Lunicant Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 Guide to Dark-Knights by Birdman Introduction: Dark-knights are one of the most versatile and enjoyable classes in the game. A powerful class that can serve as an excellent learning experience for newer players, they also provide great fun and a challenge for veteran players. By playing a dark-knight (DK), a player gets to experience a good mix of melee abilities along with spells. DKs are also superb for learning various aspects of PK, from how to run to taking the offensive, and they can make use of scrolls so that one can identify items that he comes across. Stats: Basically, I would suggest that you maximize con, then worry about your int and wis. You'll want either 17 int (or 23 if you're a drow) so that you can learn things to 75% in two practices (or in one if you're a drow). Make sure your wisdom is 18 so that you get three practices per level up. Your remaining points can be divided between strength and dex according to your preference. On one hand you'll want high strength because you will be able to do more damage, as well as carry more weight. On the other hand, higher dex means you can carry a greater number of items in your inventory as well as get hit less often. Remember, you will start with three training sessions to begin with, and will get an additional train every five levels, so you can boost up strength and dex somewhat after creation. Races: Human: An excellent all-around choice. Humans have the highest Constitution and Strength of the basic DK races. Dealing damage in a hurry is critical for a DK, so these are rather important. Humans have no vulnerabilities that people can take advantage of, and can also wear any equipment that a DK would want without a problem. Also important is that humans have no experience penalty, meaning it will be easier to gain ranks with them, and they will have a more favorable PK range. This makes them ideal for beginners. Humans can also become Demons, Undead, or Vampires. Drow: Low Strength and Con, but higher mana reserves and better Dexterity. Drow DKs can be formidable, they just need to have a slightly different approach. They won't deal as much damage with their weapon, but they can be less conservative with their spells, as running out of mana is not as much of a danger for a drow. They also learn their skills and spells quickly when training. The ability to dig into tunnels is fantastic, and autosneak is helpful if you need to run. The low strength will be a factor in what weapons the drow can use, and he won't be able to carry around a lot of heavy equipment. Also, drow can't touch some of the basic re-equip gear for DKs. Their 500 exp penalty, coupled with the 300 exp penalty that DKs get mean they have one of the largest experience costs in the game and makes for a PK range that can reach eight levels above them, a situation that can cripple newer players. Avian: A fair mix between humans and drow. They have a vulnerability to air damage that people will be able to take advantage of if they are prepared. Autoflight means that you won't have to invest in flight scrolls/potions, saving you both money and inventory space/weight. Overview of Abilities: Following is a brief overview of dark-knight abilities. You will not need to master all abilities; some you may not even want to practice. I will point out which I feel should be mastered; however, if one were so inclined, he could always master the rest. It wouldn't hurt, but I don't have the patience for it, and don't feel that it's necessary. Skills: - Weapons A dark-knight can become proficient at all weapon types in the game except for staff. With prudent weapon selection while you're ranking, you'll be able to master most, if not all weapons while you rank to 50, assuming you spent the practices necessary to start them at 75% proficiency. Basically, choose your weapons and use them until they're mastered, then switch to another weapon type. Try not to rank using weapons you've already mastered, and avoid using exotics. Dual wield when you can to speed up the process. You could also just train your weapons by lowering your strength and making your fights against easier mobs last a long time, but I like to do it while ranking. - Defenses - Parry, Shield Block, Dodge, Two-Handed Train each of these in a room where you can fight a lot of easy mobs at once. Train parry with two-handed, then wear only a shield and master shield block, then practice dodge and master it while using neither weapon nor shield. - Second Attack, Third Attack, Dual Wield These are all useful, and will go up in proficiency as you rank. - Scrolls A good skill to raise to 75. You can use scrolls to identify items, which is important for newer players. Scrolls will also grant you abilities such as flight, and it will last longer than flight from a potion would. - Wands There are a fair amount of useful wands out there that will grant a wide variety of useful abilities. It certainly doesn't hurt to raise this to 75. - Kick You can kick your enemies for low damage. You have better things to do. One of the few DK abilities I never practice. - Dirt Kicking An important skill that will blind your opponent briefly. Will master through use while ranking. - Disarm A useful skill any time you're fighting someone who is not wielding a cursed weapon. The dirt-disarm tactic is key in a lot of fights, especially against melee classes. It is helpful to master this skill. - Haggle You will be buying a lot of scrolls, pills and potions. Practice this to save some money. - Bash An important skill, as it keeps your opponent in combat with you. Practice it to 75, then train it while ranking. - Trip An important skill that will keep a non-flying opponent in combat. Not so useful against small races, but is the bane of a non-flying giant. Practice to 75, then train it while ranking. - Shield Disarm Cursed shields are few and far between, but mastering this skill is tedious and probably not worth the effort. Practice it to 75%. - Fast Healing You gain more HP back on each tick. Raise it to 75. - Meditation You gain back more mana per tick. Raise it to 75. - Lore A useful skill if you're new to the game, or don't know where to find a lot of items. It will tell you where an item can be found. Practice it if you want to. - Cleave An important skill. It can deal out hefty damage to begin combat, and has a chance of putting your opponent to sleep. And a sleeping opponent against a DK is at a huge disadvantage. Mastering this would be a good idea. - Extort Functions like haggle, except you get items for free, rather than just at a discount. Good for saving cash. I like to bring it to 75%. Spells - Magic Missile A fun spell, it starts out pathetic but gets more powerful as you rank. You don't need to practice it. - Chill Touch A good way to drop the strength of your opponent by a small amount. One of the few DK abilities that I never practice. - Detect Good Allows you to see an aura around good-aligned players/mobs. One of the few abilities I never practice. - Cure Light The only true curative spell a dark knight has. Practice it to 75, master it by spamming if you want to. It doesn't heal a lot of HP with each cast, but it can be a life saver. Don't cast it in battle. You have better things you could be doing. - Poison A nasty malediction that will keep your opponent from regaining HP/Mana/Movement. Practice it to 75%, train it to mastery if you want. - Curse A particularly troublesome spell, as it prevents your opponent from being able to recall. Master it by casting on a sleeping mob. - Invisibility A useful spell, especially at lower ranks when a lot of people haven't stocked up on detect invis potions or pills yet. Practice it to 75%. - Protection One of the spells you'll always want to have up when fighting a good opponent, it reduces the damage done to you by good players/mobs. Better yet, have it up all the time. Practice it to 75%. - Detect Invis Practice it to 75% and NEVER let yourself be without it. Check 'where' often. - Lightning Bolt Zap your enemy with lightning. Not essential; practice it if you are so inclined. - Veil of Darkness An extremely underrated spell. It will make it very difficult for your opponent to chase you, essentially leaving him blind to anything except what's in the room with him. It will confuse some players, and cause them to panic, which will give you an advantage. Master it by casting on sleeping mobs. - Energy Drain Another underrated spell. The main thing about energy drain is that it saps mana and movement from your opponent. Practice to 75%, mastering might not be a bad idea. - Summon A good spell for convenience... You can go to a far away hidey-hole and summon mobs for eq or vials or what-have-you. You can also summon things to train on. Summoning players can sometimes work out in your favor, as some might become confused, and just stare at their screen, or they might panic, giving you the advantage. Summoning a sleeping opponent to a different room is also a fun trick. Practice it to 75, master it if you want. - Silence This spell ruins a mage's day (not a communer's, though). Land it and be prepared to chase fast. Master this by casting on a sleeping mob. - Teleport A notorious spell that sends you to some other room in the game. Use it only as a last resort, as you will often get yourself into more trouble by teleporting than you were in to begin with. Never use it before 50, because taking a mobdeath will leave you with more experience needed to level. Some rooms you can't teleport out of, such as your guild. Master it by casting in these safe rooms, or don't practice it at all. - Dispel Good This spell does damage to good aligned players/mobs. I generally don't bother practing it, as there are more useful spells you could be casting. - Plague This malediction is a double edged sword. It makes it so your victim won't regenerate hp, mana, or moves, and also drains their movement. If the victim doesn't get the plague cured, it will end up doing some nasty damage, as well. Unfortunately, there is a good chance it will also infect you, which obviously isn't a good thing. Practice it to 75, master it if you feel like it. Use with caution. - Unholy Strength This spell can greatly boost the damage output of a dark-knight, but it will result in downtime in which you will be vulnerable. Practice to 75, and experiment with it to get timing down. - Fireball One of the DK's staple afflictive spells. It will hit everyone in the room, so watch where you cast it. Probably not a bad idea to master it. - Harm Another staple afflictive spell of the DK. Deals good damage to your target. Practice to 75. - Iceball Similar to fireball, except with ice and preatty much unaffected by target saves. A spell that makes it very easy to re-equip a DK after death. Practice it to 75. - Charm Person A critical spell for the DK. Allows him to gain control of a mob for a short time. Practice it to 75, master it on a sleeping mob if you want to. More on this later. - Malform Weapon A critical spell for a dark knight, essential in making the DK a formidable opponent. Practice it to 75. Don't give up until you figure out its uses. More on this later. - Soul Transfer Allows the DK to switch his malformed weapon to a different weapon. Practice to 75. Equipment: I prefer to dress my DKs as I would a melee character. So I look to maximize hitroll and damroll, while adding in a few pieces of save vs. spell gear. A DK is capable of getting very high hit/dam, so you might want to go all out in that area. Or maybe you will want to focus more on saves. Experiment to find out what's right for you. Re-equipping after death with a DK is extremely easy. Red dragons hate the cold, so a dark knight can make quick work of them with iceball. You don't have to go far from there to get a couple of nice looking rings, a bandit belt, a tarp or animal hide, dreamseeking cloaks, titanium bracers, and some vials. This basic set of eq is not bad at all, and you will be back in a position to get better stuff with it. At higher levels the DK will want to substitute tainted gear for red dragon as his basic equipment, unless he's a drow (drow can't wear the tainted stuff). Inventory: In your inventory you will want to carry several things... - a boat - 4 or 5 gyvel/red potions - a sack containing: - a lot of vials - more gyvels/red potions - potions or scrolls of flight - 2 or 3 recall potions - any other useful potions/pills/wands/scrolls that will do neat things for you, including but not limited to: armor, bless, stoneskin, flesh armor, or refresh - a heavy two handed weapon (for cleaving; polearms or axes are great, but a big sword will do in a pinch) - alternate weapons (or a shield if you're currently dual wielding); these can also be stored in your sack - a recall potion (for quick access) - a black pill of teleport (for those times when you're cursed and need to get away; remember, only use it as a last resort and only if you're level 50) Combat Tactics: Success with a dark-knight, like any class, depends a lot on preparation. A DK needs to hit his enemies hard and fast; he's not made for a long, drawn out battle. You will have a window of opportunity where it will be best to strike, and should time your attacks accordingly. It depends largely on the status of your charmie and unholy strength. You don't want to go into battle when these spells are about to expire. As far as actual fighting goes, again, you should experiment. I like DKs because there are actually a lot of different tactics you can use, depending on who you're fighting. Cleave is a good opener, or a good closer, but shouldn't be used on classes that have counter. Silence will ruin a mage's day (not a communer's, mind you). Energy drain is another spell you should experiment with, as it seems to be rather underused. You have at your disposal some very painful afflictive spells, or you can go the maledictive route with poison and plague. Remember to try to land curse to prevent recalls. And veil of darkness will make it very hard for your opponent to chase you. Remember to be prepared. If you are ready for a fight and your opponent isn't, then most likely he will be on the run. Or dead. Charm Person: At level 38 you will get the charm person spell. The generic charmie for a dark knight is the triton watchman. You won't be able to charm him immediately when you get the spell, and failing to charm him can be deadly if you don't have sanctuary up, so watch out if you're going to give it a try in the low-mid 40s. There are, of course, better choices for your charmie, and one choice may be better against certain opponents than against others. Experiment. See which mobs are hard hitters, which trip or bash or disarm. Remember to always be aware of when your charm person timer is going to expire, and also remember that you can order your charmie to sleep before the spell wears off, making it easier to re-charm him, and avoiding problems that arise if your suddenly independent charmie can detect invis. Malform Weapon: Malform weapon is an important ability of dark-knights, one that a player needs to become familiar with if they want to get the most out of their character. If you get a good grasp on this spell, and can make it work for you, your tactics will change, and you will have a much more formidable character. The details of this spell, though, are among the most closely guarded secrets in the game. You will have to glean its uses from your own experimentation. Conclusion: Hopefully, you can use the information presented as a starting point for a dark-knight. The intention was not to make a step-by-step guide for a powerful character, but rather to point people in the right direction. There is obviously more to playing dark-knights than I explained, but I'll leave it to you to figure out. They are quite fun, though, and in my opinion, the best class in the game for learning to fight. Good luck, and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Implementor Anume Posted November 24, 2012 Implementor Report Share Posted November 24, 2012 A more recent submittal from someone who wants to stay anonymous: Dark Knights are a class of finesse and speed. A true hybrid in the sense that all of their melee/combat damage alone is not going to be enough to cut it without some slick maneuvering and deception. First, we have our racial choices. And I'd like to point out that the versatility of the DK class makes ALL of these races stand out in their own way. -----------------------Human A great all-around DK. No weakness, you have the STR to malform any polearm in the game and the stats to really make use of the hybrid artform that is a DK. -----------------------Drow The attrition DK. You may not dish out the same amount of melee damage as the others, but you have the mana to make the fights last longer and apply more mals. -----------------------Avian I wanted to make an argument about how human and avian DKs are about the same, but when it comes down to it, Avian DKs are a cut above Humans in pretty much every sense because the CON/STR difference is truly negligible especially with all the avian perks. -----------------------Demon The holy grail of DKs. Without going into qclass info it will have to suffice to say that once you get the hang of the class, a Demon DK Reaver is almost an unstoppable force. My DKs have never done much bashing, but as a Demon you just can't stop yourself... -----------------------Undead The one race of DK I have never played, but I can do pretty well to imagine what it would be like. Unfortunately since I can't go into qclass info, I can't tell you the possibilities here. My only thing, and probably the reason I've yet to play one, is the vuln. Screw that. Now that we have that out of the way, let's get into the nitty gritty. First, and the reason I think most DKs fail, you have to get it through your head that you are NOT a warrior. If you try to play like one, you are going to have a really tough time. You may get through a PK here and there, but you are not going to fully experience how amazing this class is unless you get out of this line of thinking. You are a hybrid warrior/shaman. Does a shaman just stand in combat soaking up damage while crossing his fingers hoping his oppontent dies? I think not. So, how should the class be played? In and out. In and out. Cure light may not be cure critical, but it adds up very fast. I can heal 200+ hp per tick when timed right. Combine THAT with some lvl10 malform damage and you've really got something. Now, that simple solution may work when you've got your lvl10 malform, but getting there takes some work, so let's explore that. -----------------------You MUST master the following while not ranking: Plague Poison Veil of Darkness Curse optional: Cleave and energy drain (I master these while ranking, but w/e) Weapons. cure light, unholy strength, dirt kick, etc. will master while ranking. I've left out disarm/shield disarm mainly because I've used it in less than 1% of my PKs. You have way too much else going on to be worried about a disarm. I would MUCH rather be landing veil than trying to disarm you. So now you're at 50 with all your goodies at full strength. Let's get our PK on. -----------------------Priority targets while leveling malforms: Normal sized warriors WM Inductees Ogre rangers/warriors -----------------------Stay way from until burnproof Invokers Zerks Anyone that you would consider twice as decked as you unless you know they are newb The real trick to DKs, again, is attrition. You simply cannot afford to play like a warrior all the time. You have to get that curse landed then heal up. Then get the veil landed, and heal up. Energy drain/plague...then heal up. If you can curse and veil someone, you should kill them 90% of the time unless they are much faster than you. Oh wait, I think we have something for that...why, yes, it is called ENERGY DRAIN. Once they can't recall and have a hard time running as is, you should zap their moves. If you can squeak in a plague while you're at it, victory is all but yours. If you are steamrolling them, then obviously go warrior-mode, but if are up against someone who's putting up a fight, then you really need to play more shaman'esque. Charm person is a wonderful spell, but rescue can be your death sentence when you only have one charmie, unlike a Necro who has 5+ chances to get rescued per command. Do not ever as a DK rely on rescue. Fleeing and re-entering is much more reliable. As for charmies, there is not much more you should ever need than a Gigantic Crab. Warlocks are nice, but their bash isn't exactly reliable and charming them can be an incredible PITA. I have failed 15 charms on a Warlock before and believe me, they do hurt. Let alone failing your 8th charm, it bashing you, and Mr. Knight Ranger comes in and murders your face off. Plenty of other charmies out there, you should experiment for fun, but don't be too surprised when you realize that the Gigantic Crab is your go-to guy. -----------------------Malforms. Yum. Every religion does it a little different, but there are some all around rules you should pay attention to. First, always malform a polearm first. This covers all the melee fighters, hybrids, rogues. You aren't a walking god just yet, so a polearm will give you the defense you need while still granting you some nice offense. The withering scythe, all things considered, is the BEST polearm you can malform and its not even that rare. Eat your heart out, Vlad. An onyx lance will do until you can transfer into a scythe. Next you could malform a spear (my personal favorite) or a flail. I'd take a look at your opposition and see if you're fighting more C/Cs or Rogues. If Rogues, go flail, if C/Cs go spear. Monorod, Elundaris, tempest trident...something along those lines. Some DKs go whip, but that is too much warrior for an attrition class IMHO. You sacrifice taking too much damage and having to flee versus having closely contested battles that you may or may not win. In the vast majority of my fights I wasn't left looting their corpses with 100hp wondering if I need to dart out of the area. Try a dual wield DK vs a warrior and see how much pain you endure vs wielding a polearm and playing the attrition game. Heaven forbid they ate a venom sack and wielded a staff. I give you 5 rounds before you're either dead or trying to flee from the entire encounter. -----------------------Cabal Choices: Syndi - IMHO Syndi makes every class just a little better. Some more than others, but this is not a bad choice to learn a Dk with. You will never kill a smart invoker, but you stand a chance against almost everyone else. Except dwarf cleric sigils. DELETE! Nexus - The best cabal for a DK, hands down. Herald - If you hate PK and didn't care for this essay, go Herald. Tribunal - The "fun" choice for a DK. Your PK gets limited to out of town only, you have to pay more attn to your charmie, you are at war with a cabal that has a pet with a nasty habit of making you wish you had more venom sacks...but it's not a BAD choice. Just like Syndi, it has some great advantages, but is still very sub-par to Nexus. -----------------------Magic Missle A final, important tip about DKs is magic missile. This spell is severely underrated from most DKs I've seen and logs I've read. The damage may not be much, but it does add up, however more importantly is the fact that you are dropping their saves. You should be going for 3-4 magic missile casts per fight. Warriors/zerks might find you hitting them up even more when your Magic Strikes procs. All of those dropped saves will make your malform abilities land easier, landing curse easier, and energy drain. Here are some scenarios and how you should approach them. This will be from the viewpoint of a Human DK. -----------------------DK vs Stone Giant Warrior So, first thing - POLEARM POLEARM POLEARM. Never dual wield vs a melee who is at least equally dressed as you. I am going to open with magic missile, he will dirt kick, so I will flee. Then I open with another magic missile. He's going to dirt kick again or if he's smart he sees I'm just going to flee so he goes for a bash. Hopefully he catches a third magic missile here, or better yet a curse. By this time I've taken a bit of damage so I'm going to run around and cure. I want to be healthy, but not so healthy he gets too cautious. Now I open AGAIN with magic missile and he will probably bash this time again. I wait here to see what happens next, I really want to see him miss a bash or do something other than bash. If he bashes again, I flee and heal. If he misses the bash, I go for curse, or for veil if he's already cursed. Now I would expect to be somewhere around 40-50% hp so I need to heal up a bit more. He's hurt too, remember, and now that he is cursed and veiled, the battle is tipping generously in your favor. You can try tripping as opener if he's not flying, but I actually prefer to open with dirt kick at this point, or ice/fireball if I can time it right. Depending on teh damage ratio that you two are exchanging, I might be able to end it with just iceballs and not worry about plague/energy drain, but if its someone I feel might be fast on their feels, I will plague/energy drain to be safe. Be on the lookout for enlarged bashes. In my DK's primes, these were the only things to kill me. -----------------------DK vs Ogre War Again, POLEARM! Since they are an Ogre, you can take a more "warrior" tone in the fight, but you have to have some staying power so roll with the Polearm. I try a fireball early in the fight so I know what kind of damage he's taking when I'm ready to turn it on. I skip all magic missiles unless he's got decent saves. I go right for the curse and energy drain, if you're lucky you'll get a few magic missiles off from a bash or two. But you mainly want to tip this fight in your favor ASAP. I would not expect to have to flee more than 2-3x in this whole encounter. I open with fireball, he dirts, I curse, then curse again if fails, or veil...then flee and heal...open with veil if it failed, or trip if hes flying, if not, then open with a plague. Even if plague fails, I start here with the fireballs/iceballs. He should be the one fleeing, not you. Chase with whatever you like between energy drain/fire/ice This should be a super easy fight unless there is drastic eq/cabal powers at play. I have killed Thulgan, but I was decked and had some great cabal bonuses. -----------------------DK vs Drow Cleric Dual wield vs any communer/caster and vs any thief/ninja that is not sigil or not decked. Sermon has been toned so much that it is almost laughable now, making this a not so hard fight for your fledgling DK. Path hurts, but not as much as your dual wield/charmie/fireball action. This should be a straight damage fight since most clerics are geared up in saves. If the cleric isn't in saves, then go for the curse/veil but forget plague. Energy drain to taste, serve warm. Open with murder, dirt kick on the hour, chase with murder, ice/fireball if they stay in combat. You, your crab, and your iceballs/fireball will be much too much for them. -----------------------DK vs Dwarf Cleric Sigil Just run. In fact, delete. -----------------------DK vs Minotaur Zerk (when burnproof) Polearm again. Play this one just like you would as the example of a Stone warrior except you need to be fleeing a lot more often and opening with dirt kick to prevent their charge abuse. I've killed decked watcher mino zerks without TOO much of a hassle here. Just be careful on what you're allowing them to do. -----------------------DK vs Thief/Ninja Dual wield unless they are much more decked than you and/or a Sigil. Your priority in this is to make sure they can't hide. We are limited in our abilities to do this, but I prefer to try and get in two magic missiles before landing poison. I land poison first because the ninja will try to acupuncture it away, allowing me to then put plague and poison again. I try not to curse early in the fight as I seem more and more the rogue run and hide right away. This is maybe where bash comes into use, but unless you're a Demon or one of those cowardly venom sack eaters, I don't bother with bashing. Just flesh them out with poison/plague and open with murder -----------------------DK vs Invoker Just run unless you're T of a certain cabal. And even then keep running unless ur malform is burnproof. -----------------------DK vs Feral Anything So you're a hybrid class but ferals can take 50% of you off the table? So what... Feral warriors aren't going to outdamage you and your charmie. And even if they do, they can't bashlock you. Feral clerics aren't going laglock you. Feral rangers aren't going to put up much of a fight vs your polearm and you killing pets. Feral fury is not all that bad. You can still OPEN with fireball, then dirt kick to cure up and wait out fury timer. Open with fireball again or magic missile, whatever floats your boat that day. Ferals are #3 on my kill list behind WM inductees and Ogres. Don't be intimidated. ----------------------Final Thoughts With most great PK advice comes the notion that YOU should be the aggressor. Go into the fight knowing your strategy and knowing you're going to win. Be the one pushing the envelope. Even if you don't get the kill, they should be the one running away, not you. Gearing is pretty straight forward, go full hit/dam/ac. Once your malforms are up there and you've got some hit/dam cabal bonuses you might trade out a piece here and there for the flavor of the week enemy, whether its some mal saves or some hp. If you are not a Drow, invest one night a week into collecting some tainted ankhs. God's gift to any non-drow non-sanc having evil badass who knows how to use wands. Just remember, you are a shaman with extra melee. Your entire principle should be to tip the scale in your favor with some mals first, using cure light to your advantage, and then go beast-mode on them. There will be some fights where your weapons/charmie are all it takes, but if you find yourself wondering why you can't get a lvl10 polearm and lvl10 dual wields, then read this essay again and find out what you're doing wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts