Thinking of respeccing, need some opinions from 50 SKs

[OgreSmash]

<DIV>I hit level 50 about 3 weeks ago, but only now am I having the opportunity to begin hitting the high-end/raid content. I have read a lot about the SKs role in raids, and in an effort to forego this, I am thinking of respeccing pure strength rather than stamina/defense abilities in an effort to just do as much damage as possible, while of course keeping despoiling mist up through the whole encounter. My question is this, is this generally a good idea? Should I be switching out my + 2.5 % bonuses to HP as well towards power, or leave that the same. Does the extra 20(approximately) strength I would get by doing this really increase my damage very much? Any thoughts on what my thinking on this is or what some of you have done would be greatly appreciated. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, the matter of the level 40 ability you can pick from. Pretty sure there were just two worth any thought, the nice solo taunt one and Lucan's infernal bargain, which is the single target buff that ups sta, agi, and str, but also spell avoidance. I picked the taunt because I always tanked up to 50. So, wondering what the stats on Lucan's infernal bargain are at level 50, and whether it is worth any thought at all.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Finally, for the 50s here who already do raid, how do we stack up against other classes in raids as far as damage goes? Any parse logs or at least some DPS numbers would be great to read.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[far]

<DIV>0. I am in a high guild that does multiple x4 epics every day, on a raid my function is pure dps and occassionally tanking adds in the main pull or spawned friends. Pretty much on a raid the spells you should always have up is unholy strength on the melees in your group, (if main tank in group the gift of armor/calculated), your hunger spell, your caress spell, your pet, and despoiling mist then whatever other dps stuff you can find.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. I would recommend holding off any respeccing until after the next combat reforms go in in which balance is brought to the forc... err the alleged reworking of tank structure and dps. I would focus however on becoming the best at what we sks are currently given (disease and poison resistant). As you raid and quest you will aquire power regen items which in tandem with your enchanters and bards make the size of your power pool not as high a priority as the size of your hp pool (because sadly things will hit 6-12k on raids and the rate at which you get hps back wont matter if you are 1 shot dead). As per usual innate skills are always better, and spell upgrades should be eschewed for things that wont be updated and placed on the shelf when you get master drops.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. SK dps (currently) should be over 200, and a good deal higher if they allow you to go nutty on your AEs, so try to get gold of a nice fabled 2 handed crusher and slasher (as you find certain raid mobs are 100% resistant to certain attack types) However my own personal opinion has always been fill sword and board needs first then work on dps (i still think of myself as a tank... isnt that cute, even without a tower shield I think i can tank)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. The damage bonuses occur at something like 100 150 200 250 str (at least the last time i read) self buffed at high end you should be getting pretty close to 200 + whatever else the group brings (dirge/troub has had me to 300+ )so restatting to strength doesnt seem to me as being high priority (str and sta items for tanks dont seem overly rare, agility on the other hand is another matter) but my goal at this pt is to try to balance str/sta/agil (190ish str/115ish agil/140ish stam atm) to be as well rounded as possible. Seeing as we are a utility tank</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4. Despite what everyone will tell you, you are worthwhile, your good enough and smart enough and gosh darn it, mobs like you (especially kdal and temblar)</DIV>

[OgreSmash]

<DIV>Nice read, thanks for the very helpful advice.</DIV>

[comfortablynu]

<DIV>If going for dps, I think Raltur's Vile Whorl is a good ability for your lvl 40 talent. It does about the same dmg as the lvl 50, wicked coil, I think its wicked coil, I haven't played in a while. However, it also debuffs disease resistance by like 700-900 or something like that. So since it is on a 20 second timer, along with baleful smite, the other dd disease nuke that I cant remember the name of at the moment, and plague sword, you can use them all in a chain, with raltur's first, then the next 3 nukes do noticeably more dmg.</DIV>

[Eberan]

<P>I agree with the above poster, Raltur's Vile Whorl is defenaitly a must.</P> <P>You should also consider your resists, as shadowknights, we get bonuses to disease and poison resist from our selfbuff. I think playing into that strenght and raising either of them even further is a good idea. Having 5000+ PR/DR does come in handy and makes you a viable MT for a number of epic mobs.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>