Shadowknight AA guide! [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

Iwice

10-22-2007, 08:40 AM

After seeing the same questions over and over again, i decided to do somthing, so i am doing a Shadowknight AA guide treethis is a project under development, and if someone thinks somthign should be added / removed please send me a PMi added some notes to moast of the abilitys, if you feel any of them are misjudged, PM me or post so with a good reason why it should be changed and it will be changed, i hope this will help many SKs out in this crule crusader hating world <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />Edit history:Message edited 10/25/2007 06:35:27: Changed some detaisl after being given some headsu by ripzz, thanks!

Iwice

10-22-2007, 08:40 AM

Crusader TreeStarter skillConcenter: Greatly increases the Crusader's focus skill while under 50% health.Well not much to say about this, you need it to get started, and sure its probably helpful as wellStrength LineAvenger's Strength: Increase Strength by 4 for each rank.Swift Attack: A melee attack that increases the avenger's attack speed if it strikes an enemy.This attack inflicts a decent amount of damage, and increases your attack speed for 30 seconds. This bonus will add to any current attack speed buffs you haveAvenger's Relentlessness: Increases the Avenger's attack speedIt increases with 2.2 for each rankA very useful skill id says. Helps you to get some extra DPSIdolic Axe: Increases the Avenger's hate gain by all enemies.Stars at 2.6% and increases by 1.3 each rank max with 8 points is 11.7%.A really helpful ability that helps to get that little extra hate you need!Avenging Invigoration: All of the Avenger's combat arts, spells, and abilities have their reuse, recovery, and casting speeds improved.This lovely skill Increases Casting, Recovery, Reuse Speed of caster by 10% And adds the title "Avenger"This is one is excellent for solo play, as well as get some more DPS, Good for all Sk'sAgility LineCavalier's Agility: Increases agility by 7 for each rankJoust: A melee attack that teleports you to your target, and does additional damage if executed from horseback.Probebly goodTrample: Buff that has a chance to attack up to 4 targets surrounding the cavilier. This ability is increased when on horseback.Gives the auto-attack function a chance to attack up to 4 different targets Multi-target attacking increases by 5% per rank well channce to do more DPS, or agro mobs you dident whant to....Higher Ground: Increases defence skill. While on horseback, crusader has a chance to become immune to some knockdown effects for a short duration after every melee attack.Defence is good, still tehre are better ways to gain it then spend AA for it this way...Lance: A powerful melee attack that cannot be riposted. It deals additional damage-over-time and snares the target guys if crusader is on horseback. Nice skill, not worth 24AAs IMO thou.... At least you get a cool title "Cavalier". YAY the line is saved.Good that you dont need to be mounted anymore for this line, still its not worth 24 presious AA when we are blessed wiht the awesome AA tree we gotStamina Line: Sentry's Stamina: Increases stamina by 5 points per rankHammer Ground: Applies knockdown -- lasts for 1.6 seconds *Stuns target *Throws target back *Blurs vision of target *Does not effect epic targetsUseful Skill, duration increases with ranks, good to use to get those extra seconds to get blessing/tap veins whatever active and save your [I cannot control my vocabulary].Fervor of Faith: Increases melee crit chance of caster by 2.8% each rankWell as almost all our abilities are spells... and we ca get 68% spell crit with int line,This is probably if you really want to squeeze the final little bit DPS from yourself.Sentry's Bulwark: Increases max health of caster by 0.5% each rankWell... 4% more heath if you spend 8 points here, I don't see any great purpose in spending valuable AA on such a minor % of health, Sort of waste of points, to litle 4% for to much wasted AADivine Aura: Divine Aura grants the Sentry immunity to most damage sources for 10 seconds. Any damage in excess of 50% of the Sentry's maximum health is not prevented.This thing is just awesome, great in emergencies, Immortality (well sort of) for 10 seconds, awesome if you tank hard places where things tend to mess up badly. to bad you need to waste 24 skills to get it.... atleast you get the title Sentry.Wisdom LineKnight's Wisdom: Increases wisdom by 6 points per rank.Combat Leadership: Next attack done by the group members will trigger an additional proc damage effect, the damage increased for each rank.More damage for the entire group, good for allBattle Leadership: Increases Disruption, Piercing, Slashing, Ordination, Subjugation, Ministration, and Crushing of group members by 1.3 each rankGood for the entire group, soon you can start working as dirge!Aura of Leadership: Increase the groups in-combat heath regenerationGood for everyone! Thou who are brave enough to spend all points here and lose much DPS and solo ability?Fearless Morale: The knight gains immunity to fear and your groups spell damage, melee damage, and heal times are improved by 2%.For giving your group all these buffs thinking nothing of damage or solo, you are granted the title knight!Intelligence LineLegionnaire's Intelligence: Increases intelligence by 8 points per rank.Legionnaire's Smite: Smites the targetDamages is increased with levels and rank of the spell, with 8 points this spell is a good "nuke" and what so ever at any rank it's a good asset to your damage capability.Legionnaire's Wrath: Increases damage spell crit rate by 6% per rankThis one is probably the only AA ability that all SKs can agree on that you must have.Give you a total of 68% critical chance on your spells, AWESOME!and if your damage on a spell crits, the included heal will crit as well (for tap veins and the other life taps)Legionnaire's Mercy: Increases the heal crit chanceM'kay..... SK's don't heal, we don't have real heals, we have life taps, so this skill is close to useless, seems yo works on blessing thou aswell as the crit chance, don't waste a single point at this pally lover skill!Reflect: Reflects the next incoming profession spellA nice skill, usually reflects some of the really big bad stuffs the bad guys throw at you (this skill is prpbebly best for PVP)And anyway, you now got the title "Legionnaire"

Iwice

10-22-2007, 08:41 AM

Shadowknight (EOF) Tree comming soon (tm)

Iwice

10-22-2007, 08:41 AM

Reserved for futher use later

Iwice

10-22-2007, 08:44 AM

Reserved for futher usage

Xaxtionlorex

10-24-2007, 04:38 PM

<cite>Iwice@Splitpaw wrote:You no longer have to be on horse back, this is now a static 40% weather mounted or not , </cite><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><blockquote>Agility LineTrample: Buff that has a chance to attack up to 4 targets surrounding the cavilier. This ability is increased when on horseback.Gives the auto-attack function a chance to attack up to 4 different targets Multi-target attacking increases by 5% per rank Cool skill, still to bad you can't mount indoors where all game seems to be....</blockquote>

Hamervelder

10-24-2007, 06:59 PM

Nicely written. The only thing I'll disagree with is your paultry view of the staminal line. This line is essential for those SK's that don't have the best of gear, and do need to squeeze out as many HP as they can. I gain approx 600HP from maxing out this line. I don't consider that chump change in the least.

Dead Knight

10-24-2007, 07:17 PM

STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.

Dead Knight

10-24-2007, 07:56 PM

<cite>Iwice@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>Crusader TreeStarter skillConcenter: Greatly increases the Crusader's focus skill while under 50% health.Well not much to say about this, you need it to get started, and sure its probably helpful as wellStrength LineAvenger's Strength: Increase Strength by 4 for each rank.Swift Attack: A melee attack that increases the avenger's attack speed if it strikes an enemy.This attack inflicts a decent amount of damage, and increases your attack speed for 30 seconds. This bonus will add to any current attack speed buffs you haveAvenger's Relentlessness: Increases the Avenger's attack speedIt increases with 2.2 for each rankA very useful skill id says. Helps you to get some extra DPSIdolic Axe: Increases the Avenger's hate gain by all enemies.Stars at 2.6% and increases by 1.3 each rank max with 8 points is 11.7%.A really helpful ability that helps to get that little extra hate you need!Avenging Invigoration: All of the Avenger's combat arts, spells, and abilities have their reuse, recovery, and casting speeds improved.This lovely skill Increases Casting, Recovery, Reuse Speed of caster by 10% And adds the title "Avenger"This is one is excellent for solo play, as well as get some more DPS, Good for <strike>almost</strike> ALL Sk'sAgility LineCavalier's Agility: Increases agility by 7 for each rankJoust: A melee attack that teleports you to your target, and does additional damage if executed from horseback.To bad you can't mount a horse indoors..... Trample: Buff that has a chance to attack up to 4 targets surrounding the cavilier. This ability is increased when on horseback.Gives the auto-attack function a chance to attack up to 4 different targets Multi-target attacking increases by 5% per rank Cool skill, still to bad you can't mount indoors where all game seems to be....Higher Ground: Increases defence skill. While on horseback, crusader has a chance to become immune to some knockdown effects for a short duration after every melee attack.This one is cool, always good with defence, still... to bad you cant mount indoors....Lance: A powerful melee attack that cannot be riposted. It deals additional damage-over-time and snares the target guys if crusader is on horseback. Nice skill when you can use it to its full, to bad you need a horse for that, id love to see a horse or warg in RE, Unrest or labs.... And all the other places that are considered as "indoor" and cant use mounts. At least you get a cool title "Cavalier". YAY the line is saved.Serious I hope I in someway have misunderstood the entire line, please tell me I missed something, else this line seem to else a bit too limited to work....This line no longer requires you to be mounted, but still sucks just as much as it did before the changes. If you want DPS you're better off just speccing STR/INT, and if you took this line for the +Defense then you need some mental help. Very good to have 448 for Paladins, sucks for SK's. Stamina Line: Sentry's Stamina: Increases stamina by 5 points per rankHammer Ground: Applies knockdown -- lasts for 1.6 seconds *Stuns target *Throws target back *Blurs vision of target *Does not effect epic targetsUseful Skill, duration increases with ranks, good to use to get those extra seconds to get blessing/tap veins whatever active and save your [I cannot control my vocabulary].Fervor of Faith: Increases melee crit chance of caster by 2.8% each rankWell as almost all our abilities are spells... and we ca get 68% spell crit with int line,This is probably if you really want to squeeze the final little bit DPS from yourself.Sentry's Bulwark: Increases max health of caster by 0.5% each rankWell... 4% more heath if you spend 8 points here, I don't see any great purpose in spending valuable AA on such a minor % of health, maybe usable for the big raid MT SK.... I MT alot of raids and still don't use this, perhaps if it had closer to 6, 7% HP. We should just get a HP buff and call it a day, because everyone knows due to diminishing returns +54 STA just sucks anyway. Not to mention HP is one of the areas where we are lacking compared to other tanks, nevertheless - the situation is not dire enough to spec into this ATM.Divine Aura: Divine Aura grants the Sentry immunity to most damage sources for 10 seconds. Any damage in excess of 50% of the Sentry's maximum health is not prevented.This thing is just awesome, great in emergencies, Immortality (well sort of) for 10 seconds, awesome if you tank hard places where things tend to mess up badly. As well you get the title Sentry. Decent ability, timer is too short, recast is too long. Requires too many AAs to get. In short, I'd get it if it was near the top of the line, as an end ability it just sucks as speccing all the way down STA I lose too much DPS and aggro, making me a much less efficient tank. Not needed AT ALL for Heroic content, on raid content, you will get Stoneskin from a Dirge/Templar anyway. Wisdom LineKnight's Wisdom: Increases wisdom by 6 points per rank.Combat Leadership: Next attack done by the group members will trigger an additional proc damage effect, the damage increased for each rank.More damage for the entire group, good for allBattle Leadership: Increases Disruption, Piercing, Slashing, Ordination, Subjugation, Ministration, and Crushing of group members by 1.3 each rankGood for the entire group, soon you can start working as dirge!Aura of Leadership: Increase the groups in-combat heath regenerationGood for everyone! Thou who are brave enough to spend all points here and lose much DPS and solo ability?Fearless Morale: The knight gains immunity to fear and your groups spell damage, melee damage, and heal times are improved by 2%.For giving your group all these awesome buffs thinking nothing of damage or solo, you are granted the rank knight! This line sucks, you aren't a pally. Even pallys don't use it. It should be turned into something useful IMO because nobody is gonna fool anyone by saying they bring some mediocre skills to the group while giving up all hope of doing decent DPS or holding aggro and acting like they're being useful.Intelligence LineLegionnaire's Intelligence: Increases intelligence by 8 points per rank.Legionnaire's Smite: Smites the targetDamages is increased with levels and rank of the spell, with 8 points this spell is a good "nuke" and what so ever at any rank it's a good asset to your damage capability.Legionnaire's Wrath: Increases damage spell crit rate by 6% per rankThis one is probably the only AA ability that all SKs can agree on that you must have.Give you a total of 68% critical chance on your spells, AWESOME!and if your damage on a spell crits, the included heal will crit as well (for tap veins and the other life taps) 8 points in this, go no further in the INT line.Legionnaire's Mercy: Increases the heal crit chanceM'kay..... SK's don't heal, we don't have real heals, we have life taps, so this skill is close to useless, seems yo works on blessing thou aswell as the crit chance, don't waste a single point at this pally lover skill!Reflect: Reflects the next incoming profession spellA nice skill, usually reflects some of the really big bad stuffs the bad guys throw at you,And anyway, you now got the title "Legionnaire"Doesn't work against any raid mobs that I know of, not needed at all in Heroic content, only useful for PvP. If you have this as a PvE player you should spec out as it's a waste of points.</blockquote>

Hamervelder

10-25-2007, 03:29 AM

<cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote>STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.</blockquote>You're smoking crack, lol.

Dead Knight

10-25-2007, 09:28 AM

<cite>Uros@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote>STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.</blockquote>You're smoking crack, lol.</blockquote>Consider the DPS you get from STR/INT. Now consider the aggro that you get from said DPS. Remember that we have the biggest aggro issues of all the plate tanks. Now weigh that up against 5-600 more HP. Your healer can still heal you just as well with 500 less HP, and the mob won't spike you for any less, most raid mobs hit harder than that anyway. Now imagine yourself on a raid. Would the raid leader rather have you have 500 more HP and be useless because you can't keep aggro over anything higher than 20k raid wide DPS? Or would he have you contributing towards the raid wide DPS number AND keeping aggro while doing it?

MaCloud1032

10-25-2007, 09:44 AM

Reflect does work on epics i had it for quite a while. You wont reflect the point blank AEs but you will reflect there single target stuff. Only reason i dropped it was because of how many mobs cast the coil line. I realy hated casting it and seeing would not take effect. Its always fun to apoc the mobs though.

Iwice

10-25-2007, 10:25 AM

Thanks ripzz, will change some of the texts then <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />and good that you dont need a mount for agi line to work, i seriously thought it was a joke or somthing

Antas22

10-25-2007, 06:49 PM

<cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Uros@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote>STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.</blockquote>You're smoking crack, lol.</blockquote>Consider the DPS you get from STR/INT. Now consider the aggro that you get from said DPS. Remember that we have the biggest aggro issues of all the plate tanks. Now weigh that up against 5-600 more HP. Your healer can still heal you just as well with 500 less HP, and the mob won't spike you for any less, most raid mobs hit harder than that anyway. Now imagine yourself on a raid. Would the raid leader rather have you have 500 more HP and be useless because you can't keep aggro over anything higher than 20k raid wide DPS? Or would he have you contributing towards the raid wide DPS number AND keeping aggro while doing it? </blockquote>Agreed. The most important job of a tank is holding agro. Think the wizard is going to care how much HP you have when a mob is using his internals to redecorate the place? Not a chance. At most, you'll get enough HP to withstand one extra hit. If you're in situations where that becomes an asset, you and / or your healers are doing something very wrong. More DPS = more agro. More agro = others can do more DPS. More DPS across the board = less need for those flashy HP numbers.

Neir

11-09-2007, 09:42 PM

As a brand new SK and being back in EQ2 for the first time in almost a year...I heavily endorse this thread<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Coica

11-10-2007, 12:45 AM

<cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Uros@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote>STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.</blockquote>You're smoking crack, lol.</blockquote>Consider the DPS you get from STR/INT. Now consider the aggro that you get from said DPS. Remember that we have the biggest aggro issues of all the plate tanks. Now weigh that up against 5-600 more HP. Your healer can still heal you just as well with 500 less HP, and the mob won't spike you for any less, most raid mobs hit harder than that anyway. Now imagine yourself on a raid. Would the raid leader rather have you have 500 more HP and be useless because you can't keep aggro over anything higher than 20k raid wide DPS? Or would he have you contributing towards the raid wide DPS number AND keeping aggro while doing it? </blockquote>As a raid MT SK I would have to disagree a bit also. you have to remember ,Ripzzz, that you have been the lvl/gear you are for awhile. I think there is a curve where you get to 70, and you finally max out your AA, and you start to progress into raiding and getting better gear/masters of all you spells, where you group a lot, and the STA line DOES make sense for some of us SK's at that point. I can see however, as the rest of my raidforce gets better gear/AA's maxed out also/masters, etc, that the way I MT raids changes, and at some point soon here I may have to go down STR line. so in that sense I will agree with you. But I dont think its a be-all,end-all "you must spec this way or your healers suck" thing as some have said. when I can have the best of both worlds, ie" soloing, grouping and leading raids, then why not? but again, I could see where the viewpoint of a more full-time raider than myself could be different. I guess my point is, respecing is so cheap, try it and see what works. dont just take my word, or any other SK's word for it on this board, that way you will learn and at least you will know first-hand what works for your toon and playstyle and WHy it works or doesnt work.

Bolthor

11-29-2007, 04:32 AM

So what points should I put into the crusader line? 4-4-8 intelligence, then strength, but what do I put into strength? need a bit of help here, thanks.PS; im on a PvE server (Oasis)

Grimfort

11-29-2007, 06:15 AM

<cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote>STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.</blockquote>Playing as a 70 SK on a pvp server, sta is actually really useful. There are HUGE spike dmg by scouts and casters that you just can't deal with having less than 8k health. You can't cast blessing/tap before you dead if you can't survive the first barrage of attacks. After respeccing to STA after ROK I went out and killed a 72 wiz, a 72 dirge and put up a good fight vs a 72 and a 62 at the same time. Also, the stoneskin you get from that line just rocks. In an instance my group accidently pulled at least 10 *72^^^ and a named. I stuck up stoneskin, DM and had time to bless (and be buffed from our single healer) to stay alive long enough to down half of them. Saved me in a few other occasions as well. I didnt loose agro to much, even with a 72 wiz insta-spamming the mobs. I wouldn't call it useless <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />, one thing I love about the SK, you can play it so many ways.

Iggyvyn

11-29-2007, 02:22 PM

Thanks, looking forward to the EoF guide.

Bardrick

11-29-2007, 04:31 PM

With trample, are you saying that almost every other auto attack will hit up to 4 mobs around you? I wasn't going to take this due to the mounting thing, but mabey now. But my big question is, when this procs, does it act like a double attack to the mob your already on?

Degrasi

12-01-2007, 05:26 PM

Great discussion! Uros, you and I have debated the stamina vs. intel lines before, and I've tried both. I still favor intel, but I see your point.Since RoK gives us another 20 points here, how are you guys adding your additional points? I'll put my own 2 cents in once play around with mine a little more.

Iwice

12-03-2007, 07:29 AM

<cite>Degrasi@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Great discussion! Uros, you and I have debated the stamina vs. intel lines before, and I've tried both. I still favor intel, but I see your point.Since RoK gives us another 20 points here, how are you guys adding your additional points? I'll put my own 2 cents in once play around with mine a little more. </blockquote>Ill try to included that when i post about EoF.. but been playing to much to post, shame on me a iknow, will try to give you what you need soon (tm)

MaCloud1032

12-03-2007, 11:17 AM

<cite>Grimfort wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote>STA line HP is useless, considering how much efficiency you give up for it.</blockquote>Playing as a 70 SK on a pvp server, sta is actually really useful. There are HUGE spike dmg by scouts and casters that you just can't deal with having less than 8k health. You can't cast blessing/tap before you dead if you can't survive the first barrage of attacks. After respeccing to STA after ROK I went out and killed a 72 wiz, a 72 dirge and put up a good fight vs a 72 and a 62 at the same time. Also, the stoneskin you get from that line just rocks. In an instance my group accidently pulled at least 10 *72^^^ and a named. I stuck up stoneskin, DM and had time to bless (and be buffed from our single healer) to stay alive long enough to down half of them. Saved me in a few other occasions as well. I didnt loose agro to much, even with a 72 wiz insta-spamming the mobs. I wouldn't call it useless <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" />, one thing I love about the SK, you can play it so many ways.</blockquote>Na you dont need the STA line for pvp. I had it for one day then respeced out of it. If you have to use Divian aura for a win that there is something wrong. When the cap was 70 there werer a lot of times that i would roll up on 2v1 and come out a head. Most of the time quite easly. Iam a firm beliver that a SK should have a huge power pool. Warriors have mitigation buffs brawlers have avoid buffs. We have neither! Our job is to spam the mob to death with spells and heal our selfs.Ya a nice set of HP looks good on paper give me my mana anyday. Ive got a bleed pool of 3k that puts me at 11k self buffed HP when grouped closer to 13-14k. And if you dont think the bleed pool is usefull in pvp look at the post i made in this forum.

Nocifer Deathblade

12-04-2007, 06:04 PM

<cite>Bardrick wrote:</cite><blockquote>With trample, are you saying that almost every other auto attack will hit up to 4 mobs around you? I wasn't going to take this due to the mounting thing, but mabey now. But my big question is, when this procs, does it act like a double attack to the mob your already on?</blockquote>No, it doesn't make your double attack 40% of time against a single mob. It won't work.. It will proc 40% of time (rank <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /> up to 4 mobs using your weapon damage. That is where the melee crit and strength usefulness comes in.. Double attack % from gear will not improve trample.. It also requires no mount to do it..

Nocifer Deathblade

12-04-2007, 06:37 PM

<cite>Iwice@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>Crusader TreeStarter skillConcenter: Greatly increases the Crusader's focus skill while under 50% health.Well not much to say about this, you need it to get started, and sure its probably helpful as wellIt helps ALOT against AE encounters where interruptions will occur OFTEN but with increased focus and under 50% health. The interruptions are being reduced alot especially when you need lifetap AE off badly. Concenter+ae lifetap owns..Strength LineNever had that line so no commentAvenger's Strength: Increase Strength by 4 for each rank.Swift Attack: A melee attack that increases the avenger's attack speed if it strikes an enemy.This attack inflicts a decent amount of damage, and increases your attack speed for 30 seconds. This bonus will add to any current attack speed buffs you haveAvenger's Relentlessness: Increases the Avenger's attack speedIt increases with 2.2 for each rankA very useful skill id says. Helps you to get some extra DPSIdolic Axe: Increases the Avenger's hate gain by all enemies.Stars at 2.6% and increases by 1.3 each rank max with 8 points is 11.7%.A really helpful ability that helps to get that little extra hate you need!Avenging Invigoration: All of the Avenger's combat arts, spells, and abilities have their reuse, recovery, and casting speeds improved.This lovely skill Increases Casting, Recovery, Reuse Speed of caster by 10% And adds the title "Avenger"This is one is excellent for solo play, as well as get some more DPS, Good for all Sk'sAgility LineCavalier's Agility: Increases agility by 7 for each rankGives about 0.3% return on avoidance especially when SKs are generally very low on agility than any other melee stats they have.. Good return there and 4 ranks is required anyway so 4x7=28 agi.. That line is what I am expert on and been devoted to Cavalier line since day one of KOS.. The thread covering Cavalier <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=92970" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...?topic_id=92970</a> has all archives information on it and it was one of the main reason why Cavalier line got massively improved thanks to our feedbacks...Joust: A melee attack that teleports you to your target, and does additional damage if executed from horseback.Probebly goodVery good in PvP for teleport part to get in front of a caster who tried to run away from you.. For PvE, the teleport use means little.. But with ROK increased AI of mobs who try to chase away from you then teleport from joust all the sudden is semi-useful heh. The damage is decent. Even without horse, damage is good but with horse, we are seeing secondary (smaller ) damage to support. It will be good with melee crits and higher strength but we are more focused on spell crit and int so that joust is pretty weak compared to wrath from INT line that is doing better job with 8 AA along with our awesome 68% spell crit..Trample: Buff that has a chance to attack up to 4 targets surrounding the cavilier. This ability is increased when on horseback.Gives the auto-attack function a chance to attack up to 4 different targets Multi-target attacking increases by 5% per rank well channce to do more DPS, or agro mobs you dident whant to....We don't need horse for this ANYMORE.. At 8th rank, it is 40% always with or without horse.. It hits up to 4 mobs 40% of time based on your MELEE damage so melee crit/strength is very helpful. Haste will help alot to increase frequency of trampling.. I love it since day one. The old trample was weak, 18% without horse and 36% with horse. Now, its a flat 40% as passive. MUCHHHHH BETTER!!!!!! I enjoy trampling in door ALOT now than 18%.. I am hoping to improve 40% to maybe 60% or so with ROK gear or something like that.. Trample is great for SK with heavy designed for AE encounters with all AE enchancements from SK tree.. Higher Ground: Increases defence skill. While on horseback, crusader has a chance to become immune to some knockdown effects for a short duration after every melee attack.Defence is good, still tehre are better ways to gain it then spend AA for it this way...We are getting about +2 defense per rank at lvl 80 that gives us about +16 defense bonus. With horse, we receive higher ground knock-down immunity for 4 seconds and it procs 8% at rank 8. +16 defense is good but higher ground effect is still TOOOOOO weak with horse. It needs more boost.. +16 defense is great for casual Sks that their avoidance is generally low and will see bigger return on avoidance per defense point. The nice benefit of defense is that it is being checked FIRST against mob's attack for hit-miss resolution before your block or parry is being checked. That means defense comes first for combat check which can be pretty useful and larger return on avoidance. The avoidance that you are seeing on profile stats for flat % return can be pretty misleading cuz of the sequence of defense, block then parry check.. Of course, block is greatest of all simply cuz it is not contested and will provide flat % avoidance regardless of mob's level..Lance: A powerful melee attack that cannot be riposted. It deals additional damage-over-time and snares the target guys if crusader is on horseback. Nice skill, not worth 24AAs IMO thou.... At least you get a cool title "Cavalier". YAY the line is saved.Good that you dont need to be mounted anymore for this line, still its not worth 24 presious AA when we are blessed wiht the awesome AA tree we gotYou still need mount for increased effect on DOT. DOT is being almost doubled with mount for deadlier DOT.. BUt everything else stays the same. Lance damage overall is greatly upgraded from old lance for almost 2x more damage than before so it's better now for dps. The snare % is still useless for us. Wish it can be changed to slow like I suggested in AGI- Joust and beyond long time ago.Stamina Line: No first-hand experience comment since I never had that line but could make some comments purely on my opinion..Sentry's Stamina: Increases stamina by 5 points per rankHammer Ground: Applies knockdown -- lasts for 1.6 seconds *Stuns target *Throws target back *Blurs vision of target *Does not effect epic targetsUseful Skill, duration increases with ranks, good to use to get those extra seconds to get blessing/tap veins whatever active and save your [I cannot control my vocabulary].Fervor of Faith: Increases melee crit chance of caster by 2.8% each rankWell as almost all our abilities are spells... and we ca get 68% spell crit with int line,This is probably if you really want to squeeze the final little bit DPS from yourself.Melee crit is rather very small compared to spell crit 68% for same 8 AA cost. Our 8 AA is best invested in spell crit% plus most of our dps is spell-based so spell crit will serve us better. Melee crit will be great in conjunction with trample, joust and lance AAs though..Sentry's Bulwark: Increases max health of caster by 0.5% each rankWell... 4% more heath if you spend 8 points here, I don't see any great purpose in spending valuable AA on such a minor % of health, Sort of waste of points, to litle 4% for to much wasted AA4% more health is still great! It will work better especially when we have reaver effect on for bigger heal per spell spamming. Why did Sks mostly trying to get as much HP as we can get hands on? 4% health is scalable for long run, it'll do great at lvl 80, 90, 100, so go on for bigger gap.. Why did we LOVE racial traits with 3% health as first choice? Now, we get 4%. Nice.. A good buy for SK tanks who tank ALOT.. It can be little more useful for soloing to with with reaver but won't be that much. Buffed SK tank with massive HP will be more useful with 4%..Divine Aura: Divine Aura grants the Sentry immunity to most damage sources for 10 seconds. Any damage in excess of 50% of the Sentry's maximum health is not prevented.This thing is just awesome, great in emergencies, Immortality (well sort of) for 10 seconds, awesome if you tank hard places where things tend to mess up badly. to bad you need to waste 24 skills to get it.... atleast you get the title Sentry.Wisdom LineKnight's Wisdom: Increases wisdom by 6 points per rank.Combat Leadership: Next attack done by the group members will trigger an additional proc damage effect, the damage increased for each rank.More damage for the entire group, good for allIt sucks.. I have rank 4 and I hardly used it. Not everyone in my group swings. Maybe just 3 of us swing so the overall damage is weaker than joust or wrath of same rank. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> It suck die hard.. Wastes 4 AA..Battle Leadership: Increases Disruption, Piercing, Slashing, Ordination, Subjugation, Ministration, and Crushing of group members by 1.3 each rankGood for the entire group, soon you can start working as dirge!Wrong information.. It's not 1.3 ranks.. It would at low level but at my level (75), I have 8 ranks and enjoy nice +36 to all stuff above. 36/8 = 4.5 per rank. It might be +38 at lvl 80 which is AWESOME! That skill is useless if you always hunt even con or lower level mobs all the time.. That skill OWNS if you tank in DIFFICULT encounters alot and during raiding too that your hit rate will stay in acceptable range even against orange/red mobs.. I had that and killed lvl 78 mob while I was lvl 72. It surprised me how well I was able to hit that ORANGE mob with relative ease!! LOVE that skill. Along with HUMAN trait of +7 to all above so it makes +36 + 7= +42 to my skills. You even can go defensive stance and still can hit yellow mobs easily which can be useful for tanking. I usually stay in defensive stance in DIFFICULT encounters and I still can taunt pretty easy all thanks to massive boost in weapon skills so I can hit them easy. +36 will easily put defensive stance penalty into positive instead of negative. Good one there..Aura of Leadership: Increase the groups in-combat heath regenerationGood for everyone! Thou who are brave enough to spend all points here and lose much DPS and solo ability?I am rank 8 in it now and am enjoying some boost from hp regeneration +72 per tick for entire group, It helps to offset reaver hp regeneration penalty. I was able to run thru zones with massive trains behind my back easily with reaver being turned off and stay in defensive stance and let hp regeneration eat up all DOTS on me without losing much of health. A nice zone skipping technique there. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Also, I get more health back during combat while reaver in effect so it helps some.. I am more of group SK tank so any group enchancing AAs are great for group SK tanks.. I know I could get strength line for hate boost but frankly, I have no problem with aggro without STR line so skipping it is fine and wis line serves me better as group SK tank.. I can see that strength is a necessary for RAID SK tank cuz aggro is alot harder to manage..Fearless Morale: The knight gains immunity to fear and your groups spell damage, melee damage, and heal times are improved by 2%.For giving your group all these buffs thinking nothing of damage or solo, you are granted the title knight!LOVE THAT SKILL! When I spec'ed that for SOF, it makes HUUGGEE difference and I nolonger get feared while tanking darn epic x2s and they are easy to take down with nice +36 skill boost plus fear immunity. I can see that ability being very useful in Plane of Fear that will come soon which is a raid zone that would fear OFTEN. I can see that SK/Paladin with fear immunity is BEST main tank of choice in that plane of fear over any other tanks.. Fear immunity is all I need for final ability but 2% in spell damage, heal and ward is a nice little bonus for entire group. Another good group enchancing ability for group SK.. Bottomline, if you wanted to become BETTER group SK, wis line is for you.. It will enchance your group pretty good and they will appreciate that.. Your group will all the sudden find difficult encounters easy to handle so all of their melee/spells can land pretty easy thanks to your AAs.. Intelligence LineLegionnaire's Intelligence: Increases intelligence by 8 points per rank.HUGE return on stats for 1 AA cost! Best one of all! Plus INT helps us ALOT!! Legionnaire's Smite: Smites the targetDamages is increased with levels and rank of the spell, with 8 points this spell is a good "nuke" and what so ever at any rank it's a good asset to your damage capability.It probably is one of best combat AA that we can have and it is being affected by our high INT along with 68% spell crit. Great damaging spell. Prefer over joust in PvE..Legionnaire's Wrath: Increases damage spell crit rate by 6% per rankThis one is probably the only AA ability that all SKs can agree on that you must have.Give you a total of 68% critical chance on your spells, AWESOME!and if your damage on a spell crits, the included heal will crit as well (for tap veins and the other life taps)SK will be completely stupid to skip this AA. It's a STAPLE of SK and should get this one FIRST before anything else.. HUGE difference in our combat ability thanks to this little AA!!Legionnaire's Mercy: Increases the heal crit chanceM'kay..... SK's don't heal, we don't have real heals, we have life taps, so this skill is close to useless, seems yo works on blessing thou aswell as the crit chance, don't waste a single point at this pally lover skill!Reflect: Reflects the next incoming profession spellA nice skill, usually reflects some of the really big bad stuffs the bad guys throw at you (this skill is prpbebly best for PVP)And anyway, you now got the title "Legionnaire"</blockquote>

Dead Knight

12-04-2007, 07:45 PM

<cite>Nocifer Deathblade wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Bardrick wrote:</cite><blockquote>With trample, are you saying that almost every other auto attack will hit up to 4 mobs around you? I wasn't going to take this due to the mounting thing, but mabey now. But my big question is, when this procs, does it act like a double attack to the mob your already on?</blockquote>No, it doesn't make your double attack 40% of time against a single mob. It won't work.. It will proc 40% of time (rank <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" width="15" height="15" /> up to 4 mobs using your weapon damage. That is where the melee crit and strength usefulness comes in.. Double attack % from gear will not improve trample.. It also requires no mount to do it..</blockquote>Double attack cannot cause a proc. Unless you mean double attacking Trample, in which case the second attack would be single target and not AE.

Nocifer Deathblade

12-05-2007, 03:17 PM

<cite>Dead Knight wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Nocifer Deathblade wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Bardrick wrote:</cite><blockquote>With trample, are you saying that almost every other auto attack will hit up to 4 mobs around you? I wasn't going to take this due to the mounting thing, but mabey now. But my big question is, when this procs, does it act like a double attack to the mob your already on?</blockquote>No, it doesn't make your double attack 40% of time against a single mob. It won't work.. It will proc 40% of time (rank <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" />" width="15" height="15" /> up to 4 mobs using your weapon damage. That is where the melee crit and strength usefulness comes in.. Double attack % from gear will not improve trample.. It also requires no mount to do it..</blockquote>Double attack cannot cause a proc. Unless you mean double attacking Trample, in which case the second attack would be single target and not AE.</blockquote>Yes. That's what I mean.. DA or without, trample 40% stays the same per swing attempt no matter if 1x or 2x.. Also against single mob, trample will not act as 40% double attack. Trample means nothing against single mobs..

MaCloud1032

12-05-2007, 04:40 PM

Combat leadership or what ever the 2nd part of the wis line is will hit on any attack. Be it spell or melee just so ya all know.

Hamervelder

12-05-2007, 05:25 PM

<cite>Degrasi@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Great discussion! Uros, you and I have debated the stamina vs. intel lines before, and I've tried both. I still favor intel, but I see your point.Since RoK gives us another 20 points here, how are you guys adding your additional points? I'll put my own 2 cents in once play around with mine a little more. </blockquote>I went all the way down stra and sta, then 4/4/8 in the int line. I'm pretty happy. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I'm sitting at almost 9.3kph at lvl 74, and I could squeeze out another 200 or 300 hp if I swapped out some of my int gear for sta stuff.