Newbie Shadowknight Tactics

[Rakana]

Hello all, I'm a low level shadowknight. I've never played a tank class before, nor melee really, and wanted to get some tips on playing one. What should I look for in gear, what spells to use in general, general tanking tips, etc. would all be appreciated!

[Zeelot]

Gear: hp/stamina gear with decent ac if possible.

Tanking spells: disease cloud / clinging darkness

[pharmakos]

there's a melee damage cap that doesn't get lifted until level 20. any weapon with a damage rating over 14 is a waste until then.

[raff01]

the key is to time your lifetaps properly in between each swing.
usuallly start off with siphon strenght to debuff and increase your damage.
From level 22 you may start using the darkness/fear combo for tougher mobs in outdoors environements, good for soloing.
always use pet, they are a big help until level 30. Use Vampiric embrace as much as possible. You should proc a lifetap twice per fight in average.

[Infectious]

Always keep pet up and save rusty 2 handers for him(he will do more damage) and pretty much what everyone else said will get you started. Just make sure to use the fastest weapon you have til lvl 20 when the cap is removed. Also if your on red server hit up pawt for a guild invite. He runs a lowbie guild to get groups for your level.

[raff01]

if on a red server (PvP) ALWAYS have shadow step memed up. best PvP spell of all.

[Infectious]

Ya shadow step is a must in pvp. Shadow knight is a slow class leveling up but in the end a great class. They can tank everything a warrior can tank, spells if you wana fear kite solo and so on. But enjoy leveling up. Everyone on blue rushes to 60 to end up rolling an alt cause the raid scene is crazy the shit people do on that server. Check out that picture of vs with 50+ people sitting there waiting for a pop. And half them people been there 2-3 days.

[Rakana]

Thank you all for the tips, going to keep them in mind! Part of the reason why I chose SK is due to its slow leveling; I want to enjoy the ride, not at all interested in the raiding end of things here after having witnessed all of the drama on the forums. Currently a grand level 5, wish me luck all.

[Infectious]

Just a little advice. If your not deep in roll ogre or troll. I rolled troll for increased regen. And ogre frontal stun immunity. Both races also get slam which can be used with a 2 hander. Im all for roll what race is the funniest for you. Just put that out there incase you didnt.

[Num1RecommendedByDentists]

They can tank everything a warrior can tank

lolno

[Infectious]

Dude go find someone else to follow, your father left a while ago and it wasnt your worthless mother. No go take the garbage out, breakfast is ready.

[raff01]

lolno

hmm yes, unless its AoW

[Lorraine]

hmm yes, unless its AoW

Wait till you get in a close encounter with the P99 bees, then you will change your mind. Till then, hold your horses.

[Splorf22]

I would say that SKs do pretty well in Kunark because really Kunark tanking just isn't that hard. The fight lasts 1 minute tops, so all the clerics can just chain CH as fast as possible. I've seen SKs tank Trakanon, the Spiroc Lord, and so on, and they would probably be the preferred tanks for those mobs if it wasn't for mallets. About the only stuff in Kunark SKs can't handle are the quadding mobs, like Hoshkar with two ranger daggers or as Lorraine says the Bee Queen.

In Velious though I think the situation changes considerably. Kunark is fundamentally an offensive expansion: just kill shit in 1 minute or less before the aoes get you, and you win. Velious is more of a defensive expansion. You can't burn down something with 400k HP. So the tanking is a lot more important, and thats where Warriors shine.

[Ephirith]

This is going to be some of your most accessible and effective gear early on. The BP in particular is easy to get:

http://wiki.project1999.org/Dreadscale_Armor

This armor is quested, and some of the items can be looted from corpses of things people are already killing. I had fun doing the quests.

I would echo what was said above with regard to Disease Cloud, that is your staple agro spell, and it will make groups love you when they can do whatever they want and you still keep agro.

[pharmakos]

what are the best SK agro spells at high levels?

[raff01]

what are the best SK agro spells at high levels?

Always used disease cloud. costs like 5 mana and is 1 sec cast or something...generates tons of aggro. Else, clinging darkness is pretty good too.

[Danth]

Disease cloud is good for low mana use and will probably always be memmed. It isn't perfect, though. It causes damage (not always desirable, ie mezzed mobs), and has a longish recast. Clinging darkness is also a fairly low-mana spell with good aggo.

The level 39 AC tap (shadow vortex) generates considerable hate and zero damage, making it highly useful for jobs that the other high-hate spells are unsuited for.

The heart flutter/asystole line generates considerable hate but uses a lot of mana so doesn't see a great deal of use.

It should be noted that the two AE spells (the level 30 str debuff and the 49 AE damage) don't generate a whole lot of hate, but they can be useful for gathering up packs of creatures and give other folks time to cast some control spells.

Danth

[Antignition]

Dark Elf SK is level 18 now, sitting on a full set of banded mail (Tree Weave chest, Skyfire Sword/Dark Reaver via charitable donation).

I've been looking at the Shadowknight recommended gear in the wiki for stuff to shoot for, but it neglects to mention what mid-level gear to try and find. I'd rather not get everything from being twinked from random people passing-by, and I'm not sure how long this banded is going to be adequate.

Any suggestions?

[Nogdar]

Darkforge. Just be advised you will have to setup your Cazic Thule groups yourself, but it's a nice place to go with solid exp if you have a skilled group, and it is great fun indeed. Don't head there until you're 30ish though, until then, banded then bronze and whatever you can scavenge in the meantime will do the trick, don't worry.

Have fun :)

[raff01]

DarkForge is fairly easy to find and good. If you're an Iksar it will be dreadscale which is easy too.
I advise you skip on blood embert but the BP and legs which are good but ungodly expensive or hard to find.
You will end up trying to get a group/raid in PoF to get Umbral platemail from knights.

[Antignition]

Appreciate the advice guys. I'll stick with my banded until I can work on the Darkforged. Might grab a couple pieces of bronze in the meantime but since I put all my initial stats into STA I need to watch my weight.

Thanks again.

[raff01]

Go for Enemaled Black chestplate asap imo, for the rest, try fine plate over banded if you can.