Shadowknight, what race is best?

[Zeelot]

It will never be usable by other races though. Iksar only for life

[raff01]

- Human SK's : balanced, non KOs to most but no real friends either. no racial attributes, no high stats anywhere. Cool looks however.

- Iksar SK's : imo the best. Racial attributes like regen and better AC, best Sta / int / Str / Dex / agi combo of all SK races. They get Greenmist which is far easier to do than Innoruuk's curse and its really unique. Once Velious is out, they get to wear the same armor as others thus getting an AC boost.
Only real problem is faction and finding certain pieces of armor.

- Troll SK's : they do look cool and really evil. Troll regen + very good sta and str. However rather low int, which mean small mana pool and crappy dex too.

- Ogre SK's : Best Sta and Str of all, and frontal stun immunity. However poorest int dex and agi. Personally I think Ogre SK's are just a poor man's warrior since the int is so low.

- Dark Elf SK's : 2nd coolest looking ones, very good int, small race (useful in many places) however very low sta/str plus KOs all over.

- Erudite SK's : best int of all meaning biggest mana pool. Also imo coolest look and coolest home city. however weak Sta and Str wise.

[pharmakos]

Erudite SKs also have base 70AGI, so you'll be facing an AC penalty unless you stick 5 starting points into AGI. only SK race that you need to do that with.

[Splorf22]

So

a) Iksars can't use the blood ember greaves which have a nice 3s FD
b) AFAIK SKs can pull anything by just spamming the cos and taunting . . . unless you get bashed

between the two of those i think thats a pretty strong argument for ogre. but i've never actually played an SK.

[Zeelot]

One nice advantage Dark Elves have that no on has mentioned yet is Ring of the Dead. The ability to bind like a caster, at the cost of 10gold to recharge it.

[Nirgon]

Dark elf is nice for having something to blame your failures on if you come face to face with them.

[raff01]

Originally Posted by Splorf22 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So

a) Iksars can't use the blood ember greaves which have a nice 3s FD
b) AFAIK SKs can pull anything by just spamming the cos and taunting . . . unless you get bashed

between the two of those i think thats a pretty strong argument for ogre. but i've never actually played an SK.

So let me fix that for you : Blood ember is absolutely useless once Velious gets released. only benefit is AC, and the effects are all absolutely useless or close to.
3 sec FD? I've played a SK for 3 years and at high level 3 sec for FD is just as good as commiting suicide. its completely utterly useless.
The only good piece of blood ember is the BP due to Major Shielding which SK's dont get in their spell line.
The rest is just a waste of time...I mean 7 sec fear that lasts 10 secs? please...
Blood ember has to be one of the worst sets of armor of the Kunark armor sets.
Also its much easier to just camp Kael Arena with a group and obtain Thurgadin armor than having to be the lucky winner or the blood ember BP or Legs by killing VS or Trakanon.

[Nogdar]

Originally Posted by raff01 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

- Human SK's : balanced, non KOs to most but no real friends either. no racial attributes, no high stats anywhere. Cool looks however.

- Iksar SK's : imo the best. Racial attributes like regen and better AC, best Sta / int / Str / Dex / agi combo of all SK races. They get Greenmist which is far easier to do than Innoruuk's curse and its really unique. Once Velious is out, they get to wear the same armor as others thus getting an AC boost.
Only real problem is faction and finding certain pieces of armor.

- Troll SK's : they do look cool and really evil. Troll regen + very good sta and str. However rather low int, which mean small mana pool and crappy dex too.

- Ogre SK's : Best Sta and Str of all, and frontal stun immunity. However poorest int dex and agi. Personally I think Ogre SK's are just a poor man's warrior since the int is so low.

- Dark Elf SK's : 2nd coolest looking ones, very good int, small race (useful in many places) however very low sta/str plus KOs all over.

- Erudite SK's : best int of all meaning biggest mana pool. Also imo coolest look and coolest home city. however weak Sta and Str wise.

Some misinformation and lack of it there if you gonna make an exhaustive list like that - if I may.

a) You don't mention the slam argument for trolls & ogres, which is a big argument. Having a stun with a short cooldown while wielding a 2h is just great, and given SKs weak dps, the damage it does is welcome.

b) Ogres have better INT than trolls, contrary to your claim, and while 75 DEX isn't anything to be proud of, Trolls have the 2nd best base DEX after Iksars

Erudite SKs also have base 70AGI, so you'll be facing an AC penalty unless you stick 5 starting points into AGI. only SK race that you need to do that with.

c) Ogres also need to put 5 points in AGI or gear accordingly if they don't, as they also start at 70.

d) Also, about the blood ember, while I globally agree with you, saying the full set is useless is by far an overstatement. The gloves, especially while soloing or with a solid group which never lets you a second to meditate, are just godly. And being Ogre helps a ton there too, trust me [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Besides, I never got the boots and don't need them anymore I suppose, but I'm sure they're nice to have in the late 40s for soloing, sparing you a ton of mana if you have both hands & boots - a ton, I imagine.

No offense though, I'm a player who favours fun over min-maxing as much as I like my character to be optimized and always will claim one should play a race which he/she finds fun over optimized - however if we do compare em all thorougly, guess we gotta do it right, to help the people trying to decide on basis of this make the right choice [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Cheers guys [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[pharmakos]

ogres have 70 base AGI? never realized. thanks.

[Danth]

I agree that Blood Ember gauntlets are well worth having. Blood Ember Vambraces also have fair use during the Kunark period. Effectively they either allow the user to keep Vampiric Embrace up when he otherwise wouldn't, or at least saves the user a spell slot given the short duration of that spell. I use them constantly. With an upgrade to this spell during Velious, the arms will lose much of their worth then.

The Dark Elf/Human/Erudite Shadow Knights--particularly the Humans and Erudites--do offer a fair advantage for a certain sort of player. Given their faster leveling rate and better starting faction (in the case of the latter two), they represent a good choice for casual players who may not even reach the level cap. A couple extra levels will improve a character's combat performance more than stats or racial abilities. While unrelated to the original poster (who was only interested in Ogre, Troll, or Iksar) such advantages may be of use to some other folks.

My own Shadow Knight is a Human and I remain content with that choice. Were I an Ogre or Troll I wouldn't even be 60 yet and wouldn't have had the faction ease-of-use which I enjoy having--I don't have the time or the inclination to spend hours and hours fixing faction to be able to go where I want to go. A min-maxer might balk at the stat and racial ability loss, but it suits my own needs perfectly.

Danth