Do the lifetaps help with aggro?

[Malchore]

<p>I've played EQ2 for a few years but don't know much of the SK.  I have some friends that may decide to open new accounts and try EQ2 for awhile during the winter.  I recomended a 5-person group with a SK as tank but I'm not sure if the SK can hold aggro.</p><p>Specifically, I'm wondering how much an impact the SK's lifetaps and self-heals help in aggro generation.  I paired a Mystic as the group healer (mostly because of their debuffing, especially their ability to debuff Noxious resists) but I was thinking it would be good if the mystic DID NOT pre-ward before every fight as that would allow the SK to generate extra hate with his own healing.  1 point of damage = 1 point of hate.  But it's also true that 1 point of healing = 1 point of hate.</p><p>Seems to me the healing would be factor to SK aggo generation.  Am I correct in this?</p><p>Oh, the group doesn't have any aggro transfer, and no hate buffs so helping the SK maintain aggro would be important.</p>

[Kaarim]

<p>Shadowknights can hold aggro like champs now so I wouldn't worry about your friend losing hate. Lifetap heals yes do generate aggro, the way heals work to build aggression is 2HP=1hate. So if a shadowknight lifetaps for 500 that's 250 hate. Hate generated by damage is 1damage=1hate, so if a shadowknight does 1000damage that will equal 1000 hate.</p><p>Hope this helps, good luck!</p>

[AziBam]

<p>The short answer is, yes.  Lifetaps do add to the overall hate generation of an SK. </p><p>There is no reason to treat the SK different than any other tank in terms of prewarding.  Have the mystic precast their group ward rather than ST ward so if the SK is a smidge slow the healer doesn't get beat up too badly. Shaman rock at the preventing damage game but are not as suited to replenishing health after it has been lost so it's best to not get behind right at the start.</p><p>1 point of damage = 1 point of hate.  1 point of healing = "somewhat less" than one point of hate.  That was from a post by a dev (think it was Lockeye) ages ago.  I don't think the exact amount of hate per point of heal is known more than that. </p><p>Depending on the group makeup any tank can have occasional aggro problems.  If I had to pick one class that has periodically given me trouble over time it would be Brigands.  With our current state though I think we stand about as good a chance as anyone at solid aggro other than possibly Paladins at least while amends remains unchanged.  Keep in mind fighter revamp 2.0 is still coming.  Aeralik is saying that they are trying to make fighters more independant for their own hate and less dependant on other transfers (if I'm correctly interpreting the comments he has made.)</p>

[Malchore]

<p>Thanks guys.  I had long forgotten that healing aggro was tuned down a bit; so that it's no longer 1 heal = 1 hate.</p>