50's SK Gear Advice

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

On that part I agree with him. If a guild invites me I'm going to play my own character, and if they ask me to play someone else's I'll tell them to get lost. Don't invite me if you don't want me to be---me.

Shadow Knight is by no means hopeless anyway. Less than optimal at the very end doesn't mean wholly incapable. Through most of the game it's good. It'll pull or tank for the lower-tier and some of the middle-tier raids just fine. Runs out of gas as a boss tank around Vindicator, but can continue pulling all the way to the end-game. High-end pulling is more about proving oneself to a guild's established pull team and most guilds stick with what they know or are used to more out of inertia than necessity.

Of course, none of this matters to an already-overgeared solo leveler.

-----------------------------------------

If a shadow knight thinks disease cloud is all he has to cast in groups, he's probably not very good. That's just serviceable enough to level with and get into a guild that'll hassle him to play something else.

Danth

Oh don't get me wrong, I have raided with my SK before when he was my main, and I have seen some great SK mains with BiS gear. They certainly have a spot in the raid if a guild is willing to use them (which isn't that often sadly).

The reason why I advise against it is because Samoht is specifically trying to bend the conversation in the direction of "Build your character for end game raiding AoW all the time!". Honestly my response to that is "If you are really trying to build a hardcore raiding character, don't do it on an SK in the first place".

His viewpoint just doesn't make sense. If you are a hardcore raider, you probably won't roll an SK for raiding. But if you have an SK, Samoht wants everyone to try and make them the best raid SK possible? It just doesn't add up. Obviously if someone's goal in life is to make the best SK raider on P99, go for it! Some people have done it, and they have awesome characters. But that isn't what most people do, and people should know that SKs are the worst raiding class in the game sadly.

[Danth]

I agree with you there, and if you were to browse my 12 years worth of post history you'd see the proof (obviously--don't do that). I'll play my own guy over some bot when I feel like raiding, but I don't particularly like raiding to begin with and don't do it often. I haven't been to temple veeshan in at least a couple years, now. If I wanted to do that stuff regularly I'd pick something more geared towards that part of the game.

Danth

[zati]

Originally Posted by Samoht [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Two things to wrap this up:

1) I've said it before in this thread, there is no reason to gear for trivial encounters. They are trivial by definition. You need to gear for the hardest encounter you will be facing. AoW is used as the benchmark. It hits so hard that AC is irrelevant, but it is not the only mob in the game that hits that hard. If a mob is a redcon and flurries, stacking HP is the only way to live. You're wrapping all of these mobs up into the example when you mention AoW. SKs end up tanking such mobs in ToV. What other use would they have for raiding since they don't tank AoW themselves?

2) When leveling, using a fungi trivializes everything. Get a fungi first. You can't complain about the cost of a fungi in this thread when people are throwing suggestions like Narandi's Crown around. Being an Iksar or Troll stacks with fungi, making it even better. You know how you fully take advantage of the fungi and the regen? By stacking HP. Raising your health pool raises the effective healing. If I stack HP on my SK alt to have 2000+ HP at level 50 and yours only has 800hp, that doubles, triples, quadruples, etc the effect of that fungi every single time my health ticks above 800hp.

In group content (OP did mention grouping), spells keep aggro. Disease Cloud is level 9 and costs 10 mana. Vampiric Embrace lasts around 2-7 minutes and costs 30 mana. You don't really need to cast anything else, so mana pool doesn't matter there. You're not going to gear DEX just for that spell, or STR just for DPS, because your fungi will allow you to literally bore mobs to death while your group takes care of healing and DPS. It is your job to tank. Clarity + Narandi's crown makes it so that you never even have to sit or med.

If you're fear kiting into the 50s, I admire you're dedication. I've always hated fear kiting because swing timers don't really sync with your location very well as the mob is running away. I hate standing right on top of the mob just to see the "You cannot see your target from here" or "Your target is too far away" messages.

It's doable. Slow/painful, but doable. And still, it's trivial. I'd focus more on surviving when a fear wears off on higher level mobs rather than dealing 1 or 2 more damage every third swing or stacking gear for a spell that procs for less than 30 damage. You'll be sitting between fights, either way.

And who is going to be able to solo those mobs better? The 800 HP SK who is gear focused on STR/DEX who can only take 4 hits before he's less than half health? Or the SK with 3 times his HP and can stand toe to toe in melee against the mob while recasting fear?

What happens when you get an add? I can just fear them and shrug them off while I finish my primary target where you'll have to FD at the first sign of trouble.

And guess what? Which strategy works best at level 1? Stacking HP or stacking STR/DEX?

In other words, get a fungi and stack HP or get wrecked.

Did not read, Gonna assume it's all gibberish and wrong information.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Here is a video of me soloing in Howling Stones, so you can see how much HP I lose typically. I made it very quickly and on the fly, so I could definitely do much better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmDvk3udrhI

First three kills 00:00:00 - 00:06:00 show how few resources you can spend per kill with the right strategy and gear. If you maintain single mob pulls and keep track of the 20 minute respawn timer, you will barely lose HP, MP is the bigger factor. You can sacrifice some HP by using clickies to help mitigate MP loss.

The pull after that 00:06:10 - 00:09:50 shows double fear kiting. It wasn't planned, which is why it is a bit messy. I had to decide on the fly whether to FD or show a double fear kite. I decided to show the double fear kite, where you can have two mobs fear kited if you have a bad pull and do not want to FD it. I do not go below 50% health even here.

A mob is pulled after that 00:10:08 - 00:11:30 to show you can still do another kill or two on low resources before recovering. I don't lose much here due to it being a single pull.

Last pull was a bad one, but FDed just fine.

As you can see, at the end of the video I did not even dip below 50% health. There is no benefit to me stacking more HP here, as I still have at least 1.5k HP remaining before I take a med break. Increasing kill speed, however, will reduce damage taken, potentially save me having to cast a spell, and get more kills in per respawn cycle.

[Jimjam]

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

First up, Love the AG tag!

Second, I don't know if you were using a pointer to showcase what you were doing better but please buy a keyboard [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Third I noticed you got interrupted by a bash, but not because it stunned (it wasn't a stunning hit), just from the bash's innate boost to interrupt chance.

Fourth, I didn't realise Rest the Dead was such a powerful lull! Wow!

Fifth, nice looking weapon, which one is it again?

Thank you for taking the time to record/post.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

First up, Love the AG tag!

Second, I don't know if you were using a pointer to showcase what you were doing better but please buy a keyboard [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Third I noticed you got interrupted by a bash, but not because it stunned (it wasn't a stunning hit), just from the bash's innate boost to interrupt chance.

Fourth, I didn't realise Rest the Dead was such a powerful lull! Wow!

Fifth, nice looking weapon, which one is it again?

Thank you for taking the time to record/post.

No problem[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

1. Hehe thanks. I still need to move him over to Vanquish, I am bad at moving alts.

2. Yes, I do use keyboard hotkeys. When I am playing for fun sometimes I will use the mouse instead if timing doesn't matter. On my Shaman, for example, I must use hot keys all the time for cannibalizing/Torporing, but on my SK nothing is really that time sensitive when soloing. Could I do better by optimizing my hotkeys for him? Of course, but I haven't needed to go that hard on him.

3. As for the bash interrupt, you are correct. There are two components to a bash. The stun (an automatic interrupt), and the random chance interrupt. Unfortunately nothing in the game can prevent the random chance interrupt, it is completely RNG. FSI on Ogres is good for mitigating the automatic interrupt, which means you still have a chance for success, because you are now rolling on the random chance interrupt.

4. Yeah playing in Undead zones really makes an SK shine, similar to necros. Having lull and a 10 mana fear (Spook the Dead) is really nice. Rest the Dead has a very low agro radius. Only downside is you can't use CHA to help improve your chances. RNG is your friend and only friend.

5. My weapon is https://wiki.project1999.com/Ancient...ched_Flamberge .

[Keebz]

This isn't really my thread anymore, but I'll try to keep updating for posterity. Up to 58 now.

Some good solo spots, 46-51 spectres / LOIO goblins. 51-56 HHK (55 and 56 were dyrna and running upstairs to kill a couple nobles in between spawns) 56 Hole Ent / Tar Goos (they basically deal 0 damage to you, could probably start these earlier) 57 PoM rats / Hole Castle. After 55 it's been about 4% an hour, which is something.

From here I'll do some combo of PoM rats / the Hole.

Soloing tips: Your pet is crucial for DPS even though it seems like trash. I believe you can torch it if it's under DW level. Can summon after splitting to save the headache. Hang out places there are enchanters--a C goes a LONG way (haste is nice too).

Pre-60 desirable Gear list: Soul Defiler, Crown of Narandi, Eyepatch of Plunder, Ring 8. If I get any of these I'll let you know how they help.

Post-60 it's just HP/Resists/AC for me. Don't plan to tank anything crazy, just wanna tag / pull stuff and do fun solo challenges.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Keebz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This isn't really my thread anymore, but I'll try to keep updating for posterity. Up to 58 now.

Some good solo spots, 46-51 spectres / LOIO goblins. 51-56 HHK (55 and 56 were dyrna and running upstairs to kill a couple nobles in between spawns) 56 Hole Ent / Tar Goos (they basically deal 0 damage to you, could probably start these earlier) 57 PoM rats / Hole Castle. After 55 it's been about 4% an hour, which is something.

From here I'll do some combo of PoM rats / the Hole.

Soloing tips: Your pet is crucial for DPS even though it seems like trash. I believe you can torch it if it's under DW level. Can summon after splitting to save the headache. Hang out places there are enchanters--a C goes a LONG way (haste is nice too).

Pre-60 desirable Gear list: Soul Defiler, Crown of Narandi, Eyepatch of Plunder, Ring 8. If I get any of these I'll let you know how they help.

Post-60 it's just HP/Resists/AC for me. Don't plan to tank anything crazy, just wanna tag / pull stuff and do fun solo challenges.

Hey it is still your thread! Hopefully the discussions here-in were enlightening. Glad to see you are making progress. Getting 5 levels since the start of this thread is impressive. Your list looks pretty good. You may want to add Shawl 7 in there if you get the chance, every bit of mana regen helps. Unfortunately all of the other Flowing Thought I items that SK's get are pretty expensive DKP wise (Cazic Brain/Eye for example). Way more than Soul Defiler typically, so Shawl 7 is probably the easiest Flowing Thought I item to get.

[Keebz]

For FT 1, I looked into the shawl, but that seems like a whole thing. I think Eye will be my eventual target, but I'm not in a rush as Crown and Soul Defiler should give 10 mana a tick. The Brain would be ideal, but that might take me a couple years.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Keebz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

For FT 1, I looked into the shawl, but that seems like a whole thing. I think Eye will be my eventual target, but I'm not in a rush as Crown and Soul Defiler should give 10 mana a tick. The Brain would be ideal, but that might take me a couple years.

True, if you can get Soul Defiler it won't matter too much. Crown won't even be that great if you have Soul Defiler.

Just be aware Soul Defiler is a pretty rare item, and there is usually at least 1 SK you are bidding against. Last Soul Defiler I saw went for like 700 DKP too, and that was only a few months ago. I only suggest Shawl 7 because even though it does take a while to finish, you may be waiting longer on Soul Defiler. Same with Brain or Eye. Everybody on the server wants them (every class/race can use both), and they have a pretty low drop rate. I don't know what your raid attendance is like, but I am just trying to warn you ahead of time. They are great goals for sure, but they are lofty hehe.