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Old 03-24-2019, 04:58 AM
Ennewi Ennewi is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 2,512
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Shadow Knights are much better at dungeon crawling later in levels, in my experience, but before that it can feel unrewarding; you'll be able to crawl to the specific camps, and probably single pull, but damned if you'll be able to kill the mobs with great efficiency. At higher levels, the pet actually deals out considerable damage with lifetap sticks, equivalent to a substantial dot. Also, depending on gear, higher level SKs can FD to the secret vault in the Hole with relative ease and split the chests there, having a little inconspicuous corner of the zone carved out for themselves; they can manage the same for xp in a few other dungeons as well. Fear kiting is possible in certain areas and having a polished obsidian great axe will save a lot of mana and hassle of repeatedly clicking blood ember boots, while having the greaves will simplify the whole process of moving between camps with see invis mobs.

Once Shadow Knights have death peace, it's nigh impossible to die after one or even two fails. But consider the level that spell becomes available. Also consider how much stronger the class is with the epic, holgresh elder beads (pulling tool/lifetap fodder/hammer out option), and a circlet of shadow. It's expensive, but eventually the class does pay off in terms of self-sufficiency. Even so, SKs are still better suited for duoing than soloing, as are the other hybrids excluding Bards of course which have the most versatility of the four.

As others have said, Monks are very capable dungeon crawlers and worth considering (even for how common they are), having instant feign death, mend, higher bind wound ability, and useful disciplines later on. They can be expensive to gear, but most of the equipment is more of a luxury than outright necessity, and the epic is obtainable without too much work or platinum; the same cannot be said for the majority of hybrid classes.

Not that it hasn't already been mentioned, but Shamans can be geared to match a tankier, more melee-centric playstyle and they have truly powerful spells to compensate for where they are lacking, including a pet that, while by no means the best, is still better than a Shadow Knight's. Just having slows, roots, and heals would be enough to wade through the sea of mobs in most dungeons, but there's so much more to pick and choose from for your spell bar that should help make the class function like a hybrid tank. Hell, eventually you can even acquire the sky ring that has two charges of feign death. What's more, the epic is a one-hander with clicky dot; wielding a shield with racial slam would create more of a melee hybrid feel while still incorporating the damage output pure classes are capable of.
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Last edited by Ennewi; 03-24-2019 at 05:27 AM..