Hiya Lisa,
As a former SK owner and powerleveler to some insanely twinked toons, I can hopefully give you some advice on your shadowknight. You're probably still around level 17 to mid 20's so if you have some plat to spend, you can get some descent to good gear in the bazaar for pretty cheap.
First things first, HP and AC are Gods to an SK. All other stats can take a flying leap backwards if it means sacrificing either of these all important stats. But if you wish to look for gear with a "tanking" SK in mind, look for AGI, STA, STR, DEX items in that order. Here's why
Agility = Raises Armor class and the ability to dodge incoming attacks all together. 30 AGI may allow you to avoid a 90hp attack all together so this helps emensely.
Stamina = Increases hitpoints and the ability to mitigate damage. It won't do either well until higher levels but 4hp for every 1 sta does add up and getting hit for 89hp instead of 92 does add up after a while.
Strength = Raises attack power and the cap to hit. instead of hitting for 54, a higher strength will allow you to hit for 57. its not much but every little bit counts.
Dexterity = At low levels, increasing this stat means you will learn Weapon skills faster (2HB, 1HS etc) so getting some gear that has some high Dex wouldn't hurt in the least. This skill should be the least of your worries but that doesn't mean ignore it
As for Weapons,
Let me first stress to you the UBER importance of practicing on all of your weapon skills.
1HS, 1HB, 2HS, 2HB and Piercing
There are good weapons for each of these types for SK's so it would be a shame if you won the Plane of Time SK 1HB weapon only to find you have 13 skill in it. Since you're still at a low level (which is a good thing btw), you can still correct any mistakes you've made in gear/weapons/quests/faction. If you are still in your high teens and low/mid 20's in terms of levels, look for weapons in the bazaar that have mediocre damage but high delay. I'll explain why. Getting a 50 damage 40 delay weapon is going to do crap for you since you're weapons cap in damage output until you reach certain levels. Did you notice that the sporiali defender suddenly hit(s) harder at level 20 than it did at level 18 and 19? Thats because you "dinged" into your new level cap which I believe is around 100-110hp.
If you are confused, just look at it this way. Look for all types of weapons with VERY fast delay (between 20-30) and damage of no more than about 25-35. These weapons are only temporary as once you "ding" into your next damage cap at around level 28 or so, you'll want to upgrade your weapons again to slightly higher damage output. Whats the point of having a 50 damage weapon if the damage cap makes it only a 25 damage weapon. Makes sense?
You'll have 5 or so Damage caps (lvl 10, 20, 28, 35ish, and 45) until you reach level 51 when you're damage cap is removed and you can hit for full damage. This is far down the road but something to look forward too.
BTW, if you can afford it, there is a very nice 1HS sword that drops in Walls of Slaughter that if you can afford it (12K on my server last I checked back in August), it would serve you VERY well even at lower levels. The damage/delay ratios even when level capped make it a surprizingly excellent weapon at all levels of play. Sorry, don't know the name of it off hand.
Good luck to you Lisa,
SK's are a fun class to be. I LOVED my Iksar SK until I recently retired.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa <lisab38@...>
To: EverQuest@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:52:35 -0000
Subject: [EverQuest] Re: SK Help ????
--- In EverQuest@yahoogroups.com, "STG2(SW) Pierce" <piercer@d...>
wrote:
>
Thanks for the info :) Will look into that--My SK is only Level 17
atm so not even sure if she has the "casting darkness" spell yet.
Right now I have "clinging darkness" but alot of the higher level
mobs are resisting my spells and its really frustrating.
The weapon we have now is a Sporielli Defenders Blade??? it does 28
damage with +5 DEX but that is all---so I should go with a better
stat weapon?? with more HP/AC ???
Thanks !!!