Shadowknight, what race is best?

[A1551]

So two of my friends in game have been threatening to roll SK's -- one ended up going DE and the other Ogre. Reading this thread got me interested in actually putting some numbers to the different choices. I admittedly pushed both to anything not a fatty b/c the idea of duoing with their 61-68% exp penalty makes me physically ill.

Using a "preview" maeglo and plugging in the base stats for a DE and Ogre at level 60, fully ungeared gave the following (note I don't have a clue how accurate they are)

Ogre: 142 Stamina / 70 int, and also agi bumped to 75 to avoid penalty:
2266HP, 1215 mana
Dark Elf: 90 Sta, 109 Int
2033HP, 1451 mana

So basically the DE loses 233 hp at level 60 but gains 236 mana -- almost literally a 1 for 1 trade. I don't play an SK so have no idea how useful one is vs. the other.

The Ogre also has a substantial Str bonus -- 140 vs 70. I know Str doesn't do a whole lot point for point but I assume 70 points is pretty significant. Of course SK DPS is terrible anyway and really not why they exist!

Finally the DE picks up +15 agility and +5 dex vs ogre....but who cares.

Not being fat is a big convenience, and the DE definitely looks way cooler. Racial hide on DE is not useless (for afk medding etc.) although not a huge deal since SK's get FD anyway. Slam could be a big deal, although I feel like most SK's I see are using a shield / 1 hander, and there's always ghetto bashing. Now frontal stun immunity -- This is the only place I can see where being the ogre might really let an SK be better at their job, as not being stunned while casting spells to gain aggro could mean holding aggro better.

Based on all this I think it proves the oft repeated "there is no wrong answer play what you like" statement. Pure powergaming perspective the ogre is definitely "better" but surely not 21% better -- from a group looking for a tanks perspective a DE SK is probably the better choice. If the group has no shaman and is in an old world dungeon, that "better" ogre SK might literally be useless to them. I guess it comes down to the player's tolerance for grinding -- is leveling 21-28% slower and not fitting through old world architecture for a few advantages a fair trade?

For me I'd say no -- If I need a tank I know the small race SK will do just fine and suck up less exp. But that is based on my own personal valuation of the extra exp penalty. I certainly understand the draw to pick the bigass fatty with twice the strength etc.

*Final note -- I compared ogre and DE because that's what my friends were considering, but for all intensive purposes the comparison is big race vs small race.