"Best" untwinked tank choice?

[Insaiyan]

Hello.

I am wanting to play a melee class untwinked for the ultimate journey. I can't decide if I want to tank exclusively, but I decided to post here to ask the advice of which tank or melee character I should choose for my first melee -- untwinked.

I don't want to have to kite, I want to be able to stand toe to toe with and enemy and slash em Down. Is that possible in EQ?

So much of the solo advice revolves around kiting and charming while x does y for easy and quick exp and loot. Honestly I just want to crush things in the face and never have to run or move unless it's to save someone or chase down an enemy.

[Muggens]

Make a warrior and join auld lang syne

[beargryllz]

Warrior

[Phenyo]

untwinked warrior sucks, if you do decide to roll one you should consider joining ALS

[Insaiyan]

3 for warrior -- is that for my maximum pain or will this class satisfy my urge to never have to "kite" a mob and instead smash them down efficiently in the face? Thanks.

Leaning Troll Warrior

[Topgunben]

Shadow knight should be your first choice.

Warrior is the absolute last class in the game you want to play untwined. I know, because I played a barb warrior as my first character back before Kunark was released. Had I known better, I would have made a monk, shadow knight, paladin, or ranger. All of which melee better than a warrior untwinked for untwinked.

i know people might cringe with me throwing ranger in the mix, but hear me out. They can heal hemselves, buff, DS, DOT and DD. If there's an enchanter in the group, ranger like sk and paladin can benefit not just from haste but also clarity.

The other thing is that a warrior is a sitting duck. You are dependent on everyone else for just about everything. no ports, no sow, no fd, no healing, nothing nothing NOTHING. ALL YOU GET TO DO IS GROUP AND GET YOUR BUTT KICKED. Haha. Youre the first one to die. You always travel slow, you have to bind in cities and CRs are a nightmare because you don't have an ability to defend yourself until you get your corpse.

I could go on and on. In the end game though from what I hear, warriors are the most Bad A class in the game, having some of the highest dps stats in raiding

Back to shadow knight... with the ability to lifetap, you'll be able to regain health faster, you'll also be able to have better snap aggro than the feeble taunt skill. You also have one of the most game breaking abilities and that is Feign Death, albeit it's a spell in the case of SK.

To finally answer your question, no you won't be able to stand toe to toe with the enemy without a group behind you. Especially if your not twinked. A mob can easily do 500 damage to you in a fight in the mid 30s. That same 500 hp will take 250 ticks or 25 minutes to regain, unless your an iksar or troll.

[Danth]

Solo advice revolves around kiting or charming because monsters are generally stronger than players of similar level. A weakly-geared Warrior has problems solo'ing upper blue-con opponents, and in some cases even greens can pose a threat. That being said, if you're determined to level going toe-to-toe I'll toss in my thoughts:

Shadow Knights are poor since fear-kiting ranks as one of their major solo tactics, and you don't want to do that. Rangers are sub-par for the same reason (panic animal). Bards definitely won't appeal to someone who doesn't want to charm or kite. Warriors are Warriors, great for end-game, not so great for leveling and terrible if weakly-equipped. Rogues are awful for this purpose. Among the melee, that leaves Monks or Paladins. In weak gear either can solo (slowly), although Paladins probably have the easier time due to having healing ability plus Root from level 22. Iksar Monk offers the advantage of innate regeneration, so I'd recommend either some sort of Paladin or an Iksar Monk for this task.

That being said, none of the available options are great, and even a Monk or Paladin trying to solo toe-to-toe for experience while wearing low-end equipment will live a slow and rather tedious existence. It's doable, in theory, but doable doesn't mean "fun" and I don't recommend it. Melee are made for grouping, or at least duo'ing.

Danth

[Insaiyan]

Thank you for all your replies it gives me a lot to think about. Danth, thank you especially because I feel like you really understood that I do not want to fear, charm, or kite at all. My reason is mostly due to hand arthritis so I want something that's similiar to a sword and board playstyle -- a lot of defense, survivabilty, and capable of soloing stuff to level when I don't feel like grouping.

A paladin sounds like it might be fun. It has the defense and survival I'm looking for. Is the damage there if I keep my hunting areas catered towards the undead? Anything viable about a damage-undead-killing playstyle?

Iksar monk sounds cool as well with the regen. But I'm still new to EQ so it might suck not being able to explore the world much without being killed everywhere I go. Dunno. Don't know what ya don't know, y'know?

[Danth]

I have to stress that EQ isn't a game where solo melee are really intended to go toe-to-toe with opponents. Go into it understanding it's going to be slow and difficult. Nearly all the newer online role-playing games are different in this respect.

Paladins do low damage against undead and terrible damage against anything else. It's the class's primary weakness, and will be compounded using level-appropriate equipment. There are gaps in the level range where it's difficult to find undead to fight. When P1999 was pre-expansion (hence there was no "twinking") I was able to solo on my Paladin if I needed to, but again it was slow and I didn't find it all that fun. However that's me, not you, and you might find the pace more acceptable. If you want to primarily group as a tank type while having at least some solo capability when you can't find (or don't want) a group, the Paladin can do the job.

The Monk will do the job also, exchanging the Paladin's heals and buffs in favor of higher damage output. They push fewer buttons and tend to die less often (feign death), but have fewer options of dealing with things like unwanted adds or whatnot without having to feign off aggro and start over. The use of in-combat bandaging can significantly improve solo capability, at the cost of some platinum and much button-pushing. Monk weight limit gets annoying when solo. Monks can act in the tank role if necessary, but few to no groups will invite them as such.....better like pulling.

If solo is of purely secondary concern the Shadow Knight might be worth a second look. Ignoring fear-kiting takes away most of this class's solo power, but they can still solo to some degree by spamming lifetap spells. Doing that plays away from the class's strength but it's possible; the benefit is that the class gets around the game world more easily than a Paladin can thanks to having feign death and invisibility. Note that those spells are obtained only at level 30, so the early-mid levels can be quite rough, and overall I'm not convinced it's the best choice for the job you want to do. I tossed it out there anyhow in the interest of completion.

In either case frequent downtime when solo, while bad for leveling rate, will give arthritic hands a break between pulls. For this same reason you probably want to avoid classes--Bard and Shaman in particular--which demand near-constant button pushing. You said you want to level un-twinked, but do you mean that in the literal sense (ie, you'll use only what you obtain in your travels) or do you merely mean you have a very limited budget? That's an important distinction.

Danth

[Topgunben]

Thank you for all your replies it gives me a lot to think about. Danth, thank you especially because I feel like you really understood that I do not want to fear, charm, or kite at all. My reason is mostly due to hand arthritis so I want something that's similiar to a sword and board playstyle -- a lot of defense, survivabilty, and capable of soloing stuff to level when I don't feel like grouping.

A paladin sounds like it might be fun. It has the defense and survival I'm looking for. Is the damage there if I keep my hunting areas catered towards the undead? Anything viable about a damage-undead-killing playstyle?

Iksar monk sounds cool as well with the regen. But I'm still new to EQ so it might suck not being able to explore the world much without being killed everywhere I go. Dunno. Don't know what ya don't know, y'know?

If the reason is mostly due to arthritis I suggest going wizard or mage. Literally all you have to do is push 2 buttons when your a wizard. That is the sit/stand and 1 for dd.

I really have to second what Danth said, Classic EQ is not the type of game that favors melee soloing and certainly not tank soloing. You will burn out extremely fast trying to solo as a warrior. Soloing as a warrior just doesn't exist outside of twinking. And even then you need to have 60k in gear including fungi tunic.

The main reason that warriors and tank classes can't solo all that well is simply because health regen in EQ is extremely slow. 2hp per tick is 20hp a minute. That's 200 hp in 10 minutes and 1200 in 1 hour. Do you want an hour of downtime at level 30 to regain all your hp.

Now compare that with a necromancer that can regen 1200 mana in 10 minutes. Even quicker with certain lich spells. That's about 6x faster than a warrior can get his health back, and effectively meaning a necro can solo exp at 6x what a warrior can. That's if you can survive the fight against a blue as a warrior.

It took me 1.5 years to get to 55 on my iksar necro, I imagine it would take me about 7 years to get to 55 as a solo warrior. I'm a casual scum though.

[Snagglepuss]

Make a warrior and join auld lang syne

This for the grouping route.

However, I think Paladins are a very underrated grouping class and arguably the best exp group tank. Blind and stun are amazing aggro. Furthermore, LoH and heals are incredible for saving your group from wiping. You have utility spells, great, cheap, aggro generation, and low expectations of DPS output, which is great because you won't have good weapons anyway.

[Cyph]

Much love for Paladins over here, a good Paladin is worth their weight in gold.

[Insaiyan]

Hello again, ty for the replies. It is nice to read the different perspectives while I make up my mind.

To give a little background, I started with a druid which I got to level 14. Was enjoying it a good bit, that is until I realized it might be a little too many buttons for me to press and was making my hands even more sore after I came home from work. It's hard to explain, I used to be a power gamer in my hay-day but can't really to it like that anymore. I need to play something with a little less button pressing --certainly not a class that requires a lot of actions per minute or relies on kiting.

I want to play something that might have the ability to go off on its own from time to time and solo, mainly because I may have to take a break and disrupt a group if my hands start aching or something like that. It isn't really necessary if I go untwinked, but I'm not the type of person who will run around begging people for items and I do enjoy a challenge from time to time within reason. The main reason I emphasized untwinked was due to budget issues.

I've read about almost every class, except for wizards (lol), can't really make up my mind. I was trying to simplify things with my initial post but more research reveals what I want may need a compromise of some sort. I'm not a "solo" only type of player, but I am a complete noob and don't want to hold anyone back with my lack of game knowledge when it comes to zones, my class, or being poorly equipped. Idk.

To me it's not so much about the speed of reaching end game, but I would like to enjoy the journey getting there. It would actually bother me though, I think, if I couldn't take on blue con mobs to farm up plat for myself when grouping isn't an option due to w/e different factors. I think I'm more drawn to melee simply because even as a level 14 druid I could tell there was going to be a lot going on with the class (which feels awesome btw) that I might not be physically capable of doing due to these dang hands.

Pretty sure I'm ranting now, just trying to give more info I suppose. I just wanted to try to explain a little further--- and why kiting, fearing, or rooting was unappealing to me. My "style" is much more the "stand your ground" until the last possible moment and then make a run for it only if the situation looks dire. It almost seems like it's between SK and Pally at this point, leaning towards paladin even though it's less damage... but I really really don't want to have to kite stuff on a regular basis

[Varren]

I’d go monk if I were you

[Topgunben]

Hello again, ty for the replies. It is nice to read the different perspectives while I make up my mind.

To give a little background, I started with a druid which I got to level 14. Was enjoying it a good bit, that is until I realized it might be a little too many buttons for me to press and was making my hands even more sore after I came home from work. It's hard to explain, I used to be a power gamer in my hay-day but can't really to it like that anymore. I need to play something with a little less button pressing --certainly not a class that requires a lot of actions per minute or relies on kiting.

I want to play something that might have the ability to go off on its own from time to time and solo, mainly because I may have to take a break and disrupt a group if my hands start aching or something like that. It isn't really necessary if I go untwinked, but I'm not the type of person who will run around begging people for items and I do enjoy a challenge from time to time within reason. The main reason I emphasized untwinked was due to budget issues.

I've read about almost every class, except for wizards (lol), can't really make up my mind. I was trying to simplify things with my initial post but more research reveals what I want may need a compromise of some sort. I'm not a "solo" only type of player, but I am a complete noob and don't want to hold anyone back with my lack of game knowledge when it comes to zones, my class, or being poorly equipped. Idk.

To me it's not so much about the speed of reaching end game, but I would like to enjoy the journey getting there. It would actually bother me though, I think, if I couldn't take on blue con mobs to farm up plat for myself when grouping isn't an option due to w/e different factors. I think I'm more drawn to melee simply because even as a level 14 druid I could tell there was going to be a lot going on with the class (which feels awesome btw) that I might not be physically capable of doing due to these dang hands.

Pretty sure I'm ranting now, just trying to give more info I suppose. I just wanted to try to explain a little further--- and why kiting, fearing, or rooting was unappealing to me. My "style" is much more the "stand your ground" until the last possible moment and then make a run for it only if the situation looks dire. It almost seems like it's between SK and Pally at this point, leaning towards paladin even though it's less damage... but I really really don't want to have to kite stuff on a regular basis

you should make a mage and we can duo together. i have a level 4 mage, almost 5. its extremely easy

[Jimjam]

Monk fits your melee desire best, having good self healing through bandaging, mend and the iksar race choice.

They also circumvent the need for twinking by having tanking bonuses when at low weight and being iksar, they also get passable weapon ratios on their fists (until you can save up 50pp for a wu's quivering staff).

Melees can get a decent boost with the 'battle bandaging' technique, but it sounds like it may be too click intensive for you. It also consumes the majority of your platinum anyway.

As well as being able to solo lower con mobs without twinking, monks are great in groups, filling pull, dps or even tank roles.

Feign death makes a good emergency button to drastically reduce your number of corpse runs.

If you choose iksar monk I suggest staying in the Cabilis area (field of bone, kurns tower especially) until 18. Once you hit that level train your skills and find a Druid to escort you to Freeport and get a bind in the newbie yard (away from the guards).

This is your chance to sell any spider/lung silks and bone chips to players in East Commonlands you have found to fund that wu's quivering staff.

Once this is done start xping in upper Guk to earn a full set of mesh armor. You can sneak vendor at the shaman poison spell vendor in Innothule swamp. For supplies (food/bandages/swapping heavy money in to low weight gems) head to the erudite traveller merchant in the NW corner of South Ro.

You can keep doing upper Guk til 35. At this level head back to Cabilis to train flying kick and sell/bank the 1k+ worth of gems you are carrying into platinum.

Take it to East Commons and use it to buy some silver chitin hand wraps (haste) for 700pp and use the remaining play to buy the best hp/AC rings you can afford from Arleigh.

35+ head to SolA (foreman's tunic), then Solb (The Rock for epic also try grab a large soiled bag and cloak of shadows, both pf which rot reasonably often). Do Raster in lower Guk for your epic too once you dare. At this point you'll want to head to Karnor's Castle for a metal pipe (and possible tranquil staff!). You'll then have enough 50+ friends to organise an excursion to chardok to get your second metal pipe.

At this point finish your epic between xp groups and just keep working on 60, taking whatever gear comes your way. I suggest allying with giants as a monk for their decent AC quest armour.

[Insaiyan]

Wow thank you Jim for that extremely detailed reply. At this point I'm contemplating if I want to try and farm up a few hundred plat to make the journey a little more bareable or just jump in. Since the hands are sore I've just been hanging around gfay giving out SoW on my Druid, but I have about 250 plat on him from farming and selling on and off.

In any case I think it's down to paladin or monk. Paladin sounds kind of cool to me because I wouldn't mind being that friendly tank which serves as the vessel to help other toons reach their higher levels since I've read paladin is so good at group scale aggro management. In all the MMOs I play I tend to gravitate towards support play anyway, so seems about right. Only thing holding me back I suppose is I don't want to do those first few levels over again.

Maybe I will farm up some crushbone belts or shoulder pads and expedite his levels enough so I can head to crushbone and tank for people. Or collecting a ton of bonechips? Both seem doable and not too action per minute intensive for a level 15 Druid.

Thanks again for the replies all

[White_knight]

In terms of no twinking and playing from ground up:

If you create a Shadowknight you can get a Grobb Cleaver quested solo in your mid 20s. https://wiki.project1999.com/Grobb_Cleaver
Very easy quest to do; only 1 mob to kill but I'd advise not trying him unless you have HT up if you solo him.

Ranger is a option too...with snares and fear animals they go alright, they also get harmony so you can be king of single pulling outdoor zones. Also their early weapons are cheap to buy.

A paladin is another option. If you start fresh and save up 100pp get yourself a Baton of Faith and from 20-50 you could solo nps.

Post 51 the xp required to level gets real and all melees level quicker in groups.

[wagorf]

i think a monk works better for you - i have both monk and war.

(1) Even if you are twinked, leveling a war from 40-52 (especially 46-52) is extremely painful.

(2) War gears, in general, will cost you more. Monk can get away with a few nice pieces, and the rest junk.

(3) Untwinked means you have a higher chance to die due to less room for error. It is frustrating not to be advancing all the time. Monk gives you the luxury to FD to save exp losses and also for afks.

(4) Monk self heals better than war - Mend and bandage, for some reason my war didnt have 200+ bandage until mid 50s. My monk hit 200 at level 51 or 52.

(5) Monk solos better, the diff is obvious when you are 47-52. I had the slowest progression for war from 49-52, because no dark blues for solo or very difficult. And you are borderline weak for KC groups.

But if you don't plan to hit lvl 40+, then it's probably better to go for SK/War/Paladin to be the face tanker.

[Insaiyan]

The monk worries me because if I play iksar, which most agree is the best monk race (hard to beat the regen and ac) --- I'll be KoS almost everywhere. I don't think I like that, despite it being the better choice. Or, if I followed Jims advice above would I be set...

[White_knight]

The monk worries me because if I play iksar, which most agree is the best monk race (hard to beat the regen and ac) --- I'll be KoS almost everywhere. I don't think I like that, despite it being the better choice. Or, if I followed Jims advice above would I be set...

You can do certain quests that will give you factions with zones so you can bank.

I.e my Ogre Shaman can bank in freeport =)

Also if you tag along with a few Sir Lucan DeLere kills you will get great faction in freeport banking area.

[meanhappyguy]

I think you'll really like paladin. Grab a cheap paladin weapon, maybe some hp rings, and you'll be able to solo to 50. It won't be the fastest, but you can do it, without too many buttons to press. If you want to speed up the process to level 9, the bone chip or cb belt/pad quests in kaladim have helped me a ton.

[Jimjam]

I find level 1-5 vs decaying skeletons in North Ro (use a high dmg rusty 2 hander for 1 hit kills).

Walk out with stacks of bone chips, full set of cloth armor, plenty of bags and food and several dozen pp from vendored drops is a good start for good aligned characters.

Buy a weapon with close to 1:2 ratio, then head to kaladim to hit level 9 from turning in your bone chips.

Do a few levels in crushbone (gather cent belts and Lego pads to hand in for xp), then do unrest until you get bored of it.

[Insaiyan]

Thanks so much all.

im off tomorrow so I shall begin my journey then! Perhaps I'll catalog the adventure over there in the screen shot thread. Thanks again for all the input, advice, and tips!

[Snaggles]

I soloed a Paladin to 54. You can do this with banded and a baton of faith. At 45 you can heal with the Deepwater Helm (casts Daring). A monk or warrior will kill faster and with the right gear with less downtime but if you can’t kill something you don’t have the option of outlasting the enemy with spell tricks.

SK’s are nice soloers and definitely can travel with less problems (invis and feign death) but standing toe to toe and life tapping isn’t as efficient as the pally version. Then again, fear kiting with a pet is a great benefit to the class. Also the darling races all have 20% (ogre) 40% (iksar and troll) exp penalties.

One thing to remember is EQ is exceptionally hard in that the NPC’s quickly outscale the players in hit points and dps. Any melee with a healer duo should be able to grind exp but even at 60 I wouldn’t assume you can waltz in and smash dragons. In grind groups I find the pally to be very fun and even with marginal gear you can hold aggro like a champ. Plus the first time you Lay on Hands and save a team member you will feel the warm fuzzies :).

[Renlin]

My first char on p99 was a warrior, Iksar ar that. While it was really challanging, I found it really fun. My monk could definitely solo a little better, having mend and an escape button (FD), but I really love my warrior.

I tried playing hybrids, but they just aren't as fun to me. I would recommend a warrior, just because its challanging haha.

But if you aren't looking for a big challange, and want to level a bit faster, I'd say go monk, just learn to love pulling. Paladin might also be fun for you, I really like them compared to SKs.

[White_knight]

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCUJJ59tb_hD6slUqh_YrgMw

Here's some videos of what it looks like to solo level as a Paladin using a DW helm.

Slow and tedious but effective(ish).

Soloing 20-51 is actually easy for a Paladin in terms of xp gains, post 51 it slows down ALOT.

In CoM 45-51 I was getting 1-2% per kill, on average say 1 kill per 3-5 mins and the xp flows in. Some mobs are really hard tho (cough fog golems) so best avoid them. You will see in one video took me 10 mins to kill one because he was a nasty mofo.

I was able to solo stables by myself and kill 70% of the spawns using a dw helm, baton of faith and crusty armor at 45.

If you had the full sha-bang of high haste, fungi, ds pots, good weapon, high strength etc it would be alot faster.
I just borrowed a fungi off a friend who doesnt play p99 anymore and at level 52 I even notice a difference soloing in Guk.

[Insaiyan]

Thanks for that White Knight. Currently sitting at level 9 on the paladin, ready to enter and start tanking crushbone until 15 or so.

Good to know about that helm. I'm not too worried about the later levels since that's so damn far away. If I manage to take him that far, I probably will have no problem finding groups i would imagine.

Awesome info

[Qtip]

Thanks for that White Knight. Currently sitting at level 9 on the paladin, ready to enter and start tanking crushbone until 15 or so.

Good to know about that helm. I'm not too worried about the later levels since that's so damn far away. If I manage to take him that far, I probably will have no problem finding groups i would imagine.

Awesome info

Even in groups the helm is worth it for 300-400pp.

[Insaiyan]

Does that helm only proc at level 40? Can't see it since I'm on my phone at work. Should I wait to buy it then?

Trying to figure out my priority but order.

Can update on my currently paladin gear when I get home. Right now I'm using a scimitar and a shield that gives 25 hp, with a two handed dwarven axe on swap for the 20 damage hits. Mainly used that to one shot skeletons for bone chips.

[White_knight]

Thanks for that White Knight. Currently sitting at level 9 on the paladin, ready to enter and start tanking crushbone until 15 or so.

Good to know about that helm. I'm not too worried about the later levels since that's so damn far away. If I manage to take him that far, I probably will have no problem finding groups i would imagine.

Awesome info

May I ask what race you created? And where you allocated your starting points?

[White_knight]

Does that helm only proc at level 40? Can't see it since I'm on my phone at work. Should I wait to buy it then?

Trying to figure out my priority but order.

Can update on my currently paladin gear when I get home. Right now I'm using a scimitar and a shield that gives 25 hp, with a two handed dwarven axe on swap for the 20 damage hits. Mainly used that to one shot skeletons for bone chips.

Level 45.

You want to pick up a dw bracer, arms and helm (about 300-400pp each)

Arms give a free soothe spell for split pulling mana free, bracer a free stun.

[Insaiyan]

Sure,

I went dwarf paladin. 5 points into agility, the rest in strength. I've read wisdom would have been better for the mana returns but I personally like to me able to carry more stuff early. I've also never hit the end game on a character --- ever. Not even past 20. So I decided to go with the early game build route.

[Insaiyan]

My character life started out like this,

Made the paladin and walked outside the dwarf city for the first time. I'm immediately approached by someone asking if I could help xfer. The dude unloads two bags on me full of items I've seen around here, easily 10k pp worth of stuff.

Mighty trustworthy just glad he asked me.

I helped him xfer and gave it all over and he hooked me up with 89pp for my trouble and a helmet, bracer, and shield. Not too shabby.

I spent 1-5 cleaving skeletons, bought that 2h axe from a vendor for 6pp and then I spent the rest of the plat buying 32 crushbone belts. Took myself from 5-9 from my own bonechips and the belts. Also got all the leather pieces from that.

I know the title says untwinked but I'm not opposed to getting gear if I can. I was happy with it since it helped me skip the part 1-9 I've done idk how many times and never make it through. It was good for me, now I can get right to crushbone and grouping like I want. Maybe make some more plat and solo stuff when I'm unable to find a group.

Cheers

[Qtip]

Does that helm only proc at level 40? Can't see it since I'm on my phone at work. Should I wait to buy it then?

Trying to figure out my priority but order.

Can update on my currently paladin gear when I get home. Right now I'm using a scimitar and a shield that gives 25 hp, with a two handed dwarven axe on swap for the 20 damage hits. Mainly used that to one shot skeletons for bone chips.

Its a clicky. Just stand and keep clicking it for a free heal. You cant use until 45. So just wait until then and then grab one. They're a fairly common item, so you will have no trouble finding one when you reach the minimum level to use it.

[Lemonhead]

My life started out like this,

walked outside the city for the first time. I'm immediately approached by someone. The dude unloads on me. I've seen stuff.

Mighty glad he asked me.

I helped him and gave it all over and he hooked me up with trouble. Not too shabby.
then I Took myself. Also got the leather.

I know the title says twink but I'm not opposed to getting it since it helped. It was good for me, now I can get grouping like I want. Maybe some more solo stuff when I'm unable to find a group.

Cheers

[White_knight]

Sure,

I went dwarf paladin. 5 points into agility, the rest in strength. I've read wisdom would have been better for the mana returns but I personally like to me able to carry more stuff early. I've also never hit the end game on a character --- ever. Not even past 20. So I decided to go with the early game build route.

For sure if thats what you like.

Str and stm easiest stats to get for Pallies. Wisdom or dex best choices in the long run.

Paladins get a 40str buff at 60 and.. a 40 str buff that slow decays so they can give themselves a decaying 80str buff set later on. With a few decent str items you should be packing 255 str self buffed. I.e why wisdom or dex is best choice

My level 52 Paladin who I built around a manapool has more mana then some raid geared 60 Paladins.

As dwarf your cheap cultural armor set is packed to the teeth with stm and str too as a consideration.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Enchanted_Dwarven_Plate_Boots example

[Insaiyan]

Cool! Thanks. I'm sure I WILL miss that wisdom later, but I think for how I play (filthy casual / scrub noob) the strength starter build will do me fine. I just need to get OUT of those early levels and expierence the world outside of greater Fay, which is where I've spent 95% of my time playing

Thanks again for the replies and feedback everyone. Even that strange and broken TLDR quote lol

[Insaiyan]

Just wanted post a quick update on where my character is at gear-wise now that I'm home and can check out his items.

Crustacean Shell Helm, bracers, and gauntlets
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Helm
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Gauntlets
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Bracers

Small patchwork everything else (the leather items given from turning in the crushbone belts)

https://wiki.project1999.com/Squad_Ring
Looted off a decaying guard corpse

Weapon 1: Dwarven Two-Handed Axe
https://wiki.project1999.com/Dwarven_Two-Handed_Axe
Actually purchased this for about 6 plat by a vendor in a hut right outside Kaladim

Weapon 2: Scimitar

Shield: Marr's Promise
https://wiki.project1999.com/Marr%27s_Promise

Longbow (purchased from vendor)


So from what I've gathered... I should be looking to upgrade to:

https://wiki.project1999.com/Baton_of_faith
When should I get this? I think I read the dmg cap goes away at 20?

Also the DM helm, but I won't need that until later. Anything else for quality of life? Or is the baton the single most important thing to grab at 20 for leveling purposes?

Probbaly doing a little but of Crushbone tonight, maybe I can get a few more levels :)

[aaezil]

Whoever said warrior for untwinked tank - umwhat LOL why u trolling this guy?

Paladin would be 100x less of a headache. Instant aggro spells. Lay on hands. Lull. Some healing. EZ choice.

[Jimjam]

Whoever said warrior for untwinked tank - umwhat LOL why u trolling this guy?

Paladin would be 100x less of a headache. Instant aggro spells. Lay on hands. Lull. Some healing. EZ choice.

He said it with the disclaimer that it is fun if you are willing to work hard on gear. I did it on jimjam, without economy or buffs and it was incredible fun.

As the other poster said, not for the faint hearted.

5agi max str dwarf is a great paladin starter build OP.

[White_knight]

Just wanted post a quick update on where my character is at gear-wise now that I'm home and can check out his items.

Crustacean Shell Helm, bracers, and gauntlets
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Helm
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Gauntlets
https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Bracers

Small patchwork everything else (the leather items given from turning in the crushbone belts)

https://wiki.project1999.com/Squad_Ring
Looted off a decaying guard corpse

Weapon 1: Dwarven Two-Handed Axe
https://wiki.project1999.com/Dwarven_Two-Handed_Axe
Actually purchased this for about 6 plat by a vendor in a hut right outside Kaladim

Weapon 2: Scimitar

Shield: Marr's Promise
https://wiki.project1999.com/Marr%27s_Promise

Longbow (purchased from vendor)


So from what I've gathered... I should be looking to upgrade to:

https://wiki.project1999.com/Baton_of_faith
When should I get this? I think I read the dmg cap goes away at 20?

Also the DM helm, but I won't need that until later. Anything else for quality of life? Or is the baton the single most important thing to grab at 20 for leveling purposes?

Probbaly doing a little but of Crushbone tonight, maybe I can get a few more levels :)

Yes 20+ is best time for 2handers. Iirc level 30 is a huge jump in dps and really what sets you off on the solo path.

I know people will hate this comment but I never fancied the Ghoulbane beyond level 30 after the 30 2hander dmg is uncapped.

P.s if you PM me your name I'll try organize that you get a Baton of Faith if you choose to accept gifts =)

[Insaiyan]

No groups in CB last night (working those weird off-peak EST hours feelsbadman), but I was able to solo grind myself from 9-10 without too much pain. I'll be off work Friday & Saturday so I imagine I'll find some more people in there during that time.

I was actually kind of surprised at something. When I swapped from the 1h sword + shield and used my Dwarven Axe, I was hitting the mobs for a whooping 28 dmg! Don't ask me why, but for some reason I thought the cap was 20. I was very pleased. I guess, from everything I've read, I better relish this "big number" while I can because paladin damage will fall off haha.

Still, having a blast. Thanks for the posts

IGN = Insaiyan

[Danth]

I was hitting the mobs for a whooping 28 dmg! Don't ask me why, but for some reason I thought the cap was 20.

You leveled to 10 and the damage cap increased. Now you'll hit for 28 for quite awhile.

From levels 1-9 the damage cap is the equivalent of a 10-damage weapon. In practice this means you'll hit for 20, plus whatever bonus you gain from damage scaling (not much at those levels). From levels 10-19 the cap is the equivalent of a 14-damage weapon, meaning you'll hit for 28 plus whatever you gain from strength or scaling. The benefit of raw stats scales with level, as does the basic damage table, so by the upper teens most players will hit for in the 30's. From levels 20-29 the damage cap is supposedly a 30-damage weapon, although I haven't personally tested a weapon with higher damage than that to confirm it and it's unlikely you'll have one, either.

I know people will hate this comment but I never fancied the Ghoulbane beyond level 30 after the 30 2hander dmg is uncapped.

I agree, at least by current standards. The Ghoulbane is a pre-expansion weapon, and was very nice for its era. My own namesake Paladin used one from 27 all the way to level 50 when P99 was pre-expansion. However, it's very quickly rendered obsolete with Kunark weaponry and with Velious it's almost a joke to use beyond the 20's.

Danth

[Crede]

Excellent choice picking Paladin. It's honestly my most favorite class to play alongside an Enc. The amount of utility we get in group settings is insane, I'd feel so limited in a group playing a monk/war/sk, etc. (and I have). A properly gear Paladin is the best tank in 99% of scenarios you will encounter in p99.

With that being said, if you really want to have an edge, try to pick yourself up a Sword of Blessings from Velks. I got mine at lvl 17 with my Paladin. Many times it will be rotting with people hunting lower dogs, and I had a lot of fun trying to get mine in position to get one. If you're not up to the challenge, as others have said a Ghoulbane or Baton of Faith can get you by just fine.

[Insaiyan]

Wow that sword looks awesome. I can actually go try and get that at level 17? Sword and shield seems way more paladin to me but I do love my trusty 2h axe. Really looking forward to being a tank while leveling. I like feeling useful! Especially since I'm a noob.

[Insaiyan]

Paladin is the answer. As others have said you should know the pain you’re in for.

I do! I'm giving up SoW, ports, and solo ability that I had with my Druid. It does hurt, but the class just doesn't feel like my style and kiting kills my hands. I'm having fun so far, have already met a few people and made my first clutch life-saving Lay Hands. Felt good!

[Troxx]

You honestly give up very little in choosing paladin. The total power of the tool kit paladins possess is substantial. Fantastic tank. You don’t have defensive, but only one class in the game has that. Really the only draw backs are low damage output and lack of defensive. In return you get direct heals, root, lull, stun, hp buff lines that stack, heal over time, aggro on command and eventually even Rez in your spell book. Clickies and procs can cover the other quality of life stuff like sow (potions or jboots), zone mobility (OT hammer, WC cap, gate potions), invis, lev, etc.

The dps is low and you’ll be disappointed if you expected to tank endgame raid bosses. In all other areas paladins reign as a relative superclass with a lot of potential.

Paladin will be my next alt to play around with.

[White_knight]

I have a Baton of Faith for you, message me my toons in my sig when you're on next.