SK Race question + item help (have never played a tank)

[pasi]

Some inane ramblings from someone who hasn't been much involved in EQEMu for 15 years and hasn't played much P99 in 10+ years either. Proceed with caution:


From a historical perspective, the consensus (on TSW and SK.org) from 2000 to 2009 was that the iksar AC bonus did nothing – which may or may not have been a misinterpretation of what an EQdev said. Circa 2003-2004, Rashere had mentioned the Iksar AC bonus was for displayed AC only. This was prompted from parses showing the Iksar bonus not having any discernable effect. I think the community had taken “Displayed AC only” to mean it does nothing for RealAC. In 2009, someone went through the trouble of parsing a 51 DE SK vs a 51 Iksar SK with the same testcopy: http://eqshadowknight.net/archive/index.php/t-5360.html

While not a major difference, at low levels of gear (i.e. before softcap) – there was a discernable difference. Obviously, this was 2009 as opposed to in-era, but that’s really the only parse I am aware of that actually demonstrated benefit from the iksar AC bonus. Of course, it was for lower levels (the iksar bonus caps at 35, so this bonus relatively declines at higher levels) and at low levels of gear.
Fortunately, in 2014 Dzarn had posted the code for AC. See: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/.../#post-3078126

For starters, racial and class bonuses are applied at step 8 in the Display AC calculation. For brevity’s sake, it means that the 35 AC Iksar bonus does not receive the 4/3 multiplier that Item AC receives. So, right off the bat this is equivalent to 26 non-shield AC.

Up until late Velious on live, AC was hardcapped at 289. Late in Velious, a softcap was implemented for overcap returns for melee. Casters were still hardcapped. AC above 289 was given a minimal return. There’s no well-documented number in the Prathun statement detailing this, but from my years of doing this shit, 5% seems to be the figure thrown around for Pre-Luclin. Following the Luclin mitigation/avoidance patch, these AC Overcap returns increased to 16.7% for Knights. Following the PoP patch, that rises to 25%. Hard caps also rising. Of course the 16.7% and 25% are EQEMU community’s best estimate from what was known.

Putting it all together. In late Velious, the Iksar AC bonus for SK above 289 AC would be 0.05 * 26 = 1 real AC. In SOL, that is 0.167 * 26 = 4 real AC. In POP, that is 0.25 * 26 = 6 real AC.

As an aside, the usual disclaimer that all this is all for EQLive circa that era. Project1999 code may or may not deviate from the above.

Shadowknights are arguably the worst class in the game from Kunark until Omens of War at least. There's not much sense in optimizing 1-2%. Play whatever race looks the best.