Has anybody played Paladin and/or Shadowknight?

codexia

I finally got my account working again (thanks if you posted in my other thread to help, it did) and now I need to pick my race/class.  So I have questions...since i've only ever played a wood elf monk, and I want something new.

Paladin and Shadowknight, how are they?  I've been looking through the class guides on various sites, and so far...seems like Paladin would be 1h/shield standing in the way of enemies, healing/buffing, and not doing a half bad job of it, occasionaly smacking somebody around with his spells.

Shadowknight seems more like a 2h user thats putting out as much damage per second as they can between a massive weapon and spells.

Sounds about right to me, but some more detailed info would be nice from people who have actually played them.  My other question...is it possable to be an Elf for either of them?  I know it's possable, what I mean is, is it playable?  Lower strength and con means they die easier, so I know it would be harder, just, is it doable?  Can they still wear heavy armor, for example, since their weight limit will be less with less strength?  Can they still do respectable damage or take any?  Dunno, it's why i'm asking.

Anyway, thanks ^_^

Nihilanth

I have a 51 Paladin and I know many high level Shadowknights.

Pre-revamp Paladins were almost useless in many group/raid situations as a tank. Now, however, I am very pleased to say that Paladins are much better tanks than we used to be. We don't do much damage at all, but we can take a beating and keep agro. We can also heal/ward fairly well, although obviously nowhere near as well as an actual Priest. You are right, when a Paladin (or anyone for that matter) tanks he should use a 1Her and a shield. Paladins and Shadowknights can only use kite shields, not tower shields (which are reserved for Guardians and Berserkers only).

You are semi-right on Shadowknights. Although yes, Shadowknights do better damage than Paladins, that is not their main focus. (The class that IS half tank/half dps is a Berserker) As with Paladins, a Shadowknight's primary role is tank. They can tank just as well as Paladins. In place of heals they have things like life taps.

The difference between how Guardians and Berserkers, and Paladins and Shadowknights tank is this:

Guardians take the best physical (eg crushing, peircing, slashing) damage of the tanks. They also have the best group and self defensive buffs of the tank classes. They also do the worst damage.

Berserkers do by far the most damage of the tank classes, and techincally their strong point is also against physical damage. However, because of their high damage, they give up a small amount of mitigation and the defensive buffs that a Guardian has.

Paladins do SLIGHTLY more damage the Guardians do (at least after the revamp, we used to do a lot more - but Im fine with the change). We take the most archane damage of the tanks (divine, poison, magic, mental, heat, ice....etc.). We also (as stated) have heals and wards to help oursleves and the group. A nice new feature since revamp, we also do more damage and help the whole group do more damage against undead mobs.

Shadowknights are the second most damage heavy class of the tanks. They have life taps and deal a good amount of poison and disease damage, and they take almost as archane damage as Paladins. They also have a variety of group buffs.

NOTE: all these are baseline facts. Depending on player advancement choices and equipment, some stats may vary.

As for whether or not an elf could tank. The answer is absolutely yes. I know many elf tanks myself and most are very good tanks. Yes they can wear heavy armor (its your class that determines what you can wear, not your race). Also, strength doesnt determine how fast you go down in any way. Theres a lot of things that do, but str is not one of them.

Hope that helps!

codexia

Thanks, that did help, a lot.  Now I just have to decide *sighs*  I'm really a good player (meaning I prefer good races/class types...not that i'm good, lol) but Dark Paladin's have been my thing forever =/ Decissions decissions...

Jodokai

I typically play scouts and mages, but where does monk fall into the DPS/Tank roll? Do Bezerkers do more damage than monks, or were you not counting monk as a Tank?

Diernes

Nihilanth posted some good information, but not all of it is entirely correct. The bruiser class is the real tank/dps class doing much more damage than the bezerker or shadowknight class (which are about even in my experience since the revamp). In fact some say bruisers are the new uber tank replacing guardians. but I wont go into that here.

 

Best way to look at the crusader classes is this;

 

Paladin ='s Defensive tank with defensive arcane skills including wards and heals

Shadowknight ='s Defensive tank with offensive arcane casting skills including lifetaps

 

Each one of the tank classes excel at taking a specific type of damage none of the others do. Shadowknight is best vs disease, Paladine is best vs Divine for example.

 

Other than that I would say Paladins are possiblly a better choice for large groups and raids, while the shadowknight excels in Solo or small groups and PVP.

 

I play a high level Shadowknight in EQ2 and I played one in EQ1 as well. There used to be an old saying which I think apply's very much in EQ2 as well.

 

" if you need to ask which Knight to play, you need to go roll a Paladin."

 

The Shadowknight takes a certain type of player (read evil) to enjoy.