Which class is the best

[Salaryman]

paladins also have access to shield of immaculate as a back slot item which is where i put mine
i also have a manastone another amazing paladin item
and i have the strongest paladin sword
paladins have the coolest armor and im allied to every faction because my wisdom is so high

[Ennewi]

In terms of snap aggro, it's ranger > paladin > shadow knight in my experience. Flame lick edges out flash of light and both seem to need less recasting than disease cloud. If hybrid epics are included, aggro is still in the same order, only to a greater extent in favor of rangers.

HT is nothing compared to LoH but, even when resisted, it's still perfect for those oh shit moments where added push is needed in the last inches of a mob's life (pets are poorly positioned / stuns are being resisted). You can pretty much guarantee the mob won't gate or cheal, especially with Unholy Aura + HT which essentially allow you to insta ice comet a mob into the ground.

So you have a tank class with access to instant unlimited invis, an insta 1.5k nuke every 72min, three forms of FD, and can grab aggro at will, from great distances, while keeping HP up with lifetaps? Certainly not the best class but it gets the job done. If SKs were able not only to steal a mob's str, hp, atk, and ac, but also their mana and resistances, they would be better suited for small random PUGs but would also be useful on raids where malo/tash are being resisted; that would make them more of a war/chanter hybrid though. Having the necro rogue pet would have been nice for soloing as well, but cackling bones isn't terrible.

Still, playing as any other class, I'd rather have a paladin tanking in group situations mostly just for the additional heals but also for the buffs that the cleric probably won't have the mana to give other members of the group.

[Cecily]

I think the problem with SKs is that the devs got lazy with their spells, taking the one armed warrior necro thing a bit too literally. The coolest thing they have going for them is massive dots and taps, which unfortunately were designed for a caster with unlimited mana and also suffer from long cast times. It's not viable for their group role. For the most part, their spell book begins and ends with disease cloud / shadow vortex.

[Ennewi]

Engulfing darkness too, though it gets overwritten by regular snare. But yeah, the cast times and mana costs of lifetaps are terrible overall for SKs, excluding life leech. It would have made more sense to have additional lifetap procs like vampiric embrace/shroud of death, along with more lifetaps over time like vampiric curse.

[KEWLGET]

i don't think you've actually been reading or comprehending what i said

SK has things it can do

every single one of those things is done better by another class

hence, jack of some trades, master of none

but i'll break this down based on your post to make it easier to understand

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

a great tank

outclassed in terms of damage mitigation by warriors and monks, outclassed in utility and snap aggro by paladins

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

AND a great puller

outclassed by monks, necros, bards, enchanters, clerics, and rangers in various group scenarios and outclassed by monks and necros in raid scenarios

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

has respectable dps

absolutely not; as far as melees go, they only have higher DPS than a paladin unless it's against undead mobs, and most casters in the game will do more DPS than an SK

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

do you even play this game?

not anymore, but i am probably more knowledgeable about p99 mechanics than 99% of the people who have touched this server