch.. rescue... motal embrace... and lets not forget harmtouch.</p><p>power has never really been an issue with me either..  Its rare that i need a power break... and my pulls are consistant.</p><p>so im not sure what your doing over me... but as i see it.. i dont think there are really any cons to playing a shadow knight in my opinion.</p>

[t0iletduck]

You'll want to tank in offensive stance as much as possible to help keep agro. Remember that DPS is a significant portion of your hate. This means getting your INT up and upgrading your spells. I didn't have agro issues until the mid 60's, but a lot of it was due to the fact I was a twink SK with all masters or adept3's while leveling. The low and mid 60's created agro issues are you start to tank for people with some raid drops, high AA's, and significantly more DPS than than what you tanked for previously. Such as wizzies with fusion. Once you get to 70, get your spells upgraded to adept3+, and get the siphon hate AA, agro is easy to hold. Certain classes can get agro at will, so don't feel bad about losing agro to them. Brigands, Bruisers, and Warlocks come to mind.

[Squigglle]

why would u want to tank in offensive? u wouldnt have that good of defense

[t0iletduck]

Depends on what you are tanking. Provided you are in mastercrafted gear or better, you can tank almost anything in the lower levels in offensive stance that isnt orange. This allows you to keep agro better, and kill mobs faster. Also, offensive stance increases your power pool due to the increased INT.

[Luxun]

<cite>soulpurge wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>70 SK here and I have no problem what so ever Holding aggro. </p><p>well.. except when a fusion hits for a crit..</p><p>but thats why we have.. deathmarch.. rescue... motal embrace... and lets not forget harmtouch.</p><p>power has never really been an issue with me either..  Its rare that i need a power break... and my pulls are consistant.</p><p>so im not sure what your doing over me... but as i see it.. i dont think there are really any cons to playing a shadow knight in my opinion.</p></blockquote>You ever been in an instance with a brigand that gets bored of waiting to build aggro ...then just bursts thru takes your aggro and tkes it better than you can . Makes you feel so useless .... I have all master 1s, ful lset of pvp armor, full adornments too ... and nada ...cant be helped.

[Beldin_]

<cite>Luxun wrote:</cite><blockquote>You ever been in an instance with a brigand that gets bored of waiting to build aggro ...then just bursts thru takes your aggro and tkes it better than you can . Makes you feel so useless .... I have all master 1s, ful lset of pvp armor, full adornments too ... and nada ...cant be helped. </blockquote><p>A lot of classes can rip aggro if they want, Brigants with double-up combo ..  Bruiser with knockout-combination .. Wizards with fusion/manaburn .. Furys with starfire .. Nekros with lifeburn .. </p><p>However .. that must have been an instance with only ^^^-Mobs and no groups, else normally the brigant wouldn't hold aggro against an SK. Go for example to Kaladim and ask the Brigant to tank there, or ask a Brawler <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Und3rt0w]

<p>I've found my DPS "level out" as I approach lvl 50.  What i mean by that is it seems that while I used to do decent DPS at lower lvls versus many other classes, my DPS is not significant any more versus more dps based classes. </p><p>My lvl 38 Assassin absolutely tools my lvl 50 SK in dps.  </p>

[Beldin_]

Undertow@Antonia Bayle wrote: <blockquote>I've found my DPS "level out" as I approach lvl 50.  What i mean by that is it seems that while I used to do decent DPS at lower lvls versus many other classes, my DPS is not significant any more versus more dps based classes. </blockquote><p> I can't say that, in all group-dungeoens/instances that has multi mob encounters, i'm mostly Nr.1 or 2. DPS-wise. Heck i was in Palace of Awaken 2 weeks ago with 2 Necros, 1 Brigant, 1 Ranger and was Nr.1. </p><p>However with 50 you will have to go to 55 first to get tap veins and 58 for death march, to see some real advantages <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Sportak]

Lots of times Shalla I see you saying you group with t1 DPS classes and finish zonewide top on the parse. At first I assumed you grouped with rubbish DPS, but I know you don't like raiding so I just wondered are the DPS classes you group with also equipped in lesser gear etc?

[Beldin_]

Kief@Runnyeye wrote: <blockquote>Lots of times Shalla I see you saying you group with t1 DPS classes and finish zonewide top on the parse. At first I assumed you grouped with rubbish DPS, but I know you don't like raiding so I just wondered are the DPS classes you group with also equipped in lesser gear etc?</blockquote><p>Often they are also no raiders, however our swashy has raided a long time and ist full mastered. The people i was in PoA with were all in a relative new Raidforce, don't know our Necro is there since 5-6 month or whatever, the Brigand for maybe 3 months, don't know how long the Ranger and other Necros are there, because they were from other guilds.</p><p>On the other hand, i also have a 70 Brigant,Ranger,Conjurer and Fury .. they all are not that good geared like the SK, but in groups i also never get close to the Damage of the SK with them. A lot has to do simple with game mechanisms, that as tank you have the first spells, as Scout you always have to find out where the target of the tank is, and get behind it, as Conji you constantly have to resend your pet on the next target, all problems specially with multi-encounters, where the SK just has to pump out his AoEs <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> However .. DDs don't have these Problems on ^^^-mobs, so i can't beat them in Zones like Unrest,Valodon, Obelisk where you only have ^^^-Encounters.</p>

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

Shalla has a few pieces of raid gear as well.

[Beldin_]

CHIMPNOODLE. wrote: <blockquote>Shalla has a few pieces of raid gear as well.</blockquote> However only the few "crappy" pieces that are not  no-trade <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

<p>Sure...but the Cuirass of Shadowfire, the Baneful Necklace, Cudgel of Pain are all decent pieces. The Defender shield, Tonlets, Scalelord Greaves and Nizara gloves etc are quite decent as well. You're health, Mit and resists are all pretty good.</p><p>You're more than equipped to tank most KoS raids if you wanted to.</p>

[Beldin_]

CHIMPNOODLE. wrote: <blockquote>You're health, Mit and resists are all pretty good.</blockquote>Miti and avoidance suck ..  its just something like 4100 miti and avoidance 39,9% avoidance in Defense-stance, while most tanks i see run around with 5500-6000+ miti and 50%+ avoidance <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

<p>4100 miti self should put you not too far under 5K raid buffed (unless you meant raid buffed), and with the right group your avoidance will jump a fair amount. With the 3 healer and 1 hate trasfer class, could even us a brawler in there for the avoidance buff, probably fine with a dirge as your transfer and +parry/Agi buffs too...add a gandmaster deftness and you would be ok. </p><p>Tried a new tank as one of the 2 on Tarinax last night (I was on my Inquis for lack of a healer).<a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/characters/character_profile.vm?characterId=331965105" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2players.station.sony.com/...terId=331965105</a></p><p>Lotta instance and PoA Claymore gear.</p><p>He was fine, and you're not far off <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Sportak]

Shalla@Valor wrote: <blockquote>CHIMPNOODLE. wrote: <blockquote>You're health, Mit and resists are all pretty good.</blockquote>Miti and avoidance suck ..  its just something like 4100 miti and avoidance 39,9% avoidance in Defense-stance, while most tanks i see run around with 5500-6000+ miti and 50%+ avoidance <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></blockquote> Actually most raid tanks I see are below 5000 mit (I assume it's because the warriors all tank in offensive stance). My SK (Sportakus on RE) has 5300 self buffed mit in defensive stance, and I rarely see a tank with higher than that. Not that They can't, but that it's simply not necessary to purely focus on mit anymore.

[Luxun]

Shalla@Valor wrote: <blockquote><cite>Luxun wrote:</cite><blockquote>You ever been in an instance with a brigand that gets bored of waiting to build aggro ...then just bursts thru takes your aggro and tkes it better than you can . Makes you feel so useless .... I have all master 1s, ful lset of pvp armor, full adornments too ... and nada ...cant be helped. </blockquote><p>A lot of classes can rip aggro if they want, Brigants with double-up combo ..  Bruiser with knockout-combination .. Wizards with fusion/manaburn .. Furys with starfire .. Nekros with lifeburn .. </p><p>However .. that must have been an instance with only ^^^-Mobs and no groups, else normally the brigant wouldn't hold aggro against an SK. Go for example to Kaladim and ask the Brigant to tank there, or ask a Brawler <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p></blockquote> <i>was talking about unrest. I understand aggro management is not a tank responsibility only, but on a unrest ...it really doesn't matter, if a brigand can go out and kill something twice as fast and get aggro on himself and totally survive it with ease ....then go for it. Why slow the group down to build proper aggro ? So saying a SK never has  problem to hold aggro is not a accurate statement, Considering zerkers and guardians do it so much better than we can. </i>

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

<p>It's very situational. SKs aggro control is solid <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Beldin_]

<cite>Luxun wrote:</cite><blockquote><i>was talking about unrest. I understand aggro management is not a tank responsibility only, but on a unrest ...it really doesn't matter, if a brigand can go out and kill something twice as fast and get aggro on himself and totally survive it with ease ....then go for it. Why slow the group down to build proper aggro ? So saying a SK never has  problem to hold aggro is not a accurate statement, Considering zerkers and guardians do it so much better than we can. </i></blockquote>A tanking brigand can't kill twice as fast, if i tank with my brigand i loose a lot of damage because i can't use all my styles from behind, and even if my briga is tank-skilled i would only tank in groups if i absolutly must.