Starting stats for troll SK?

[paladin1118]

The wiki says to either spend 20 points in STA or INT for a troll SK. Which would be best? I'm sure it's always a good idea to raise stamina first on a tank... but trolls have such terrible starting INT (52). Should I ignore INT anyway and put all points in Stamina? I have little experience with SK's so I'm not sure how necessary their mana pool is at higher levels.

Thanks for the help.

[SCB]

Hybrid mana problems in later levels are easily solved with even Clarity 1, much less C2. Meditating will fill your bar lickity split even without C. I wouldn't put points into Int as a TSK. Melee stats will always be more valuable imo.

[Swish]

I went all STA back in the day, your main aggro spell for many levels is disease cloud (like 5 or 10 mana tops), so you'll get plenty of use out of it.

Better that than having a erudite SK with a massive mana pool that can't tank too good :P

[webrunner5]

I would put most in Sta and some in Strength. Maybe 5 in Int. They are made to be beat on and do damage. Int, unless solo, has not much to do with that other than Disease Cloud for agro. And that is a low mana spell higher up.

Tanks are just good to be beat on in groups. Trolls are the only one maybe that can solo a bit higher up. But in the long run you will HAVE to group most of the time. So your job is to slowly kill mobs and take the brunt of the damage, or best case all of it. That takes high AC, Sta, Str, HP stats. Not a lot of int.

[Weekapaug]

The one thing I remember about Troll SKs from live was they had a hard time with FD for the first couple levels after they got the spell because of the low mana pool. I want to even say they couldn't cast it until they were a level or two past the level they get it. Not sure how it is here.

For the record, my main from mid kunark till early mid POP was a human sk and I put all my points in STA. Never regretted it.

[Yinikren]

As a troll, I split my stats between INT, STA and STR fairly evenly. Most of the decent SK gear (Noct Blade, Atra Shield, etc) has either raw hp/mana or INT on it. My SK, at 39, has 140 STR, 120ish STA and 102 INT unbuffed and its been more than plenty to tank for groups and solo when needed. If I have mana problems during a fight, I know I am tapping too much and I should find easier mobs. The smaller manapool (1100 at 39, 1550hp and 800ac for reference) means that with meditate, my manabar fills in under 5 minutes from a bad pull. Also, as far as soloing goes, fear kite all the way - undead if you can, the undead fear costs almost no mana and has a much shorter cast time than standard fear.

Also, I've never had mana issues with feign death. I probably had almost 700 mana when I got the spell, so mana was never the issue - the issue was fizzles because your abjuration is going to suck unless you REALLY LOVE casting endure cold on everyone you pass to help skill up.

[Lune]

The only correct answer is 20 points into stamina.

Why you don't do:

Strength: Not only is your agro not based on damage, and your damage pathetic, but strength is one of the easiest stats to get up past the softcap.

Intelligence: This is not a decisive stat. The mana cost of your staple agro spells is paltry, and what you're doing during a solo or group session is either sustainable or it isn't, and that's determined by mana regeneration. Having a larger reserve of mana might let you use another lifetap or two in a limited number of emergency situations, but ultimately intelligence is much easier to find on gear than stamina is.

Maximum mana as an attribute only matters when you dump your entire pool from 100 to 0. How often are you doing that as a shadow knight? Is it worth sacrificing the more coveted, more generally applicable points in stamina? no

Also keep in mind if a fungi tunic is in your future, 83 agility will put you below 75 if you aren't getting a little agility somewhere. If this is a twink character, plan your gear accordingly.

[Yinikren]

It still depends what he really wants to do. If he's going to solo or group mostly as an alt character (read: not high-end), sure, more well-rounded stats will help him achieve that better. He will never be high enough to achieve the affects of putting 20 points into STA. If he's going to raid... sure, 76 extra hp at 60 (from going full STA) might somehow, when the planets align, save him.

Clearly I'm a skeptic, but to each their own. I'd much rather have more well-rounded stats. 10 int, 10 STA is 38 HP at level 60.. so your 20 STA SK will only have 38 HP more than mine given the same gear. That might just equal the damage of a bash from a drolvarg in DL. However, the INT gives him more throughput in an exp group without a chanter, especially if he is also pulling and can't med constantly. It also gives him more throughput soloing, if that's his piece of pie.

We need to know more about his playstyle to decide for sure, but yes, I think 20 STA is fairly laughable when it comes down to it.

[JayN]

DEX DEX DEX

[dali_lb]

group or solo, doesn't matter.
Starting stats doesn't really matter either, even in the early expansions P99 covers.

Since we don't ever get crazy stats equipment with the 2 expansions P99 will cover I would go for some of the secondary stats.
20 sta is still only gonna save your butt once in a blue moon.
Str is fairly high for a Troll.
Int is really low but will get decent with equipment later on.
My choice would prolly be to go for eg Dex just for the better chance at raising many melee skills and the benefit when using a proccing weapon