Heather's Guide to the Shadow Knight - Revision history

Onderduiker: Updated or struck through broken links

2021-09-22T12:38:42Z

Updated or struck through broken links

Show changes

Onderduiker at 10:44, 18 May 2011

2011-05-18T10:44:53Z

TahiriRocks: /* Credits */

2007-01-05T18:30:26Z

Credits

TahiriRocks: /* Parting notes */

2007-01-05T18:29:09Z

Parting notes

TahiriRocks: /* The Shadow Knight as a party person: enjoying and contributing to a group outing */

2007-01-05T18:28:19Z

The Shadow Knight as a party person: enjoying and contributing to a group outing

TahiriRocks: /* Oblivion Knights */

2007-01-05T18:27:10Z

Oblivion Knights

TahiriRocks: /* Care and feeding of a young Knight */

2007-01-05T18:26:51Z

Care and feeding of a young Knight

TahiriRocks: /* Stair traps */

2007-01-05T18:26:02Z

Stair traps

TahiriRocks: /* Handling anything the game can throw at you: the Shadow Knight soloing in Hell */

2007-01-05T18:24:08Z

Handling anything the game can throw at you: the Shadow Knight soloing in Hell

TahiriRocks: /* Playing strategies: the art of Knighthood */

2007-01-05T18:22:30Z

Playing strategies: the art of Knighthood

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:44, 18 May 2011
Line 889:		Line 889:

	--[[User:TahiriRocks\|TahiriRocks]] 18:30, 5 Jan 2007 (GMT) - Copied rest of guide from Heather's thread to wiki		--[[User:TahiriRocks\|TahiriRocks]] 18:30, 5 Jan 2007 (GMT) - Copied rest of guide from Heather's thread to wiki
		+
		+
		+	[[Category:Diablo II]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:30, 5 January 2007
Line 887:		Line 887:

	Heather Fleming, July 2006. Some information taken from [http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=44358 this thread] in the Assassin Forum, May-July 2004.		Heather Fleming, July 2006. Some information taken from [http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=44358 this thread] in the Assassin Forum, May-July 2004.
		+
		+	--[[User:TahiriRocks\|TahiriRocks]] 18:30, 5 Jan 2007 (GMT) - Copied rest of guide from Heather's thread to wiki

@@ Line 877: / Line 877: @@
 ==Parting notes==
 ==Credits==
 Heather Fleming, July 2006. Some information taken from [http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=44358 this thread] in the Assassin Forum, May-July 2004.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:28, 5 January 2007
Line 814:		Line 814:

	===The Shadow Knight as a party person: enjoying and contributing to a group outing===		===The Shadow Knight as a party person: enjoying and contributing to a group outing===
		+
		+	Just because the Shadow Knight is able to do it all -- handle any situation and kill any monster solo -- doesn't mean she needs to! Party play is what makes the game fun for a lot of people, and a Shadow Knight can be a good addition to a team. However, party play is different from solo play, and a few adjustments ought to be made in playing style.
		+
		+	The Shadow Knight is a "jack of all trades, master of few type" character, so certain roles should be handed off to those who are better at it when appropriate. In particular, Cloak of Shadows overwrites Dim Vision and other curses (and Dim > Cloak for the most part), so it is courteous to discuss Cloak use with any necro you are partied with. Also, if you have any equipment that procs curses (like Delirium), it is again in good taste to discuss whether you should switch to something else if you have something else to use. (I love my doll-hat dearly, but I generally switch to my fervored Shako if I'm playing with others.) And Death Sentry is wonderful, but if you are playing with a fully powered Trapper or Splatomancer, you may wish to let them have the corpses.
		+
		+	Be cautious using Dragon Flight. It is extremely fun and extremely handy, but just like Teleport it can be rather party-unfriendly if used carelessly. Take care not to DF too far ahead of the group or get stuck on the other side of a gap, river, etc. from your party.
		+
		+	If you are playing with ranged characters like casters or ranged attackers, keep an eye on your party mates and keep monsters from crowding them. This is a situation where Dragon Flight IS very party friendly -- you can quickly reach a party member who is being swarmed.
		+
		+	The conversion on Mind Blast can be annoying and sometimes hazardous to others, so use it judiciously. However, "judiciously" doesn't mean don't use it. As discussed above, Mind Blast pwns stair traps. A max resist, max block melee assassin with a Shadow Warrior at her side and Mind Blast in her arsenal is the perfect choice to lead the way into potentially hazardous areas. Parties will love you for this.

	===Handling anything the game can throw at you: the Shadow Knight soloing in Hell===		===Handling anything the game can throw at you: the Shadow Knight soloing in Hell===

@@ Line 841: / Line 841: @@
 A few cautions are in order, however.
-    * Trying to zerk when your blue ball is empty will make you default to normal attack, so beware of mana burn and those doom caster critters with their mana drain attack. If you are using a phase blade and have decent damage reduction, your physical damage should be low enough that you should be able to survive an accidental normal attack or two under IM, but still be carful. And be especially careful if you are using a higher damage weapon like a two-hander.
+* Trying to zerk when your blue ball is empty will make you default to normal attack, so beware of mana burn and those doom caster critters with their mana drain attack. If you are using a phase blade and have decent damage reduction, your physical damage should be low enough that you should be able to survive an accidental normal attack or two under IM, but still be carful. And be especially careful if you are using a higher damage weapon like a two-hander.
-    * Since you have 0 defense while zerking, damage reduction and/or a high block percentage is good to have.
+* Since you have 0 defense while zerking, damage reduction and/or a high block percentage is good to have.
-    * You probably want to take off your shoes if you want to use Dragon Flight in areas with OKs.
+* You probably want to take off your shoes if you want to use Dragon Flight in areas with OKs.
-    * And if you are feeling particularly paranoid, there is always Blade Fury.
+* And if you are feeling particularly paranoid, there is always Blade Fury.
 It's true that if you are toe-to-toe with an OK, it will consistently cast Decrep on you instead of IM. But other OK's can sneak up on you and curse you, and since a zerking Shadow Knight can completely ignore IM as long as she doesn't get mana burned, there is no reason not play it safe rather than sorry.

@@ Line 786: / Line 786: @@
 ** Additional points after this go into Mind Blast and/or Death Sentry.
-* For other tidbits regarding leveling up a Shadow Knight, check out the chronicles of Knight_Shadow's younger days starting here[http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=44358&st=45&p=481193&#entry481193].
+* For other tidbits regarding leveling up a Shadow Knight, check out the chronicles of Knight_Shadow's younger days starting [http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=44358&st=45&p=481193&#entry481193 here].
 ==Playing strategies: the art of Knighthood==

@@ Line 825: / Line 825: @@
 This trick, incidentally, makes an assassin the ideal party member to be the first to enter a potentially trapped area. And it is incredibly useful for people like me -- I play on a three-year-old laptop that sometimes gets cranky about loading new areas and leaves me blind and helpless for several seconds at a time.
-It's also a trick that I can take no credit for whatsoever. As I said at the top of this section, I poached it shamelessly from the Strats, Tips, and Dirty Tricks thread. (And if you haven't read that yet, shame on you! tongue.gif)
+It's also a trick that I can take no credit for whatsoever. As I said at the top of this section, I poached it shamelessly from the [http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=61343 Strats, Tips, and Dirty Tricks thread]. (And if you haven't read that yet, shame on you! tongue.gif)
 ====Ranged Attackers====

@@ Line 821: / Line 821: @@
 No well-prepared assassin should need to fear visiting the Countess tower, Ruined Temple, or any other "high risk of ambush" location. The secret to surviving stair traps is to stun everything before your screen even loads. How do you do this? Easy!
-Remember how earlier I said there was a situation where the shadow warrior was useful even for those who normally use the master? This is that situation. If you put mind blast on your right mouse button and take a shadow warrior down the stairs with you, she will immediately spam it at anything lying in wait, before you can even see what's there. Cloak of shadows also works nicely for this. The warrior doesn't need to be a high level as she only needs to survive long enough for you to get your bearings -- once any potential ambush hazards are taken care of, you can switch back to the master.
+Remember how earlier I said there was a situation where the shadow warrior could be useful even for those who normally use the master? This is that situation. If you put mind blast on your right mouse button and take a shadow warrior down the stairs with you, she will immediately spam it at anything lying in wait, before you can even see what's there. Cloak of shadows also works nicely for this. Shadow masters are pretty good at spamming mind blast as well, but if you really don't want to run the risk of your minion getting bored of crowd control and switching to something silly like shock web while you're still stuck in load lag, take a warrior down the stairs with you instead. The warrior doesn't need to be a high level -- 1+adders if you have a decent number of +skills should be fine -- as she only needs to survive long enough for you to get your control and bearings back -- once any potential ambush hazards are taken care of, you can switch back to the master.
-This trick, incidentally, makes an assassin the ideal party member to be the first to enter a potentially trapped area.
+This trick, incidentally, makes an assassin the ideal party member to be the first to enter a potentially trapped area. And it is incredibly useful for people like me -- I play on a three-year-old laptop that sometimes gets cranky about loading new areas and leaves me blind and helpless for several seconds at a time.
-It's also a trick that I can take no credit for whatsoever. I learned it from [http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=61343 this thread] in the assassin room, which is highly recommended reading no matter what kind of assassin you are playing.
+It's also a trick that I can take no credit for whatsoever. As I said at the top of this section, I poached it shamelessly from the Strats, Tips, and Dirty Tricks thread. (And if you haven't read that yet, shame on you! tongue.gif)
 ====Ranged Attackers====
@@ Line 832: / Line 832: @@
 To deal with this, turn off run. When you are walking, you have full blocking. If you don't have a shield... well you might want to consider using one here if you have enough dex to give you even a halfway decent chance to block. Use dragon flight frequently to close the gap with those annoying ranged mobs. And do use CoS when you are able. A shadow warrior (rather than master) will help keep it cast if you put CoS on the right mouse button.
 ====Dolls and FE's====
-Some creatures are just meant to be handled from a safe distance -- nasty explosive death-pops are not the bane of melee fighters for nothing. Happily, the Shadow Knight has no need to melee if she does not wish to. Cloak and mind blast to stop those scary little ankle biters from rushing, and pick them off at your leisure with blade fury, smug in the knowledge that most other zealots would give an arm and a leg for a ranged attack that only costs a hotkey and four skill points (including prereqs) instead of a weapon switch.http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif
+Some creatures are just meant to be handled from a safe distance -- nasty explosive death-pops are not the bane of melee fighters for nothing. Happily, the Shadow Knight has no need to melee if she does not wish to. Cloak and mind blast to stop those scary little ankle biters from rushing, and pick them off at your leisure with blade fury, smug in the knowledge that most other zealots would give an arm and a leg for a ranged attack that only costs a hotkey and four skill points (including prereqs) instead of a weapon switch. biggrin.gif
-====Gloams====
+As with most other character builds, the best defense against these nasty lightning-shooting bad guys is gear-based. 85% lightning res + direct absorb makes these guys a lot less of a danger. However, just saying "Get TGods n00b" seems a bit inadequate, so I'm going to add some actual strategy advice as well.
-====Iron Maiden====
+Cloak of Shadows will shut down any non-boss non-champ gloams within its radius. Their attack range is very long so you may still get some shooting you from off-screen but Cloaking should give you some breathing room to gather your wits. CoS is much better against these monsters than mind blast, confuse, or anything else except a Necro spamming Dim, since blinded monsters sit quietly without shooting but confused and converted ones still make for a lot of chaos and a high probability that you'll get hit with a stray bolt.
-====For softcore players only: the challenge of the solo corpse retrieval mission====
+Against bosses and champs, the best defense is a good offense. Use Dragon Flight to close to melee range, since they will stop shooting and use their much less hazardous mana drain pnysical attack. This is especially true with conviction aura enchanted bosses or other horrible mods. If you see a particularly nasty boss mod spawn, throw a Cloak to blind the minions, duck behind a corner to get your bearings, and then jump out and get toe-to-toe as quickly as possible. Fortunately, these guys are glass cannons -- they sure can dish it out, but they can't take much punishment.
 ==Parting notes==

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:22, 5 January 2007
Line 789:		Line 789:

	==Playing strategies: the art of Knighthood==		==Playing strategies: the art of Knighthood==
		+
		+	The Shadow Knight is fun, durable, and a very capable killer, but you can't play her like she's a paladin or melee barb. She is still an assassin, and on her own doesn't have the skill-based life boosts of a barb or druid, or defense boosts of a barb or paladin or even sorc except for a temporary and rather unimpressive boost when Cloak is up, and neither does she have the blocking bonuses of a pally so needs to divert more points to dex that would otherwise go to vit. Her durability lies in crowd management, mobility, and sneak attacks, not in being able to take vast amounts of pummeling.
		+
		+	You will need to do a fair amount of hotkey switching between Cloak, Mind Blast, Death Sentry, and Dragon Flight, so make sure those are close together on your keyboard. As shown above in my profile of Knight_Shadow, I use QASD for these four skills which puts me close to both my potion hotkeys (1-4) and the reveal items button (alt). I put my left click hotkeys -- zeal, berserk, and blade fury -- and my buffs and minion summon on the F keys since I don't need to access them as often. Use whatever is comfortable for you, just try to avoid having to range all over the keyboard to switch between your commonly used hotkeys.
		+
		+	I am considering rearranging my hotkeys, however, and might decide on a different setup, putting DF on the left button and zeal on the right. This is how I have my whirlwind assassin set up (with WW instead of zeal of course) and I don't think it would take too much getting used to. You'd need to take care not to accidentally DF into mobs when you don't want to either by changing between left click hotkeys (maybe between DF and berserk), or by moving around steering with right click with zeal on the right mouse button, which will let you auto-attack any critter within your weapon's range (a handy trick much envied by aura-bearing paladins who have to leave zeal on the left side). The only real drawback to this setup is that in order to read boss mods you would have to remember to let go of the button and hover over the monster, and it would involve even more hotkey switching, so it could be difficult if your finger dexterity isn't up to the task.
		+
		+	Anyway, the key to this build is crowd control, crowd control, crowd control. If you are playing in a lower difficulty level or in a strong party or with exceptionally good gear, you may be able to get away with just running (or DFing) up to things and smacking the heck out of them, and that is plenty of fun, but for the most part you will need to make monster management key. Luckily, assassins in general shine at this.
		+
		+	'''General Tip #1:''' Don't play alone.
		+	This doesn't mean you can't solo. In fact the Shadow Knight, like most assassin builds, is great at soloing. But don't leave town without your merc and shadow minion. They are very helpful for helping kill monsters and taking the heat off of you. I love my rogue merc: she gives me ranged backup and her Inner Sight does wonderful things for my chance to hit.
		+
		+	'''General Tip #2:''' Speed kills (monsters that is).
		+	Get yourself to the fastest zeal you are able to. The faster your attack, the less likely it is that monsters can get a hit in. And a fast zeal is fun too.
		+
		+	'''General Tip #3:''' If it can't see you, it can't hurt you.
		+	Cloak of Shadows is great for shutting down a mob. Then you can sneak up, drop a couple of Death Sentries, and DF into their midst, giggling maniacally as you proceed to merrily zeal away. (The giggling is optional.)
		+
		+	'''General Tip #4:''' If it's stunned or converted, it can't hurt you.
		+	If you start to get swarmed, spam Mind Blast. This should make things much more manageable. Bosses can't be converted or stunned, but their minions sure can be, and that can make a big difference. While taking on whole packs at a time is fun and in fact works very well since zeal hits multiple targets and Death Sentry works best when monsters are pretty close together and near other dead monsters, you still don't want too many things hitting you at once, so use mind blast as needed to keep those packs manageable.
		+
		+	'''General Tip #5:''' A cold, stupid, blind, scared, bleeding monster is a good monster.
		+	Special effects are your friend. Cold damage will cause some critters to shatter, but you should still have plenty left over to blow up. The monster flee on the "Passion" runeword can occasionally be annoying, but the flee can also help keep you from getting too swarmed, and if a monster flees too far you can always DF onto it.

	===The Shadow Knight as a party person: enjoying and contributing to a group outing===		===The Shadow Knight as a party person: enjoying and contributing to a group outing===