Popular zones as a tank

[Seeatee]

First off let me apologize for making so many posts lately I just returned for the first time in many years so I am left with a lot of questions

What level as a tank can you go Into the popular zones and find a group tanking. I currently have a 20 warrior and a 40 sk and they are both kind of at awkward in between levels, the war about to head to mm and the sk to com, if I go to mm at 20 or commercial at 40 would I actually find groups there? Should I hang back in the previous zones a few more levels? Basically as a grouping tank what is the zone progression and when do I head there?

[Muggens]

Pug route is as u say yourself MM -(solB/HH)- CoM. F'ex "maintaining tradition" its 40 for groups in CoM but u could go there earlier, atleast as a cleric. Tanks in general are "preferred" to be of higher lvl than rest of group composition. Just go to CoM and LFG, shouldnt be any trouble. Can stay alil while more in (Unrest?) with the warrior before heading to MM. But why lvl so many tanks at the same time? And remember to floss, it saves your teeth(this Im more of saying to myself)

[Seeatee]

Lol I love tanking, war was my main on live and I said never again and made a sk here and I. Missed the war so I made one, plus if there are no groups on one can check the other

[Jimjam]

My SK visited CoM at 35. Stables was the easiest area to tank, temple wasn't too bad either. Arena was pretty difficult at this level, mainly because of the goos.

When groups wouldn't accept me because I was 'too low level' I' just take temple or stables for myself and fear kite haze golems, plaguebone skeletons, occasionally also vapour golems and captain of the guard.

This was all with self found vanilla/early kunark gear and a mace of the shadowed souls; no haste, no fungi/ikkybp. Your SK should do an admirable job in CoM, and perhaps it is even worth sending tells to groups in karnors castle to see if they would take you too.


Note: an advantage of this zone is you can bind here, even as a melee!

[Seeatee]

let me ask another question, between my tanks i have probably one full set of decent to good gear, in all honesty it really makes sense to focus on one over the other, should i focus on the 20 warrior or the 40 sk? I am leaning towards sk because as much as i would love to raid tank on him i feel like in 99% of places that job is already filled and has a line of tanks ready to take over. i will probably consolidate all my gear onto one toon and then slowly gear the other with my mage as i can.

[Jimjam]

You can get by with pretty bad gear until the 50s. A good set of weapons with 20ish% haste and ~150 worn AC is more than enough for group content. A pair of Velium/Platinum fire wedding rings will last you a very long time so are a worthwhile investment too.

With 20% worn haste an enchanter buffs will put you at the haste cap for your level most of the way through the game.


In raids shadowknights and paladins are generally used as rampage or trashclear tanks rather than main tanks as they can self heal but lack an equivalent to defensive disc.

Having two characters in different level ranges is nice, if you can't find a quick group on one you can switch to another. It sucks to be sat on your ass lfg all day!

[Lhancelot]

let me ask another question, between my tanks i have probably one full set of decent to good gear, in all honesty it really makes sense to focus on one over the other, should i focus on the 20 warrior or the 40 sk? I am leaning towards sk because as much as i would love to raid tank on him i feel like in 99% of places that job is already filled and has a line of tanks ready to take over. i will probably consolidate all my gear onto one toon and then slowly gear the other with my mage as i can.

Play both.

Have a friend swap your one great set between your tanks when you feel like playing the other.

Eventually one will hold your attention more than the other, and you'll go further on that one.

[Seeatee]

I got my SK fully geared up, I really dont want to clutter up the forum with another question so I am going to just post it in here since it is semi related.

at level 40, fully geared , no buffs, as a dark elf shadow knight is 1599 health and 756 in the ballpark of where i need to be / good enough? how long will this last me, at what point should I start looking to get better gear?

[beargryllz]

Unrest, Mistmoore, Highkeep, and City of Mist are all awesome options from 20-50. Finish off the journey in Karnor and Sebilis

All of these are easily puggable, though you won't see much cash flow in a full group

[Jimjam]

I should imagine that gear could carry you to 60 on classic, kunark and unfactioned velious content.

That said, why not keep upgrading if that is what you enjoy?

Now you are 40 you can share xp with a level 60. Consider hitting up Wakening Lands and joining a faction group to make friends with the dwarfs. No one there will care about your level.

Once this is done you can join Kael plate house / arena groups, these are often done as open greed events for lvl 45+ and will give you quest components for Thurgadin quest armor. This armor, and further levels, should be sufficient for getting you started in the high end velious scene.

[Seeatee]

thats pretty solid advice, thanks jimjam, ill start working on my Thurg faction in between getting levels.

[Jimjam]

Heya, you did a gear check at level 40. I've not done group content for a few levels on my SK and he is now level 40 with 1383HP and 804AC (more or less a set of pre-kunark gear based around the set of fine plate armor and a MOTSS I bought before shelving the sk at 29 and blood ember arms I bought off a vendor recently).

How did you feel your SK tanked with your gear set up early 40s? Where were you fighting?

Also what level are you now and how has your gear changed? Where are you now fighting?

[Jimjam]

I've been faffing about in Velious, there is a lot of more easily available armor now!

Did some factioning for dragons (replaced some fine plate with sentient armor), ran through SS to get my CS tooth and key ... got sidetracked and hit level 41 duoing with a torpor shaman in Skyshrine on the named wyverns/wurms there. Learnt a lot about the intricacies of SKing there.

Currently trying for a S Ro AC, so between adventures have hit up Velks on my ranger and Seb on my warrior. Happily I managed to pull a bunch of half decent SK loot, though sadly no fungi (yet). Up to 1501/821 at 41 now!

Seeatee, if you are still checking this thread please answer my previous questions;

How has your levelling process gone and how has your gear changed? What are your future SK plans?

Cheers.

[Seeatee]

I actually got distracted by my baby warrior, I did some tanking in CoM and it felt like i was geared higher than Needed to be, i was even able to straight melee solo a few of the dark blue golems in the zone, as for gear I havent really gotten anything new, as i said been working on my baby warrior.

I have a quick question myself, as an SK i got spoiled, invis, invis vs undead, FD etc, made getting around easy , as a warrior if i go to a zone and find a group , say KC or Seb, how exactly do i get to the group , do i have to have them send someone up to invis?

[Lhancelot]

I actually got distracted by my baby warrior, I did some tanking in CoM and it felt like i was geared higher than Needed to be, i was even able to straight melee solo a few of the dark blue golems in the zone, as for gear I havent really gotten anything new, as i said been working on my baby warrior.

I have a quick question myself, as an SK i got spoiled, invis, invis vs undead, FD etc, made getting around easy , as a warrior if i go to a zone and find a group , say KC or Seb, how exactly do i get to the group , do i have to have them send someone up to invis?

You can be constantly reliant on groups and inconvenience them to babysit you to the group, or you can be a badass always prepared for anything warrior, and have some invis rings on you enabling yourself to get to the group.

Only time I don't feel bad getting escorted to a group is when I truly am lost in the zone and unfamiliar with it. Then i request that someone show me the way.

[Samoht]

as a warrior if i go to a zone and find a group , say KC or Seb, how exactly do i get to the group , do i have to have them send someone up to invis?

Incarnadine Breastplate or Cobalt Greaves give unlimited casts of invisibility. You don't ever have to worry about recharging them or wasting a charge when invis breaks early.

Larrikin's Mask or Ring of Shadows are examples of charged items with invisibility that you would have to recharge periodically. Larrikin's Mask is lore, so you'll have to find someone else with one to help with recharging. You can carry multiples of the rings to recharge them yourself.

Biggest downside is that in Seb and KC, some mobs see invis, and in KC in particular, some mobs are undead. You could carry an IVU pot as well, but in those instances, you're ultimately going to have to rely on help from other people in the zone.