A few questions from your new Shadowknight

[fang101]

<DIV>Ok I'm not new to the game [ I have a lvl 54 paladin]. I am thinking about betraying him to become a Shadowknight. I heard you guy's dps is good, and have pets and stuff. So I was wondering if I can get a few tips on playing the Shadowknight, as well as some of the moves I will be able to have.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>  Thanks,:smileymad:</DIV> <DIV>Lvl 54 feir'dol Paladin</DIV>

[Nicholai24]

<P>For starters, know that aside from the whole 'melee' thing, Paladins and Shadowknights play very differently. For starters, your survivability won't be the same as a paladin, where you sort of conserve power for heals, and whittle the monster down. In solo situations, shadowknights are much more offensive, and revolve around crippling an enemy's ability to strike back with a series of stun attacks ( As a paladin, you'll be familiar with these ), strength debuffs ( not so much a damage reducer to the enemy, as a small melee damage increaser for you ), and a considerable physical and disease mitigation debuff ( Around 1400 Physical Mit. at 70, and 1100ish Disease. )</P> <P>Your health replenishment will come in the form of lifetaps, and you have a lot of them. You'll basically be re-rolling as a vampire.</P> <P>In order from most to least significant, you have:</P> <P>A group lifetap buff ( 8% chance for yourself and everyone you're grouped with to deal around 150 damage, and heal themselves for 100 - 200. )</P> <P>A single-target lifetap nuke ( Fair damage, with around the same health replenished.. Maybe 200 at 54, and more like 400 or more at 70. )</P> <P>A targetable lifetap ward ( Basically, every time the enemy hits you, it will be hit with a spell similar to your single-target lifetap nuke. 5 charges. Reloads quickly, and can be cast on other people, assuming you're not main-tanking. This is useful in group and solo situations. )</P> <P>A single-target lifetap combat art, which deals around 200 or so physical ( maybe disease, I can't recall.. ) damage base, and assuming it lands successfully, an additional 400 - 600ish or more in disease damage in the form of 'Grim Strike', followed by an immediate 300 - 450 HP drain.</P> <P>A self-buff lifetap buff ( 8% chance for YOU, not your group, to fire the 'Grim Strike'.. 400 to 600ish damage at the high end, with 400ish HP returned. All combat arts and autoattacks can fire this for you. )</P> <P>At 55, the best one is a whole new spell line with no upgrades.. You'll want it in Adept III: Tap Veins</P> <P>Essentially, with enough enemies, this is like an AE nuke + Lay of Hands which reloads every minute, and costs only 200 power. 800+ damage to up to 8 targets nearby, and a 500ish HP heal ( more if you critical ) for every enemy it damages. Delicious.</P> <P>We excel in fighting large groups of enemies, and have around 5 Area Effect spells which can quickly aggro. wandering adds that spawn on a group without the need for actually targeting those enemies. We have a disease-based damage shield which generates about 100 Threat every time an enemy hits us, and while we don't have amends ( and have to actually work for aggro. ), we're an offensive tank class with debuffs, and we're versatile, so if we're <EM>not </EM>going on the offensive with our AEs and combat arts, why bother playing an SK?</P> <P>You'll want your taunts at Master or Adept III in order to retain aggro., and even so, when grouped with heavy DPS classes, the key to holding aggro. as an SK is to make sure you land a Heroic Opportunity right off the bat on the pull.. Preferably 2 or 3 over the fight's duration, combined with the use of Shield Bash and Kick / Taunts whenever they reload, and your high damage combat arts. </P> <P> </P> <P>If you lose aggro., we have three snap-aggro 'Rescue' spells, on a 5, 10, and 15 minute reload timer.</P> <P>Feign Death is the weakest, because it simply removes the targeted groupmate from all aggro. lists until they stand up again. If you're not #2 on the Hate list, chances are this won't be much use in retrieving aggro., unless the healer is the one dying. Still, learn to use it -- it is considered a beneficial spell, and can be cast through a monster to hit a group mate.</P> <P>Rescue -- You already know how it works. This is basically fool-proof.</P> <P>Harm Touch -- Instead of Lay of Hands, we have the biggest single-target taunt in the game on a 15 minute reload, and with the proper AAs and a Master+ version of our 64 Harm Touch, we can deal around 15,000 or more Disease Damage in one shot. Even in Defensive, you'll be Touching for around 3500 - 5000, which is usually enough to get an enemy's attention.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P>Welcome to the dark side, sir. You're making the right decision.</P>

[fang101]

<DIV>Thanks man alot I'll make sure to study.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> I'll do my best to serve Lucan D'lere!:smileywink:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks,</DIV> <DIV>Lvl 54 [ soon to be] Shadowknight</DIV>