Sazabi Ogre SK - Achievements/Questions/Progression - Guidance Appreciated!

[Orotiagito]

So I ditched my bard for a Ogre SK, for that lovely exp pen. Its honestly not so bad atm, although I'm only level 15. I've been leveling in Kurn's tower.

With the help of Smoflow, I came back to the game with a little bit of items to work with. Also with the help of my friend Capped (Who made a shaman just to level with me).

I currently have active friends to level with, an Enchanter, Cleric, Shaman, and myself a Shadowknight. I absolutely love this game atm, to be frank I stayed up all night reading about Classic/Kunark EQ guides as well as Shadowknight comprehension guides.

I've been more focused on Strength and HP, and I've recently made a few switches to my gear to acquire more AC. As I've stumbled across the "gear reference" guide on p99 wiki. It calls for a lot of strict AC gear with no stats, and it confuses me.

My stats:

173 Strength
148 Stamina
84 Dex
101 Agility
95 Intelligence

689 Life, 421 AC, 392 ATK, 362 Mana.


My gear:

Ears - Golden Sapphire Earring (2 Str, 4 Int)

Necklace - Sapphire Platinum Necklace (7 Str, 7 Int) - NO AC

Face - Sarnak-Hide Mask (6 AC, 5 Str)

Helm - Skull-shaped Barbute (13 AC, HP 35, SV Magic +10)

Rings - Platinum Fire Wedding Ring (5 AC, HP 55)

Bracers - Serpentine Bracer (1 AC, 3 Dex, 9 AGI), Dark Forge Bracer (9 AC, 3 Dex)

Arms - Darkforge Vambraces (11 AC, 4 Str)

Hands - Iksar Scaled Gloves (10 AC, 3 Str, 3 Dex, 10 HP)

Shoulders - Crested Spaulders (11 AC, 6 Sta)

Chest - Mithril Breastplate (17 AC, 15 Agi, 30 HP)

Cloak - Burynai Hide Cloak (5 AC, 2 Str, 2 Agi)

Belt - FBSS

Legs - Black Chitin Leggins (7 AC, 10 HP, 10 Mana)

Boots - Dwarven Work Boots (8 AC, 3 Str, 5 Dex)

Weapon - Ebon Mace (19 Dmg, 24 Delay)

Sheild - Atramentous Shield (28 AC, 5 Str, 5 Sta, 5 Int, 50 HP, 50 Mana) [Deadeye]

Range and Ammo currently not filled.

Future investments:

Illusion Mask
Jboots
Hooded Black Cloak
Diamondine Earrings x2
FUNGI
Djarns Ring
Grim Aura Earring clicky?


First off if anyone knows any clickies I should be on the look out for please let me know, and if anyone thinks I should replace any of my gear with an item I'm not aware of please do.

I'm an elitist type of guy when it comes to gearing, I sorta have an OCD. I'm only level 15 and I know I'm way beyond geared for my level but I plan on farming HQ Bear/cat pelts, spiderling silks, and batwings in my down time to save for future purchases and to prevent out-leveling my leveling squad.

I wouldn't mind someone explaining to me what Agility/Dex really does for SK's?

Will I need a larger mana pool later on? Early on I feel as if my DoT's are resisted and are mainly just for additional aggro. As mobs get stronger I fear that I will neglect my spells. I want to completely maximize my dps, so I'll use them regardless. It helps hold aggro too.

When I'm casting is my auto swing put on hold? If so I'm really gimping my DPS when I cast a direct damage lifetap for 5 DMG.

If anyone would like to directly contribute to this leveling group, my friends just started on p99. They played on live over a decade ago and they are fierce levelers, I made this thread overall to gain exposure to the new players that are coming to this game.

If you have ever been in my stream you know I love doing giveaways, and I'd like to make it a point that if you have any old gear that you'd like to donate to new players - I get tons of them everyday in my stream. Genuine new players that will have a hard time getting started in p99 without any friends. Doing so greatly contributes to the overall health of the server.

(I will not take items off-stream unless you post what you gave me in this thread, I don't want to be accused of taking items for my own personal gain)

New players that greatly need help:

Cmplthel - Cleric
Gaiger - Shaman
Craftehbanana - Enchanter

I will probably add to this list. Remember this thread is basically a thread to ask questions, help my friends/new players, post screenshots of my achievements and to stay involved with my community.

Shout outs!

Express & Sebekkha - (These guys are giving free gear to new players, and also keep a fun atmosphere for ECL).

Smoflow - Pretty much is the reason I'm playing atm, after donating many of my items.

Capped - For starting a shaman to level with me.

Cmplthel & Craftehbanana - For being amazing players, both support classes that thrive for endgame and motivate me to level with them.

Bongs - For helping me with an xfer when I didn't even know him.

and to all my viewers and old friends that I haven't talked to in a while, I finally have the spark I needed to hit 60, but this time with the challenge of my Ogre Shadowknight, Sazabi.



Challenge starts this evening, I'll be doing a 24 hour stream to prove my persistence towards this goal..

[Derubael]

Welcome (back?) to the server [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

And thanks for streaming! Great way to bring in new players!

[Sebekkha]

Thanks for the shout out, and good luck in p99! you definitely have the right fundamentals to go far here!

I often do mini 'quests' for young players to earn some PP for spells and whatnot, so new players, keep an eye out for future tasks I often shout them out!

[Vohl]

Hey, Sazabi!

Was it you that I bound outside Kaesora?

Agility gives you a slight bump in attack avoidance. It's very good to have this at least to 75, but otherwise it isn't terribly important.

Dexterity affects proc rates. Don't sweat this until later -- maybe not even then. As a shadow knight, you don't need procs to hold aggro.

When gearing up, generally go for AC first, then HPs, then anything else. You'll want the best haste item possible (FBSS is pretty good, especially at your level), and the best damage/delay possible on your weapons (lower delay is generally better).

Kurns is great through the mid-20s.


Cheers,

Bazzy

[Splorf22]

Get a fungi; that's all the matters.

[Wotsirb401]

I have a diamondine earring you can have for your cause sir! Look for Hustle or Happytime

[Tecmos Deception]

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

So I ditched my bard for a Ogre SK, for that lovely exp pen. Its honestly not so bad atm, although I'm only level 15. I've been leveling in Kurn's tower.

It gets worse [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]


I've been more focused on Strength and HP, and I've recently made a few switches to my gear to acquire more AC. As I've stumbled across the "gear reference" guide on p99 wiki. It calls for a lot of strict AC gear with no stats, and it confuses me.

When you're tanking you should probably be worried about HP (and/or stamina, which turns into hp), then about AC, then about anything else... magic resist (getting slowed/rooted/stunned sucks), strength (not a big difference-maker but it doesn't hurt), etc. So consider dropping your earrings, necklace, serpentine bracer, whenever you find/can afford something with hp/stam/ac in those slots.


Illusion Mask

SKs can't use these unless you find some fancy, GM-event-only thing


First off if anyone knows any clickies I should be on the look out for please let me know, and if anyone thinks I should replace any of my gear with an item I'm not aware of please do.

Circlet of shadow lets you instantly cast invis starting at level 20. Pretty awesome. Goblin clicky earring is nice but nothing too special - it's more important as a "junk buff" so that IT gets dispelled if a mob tries to dispel you instead of a symbol or haste or something important... once you're good enough it also allows you a buff slot you can click off when you see a dot/debuff being cast so then it lands in the top buff slot and can be easily dispelled without you losing other good buffs to get to it.


I wouldn't mind someone explaining to me what Agility/Dex really does for SK's?

Not much. Stay above 75 agility or you get an AC penalty (though how significant this is, no one ever really discusses... they just say to stay above 75). Dex lets you proc weapons, but you already have the best setup for tanking short of the shadowknight epic and it doesn't proc. You get a lifetap proc but it's pretty insignificant, definitely not worth getting dex at the cost of hp/stam/ac/resists/strength


Will I need a larger mana pool later on? Early on I feel as if my DoT's are resisted and are mainly just for additional aggro. As mobs get stronger I fear that I will neglect my spells. I want to completely maximize my dps, so I'll use them regardless. It helps hold aggro too.

Your mana is just for keeping aggro (assuming you are tanking and not solo). Disease cloud, shadow vortex (eventually), you get a couple AE spells if needed to pick up a few mobs at once but they cost a bit more mana, clinging darkness. You usually won't need to lifetap or use any of your other dots. For solo you'll want to be snaring+fearing things (undead-only fear is sweet, I think SKs get it?) until you have a fungi and can regen after taking hits.


When I'm casting is my auto swing put on hold? If so I'm really gimping my DPS when I cast a direct damage lifetap for 5 DMG.

Melee timers continue to run in the background while you are casting, up to the point that another melee round woudl trigger... then it sits there waiting for the spell to finish and fires off that round of melee and your swing timer starts ticking again. So try to cast spells as little as you have to while meleeing, and when you DO have to try to use short-casting spells, and when you cast one of those try to start the cast the instant after a melee swing from you. Not a huge deal, just a little min/max thing.

[Mandalore93]

All your gear is stuff you probably won't be able to either quest or replace until higher levels. Around 30/35 you can do the Minotaur Hero Bracer quest and swap out your serpentine. HBC probably going to be your best upgrade for your back slot, and probably the only upgrade you are going to realistically afford before level 50. Glowing Bone Collar for your neck piece I suppose. But killing the Chief Ogre will ruin your hometown faction.

Also, grabbing a Runed Bone Fork from UGuk isn't a bad idea for its resists. But not really needed until your 40s when things start to cast. Could also try grabbing an idol of the thorned around the same time.

[bloodmuffin]

Listen to Tecmos, pretty much answered everything. I brought my SK to 54 before I rerolled, it's easy going until 50's and that's when the exp penalty (I picked troll) is really noticeable and groups are limited to KC, KC, and KC.

Extra tips.

You don't need Illusion, you won't need a clicky buff slot until you start raiding.

You won't need to worry about your mana pool once you get clarity or better. Vortex and DC are low mana cost, you'll be 50%+ most of the time with it.

Disease/Vortex/snare to build massive threat and snap agro.

Buy BloodEmber Gauntlets, they are very useful when you have little/no mana.

Circlet of Shadows, buy this. Insta clicky invis.

Get yourself Lev cloak, you won't get DMF until 55.

Groups will often bitch about your exp penalty in the higher levels, don't let that scare you, as it's not that far off from a bard or ranger, both which I grouped with numerous times and found I was keeping up with their exp, not once did they climb more than 2 lvls ahead.

Tips for FD kiting, use HIDE. Your FD mechanic lacks this ability, unlike monks, this means then when you FD in sight of the mobs (sometimes out of LOS too) they can run straight back to you.

Hope this helps.

Mandalore, the only large race that can use Heroes Bracer are Barbs. Trolls/ikky/ogre cannot use [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]


Oh this was all done with groups as soloing was out of the question since I didn't have super gear. I'm sure you'll be fine with what you have. Sure wish I had an ebon mace to start with [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[big mouth chew]

auto attack and afk is HARD