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User:Indigoflower/Shadowknight solo guide
Shadowknight solo guide
== Introduction ==
This is written from the point of view of an untwinked player, not boxing. If you are twinked or boxing then you can probably be a little less cautious. The shadowknight is a group friendly class and not an obvious choice for soloing, but it can be done, even if you're just waiting for a group.
Levels 1-8
I made an Iksar Shadowknight, so i started in Stingers Bog. I hear a lot of bad press about this noob zone, but i think it is a great place to start!
Before you get your first line of spells, think of yourself as a pure melee class and level up your weapons skills. fight the mobs near the guards and pick up everything you can sell or turn in for experience. There are some great shadowknight quests in Grobb that will kit you out with some decent armour and eventually a good two handed sword. Also make sure you pick up the no-drop items from the mosqitoes, swamp leeches and frogloks to turn into the guards.
Dont go to far out until you are about level 5 because there are some tough bloated corpses and lots of froglok fishers/sentrys/foragers roaming the zone. When you can take these on without any problems you can move up the right hand side of the zone towards Halls of Meilech and fight the fishers/sentrys/foragers near the entrance, if things get tough you still have a chance of running to the guards from here (but don't rely on it).
When you can afford it, kit up with some armour, plate is heavy so substitute some for chain if you're getting too weighed down.
Other suggestions - If you didn't start in Grobb (or don't want to do Stingers Bog) then you can train in North Newport just outside the gates, the guards will give you experience for beetle pincers and some other no-drop items. If you started in Grobb, run through Stinkers Bog to Greenmist Jungle, then take the MoP from Oggok. Another good place to start would be the Newport Sewers, some very good turn in xp for ratman hoods here (1000xp for 2). I beleive some new shadowknight quests have been implemented in the Newport Sewers too. You can also head out to Centaur Hills and fight roaming mobs and the gnolls around the entrance to BlackBurrow. I wouldn't suggest going to GFaydark yet because the treants there are KoS and very tough.
Levels 9-19
At level 9 you get your first line of spells, they're pretty flimsy but they make you more than just a melee class. You should fight the guards to the entrance of Halls of Meilech, they can all be single pulled and often drop tunics that sell for just over 1pp wich is great at this level. There are two more just inside the entrance that can usually be single pulled, watch out for the fighter that wanders up the ramp and joins in if he sees you. Make sure to utilize your new spells, debuff and DoT your foes and then spam lifedraw, it has saved my ass a lot! You also have a pet, he's not very strong (and never will be) so don't try to use him to tank, but the extra DPS is useful. As you get a bit stronger you can work your way into Halls of Meilech, it gets tough pretty fast so don't go too far in yet. I had some success in a duo with a necromancer here. At level 15 you get some new spells, mostly upgrades. Note- you get clinging darkness here, the first in a line of DoT spells that slows the mobs movement speed, at this point it can be usefull in opens zones to get a few more debuffs on them before they reach you, later you can kite using the more powerfull upgrades to this spell. I also explored Greenmist Jungle and the Southern Wastes of Tarhyl for some tougher mobs.
Other suggestions - BlackBurrow is a great place to level particularly with a solid group. It is also a good place to practice tanking for a group if you plan to do it a lot later. If you get some gnoll ears they turn in at the guard tower in Centaur Hills, and the bounty tokens provide some cash and Newport faction at the office of the people (s.newport) You can also take a trip to Warrens, a standard graduation from BB. Warrens is a fun zone with a group, at 15+ try the throne room for great xp and a named mob. You can also go to Fearstone Keep, but again be careful of the treants on the way there! The Western Badlands can also be a good place to solo, lots of animals around this level, but avoid the hill giants! If you attack the bandit camps you can pick up their heads which turn into newport (gate) for more bounty tokens. You wont be able to turn in the rings (Surefall will be KoS) but you can send them to your alts.
Levels 20 - 29
I spent some time in The Oasis fighting the orc camps, i could solo the three camps with double pulls pretty easily, the loot is decent and there is a Dawntribe orc you can sell to in the zone. I also went back to Meilech and fought the cavern mantraps for good xp, and the tomb guards who drop something you can turn in just outside the zone. At level 22 you get an upgrade to your Darkness spell that lasts a little longer and does a bit more damage. You also get some buffs for yourself that add some armour class and a lifetap proc to your attacks. You also get a slightly stronger pet. I also went to Warpstone Caverns around lvl 27/8, at this point the room before the lava room was easy to solo, and with a group the lava room is great xp but quite challenging as the wolfweres root and knockback. I also started the Antique plate quest that starts in South Newport and involves the Western and Northern Badlands, most of this gear was an upgrade for me.
Other Suggestions - You should probably go to Kaladim at 25+ as you get a nuke vs undead at lvl 22, a good group in Kaladim can be great for xp, but if you're on your own you can solo the guys in and around the towers at the front of the zone. You should also have invis vs undead by now if you want to explore and find other single pulls in the zone. You can also probably start warpstone a bit earlier than I did, especially if you get a group, but it should be fine to solo around the entrance. You could have a go at Shrouded Isle, ive always hated this zone, but it has a steady progression of tougher mobs and you can utilize your vs undead spells.
Levels 30-39
At level 30 you get an upgrade for your lifetap, and some new spells including Heat blood, a relatively strong DoT, a new pet and some utility spells such as Feign Death, gather shadows (invis) and veil of dis (hate adjust, pick up from Oasis). I went to Kaladim at this point and joined some good groups around the warrior and cleric guilds, it was a good oppurtunity for me to learn to pull and tank properly. I tried some split pulling with feign death - the idea is that if you grab too many mobs when pulling you can feign death and wait untill some of them have wandered back, then get up with the desired amount still on you and run back to group. It's quite tricky, but can be a usefull tool, so practice feigning death so you don't fizzle so much. Feign Death and invis can also be very useful for avoiding certain death when soloing. I also headed to Kings Pass and grouped here, very good xp and relatively easy going. You can also solo in Kings Pass, make sure you use your invis vs undead to get to the single pulls. Now would be a good time to start your main quest too, using gather shadows you can do all of the running around with minimal risk and you get great xp! On that note, get a bow and a spear just to train them up to 50 for the optional part of the quest (lots of xp even if you dont plan on using either of those weapons ever again) and it would be wise to train up 1hb too because your starfall weapon is 1hb and rather good! If you go to the Northern Badlands there are bounty quests for the spiders, lions and lion cubs for good xp (hand in at the guard tower on the bridge to s.badlands). The same guy also accepts no-drop items from Eastern and Southern badlands. The Eastern Badlands are particularly good for training too, fight around the bridge so you can zone if you're in trouble.
Starfalls - The Breastplate of the Night quest is pretty easy, go to Cauldron of Dawn and use gather shadows to run to the arena zone line, the mobs in this tunnel drop one of the components you need. Next go to Obsidian Shard Mountains and fight the Gargoyles in the south of the zone, if these guys are too tough you might be able to get help from someone for them. Get extra obsidian slabs as they're used for Bloggo's Sheild quest in Oggok. The sheild and breastplate should be good for a long time. For the Spectral staff of dread you should pick up the dreadfull eye from those gargoyles at the same time and you can get the courtly staff in Kaladim (priest guild) it's a rare drop but you can camp the guy he's pretty easy. Don't count on getting the dreadfull fabric just yet though without help!
Spell notes - At level 34 you get your first Spear spell, a powerfull nuke with a long recharge time, use it as often as you can. At 39 you get a set of upgrades including a new lifedraw and pet. You also get a new nuke vs undead you can use in Kings Pass and a new DoT heart flutter, it doesn't do as much damage as heat blood but it reduces their strength so your foes hurt you less. If you are grouping, make sure you put Voice of Darkness on to increase your aggro and if things get messy you can use Veil of Dis to pull everything to you.
Levels 40 - 49
I was still fighting in the Eastern Badlands a lot here, and i started kiting using my engulfing darkness spells. The tactic for this was to use Engulfing Darkness first to DoT and slow them, then strafe run away and throw some more DoT's on them, also use your spear, at this point it can still be a bit dull kiting because you don't have a huge arsenol of spells, but the extra damage will make a tough fight easy if you stop kiting and melee them. Make sure you get your debuffs on before you fight them. You should also go the the Heartlands, you can solo anywhere outside here and run to the faction camps if it gets tough. If you can get a group going, fight the robots in the cave here, very good xp from these right through to 49. (use your hate spells, including the new at 44 terror of shadows) You can start fighting the spectres and guardian wraiths for the last part of your starfall quest (goblinskull, n., e., s., and w. badlands) but they're still very tough. I had some success employing the kiting technique i described earlier but didn't get the piece untill lvl 49. If you get some help you should be able to do them sooner.
At level 49 you get a very powerfull new set of spells - Dooming darkness, a new upgrade in the darkness (DoT + slow) spell line. It lasts longer and does more damage so it is very useful for kiting.
Life leech, a very powerful lifedraw style spell for around 500 points. The problem with this spell is that it takes 9 seconds to cast and lots of mobs can interrupt your cast, however, it is still very strong and should be used when engaging mobs.
Spear of pain, a newer, stronger spear with an equally long recharge time. Your two spear spells don't recharge together though so you can use them both together.
Dismiss undead, a much stronger nuke vs undead
Word of Spirit, a point blank area of effect nuke that should be used in groups when you don't need to focus on leech so heavily.
You also get a new pet who looks like a zombie.
As soon as i got these spells i could fight the spectres and wraiths with no problem (dooming darkness + dismiss undead, or dooming darkness + debuffs + engage and leech) If you don't have it already, get the dreadful fabric for your starfall quest now and grab that staff! The spectres are also good xp to solo so you should fight these untill 50-51
levels 50 +
At this point i went to the Great Divide and the Western Wastes, you can fight the wolves, kodiacs, rhinoes etc using the kiting technique and/or engaging and leeching. I also went to Frosthorn Coast and fought some gnolls. The Harthuks in Great Divide near thurgadin are equally good for xp and drop some good pp and loot to sell, Do not try to fight the mages on your own yet though! By lvl 52 i could kite the giants that roam around in Great Divide, they provide good xp and will start factioning you to the dragons (if you choose that path)
You can also go to Sorcs Lab or Lasanth with a group, i haven't really done this yet but when i finish the guide it will probably be detailed.
More to come....
Good Luck! Indigoflower 16:03, 26 August 2010 (UTC) Islor