Difference between revisions of "Dadbat's Solo Self Found Iksar Shadow Knight"

Revision as of 18:39, 20 November 2024

Beginnings

This began more of a journal than a guide, but I decided to make a Wiki for others if they ever felt a desire to do something similar. This is the story of Dadbat and my learning process during my first foray into the Solo Self Found (SSF) arena. I had read and seen a bit of what Barthorn had done, and decided I would attempt to do something similar. I chose a Shadow Knight because I actually have never played the class in any iteration of EQ, but it would also give me a few more tools to work with. Iksar because outside Dwarf they are the best race and with the availability of the Crusader and Dreadscale Armor would give some potential guidance on how to approach gearing. I also wanted to play in Kunark more than I have and explore places I haven't been before.

Leveling Path

Some of these areas will be well known to me, some not at all but it has been good to explore the game more than I have previously and more focused on completing quests and tradeskills than I have since 2000.

Levels 1-5

Field of Bone

Nothing surprising here right. FoB is considering maybe the best newbie area in the game.

Collect Bone Chips for Bone Chips Field of Bone

• This stops giving valuable experience at 4 so you can save up a few bone chips for your level 9 pet.

Collect Scaled curskin for Curscale Armor Quest -- This gives us our first set of armor pieces.

• This stops giving valuable experience at 7-8. The curskin are also heavy, but the combined bag is lighter than 8 skins themselves so you can maybe have 16 (8 combined, 8 noncombined) skins on you for a turn in. I would prioritize this because of the armor and experience returned.

If you want continue to stay in Field of Bone until 12 before we move to Kurn's but I had seen plenty of FoB so I decided to head somewhere different.

Levels 6-10

Lake of Ill Omen

So before we make our way to LOIO, make sure to stop and train Bash if you are level 6.

You should also pick up our first true Crusader's Tests quest, so make sure to chat with Lord Gikzic and get your Sarnak Head Pack.

• Time to go Sarnak Hunting.

To be honest, I did not know there was a newbie area like this in LOIO. I probably should have known, but FoB has always been the default that I never bothered with LOIO, Warslik, or Swamp. I am glad I came here though because I actually think LOIO is more enjoyable at least on this journey.

So our first hunting grounds are going to be to the left of Cabilis and up to #2 on the map. We are looking for A Sarnak Hatchling. These share spawns, and are do get killed by the roaming goblins so you might have to do a bit of work to get them. Once we get 4 heads, make sure to combine them first and go turn in the bag to get your Knave's Khukri. This will be your main weapon until Kurn's or maybe a Combine weapon if your plat is healthy enough.

• You need to be careful of the the small building because it does house a 3 spawn of goblins that can contain A goblin hunter who can be level 10. Also be aware of Scalebone Skeletons that path from the ruins to the City edges.

From here, you can either head back to Lake or head to FoB. For this, we stuck around in Lake.

Depending on how lucky you were with Hatchlings, you might have to continue to grind on the sabertooths, goblins, and generic skeletons (non decay/scalebone) until we reach level 8. At 8, it's comfortable enough to be able to run the goblins in the ruins at #2 to the guards to get them to have a split timer. Level 8 might take quite a bit of time here because it will involve some running back and forth, but stick it out and get to Level 9 to where having a pet and spells makes these much easier to deal with.

Once you reach level 9, head back into Cabilis and grab your spells. Since you are in LOIO it is closer to grab them from the Necro spell vendors than heading back to East Cabilis unless you also want to add a point or two to your spell casting abilities to get them off the ground.

When you are ready, head back out to LOIO and let's get a buffer into 10 before we begin the super fun task of Blacksmithing and head out on our first stat gear camping adventure.

Blacksmithing

So before we go and spend time at our first gear camp we should work on our blacksmithing and maybe get a piece or two of Banded. Hopefully you were blessed with many Iksar Targ Shield's

I followed the leveling guide here Blacksmithing except I just skipped on the Large Lanterns and went from Scalers to Skewers.

If you don't have enough platinum to get to the first set of trivial levels for banded, that's fine. I didn't either. I think it takes about 150pp (I wish I had paid a bit more attention) to get to 115-120. I took a gamble on making a few 1-2 sheet pieces at the end at skill 104 and didn't fail. I wouldn't bother with doing the cloak or waist and maybe the neck because those are our next item camps.

Because our next Crusader Test weapon won't be until at least 15, you might also want to craft a Skyiron Fer`Esh or other similar Iksar Cultural you fancy.

Wherever you end up, just know we will come back to this once we have a bit more plat saved up.

Levels 10-12

Before you head out of Cabilis make sure to train *Dodge* at level 10.

Our first item camp. We will be looking for A scaled prowler. He drops two items that we will be picking up Scaled Prowler Belt and Scaled Prowler Cloak.

I only recently found out about these items as I was scrolling the Wiki looking for paths of drops, and some of the research here was new to me and there was conflicting information on his spawning. I will only share what I found.

See the attached image as his spawn points. There are actually 2 pathing a scaled wolf or a scaled wolf hunter from here both really close to each other. When you get there you will notice a small sloped section. One spawns there, and the other spawns to the east just on the ridge by a tree. They will path back eventually, but there are usually only 2-3 wolves up at a time in this west valley of FOB so it is fairly easy to find them and start the hunting. They will get killed if they encounter a pathing Iksar Marauder.

Hold these two spawns down and in any downtime you can either kill other mobs or visit a potential spawn at roughly 1500, 2500. This guy is static, but is also killed by roaming Iksar. I never was able to get a Prowler spawn here, so unsure if it is actually one.

I was able to get about 30% into 12 before I got both pieces. I ended up with 3 belts before my 1 cloak. You might get lucky and sell the extra belts for 10p. I was able to trade one for 2 stacks of bone chips which I then sold. The other just ended up being vendored. All extra to Blacksmithing!

You are close to Warslik zone if you get into trouble. The Hunter's run faster than strafe speed as an fyi.

Now that we have our first stat items, it is time to head into Kurn's for a few more.

• Continue to work on blacksmithing as you have time, need a break, zone overcamped etc..

Levels 12-20

Kurn's Tower & Swamp of No Hope

Hopefully you made it to level 12. If so, make sure to head into Cabilis and train your Meditate skill. If you aren't 12 yet, you can attempt to play in the entrance of Kurn's or stay outside and looking for various mobs on the outskirts of the pit.

Focus is on the entrance. If there are a few people here this floor can easily be cleared before respawns so it you might have to be quick on the tag. I preferred to use the secret room and pull back to it. Scalebones will start to green at 14? I think, but there are plenty of spawns that this floor can take you to 16 no problem. Keep an eye out for Greater Scalebone on the stairs to the next level up. These have the chance to drop A Glowing Skull. You need this for two things. They are no rent, so if you do get on to drop make sure you throw on Invis v Undead head down a level to where the A skeletal cook spawns. If you are lucky and he is up, you can hand him the skull for The Skull of Torture. This item has stats that probably shouldn't be in Kurn's, but that's ok because there will be another one we look for soon. The Cook is not on faction, so the only thing you have to worry about is other skeletons in the room when you turn in. Most likely they will just have the Burynai around. Keep the cook in mind because we will come back here to camp him for a shield upgrade.

Levels 20-26

Levels 26-?

Levels 40-50

Levels 50+

Footnotes