SK Troll/Ogre INT or STA starting stat debate. Confused :(

[Baler]

SK troll is the defacto best race for raiding puller/tagger SK
SK is one of the best taggers in Velious.

[bradsamma]

For a troll, it doesn't really matter. You'd be fine putting the points into charisma.

You'll be marginally better off putting the points into stamina but ultimately it doesn't matter. Strength let's you hit a little harder but it's already pretty high. Max int would allow you to cast... half a spell...

[Videri]

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

Max int would allow you to cast... half a spell...

On the contrary. 20 points into intelligence at level 60 would give you 240 mana. Hybrids have the same mana calculations as priests/casters.

[Noselacri]

Capping stamina isn't as easy as people make it out to be. Sure, if you're raiding ToV it's not an issue, but anything less and you're unlikely to cap it even as an ogre/troll with shaman buffs. For some reason, SK gear has terrible stamina. The planar set gives 14. The Thurg and Kael sets give a total of 12 and 11 stamina respectively. In Kunark, the class set gives 8 from the BP and that's it. An ogre with 15 points in stam needs about 60 more from gear to cap out with sham buff. There's also value in having capped stamina in resist gear, or without the shaman buff so that you free up an extra buff slot. That's not happening until you're raid-geared in Velious, and 95% of players don't get to raid at all.

Intelligence is almost completely useless to a SK. Mana pool matters to quad kiters and clerics, not to a class that spends most of its life spamming 10-mana spells. In order for the size of your mana pool to matter, you'd have to be going from 100% to 0% mana in one go and still need more. As a SK, that's not really a thing that happens. You don't pour a full mana bar into one mob. At level 50, those fifteen points in int will give you half the mana cost of one lifetap. If you have to put your points into something that isn't stamina, you might as well pick agility and get something out of it.

[Jimjam]

If you find yourself easily confused, invest your starting points into int.

If, on the other hand, you are getting tired, invest in stamina.

Edit: but seriously, this is my sk on blue and he has pretty reasonable gear (no ntov, some skyshrine) and he is far away from maxing intelligence or stamina.

Your starting stats won't be 'wasted' by being capped until you are really well geared, and when you are 1 SK surrounded by dozens of other people I don't think it will really matter.

I never regretted having low intelligence. I can usually manage it in a way where it stays functional, and it's kinda nice how quickly the mana bar refills!

[Snaggles]

I had a ogre sk on live and can’t recall ever having mana issues unless pulling some real solo trickery (far past xp grinding). In groups DC and clinging darkness did just fine by me.

Regardless of race I would make sure agil is 75 and go stamina. A few hundred hps won’t enable you to tank (or not tank) something but it’s often what you finally end up zoning or feigning with. More max mana is great but mana regen is the sustainable game. I’d even rather have higher base strength because a lot of the cheap higher ac stuff is heavy and unless you are walking around capped that is at least a passive attack increase.

[Gustoo]

81 intelligence is over 100 points less than your stamina, which could be maxxed with some more good gear.

I don't see an argument against intelligence, for a min max

[Jimjam]

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

81 intelligence is over 100 points less than your stamina, which could be maxxed with some more good gear.

I don't see an argument against intelligence, for a min max

Its a fair argument Gustoo. Maybe if i work on the SK he'll get to the point where I don't have enough mana to safely split, etc and i'll (or groupmates) will start dieing cos I'm oom, but i haven't reached there yet.

Btw please make some gear suggestions. I can't decide between gladiator chain arm/legs or skyshrine. Any other suggestions either?

[Danth]

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

Its a fair argument Gustoo. Maybe if i work on the SK he'll get to the point where I don't have enough mana to safely split, etc and i'll (or groupmates) will start dieing cos I'm oom, but i haven't reached there yet.

That won't happen. I've been using my Shadow Knight a long time and there are a few situations that run me out of mana, but none of them have much to do with ordinary group activities. What does? Solo can, often enough. That's by far the most common case of straining the mana bar. I have at times had solo battles where being able to cast a couple extra taps or an extra snare meant the difference between winning or losing, and lots more cases where having some extra mana allowed for maintaining the safety net of at least being able to feign if needed. I've also occasionally lost solo battles due to running out of mana. Some niche situations where I need to do burst damage (such as getting an add while duo'ing that has to die ASAP) also strain the mana bar. Very high-level Shadow Knights do respectable burst damage while the mana bar lasts. Finally, I've run into a few situations where I've had to feign many many times in succession and run myself low or out of mana that way. That last one hasn't happened recently since FD-memblur was tinkered with but I'll mention it anyway.

I like INT on the large races because their normal melee statistics are so high to begin with, but it's not required and other allocations give good service as well. You can't really hurt a large race character the same way something like a Dark Elf on a fresh server with no added strength will be in for a bad time for awhile.

Danth

[rostant]

It should give you confidence knowing you aren't going to break your character no matter which path you choose. People have done all of those things and succeeded. Personally I'm a proponent on INT on Ogre/Troll.