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Question - SK getting eaten (1 Viewer)

Cluelessone

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
RedCents
428¢
I have a Gold 105 SK that seems to have the tanking ability of a soggy noodle. He has 105K HP, 2832 AC and 1872 ATK and is getting eaten by light blue named and dark blue unnamed with a Cleric AND a merc healer.

He did pretty good until level 100 or so but now he just gets owned more and more, scorched woods blues killed him about 25% of the time.

Any advice? He has over 13,000 AAs and I bought all the highest level gear from the auction house to get him where he is now, do I need to be farming something?
 
Do you have a full set of HDex type 5 augs? Also those stats sound really low for a 105 sk. What gear are you using? Do you have HDex/ac augs in your type 7 slots? Have you maxed your Combat Agility, Combat Stability, Physical Enhancement, Shield Block AA? If you are getting raped by those mobs try killing in TDS or TBM zones (they hit for less)
 
that is real low, u should have close to double ur ac (if augged correctly) in eok gear, as a trick u can use the tbm t3 rings and ears over anything new barring a ultrarare from eok
 
Yeah, totally agree with Elta and da Man above. EoK tanking was where I found myself obsessing about AC, AC, and where can I get more AC...

I tried to take my SK from Darkened Sea (wearing TDS T2 armor) straight to Lcea and do EoK T1 named. I got wrecked. Even bad trash pulls would spike him down. I had to backtrack and buy the SK some Broken Mirror AC gear from the vendors. As da Man noted, some of the TBM jewelry can be aug'd in such a way that is is insanely high AC, even better than EoK drops for AC alone.

I'd suggest you just grind your SK to 106 in easier content and buy a Conflagrant set including augs. I was PL'n another tank later and did this, it made EoK T1 pretty easy.

Maskoi's AC aug post.

Are you still using roughly this 100 SK ini you posted?

I had to up my KA defensive disc use + lifetap heals when I moved to EoK too. My TDS SK ini was very simple, for early EoK I was using everything I had almost on cooldown.

I used Vizat's Carapace on 3+ trash pulls since I has a nice duration and fast cooldown. Doomscale Mantle was my default Named tanking disc, once the minute wore off I'd pop Vizat's Carapace or Unholy Guardian. Reaver's Bargain is nice too, but I'd use it manually since I wanted to always follow it with Tought Leech when my endurance ran out. You could maybe do that via condition now.

EoK 105 SK Heal/AE/Burn section:
Rich (BB code):
[Heals]
Help=Format Spell|% to heal at i.e. Devout Light Rk. II|50
HealsOn=1
Heals1=Repel|60|Tap
Heals2=Doomscale Mantle|15|Tap
Heals3=Dire Declaration|40|Tap
Heals4=NULL
Heals5=Fundament: Third Spire of the Reaver|35|Tap
Heals6=Leech Touch|25|Tap
Heals7=Deflection Discipline|20|Tap
Heals8=Touch of Holmein|50|Tap
Heals9=Touch of Lutzen|85|Tap
Heals10=Dichotomic Fang|30|Tap
Heals11=Dire Declaration|45|Tap
Heals12=NULL
XTarHeal=0
HealGroupPetsOn=0
HealsSize=12
XTarHeal2=0
HealsCOn=0
AutoRezOn=0
AutoRezWith=Your Rez Item/AA/Spell

[AE]
AEOn=1
AERadius=50
AESize=3
AECOn=0
AE1=Vizat's Carapace|3
AE2=Explosion of Spite|2
AE3=Explosion of Hatred|4

[Burn]
BurnText=CookCook
BurnAllNamed=1
Burn1=Doomscale Mantle
Burn2=Unflinching Acrimony 
Burn3=Innoruuk's Dark Blessing
Burn4=Fundament: Third Spire of the Reavers
Burn5=Castaway Breastplate of the Revenant
Burn6=Visage of Death
Burn7=Crimson Blade
Burn8=Reinforced Malaise
Burn9=Chattering Bones
Burn10=...Reaver's Bargain
Burn11=Projection of Doom
UseTribute=0
BurnSize=11
BurnCOn=0
 
Do you have a full set of HDex type 5 augs? Also those stats sound really low for a 105 sk. What gear are you using? Do you have HDex/ac augs in your type 7 slots? Have you maxed your Combat Agility, Combat Stability, Physical Enhancement, Shield Block AA? If you are getting raped by those mobs try killing in TDS or TBM zones (they hit for less)

I haven't done much with gear except buy the best stuff I can from the bazaar and I haven't been buying Augs yet due to the level thing, once I hit 110 I was thinking of grinding gear. Grinding for gear at 105 and then again at 110 doesn't make sense to me.

I do have all my devensive AAs, being Gold gave me over 13,000 AA points in AAs.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, totally agree with Elta and da Man above. EoK tanking was where I found myself obsessing about AC, AC, and where can I get more AC...

I tried to take my SK from Darkened Sea (wearing TDS T2 armor) straight to Lcea and do EoK T1 named. I got wrecked. Even bad trash pulls would spike him down. I had to backtrack and buy the SK some Broken Mirror AC gear from the vendors. As da Man noted, some of the TBM jewelry can be aug'd in such a way that is is insanely high AC, even better than EoK drops for AC alone.

I'd suggest you just grind your SK to 106 in easier content and buy a Conflagrant set including augs. I was PL'n another tank later and did this, it made EoK T1 pretty easy.

Maskoi's AC aug post.

Are you still using roughly this 100 SK ini you posted?

I had to up my KA defensive disc use + lifetap heals when I moved to EoK too. My TDS SK ini was very simple, for early EoK I was using everything I had almost on cooldown.

I used Vizat's Carapace on 3+ trash pulls since I has a nice duration and fast cooldown. Doomscale Mantle was my default Named tanking disc, once the minute wore off I'd pop Vizat's Carapace or Unholy Guardian. Reaver's Bargain is nice too, but I'd use it manually since I wanted to always follow it with Tought Leech when my endurance ran out. You could maybe do that via condition now.

EoK 105 SK Heal/AE/Burn section:
Rich (BB code):
[Heals]
Help=Format Spell|% to heal at i.e. Devout Light Rk. II|50
HealsOn=1
Heals1=Repel|60|Tap
Heals2=Doomscale Mantle|15|Tap
Heals3=Dire Declaration|40|Tap
Heals4=NULL
Heals5=Fundament: Third Spire of the Reaver|35|Tap
Heals6=Leech Touch|25|Tap
Heals7=Deflection Discipline|20|Tap
Heals8=Touch of Holmein|50|Tap
Heals9=Touch of Lutzen|85|Tap
Heals10=Dichotomic Fang|30|Tap
Heals11=Dire Declaration|45|Tap
Heals12=NULL
XTarHeal=0
HealGroupPetsOn=0
HealsSize=12
XTarHeal2=0
HealsCOn=0
AutoRezOn=0
AutoRezWith=Your Rez Item/AA/Spell

[AE]
AEOn=1
AERadius=50
AESize=3
AECOn=0
AE1=Vizat's Carapace|3
AE2=Explosion of Spite|2
AE3=Explosion of Hatred|4

[Burn]
BurnText=CookCook
BurnAllNamed=1
Burn1=Doomscale Mantle
Burn2=Unflinching Acrimony 
Burn3=Innoruuk's Dark Blessing
Burn4=Fundament: Third Spire of the Reavers
Burn5=Castaway Breastplate of the Revenant
Burn6=Visage of Death
Burn7=Crimson Blade
Burn8=Reinforced Malaise
Burn9=Chattering Bones
Burn10=...Reaver's Bargain
Burn11=Projection of Doom
UseTribute=0
BurnSize=11
BurnCOn=0

Thanks much for all the information, yes I am using basically the 100 INI I posted but with 105 spells and discs. I have a question, what is your memorized spell line up? I am having an issue fitting all these spells in, here is my current line up:
Rich (BB code):
Gem1=Bond of Bonemaw
Gem2=Impose for Power
Gem3=Dire Strangulation
Gem4=Dire Declaration
Gem5=Terror of Narus
Gem6=Touch of Holmein
Gem7=Touch of Lutzen
Gem8=Bonemaw's Bite
Gem9=Dichotomic Fang
Gem10=Vizat's Skin
Gem11=Staunch Stance
Gem12=NULL
 
Unfortunately I didn't save my 105 spell setup, but I'll try to recreate it.

You should add Torrent of Misery to your spellset and to your DPS rotation. That is a group AC tap where the recourse AC buff your group gets lasts 10 or 12 minutes. When you use it, make sure you go to all your pet classes and block the recourse buff in their pet window, it will overwrite most classes pet hastes since it is better AC and then the pet owner will spam their pet buff.

Your set looks very similar otherwise. You've got the SK core which is all your lifetaps, your two aggro spells, + Skin/Stance on permanent slots. Add Torrent and you have one DPS slot to play with. I went with the poison DD, Spear of Vizat. It's some more DPS, has a type 3 aug boost in Katta, AA boost and can be used early in DPS to get more aggro.

Strangulation is a good choice too. The AC debuff is some aggro. Once I had 13 slots I added it as my 13th spell.

I'd move your choice of DPS to 12 (miscgem slot) and you can set KA to put it back if it mems a buff. That way if it's missing, you are just out a little DPS until you notice:
Rich (BB code):
MiscGem=12
MiscGemRemem=1

And that would be my 105 set I think. Everything else I was using is either an AA, item or a disc/combat ability.
Rich (BB code):
Gem1=Bond of Bonemaw
Gem2=Impose for Power
Gem3=Dire Declaration
Gem4=Torrent of Misery
Gem5=Terror of Narus
Gem6=Touch of Holmein
Gem7=Touch of Lutzen
Gem8=Bonemaw's Bite
Gem9=Dichotomic Fang
Gem10=Vizat's Skin
Gem11=Staunch Stance
Gem12=Dire Strangulation or Spear of Vizat

Yeah and if you can afford the Conflagrant gear at 106, just buy that. It's better than even the RoS tier 1 drops, so you'll use it for quite awhile.
 
I haven't done much with gear except buy the best stuff I can from the bazaar and I haven't been buying Augs yet due to the level thing, once I hit 110 I was thinking of grinding gear. Grinding for gear at 105 and then again at 110 doesn't make sense to me.

I do have all my devensive AAs, being Gold gave me over 13,000 AA points in AAs.
What gear have you bought from the Bazaar? Most of the stuff I can think of would be getting you absolutely devoured in EOK zones (see castaway style armor ~2700 hp per slot). At a minimum get your tank TBM gear to hold him until he dings 106, as soon as you do drop conflagrant into every slot and don't worry about gear for the rest of the year unless you plan to stay gold then work on acquiring T2 EOK/T1 ROS and T2 ROS visibles to make that armor chain. Then hold out for T2 ROS non-visibles to replace the conflagrant. Regarding Augments: Most augments CANNOT be bought in the bazaar you will need to go camp these yourself.

Have you bought all of the 101+ versions? Autogrant only gives you through COTF so there would be a ton of ranks of defensives from TDS/TBM/EOK that you would still need to buy and wouldn't be autogranted.
 
What gear have you bought from the Bazaar? Most of the stuff I can think of would be getting you absolutely devoured in EOK zones (see castaway style armor ~2700 hp per slot). At a minimum get your tank TBM gear to hold him until he dings 106, as soon as you do drop conflagrant into every slot and don't worry about gear for the rest of the year unless you plan to stay gold then work on acquiring T2 EOK/T1 ROS and T2 ROS visibles to make that armor chain. Then hold out for T2 ROS non-visibles to replace the conflagrant. Regarding Augments: Most augments CANNOT be bought in the bazaar you will need to go camp these yourself.

Have you bought all of the 101+ versions? Autogrant only gives you through COTF so there would be a ton of ranks of defensives from TDS/TBM/EOK that you would still need to buy and wouldn't be autogranted.

I have 86 AA saved and was planning on pushing through levels until 110, then work on more AAs and equipment, My thought is I don't want to waste a whole lot of time camping stuff that I will just be upgrading in a few levels, I do have limited funds (about a million plat or so for three toons) and am saving all I get in drops for upgrades when I hit 110.

I looked through the AAs that I am missing and don't notice a lot of defensive ones left. I may be overlooking them as there is a lot of garbage AAs to sort through. Once again my thoughts were, get to 110, go full bore AA xp while I camp equipment.
 
grind aa's prior to 110 as it gets harder once there specially if not geared. While leveling in EoK I would be camping what ever t2 armor you can to use once at 105 and the armor is free. I am gearing 20 accounts atm 16 accounts are gold and will be eok t2-ros t1-ros t2. the 4 accounts that are not gold will get conflagrant armor which is the best in slot as a free to play. Most of my toons are wearing conflagrant just so it is easier to farm the gear needed.
 
Cluelessone augs man augs augs augs..... u should have at least every slot 44 + ac, that will take u back to rof zones which u could slaughter 6 or 7 augs possibly as many as 10 (im guessing) at 44 ac or better. tbm is a toss up they are 40 ac but hi hp, a few good ones in tds too 50 ac 48 ac couple of those and u can shread that content. i cant stress enuf how much those augs will make of a difference. its like night n day.
 
@Cluelessone augs man augs augs augs..... u should have at least every slot 44 + ac, that will take u back to rof zones which u could slaughter 6 or 7 augs possibly as many as 10 (im guessing) at 44 ac or better. tbm is a toss up they are 40 ac but hi hp, a few good ones in tds too 50 ac 48 ac couple of those and u can shread that content. i cant stress enuf how much those augs will make of a difference. its like night n day.

AC is king. Your AC is way.... too low. You should have a minimum of Conflagrant gear for visible and the conflagrant augs. Look at the top SK's on eq.magelo and get a feel for the augs you should have. Most are ac 45+ (Aig, dex) and are group attainable. The bazaar is not going to make you tank worthy. You need to make a list of augs and some gear (non visible) from EOK at minimum. When your gear and augs are squared away, you need to work on achievements for Hero's (vitality, resolution and Fortitude). My raid geared sk is well over 7K AC. You should be pushing 6k non raid gear if done right.
 
Trying to level a tank to 110 without proper gear/aa is going to be a miserable experience especially once there and less exp for the easier options. At a bare minimum you should be keeping Combat Stability/Combat Agility/Shield Block maxed as you level your tank. There are others but these are the 3 core for an sk.
 
Exp/AA: One more chime in on the exp in EoK/RoS. This issue with grinding to 110 first is the exp in EoK gets very slow after 108. FM is turning light blue and even T2 isn't great. So you'd be wanting to move to RoS zones by 109 and not have all your defensive AA. If you also haven't upgraded your tank's gear that is going to be a short visit to RoS.

There were a few posts earlier in 2018, complaining about slow exp in EoK at upper levels, which convinced me to stop my SK at each level from 106-108 and completely max my AA before moving to the next one. I would at least max your defensive/hp/lifetap AA at each level. At 109 I moved to Overthere and bought the SK almost a full set of Conflagrant (visibles, most non-vis and all the augs.) At 109 with the AA and gear I found RoS trash pulls not too scary. Named were still hectic but it worked.

Conflagrant Gear: Not sure what Live server you play on, but Conflag gear prices have crashed on mine. You should be able to gear the SK in a full set for a Krono's worth of PP, probably even have some left over to buy some pieces for the cler/ench. If that's not the route you want to go I get it. But that armor makes it so you can look away from the screen without expecting to come back to a dead SK.

Cleric: So I forget the other thing I had to do when I moved to EoK was upgrade my cleric's ini. Similar to the SK, I went from a simple TDS ini that just spammed 2-3 heals/DivArb to one that used tons of fast heals and used healing AA on bad pulls via the AE section.

Further, a lot of people had healing issues when they moved to RoS too. Here is a link to eqmule's 110 cleric ini (Jan 2018 version) in a thread about surviving RoS dmg. You'd need the eqmule mod of KA to run it, but you can see how he's handling RoS healing.

Here is my 105 EoK Cleric. It is by no means a great one and doesn't use conditions, but it worked fine for EoK named.

Rich (BB code):
[General]
KissAssistVer=9.2.4
Role=Assist
CampRadius=50
CampRadiusExceed=400
ReturnToCamp=1
ChaseAssist=0
ChaseDistance=40
MedOn=1
MedStart=90
MedCombat=0
LootOn=1
RezAcceptOn=1
AcceptInvitesOn=1
GroupWatchOn=1
EQBCOn=1
MiscGem=12
IRCOn=0
HoTTOn=0
CampfireOn=0
CharInfo=Cleric|105|GOLD
CastingInterruptOn=0
MiscGemRemem=1
DPSMeter=0
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[SpellSet]
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[Buffs]
BuffsOn=1
RebuffOn=1
ChecKBuffsTimer=20
Buffs1=Jungle Raptor Saddle|Mount
Buffs2=Aura of Divinity|Aura|Divinity Effect
Buffs3=Aura of the Reverent|Aura|Reverent Effect
Buffs4=Unified Hand of Surety|dual|Surety
Buffs5=Shining Bulwark|MA
Buffs6=Shared Purity
Buffs7=Greater Ward of Vie|MA
Buffs8=Divine Response
Buffs9=NULL
Buffs10=Anticipated Intercession|MA
Buffs11=Divine Indemnification|MA
Buffs12=Divine Guardian|MA
Buffs13=NULL
Buffs14=NULL
Buffs15=NULL
Buffs16=NULL
Buffs17=Quiet Miracle|Mana|10
Buffs18=Veturika's Perseverance|Mana|50
Buffs19=Wand of Pelagic Transvergence|Mana|60|15
Buffs20=Summoned: Large Modulation Shard|Mana|85|45
PowerSource=NULL
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[Melee]
AssistAt=100
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FaceMobOn=1
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StickHow=loose
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[GoM]
GoMSHelp=Format - Spell|Target, MA Me or Mob, i.e. Rampaging Servant Rk. II|Mob
GoMSpell1=NULL
GoMSpell2=NULL
GoMSpell3=NULL
GoMSize=3

[AE]
AEOn=1
AERadius=50
AE1=Healing Frenzy|3
AE2=Flurry of Life|3
AE3=Celestial Rapidity|3
AE4=Channeling the Divine|4
AE5=Focused Celestial Regeneration|3|MA
AE6=Fundament: Third Spire of Divinity|4|MA
AE7=Celestial Regeneration|3|Me
AE8=NULL
AE9=NULL
AE10=NULL
AESize=10
[DPS]
DPSOn=0
DPSSkip=1
DPSInterval=1
DPS1=NULL
DPS2=NULL
DPS3=NULL
DebuffAllOn=0
DPSSize=3
[Aggro]
AggroOn=1
Aggro1=Sanctuary|90|>
Aggro2=Divine Peace|80|>
Aggro3=NULL
Aggro4=NULL
Aggro5=NULL
AggroSize=5
[Heals]
Help=Format Spell|% to heal at i.e. Devout Light Rk. II|50
HealsOn=1

Heals1=Mystical Intervention|90|MA
Heals2=Undying Life|85|MA
Heals3=Spiritual Remedy|77|MA
Heals4=Fervid Renewal|70|MA
Heals5=Fifteenth Emblem|35|MA

Heals6=Ardent Elixir|75
Heals7=Ardent Light|70
Heals8=Spiritual Remedy|65
Heals9=Mystical Intervention|50
Heals10=Burst of Life|30
Heals11=Bestow Divine Aura Beza|20|!MA

Heals12=Word of Convalescence|80
Heals13=Divine Arbitration|45
Heals14=Divine Fortitude|50|Me
Heals15=Veturika's Perseverance|45|Me
Heals16=Beacon of Life|40|Group

HealsSize=16
AutoRezOn=1
AutoRezWith=Reviviscence
XTarHeal=0
AutoRezOn=1
AutoRezWith=Blessing of Resurrection
HealGroupPetsOn=1
XTarHeal2=0
[Cures]
CuresOn=1
Cures1=Radiant Cure
Cures2=Group Purity of Soul
Cures3=Ward of Purity
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Cures5=NULL
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[Burn]
BurnText=CookCook
BurnAllNamed=1
Burn1=Celestal Rapidity
Burn2=Cohort's Illuminator Breastplate
Burn3=Fundament: Second Spire of Divinity
Burn4=Celestial Regeneration
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Burn6=NULL
Burn7=Healing Frenzy
Burn8=Flurry of Life
Burn9=Channeling the Divine
Burn10=Forceful Rejuvenation
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Burn12=NULL
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Burn14=NULL
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[Pull]
PullWith=Melee
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[AFKTools]
AFKHelp=AFKGMAction=0 Off, 1 Pause Macro, 2 End Macro, 3 Unload MQ2, 4 Quit Game
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AFKPCRadius=150
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ClickBacktoCamp=0
[Merc]
Help=To use: Turn off Auto Assist in Manage Mercenary Window
MercOn=1
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GMailOn=0
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[MySpells]
Gem1=Fervid Renewal
Gem2=Ardent Light
Gem3=Ardent Elixir
Gem4=Mystical Intervention
Gem5=Word of Convalescence
Gem6=Divine Indemnification
Gem7=Reviviscence
Gem8=Fifteenth Emblem
Gem9=Spiritual Remedy
Gem10=Undying Life
Gem11=Shining Bulwark
Gem12=Unified Hand of Surety
 
Thanks to everyone for all the input, I have tried to do everything suggested and was able to grind my way to 106 and get some Conflagrant armor (expensive stuff). Looks like my cleric and enchanter will have to wait for upgrades ;).

Also redoing the INI files on all three toons made a big difference, especially the healing.

So now I am up to 130k HP and 3200 AC, not a lot more but moving in the right direction. :)
 
Your AC and HP both sounds really low....My 106 sk with just conflagrant and type 5 augs is sitting at 4430/2368 and 150.6k hp. My 110 sk with Conflagrant, type 5s and Conflag augs+whatever has dropped along the way is sitting at 4839/2668 with 173.6k hp.

I am going to ask a question, are you using a shield?
 
Your AC and HP both sounds really low....My 106 sk with just conflagrant and type 5 augs is sitting at 4430/2368 and 150.6k hp. My 110 sk with Conflagrant, type 5s and Conflag augs+whatever has dropped along the way is sitting at 4839/2668 with 173.6k hp.

I am going to ask a question, are you using a shield?

I couldn't find/afford a full set of conflagrant but I did get 7 or 8 good pieces including the kite shield.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks to everyone for all the input, I have tried to do everything suggested and was able to grind my way to 106 and get some Conflagrant armor (expensive stuff). Looks like my cleric and enchanter will have to wait for upgrades ;).

Also redoing the INI files on all three toons made a big difference, especially the healing.

So now I am up to 130k HP and 3200 AC, not a lot more but moving in the right direction. :)

Update, spent some time in the lower level EoK zones and did pretty well! Thanks again for all the help folks, the armor and ini file changes seem to be the key. Now I am working on AAs before I hit 110.
 
Epilog: Turns out that equipment is the deciding factor IMHO, staying in one spot with the same equipment and earning over 2000 AAs made almost no difference at all to my ability to tank. Buying the rest of the Conflagrant Armor (except one wrist) made all the difference in the world.

Final assesment, AAs are great for casters but Tanks NEED the best equipment possible with AAs secondary. Oh and I did take level 107 after I tested with full armor upgrades which seems to have had a big impact as well.
 
Last edited:
It's not so much AA for caster are more meaningful, you can see your dps likely has changed very little for your enc...

But with auto grant, the point of diminishing returns hits you smack in the face and you don't know any different.

If you had no auto grant, and started level/AA from scratch you'd see it's worth stopping at 65-70 and farming AA and see huge power gains.
 
It's not so much AA for caster are more meaningful, you can see your dps likely has changed very little for your enc...

But with auto grant, the point of diminishing returns hits you smack in the face and you don't know any different.

If you had no auto grant, and started level/AA from scratch you'd see it's worth stopping at 65-70 and farming AA and see huge power gains.

Actually my enchanter seen noticeable improvements to his damage spells, on chickens and monkeys his level he is hitting for 60k+ DPS, not wizzy class but three or four times what my SK is putting out.

And you may be correct on the diminishing returns on the AAs but I was testing for this level and wanted to know what would have the greatest impact on the survival of a tank at this level.

The best advice I received and wanted to confirm for others that may be asking the same question is; get to 106 and get Conflagrant or better armor in ALL slots first. This will make a night and day difference in your survivability and your DPS. Also go with a shield, it is much better for taking a beating.

If you have auto grant AAs at this level, don't expect much from farming thousands of defensive AAs. I think I am going to hit 110, find the hardest content with good drops and farm AAs there while I look for gear upgrades for my group. I spent my wad and then some just getting the tank armored but it was so worth it!
 
the aa's had more of an impact then you believe. If you have no aa's and tried tanking with conflagrant you would have died just as fast as you were before the conflagrant. Also sk's need offensive aswell as defensive aa's because the whole part of sk tanking is lifetapping back the hp your missing since sk's are not a mitigation tank, neither are paladins, as they function similar to sk's in the fact that they need healing aa's to heal back the damage they take. So you only saw a small decrease in damage intake after some spell damage aa's and crit aa's you can balance more of your spikes out and decrease your need of healing.
 
the aa's had more of an impact then you believe. If you have no aa's and tried tanking with conflagrant you would have died just as fast as you were before the conflagrant. Also sk's need offensive as well as defensive aa's because the whole part of sk tanking is lifetapping back the hp your missing since sk's are not a mitigation tank, neither are paladins, as they function similar to sk's in the fact that they need healing aa's to heal back the damage they take. So you only saw a small decrease in damage intake after some spell damage aa's and crit aa's you can balance more of your spikes out and decrease your need of healing.

Not to disagree but I think you are missing the fact that I did the experiment in such a way as to isolate each of the factors:
  • First I went to a control spot. An area I could do all the tests in without changing the location variable. so all the tests we done in the same spot.
  • Second, I just worked on real XP without actually leveling for a few hours. This set a baseline on performance. ~90 seconds to kill and I had ~3 deaths an hour.
  • Third, I turned off real XP and just worked on AAs for many days and hundreds of hours. I put over 2000 points in every defensive, offensive and lifetap AA I had. Net result still ~90 seconds to kill and 3 deaths per hour.
  • Forth, after getting frustrated with the lack of results with a substantial amount of AAs, I started getting Conflagrant armor on the tank. Once a full set of Conflagant was equipped as well as some augmentation upgrades, I became close to unkillable and my DPS doubled from ~12k dps to ~24k dps. So far I haven't died once, even on long chicken pulls where I get stunned on the way back. I also went from two healers (a merc and a real cleric) to one healer (the cleric) and another DPS merc caster.
  • Fifth, I took level 107 and noticed even more ability to tank (my health almost never gets to half whereas before it was getting down to 25% or less). This allows my cleric to join in on the nuking fun, while he doesn't do a lot of damage, it is better than nothing.

Now I sit with no deaths per hour doing the same spot but adding three named to the rotation and killing almost twice as fast with the addition of the Conflagrant sword, the additional dps merc (no longer a healer) and the cleric helping to nuke.
 
Not sure why you didn't get the gear first. Tanks are more gear dependent than any other toon... even hybrid tanks.

In any case, I'm glad you're seeing more success. I said easier to let me/us know what server you're on and we could help you out a bit, but I never heard anything back.
 
Not sure why you didn't get the gear first. Tanks are more gear dependent than any other toon... even hybrid tanks.

In any case, I'm glad you're seeing more success. I said easier to let me/us know what server you're on and we could help you out a bit, but I never heard anything back.

Sorry, I didn't respond, I got sidetracked by all the new stuff going on. Thanks much for the offer :)

I enjoy the game and the only help I need is advice and discussion ;)
 
like i said your missing the point i was making, you said aa's dont make a difference for tanking but armor does. your control was with aa's. all the big jumps in defensive aa's happen withing the first 2k aa's in the defensive lines after that the noticable gain is less then .5% everything prior was over a 1% gain. I did the same test as you with 100 aa's vs auto grant with bazaar armor, so 100 aa's no defensives with full conflagrant got ate before any bots could even assist. added auto grant aa's and guess what I was able to survive. Like what was said prior the aa's you had raised your survive ability more then you knew, yes aa's round out the character but to say they are not needed till 110 is not right or any guild wanting players would be asking for best geared toons and aa's optional. Anyway's glad your able to kill some named, camp your augs and it will get easier especially once you get another 8k aa's.
 
Update, SK is a monster now, keeping him at 107 for now as I level up some new members to my little group (A rog, wiz and mage all at level 102 now). Got some Augs and finished the gear upgrades on him, now working on the rogue gear and AAs/Levels for all. Once the new guys catch up, I will level them all to 110 and find new hunting areas.

Thanks so much for all the help you guys! I am having a blast now that I can survive a fight or two ;)
 
I cannot stress how important it is to go back and do all the progression from CoTF onward for all the Heroic aa's. All those free stats are worth quite a bit, like several pieces of equipment. Not to mention it raises your AC softcap.
 
I cannot stress how important it is to go back and do all the progression from CoTF onward for all the Heroic aa's. All those free stats are worth quite a bit, like several pieces of equipment. Not to mention it raises your AC softcap.

That's good to know.... I've been skipping all that shit.
 
I would do the progression after CoTF first then come back and do the CoTF ones, first 2 lines are 5 tiers and last one was 2 tiers from only CoTF. The first 2 have 25 lvls i think in total might be 30 now but the later expansions you could do less work for a better return then the CoTF ones. That is just an fyi.
 
I cannot stress how important it is to go back and do all the progression from CoTF onward for all the Heroic aa's. All those free stats are worth quite a bit, like several pieces of equipment. Not to mention it raises your AC softcap.
I am kind of confused here, doing these quests will unlock AAs on my Veteran characters? I looked up the CoTF quests and don't see any mention of being awarded AAs for finishing them, just normal loot and the expansion cash and spells.

I also looked for heroic AA's and just find lists of the AAs that Heroic characters start with. I am missing something here.
 
Look up the achievements in the "EQ" button -> "Character" -> "Achievements" --> whichever expansion you want to check.

Some of the Hero AA rewards are:
  • "Hero's Resolution"= +5 to all stats & max stats, +2 hp/mana/end regen
  • "Hero's Vitality" = +25 hp/mana/end total & max, +25 to your "delay death" hp total
  • "Hero's Fortitude" = 10 AC, 10 Atk + 10 to your max Atk cap from gear

Like in EoK if you finish "Tsaph's Champion" the reward is an AA of "Hero's Resolution"= +5 to all stats & max stats, +2 hp/mana/end regen. Plus you get a golden rhino mount with mount buff (Sana) of 20 mana regen + 1850 hp/1400 mana/1400 end and 195 AC (varies)

Others give you huge bags, trophies (for more stats if you have a land/house plot) and such.
 
Update:

So I:
  • Got to level 109
  • Got the SK up to 4800AC and 170k HP out of combat buffed (farmed a few of those AC Augs)
  • Made three new toons and got them to 109 (Now the group is SK, Enchanter, Cleric, Rogue, Mage and Wizard)
  • Got the SK, Cleric and Enchanter another 2,000 AAs each while power leveling the Rogue, Mage and Wizard
  • Got good gear upgrades (EoK T1 or better) on most of my toons
with all this newfound power I decided I was ready for SoD Dreadlands...
I got ate three times just trying to find a camp, WTF kind of catus sees invis? and those F'ing sarnaks can see you from halfway across the zone!
Now I am back in EoK licking my wounds and thinking it's time to get 110 and even more gear upgrades ;)
 
Those cactus are not bad if you are setup and ready for them, it's the HUGE DoT they put on you, your healer needs to be up to snuff for healing the damage. Sarknaks are not bad, I can stress how important AC augs are for your tank, shoot for at least 40ac in every slot, there is even a weapon aug available. Now it comes from an old raid, but it's there.
 
go for t2 eok b4 u go to ros atleast or all conflagerant plus u need those augs bad. u will be suprised how close u get to 6k ac with the best augs in
 
go for t2 eok b4 u go to ros atleast or all conflagerant plus u need those augs bad. u will be surprised how close u get to 6k ac with the best augs in
I agree but I have to do something between aug hunting, My whole crew needs equipment and levels and AAs. I have been camping the augs, got 6 of them now and going to be working on two more soon.
 
Cluelessone the tank is the key, get him first the others will come in time. once he lives thru fights on a regular basis then u can progress to harder content.

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When in mm. At the entrance there is a name that drops a 35 ac aug too i think its stone guardian (gargoyle). He spawns around the castle tower. Right past the entrance to the right.
 
3 real easy good augs to get on your tank, and whole crew are the sebillis augs. use all 3 of them on your SK don't care if it's +Hint/wis use it, the ac/hp is what you're after. Also the glowing sebsillian (sp) gear is decent and non prestige, if you can kill some of the named it's free decent eok t2 equivalent gear you can throw on all your crew and fill in sk spots.
 
Question - SK getting eaten

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