Tank class help

[Warmonger]

I am wanting to make a tank class I have decided to roll Iksar as the race. But I am torn between SK and warrior. I have grouped with both and it seems SK's hold aggro better any input/ideas are welcome. Also will Velious hinder or improve one of these classes? Thank you for your time.

[Malone88]

I'd go warrior if you plan to raid with your toon, else SK.

SK gets a lot of niceties, like inviz, snare, and FD, but currently there
is an experience penalty for being an SK (Class) and Iksar (Race).
When Velious rolls, I believe the class experience penalty is gone,
which will help all hybrids.

Bottom line: Play what you like!

[pharmakos]

remember that the Iksar EXP penalty and the Shadow Knight EXP penalty MULTIPLY with eachother, not just add. Iksar SKs get EXP slower than any other race/class combo in the game currently. (tied with Troll SKs)

the SK EXP penalty will go away a little ways into Velious, though.

[Estu]

To clarify regarding the EXP penalty, an iksar (or troll) SK has a penalty of 68%, meaning that it will take you 1.68 times as long to level up solo as it would take a wood elf druid (assuming equivalent kill speed). But since you'd be presumably grouping a lot as an SK, this penalty will not be as extreme, since in a group setting your individual EXP penalty doesn't matter so much as the average EXP penalty of everyone in the group (although some people might be less willing to group with you as a result). The wiki has a nice article about how experience works if you're interested.

In terms of who to pick: the SK is a much more versatile class, much less boring to play, and is a much better tank in EXP groups and soloer. The single downside, apart from the EXP penalty, is that in a raid setting you will not be able to tank most raid bosses because you will not have access to disciplines. I would personally advocate going SK unless you are planning on doing a lot of raiding and want to be the top dog in raids.

[Warmonger]

Thank you for your help all. I am leaning toward SK because I plan on working on this char after Velious is launched. Was just wondering if the SK will be able to hold their own tanking Velious mobs. Thank you all again.

[pasi]

If you plan on tanking, go warrior.

Knights are very weak for the duration of this server. You'll be fine tanking shit like Sebilis, but you would be fine tanking that on a shaman, bard, monk, etc.

What people fail to mention is that warrior tanks allow you to group/duo/trio mobs that aren't classically considered groupable mobs. There is a huge gap between warrior tanks and anyone else. There is not a big gap between knights and the other classes (ie monks).

The entire knight spellbook is not worth defensive/evasive on a mob that actually requires a group to kill.

[Warmonger]

So SK's will have trouble tanking mobs outside of lower lvl dungeons? Thanks again for your advice.

[Estu]

So SK's will have trouble tanking mobs outside of lower lvl dungeons? Thanks again for your advice.

What Pasi is talking about is very specific mobs at the highest levels and in raid scenarios. SKs are excellent tanks 1-59.

[Danth]

I agree with an early comment in this thread: If you mainly care about end-game and particularly about main tanking high-end bosses, make a Warrior. If you mostly care about the low/mid range and aren't so interested in raids, make the Shadow Knight.

You make a Warrior, you're going to suck as a tank through most the game. Your hate generation tends to be proc-based and unreliable for the most part. Most your groups will consist of you ineffectually mashing Taunt while the Enchanter or Shaman gets beat on. A "smart" group might take pity on you and simply chain root everything, which will gnaw at your ego because you know it's really a testament to your uselessness. You accept all that because in the end you get to use a couple tricks (mallets and /disc defensive) to become a rock star for a few minutes against the occasional named target here and there. That occasional rush is the entire reason for the class's existence. By the time you get there, you've probably also developed a simmering, seething hatred for knight tanks after watching them just being better than you through the other 99% of the game.

You make a Shadow Knight, you sure better like the leveling experience, because not many folks consider them a particularly vital raid class. You can contribute to a raid, and do a good job of it, but you ultimately won't be doing anything that someone else couldn't do. The hybrid tanks can be thought of craftsmen who have no aspirations of stardom.

If you really can't decide, make a Monk.

Danth