Q&A w/ The Dread Knight Class Lead

[Xaices]

Originally Posted by Arameus

This is great info!

After reading through how DC works, I do have a few more questions:

1. Do DC effects from multiple DKs stack? i.e. Double the bonus with 2 DKs in the group?

2. Do DC effects pass to players not in the DKs group (thinking multi-group raids here - will the raid need one DK for everyone to gain the DC benefits, or one per group?)

Thanks again, this is great!

1. There has been some discussion at sigil about exactly that how ever I am unaware if it will be implimented.

2. Currently I believe it is contained with in the grp. It depends on how they set up the raid component. Currently there is not a raid ui so I am assuming this has yet to be implemented in game, may even still be in development.

[Xaices]

Originally Posted by Blood_Raven

Have a question about start-game. Do the early skills/spells are they bought like WoW in the early, or are they like EQII when you lvl you just automatically get the skill/spell? Thanks!

Much love

Raven

Your base skill sets are purchased at a trainer.

You do not automaticaly learn your abilities.

Not implimented in game yet, you will be able to learn specific abilities for your class from certain mobs. You will be required to fight these mobs untill you learn the ability should you want to.

There will be quested abilities in game. Again not implimented in beta. You will be able to discover new abilities through questing.

[Xaices]

I see a lot of discussion about one tank or another who is the best. I ask that you start another thread someplace else on that topic.

This threads intent is to answer Dread Knight specific questions not to compare different tanks. I understand that is a consern how ever if I let it go this thread will become out of control with who is the better tank posts. If that occures I simply will stop replying to this thread as I would like it to stay Q&A focused on specificaly the Dread Knight.

If you start a thread about it feel free to link it here. But I ask you do not derail this thread with rooster comparisons.

thanks

[Xaices]

Originally Posted by TeamSKKeris

1. What are your comments on our symbols... which are more useful in which situations, do they scale well, etc.

2. How does mob damage stack up at higher levels? I know that level 10 4-dot mobs do around 260 dmg per hit in offensive stance without a shield.

3. IIRC both Paladins and Warriors get group enhancing abilities, but I am pretty sure, other than DC, DRKs get none. Since DC doesn't stack what is the point of having multiple DRKs on a raid other than as off-tanks and DPS?

Is DRK going to be regulated to a low priority group/guild class? ..because there are a lot of them on the Beta servers. The big deal is I've played unwanted classes in both EQ (Mage) and WoW (Rogue). At the end of the day I loved both classes, but hated that I could never get groups, etc. I do not want to go through that again with another game.

1. Symbols are very good and you have one for different uses. Symbol of Dispair chance to stun and obsorbs dmg this is you defensive ability. Symbol of Wrath this is probably more suited for the off tank roll as it raises your dmg tho you could switch back and forth to raise dmg momentarly to gane some hate. Symbol of Suffering this is your inbetween shield IMO not the best in either case but is a decent one to have up while fighting average mobs to get the added dmg. THis ability has slightly underpowered atm realisticaly you would use this against melee mobs and would get more dps our of it from the dmg shield than wrath.

2. mobs our yours?, well I think you ment yours.Aat lvl 40 I normal hit for high 200, low 300's with 1h some thims up to 600. I crit from 2k to 4k with wrack ruin vile strike anguish.

3. Lets see grp benifits we have 1 grp benifit how ever it does multiple things. DC raises crit chance and in a game thats combat system is based on critical strikes that is a very important one. Also we raise spritiual dmg. Also we reduce the resistances of the mob so every one in grp hits the mob harder. DC may stack in the future its been discussed. Even with out it, it would still prove viable because if one Dread Went down and his debuffs removed it could prove costly. We have seen indication of this, you realy do not know how important your debuffs are to the raid untill you witness it first hand. I died in a raid it almost double the amount of dmg tanks were taking because my debuffs were not on the mob. So having multiple is a very good idea.

4. The DK succes of you as a player playing a DK to be more than just a grp/guild tank is totaly in your hands. If you understand the class, know how to efficiently and effectiivly maximize your abilities in any given situation you will prove to be more than an asset to any grp as an MT reguardless of what content you are up against. Believe me you have some abilities that some may see as OP'd at end game they are insane, so if you are worried about end game do not be.

[Xaices]

I wanted to post something to inform you all about some crucial abilities that you might want to always use.

Provoke the hate may seem small in comparison to melee attacks but its added hate. If you are choosing between Wrack Ruin and Provoke go for Wrack Ruin the add provoke on top of it.

Torture hate over time, keep this on the mob, watch for it to drop and put it right back on.

Always debuff, be kind to your healers, give them a break and debuff that mob. It saves you some pain as well, and it buffs you.

Dark Ward absorbs 25% of incoming dmg for so many attacks. You be the judge on this one, if you are killing trash mobs probably not a something you need to waiste energy on. If the mobs are doing a fair amount of dmg use it wisely, watch the mob if you see the count down timer next to the mobs con window It is probably a good time to use it as you are usualy going to take a big hit. Also if you notice the mob stop fighting and is taking a long time to cast something USE IT. The long cast time on a mob is an indicator for a powerfull spell. Saver your self some dmg.

Use your symbols wisely, if you are taking a little more dmg than you would like use Symbol of dispair. If you feel like raising your weapon dmg use wrath, if you are up against a melee mob through up Suffering for more dmg. Watch your Energy pool, turn off the Symbol when you judge that you are to low and save it for Shadow Step/harrow, Cull, or Dark Ward.

Shield of Fear / Dark Bastion line, if you have these and they become available and you are in the MT roll, use them every time they come available. If it becomes available at DC 0 use them. No need to use them twice in the same DC level unless the timer is running low. Once you gain a DC level use them again and gain more defence. Dark Bastion III has one of the best AC buffs in game, it raises your AC 150 per DC level starting at DC 0. You do the math DC 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Incite / Inflame chain. I always switch between this chain and the wrack ruin chain and I hold agro. This chain is a very good one to establish hate and force the mob on you.

The End Game goodies: Incarnates -

Shadow Incarnate maximizes your DC. Simply put an ability that sets you at DC 5, Instantly. 20 min reuse

Hatred Incarnate increases your dmg by 50% lowers endo costs by 75% for 30 seconds. 2 hr reuse.

Incarnate of Hate deals a substantial amount of dmg over time, adds hate every 4 seconds for 60 seconds. That hate is just about a taunt each tic.

Bane think of bane as a nuclear bomb. Because this is such a powerful dmg spell, it has a draw back it consumes all your DC setting DC back to 0. You be the judge when to use it. My recomendation is to build up DC natuarly by Vexing Strike Ravending Darkness Deadfull Visage etc. Once at DC 5 unload bane on them then hit Shadow incarnate and be right back at DC 5.

Look over your abilities. Look at what they do. Look at their costs, their reuse timer etc, look at what benifit they are to you and your party. Gain the knowledge and put it to use.

V/r

[Blood_Raven]

Not implimented in game yet, you will be able to learn specific abilities for your class from certain mobs. You will be required to fight these mobs untill you learn the ability should you want to.

I may be slow...but I dont understand how that works...will there be a bar you see, that you have to fight certain mobs to get certain skills...if so...how long? how hard of mobs? and would the skills be worth the arduous hunt of specific mobs??

Much love

Raven

[Lightning]

Not sure about any kind of UI feedback, but in beta 2 you would get a bar that gradually progressed to your learning the ability and yes, by level 10 or so one of my best abilities were learnt.

[Eclipse]

It's going to be really interesting to hear the rumors for which mobs each class should go learn from, haha...As a Tank, I will be looking for the heavy-fighter-type mobs the most to see if I can learn some tanking abilities.


Ok Xaices, I apologize for hinting about having you state your opinion about tank vs tank...wasn't my intention, but I agree this is not the right place. I do have one more question, and once again - if this is not the right place, that's ok, and I will ask somewhere else.

You have the ability to set your attributes however you wish, so I felt like asking you this question:

Having tested each Tank lightly, I've started to seriously wonder if the "well-known and agreed upon/set in stone" attributes really were the most important ones to take. I think all defensive fighters will want to focus on Dex and Str (opinion), but going further: As a Paladin, I found I would want a great deal of VIT. As a Warrior, without spells or need for a large pool of mana...and without heals of any kind, I decided I would want to grab a lot of CON. As a Dreadknight however, with all of the actual "spells" we cast, I have really wondered what our 'third' attribute should be focused in.

All that long-windedness brings me to:

In your opinion, would a DEX/STR/INT template be a viable option for us? Leaving out most CON/WIS and VIT entirely. I've been wanting to ask this/test this for a while...so do you think INT can help us if we pour a lot of points into it? Personally, I would like to have the option of dealing great damage with our melee chains, as well as dealing great amounts of damage with our spells. I heard that with no INT raise, Lifetaps and spiritual spells + DOOMs did not do a lot of damage...I wanted to fix that.

(I'm sorry this post is too long)

If you would rather pass this one up, I'm ok with that - it is rather tedious.

-Eclipse

[BigGino]

why does evryone i read say dex in general for DK? Im still not really sure what the different stats do.

[Eclipse]

Tossed you a PM BigGino. Figured unless it was asked for to be posted in the Q&A, it would be better to leave it off for now.

-Eclipse