New SK needs all the advice he can get

[Vargavinter]

Greeting! I decided to start my Everquest 2 career as a Shadowknight. My questions are, what stats should i aim for as a Shadowknight? Shall i go for sword & board or 2h-weapons while i quest? How shall i use my AA's, and is Armoursmithing a good combo for a Shadowknight? I always like making armours in other MMORPG's. If there are any other advice you could give me i would be greatfull. Thanks.

[Korpo]

<cite>Vargavinter wrote:</cite><blockquote>Greeting! I decided to start my Everquest 2 career as a Shadowknight. <p><span style="color: #ff0000">I hope you like it. SKs are a lot of fun.</span> My questions are, what stats should i aim for as a Shadowknight?</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Your melee damage is based off your STR,  your hitpoints are based off your STA, your spell damage and power pool is based off your INT, your avoidance is based off your AGI, and your resists are based off your WIS. So, sadly, all of them, though I'd probably prioritize them in the order I put them.</span></p><p>Shall i go for sword & board or 2h-weapons while i quest?</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">It's up to you. A 2h will put out more damage than a 1h/shield, but you lose a good bit of avoidance (due to your block chance being 0% without a shield). I carry both, and use the 2h for mowing through groups of blue/green mobs, and the 1h/shield for when I'm trying to outlast the mobs (or tank groups).</span> </p><p>How shall i use my AA's</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">There are a ton of AA guides, do some digging for them and see what meets your playstyle. Prevailing wisdom is that maxing out your spell crits (via the INT line) and then getting Reaver (via the Reaving line) is a good way to go. After that, the STR, WIS, and AGI lines all have their fans, and the Hate line seems to be popular too.</span> </p><p>Is Armoursmithing a good combo for a Shadowknight? I always like making armours in other MMORPG's.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">It certainly can't hurt. Keep in mind that since you can't be every kind of tradeskiller, you're going to be trading your wares with others, so it really doesn't matter what you are. You are actually better off making a tradeskiller that can sell his good to as many people as possible than being one that you yourself can use, at least in my experience.</span></p></blockquote>

[Kaishod]

<p>First off, welcome to the world of bringing chaos and death to Norrath!  I think once you get the hang of playing your SK, you'll find the love and joy that the rest of us have had.</p><p>Korpo gave some very good info... just wanted to add to it a bit... </p><p>Most SKs would agree INT to the Spell Crit line is a must.  I would concentrate on that first.  AGI will come in most of the gear you get... you're looking at almost 20 points into AGI for 1% of avoidance.  The + to defense and parry are out there on gear, I would suggest that route instead of looking for AGI gear.  INT, STR, then STA imho.</p><p>Like Korpo said, you need both.  Sword and board as well as 2h.  I would also look at grabbing at least a 1 hander of slashing, piercing, and crushing to get yoru stats up.  YOu don't want to be low in stats when you loot or find a nice hammer to find out you have no skill in it.  When starting any of my chars, all tanks, btw, I switch to my lowest skilled weapon around the last 1/2 of the fight as long as things are going well, just to help increase my level in that area.</p><p>Nothign to add to Korpo's wisdom about AAs... INT and reaver is a must.</p><p>I'm an armorsmith and it helped saving money in the lower levels since I could make my armor, but just like alot of the tradeskilling, sales can get tough trying to move product.</p><p>Some other tips:</p><p>Save your money.  Buying any master before 30 is almost silly imho.  You'll grow out of it too fast.  Adept 1s I really wouldn't worry about til 20 though it does make a big difference in damage from the apprentice version.  Things get more expensive as you level up.  </p><p>Sell everything on the broker.  Transmuting has helped others make money since anything attunable/treasured+ and adpet1s+ can be used.  There is a use for almost everything in the game, sothere is almost always a buyer as long as you don't go crazy with the pricing.</p><p>Get to know your toon.  Make macros to equipt items so you can easily switch... ie.) 1 macro: sword and board, 1 macro: switch from bow to symbol (helps if the symbol is secondary/ranged... normally will put the item into the shield place if double-clicked)</p><p>ASK questions.  There are alot of SKs in game willing to answer a few questions or help out.</p><p>Finally... don't betray to a pally... thats just bad form, lol <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Wildmage]

power pool is deteremined by STR AND INT, not just Int other than that got nothing else to add

[Beldin_]

If your short on money i would first prefer board/shield over 2-handers, since we are more casters than melee-fighters the damage-bonus is not that big, but a shield brings a lot of avoidance. I also never cared about piercing skill, because most good weapons are crushing or slashing.

[sirmorte]

I have a necro and a SK. My necro has the scribe tradeskill for all of the skills and abilities of both characters. My SK has the armor tradeskill. If you only have one character, I would take scribe in order to upgrade your talents and spells.

[Korpo]

<cite>sirmorte wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have a necro and a SK. My necro has the scribe tradeskill for all of the skills and abilities of both characters. My SK has the armor tradeskill. If you only have one character, I would take scribe in order to upgrade your talents and spells.</blockquote><p>Alchemists make spell upgrades for SKs, sages make them for necros. </p><p>Yes, I forgot power pool is STR <b>and</b> INT. Oops.</p><p>Also, on gear, make friends with jewelers, armorers, alchemists, and weaponsmiths, then ask them to pretty please make you some common gear and app4 spells. The common gear isn't bad at all, especially at the low levels, and makes a huge difference over running around with empty slots and the rest filled with what you find. Plus, then you're buddies with the tradeskillers when you hit the high levels and want real armor made.</p>

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

<p>Welcome to EQ2...SK is a fun way to jump into it too <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p><p>1)what stats should I aim for as a Shadowknight?</p><p>I aimed for STA first....INT/STR/AGI secondary, WIS last. As a tank specc'd SK, it works well for me.</p><p> 2)Shall I go for sword & board or 2h-weapons while i quest?</p><p>Depends on the difficulty of the quest mobs you're after. I would normally go S/B....but if you are hunting greens/soft hitting blues...mishgt as well go 2H.</p><p> 3)How shall I use my AA's, and is Armoursmithing a good combo for a Shadowknight?</p><p>I went STA to final...after that, it didn't matter much. Some like INT, some like STR....support role SKs seem to like WIS. In EoF lines I went Hate and Decay to Miti sypher. Works well for me, but I do little to no DPSing. In tanking roles I'm happy with it.</p><p>I'm an armorer also...it helped a bit in the early levels....but I could not keep up with my adventure level (that's just me though, I prefer adventuring). Armoring then became a way to equip my Alts a bit as they leveled, as my trade level was always behind my main's adventure level. There was also very little coin in it as well on my server as I leveled. I use it primarily to outfit lower level guildies and guildies Alts now pretty much....never made much coin off it personally.</p>

[Shiverr]

<cite>Vargavinter wrote:</cite><blockquote>If there are any other advice you could give me i would be greatfull. Thanks. </blockquote><p>First priority:</p><p>Change your voice to <i>Sinister male</i>.  Immediately.  Its only right.</p>

[Norrsken]

<cite>Shiverr wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Vargavinter wrote:</cite><blockquote>If there are any other advice you could give me i would be greatfull. Thanks. </blockquote><p>First priority:</p><p>Change your voice to <i>Sinister male</i>.  Immediately.  Its only right.</p></blockquote>VArgavinter means wolf winter. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Or, a very cold, and long winter that in passed ages killed people by the thousands. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />