SK Question

[Deathrydar]

I was thinking about making a Shadow Knight since there are like no knights on the server. (Boo experience penalty)

My question to the community is this. SKs are pretty cut and dry as far as race selections go.

Iksar= Cannot wear plate
Dark Elf= Super weak, always encumbered
Human= Yawn
Erudite= Hella cool looking in plate, but stats are mega weak

That leaves Troll and Ogre. So, the question is, which is better?
The enhanced regeneration
Or
The immunity to frontal stun?

Please vote. And I love you!

[VincentVolaju]

Id prefer DE or Erudite since Id prob end up soloing half the time anyway, there starting Int is much higher then ogre / troll starting int, which is what youll need for soloing, bigger mana pool.

[Deathrydar]

Id prefer DE or Erudite since Id prob end up soloing half the time anyway, there starting Int is much higher then ogre / troll starting int, which is what youll need for soloing, bigger mana pool.

How is that? I would figure STA would be the most important stat for soling being it is solely responsible for the result of how long you will survive toe to toe with a MOB. :confused:

[VincentVolaju]

Nah, most your downtime from soloing will be regening mana because you wont be taking all that much damage. Darkness / Fear, beat it on it from behind with pet, only damage youll really take is in between fears / resists etc. Youll def. run out of mana faster then youll run out of hp

[Deathrydar]

Nah, most your downtime from soloing will be regening mana because you wont be taking all that much damage. Darkness / Fear, beat it on it from behind with pet, only damage youll really take is in between fears / resists etc. Youll def. run out of mana faster then youll run out of hp

If that's the case, my race of prefer-ability is Dark Elf....I like the race, the city, being small and evil and blue...and, oh yea, no racial experience penalty to add to the already existing 40% penalty.

Can anyone speak on this? I always heard of STA then STR being the top stats for an SK, never INT. Not that I do not believe you bro, I just always heard different.

But you do learn something new everyday! :cool:

[VincentVolaju]

If you like DE, go DE with full points into Sta. Sta is the top stat for any tank class, but Int helps a ton when soloing. Like you said though, being small + no racial penalty is another plus side. Not to mention DE look insane in plate armor.

[Deathrydar]

If you like DE, go DE with full points into Sta. Sta is the top stat for any tank class, but Int helps a ton when soloing. Like you said though, being small + no racial penalty is another plus side. Not to mention DE look insane in plate armor.

Yeah, but if I put all those points into STA, my character will be encumbered just by wearing full banded and even worse when he has to wear plate.

[Messianic]

Just go ogre, bro.

The difference in mana pool isn't that noticeable. Friend who was a 60 ogre sk on live soloed fine - his gearset complimented his mana enough.

Humans aren't terrible. Like Erudites, they have more malleable factions but better melee stats.

Dark Elf SK's are neat, but their melee stats are pretty low, like the Erudites, but at least they have agility. Erudites don't even have that.

[Bubbles]

I'd go Human or erudite, Just for all the free Flayed Skin armorz.

Conversely, going Iksar for the jarsath might work too, although unlike HUM/ERU, upgrading beyond Jarsath wouldn't be anytime soon.

[PurelyElf]

Str is like the easiest stat to raise, why would you base your race on something so minor? Lol. It's not like elves are encumbered just because they wear plate, even before str gear.

[greatdane]

Int doesn't matter a damn thing. You're not a healer or quad-kiter. It makes absolutely no difference whether your mana pool is 1500 or 1700 deep. You'll never spend it all in one place anyway, it'll be completely irrelevant while grouping, and for soloing you spend only a portion of your mana per kill. Whether you have to med after three kills, or after four kills but for 25% longer, has no influence on your leveling speed.

If you expect to solo a lot, troll regen will help you the most. It's actually really good. You won't have very good healing methods as an SK, especially if your health gets so low that you can't safely go around lifetapping mobs. Regen is awesome for soloing, but the troll exp penalty and regen's lack of awesomeness in groups means you should only go troll if you like to solo a lot. Other than that, ogre is best because of the stats and because less interrupts is pretty nice for a casting tank. Personally, I went with human because being 10ft tall and spherical is fucking annoying in any indoor area.

[Doors]

Ogres are a dime a dozen. Go troll.

[Nytewind TP]

Yeah, but if I put all those points into STA, my character will be encumbered just by wearing full banded and even worse when he has to wear plate.

There are many items/gear that add to STR. Velious in the future will add even more.

[falkun]

I've heard a rumor the ogre frontal stun immunity is not functioning properly on this server. Is that true?

[Messianic]

Str is like the easiest stat to raise, why would you base your race on something so minor? Lol. It's not like elves are encumbered just because they wear plate, even before str gear.

It's not just that. Ogres have absolutely massive starting stamina, even before you distribute your extra points. If you look at a composite stat view of all SK races, totaling STR/STA/AGI/INT, you'll find you get the *most* out of ogres, by far. Frontal stun immunity is very underplayed until you're dealing with high-end Kunark/Velious mobs, then you'll wonder why you ever chose anything else. I won't play anything other than Ogre Shaman - casting root through bashes is too nice. Likewise, casting Fear/Darkness through the mob's hits is an immense convenience.

However, I can definitely sympathize going Human/Dark Elf/Erudite/Iksar merely for cosmetics or novelty, since stat differences really don't make a huge difference in the grand scheme.

Int doesn't matter a damn thing. You're not a healer or quad-kiter. It makes absolutely no difference whether your mana pool is 1500 or 1700 deep. You'll never spend it all in one place anyway, it'll be completely irrelevant while grouping, and for soloing you spend only a portion of your mana per kill. Whether you have to med after three kills, or after four kills but for 25% longer, has no influence on your leveling speed.

This is true.

If you expect to solo a lot, troll regen will help you the most. It's actually really good. You won't have very good healing methods as an SK, especially if your health gets so low that you can't safely go around lifetapping mobs. Regen is awesome for soloing, but the troll exp penalty and regen's lack of awesomeness in groups means you should only go troll if you like to solo a lot.

Bind wound is your friend.

Regen races level far more slowly than other races even with their regen. I've run the numbers on it before for Iksar Necros - the extra regen makes a very tiny difference until your 50s (yet not near enough to offset the penalty), since your regen rates increase far above normal races during that time.

Levels 1-19:
Regen Rate (Human): 2 sitting, 1 FD, 1 standing
Regen Rate (Iksar): 4 sitting, 2 FD, 2 standing

Levels 20-49:
Regen Rate (Human): 3 sitting, 1 FD, 1 standing
Regen Rate (Iksar): 6 sitting, 2 FD, 2 standing

Level 50:
Regen Rate (Human): 4 sitting, 1 FD, 1 standing
Regen Rate (Iksar): 8 sitting, 2 FD, 2 standing

Levels 51-55:
Regen Rate (Human): 5 sitting, 3 FD, 2 standing
Regen Rate (Iksar): 12 sitting, 8 FD, 6 standing

Levels 56-59:
Regen Rate (Human): 6 sitting, 4 FD, 3 standing
Regen Rate (Iksar): 16 sitting, 12 FD, 10 standing

Level 60:
Regen Rate (Human): 7 sitting, 5 FD, 4 standing
Regen Rate (Iksar): 18 sitting, 14 FD, 12 standing

[Striiker]

I went with human because there are not a lot of human SK's. I passed on Erudite because I don't care for their look. I passed on Troll and Ogre SK's because thee are so many of them and I also don't care for their look. Many people have their preferences and like the look of the larger races and if that's what you like, then go for it! I wouldn't worry so much about the regen rate of trolls personally. When it gets right down to it, you'll be grouped with buffs and healing constantly happening. The regen helps but only marginally. Between the two choices offered, I'd go ogre (as so many choose to do on tis server).

[Brut]

Shoulda gone ogre. You'll regret it when standing next to one and your sword is only half the size of his!

[Striiker]

Shoulda gone ogre. You'll regret it when standing next to one and your sword is only half the size of his!

Nah, I'll overcome my small sword size by putting crazy big horse shoes (tires) on my mount.

Besides, we all know it's how you use it.. Those mobs are always lining up to experience the thrill only available to those on the receiving end of my sword's attention.

[PurelyElf]

Stats are boring, I'd go dark elf because omg cool.

[porigromus]

I was thinking of going Iksar but was concerned with not being able to slam while wielding a 2hdr.

[Hamahakki]

Female Erudite

[Juugox2]

like ppl were saying str really doesnt matter time your max lvl and end game youll have str i mean ogre and trolls most likely will have more and you dont get frontal stun or regen but those petty things really dont matter in a group unless your just fear kiting till 60 which i highly doubt

[Snaggles]

I was thinking of going Iksar but was concerned with not being able to slam while wielding a 2hdr.

Not as big of a deal as you think. Biggest thing (for me) was having slam while reverse kiting as it can stun their walk for a second.

You will always have a nice 1h and shield for tanking/casters and should have a good 2h for various reasons. You can bash with the epic (Inny's curse) but I wouldn't bank on getting it as a guarantee.

In retrospect I would have gone way more sword & board. The mitigation for tanking is awesome.

[thrump]

Troll! I'm a troll sk. Ogres are a dime a dozen.

[Nlaar]

I'm currently a level 59 DE SK.

My thoughts concerning this mess:

1. Go with what you will enjoy and what will bring you happiness.

2. Getting stunned is extremely annoying. During raid situations if I am trying to spam a spell (to gain aggro) and can't because I'm stunned, well, that's rather annoying.

3. Mana pool is important for soloing. However, the higher you get the more chances you'll have at acquiring pieces that will really help your mana. For example the mithril mask 5ac 7int 7wis off of Magi Roykl and then Tranix's collar thing that provides 13int. Also a lot of SK Sky items have int on them.

4. I am currently around 120 str unbuffed... this is the lowest it has been in awhile. This reflects gear choice though (using BE over Umbral for improved AC). Yes, it does get annoying being easily encumbered but there are plenty of weight reduction bags out there.

5. Stamina. This is important. Right now fully raid buffed I am around 4200-4300hp depending on gear. Ogre warriors I think top out at around 5k hps. Whatever race you do choose I suggest dumping a considerable portion of your starting points into STA.

6. Big races cannot use the 20ac 10 to all resists shoulders from The Hole.

7. Big races cannot use the 25ac 5sta 100hp Ashenbone Shield from Hate.

8. ?

[Snaggles]

Fact is if when solo you are running through an entire blue bar you are doing it wrong or fighting something WAY too tough. :eek:

Engulfing Dark is cheap as is Invoke Fear, that last 20-30 intel won't help unless again, you are going from FM to empty. Anything taking more mana is prob hitting you way too hard to sustain.

The main factor against a big race is you are too dang big which is annoying. You also look kinda funky. Stat wise it's an advantage in almost every way, but as mentioned before, stats come with time and buffs.

Pick the one you like the look of.