Agro

[TheOriginalArgolic]

<div></div><div>Like many have stated already on this board is our lack of HPs, Mitigation, and the ability to hold aggro.  The HPs I am not so worried about, solo I sit at 6600-6700 with just my gear and normal spells up as well as about 4100 MG.  This is in Def and with sword and board.  So I dont really have to many problems tanking normal grp lvl stuff, side note to this in a min, what I do have a problem with is our lack of ability to hold agro.</div><div> </div><div>How come a necro tank pet can out agro me if they get to the mob first?  I can taunt my butt off and still cant pull agro.  Same with casters, there is no way for a grp of mobs for me to hold agro successfully on them all but the one I am fighting.  Our taunt for grp encounter is weak to say at best.  Guardians get a agro dampener spell which I have seen a bruiser with it on and go ape shiztniz and not pull agro.  I think all fighters should get one similiar.  A watered down version of this would be great, it would at least take up some of the slack that our taunts fail at.</div><div> </div><div>Now back to epic encounters.  I can be raid buffed to around 11k HPs but only at around 5100 MG.  Now for some mobs that were DISEASE/POISON I would do great cause I would at least resist most of that which then would make up for the hits.  T7 epics are a different story, unless I have the right grp setup I take to much physical damage to do it successfully.  About the only thing good is my Pledge of Armament Master 1 for the MT and my full WIS line grp buffs.  SOE has really made us more a grp utility then a tank this time around.  Our DPS lacks so the only thing we can really do is buff for some and debuff for some on Mobs.</div><div> </div><div>SOE Devs, please read this and try to encorporate something if either stronger taunts, reduced caster times on our taunts, or some form of watered down agro reducer for our class line.  I think of all classes we complain the least since we are first and foremost ShadowKnights, a special breed that only a select few have the honor to play.</div><div> </div><div>70th Level ShadowKnight, Co-Leader of Five Rings.</div><p>Message Edited by TheOriginalArgolic on <span class="date_text">03-18-2006</span><span class="time_text">08:25 AM</span></p>

[Mmaster]

I havent tanked any T7 yet, but I do know we get the short end on Mit and Avoidance compared to guardians, but we had the better hand in dof because of the lack of warrior only gear, we got the nicer mit armor. I feel sad that I most likley wont be tanking T7 for a long while but this is how brawlers must feel as well. We'd have to hear some good opinions on this subject from the T7 SK MT's.<div></div>

[Margen]

<div></div><p>I still feel Aggro is our major weakness, granted we did get an upgrade a while back, but I still say we are last in aggro.  One reason I am going to str line for extra aggro.</p><p>Utility, our major one is POA which we share with pallys and our mit debuff, but after that we really don't produce much IMO.  Our group lifetap debuff is a POS and our other debuffs don't seem to make much of a differance.</p><p>DPS, I still say we are 4th in the tank realm.  And the difference between us and beserkers in defensive mode is sicking.  One reason I think we have the major problems with aggro also.</p><p>MT in raids, I just don't see any reason to pick a SK if you have good Guardians or Beserkers, they to be blunt have better tools for that job.  I've argued for reasons to have SK be MT and the silence from Sony is defening.</p><p>In conclusion it seems while we have gotten some improvemnets, we still need some loving <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />, of course this is wasted Sony says we are were we are suppose to be.</p><p> </p>

[Mok]

<div></div><p>Well put..i have to agree here, we really do need a boost to aggro in some fashion...anything would help right now. We can crowd control with AOE's...but that is still short lived and without higher mit, we get kinda slayed pretty fast in raid. I sit in grp 1 with the MT also..providing a mit buff and avoidance check. Overall i love my SK, always have. I think it takes a special type to stick with one. SK's get a nerfed to death, but i never heard too much crying compared to other classes. ie: Rangers. I would like to be able to hold Aggro as an MT tho in a 6 person grp. Grinding to 70 was more than annoying as the MT. I think every class with me caught aggo within the 1st minute, lol.</p><p>   Trying the STR AA line now...gonna see if the added hate gain helps...I don't hold much hope tho. What we need is a better single taunt spell..or something..that is where we lack badly.</p><p> </p><p>Talus</p><p>LVL 70 SK</p><p>AOD/Crushthule</p>

[Mathe]

<div></div><p>Don't forget Taunts aren't magical super hate holders in this game, like some MMOs. Damage is just as good as Threat for holding hate.</p><p>I've played all the Fighter classes. Shadowknight is by far the most difficult. However, I have seen plenty of good Shadowknight tanks. In Tier 7, I am far more comforted by seeing a Shadowknight acting as a main tank than a Guardian, because if they got that far, they usually know what they are doing, but any idiot seems to be able to roll a Guardian put up LFG and make it to 60+ without issue. I just grouped with one Guardian that didn't think upgrading armor was that important because Guardians have high mitigation anyways (his mitigation was lower than my Swashbuckler if we both used defensive stance), he didn't use a shield, and he pulled a named mob from the back of an area through a group of linked mobs rather than pulling the adds first.</p><p>However, I can hold hate as a Swashbuckler in Tier 7. Not something I like to do, but I've done it a few times. I have one Taunt and most of my best abilities can't be used at all or as often as I like in that situation. Holding hate is not just a matter of knowing what to do, but the rest of the group also knowing what to do. Yes, I don't generate as much hate as a Swashbuckler as a Fighter would, but the rest of the damage dealers scale back and don't steal hate. Smart damage dealers know it is better for the fight to last a little longer than to steal hate, except for maybe the last couple seconds of a fight.</p><p>Competent Tank > Incompetent Tank. It doesn't matter what class they are. Shadowknight has some limitations, mainly with the fact they guzzle power. However, they also have some powerful abilities no other Fighter has. The Harm Touch and Graven Embrace lines are fantastic emergency buttons. They can self heal to an extent, which at a minimum saves the healer some power. People neglect that everything generates hate, not just taunts. Keeping a Shadowknight at full health the whole fight does remove a good amount of potential threat they could generate. All the Fighters have limitations, not just Shadowknight. Paladin is the closest thing to consistent across the board, but the others have plenty of situations they aren't great at.</p>