SK Tanking help.... [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

wangel

03-12-2010, 10:32 AM

I'm sure this has probably been answered 2394235928 times before. And I've read through a good # of posts on SK gear ... but I really do need help. I'm a brand new, level 90 SK. I have tank experience in other games (Warhammer, WoW, EQ1, etc etc etc) ... I'm not a "newb" to mmo's, I have a good idea of what's going on. At any rate, a couple of my friends talked me into playing. So I did. I was raf'ed to about 70 I guess ... Quested my way, solo, to 90. I have 131 AA's right now, and I'm focusing on getting them. Right now, I have level 90 Mastercrafted armor (horned gruebacht) or some crap. It's decent, but it has toughness on it. I attemped to tank the Research Labs for a group, and even running out of the aoe, the first boss rocked my socks. My gear isn't good enough. Here's where I need help: 1) What should I do to get good gear. My guild isn't big enough to raid (there's 4 of us and 1 isn't 90 yet). 2) Is the level 80 void shard gear better than level 90 stuff? 3) How am I supposed to get good gear to tank, if I can't run in the instances now <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> You see what I'm getting at? It's a catch 22. I really want to tank and have fun on my sk, but I'm not having much fun because my gear lacks. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!!!Cliff Notes-----------1) I need better tank gear2) Should I do solo void shard stuff and get void shard armor (level 80)3) Should I go BG's and get that armor?4) Eq2players.com isn't updating? What the hell. At the very least I have the Horned Guaben or some stuff mastercrafted armor.Thanks all, I really appreciate it.My char name is Samuael on the Crushbone server

Kain-UK

03-12-2010, 11:44 AM

Your first mistake was getting the level 90 mastercrafted gear.It's got toughness on it for PvP... which means you have no Critical Mitigation and that's why mobs are just eating you for breakfast. For a start, I'd recommend possibly getting the level 84 mastercrafted plate armour instead. I don't know if it has any crit mit on it (maybe an armourer can post here to confirm?), but it should have better PvE stats than the PvP plate. Then you could try running sone of the non-scaling TSO zones to get shards... like OoA, AoB or any Guks.Personally, I think the T2 shard armour from level 80 is better than most of the crap we've been given as players so far.EDIT: Oh! Try and get your fabled epic done asap if you haven't already too.

wangel

03-12-2010, 11:56 AM

Yah, I haven't gotten my epic done...Guess I'll work on that.I should be able to run the guks solo, yes?

Sleap

03-12-2010, 12:02 PM

with only 131 AA's at lvl 90.. id seriously doubt you'd solo Guk zones. I do aggree that lvl 90 MC gear is garbage.. not even worth crafting the gear imo, no resists, crappy stats.. T7 MC is better imo. i have a 90 SK with 233 AA.. i havent tried to solo guk zones.. cause i dont need them, i have 6/7 T3 gear, myth'd, some new lvl 90 jewelery/charms. I do pretty well for myself.. however with some of this new gear i have become a lil more squishy than i was in TSO.

ykaerflila

03-12-2010, 12:09 PM

1. have you tried tanking any other instances besides research labs? if so how did you hold up?2. look on the faction merchants for he Hole / panieel / kerrans ect ect for decent upgrades usually cost less than a plat and if your in MC gear there may be some real upgrades there. if you dont have faction yet with some of these well look over the gear for your best upgrades and start working faction. none of them take very long that i've seen.3. are you talking "Vasty Deep" Abandoned labs or the "Erudin" Research Halls?

wangel

03-12-2010, 02:02 PM

<cite>Llort@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote>1. have you tried tanking any other instances besides research labs? if so how did you hold up?2. look on the faction merchants for he Hole / panieel / kerrans ect ect for decent upgrades usually cost less than a plat and if your in MC gear there may be some real upgrades there. if you dont have faction yet with some of these well look over the gear for your best upgrades and start working faction. none of them take very long that i've seen.3. are you talking "Vasty Deep" Abandoned labs or the "Erudin" Research Halls? Erudin Research Halls. We did 1 vasty deep instance, with a dragon at the end, that was pretty easy. I held up well there.</blockquote>

standupwookie

03-12-2010, 02:35 PM

Here is the basic progression if you are a new toon or have crappy gear.Do the Sentinel Fate quest timelines to 90 while using the DPS version of the quest rewards. There are two or three levels and the gear is by far better than anything you got solo before. While doing those quests, you will gain faction with most of the overland SF faction vendors. These are the guys that sell the legendary stuff which will be better than the faction stuff. Again, there are two or three levels of the stuff and you may need to faction grind on some of the factions (there is a daily Mark of Manaar quest that gains you faction so once you get 90 do that)You will get legendary jewelry and a weapon and a shield, but i am pretty sure there are no legendary armor on these vendors....and for a reason.Next is the Hole Group Faction grind. These guys have two different kinds of armor for each class. A DPS and a Tanking stuff. If you are a SK, just get the DPS stuff if you are hard pressed for gear. Get both if you can. You can even start to adorn stuff but don't go hog wild because you will be replacing it soon. You have to group for these zones I think, but you can group while you are in your 80s so it is not a strict 90 zone. Next on the progression is the SF instances. I think the easiest is the Library of Erudin, and it is pretty easy. I have not done all the instances, but there is a general progression in terms of easy to hard. You will have to do these instances until you at least get your Legendary tank armor.Keep in mind that while you are doing these, you will be gaining Marks of Manaar, and you can spend them if you want. There is some legendary stuff on the Mark Vendors as well as a few fabled pieces available for more Marks. These are the pieces you want because you can adorn them with the Red Marks which have specific class effects. SKs get a nice encounter lifetap adornment that can seriously help you out as a tank, the rest of the stuff is ok but not great.Once you get geared up by the instances/Marks/lower end fabled stuff then you go to the harder zones. The Vigilant (Blimp Series) is a three part instance that gives you access to a x2 Raid Zone that (I think) has some pretty nice drops. from there you can go to the x4 stuff which is the hardest stuff in SF land.If you are any class other than a tank, you can kind of get by with lesser gear. But if you are a tank, you HAVE to get geared up for the medium stuff and higher or you get a lot of wipes and such.It just takes time.

ykaerflila

03-12-2010, 03:50 PM

<cite>wangel wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Llort@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote>1. have you tried tanking any other instances besides research labs? if so how did you hold up?2. look on the faction merchants for he Hole / panieel / kerrans ect ect for decent upgrades usually cost less than a plat and if your in MC gear there may be some real upgrades there. if you dont have faction yet with some of these well look over the gear for your best upgrades and start working faction. none of them take very long that i've seen.3. are you talking "Vasty Deep" Abandoned labs or the "Erudin" Research Halls? Erudin Research Halls. We did 1 vasty deep instance, with a dragon at the end, that was pretty easy. I held up well there.</blockquote></blockquote>Vasty Conservatory I'd bet. which basicly means you went from one end of the spectrum to the other with zone difficulty. not that research halls is that difficult but you can see how it ranks here<a href="http://eq2wire.feldoncentral.com/2010/02/04/sentinels-fate-group-dungeon-raid-zone-list-by-difficulty/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2wire.feldoncentral.com/20...-by-difficulty/</a>Another thought is, what mob are you calling the first mob? The big armored beholder thing in the middle of the first big room?

wangel

03-12-2010, 03:59 PM

<cite>Llort@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>wangel wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Llort@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote>1. have you tried tanking any other instances besides research labs? if so how did you hold up?2. look on the faction merchants for he Hole / panieel / kerrans ect ect for decent upgrades usually cost less than a plat and if your in MC gear there may be some real upgrades there. if you dont have faction yet with some of these well look over the gear for your best upgrades and start working faction. none of them take very long that i've seen.3. are you talking "Vasty Deep" Abandoned labs or the "Erudin" Research Halls? Erudin Research Halls. We did 1 vasty deep instance, with a dragon at the end, that was pretty easy. I held up well there.</blockquote></blockquote>Vasty Conservatory I'd bet. which basicly means you went from one end of the spectrum to the other with zone difficulty. not that research halls is that difficult but you can see how it ranks here<a rel="nofollow" href="http://eq2wire.feldoncentral.com/2010/02/04/sentinels-fate-group-dungeon-raid-zone-list-by-difficulty/" target="_blank">http://eq2wire.feldoncentral.com/20...-by-difficulty/</a>Another thought is, what mob are you calling the first mob? The big armored beholder thing in the middle of the first big room?</blockquote>No, heh ... the boss named guy with the tinker's...And yes, I was running out of the big spell he casts ... just the healer couldn't keep me up, hehe.

ykaerflila

03-12-2010, 04:18 PM

K = ) just making sure.You were jousting the Curse. but can anyone confirm that the green lightning dmgs players as well or just the mob? It seemed i was taking more damage the last 30% on a few pulls where i positioned myself poorly.but if your problem is happening in the first 50% with successful jousting then i'd say stick to the hole open zone for faction or blue/green zones on the list I linked above till you get some gear replacements. if you've been working on faction as you leveled you should be able to get some decent upgrades cheap or with little extra work to get over the faction requirement to buy items. Then after running a the easy SF zones and easier TSO scaled up zones you should have shards/loots enough to take on something harder. Battle grounds is defiantly worthwhile for a good number of rewards if your in master crafted. until then pack a dirge and a backup healer

Alazarz

03-18-2010, 11:13 AM

<cite>Kain-UK wrote:</cite><blockquote>Your first mistake was getting the level 90 mastercrafted gear.It's got toughness on it for PvP... which means you have no Critical Mitigation and that's why mobs are just eating you for breakfast. For a start, I'd recommend possibly getting the level 84 mastercrafted plate armour instead. I don't know if it has any crit mit on it (maybe an armourer can post here to confirm?), but it should have better PvE stats than the PvP plate. Then you could try running sone of the non-scaling TSO zones to get shards... like OoA, AoB or any Guks.Personally, I think the T2 shard armour from level 80 is better than most of the crap we've been given as players so far.EDIT: Oh! Try and get your fabled epic done asap if you haven't already too.</blockquote>Your first mistake was telling this guy whom said he dosent raid that he was getting squished because he has no crit mit I dont see any criting going on in these lil sf zones.. i have successfully tanked every sf 6 man zone without problems with spiking aka getting owned.. in bg gear..To the OP.. if you just wanna run 6 man zones and stuff.. i recommend getting all of the dreadnaught armor set from BG along with all lifetap / ward proc gear avalible on the Bg vendor.. inspect many people / ask where to farm certain items (or just simply google the item).. as an sk you want Sta,Agi,Str,Wis in that order as a defensive sk.. our dps output come naturally tbh and in order to be a solid tank you needa focus on defense.. sks are squishy compared to paladins and guardians..And for the record the new shard armor is very horrible (except for the armor at moonfield hamlet is awsome for apperance).. but still far better than any T2 shard armor from T8..summary: go grind BGs for gear.. dont stop til u have every piece.. go run zones with that gear.. aquire some select pve pieces..regards, xav

DwarvesR

03-18-2010, 02:49 PM

You have noticed that the BG armor and weapons have several things on them that state "must be in pvp combat" for them to work?IOW, they are quite nice pieces, but you don't get their full benefit unless you're in pvp.

CHIMPNOODLE.

03-19-2010, 11:32 AM

1) What should I do to get good gear. My guild isn't big enough to raid (there's 4 of us and 1 isn't 90 yet).Join a guild with more grouping opportunitiesTag along with pickup groups as a filler (not tanking)Redo 80 zones and especially scaled TSO zones. Try to get a few pickups together for WoE. The T3 gear still holds up decently.Do the SF zones that you know you have no issue with...Observatory, and probably Library....and spend some more time in the The Hole.Upgrade whatever pieces you can which you get from the above (with or without Marks of Manaar), and adorn them....white and yellows.Upgrade all spells/CAs you can to Expert and above.....AAs, work on them big time. This is probably your biggest issue right now. You don't have enough AAs to get all your best "surviveability tools".At 131 you don't have Furor, likley not Blood Siphon...probably not even the extra Block from shadows etc etc etc.. By the time you get them in the 190s you can pretty much go the duration of most instanced named fights with at least an emergency save (or 4 up). Divine Aura, Blood Siphon, SK Furor, Blood Pools, Siphon Essence (?. end hate line), extra block, extra...everything! hehe....and you can work on your AAs without beating your head against mobs you are having trouble with. Mentor & redo/revisit/quest, grind em (with or without Achievement xp boost potions)...heck, flop/FD your way through a bunch of the new zones/instances...even some raid zones (old and new....takes time with slow FD recast...but it works. You'll save a few deaths flopping if you have Divine Aura, the effect breaker Aura, DM runnin when you slip by some mobs...to avoid being stunned and whupped).Do your fabled epic.2) Is the level 80 void shard gear better than level 90 stuff?T2? Mostly no. T3...mostly yes.3) How am I supposed to get good gear to tank, if I can't run in the instances now <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" />See 1. Your AAs will help as much as your gear for the earlier SF zones. You powerlevelled quick, and you are very low on AAs for a level 90....which makes you weaker even than many equivalent level SKs with less decent gear than you. A decently geared lower level SK might even fare better in those zones if they had considerably more AAs.

Alazarz

04-15-2010, 11:20 AM

<cite>Jonna@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote>You have noticed that the BG armor and weapons have several things on them that state "must be in pvp combat" for them to work?IOW, they are quite nice pieces, but you don't get their full benefit unless you're in pvp.</blockquote>well yes ofcourse.. a good idea would be to go with all BG armor except shoulders.. get the new shard shoulders to start out with..they have like 6dps mod, some crit and like 11% potency.. defenatly get the onyx lifetap ear, the 2 ward rings from the Bg vendor..aquire the other jewlery slots from the new zones.. you'll wanna focus on items with potency and crit bonus, ward procs, and defense..Even if the Bg gear is only used at its full potential ( only the pieces that apply potenency ONLY while in pvp combat) in BGs.. other than that its great..gives you alot of critbonus , crit , DA and HP.. perfect starter set of armor / jewl;ery for running these little pilly SF 6mans..

Alazarz

04-15-2010, 11:21 AM