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Guide to the KNOC.
Again, I didn't write this one either..
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This guide is not finished yet. I will continue step by step. If you have additional info and correction please post in this thread. I will add them to the post and give the credits
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1. How to acquire the prerequisites
2. What attributes / skills do KNoCs gain per level?
3. What Abilites do you get in this school? (* Spoiler * do not read if you like to be surprised what you get after levelup )
4. Should I use the summoned sword or should I use a crafted one?
5. Should I use the summoned shield or should I use a crafted one?
6. Which Spells are useful / can I use?
7. Can KNoCs cast resurrection?
8. Do we have an epic spell?
9. The Blade of Rending
10. What kind of Armor can I use and at what level?
11. What is the best way to tech my Jewels and Armor?
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1 What Prerequisites do I need to join the KNoC school?
200 One Hand Slash (usually done by doing 20 levels Warrior)
160 Summoning (usually done by doing 20 levels of Mage)
1. How to acquire the prerequisites
It's up to you whether you like to do the levels simultaneously or one school after the other.
But I recommend to start off with the Warrior School. There are certain advantages by doing Warrior first, and this is above all the gained Health per Level.
Also you get some nice skills for melee weapons.
You will see that after you got your Warrior to 20 (or 19 if you want to save portal costs) you will do a lot of your early levels by just doing melee damage, instead of spells.
So be sure to equip yourself with a nice weapon when you level your mage.
After you meet the requirements go and see your trainer in Tazoon (located in the marketplace dome upper floor).
2. What attributes / skills do KNoCs gain per level?
One Hand Slash 10
Two Hand Slash 9
Armor Use 9
Evasion 9
Magic Defense 8
Shield 10
Summoning 7
Dexterity 7
Focus 5
Health 20
Power 5
Strength 9
3 .What Abilites do you get in this school? (* Spoiler * do not read if you like to be surprised what you get after levelup )
Block 1
Power Strike I 2
Parry 3
Neutral Stance 5
Combat Stance: Green 5
Defensive Style I 6
Health Boost I 7
Defend Other I 8
Coordinated Strike I 9
Critical Strike I 10
Combat Stance: Blue 10
Power Strike II 12
Combat Stance: Red 15
Employ Shield 18
Coordinated Strike II 18
Power Style I 20
Summon Blade of Creation I 20
Summon Shield of Creation I 20
Power Strike III 22
Multistrike I 24
Gift Slots: Two 25
Summon Blade of Creation II 25
Critical Strike II 26
Defend Other II 28
Coordinated Strike III 28
Summon Blade of Creation III 30
Summon Shield of Creation II 30
Power Strike IV 32
Blessing of Istara I 34
Summon Blade of Creation IV 35
Defensive Style II 36
Block Bonus 38
Coordinated Strike IV 38
Cleave I 40
Summon Blade of Creation V 40
Summon Shield of Creation III 40
Power Strike V 42
Melee Flurry I 44
Summon Blade of Creation VI 45
Critical Strike III 46
Defend Other III 48
Coordinated Strike V 48
Multistrike II 50
Gift Slots: Three 50
Summon Shield of Creation IV 50
Summon Blade of Creation VII 50
Power Strike VI 52
Power Style II 54
Blessing of Istara II 54
Summon Blade of Creation VIII 55
Banish Armor 56
Health Boost II 58
Coordinated Strike VI 58
Summon Shield of Creation V 60
Summon Blade of Creation IX 60
Power Strike VII 62
Melee Flurry II 64
Summon Blade of Creation X 65
Critical Strike IV 66
Defensive Style III 66
Defend Other IV 68
Coordinated Strike VII 68
Summon Blade of Creation XI 70
Summon Shield of Creation VI 70
Power Strike VIII 72
Multistrike III 74
Blessing of Istara III 74
Gift Slots: Four 75
Summon Blade of Creation XII 75
Coordinated Strike VIII 78
Cleave II 80
Summon Blade of Creation XIII 80
Summon Shield of Creation VII 80
Power Strike IX 82
Power Style III 84
Summon Blade of Creation XIV 85
Critical Strike V 86
Defend Other V 88
Coordinated Strike IX 88
Melee Flurry III 90
Summon Blade of Creation XV 90
Summon Shield of Creation VIII 90
Power Strike X 92
Blessing of Istara IV 94
Summon Blade of Creation XVI 95
Defensive Style IV 96
Coordinated Strike X 98
Multistrike IV 100
Gift Slots: Five 100
Summon Blade of Creation XVII 100
4. Should I use the summoned sword or should I use a crafted one?
First, your summoned sword is for free. So you do not need to pay any silver to get yourself one. Second your sword is the mightiest onehanded weapon in game. It's damage output is very good. And it has a nice pulsating light effect. So if you like such gimmicks you shouldn't worry about a crafted sword.
BUT...
with the new techs ingame and the inability to socket your sword we have to do some tests to check out how good the KNoC sword competes against a triple teched mithril sword.
The biggest drawback has always been the absence of sockets... while one can live without the additional One Hand Slash or Parry or Block, it was quite disappointing to not be able to use the WDL crystals.
As it is now, noone knows if we get better crystals. And at the moment I have no reliable data, which could show if a mithril sword with One Hand Slash V, Parry V and a socket does better than the Sword you get at level 100.
Basically I use the KNoC sword, since this is the ability I joined the school for.
5. Should I use the summoned shield or should I use a crafted one?
This is a very hot debated topic. While on the one hand our shield gives good stats, a lot of people say that a good teched shield with the right crystals beats the KNoC shield it's not sure, how the end-result between the 100 shield and a triple teched/socketed mithril shield really is.
What the KNoC shield has got, except it's nice glowing, neon, translucent design is the bonus in ethereal armor.
Yet I miss reliable comparison at the current state.
Basically it's the same with the sword, it's for free and as I chose to join the KNoC school I would feel strange not using the two UNIQUE abilites in this school. Else i could have gone into another school.
But this is personal likeing.
At the current state of the game, the biggest discussion for us KNoCs is whether our summoned sword/shield will compete with the coming techs and crafted gear. The missing sockets being the bigges drawback.
6. Which Spells are useful / can I use?
First you will have noticed, that you only get Summoning as a KNoC which leaves you with just a few Spells
Fiery Spear
Ice Hammer
Flame Attack
You will have to gain a few levels before you can actually use a teched Ice Hammer II or the Flame Attack III/IV.
So the KNoC alone is not really a "Caster" type of class, if you plan on not doing other schools to back up.
But you can use a lot of other spells as a KNoC, too, if you meet the requirements in the skill.
It's up to you, if you rather be the melee type or if you want to go more on the caster side.
If you want to be able to do significant damage (not only be able to cast a spell) you will have to level a caster school, too.
Mage is first choice, since you have a broad selection of skills and spells and already have 20 levels of it. But there are other combinations people use KNoC/Wizard, KNoC/Spiritist, KNoC/Sorcerer...
Would be nice if special schools could post their impressions here, too.
Even if you only plan on going the melee way, I suggest you level your mage to at least 26 to be able to use some of the lower debuff spells, or better (I haven't done that either, yet) level to 36. At 36 Mage you master the multicast ability, which enables you to do some opening damage when soloing or in a group.
Useful spells you can cast at a rather low level of Mage are
- Numbing Haze
- Daunting Mist
- Debase
- Warped Perception
- Binding Crystals
- Stingin' Cold
- Flame Bomb (for mass killing maggots and low level mobs, )
7. Can KNoCs cast resurrection?
Simply said... no.
8. Do we have an epic spell?
Kind of. Since KNoCs get points in Summoning, we are able to go for the Shining Blades Quest.
Start of by collecting the Bitter Pickle Bottle Cap Collection.
The spell itsel requires 750 in Summoning, so you will have to invest some training points in summoning in order to scribe it. This may differ if the level cap is raised, but some points in Summoning won't hurt.
The spell effects are nicely done, but it has a big timer (15 mins??) and the spell animation won't go off each time. Damage Ã? cannot really give info, since I do not have it scribed or uses, but rumours say Dark Cyclone is better.
9. The Blade of Rending
Lady Kendra in Kion gives out a special quest if you have reached a certain level. (someone knows the exact level?)
The reward is a one-handed sword, the Blade of Rending. This weapon has no level cap, so you could equip it on a lvl 1 char. BUT it requires 300 One Hand Slash, makeing it a perfect companion for KNoCs to level up additional schools.
The "Rending Wounds" effect is neglectable at later levels, but nice at the start and it's a good weapon for the first levels of a new school.
10. What kind of armor can I use and at what level?
KNoCs can wear all kinds of armor. But remember that we only get 9 points in armor use per level. So you will have to be f.e. LVL 66 before you can wear LVL 61 armor.
11. What is the best way to tech my Jewels and Armor?
Phew, this is a topic that will differ from person to person. According to other schools you have, whether you like to more caster orientated or tanking, etc....
I suggest you download Matecuss Crafting Calculator to design you own set of Armor/Jewels. It will show you which techs go on which part and also the needed trophies. Your crafter of choice will thank you, and I think it's not useful to do a chart here with all the possibilites to tech.
As a general guideline you have to consider which skills you receive and you should not waste any techs on skills you do not really use. So I will give some examples:
- One Hand Slash
Imho this is the option to go for whenever it is possible. OHS increases your damage output and your ability to deal out damage at all. I generally put OHS on ALL parts that can be teched with it.
- Armor
People seem to think that after gold jewels the armor bonus is neglectable, but now that tier IV/V techs are ingame this is subject to differ. I personally think that the more armor you have the less you get hit. This is even more important when you cannot cast higher tier gifts on your own.
I usually put Armor-tech on all Armor Parts that take it.
- Health
Another difficult question. I like to use Health Jewels for the extra bonus. It's usually one/two hits you can take more.. but others might think it's better to go for Dex/Str/Armor Jewels.
- Parry / Block
Since this cannot be put on any parts we use it's obsolete. But there are some pre-patch Jewels ingame, when it was possible to craft bracelets with Parry/Block. These are a nice gimmick!
- Dexterity
Dexterity is one of the biggest factors for KNoCs, since it helps our Evasion. But I personally prefer the extra health instead of the DEX. Since Smeglor's Stat post a lot of rumour how much extra-dex affects stats has been enlightened.
- Strength
I like to have a little bit of Strength on the parts that do not take One Hand Slash. Since noone really knows how Wards and other Defense techs really work out. I prefer to have some strength instead of Dex since I level my craft school which gives quite good dex bonus. As always there is no "one-way". All your schools affect the stats, but if you are plain KNoC and nothing else you might consider going for Dex instead of Strength.
..... to be continued
