40 SK gear advice

[bradsamma]

Hey guys! I'm a 40 DE SK and I'm looking for some gear advice please. My current gear is as follows:

Primary: Ebon Mace
Secondary: Sarnak Battle Shield
Fingers: platinum fire wedding rings
Earrings: orc fang
Arms, chest, feet, legs, head, bracers: crustacean shell
Hand: SCHW
Face: silvery mask
Neck: black sapphire velium necklace
Shoulders: crested spaulders
Belt: spider fur belt
Back: hooded black cloak

I'm planning on picking up an Idol of the Thorned and maybe upgrading to the vellium rings.

Any other suggestions? I have 4k to blow now but I was curious about what upgrades I should be planning for the future. Any specific no-drop or quest armor that I should keep an eye out for?

Thanks!!

[elwing]

Schw, a two hander?

[bradsamma]

Oops, forgot to put my hand slot in.

Are there any 2hnders in my price range that are worth getting that will out dps the ebon mace?

[Legidias]

Most gear will just be meh upgrades that give you a little more HP or STR. The next biggest thing would probably be an iksar regen BP (10k) or CoS (lul pricing on it tho).

If you really want something, the massive velium 2h weaps are pretty good (like 32/27 or something)

[aaezil]

Congrats you have better gear than 95% of what sks had back in velious era! But really sell everything except for weapon and haste and save up all your coppers for a fungi that will make more difference than any other item in the game

[Lurgort/Sseri]

Even if a 2H won't outdamage your Ebon Mace, it's still worth picking them up to keep your skills capped. Deathbringer's Rod, Vindication, a 32/37 Warlance, done.

One more thing - work on velious faction soon or now. You can form groups to kill giants or Coldain if you want either the Coldain => Skyshrine armorset or Kael armorset later on.

[Danth]

Short version: While you need upgrades later on, what you really need right NOW is levels. Your present equipment will get you into the 50's, from where you'll be able to do a lot more on your own than you can do right now.

---------------------------------------------

How much do you like the Shadow Knight? If you feel like you'll retire it in the low 50's (a lot of people do), just stick with what you have. That stuff will get you there. If you enjoy it enough you're sure you'll go to 60, read on.

The Ebon Mace is adequate to use to level 60 if you want to. Plenty of Shadow Knights use that (or the very similar Sword of Pain) at 60. Getting a slightly better weapon isn't worth it, and buying a significantly better one will be expensive.

You're getting to the point where upgrades per slot are going to cost some thousands, rather than hundreds. Four thousand isn't going to go very far. You'll want to replace much of your equipment by level 60. As a rule I recommend a fresh 60 tank-type should have at least 250 worn AC on equipment. More is better, but treat that like a baseline to aim for. Right now the stuff you list has a bit over 170, so that's some work to do. The ears, rings, belt, haste, weapon, shield, range slot are all fine getting to 60 with. The cloak, shoulders, and legs can serve well enough if necessary. Note that just because they can serve doesn't mean they're great--the obvious case is the haste gloves, which are adequate but most folks will want better. Difficulty here is that replacing those also means replacing probably either the belt or the cloak, so those upgrades will be done together.

Chest, face, neck, helm, arms, bracers...those slots are screaming for upgrades, and the cloak/shoulders/legs aren't much better. Keep on the lookout for highly cost-effective pieces like barbed dragonscale boots, crystal spider eyes, barbed ringmail, and similar things in the ~1K range. That stuff can last to 60 and occupies "sweet spots" in itemization where droppable upgrades often cost vastly more for not much improvement. Look at the face slot: spider eyes costs maybe 1K, Faceguard of Bentos the Hero runs probably 40K and for that you get a couple more AC, 15-20 more health, and no mana. Later on you can quest a nice bracer (ice forged shackles) for free, or at worst duo for it. You'll also be able to kill grachnist the destroyer if you want an instant-click junk buff item (you could do it now, but wait another 10ish levels for it to be much easier). Like Lurgort said, work on those Velious factions!

A couple of folks mentioned the regeneration chest items (iksar regen breastplate and fungus tunic). I'm not impressed with the former. 50 health/minute is not a lot. The fungus tunic is excellent but hugely expensive and still not strong enough at level 50+ to justify neglecting all the other slots. As overpowered as it is for leveling from 1 into the 40's, past 50 it's a more of a luxury item for players who already have what they need elsewhere. As a Shadow Knight, if you want to make a big purchase I suggest buying a the pre-nerf circlet of shadows or a higher-end weapon before a fungus tunic.

Danth

[Bardp1999]

Levels are certainly what you need right now. Once you get into the 50s it should be pretty easy to wrangle together a plate house group and farm Kael for Velious armor or join a guild doing HoT. I am not sure on gem pricing ATM but it will probably cost you a couple of K to gather all the necessary gems you need once you get the armor drop pieces you need so keep saving that money.

As mentioned above you have pretty decent gear. Is there better gear? yea but its going to cost you hundreds of thousands of platinum pieces to obtain from EC. Get your levels are you can start gathering that stuff either yourself, or you will start getting items that trade well for other high end items.

Only thing I can really recommend is maybe get the https://wiki.project1999.com/Atramentous_Shield and its really a side grade compared to the Sarnak Battle Shield.

Fungi would be great, Cloak of Flames would be great, Blood Ember Greaves would be great, Circlet of Shadow would be great, Massive Dragonclaw Shard would be great, HoT armor would be great, Sword of Pain would allow you to sell Ebon Mace....but to buy everything I just listed is probably like 1 million PP in EC tunnel...Get it yourself as you get closer to 60. Hell, even PoH or PoG drops would be upgrades for you past level 46

[Crede]

Hit 46, join a guild that you can raid sky(see schedule on wiki) as sks get some easy and great upgrades there, and save money for eventual thurg/ss(optional ffa Kael armor west tov raids are cool too)armor gems.

If you want your epic someday, either find a way to get rich or see which guilds kill golems regularly.

[tycohunden]

Looks good man, I wouldn't change a thing! Ebon mace is what you need until you can pick up a Darkmetal Falchion from Plane of Hate, so get exping and eventually start getting thurgadin armor pieces, Kael SK boots and Kael cloak! Eventually you should get the haste belt from plane of sky!
Find a decent guild that raids kael/hate/sky and you'll be set in no time!
Screw 2Hand, until it gets the atkspeed buff it's broken! 2Hand is shit right now

[24kanthony]

I'd put that money on some Jboots. They helped my SK pull and fear kite way better.

[bradsamma]

Short version: While you need upgrades later on, what you really need right NOW is levels. Your present equipment will get you into the 50's, from where you'll be able to do a lot more on your own than you can do right now.

---------------------------------------------

How much do you like the Shadow Knight? If you feel like you'll retire it in the low 50's (a lot of people do), just stick with what you have. That stuff will get you there. If you enjoy it enough you're sure you'll go to 60, read on.

The Ebon Mace is adequate to use to level 60 if you want to. Plenty of Shadow Knights use that (or the very similar Sword of Pain) at 60. Getting a slightly better weapon isn't worth it, and buying a significantly better one will be expensive.

You're getting to the point where upgrades per slot are going to cost some thousands, rather than hundreds. Four thousand isn't going to go very far. You'll want to replace much of your equipment by level 60. As a rule I recommend a fresh 60 tank-type should have at least 250 worn AC on equipment. More is better, but treat that like a baseline to aim for. Right now the stuff you list has a bit over 170, so that's some work to do. The ears, rings, belt, haste, weapon, shield, range slot are all fine getting to 60 with. The cloak, shoulders, and legs can serve well enough if necessary. Note that just because they can serve doesn't mean they're great--the obvious case is the haste gloves, which are adequate but most folks will want better. Difficulty here is that replacing those also means replacing probably either the belt or the cloak, so those upgrades will be done together.

Chest, face, neck, helm, arms, bracers...those slots are screaming for upgrades, and the cloak/shoulders/legs aren't much better. Keep on the lookout for highly cost-effective pieces like barbed dragonscale boots, crystal spider eyes, barbed ringmail, and similar things in the ~1K range. That stuff can last to 60 and occupies "sweet spots" in itemization where droppable upgrades often cost vastly more for not much improvement. Look at the face slot: spider eyes costs maybe 1K, Faceguard of Bentos the Hero runs probably 40K and for that you get a couple more AC, 15-20 more health, and no mana. Later on you can quest a nice bracer (ice forged shackles) for free, or at worst duo for it. You'll also be able to kill grachnist the destroyer if you want an instant-click junk buff item (you could do it now, but wait another 10ish levels for it to be much easier). Like Lurgort said, work on those Velious factions!

A couple of folks mentioned the regeneration chest items (iksar regen breastplate and fungus tunic). I'm not impressed with the former. 50 health/minute is not a lot. The fungus tunic is excellent but hugely expensive and still not strong enough at level 50+ to justify neglecting all the other slots. As overpowered as it is for leveling from 1 into the 40's, past 50 it's a more of a luxury item for players who already have what they need elsewhere. As a Shadow Knight, if you want to make a big purchase I suggest buying a the pre-nerf circlet of shadows or a higher-end weapon before a fungus tunic.

Danth

I'll definitely pick up the 1k items you mentioned! Those will be nice little upgrades. If you have any other suggestions in the 1k range, I would be very excited to see them!

[bradsamma]

Also, I have noticed that at my level, my shield displays the same AC gain/decrease as general armor slots.

Am I jus below the AC softcap so it's all the same at this point?

[Legidias]

Shields ignore ac cap

[Jimjam]

Also, I have noticed that at my level, my shield displays the same AC gain/decrease as general armor slots.

Am I jus below the AC softcap so it's all the same at this point?what client displays can be different to what server uses.

Shields ignore ac capthis is a mechanic from the POP AC system overhaul. Pretty sure classically shields just add AC same as any other armour.

That said, this is just an emulator so any crazy system might be being used.

[Snaggles]

Save plat
Buy Reaver
Pwn souls

[bradsamma]

What about Blood Ember pieces? Are any worth getting?

[elwing]

Yes, before you get shroud of death, the vambrace are great manasavers, the same goes for the blood ember gauntlets... Gauntlets stay useful at 60,through in lot of case you'll also be using better form of darkness... The greaves are also great, but out of your budget... Decent ac/stat (through not velious like) but clicky fd... The fd is longer to cast, so less good but it has no downtime... That's your second/third/fourth fd chance before the spell callback ends... Has less use at 60with death peace and its much reduced cooldown