Paladin -> SK can you heal enough to keep yourself alive in a duo?

[Antryg Mistrose]

<div></div>I do like playing a paladin, but my guild doesn't really need a 5th level 70 raiding one (and after betrayal I'd be the highest level active SK), so before I start into non-replacing spells territory (currently level 54), I was wondering how hard it will be to duo (dual box) with an illusionist/coercer (can betray too).  Or whether I need to abandon the enchanter (quite happy to do so its a painful class) and use a  mentored templar in my race for 70.I'm finding as a paladin/illusionist combo that power is never an issue, but healing can be touch and go (against even con or higher heroics), and it looks like lifetaps aren't as powerful as a paladins heals (although dps is higher?)<div></div>Longer term I was thinking Dirge/SK would be a great combo, as they are both disease dealers / debuffers, but the level gap is a bit much.p.s. Have full pre-nerf cobalt armour already, and spells will NOT be a problem<span>:smileywink:</span> <p>Message Edited by Antryg Mistrose on <span class=date_text>07-03-2006</span> <span class=time_text>04:25 AM</span>

[Nicholai24]

Once you're Level 55 and you have access to Tap Veins, you'll essentially have Paladin Lay of Hands every minute, for 200 power, provided you pull large groups of enemies a level or so below you. Duo'd with an Illusionist, you'll be fine, and with a Dirge as well, but if you'd like to be able to handle nameds and such, I'd recommend an offensive healer, such as a Fury, Inquisitor, or Defiler.( Tap Veins is an AE which deals 800ish damage to up to 8 targets, and heals the shadowknight for 450+ per enemy hit. When it criticals, each heal will return 600+, instead. Used in combination with lifetaps, lifetap CAs, lifetap wards, and lifetap procs., you should be fine on heals. You'll find we do end up with around the same -- if not more -- self-healing capability as a paladin. Our's simply comes over the course of a combat, rather than in large bursts. )<div></div>

[Diern]

<DIV>If you truly love playing paladin so much I doubt you will like Shadowknight.</DIV>

[Xanoth]

SK would probably work quite well with a chanter, i know im tempted to make a second account and transfer my illu over so i can 2box him.but to answer your question, you can't really rely on SK self heals to do as much as a paladins can. but we do have better DPS and kill stuff faster.synergism works well for us though, and wont proc the hate reduction i dont think, and your illu ha enough stuns and stifles to reduce the self heals needed.it'll work, just be sure an SK is really what your want.

[Sine]

I don't think SK would work as well with an enchanter at say a fury.  SKs have alot of non-encounter aoe and you wouldn't be able to use to use those if you where mezzing with the enchanter.  But a fury on the other hand,  they have some bad [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] damage shields and procs they can put on you.  As an SK you want to be hit b/c you want to generate aggro (you just want the hit to hurt them more then it does you).  A fury supports this theory and a chanter goes against it b/c mezzing prevents you from being hit and building aggro.<div></div>

[Xanoth]

true, my wifes a fury and we duo jsut about everything out there with a 2boxed warlock.but illusionist still would work, jsut get the illusionist to treat you like their pet <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Beldin_]

<DIV>Wow.. i just parsed a log from yesterday in HoF and was really astounded to see the numbers of healing points :</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Fury : 165308</DIV> <DIV>SK : 164663 :smileysurprised:</DIV> <DIV>Warden : 132101 </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I didn't really expected that my heals make that much :smileysurprised:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Diern]

<DIV>Enchanter is definately a bad choice, thats not saying it wouldnt work, but it wouldnt be as good. I dont think we are very well tooled for this combination, definately Fury, or defiler.</DIV>

[Antryg Mistrose]

<div></div>Level 55 now and almost through betrayal so I have gone SK/Illusionist to get 2 chars to raid level (who knows a 2nd illusionist on a raid may one day be useful), and because dual boxing I don't have the attention to spare for a pet that may turn on me at any time.Thanks for the responses on duos, but as you will see from my signature, I'm working with existing chars.So my choice was SK/illusionist, SK/coercer, SK/templar(mentored), or one day maybe SK/dirgeIllusionists do okay AoE dps (silly for a mezzing class I know), and dual boxing I don't mezz much - more stuns/siffles/dazes, so that part doesn't bother me.  I know I'm going to miss LayOfHands and  Amends, but am definetly looking forward to using Master1 HarmTouch<span>:smileyvery-happy:</span>.I also noticed in dual boxing paladin/illusionist that I rarely needed to heal the illusionist, so SK's superior? self healing  (now I've had a closer look at the spells - especially tap veins mentioned above), and dps is the winner.SK and Paladin look to play quite differently, so just having a change, without having to redo 55 levels is looking fun.  I can always betray back at 70ish, as its  mainly spells you lose (I don't currently have any class specific armour), and its not like I pay retail for them <span>:smileywink:</span><div></div>I can already see that aggro control is going to be harder, but I have 15 levels to work on that<span>:smileyhappy:</span><p>Message Edited by Antryg Mistrose on <span class=date_text>07-05-2006</span> <span class=time_text>02:41 AM</span>

[Giral]

<P>You need to Change your SIG Antryg Mistrose   =   54 Paly/70 Alchemist </P> <P>should read    =    55 Shadowknight Extrordinair/70 Alcoholic </P>

[Diern]

<P>Who needs lay on hands? .. bleh</P> <P>Tap veins, if you upgrade and use it right is basically LOH every couple of minutes.</P> <P>Your right although both are crusader classes, we are vastly different in play style really. Think offensive tank and you cant go too far wrong</P>

[Midsong]

so how goes the sk?<div></div>

[Antryg Mistrose]

Its a blast. <span>:smileyvery-happy:</span>Overall a lot more fun than a half baked healer wanna be (Perhaps I have been playing a templar a bit long<span>:smileywink:</span>)I miss Rez, but then that was only necessary if you failed as a tank.  FD and Evac, mean that you have tools to prevent the death in the first place.  Amends was also a great aggro crutch, and putting those 2 missing spells together I see less for me as a SK to do in raids (when I get higher), than as a paladin, but grouping/soloing - no comparison.<div></div> Much higher DPS than our qeynos brethren, so keeping aggro isn't that hard, and if you lose it - well FD the thief and all is well. It does seem more of a juggling act than a paladin, with more strategies possible. Do I need more lifetaps or more dps ? (often don't have a priest in group).  Is the mob close to death so I can "March" its buddies? (Haven't got pestilence yet), all those debuffs and not enough time to use them all!, am I keeping all my DoTs/debuffs on?, what mobs are within all the different AoE ranges? (especially TapVeins).  Especially : Did I mess up the pull (FD), Are we about to wipe (Evac) - stuff all a paladin can do in such situations.  FOUR ! count 'em blue AoE's.  That does take a bit more situational awareness!There just seem to be a lot more choices, and I like that.  The Masters are cheaper which is nice (also guildmates have been generous), so I'm perhaps doing it a big easier than some.Most of my time has been dual boxing with my illusionist prior to inflicting myself on groups (also with mainly masters/adept3).  I can take on even con ^^^ heroics without any qualms.  2 levels above - also fine most of the time.  3 is pushing it.  I am finding that as a SK its a race between my health bar and the mobs (and tap veins recast timer<span>:smileywink:</span>), whereas with paladin it was between my power bar and the mobs In the few groups I haven't had any aggro trouble (but I haven't grouped with players above me yet), so early days.  I'm still playing around with spell combos, but I can contribute one thing to the SK community:Logitech G15 keyboard - this has groups of 6 programmable keys.  One group of 6 I've set up to:<ul><li>Select groupmate ( F1 - F6 )</li><li>Wait half a sec or so</li><li>FD</li><li>/t them how to stand</li><li>/target_previous_npc (or whatever the spelling is)</li></ul>So in about 1sec I can swap from mob, FD anyone who got aggro (or whose health bar seems to be unexplainedly dropping from and add I can't see), and I'm back on the mob before anyone else skips a beat.