How to spend AA's as a shadowknight?

Khomma · 05-31-2008, 11:30 PM

I play as a SK and I normally spend most of my time at a small group (3 players, with an inquisitor and an assassin).I'm having many problems to understand what is the true role of the SK, I got some mixed responses in the server (Mistmoore) and found absolutely no topics that explored this theme. (and to make everything even worse, I'm kinda new to MMORPGs)Most people told me to focus in the crusader AA and get the strength-related abilities, but when it comes to use the remaining ones, opinions greatly diverge.The inquisitor I play with said the WIS line seems nice when grouping, but at the same time the points you use increasing the first one at the line seems to be wasted and I heard that the fear immunity in the last one is bugged, INT seems to be very important, and this is making its line look good to me, but is it worth it? I don't know if dealing another type of damage (magic) is really good, and the last abilities are simply strange.To make things even worse I've read that agility is becoming more and more important, but only the first at it's line looks to be useful.Sorry if I'm asking too much (and sorry for any horrible mistakes that may be included with this post) but I'm really lost at this.

Phelon_Skellhound · 06-01-2008, 10:40 AM

There is an excellent write up on eq2flames.com... I highly recomend first filling up the crusader AA's first...

My personal thoughts...

Int 4 4 8 stop there no exceptions

pre RoK agi line was important.. in RoK they took multi mob encounters out so this line has little use now

Str line as long as u go all the way down the choices are up to you... focus on attack speed and hate gain

Sta as long as you max the mellee crit, choice is up to you to go further or not...

wis line is debatable to go down or not... go all the way down to fear immunity (are u in fear encounters so much to consider this)... or stop at the skill increase (reduce resists and hit rates on the mob by group members) or none at all...

Things to consider... do you want to dps, tank... or both

Tiberuis · 06-01-2008, 10:55 AM

AGI Line is pretty much useless once you hit level 80 and ROK content.

STR Line is decent enough, adding attack speed and hate gain is helpful for the SK class.

STA Line - max out melee crits, 8 points. Very important.

INT Line - The standard 4-4-8, max out spell damage crits. Mandatory.

WIS Line - only slightly useful, Fear Immunity is really more of a novelty item once you hit level 80 and ROK content.

Once you get 70AA and start looking at the SK AA Tree, Reaver ability is a useful supplement to your Lifetaps. Pools of Blood is helpful for tanking. And the Hate will stack with any hate gain you take from the Crusader Tree STR Line.

I focused on Decay line first, to augment Life Tap abilities. Every little bit of survivability helps SMILEY

Razlath · 06-02-2008, 12:14 PM

If you group a lot with spell casters the WIS line is very useful for the decreased resists. Also, it will allow you stand in defensive stance for the hard mobs and not lose all of your ability to hit the mob. I have not heard the fear immunity is bugged, I think it either used to, or enough thought it used to, hit all of your group (I certainly read it that way when I first bough the abil). However, it is only you, and seems to work just fine. I have personally stood firm against a few nameds in RoK while my group mates ran around like crazy people. It also came in handy in Shard of Fear. The line is ok, but is very situational and could really use some improvements to make it felt. You are correct that the first 8 points sunk into the line are sort of wasted. The initial WIS boost only help your resists (and then not by much), and the next 4 points go into a buff that only has one proc and hits for minimal damage.

For the group you note in your post, I am not sure how effective the WIS line would be for you. My normal trio is SK, Inquisitor, Coercer. The increased spell skills really help the coercer to keep hold of mobs and help us to burn them down. We all noticed a drop in DPS, and an increase in unfortuante resists as soon as I specced out of the line. It could have been preception, but the inquis also complained she was having to drop more heals too. Not sure if this was a combined effect of the regen from the line, and the 2% increase in heals (seems unlikely) or just perception based on being frustrated at offensive resists and thus feeling like she was behind the 8-ball to get the debuffs / punihsments on the mobs (more likely).

The STA line I personally have found kind of lack luster. Hammer ground does little damage, but at least it isn't a dot (important since I have a coercer in my normal group who gets annoyed when I break his mezzes). The melee crits are great obviously, and are pretty much the shining point of the line. I didn't really notice the health boost, at only .5% per click, I was rather disappointed in the gains. It was yeilding less than 100pts per click for me. The WIS line was giving me about the same amount back per tick. With mobs kicking me in the head for 700 and 800 regularly I just wasn't feeling it. The final abil is awesome, but I prefer always on effects to triggered ones. However, there is no doubt it has saved my bacon on a couple of occasions and I will miss it when I spec back to WIS.

Just my thoughts on those two lines since I have specced the same character and the same gear between them. I was very surprised at the difference it made, but I don't expect everyone would see the same differences. My normal trio is very caster heavy (and we seem to attract caster DPS for some reason) so WIS has been a good line for me.

jagermonsta · 06-02-2008, 12:37 PM

I feel this setup is pretty solid... solo or not.Crusader TreeSTR 8-8-6-0-2There really isn't a need for passive hate gain in my opinion. With adapt 3 spells and coercer/scout hate transfer you're going to be at over-cap or near it. If you find yourself in groups without them then I guess go for 4-8-4-8-2 (-1 STA)... I tend to build my own groups so having a hate transfer class in my group is normal.STA 8-4-8-8-2Higher max hp, higher melee crit chance, 10 second damage absorb...INT 4-4-8Int boost and spell crit chanceSK TreeMax all of hate line accept rescue buff. In my opinion it's completely pointless if you already have good hate gain, you should already be able to bounce right back to 1st using feign death, death touch, rescue, goading gesture even death march. Max all of reaver line except coil & mana sieve. To small of a return in my opinion for the points spent.As for the decay line... max taunt debuff, doomrays (faster dps debuffs and aggro gain), anquish (more debuff = more dps), devouring mists (spell won't expire on mob by the time you get to cast it again) and of course blood pools.

Khomma · 06-22-2008, 03:48 PM

Sorry for disappearing (PC and time problems ) and thanks VERY much for the help. I decided to go for a : 1 (basic) str 4-4-4-4-2 sta 4-4-7 int 4-4-8 for my initial 50 points as my group is still small. The crits are helping a lot in solo (as I'm only level 22 I only spent my points in STR and INT but the improvement is notable) Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote:

I feel this setup is pretty solid... solo or not.Crusader TreeSTR 8-8-6-0-2There really isn't a need for passive hate gain in my opinion. With adapt 3 spells and coercer/scout hate transfer you're going to be at over-cap or near it. If you find yourself in groups without them then I guess go for 4-8-4-8-2 (-1 STA)... I tend to build my own groups so having a hate transfer class in my group is normal.

This is one thing that I haven't decided yet, I have a really hard time getting the hate from the assassin that plays with me, so I thought the hate gain would be useful, or is it so insignificant that I would be better if I ignored it?Dartak@Nektulos wrote:

If you group a lot with spell casters the WIS line is very useful for the decreased resists. Also, it will allow you stand in defensive stance for the hard mobs and not lose all of your ability to hit the mob. I have not heard the fear immunity is bugged, I think it either used to, or enough thought it used to, hit all of your group (I certainly read it that way when I first bough the abil). However, it is only you, and seems to work just fine. I have personally stood firm against a few nameds in RoK while my group mates ran around like crazy people. It also came in handy in Shard of Fear. The line is ok, but is very situational and could really use some improvements to make it felt. You are correct that the first 8 points sunk into the line are sort of wasted. The initial WIS boost only help your resists (and then not by much), and the next 4 points go into a buff that only has one proc and hits for minimal damage.
For the group you note in your post, I am not sure how effective the WIS line would be for you. My normal trio is SK, Inquisitor, Coercer. The increased spell skills really help the coercer to keep hold of mobs and help us to burn them down. We all noticed a drop in DPS, and an increase in unfortuante resists as soon as I specced out of the line. It could have been preception, but the inquis also complained she was having to drop more heals too. Not sure if this was a combined effect of the regen from the line, and the 2% increase in heals (seems unlikely) or just perception based on being frustrated at offensive resists and thus feeling like she was behind the 8-ball to get the debuffs / punihsments on the mobs (more likely).
The STA line I personally have found kind of lack luster. Hammer ground does little damage, but at least it isn't a dot (important since I have a coercer in my normal group who gets annoyed when I break his mezzes). The melee crits are great obviously, and are pretty much the shining point of the line. I didn't really notice the health boost, at only .5% per click, I was rather disappointed in the gains. It was yeilding less than 100pts per click for me. The WIS line was giving me about the same amount back per tick. With mobs kicking me in the head for 700 and 800 regularly I just wasn't feeling it. The final abil is awesome, but I prefer always on effects to triggered ones. However, there is no doubt it has saved my bacon on a couple of occasions and I will miss it when I spec back to WIS.
Just my thoughts on those two lines since I have specced the same character and the same gear between them. I was very surprised at the difference it made, but I don't expect everyone would see the same differences. My normal trio is very caster heavy (and we seem to attract caster DPS for some reason) so WIS has been a good line for me.

So it seems the WIS line can be really good but it is kinda group specific. I was thinking in going for it when I get the 70 points limit as I will probably have (almost certain, because it will become necessary) found more spell based chars to play with. An other option that is in my head now, is finishing STA line, boosting attack speed and investing the remaining points in basic stats .Tiberuis wrote:

Once you get 70AA and start looking at the SK AA Tree, Reaver ability is a useful supplement to your Lifetaps. Pools of Blood is helpful for tanking. And the Hate will stack with any hate gain you take from the Crusader Tree STR Line.
I focused on Decay line first, to augment Life Tap abilities. Every little bit of survivability helps " />

Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote:

SK TreeMax all of hate line accept rescue buff. In my opinion it's completely pointless if you already have good hate gain, you should already be able to bounce right back to 1st using feign death, death touch, rescue, goading gesture even death march. Max all of reaver line except coil & mana sieve. To small of a return in my opinion for the points spent.As for the decay line... max taunt debuff, doomrays (faster dps debuffs and aggro gain), anquish (more debuff = more dps), devouring mists (spell won't expire on mob by the time you get to cast it again) and of course blood pools.

Focusing on the decay line first really makes sense, but this line still gets me confused. I don't know really where to go after the decay line (priority)

.Sorry for the enourmous post.

06-01-2008, 10:40 AM	#2
Phelon_Skellhound Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 272	There is an excellent write up on eq2flames.com... I highly recomend first filling up the crusader AA's first... My personal thoughts... Int 4 4 8 stop there no exceptions pre RoK agi line was important.. in RoK they took multi mob encounters out so this line has little use now Str line as long as u go all the way down the choices are up to you... focus on attack speed and hate gain Sta as long as you max the mellee crit, choice is up to you to go further or not... wis line is debatable to go down or not... go all the way down to fear immunity (are u in fear encounters so much to consider this)... or stop at the skill increase (reduce resists and hit rates on the mob by group members) or none at all... Things to consider... do you want to dps, tank... or both __________________ Shadowknight of 90 seasons Weaponsmith of 90 seasons What good is life without a little bit of death?

06-02-2008, 12:14 PM	#4
Razlath Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 444	If you group a lot with spell casters the WIS line is very useful for the decreased resists. Also, it will allow you stand in defensive stance for the hard mobs and not lose all of your ability to hit the mob. I have not heard the fear immunity is bugged, I think it either used to, or enough thought it used to, hit all of your group (I certainly read it that way when I first bough the abil). However, it is only you, and seems to work just fine. I have personally stood firm against a few nameds in RoK while my group mates ran around like crazy people. It also came in handy in Shard of Fear. The line is ok, but is very situational and could really use some improvements to make it felt. You are correct that the first 8 points sunk into the line are sort of wasted. The initial WIS boost only help your resists (and then not by much), and the next 4 points go into a buff that only has one proc and hits for minimal damage. For the group you note in your post, I am not sure how effective the WIS line would be for you. My normal trio is SK, Inquisitor, Coercer. The increased spell skills really help the coercer to keep hold of mobs and help us to burn them down. We all noticed a drop in DPS, and an increase in unfortuante resists as soon as I specced out of the line. It could have been preception, but the inquis also complained she was having to drop more heals too. Not sure if this was a combined effect of the regen from the line, and the 2% increase in heals (seems unlikely) or just perception based on being frustrated at offensive resists and thus feeling like she was behind the 8-ball to get the debuffs / punihsments on the mobs (more likely). The STA line I personally have found kind of lack luster. Hammer ground does little damage, but at least it isn't a dot (important since I have a coercer in my normal group who gets annoyed when I break his mezzes). The melee crits are great obviously, and are pretty much the shining point of the line. I didn't really notice the health boost, at only .5% per click, I was rather disappointed in the gains. It was yeilding less than 100pts per click for me. The WIS line was giving me about the same amount back per tick. With mobs kicking me in the head for 700 and 800 regularly I just wasn't feeling it. The final abil is awesome, but I prefer always on effects to triggered ones. However, there is no doubt it has saved my bacon on a couple of occasions and I will miss it when I spec back to WIS. Just my thoughts on those two lines since I have specced the same character and the same gear between them. I was very surprised at the difference it made, but I don't expect everyone would see the same differences. My normal trio is very caster heavy (and we seem to attract caster DPS for some reason) so WIS has been a good line for me. __________________ -Razlath Player of Dartak, Darsjach, and Darmeanglur on Nektulos Guild Leader of Fist of the Overlord (Full Content Guild)

06-22-2008, 03:48 PM	#6
Khomma Server: Mistmoore Guild: Dragon Order Rank: Leader Lord Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 5	Sorry for disappearing (PC and time problems ) and thanks VERY much for the help. I decided to go for a : 1 (basic) str 4-4-4-4-2 sta 4-4-7 int 4-4-8 for my initial 50 points as my group is still small. The crits are helping a lot in solo (as I'm only level 22 I only spent my points in STR and INT but the improvement is notable) Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote: I feel this setup is pretty solid... solo or not.Crusader TreeSTR 8-8-6-0-2There really isn't a need for passive hate gain in my opinion. With adapt 3 spells and coercer/scout hate transfer you're going to be at over-cap or near it. If you find yourself in groups without them then I guess go for 4-8-4-8-2 (-1 STA)... I tend to build my own groups so having a hate transfer class in my group is normal. This is one thing that I haven't decided yet, I have a really hard time getting the hate from the assassin that plays with me, so I thought the hate gain would be useful, or is it so insignificant that I would be better if I ignored it?Dartak@Nektulos wrote: If you group a lot with spell casters the WIS line is very useful for the decreased resists. Also, it will allow you stand in defensive stance for the hard mobs and not lose all of your ability to hit the mob. I have not heard the fear immunity is bugged, I think it either used to, or enough thought it used to, hit all of your group (I certainly read it that way when I first bough the abil). However, it is only you, and seems to work just fine. I have personally stood firm against a few nameds in RoK while my group mates ran around like crazy people. It also came in handy in Shard of Fear. The line is ok, but is very situational and could really use some improvements to make it felt. You are correct that the first 8 points sunk into the line are sort of wasted. The initial WIS boost only help your resists (and then not by much), and the next 4 points go into a buff that only has one proc and hits for minimal damage. For the group you note in your post, I am not sure how effective the WIS line would be for you. My normal trio is SK, Inquisitor, Coercer. The increased spell skills really help the coercer to keep hold of mobs and help us to burn them down. We all noticed a drop in DPS, and an increase in unfortuante resists as soon as I specced out of the line. It could have been preception, but the inquis also complained she was having to drop more heals too. Not sure if this was a combined effect of the regen from the line, and the 2% increase in heals (seems unlikely) or just perception based on being frustrated at offensive resists and thus feeling like she was behind the 8-ball to get the debuffs / punihsments on the mobs (more likely). The STA line I personally have found kind of lack luster. Hammer ground does little damage, but at least it isn't a dot (important since I have a coercer in my normal group who gets annoyed when I break his mezzes). The melee crits are great obviously, and are pretty much the shining point of the line. I didn't really notice the health boost, at only .5% per click, I was rather disappointed in the gains. It was yeilding less than 100pts per click for me. The WIS line was giving me about the same amount back per tick. With mobs kicking me in the head for 700 and 800 regularly I just wasn't feeling it. The final abil is awesome, but I prefer always on effects to triggered ones. However, there is no doubt it has saved my bacon on a couple of occasions and I will miss it when I spec back to WIS. Just my thoughts on those two lines since I have specced the same character and the same gear between them. I was very surprised at the difference it made, but I don't expect everyone would see the same differences. My normal trio is very caster heavy (and we seem to attract caster DPS for some reason) so WIS has been a good line for me. So it seems the WIS line can be really good but it is kinda group specific. I was thinking in going for it when I get the 70 points limit as I will probably have (almost certain, because it will become necessary) found more spell based chars to play with. An other option that is in my head now, is finishing STA line, boosting attack speed and investing the remaining points in basic stats .Tiberuis wrote: Once you get 70AA and start looking at the SK AA Tree, Reaver ability is a useful supplement to your Lifetaps. Pools of Blood is helpful for tanking. And the Hate will stack with any hate gain you take from the Crusader Tree STR Line. I focused on Decay line first, to augment Life Tap abilities. Every little bit of survivability helps " /> Ranadin@Antonia Bayle wrote: SK TreeMax all of hate line accept rescue buff. In my opinion it's completely pointless if you already have good hate gain, you should already be able to bounce right back to 1st using feign death, death touch, rescue, goading gesture even death march. Max all of reaver line except coil & mana sieve. To small of a return in my opinion for the points spent.As for the decay line... max taunt debuff, doomrays (faster dps debuffs and aggro gain), anquish (more debuff = more dps), devouring mists (spell won't expire on mob by the time you get to cast it again) and of course blood pools. Focusing on the decay line first really makes sense, but this line still gets me confused. I don't know really where to go after the decay line (priority) .Sorry for the enourmous post.

05-31-2008, 11:30 PM	#1
Khomma Server: Mistmoore Guild: Dragon Order Rank: Leader Lord Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 5	I play as a SK and I normally spend most of my time at a small group (3 players, with an inquisitor and an assassin).I'm having many problems to understand what is the true role of the SK, I got some mixed responses in the server (Mistmoore) and found absolutely no topics that explored this theme. (and to make everything even worse, I'm kinda new to MMORPGs)Most people told me to focus in the crusader AA and get the strength-related abilities, but when it comes to use the remaining ones, opinions greatly diverge.The inquisitor I play with said the WIS line seems nice when grouping, but at the same time the points you use increasing the first one at the line seems to be wasted and I heard that the fear immunity in the last one is bugged, INT seems to be very important, and this is making its line look good to me, but is it worth it? I don't know if dealing another type of damage (magic) is really good, and the last abilities are simply strange.To make things even worse I've read that agility is becoming more and more important, but only the first at it's line looks to be useful.Sorry if I'm asking too much (and sorry for any horrible mistakes that may be included with this post) but I'm really lost at this.

06-01-2008, 10:55 AM	#3
Tiberuis Loremaster Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 205	AGI Line is pretty much useless once you hit level 80 and ROK content. STR Line is decent enough, adding attack speed and hate gain is helpful for the SK class. STA Line - max out melee crits, 8 points. Very important. INT Line - The standard 4-4-8, max out spell damage crits. Mandatory. WIS Line - only slightly useful, Fear Immunity is really more of a novelty item once you hit level 80 and ROK content. Once you get 70AA and start looking at the SK AA Tree, Reaver ability is a useful supplement to your Lifetaps. Pools of Blood is helpful for tanking. And the Hate will stack with any hate gain you take from the Crusader Tree STR Line. I focused on Decay line first, to augment Life Tap abilities. Every little bit of survivability helps

06-02-2008, 12:37 PM	#5
jagermonsta Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 304	I feel this setup is pretty solid... solo or not.Crusader TreeSTR 8-8-6-0-2There really isn't a need for passive hate gain in my opinion. With adapt 3 spells and coercer/scout hate transfer you're going to be at over-cap or near it. If you find yourself in groups without them then I guess go for 4-8-4-8-2 (-1 STA)... I tend to build my own groups so having a hate transfer class in my group is normal.STA 8-4-8-8-2Higher max hp, higher melee crit chance, 10 second damage absorb...INT 4-4-8Int boost and spell crit chanceSK TreeMax all of hate line accept rescue buff. In my opinion it's completely pointless if you already have good hate gain, you should already be able to bounce right back to 1st using feign death, death touch, rescue, goading gesture even death march. Max all of reaver line except coil & mana sieve. To small of a return in my opinion for the points spent.As for the decay line... max taunt debuff, doomrays (faster dps debuffs and aggro gain), anquish (more debuff = more dps), devouring mists (spell won't expire on mob by the time you get to cast it again) and of course blood pools.