Am I the MT or not?

[Saethkept]

<p>I've exclusively played (and immensely enjoyed) the Shadowknight class in EQ2, and have reached lvl 71. As a soloer I feel unrivaled-- dispatching ^^^ a few levels below my own, surviving encounters with up to 6 blue mobs, and hunting blue and green nameds for loot ... btw SK's are a great class to play if you like to explore new areas on your own. </p><p> I began grouping at level 40 as OT/MT and have had mixed results. Some of my peers on the server cheer me in group, others despise my name I am sure. Seems that throughout his evolution the SK continuously cylcles between unrivaled MT and perhaps the worse tanking class available. Ability to hold aggro seems to vary vs. various classes to the point where at times I feel like the scout in the group ought to be MT. </p><p> I am curious to know whether other SK's have varying degrees of difficulty holding aggro vs. Brigands, Rangers and Assassins ... or do I need to check my own build and make some changes? I enjoy grouping but lately it is a hit or miss affair which leaves me more apt to come into a pick-up group as Dps or OT. </p>

[Norrsken]

<cite>Saethkept wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I've exclusively played (and immensely enjoyed) the Shadowknight class in EQ2, and have reached lvl 71. As a soloer I feel unrivaled-- dispatching ^^^ a few levels below my own, surviving encounters with up to 6 blue mobs, and hunting blue and green nameds for loot ... btw SK's are a great class to play if you like to explore new areas on your own. </p><p> I began grouping at level 40 as OT/MT and have had mixed results. Some of my peers on the server cheer me in group, others despise my name I am sure. Seems that throughout his evolution the SK continuously cylcles between unrivaled MT and perhaps the worse tanking class available. Ability to hold aggro seems to vary vs. various classes to the point where at times I feel like the scout in the group ought to be MT. </p><p> I am curious to know whether other SK's have varying degrees of difficulty holding aggro vs. Brigands, Rangers and Assassins ... or do I need to check my own build and make some changes? I enjoy grouping but lately it is a hit or miss affair which leaves me more apt to come into a pick-up group as Dps or OT. </p></blockquote>A brigand can usually rip aggro at their leisure, so can warlocks and wizards. Assassins WILL rip aggro when they rip off a crit conc chain. Rangers? Dunno, Im on pvp. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />But meh, if someone is overzealous and risks the group, just fd them. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Saroun]

<p>My Shadowknight is a good MT class, and fun to play.  Alot of any tanks success for holding aggro is going to come down to the people in the group.  I know with my Brigand I can take aggro from any of the tank classes if I want to.  But I also have abilities that let me keep my aggro down.   Since you says it's hit or miss, I'm going to guess when you have responsible players in your group, it goes smooth, and when you get those that have the belief that it is all the tanks responsibility to keep the aggro it goes bad.  When you get those bad players it does get frustrating, but I wouldn't worry about it to much.</p><p> Now with that said, you can increase your ability to hold hate with the right AA choices.  If you want to post your AA build, that could give a better picture of if there is something you can do to help.</p>

[Dracosy]

it varys greatly on what ur group is made up of, i've had the same prob, exspecially with overzealus rogue types that don't listen, casterrs know better unless u have a dumb warlock that fires off his major nuke right as u pull

[Hugsnkissums]

<p>Sk's do have the most trouble of the "tank" classes holding aggro since a lot of our aggro control is suppsoed to come from damage and heals from life taps. Most other tank classes have some sort of ability or what not to help keep or build agg fast. We do have SOME tools to help us keep aggro, but once we loose it there's only a few abilities that *might* help us rip it back (I.E. DM, rescue, Tap Veins). Most times if DM or resuce doesn't work, then someone is fighting you for aggro...intentionally or not. </p><p>It's no surprise that scouts can rip agg from you. Most scout classes who don't help control their own hate just deal too much damage too quickly. In some cases, they can mitigate that by using their detaunts religiously, but some of them really need to hold back when an SK is tanking. I know a ranger that can rip aggro from a pally with amends on them while using their detaunt poison and detaunting like crazy. Some classes are MADE to be damage dealers and they just can't help but get aggro so in order for them to be group friendly they have to sit out part of the fight. </p><p> That being said, SK's are finessey tanks, but tanks never-the-less. Even full out DPS speccing and doing everything in our power to be DPS, just doesn't compare to other classes built for that sort of thing. We make a good MT if the group is willing to work around our finessey hate gain, but if there's another tank in the group, chances are we'll make a better OT. We'll work in a pinch, but when the opprotunity arrises it's better to have one of the other "tanks" do the dirty work.    </p>

[Toastic]

<p>"Sk's do have the most trouble of the "tank" classes holding aggro since a lot of our aggro control is suppsoed to come from damage and heals from life taps"</p><p>This is where most SK's trip themselves up. Yes we have high DPS but you will never out-DPS a DPS class so thinking that it's DPS thats going to get and keep agro on you you're going to be frustrated, taunts all by themselves aren't going to make up the difference.</p><p>If you spec and gear for agro and defense it's really easy tanking. Go down the STR line for Idolic Axe and Avenging Invigoration. Get Enhance Dark Caress, Enhance Catastrophic Slam and Siphon Hate on the EoF tree. For tanking these are all more important than reaver and spell crit in the INT line. Make sure your taunt, AoE taunt and shield slam are at minimum adept3 and preferably master's also defense stance and the caress line. The number of times I've seen SK's terrible at and complaining about their agro abilities while using a two-hander in offensive stance is depressing. A couple even using App4 taunts.</p><p>For my tanking spec I didn't even take the crit increase in INT till much later. Yes 70% more crits for 50% (? forget) increase in damage for half of my abilities is nice. More hate on every ability, 10% resue/recovery/casting boost, melee haste and battle leadership all helped me tank better than spell crit. Reaver is great for soloing but for tanking boosting my taunts helps much more, especially the shield slam increase. 3% hate siphon doesn't sound like much but thats 15% more hate in a full group. It adds up.</p><p>Now don't get me wrong, I have a INT/Reaver build in my mirror as it is awesome DPS for grinding and questing. But it's not a good tanking build.</p>

[Beldin_]

<cite>Ulvhamne@Nagafen wrote:</cite><blockquote>A brigand can usually rip aggro at their leisure, so can warlocks and wizards. Assassins WILL rip aggro when they rip off a crit conc chain. Rangers? Dunno, Im on pvp. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote><p>When i play my Ranger i never had problems with SKs. I even prefer a SK 10 times over a Paladin if i don't have amends. </p>