Hello, I recently returned to EverQuest and I was fortunate enough to play with friends who were already at max level, one of which was a Warrior, so I simply filled a spot and gave all the DPS I could whilst I leveled and they gained AA, as a result I have little to no experience tanking, but now I am hoping to get on the right path as a SK tank! My intention will be to tackle group based content/progression - I'm not so much concerned with equipment/augmentations, I know they're paramount and we'll be working on that - I've been looking through these forums, and reading what I can in game to try and understand what to use (descriptions, duration, re-use timers) but I am frankly overwhelmed and purchasing the wrong things can be costly at this stage for me. May I ask if anyone has or can give a sort of guide, or bulletpoint list, of things to use/prioritise/rotate so that I can get myself on track? Thank you!
Staying tough is all about Mortal Coil & chain casting spells. When you're just starting to fight so Mortal Coil isn't on, either HarmTouch to get it, or fire up epic to cover until you get a Mortal Coil proc. If Mortal Coil somehow fades (#1, get more killshots so that it doesn't), same thing, go through Epic > CoA BP > Leechcurse > Blood Drinker's Coating till Mortal Coil's back on. Instant HT or Dicho should be pretty good at getting it back, though, so that you don't have to do the longer cooldown / weaker things. Chain spells is: Bond of Xalgoz on everything, Insidious Denial whenever it won't kill you (i.e. whenever there aren't actual mazillions of mezzed adds.), nuking with disease Spear of Tylix, lifetaps 110 Touch of T'vem, 105 Lutzen, Dire Testimony, Dichotomic Fang. You're doing it right if those are all greyed out from use nearly all the time. If they are, you can use the loose cast time to re-buff yourself with Refute for Power, Touch of Hemofax, Harmonious Disruption, Tylix's Skin. If you have still more cast time to throw around with the spam spells greyed out and buffs all on (#1 stop trolling, you're a master), then 106 Xalgoz's Bite is good times for your group, and Torrent of Suffering & Defiant Stance will make your stat line prettier. I went & listed 14 spells, you'd better have your own opinions on the last couple slots once you're good enough to spam your way through the first dozen Spurn Combat Ability, Viscious Bite of Chaos AA, Wounding Blade AA aren't spells, but are also always-greyed-out spam sorts of buttons.
http://eqshadowknight.net/ This is full of info for shadowknights. Not to mention you can banter with some of the saltiest SK and Ex SK out there.
That's excellent! As part of my own research, I saw that Spurn, Viscous Bite of Chaos and Wounding Blade had such fast cool downs and excellent effects according to their descriptions that I had made a spamming button for them, I had wondered if there was a down side, but evidently not! Currently I have Defiant Stance, Shield Flash as my go to options for when I potentially get overwhelmed - any other key ones to consider? Thank you Brohg!
You can time spurn and wounding blade with hp spikes to survive when you otherwise might not. (wounding blade when epic is running will be a big heal) this might save you from using up your shield flash as often too (or as an option when shield flash is down). deflection discipline, reaver's bargain, armor of experience. certain disc combinations you can transition into during that shield flash (or before it possibly preventing the need to flash in the first place). right after or during that first spike you can hit instant an instant heal ability (leech touch, dichotomic, if it's a pile: insidious denial. when leech effects are running (e.g. sk epic 2.0, leechcurse disc) you can use wounding blade, carmine blade, reflexive rancor as instant heals too. you can time these with each spike between lifetap spamming to survive where you might otherwise not. i wrote a rambly sort of guide more aimed at raid sk's but which is hopefully some help: http://forums.eqfreelance.net/index.php?topic=16303.0
That is phenomenal, I appreciate the guidance and links! Something I am struggling to find an answer to, is about whether to use the Wurmslayer or a weapon that triggers Devout Rune? I have asked in game, but conflicting responses.
If you're running a mitigation disc like Mantle, the rune is better, if you aren't under disc, wurmslayer is.
