Hard to say. Really depends on what level/armor/play style you are. Are you D/C/B/A/S grade? What armor/weapons do you use? Do you play for PVE or PVP?
I am LV 60. The only Tatoo I got right now is +Int-Men to help out with my Debuffs. At A Grade I will be using Dark Crystal Heavy Set and Sirras Blade.
DC Heavy Set is the worst A grade armor u can get when it comes to xping a tank. Try B.W Heavy, NM Heavy or even Maj Heavy depending on your budget for better results.
You need to increase your P.Atk in order to kill mobs faster and lvl up quicker. +STR/-CON works well. How much you'll be the judge of that depending on your equip overall and the buffs you gonna have when you xp.
If you plan on making use of the new vanguard transformation that comes out you could also try Tallum... +8% attack speed of tallum, then +8% attack speed from +4 (or better) kesh*kesh would certainly help a tank level a little quicker.
DC Heavy fits my play style so thats what I got. I mainly Tank XP Parties for my Alliance so I dont really need a boost to P.ATK. DC Heavy gives my +50% to Paralyze (TOI Mobs & DVC Mobs love to 333 so this is needed), +4% to Heal and +18% to Shield Block. Its has a -2 Str +2 Con which I think is good because me being a Dark Elf I need a boost to Con. Also I dont plan on going Vanguard right now maybe down the road.
Nightmare Heavy is nice but it does not give any % to Shield Block and thats not good. I just got a skill at LV 60 that give me Shield Block from all directions. With Bless Shield and Advanced Block I will be much better with DC Heavy than with Nightmare. Also I am no intrested in any of the sets that dont come with Shields because like I said Shield Block is a must for Tanks.
First off if you got -men then you are doing something wrong.
Secondly DC is pretty terrible.
Thirdly I always used some combination of +str -dex -con on my SK. Till high 70ies i was on +5str -3dex -2con I think and then switched to +4str -4dex later on.
My suggestion is get tallum or maj (or NM to not lower your con) and focus on your sirra and you'll actually deal some damage in your parties and be able to duo really well with a buffer. I just suppose that you constantly have VR in parties so you really don't need to worry about the max HP^^
At least not at low lvls, once you tank harder spots (ok well, mostly once you tank hellbound^^ and that will take quite a while) you are in S grade anyway. And then you can still get IC and a FB /Health (which actually deals good dmg even without focus cause elemental stones = nice).
But then again, if you really insist on being a "pure tank" then get DC heavy, get -str +con dyes (and -str +dex if you really wanna gimp yourself) and a sirra /health ^^
edit: Sirra's can't get focus it seems O_o I was convinced it had that option... Then again I never really bothered with top A grade weapons anyway so meh^^ Cross the "sirra /focus" and put "sirra /health" in there then...
You could also consider haste I suppose.
I'd say haste if you switch to an FB at 76 and health if you plan to keep the sirra beyond 76.
Of course I got -Men. Cant do -Wis because I am not a mage. I said that I dont care for Str because I will be Tanking for my Alliance XP Parties. Trying to turn a Tank into a DD is just not gonna happen. Now with Vanguard things may be different but as of right now a Tank should be what it is. A Tank. You saying that DC Heavy sucks but can you say why? How would I be gimped? You cannot expect somebody to go the route you went just because you are higher level because it seems like to me you are the one thats gimped. There is no one way in this game. Its all about how you play and your play style.
I've honestly saw very few SKs (can't name any offhand at all actually) who have wore DC heavy set. I think it's mainly due to the benefits of wearing it aren't really as helpful as some of the benefits the others give. Majestic gives stun resist which is really helpful in a lot of the 65+ areas, and most catacombs. Nightmare gives sleep/hold resist and increase P.Atk., Tallum gives bleed/poison resist, 8% Atk Speed, and allows u to go over the 50% weight limit (which is very helpful as an SK with its low Con ^^). I've only fought a handful of mobs that have any type of paraylsis, and your setup doesn't sound like you plan to PVP much, so Dark Crystal to me doesn't really make a lot of sense to use.
Let me say this again. I am a Tank so I will not be using Tallum Heavy or Majestic Heavy because they do not come with Shields and that means no Shield Block % and I am ot trying to be a DD. I am only talking about Nightmare Heavy and Dark Crystal Heavy. Nightmare gives a + to P.ATK. I do not need any + to P.ATK because I will not be playing the role of a DD. I will be playing the role of a Tank. Nightmare does not give any kind of Shield Block %. That is the biggest downside of Nightmare Armor. Dark Crystal gives a +18% so imagine that with Aegis that give 360 Degree Shield Block and Buffed with Bless Shield and Advanced Block. Every time we XP in TOI and DVC there are mobs that Anchor so the 50% to Paralyze will help. Now I have shown you why I am going DC Heavy and I have also show you that the Armor does not suck no matter what all the Monkey See Money Do people tell you. Find your own way because people are what they are, they are people and people can always be wrong.
Oh, yea. IGN Muvo on Bartz Server. From the Streets to Elite.
The thing that makes DC suck is the -str and the low base pdef.
Sure it blocks more often and therefore has about the same pdef on average as NM (depending on buffs) but str/patk are simply more important at your lvl than dex.
If you got VR up you should hardly ever need heals in parties in ToI if you got a halfway decent damage output and know how to pull/controll mobs^^
I used Doom/BW and Dama /Focus up into my 70ies (because I couldn't afford anything else) and then switched to NM later (actually I wanted maj but my clan already had like 4 people waiting for maj and noone for NM, so yea) and I never ever had problems tanking any of the high lvl spots (at that time ToI/Deep WoA/IT later Pagan/MoS etc).
And a Dama has considerably less damage than a Sirra^^
If you want the easy way then go -str +con because you can easily afford to make bad pulls then. If you want the efficient way that helps your party more then go for a damage setup and pull intelligently.
Your choice. I could honestly care less which way you take tho.
(this pretty much holds true until you tank like HB and such, before that the DPS of mobs is nothing too impressive)
dont ever - ur dex on a tanker that so dum im sorry to say u lose ur block rate most dont get sk cuz they have nuker debuffer dd tanker so people try to pick one ill go dd ill go tanker ill try the nuker
NOOOOOOOOOOO dam it u all in one u have to learn to us it all in one be the tanker/dd/nuker debuffer if u can do that u will understand the true power of the sk u have to use all ur skill u have if u do u will see and im sick of people post things on sk that never ever played a sk ever its so dam dum
DC heavy is nice but i didnt us it cuz of the low pdef then the NM heavy
i have pvp other sks in DC with my NM same buffs same lvl and i won every time i said ok ill change to my thullam and i rocked faster then the NM then after i did that to the sk he sold his dc and got maj heavy he lasted long in that then his DC was werid
my tatto set up is this -5 str +5 con nothing esle if i ever get buaim and focue on my FB and it to + 7 lol never but if i could ill change to -8 str + 4 dex + 4 con then not sure on my wit or int i might go + int if -ing my wit didnt slow my casting that much but if i had buaim i would go - wit + in by 4
Since I can't be bothered to spend too much time trying to make sense of that gibberish I'll just comment on one part: Dex does not really affect shield block rate to any noticable degree. If l2calc is still correct when it comes to that then the difference we are talking about is -1% block rate for -4dex (or -3% block rate when buffed with bless shield6).
That is nothing.
Dex only affects a few stats noticably and those are evasion, accuracy and run speed.
Evasion is useless on a tank, accuracy can be offset via augments (you can easily get 1-2 acc there) and boss jewels and run speed is decently high on a DE even with the same dex as a human because they have higher base run speed.
Str on the other hand directly AND significantly affects your dps/patk so better not lower it while you are still low lvl (76 and under, or preferably 78 and under^^)
true u right moap doesnt seem like much but most sk and i have pvped some with - dex +4 str like u said to do and they cant even out damge me even close
i kill them will i still have about 7k out of my 8k+ hp and they are died only reason im have 7k is cuz of TOD(touch of death)
oh yeah and dex also does ur crt rate and ur atck speed and phyical skill reuse times are based on ur atck speed
Yea umm i have a SK sub and im just using what i can get for C and B but for A grade I'll be using Tallum heavy and NM sheild and watever top A sword is. Im not changing anything so i just want a straight up answer. What tats do i want for PVE and END GAME PVP. Please and thx =D
I like how the op ask for advice then told everyone why he wasnt going to listen...
1st of all DC = worst heavy set in game... if your into the effects of DC get a doom set instead its a much nicer tank set
NM isnt much better than DC for a SK gives you a little added atk but dmg shield and sleep/hold resist effects arent usfull in most cases...
Tallum is a good choice for dd/tank style - helps hold agro in pve, helps dmg in small scale pvp, keeps posin and bleed off almost perfectly... con is the pdef is pretty low but still not a bad set
if your main goal is tanking my personal choice would be Maj
it has good pdef,stun resist, acc and patk(keep agro)
the fact that is has no shield bonus doesnt make a much differnce after you have agis and full shield masterys you will be blocking most attacks w/o the % to block bonus as long as you dont -dex to much and you can use a NM shield wich has more def than the DC so that will also help even it out
recap... Maj >Doom > Tallum/NM > DC atleast for what your trying to do... imo
as for tats +2 int/-2 wit... +4 int is nice but your cast speed is [censored]
physical tats depend on what set you use... -dex and -con are both bad ideas for pure tanking but if you realy want a phys tat +2str/-2con
For my setup i go as much DD as I can, I still can tank raidbosses pretty well. +5str - con and +4 INT- 4 wit. If you think cast speed is slow just get a som with acu works pretty much the same. As for pve set just wear tallum u can carry more shots and kill faster. As for Maj its good for pvp as well as pve but the - con makes u carry less shots for pve.
Dark Crystal: This set is pretty much a doom set with about 50more p.def but with almost 400less Hp and -6% shield block. Your as well getting a doom Set and going for +6 eventually.
Nightmare: i see alot of Sk's with this. +4%p.atck is nice. +2con -2dex is nice. But the shield bonus is crap and root/sleep resist is meh at best.
Tallum: This is about the best set for PvE Solo/Small Group leveling. +8%atck speed and +2str is completly win.
Majestic Plate: This is PvP armour. 50% stun resist. 4%p.atck and +2str-2con. the -2con dosnt matter because the stun resist.
So as a break down
PvE Small group = tallum
PvE Tank = Doom OE'd
PvP = Majestic
I've leveled 2 SK's. The first one i leveled in majestic with a health DLE oe'd. This was because i only did small groups (Me + brother whom was a BD. he had an SE and i had a PP. so we out of grouped them) We leveled to 78 this way.
i went -2str +2dex. this gives more runs peed in PvP. The reason for majestic is because the amount of stun classes out there. A stun will kill us if landed at the right time. Also root/sleep is worthless since were nuker bait most the time to a good nuker.
This also has high armour.
My second SK (71 atm) I have leveled in Tallum plate with dama*tallum+4 and +5str-5con. OOP the SE and PP (brother quit). With vanguard stance i do ALOT of damage. in fact i have more p.atck and attack speed then a BD (note this is with pp, se and bd dances on both, in same gear).
I have tanked a 65 Raid Boss in this, though i wouldnt advise it. I have also easy tanked group with it as well (using a common DLE and DC shield)
The third option if you tank and solo i would recomend still taking Majestic. For the simple fact it outweighs NM. both have 4%patck. both have same armour. One has +2con -2dex one has +2str -2con.
The +str will help you hold Agro, and -4 con, to be honest, isnt a whole heap of hp PvE because you will have a healer and VR. in this set i wouldnt use any tattoo's.
So basically the Tattoo's are based upon what you mainly do and what you wear.
personally i find that you shouldnt play with the dark elf stats too much as they are pretty well set when it comes to stats, the only tatto i ever bothered to wear was +3 dex -3 str, now while some people say thats crap thats crap there was a few things i took into consideration, first being dark elf con sucks and you really cant afford to drop it any lower than it already is otherwise you will find yourself being stunned to hell and back, dex increases crit + speed+attack speed and while they are only minor increases u will still have a Pattack thats higher than that of most tanks and still have hex to compensate. majestic heavy, sword with health(since hp is low as tanks go) with +3 dex -3 str allows u to have decent damage and also lets you keep up with pesky archers or nukers who want to try and kite you. the maj gives dark elves much needed stun resist and increased accuracy, after playing this class for about 3 years im yet to find a better setup.