Who's solo better SK or BD, some answeres!

Hello,

after I read the question a few times “who can solo better BD or SK?”, I’ll give my point of view to the forum. Maybe I can clear one or another thing as an „high“ lvl ST....
True I never played an BD, but I played with them over a long time.

Let me start with the SK
First of all… SK is a Tank class, don’t be shocked about that news!
It’s true SKs are the most dmg dealing (offensive) Tanks in L2, more news!
(but I still believe DAs do quiet a very good job with their kitten too, but this shall not be a thread about the comparison between DA and SK)

As a Tank class you will never solo as fast as any DD class in L2, hard but true… I would say the solo abilities are higher than the buffer/healer classes, but much lower than the true DD/Summoner classes.

All depends on a few factors!
a.) the cubes…
expensive?
Not really, cause you can buy D crys from the market for 550-600a
With lvl 74 you’ll need 26 D crys, means a total cost of 15.600a, that’s not much cause the mobs drops enough to compensate that.

for party’s?
You will need in general only the poltergeist cube, if you have a weak party more, but 95% of the time you’ll be fine with the blue one. Or simple none and Hex…

for solo?
Most of the time you will need the poltergeist cube, cause you’ll love it.
Sometimes you need all three cubes, but I don’t like the viper (poison) cube, cause he’s good for PvP, but for solo hunting he is much to slow (DoT). Anyway you’ll need with higher lvls any dmg you can grap.

In a word the cubes are your special survival kit in PvP, for partys you need one up to all three cubes, even so for solo. Cubes are the salt in the soup of any true SK/ST.

b.) the tattoos
In my opinion there is only one maybe two useful dyes for an SK.
+STR and maybe +DEX
The +DEX is an option but I would not prefer it.
The +STR is god for solo (believe me you will need it after lvl 70+ soloing)
I would not recommend to touch your mental abilities, but I am quiet sure the opinions about that are spread over a wide field.
The con on +STR –CON is you lose CP and HP which you need for PvP, RB tanking, sieges and more.

c.) the weapon
For PvP and tanking, I would always prefer (since C5) a health weapon.
For solo a focus based weapon is your best choice.

Here the biggest disadvantage lie, cause there is no sword with focus in A grade, you can go for an Meteor Shower, but it’s very slow and has a bad crit rate. That’s the difference, cause any DD class has his damage-dealing weapon: Duals, Bows, Poles, Fists, Daggers and so on…

I would recommend OE Damascus /focus or simple a DLE /health…
But when you hit the 76 you’ll hardly find mobs you can solo.

Some reasons:
Mobs have x2, x3 or x4 HP which takes years and lots of shots to kill…
Even with the S grade Forgotten Blade /focus weapon you’ll make a continuously minus in adena/shot. Especial when you need your drains to keep up your HP.
Most mobs have close combat skills, in general Stun.. that sucks, believe me…
Many mobs have range skills like DoTs that’s hurts a lot and you get continuously under attack cause you can’t kill them fast enough to avoid the extra-dmg they gave to you, so your bonus HP as a Tank keeps you alive, but you will still be ****** if you see how DDs can lvl.

d.) the equipment
The pro is you can use both BW and Doom Heavy, one for solo, one for PvP/Tanking.
With A grade things get more complicated and again the opinions are spread over a wide field.
Some swear to Majestic Heavy for PvP and soloing, some swear to DC for Tanking and PvP, other swear to Nightmare… All has pros and cons.
I’m using a Nightmare Heavy and I am fine with it all over the time, PvP, Tanking, soloing…

One example:
I think you can optimise your solo abilities with a Majestic Heavy but I think loosing more CP/HP for PvP, especially since Hate works in PvP is a bad choice.

The jewels:
No, not everybody can afford boss jewels and I am believing it’s one of the worst updates for L2 ever…
But no discussion: Baium, Ant Queen and Zaken jewels not only helps a lot, they simple rule… Hate that stuff…

e.) the support
That’s the most important part… without any buff support you will never be able to solo without getting ****** all over the time in higher lvls…
The bad thing is: SKs need both, SE and Prophet… cause you must have the Empower for your drain attacks and you need the Vamp Rage for your melee attacks. You need Haste, Zerk, Magic Shield, resistance buffs and so on…

The god thing is: if you have full support you can still solo even in high lvls but it’s still expensive like hell…


For the BD

I saw BDs solo up to lvl 78 with no time.
They had support (SE and Prophet)
They had +4 STR, +4DEX –8CON
They had Majestic Heavy

Any BD can solo much better than any SK if they are at the same lvl and have the same support and so on…
True they have no Cubes, but they have the same buffs, more dmg output and their dances…
Cause of their faster killing speed they are not getting hit as often as an SK, so they lose less HP which they can get back easier with VR and their higher P.Atk and crits.

*This is not the wisdoms last answer
*There are many opinions out their
*One can not compare a Tank Class with a DD/Support Class like 1:1

<singsong voice> You ain't soloing if you have an SE or a prophet.

With an SE in tow for VR just about anyone can 'solo'.

True, but it is an illusion to beliefe you can solo an SK like any other DD, that's what is the main popint I made... :)

Yes, a real DD without outside help will just roll over and die...

Tanks can manage health better, and their damage is not that far behind that of a BD if you don't count dances - i.e. it is not that far behind, say, that of a dagger and definitely not behind that of a SwS.

Battleroar = all the HP managing you need.

Tyrants and Destroyers can manage HP quite well too. Tyrants cos they have their totems and Destros thanks to the survival skills and Battleroar.

But on topic, with SE+PP buffs, any tank/melee class, even if they're not primary DDs, can solo till the end of time.

if you don't count dances

That is if you had said: play a Tank class (SK) without Heavy Armor or cubes.
Dances are what a BD is made for, why should he hunt without them ^^

But on topic, with SE+PP buffs, any tank/melee class, even if they're not primary DDs, can solo till the end of time.

Doesn't matter what support a Tank class has, he will never be aible to solo as a DD. He is still slower than any other DD class esp. in high lvl range.
I never said he can't solo, I only said he is not as good as a DD including BD.
Maybe I didn't found the best hunting spot for an 76+ ST with Forgotten Balde /focus yet without loosing tons of adena. I am open for advise.

A properly set up SK can solo much better than a BD. They have drains which actually give them HP back, they don't take rediculous amounts of damage from mobs, and they do plenty of damage - +5 Str, Maj / BW armour and a Focus Dama you will be soloing forever as a SK.

As a BD I had to sit every 3 mobs or so if you are true soloing, not much more spamming GHPs.

SKs can go for a lot longer, doing a little less damage, but taking a lot less. Slow and steady wins the race.