1 Handed Shadow Knight and Paladin Weapons

[Cen]

I know knight classes get 1 handers that are far superior to other classes, but how close do they come to 2 handers? Which is the BIS in velious for SK or Paladin? Hard to tell with the four pages each on the classes on the wiki, and the planar etc section doesn't list any 1 handers

[Pretzelle]

BiS is Palladius' Axe of Slaughter or Petrified Heartwood Flamberge for 2-handers.

[Cen]

BiS is Palladius' Axe of Slaughter or Petrified Heartwood Flamberge for 2-handers.

Yep, but I mean what are the absolute greatest 1 handers?

[Ripqozko]

i really like my vyemm hammer, good ratio 27/25, high DD proc on any mob not just undead.

[Danth]

Yep, but I mean what are the absolute greatest 1 handers?

Frostwrath, Soul Defiler, Sledge of Smashing, or Primal Velium Knight's Sword are the best Pal/SK 1H you can get in this game. Dawncaller ranks highly as well but its undead-only effect limits it slightly in comparison to the others. Essence Lens quest would add another interesting option but slightly inferior to those described. The best droppable 1H PAL/SK weapons are Massive Dragonclaw Shard, Ebon Mace, and Jeldorin.

Danth

[Cen]

Frostwrath, Soul Defiler, Sledge of Smashing, or Primal Velium Knight's Sword are the best Pal/SK 1H you can get in this game. Dawncaller ranks highly as well but its undead-only effect limits it slightly in comparison to the others. Essence Lens quest would add another interesting option but slightly inferior to those described. The best droppable 1H PAL/SK weapons are Massive Dragonclaw Shard, Ebon Mace, and Jeldorin.

Danth

Thanks again. Still on the edge of what knight I want, but I like to 1h options in velious :D

[Pretzelle]

If you're in a ToV capable guild, there are several options for both classes. Danth listed the best ones, mostly. Black Rock Maul of Crushing was what I used until I got a Palladius' Axe.

[Snaggles]

From an average white/melee damage perspective with 2h's, assuming damage bonus is scaling, ratio is king. There are lure-line (or close to it) procs that even contribute to your damage against some raid targets or at least trash mobs along the way but in general ratio > all else.

Same goes for 1h except damage bonus has always been and will always be static per level. On that line of logic, in the high levels speed is king (eg: Soul Defiler) assuming ratio is fairly close or on par with the slower one. If you have a good proc though that's landing frequently weapons like the Sledge of Smashing are VERY capable (each landed proc is 4.66 dps and you have 2ppm on average).

With hybrids where the logic gets sticky is when casting is needed. Aggro spells shouldn't be weighed in the decision because if you're chain casting these your dps is the last thing a group or raid is considering. In terms of "survival mode" though often there is a lot of casting. Paladins have a HoT on a 1.5 sec cast time where as the SK's taps are much slower. While you won't "lose your swing" in that once you are done casting the melee cycle will have refreshed and you will take it the swings between the start and stop of the casting time can be missed.

Really though, if you have access to the best of the best gear the most ideal scenario would be to do some parsing so you have objective data. Luckily my gear is garbage and I don't raid so I can just theorycraft to my delusional heart's content. ;)

[Christina.]

I always wanted a shadow knight with that tunare sword. I seen some shadow knights do big things with that dam sword lol

[elwing]

Parsed priceless knight and icecone vs epic and primal claidmore... The 2hander parse around 10dps higher on bloodmaw

[Issar]

Parsed priceless knight and icecone vs epic and primal claidmore... The 2hander parse around 10dps higher on bloodmaw

Good info.

@Cen, - I gotta ask, are you contemplating SK vs. Paladin based on 1hander availability and viability? Both classes have comperable weapons and armor available to them, but they have vastly different skillsets that are completely independant of weapon choice. As you've no doubt seen in your search, DPS on a knight is really a trietary concern when looking at their overall offerings. If you want to sword and board on a knight in Velious era, no one should argue your viability, dps isn't your role.

[Cen]

I am probably going to make a DE Warrior or SK, was curious about knight 1 handers since for SK you lose out on slam.

I wonder how much damage slam really adds anyway.

[nasgul]

I would go with a large race and have the slam ability with no shield. It's incredibly important, but not for dps, rather for interrupting casters. Or be prepared to deal with the hassle of swapping in a shield when you want to bash casters.

[Danth]

Bash doesn't add much damage overall at high level. I feel different than the above poster with respect to bash's value as an interrupt. Bash misses too often to be reliable and fear-snare is a far more trustworthy method of shutting down spellcasts. There are only a handful of areas where fear-snare cannot be used due to insufficient space and where the Shadow Knight isn't also likely going to have additional group members to help with interrupts. It's nicer having bash than not having it, but not so nice that I regard it as super critical. In addition you can bash with the Shadow Knight epic so my Human SK bashes all the time with a 2H on anyhow. Warriors will most usually tolerate having no bash until kick starts to stun at level 55. Don't make a large race just for slam if you really want a Dark Elf because, while nice, it ultimately won't be nice enough to compensate for the character not being what you actually wanted. That Troll or Ogre won't do you any good when it's sitting un-used because you aren't interested in it.

Danth

[Snaggles]

In my opinion it doesn’t matter much. Yes slam and the other perks of the big SK’s are very nice. Same goes with Iksars regen and ability to poop sock a Greenmist. The better your gear and levels the less racial perks matter. Your stats inevitably cap or get closer to capping. Npc hitpoints scale on an insane level. Bash and even spell stuns are a dice toss (aka team effort). Even an extra 20% dps from a 1.0 ratio 2h compared to a .8 ratio 1h won’t matter much when the charmed pet is going 5x your dps. I frequently switch between 1h and 2h depending mostly on how much my own dps matters. Casting between swings is easier with a 2h too.

In the low levels even starting strength can be super frustrating. Slam/bash does a noticeable amount of damage and almost always interrupts. That and quick 1h’s (jade/lam) use the same skill as the knight variant (ebon/noc). You could level to 60 without using a 2h but they do make jousting easier. Damage shields with a slow 2h will do half the damage as even a knight 1h. Also a Reaver from 30+ is easy-mode even without slam on a small race.

In the end it doesn’t really matter. Stats and race mean nothing compared to level and gear. I did solo up a 56 gnome warrior I found very easy. That was mostly due to the 40% spell haste clockwork arms, root nets, and fungi tho. That and not getting stuck on staircases in HK with a noble chasing me down. If a DE warrior was my favorite look I would have gone that path instead. It would have been harder without the extra haste but you can bum buffs easy enough in a high population zone.