Gonna make an SK

[Abner]

I am not new to EQ. I played back in the day. I currently have a 37 Wizard Gnome on P99.

I am going to try a SK. Really undecided which race. But my pro/con thoughts so far:

Human -
Pros - Everyone won't hate me everywhere I go.
Cons - Ugly character models. Perhaps a little boring.

Erudite -
Pros - Everyone won't hate me everywhere I go.
Cons - Starts on the other side of the universe. Giant forehead. Perhaps a little boring.

DE -
Pros - Nice central starting location.
Cons - I hate Neriak

Ogre/Troll -
Pros - High STR and maybe some fun light role play. (Troll regen)
Cons - Hated in many places. Perhaps hard to get around in dungeons. Racial Penalty.

Iksar -
Pros - Regen. Something very different.
Cons - Hated everywhere! I would have to learn how to get anywhere without being attacked. No plate armor. Racial Penalty.

I have always played good races/classes so I am tempted to just go for the worst and play a lizard. But the highest penalty and you can only bank/vendor in Cabalis? How the heck do you get anywhere else? I would be tempted to never leave Kunark.

Looking for helpful opinions or tips. I will probably make the nooby tonight.

Thanks P99rs!

[EQBallzz]

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

Erudite -
Pros - Everyone won't hate me everywhere I go.
Cons - Starts on the other side of the universe. Giant forehead. Perhaps a little boring.

I don't think Erudites really got the "fivehead' moniker until the new models came out. At least I don't recall that being a thing prior to the new models where it was like WOAH..wtf is wrong with your head?

As for your question I always thought DE made the coolest SKs but that is mostly an aesthetic/preference and not based on any real benefit. For tanks I always think Ogres and Trolls are good but a serious PITA in tight places.

[thufir]

If you play an ogre you'll get angry every time you play another race as a tank and get bashed and stunned frontally. At least, I do. This may or may not be a recommendation, depending on how much you want to ruin your love of other races. You can do faction work if you really want to enter other towns and shrink potions are readily available for those few dungeons where it's a good idea. Also, Feerrott and Innothule are underrated newbie zones imo with plenty to kill.

Regen is nice if you want to solo, but as a shadowknight you can find groups fairly easily and you should take advantage of that. I saw most of Norrath on my way up and groups tended to form around me even in out of the way places.

[Danth]

Pick the one you think looks the best because you can never change that. In the long run any race will give adequate service for the jobs a Shadow Knight is asked to do. Higher starting stats are of course nice for starting out though.

Humans and Erudites win for convenience due to near-neutral faction and leveling faster than the others. They're particularly good choices for folks who are unlikely to make level 60, as these characters (along with Dark Elves) would be a couple levels higher, and hence stronger, than an experience-penalized race for equal time investment.

Dark Elves' main advantage is they can do the reaper of the dead quest with ease; their guild faction is not easily raised by outsiders.

Iksar can wear Velious plate armor, just not the Kunark or old world sets. Iksars are well-served by trying to level in Kunark and Velious as their factions aren't such an issue in the expansion areas.

Ogres and Trolls win out if you want to min/max.

Danth

[Brut]

Ogre gets frontal stun immunity and best face in game. No competition.
You're disliked everywhere no matter which race you pick. Int doesn't matter since Disease Cloud costs 10mana. Stamina is ace.

Make sure you have 75agi at start tho, or you take an ac penalty.

[GreldorEQ]

I enjoyed playing my SK up to about 50 or so - I chose Iksar because I enjoy the Greenmist quest line (not finished in p99, yet).

I stopped enjoying myself, as many mellee twinks do, when soloing slowed way down.

Regen has played a big part in being able to solo - but the bottleneck for SKs is DPS and Mana. Mana regen is so poor, it usually has to be saved for emergencies. For this reason, I would suggest a troll SK - with Regen and the ability to use clicky Engulfing Darkness + clicky Fear starting at 46, you will be able to continue soloing. Find yourself a Polished Obsidian Great Axe and fear kite to your hearts content.

Even from the perspective of snaring, the SK mana pool/regen issue is dramatically bad. At 60m per cast, engulfing darkness is the choice for snaring running mobs, or fearing undead mobs at 19% when tanking group content. If you have the job of snaring, you will be sitting and holding pulls all the time without the Blood Ember Gauntlets as an Iksar. Wearing the blood ember gauntlets alone has made me consider rerolling my SK.

Mana consumption is a huge deal - and an often overlooked problem of the knight class.

[Brut]

Best grp tank in game. People talk about soloing.
Stahp it. Exp penalty is gone, find a grp and let that exp flow. You don't need mana. All you need to cast is Disease Cloud.

[jolanar]

I feel like from a min/max perspective it's impossible to beat frontal stun immunity for a melee tank class that casts spells. That seems like a no brainer to me.

No reason to roll Iksar just for Greenmist since that is not a race restricted item AFAIK.

Personally I think I'd never be able to forgive myself for not rolling a Dark Elf though. Dark Elf Shadowknights are basically the defacto winners of Fashionquest against any other class/race combo.

[gildor]

Greenmist wasn't made SK/ALL until luclin when it had Bane added for seru..Iksar SK only until then

[GreldorEQ]

Brut makes a good point, if you don't care about soloing at all - then considerations for clickys and mana don't matter.