Newbie SK

[Danth]

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

In fairness to the poster you responded to: your sig says your SK isn’t 60, and mine is shelved at 52, so I don’t think we can comment from first hand on how useful blood ember is at 60.

I've been 60 on mine since late 2012/early 2013, somewhere in there. Blood Ember isn't "wear fulltime" since the advent of Velious but some of the click effects remain useful on a class where (lack of) mana regeneration is often the biggest limiting factor. I don't call it must-have, but it sure doesn't hurt.

Danth

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

In fairness to the poster you responded to: your sig says your SK isn’t 60, and mine is shelved at 52, so I don’t think we can comment from first hand on how useful blood ember is at 60.

Up to 52 I’ve been finding all pieces I own useful. I believe I only lack the helm and boots atm.

I don't need to be 60[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] The only new thing you get at 60 is Death's Peace, and I know what it does. It costs 100 mana, so having a free FD is still a big mana saver. FD costs a lot of mana if you are doing a lot of pulling, or get a lot of fails. So getting to level 60 won't alleviate that issue.

[walfreyydo]

All in all, I would say BE gaunts and the Polished Obsidian Great Axe are must-have items if you intend to solo as they will vastly increase your mana efficiency (perhaps double or even three fold). The largest mana cost while soloing is usually the cost for your darkness spell, so BE gaunts allows you to save that mana completely. BE Boots are also good, but with the extremely low mana cost of low level fear, I feel its less of a priority, but still nice to have. I haven't been able to obtain BE leggings, and I am sure they are incredibly useful.

POGA + Blood Ember Gauntlets makes soloing far far more efficient, especially in outdoors. I highly recommend getting both items at level 46. POGA is pretty much only usable outdoors where you have the room to keep a mob perma-feared, which it does very well. Indoors I have only been able to use it in a select number of areas, mainly Felwithe guards on the upper wall in my early 50s.

I have also found a number of places where you can fear kite with BE gauntlets and low level fear within dungeons. Having that free mana cost snare + low duration fear (which almost costs nothing) makes fear kiting extremely mana efficient, although you need more space. Finding spots in dungeons to do this allows you to maximize that ZEM bonus. I have found some great spots within KC, hole, velks, HS north, kaesora temple and other spots that I can fearkite with only engulfing + low level fear (regular or undead). One way you can limit your space needed to do this is to face tank the mob until approx 50% (making use of the low health increased snare on mobs), allowing you to then darkness (BE gaunts) + fear for even more confined fear kiting. Saving mana on the snare allows you to use that mana for lifetaps in between swings during the first 50% of facetanking, if needed. Having a fungi makes this even more efficient (more on that later).

Getting a Fungi also helps immensly as it will allow you to regen health at roughly the same rate as mana, so you can save mana by tanking and eating up some HP (hopefully to where the mob gets to 50% or lower health) before clicking BE gaunts and fearing, especially when fearkiting within a dungeon. Added benefit is the mob will get that additional snare as mentioned. I always try to keep my HP and Mana roughly balanced by the end of the fight because of this. A fungi also opens up a lot of options for you to FD your way deep into dungeons (like the hole) and regen that HP while you are FD so you can continue on through.

When kiting with POGA, I usually open with BE gaunts + low level fear and then usually can get a proc from the POGA once feared initially. After that its pretty much perma feared-unless you get unlucky with a proc-and all you need to do is to remember to keep clicking your BE gaunts to re-snare.

I think its appropriate to mention that Greenmist has one of the highest aggro procs available to SK's - its probably the best SK tanking weapon in the game.

Downsides of Human or Erudite are the constant need to keep Deadeye up, unless you can get an item that has ultra or infravision/deadeye as an effect (BE helm). For the record I have a human SK, but back on live 20 years ago I had an Iksar SK with Greenmist.

[reebz]

Novelty item for sure. On red99 bag space was limited and I never made space for those items.

[reebz]

Ya you can take the advice of a level 58 SK no body and play a race you don't like or you can take the advice of someone who played multiple level 60 SK's Iksar and non iksar at the highest level of PvP and PvE and know that the BE greaves actually don't matter and you should just play what ever race you like, even if it is an iksar.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

Ya you can take the advice of a level 58 SK no body and play a race you don't like or you can take the advice of someone who played multiple level 60 SK's Iksar and non iksar at the highest level of PvP and PvE and know that the BE greaves actually don't matter and you should just play what ever race you like, even if it is an iksar.

Lol what a silly argument. You know you do not have a valid argument when you have to try and argue that you are a "somebody" and another player is a "nobody". People are asking about different races because they want to know the advantages/disadvantages. The "play whatever you want" answer is just lazy and unhelpful.

Of course if you hate the way a race looks so much you can't stand it, don't play it. Who was arguing you should no matter what? If someone said "I hate trolls and will never play them", then of course we wouldn't suggest playing a Troll lol.

While I am not 60, I have played my SK for years, and I understand how they work quite well. I also understand how basic math works. A level 60 SK will not play significantly different from a 58. This isn't like the difference between a Torpor Shaman and an non-Torpor Shaman.

If you are too lazy to maximize your mana by not using Blood Ember Armor, that is your choice, but it doesn't make you a better player, just a lazy one[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[reebz]

In what raid or group setting is using your free mana greaves going to come in hand?

If you are using 2000 mana of FD's trying to pull anything, from Fungi to a VP dragon you are doing something wrong. What else are you using your mana on in groups that is worth the cost? Disease cloud? The spell that costs 10 mana? No wonder you have been playing for years and you haven't hit 60 yet.

Greaves are a novelty item and have little to impact on the day to day for an SK. It's nice if you want to waste all your mana on shit SK spells grinding to 60 for the 3rd year straight then post on the forums about how it saved you I guess.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

In what raid or group setting is using your free mana greaves going to come in hand?

If you are using 2000 mana of FD's trying to pull anything, from Fungi to a VP dragon you are doing something wrong. What else are you using your mana on in groups that is worth the cost? Disease cloud? The spell that costs 10 mana? No wonder you have been playing for years and you haven't hit 60 yet.

Greaves are a novelty item and have little to impact on the day to day for an SK. It's nice if you want to waste all your mana on shit SK spells grinding to 60 for the 3rd year straight then post on the forums about how it saved you I guess.

Again, you attack my character because you literally have zero argument. But I guess that is all you can do[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Honestly if you are raiding as an SK, that is your first problem. They are worthless in raids. Hop on a guild cleric and do something useful.

I never claimed Blood Ember was an amazing raid/group item. It's best for soloing, because that is where an SK's mana limitations are most apparent. Someone who is as "experienced" as yourself should know this. In a group you either have a bard/ench giving you mana, or your group is saving you mana due to how quickly stuff dies.

You can choose to play poorly if you want, but I am not going to tell other people to do the same[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If all you want to do is group as an SK, then race doesn't matter, because racial bonuses really don't mean much in groups/raids. I have said this many times.

But for people who like to solo, where racials matter, it is good to get information out, instead of acting like a lazy ass saying "just play what you want, I won't bother giving you any useful information". You really aren't helping anyone with that answer.

[Jimjam]

The greaves aren't so much about saving mana, more circumventing the long cooldown on FD when it fails first time. Someone said the clickies are far less desirable at 60, which seems believable considering a SK will likely have Death's Peace by then (at the cost of a spell slot).

Certainly for my 52 SK a second source of FD has been very helpful.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

The greaves aren't so much about saving mana, more circumventing the long cooldown on FD when it fails first time. Someone said the clickies are far less desirable at 60, which seems believable considering a SK will likely have Death's Peace by then (at the cost of a spell slot).

Certainly for my 52 SK a second source of FD has been very helpful.

It's both. Before 60 greaves act as you say, a second FD without a cooldown which will save you on an initial fail. But I use them often for pulling as well, because 60 mana from FD adds up. If you can get away with using the greaves instead of the spell, it adds up. 10 clicks from the greaves in an hour is saving 600 mana, which is the same as having another Flowing Thought I item. When you reach 60, if all you want to use is Deaths Peace, 10 clicks saves you 1200 mana, which is equivalent to Flowing Thought II. Not a bad deal.

The problem here is I think a lot of people over-estimate stats. Wearing Blood Ember Greaves vs. a Velious equivalent isn't going to help you that much in terms of survivability or kill speed. A bit more mana/hp/ac vs. a Flowing Thought II equivalent. There is a reason why people prefer certain special item abilities as opposed to raw stats. They end up helping more. This is the same case with Blood Ember Armor. The mana saving out weights the stat loss in terms of time saved.