I tried looking but I couldn't find anything current. Would any one be able help me out with what discs you use for tanking named? Say like 4 min fight max. I assume it may depend on the mobs abilities, but let's say the named is more or less straight melee that flurry. Or direct me towards some kind of defense disc set list for different scenarios. Any help would be appreciated. Right now I usually lead with deflection then switch to doomscale I believe it's called. I really have no rhyme or reason for doing so. Note: This is really my first tank that I have actively played and had just been using him for DPS up until it hit level 110. So please be nice as I am clueless lol.
SK tanking didn't really change much at 110, and hasn't changed much in several expansions. I recommend reading the plethora of earlier posts here. What skills you use to tank will likely have more to do with your gear, AAs, and how you play, rather than what the mobs do. If you just hit 110 and have been using your SK for DPS, you probably have at least 10k+ AAs that you need before you are really caught up, as well as a full set of tank augs. Your tank may seem very flimsy until you get caught up, but don't lose hope Standard defensive discs (all mutually exclusive). I usually don't go past the first 2 any more, but your gear/AA progress will dictate what you use: Carapace: Quickest refresh, long duration. Weakest defensive disc, but it's still my bread & butter. Mantle: More powerful than Carapace, but shorter duration and longer refresh timer. Guardian: More powerful than the other two, but hampers DPS. I only use this on raid mobs or if my other two have run out. Unholy Aura: Combine with First Spire and spam your taps! I actually use this for DPS burning all the time, but I would use this instead of Reaver's Bargain (below) in a group setting, unless I knew the mob would definitely drop me. Deflection: I've got it macro-hotkeyed (macro that stops any other disc and activates Deflection), but I rarely use it except in emergencies or when all of the above are down. Requires shield. Leechcurse: Sort of like our epic. I can't remember the last time I used this. It is very dusty. Shield Flash: Hotkey this and put it somewhere that is just as handy as your FD and autoattack keys. This is your go-to "Oh !" ability. 6-second deflection, does not conflict with your other discs. Gives you plenty of time to hit one of the defensive discs above and focus on getting aggro. Requires shield. Other: Spurn (Withstand line). Note that there were some conflicts with other Defensive abilities. I don't know if those were resolved, but I pretty much leave this in my spam multibind and forget about it. But if another SK can point out when NOT to use it, that would be great!. I use Demand and Torrent spells for increased tankiness (and aggro). Always have the Skin and Stance spells up. Epic. All the time. Geomantra earring (use an audio trigger so you can keep this up all the time). 3rd Spire (I almost never use this anymore, preferring the other two Spires for DPS). Reaver's Bargain: Very powerful defensive AA, but leaves you without mana or endurance (and requires a high level of mana/end to activate). When it runs out, use Thought Leach and Breather. For me, this is either a last-ditch effort or part of a coordinated effort with other tanks. Almost as dusty as Leechcurse. Staying alive is only half of tanking, aggro is the other side. You will want to research aggro/taunt to be sure you understand how it works: Mindless Hatred (110&under) & Unyielding Acrimony lock aggro for a short time. All 3 of your AE hate AAs: Explosion of Hatred (PBAE), Explosion of Spite (targeted AE), Stream of Hatred (directional AE). AE aggro/tap spell is also bread&butter for me. The only time I don't use it is when the group absolutely needs something mezzed. Terror line of spells. Taunt. Classic. Still a fall-back if other abilities are on cooldown and when fighting other tanks for aggro. Ageless Enmity and Veil of Darkness are great for maintaining aggro in a long fight. Voice of Thule (AA aggro buff) as needed. Hate's Attraction: "Get over here!" ability on mobs under 110. This does some aggro to mobs, but does not Taunt the mob OR lock it's aggro to you. Follow it up with something else. My spell lineup (* means spammed in a multi-bind): Spear* Dicho* AE tap (Insidious Denial) Dire tap* Touch tap* Terror* Touch tap (HP boost)* Stance Skin Disease DoT Demand (or Corruption DoT if DPS) Torrent (or Poison DoT if DPS) Tap DoT There are tons of other clickies and abilities, but I think these are the ones I use all the time.
Mortal Coil replaces epic when you get it from a kill shot, for as long as it stays active from getting more kill shots. If Mortal Coil runs out and epic isn't back up, the absolutely go ahead with Leechcurse. The cool down isn't stupid these past years, like it was in past decades. The #4 choice after Coil>Epic>Leechcurse is CoA bp click Leeching Embrace. You should have some version of this effect up constantly. Tap dot Bond of Xalgoz "stacks" in that you can benefit from many at once. You get hp back for each mob you have tap dotted. Forceful Rejuvenation AA gets you a third instant-ish full hp refill. Leech Touch, 1stSpire+Dicho, rejuv > Dicho again!
Awesome tips! I think the main reason Leechcurse is collecting dust in my lineup is because of it's conflicts with the other discs. I do use the CoA clicky though
I really wish there was a self only version of voice of Thule. I hate having to target myself each time I cast it.
Hah me too! I do find it nice to be able to cast on another tank that is having aggro trouble, but I can't tell you how many times I wasted it on my damn pet!
There is, it's part of the Touch of Hemofax Recourse. Voice of Thule AA is just to put on Paladins in raids, you can remove the hotbutton if you're only grouping.
I'm learning so much from this thread That's way cool, and it looks like it stacks with Voice, too? One more reason to love that HP Tap spell line. I personally haven't used Voice in a long time, but I remember it being useful when I was less geared (less DPS means less aggro).
Some good advice here, but I always keep Harmonious Disruption up. Also use Xalgoz Bite on refresh for caster buddies. I dont mem dots unless I am solo. As far as my disc rotation. 1. guardian 2. mantle (usually never goes past this point) 3. impudent 4. leechcurse I save deflection for emergencies.
I haven't used the Bite spell in a long time due to it's lower DPS, but maybe I'll try it out. The AA is on my spam multi-bind though. I like Harmonious Disruption, as long as YOU are going to be tanking all the adds that you will aggro. I've taken it out because of raiding (unintentional AE taunts are rarely good on raids) and also while doing progression. It's great when you're trying to fight everything around you, swarming, etc. But it's not very subtle and it kept getting me killed when I was trying to sneak around
I often get 50k+ crits off the Focused Bites AA trigger for spell version of Bite - I prefer it over a dot that locks out my spellbar for 3sec. I like to think of it as a mini lifetap that helps replenish group/merc hp/mana and does decent damage when it triggers the Focused Bites AA. The spell version is a bit slow to cast at 1.5 sec and is sometimes interrupted but I use it as part of my spam key.
There is a good bit more aside from discs you can be using to help with survivability and damage. Shadowknights also have a spell and melee based burn set to help you reach that four minutes (or make it even quicker!). Before pulling, activate scourge skin and reinforced malaise if you plan to use any dots (even bond). Pull, hit deflection so you have time to get your spell or melee groove going : Spell based : As deflection is running, activate visage of decay, gift of the quick spear, and first spire. As deflection wears off, I typically run unholy guardian with my spell burns. Do not stop casting while you have these running. For maximum damage in this phase I will usually cast spear dicho dire spear (forcefulrejuv aa) spear dicho harm touch thought leech and leech touch, then continue smashing spear and spamming lifetaps. Melee based : As deflection is running, I click visage of death and use tyvls resolve. When deflection is about to fade, I click my epic then and will then run mantle (or carapace, if it is up, but I usually keep that on cool down) I swap to two hander and hit carmine blade lacerating blade then rancor. You can start with either of these, obviously on named that silence you will most likely want to go melee route and pre-click epic/visage for powerful leech before engaging. Just remember visage of decay/death don't stack. Regarding some other tips people have given : I personally never mess with any spire aside from first. Second only added a negligible amount of damage (was 10...a straightforward 10 extra damage on each swing for rank 3, maybe 100 for rank 4). You get the most bang for your button with first spire. Using it with unholy aura is good to help survive, but pair it with visage of decay and quick spear as much as possible. Decay will improve all of your direct damage spells, unholy aura only the lifetaps. You can run them at the same time, but the benefits don't accumulate on lifetaps, and they both give about the same increase. The CoA bp and even blood drinker coating are somewhat useful when you don't have leech running. I make it my goal in the group game to get kill shots to maintain MC. Eventually, when you do get the hastened aa for leechcurse, don't be afraid to use it...It refreshes more than once a week now. When you have multiple mobs and you are not mezzing, bond is your friend. Lastly, I don't 'save' any discs or abilities, rather I plan what I am going to do around my timers. Once you get the hang of the class, trust me in that you won't need much to survive most named aside from chain tapping and a little leeching. Communicate with the group about their burn timers, stretch your boundaries and see how many mobs you can pull and survive with burns going, then do it again.
I prefer to time spurns when i have time (Often i will just spam it too though, if i need to focus attention elsewhere) I like to use it after a spike, rather than before. Although that = less total damage prevented, the timing just helps me to stay alive, depending on where my hp is at after that first spike, is when i start thinking about my next cast, will it be a slow lifetap, will it be a fast big lifetap, will i hit a disc with my lifetap, will i hit spurn. Others have mentioned to use leechcurse already (it has a much faster re-use timer than in the past) Reavers bargain is one of our best tanking abilities. You want to combine your spell burn with it if possible. Your bite AA will restore alot of mana under the spell burn to help mitigate the drain of reavers bargain. Right before you reach too low mana/end that the disc will suck you dry, hit thought leech, and hope for a crit (with spell burns running, you have a good chance of it critting to restore you to 100% mana). You might want to time your spell burns for after a minute into reavers bargain so your spell burns will still be up when it fades, allowing you to tap back up regardless of whether reavers bargain got you low enough to perform the big drain. [/quote] If those spells are all in the same multibind, you aren't allowing yourself a button that guarantees a lifetap cast, which imo is very helpful ( i use a lifetap multibind, but more of an assistant) but I can imagine any multibind being servicable if the user is manually casting many of the spells in the bind deliberatly as required. Many players will stick the big lifetaps at the front of their bind, as though they are playing a dps class. When full dps mode without a care for survivability, sure, that would be right, but having the biggest taps available at the back or even not in the bind will allow you more survivability. The big taps will be up more often when you actually need them. Casting lifetaps can be spammed without thought, but even better is to react to the incoming damage and only cast the big tap 'if required'. That said, often i know that the dichotomic timer will be back up before I actually need it and so i will just blow it for dps purposes. I generally try to tank enough things that to afk for 2 seconds or type a message to somebody = 50% chance i'm dead, i like having to react to the spikes. This might be coming from a different playstyle though. This is how a good SK will play when they have grown comfortable enough with the class. During each fight, while trying to survive, they will be thinking about their next pull already, and what discs are available/if group burns are up/are cleric heal burns up etc. Because the combination of these factors will determine our 'mob limit' for the next pull. You can set your pet to taunt the last 1-3 mobs (3 if you have a real cleric that is expecting to heal your pet occasionally, has DI on him etc) and then run off to gather your next pull.
I'd like to add --- Do NOT use your RoS BP clicky (raid bp is still bugged; unsure about the group bp).
