So a level 88 warrior outperforms a 87 shadow knightFollow

U play an SK before making this heroic character? If not, a heroic SK played for 2 levels... that means you haven't mastered SK skills and abilities. The 88 warrior, if he leveled up from 1, and has the nice gear he stated, no surprise he can out-agro you. Warriors have excellent abilities to acquire and hold the mob's attention. In fact, that and damage-taking are their specialties. SK's are very good at holding agro for multiple mobs, something warriors can do but generally not as well. But for a single mob I'd be surprised if a warrior would not ALWAYS out-agro an SK of comparable level, equipment and experience.

If you enjoy playing your heroic SK I would not recommend dropping it over this instance. SK's are much better soloers and have MUCH more survivability than warriors. SKs have a LOT of selling points, IMO.

It's one of the negatives to the heroic characters. There's just so much you learn about playing a character along the way that you will struggle with if you start at level 85. Even if you know what the abilities do, there's just a world of difference between knowing this mentally, and having the muscle memory (so to speak) of using them automatically in various situations, and having gradually adjusted which abilities to use in which situations as well.

I'll second the idea that you stick with the SK. If you shift to a warrior, you'll find you run into the same problem. Ultimately, you just can't replace player experience and practice. Just keep playing the SK, and learning how and when to best use your abilities, and it'll come to you. Right now, you're just a couple levels in. Give it time, and you'll find yourself handling situations easily that you are struggling with today. As mentioned, SKs have a ton of neat abilities that cover a much wider spectrum than warriors do. This means you have fewer tools for any one job, but more jobs you can handle, and sometimes you'll find "creative" ways to do things that other classes might not be able to do.

Properly played, an SK is a very powerful character.


http://www.evilgamer.net/forums/index.php is a wealth of information on SK's. I highly recommend spending a few evenings perusing the forums.


Have fun!

Taunt has become one of those really questionable skills. As a tank class, you really should have it up and ready all the time, and keep it maxed out. The problem is that while it will always put you just at the top of the agro list, it's not 100% (not sure what the chance is, but it absolutely can fail). And, of course, since it just barely places you at the top, you really have to follow it up with some other agro generating ability anyway. Because of this, I rarely use it anymore. I mean, I've got the button there, and I do hit it when agro gets pulled off me (which is rare anyway), but I'm honestly not sure how often it succeeds, or whether it really matters. I have a host of other abilities for generating agro that always work and always generate X agro, which is usually all that's needed. The days of only generating agro with weapon damage, and thus taking quite some time to regain agro if a spellcaster takes it from you are long past. Every tank class has multiple abilities that will generate agro (and some that do just this and nothing else). Taunt was a critical ability to use when melee agro was constant and an ability to jump you to the top to catch up with a sudden spike from a caster was necessary. Today? Not so sure.

The primary benefit today isn't to regain agro by itself, but to increase the agro buffer if/when you lose it. Use taunt first to set yourself at agro+1, then follow with an agro ability to push yourself higher. That's going to increase the amount you are ahead agro-wise. Again though, since you can't count on taunt working, you can't count on this math working either. So you're going to use a big whopping agro ability anyway, and assume that has to be enough. Dunno. I just find that it doesn't affect my play much either way. Still have it loaded and use it, but I'm not really sure how much it would impact my tanking ability if it didn't exist.

All good points. Taunt is but one tool among many available to a tank. The point I made that is the most important is that no way does Taunt re-set agro. That would be so counter-productive! It would be the melee equivalent of the enchanter's mind-wipe spell and that's a very dangerous spell to be cast during a fight!

At your level, you shouldn't have a problem with aggro vs a Warrior - but you will - and you just hit the DPS imbalance due to proficiencies.

You are about to hit a level range where SK terror spells ( your aggro spells ) are nerfed by omission compared to Warriors, whom will exceed you in initial aggro until level 100, when you can purchase the 3rd rank of Voice of Thule AA, a 72% aggro buff ( that was the dev's answer to the prior aggro nerf ). Even with the AA buff on post 100, there are ways a Warrior can generate more single target hate than an SK, at least initially. It is true SKs use to 'own' aggro a while back, but not like 'that' any more. C'est la vie.

DPS-wise, iirc, the proficiencies are available to Warriors at level 85, which is why you are getting out-DPSed. Prior to proficiencies, SK melee dps trailed Warrior melee dps slightly and the combination of procs, pet, spells, etc could potentially double it up (though at certain level ranges, spells were lacking). Now, even at 105, a Warrior with the same level, gear, AAs, buffs, etc can do two times the melee dps of an SK or more when both are using a 2her and the Warrior is using his proficiency. Using 7 DoTs, a spear, pet, and procs, an SK may equal them. This issue has not been resolved to date.

If you want to keep playing the SK - which is still a fun class, mind you, just currently in the weakest state it has ever been in dps-wise, respectively, plus a few other issues I won't get into here - you should change how you approach aggro. For one, your DoTs aren't your aggro spells - your Terrors / Challenge line are. Spear can be good aggro but the only DoT worth considering is the disease DoT line. On incoming, if up, use your Hate's Attraction AA followed by your best Terror, then your AA snare ( free while waiting on your spell casting timer ), then your second best Terror. Once in camp, work in your best spear plus your AE hate AAs if the situation allows and continue to cycle Terrors & your Challenge line ( aggro over time with AC recourse ) as needed. Until you get your Voice of Thule AA maxed, you probably won't have much time for a DPS spell other than a spear but once you do, you can weave in DoTs, taps, etc when aggro is 'good enough'.

That's a crash course on SKs in the game today - visit EGN for more info if you like. As with any class, careful who you listen to; there are always those that think their class should death touch but perhaps even more dangerous are those that always think their class is overpowered (these are typically trolls or folks who cut themselves in their mom's basement) - both types are delusional and sadly represented on EGN among the many good posters. Oh and wear a flamesuit - folks aren't polite on that board. ;)