🛡️🔮 **Hex‑Knight**

[near grove]

🛡️🔮 Hex‑Knight

Dark magic meets swordplay. Defense + curses.

For players who:

• Want tanking with a magical twist
• Enjoy curses, drains, and hostile magic
• Like blending blade and blight

Stand armored—let shadows fuel your strikes.

[sour blaze]

Tried one out during the last flash test and it seemed pretty fun. Didn't see a lot other Hex-Knights. Not so sure how they stack up against other classes yet.

[tepid jasper]

Same feedback as Zarp. Was not many Hex-Knights around, but as for gameplay, it felt pretty active and your rotation has some decision points, or at least it did for me. Not sure if I was playing optimal, but rotating the endurnace/mana bar and balancing their stats with the debuff and converting for mana felt fun..its been a month so I can be a bit off on the exact loop.

[regal garnet]

Stamina resources are a bit taxing, spells and abilities are very cool, feel very Shadow knight-like. I am going to focus on this class all weekend.

[sour blaze]

Yes, stamina was the main issue for sure. Only got to lvl 4, so I'm not sure if that gets better or not. It's an interesting choice since stamina usually isn't used for much other than jumping in Everquest/M&M, or at least I think. Because of that, it took me a while to even realize why I couldn't keep using the ability off cooldown that stacks hexes (forgot the name).

[opal phoenix]

It's interesting and I am planning on playing it more, but unless there is some way of massively boosting stamina regen that I'm not aware of yet, stamina costs on abilities needs to be scaled back like 95% lol. It's impossible to sustain actually using your abilities through multiple mobs, and not using them is meh.

[regal garnet]

Sustain solo is hard... Chain pulls can be tricky. I believe shaman and paladins have the ability to "heal" or replenish the stamina of other players.

I will say I have been testing it more and you definitely can't just spam keys. You need to be calculated

I found that I can't put maximum hex on every mob, shield bash and leach strike whenever the refresh timers are up. We definitely have to be more calculated about our actions

[muted dew]

Yeah find a shaman or bard friend, their stam regen buffs are a game changer

[opal phoenix]

box a shaman, got it lol

really though, buffs are good for extended sustain, but it does feel at least at current build a bit too punishing on the resource use is all. But its all early dev and will be tweaked, I'm not stressin it. I like my magic knight still.

[raw relic]

Since this seems to be a "like" EQ SK do they have a minion summon like a necro in later levels?

[hearty osprey]

I feel like this class is broken atm

the spells arent that great compared to other classes

they trying to go like mix between chanter and evil knight feel?

[hearty osprey]

@raw relic so far nothing on the spell merch we can buy

[raw relic]

Maybe in the future. I love having a pet that travels along side you and helps you fight and just "someone" there when you can't seem to get a group going or find while you solo.

[hearty osprey]

They need to work on the class atm

The spells seem weaker comapred to other classes

[ember tiger]

They may have been working on a revamp of the class since they changed the name from Shadow Knight to hex-knight. Let them cook.

[raven edge]

curious what Shadow Step does exactly if anyone gets that far. is it a Charge or gap-closer?

or is it more like Everquest's shadow step which just randomly teleports you somewhere nearby

[tacit fulcrum]

I hope its either of the first guesses because I hated EQ's version

[raven edge]

yeah I only ever used EQ's shadowstep and the wizard variants as a means to get unstuck from geometry or poorly designed terrain. some people used it for kiting in open zones but that always seemed too risky to me

on a tank class i also hope it's the former guess

i really like having movement skills on a tank

[blissful marsh]

will we get FD? and maybe a better wy to hold multiple mobs agro?

oh and stm rly bad atm.

[shadow moat]

Seems like all the tanks are stamina starved

[raven edge]

i think it's fair to say warriors' burst dps are stam limited. got a war-wizard to level 3 and it seems more mana-focused

but paladins get a couple stamina heals so i think theyre less affected

[regal garnet]

I don't have a problem with STA really, if you manage your resources and you have a Bard, Shaman or Paladin in group you are good to go. Soloing something even con, while naked is doable and you use most of your resources. If you have a moderate weapon and armor you can solo yellow cons.

You should have to sit and rest to recover.

To me this sounds right.

I think a lot of the issue people have is not with the HK's resources, but rather that they are using to spamming 3 or 4 keys and expecting this to be sustainable as a result of the hand holding that they have become a custom to

If I was going to do anything with this class as it stands now - don't lower the resource cost - rather make their aggro building abilities generate a little more for the same resources cost.

[raven edge]

i don't have a problem with resource management either but the classes should be balanced

if paladins can spam their smite, HKs shouldnt be limited unless theres some other upside

[regal garnet]

Perhaps paladins need another pass

[shadow moat]

They certainly do

[solemn lotus]

Ok so typically we would get life drain to heal us during combat and a pet minimum

also I think they need to chill on the STA massive drain reduce the drain per usage of spells that use it

Takes lv 4 to get a pull spell dark bolt not sure of that either lol

[regal garnet]

Leach Strike is a melee attack that heals you for the amount of damage it deals.

Yes a pet would be neat.

[regal garnet]

It seems like we don't have a fleshed out kit to level 15. At 12 the only spell we get is shadow step.

[sour blaze]

Tried Paladin this playtest, and they seemed much better than Hex-Knights. At least for the low levels, but it doesn't appear Hex-Knights get much love at the later levels either.

[hearty osprey]

I got to 12, My thoughts are this , if you dont have a paladin or Shaman with the STA buff , you're not really doing much of anything. I feel like they need to work on this class in more depth, the hexes are cool but again feeds off your STA, so if you don't have any classes to fluff ya you're SOL. Think they're trying to go for a tank / dotter class but needs to be worked on for sure. I think this is the last class they're going to work on I heard? So im hoping for a good revamp. Class felt like it needs some work and they're not done working on it, 1 spell at 12 and a bunch of useless ones. Hopefully they get to around to making this class a little better.

WOuld be cool if they put ina leech that converts your mana into sta , kind of like necros get hp to mana, HP to STA .

[languid sandal]

Agree with Duyen here. The entire kit is basically hybrid. While the hexes can technically feed a little mana back, the stamina cost is absurd. Meditate and sit to get back hp/mana but endurance? I do enjoy the back and forth of the hex mechanic but the cost/reward ratio feels severely skewed towards cost.

[tepid jasper]

Leveled to 11.5. Stamina cost has me restricting myself to not using my leach strike ability. I have to be extremely regimented in my ability cost to the point of being a little too strict. Maybe 50% reduction in cost?

Unless the dps gets too high with the attack reset mechanic, but I think would feel better being weaker but more uptime if that is where the good Devs wish to take it

[hearty osprey]

I think they havent touched this class much / are figuring out what htey want to do with it?

[tepid jasper]

Yeah, which that's ok!

It was still fun to play, just could be better!

[hearty osprey]

It jsut kind of sucked to play on alpha weekend, I rather played more of completed class

[tepid jasper]

Yeah

I did druid to 8.5 and hex to 11

My brother did ranger rogue and paladin. I also did bard to 5

[hearty osprey]

I had friends leveling up so I couldnt stop and re roll a char

[tepid jasper]

Bard is insanely fun and strong. Druid is insanely great for crafting.

[hearty osprey]

we all got 11, 12, 13, 12.

[regal garnet]

I played mine to lvl 13.5. in full Shadowchain with both sword and board as well as 2h options. Leach strike taps for DMG done, with the 2h I'm landing for 30+ that's a lot of hps to gain back.

[tepid jasper]

It certainly feels strong when I can use it.

I just would like to use it more in my rotation and not just as a defensive

[regal garnet]

If I have a healer in the group and I'm the only tank, I MAY leach strike once per mob

[tepid jasper]

Correct

If one per mob

[hearty osprey]

Yeah , but when there was groups with no pally , bard or Shaman , was always out of STA

[tepid jasper]

If you keep it up one per mob and perfectly sit between and have a shaman and don't pull you are good!

If you are pulling, if you don't have bard, don't have sham, you are not good!

Lol

[hearty osprey]

I was not jsut tanking haha

[regal garnet]

I'd like to see the Hex abilities be cheaperm

Anything that stacks Hex

Make em cheaper

[hearty osprey]

I also had an OP wep because I ahve a friend that plays alpha closed

[tepid jasper]

Yeah currently the hex melee hex spell hex melee aoe dot takes too long

[regal garnet]

Make it easier to keep 5 hexes on the mob

[tepid jasper]

Also the hexs need to he consumed in order of closest to expiration to last

[regal garnet]

I thought they were

[tepid jasper]

Right now it will eat a 20s hex and leave a 3s hex to expire instead of converting to mana

I could of been wrong as I slept like 4 hrs and between aoa and pickleball all weekend, but I tried to check and think it wwsnt

[regal garnet]

Also, druid Night time STR buff will nullify the STR Buff/mama regen we get from consuming a Hex

It will cast but the buff won't stack and it prevents mana regen

[tepid jasper]

I also really really want a snare. Add a small one to the duration taunt dot

Pls!

[hearty osprey]

@near grove any input at all?

[near grove]

Hey! Not my department, but it'll all get digested and reviewed! Thanks for sharing your experience.

You're type up is great, and aligns with things I've heard. Def some things to look into there for the class team!

[hearty osprey]

Thanks for being awesome! ❤️ one love

[obsidian crag]

Do hex knights wear plate armor or are they limited to chain?

[regal garnet]

Plate is on the menu, yes

[bleak hill]

Looking forward to trying this one in the future. Did Ogre have access to it? I can't recall.

[tepid jasper]

yes

[regal garnet]

I get a funny feeling Trolls are on deck...

[solemn lotus]

Trolls should have regeneration.... Hey is my Ogre Hex Knight immune to frontal stun ?

[muted dew]

From what i have seen no mobs bash you to mini stun you like they did in EQ, also there does not seem to be any of the racial bonuses in yet. One day the troll master race will begin its reign, fear not!

[eager spire]

If Hexknight has stam I feel like they do incredible dps for a tank, but yeah that stam bar depletes so fast. I like the idea of some way to convert mana or hp to stam.

[muted dew]

Like a stamina drain debuff to put on enemies, convert a little mana to stam each fight

[regal garnet]

I feel like this would be good, let it channel mana innately.

Consumes your mama to drain mob sta and give it to you

I played my Hex knight spell heavy because of the sta issues, I still hardly got below 50% while functioning in high octane chain pull groups

@near grove I think the above, originally proposed by @muted dew would be an awesome step in the right direction to solving the hex knight Stamina thirst.

Sorry for the ping you were the only dev subbed to this channel

[muted dew]

I would even take a self buff that procs a stamina steal.

[regal garnet]

Have we discussed if Hex Knights get Harm Touch through a quest or other means similar to Paladins getting LoH?

[muted dew]

Let's hope so, its pretty iconic at this point.

[crude wraith]

eq did this early and it was one of the first things they changed. I remember being a shaman and as a result very needed in groups by warriors who were constantly stamina deprived because i could "extinguish fatigue" and it just healed their stamina bar by a little. Then they just scrapped stamina as a form of melee mana altogether.

[regal garnet]

Changed?

The sta issue?

[muted dew]

I do remember the stamina being an issue later in levels, but a bard or shaman buff easily kept it topped off if you were not jumping around like an idiot.

[crude wraith]

yeah it just ended up forcing group comps where you either went all in on melee or casters so you could pick a shaman (melee) or a chanter (mana) or a bard (can do both but slightly worse than each). You never want more than one class as your utility so you pick and then load up on appropriate dps types to go along with it. So when they scrapped the stamina cost of melee abilities it just normalized group up time around a single variable (mana regen rate) instead of two variables which cut the balancing act in half and saved a huge amount of time for developers for the entire lifetime of the game. It also made shamans basically useless in the levelling process. That's why they ended up giving shamans hp to mana conversion so they could increase their individual mana rate and help heal the extra damage coming in as a result of picking a shaman instead of an enchanter.

EQ2 really took this to the next level and you see it a bit here in MnM where tanks/melee have group buffs that benefit casters or melee damage. Here in MnM it's weird though like SK tank buffs attack speed haste but a wizard buffs spell haste instead of an inquisitor?

[languid sandal]

The issue here is the SUPER fine line. Remove melee stamina cost entirely = SUPER op Hex Knight. But as it currently is, makes it pretty painful with the balancing act of Mana/Stam and Hexes...

Personally, I believe applying CD's to a few of the attacks and either reducing or removing stamina costs on those attacks would be a pretty nice mix.

Regardless... I just wanna plaaaaay 😭

[tardy rapids]

I think as long as there are a few classes that offer stam buffs and a few classes that want stam buffs, there will be enough supply/demand to allow for different group comps without making specific combos necissary. And other than that, being in a group without a stam buff should still be viable to do your role. What I hope is avoided is design that makes it so you cant really do your job atcertain levels/contant without that specific type of buff which then forces a specific group comp.

[languid sandal]

Agreed. There's still a lot of game to be fleshed out and I'm sure balance is going to be a HUGE part of it. We haven't even seen any of the higher level abilities/spells/buffs so anything is possible currently.

[low loom]

during lv 10-15 as a pal i regularly grouped with a hex, a war, and a waz so i got to compare to all the other tanks and it really did feel very well balanced and allowed for some of the weirdest group comps and tactics was actually a ton of fun and made it so pretty much any group comp works. The Hex had its strengths and in a group with other tanks seemed to excel as main tank for aggro and self heal. with a pal and hex they can run a group no healer. the hex lifetap strike is also very powerful compared to what the other tanks have because it scales off weapon damage made it very strong when using the scarecrow scythes.

[regal garnet]

Yeah once I got one of those, the tap strike felt really good.

[tepid jasper]

Mm hex knight changes, can't wait to get in and test

[regal garnet]

Yeah I'd like descriptions of the abilities.

[tepid jasper]

But at least reapplying hex does the entire stack

[regal garnet]

Yeah and you don't have to spam 5 stacks worth of hexes

[regal garnet]

Thinking about this more, it may solve the endurance issue that HKs have.

[tepid jasper]

yeah, I really want to see the gameplay loop for HK's, it seems like a big fix?

https://tenor.com/view/door-knock-let-me-in-spongebob-trendizisst-gif-25141450

[regal garnet]

All depends on what they do with stamina... Imo paladins are OP with it

[tepid jasper]

HK's are all just swinging Wyrmslayers in early Kunark

[regal garnet]

at the end of the last test, I snagged a 2h sythe off the + and ++ scarecrows. its sweet with leech strike

[languid sandal]

We really need to do a better job of sharing where fun stuff drops xD

[regal garnet]

You can find the scythe on vendors sometimes for not bonkers prices.

No wild stats, but good dmg and decent delay

[regal garnet]

Holy cow HKs feel gimp

I feel like I'm missing something

[hasty tundra]

Are you using hex-based attacks as your starting combo?

[regal garnet]

Yes

Well

Starting with the tendril spell, the the dark bolt so +1 hex and aggro build then hit another hex. Then his the dot and hex again try to run it up until a tap is needed

[regal garnet]

How do I get a soul essence???

[regal garnet]

@near grove I think Soul Strike is broken... Can't get it to generate soul essence and it does not remove a hex when used

[near grove]

Interesting. Top men are investigating.

[regal garnet]

It started working....

I was attack the named rat in the Harvest Moon building and suddenly the soul strike started harvesting soul essence

Donno if you guys pushed something or not...

[regal garnet]

Ok so yeah, I got to experience all the abilities to lvl 15. I found the synergy and when I did it was awesome. I feel like at least to level 15 Hex Knights are in a great place.

This holds true for off tanking as well as main tanking.

The issues with stamina that I experienced in the previous test were rectified. The juggling of stamina, mana and hit points was a lot of fun and provided for good sustainment through long fights

The class feels true to form right now

[olive wharf]

I played a hexknight from 1-10 this test, imo the fact that you can recover stamina at 12 seems insane to me. I was duoing pulls of 3-5+ blue/whitecon mobs nearly nonstop and the only time I did stop was I ran out of stamina. I haven't played many of the other classes but I am worried that Hex-Knights might be too self sufficient

My duo partner was a druid but he spent more time AEing than he did healing me. He went on to duo with a monk and was struggling to handle 2 mobs at a time (The monk had wayyy more dps than me)

If this is where the class is meant to be, Awesome! I had a blast but my understanding is other classes are struggling in comparison

The spreading hex is also super fun if ae pulling is intended, its a very cool way to allow scaling damage and survivability on mob count without ie. an AoE lifetap

[solemn lotus]

Yea try soloing with a Hex Knight to get the real stamina dependent feel. I could kill one mob of the same lv or two a few levels before had to sit due to no stamina. Was not god mode in any way shape of form imo.

[regal garnet]

Soul strike and the ability to harvest soul essence to them turn in to sta keeps the party going.

[olive wharf]

Did you have a campfire?

Campfire helps you regen stamina a lot. Without it I couldn’t sustain either but with it i never ran outa stamina unless i masspulled

Otherwise I just dot on pull for agro/dps, auto attacked, used spreading curse, AE dot, and kept manasteal on cd. Soul leach when <60% hp

[olive wharf]

Should also add trading stamina for a hex stack is not worth it except in emergencies when you need a heal now and no hex stacks on what you’re fighting (almost never happened to me). If you’re spamming that strike you’re gonna have a bad time with stamina

[regal garnet]

Once you get Soul Strike the Hex Knight harvest a Soul Essence from the mob, you then cast Soul Inversion and restore a large portion of STA.

[olive wharf]

Yup. At that point if you arent soloing packs of 5-10 youre missing something lol

[solemn lotus]

What lv is Soul strike and no I didnt have a camp fire. I am basically a crafter that dabbles in Hex Knight solo for mats and solo fights I am not good/rusty with the Hex Knight systems after five months and am only lv 8. Thank you for the information had no idea of my powers yet to come.

[regal garnet]

I think it's level 10???

But yeah I complained about STA early on, very jealous of the Paladin's buff that increases sta regen. I actively looked for shaman to group with for their sta regen buff.

[olive wharf]

level 12

Honestly, I cant blame you for thinking that HK has stam issues, the very first ability you get in the game is a trap

I was spamming it till lvl 8 and was always outa stam

[solemn lotus]

yea I thought that was the game play hit buttons till 0 stamina rest lol

[outer radish]

hex knight could prob use a stam tap. Like Eq sks Vampiric embrace adding a side proc that just eats stam instead of hp

[regal garnet]

At lvl 12 the sta problem goes away

At level 12 you get Soul Strike. This has a high chance to harvest Soul Essence. You then can cast a spell called Soul Inversion which replenishes STA while consuming a single Soul Essence.

The whole rotation takes maybe 5 seconds.

Then you can pop the mana replenish ability on the 5sec cool down

[outer radish]

Oh very cool. Last time I was 12 on hk soul strike did nothing lol

[olive wharf]

Honestly until you get stam recovery just keep your hex bolt on cd and mana leach on cd, and soul leach when < 50-60% hp. You can autoattack forever and with a campfire and not blowing through your stamina on anything but your hp recovery. Use your stamina to hex strike as needed to get your 2 hexes for soul leach but if you need to do this on every mob youre attempting to solo mobs that are too strong for you. Your bolt should be more than enough to cover your healing needs unless you masspull.

If you masspull blues you can use spreading curse on 2 mobs (I like pulling 3-5 blues solo, 3-5+ blue-yellow with druid) and they will all have 3 or 6 stacks of hex at the cost of ~20% of your mana and you can REALLY burn em with your abilities that scale off hex stacks and ae dot

Basically use mana frivolously and stamina sparingly

[regal garnet]

So right now my HK is rocking the craftable earthen shield. It seems a touch underwhelming considering what WarWiz can summon.

Does anyone have a line of a good shield for tanking?

[olive wharf]

I think i got a 7 ac shield drop when i was name hunting north of ogre town

Idr which mob was just playing named whackamole with PJ Lostt and Erroll

[plush jackal]

the harpies drop that one

[olive wharf]

That sounds right

[regal garnet]

What's the level range?

[plush jackal]

the harpies are level 15-19 iirc

[regal garnet]

Any stats?

[olive wharf]

I don’t remember which but i think it did

[regal garnet]

Next test I'm check out the area

100% No Lifing the game next test

My daughter loves her druid

[low loom]

i have a 10 ac shield with some stats has a tree design on it. it was a quest i can link you next play test. it was a quest item near leont some bandit drops some blood or something u need for it.

[olive wharf]

theres gotta be another 7 ac shield then I didnt make it anywhere near 15

[regal garnet]

I think I know the one, Justi has it... Has wis on it I think

[low loom]

yes i do think it has wis but i think its got some other stats. not 100% sure

[regal garnet]

Yeah it's got decent stats

[ember tiger]

I never fought harpies with you two.

We did the Yetis and the seals.

Oh, maybe the ogre outcasts at the fort? Or lyrch cave boss?

[olive wharf]

ogre outcasts sounds right there was lotta cool stuff there

[muted dew]

So will this change to ability damage using weapon dps instead of weapon damage hurt the hex knight and gimp their lifetap or has it been adjusted Is this the death of 2h weapon use?

[regal garnet]

Life tap now scales on how many hexes is on the mob.

Then consumes all hexes

[muted dew]

so this patch note means nothing in terms of damage and stolen health?

• Hex Knight: Leech Strike Damage Now Based on Weapon DPS

[regal garnet]

Yeah I don't know how it affects it, I will say that regardless of weapon type, the more hexes the more life it regens

[muted dew]

seems like this favors 1h and shield now over 2h

[regal garnet]

We need a test

[muted dew]

yeah I have not played much hex knight, but it still looks like an interesting class. Looks like all melee got this change to their abilities using weapon dps now

[regal garnet]

It's almost like DMG and HP tap are not related

And like what is the correlation of a 4.5dps weapon vs a heavy hitting 2.3dps weapon

When they say DPS they are referring to a ratio, not a max DMG hit

[muted dew]

Guess we will see next run.

[solemn lotus]

Yea next run should be V alentines day holiday 🙂

[olive wharf]

Imo for a class like the hk that benefits a lot from pulling more mobs, go sword and board use spreading hexes and burn baby burn

[muted dew]

Probably, but I enjoyed bigger lifetaps from 2h weapons, especially if you have another tank in the group.

[ember tiger]

He lives!

[olive wharf]

I do! RL has been crazy but I check in now and then (: knowing my luck cuz I cant play the next 2 weeks therell be a playtest lol

[gray orbit]

Excited to try this class out next. Been imagining a dark knight with a 2h sword shadow stepping around and slayin some very naughty mobs >:)

[olive wharf]

Why does that sound so dirty?

[gray orbit]

Guess that does sound kinda dirty doesn't it? 🤭

[ember tiger]

Oh behave

[regal garnet]

...listen... /Hotandbothered

Paired with a druid, this duo is strong.

[ember tiger]

Yep yep. Carolus and I tore it up in the Lyrch cave.

[olive wharf]

speaking of which, you gonna be around?

[sage turtle]

is hex for sure shoehorned into shield build or is 2h viable i see a lot of shield abilities

[buoyant arrow]

1H vs 2h, what do you guys think?

[wicked sky]

What stats do Hex-Knights want? I know they changed recently

[regal garnet]

Can alternate between both. Mitigation is king for tanking so sword and board for real work. If you wanna farm, off tank or even con mobs 2h is just fine.

[noble zenith]

New to the hex knight- does the damage of your early attack ability scale with dmg of your weapon? Sorry I forgot the name of the ability

Hex strike maybe?

[regal garnet]

There is a damage cap that slowly increases as you level. It finally comes off at level 20. Ability DMG is based on weapon DPS and that cap per level

[wicked sky]

Is it me or does a lot of the Hex-Knight main questline not give enough information for the player to accomplish the goals.

I had no issue with the Paladin questline or what ive done with Warrior.

[stone lava]

anyone got race suggestions for hex knight?

[fallen shard]

Quest Question. Hex-Knight . I have a quest to get an alder acolyte ring to combine with 2 other items. i have the 2 other items but no matter what alder mob i kill only drop initie signet ring. any1 know who drops the acolyte ring?

[noble zenith]

So a higher dmg 2h will result in higher dmg hex strikes, correct?

[wicked sky]

It seems like 2h takes more stam so you become very stam starved as 2h

[regal tapir]

The quest text doesn't even mention killing random Initiates at all, it literally just gives the name and location of the 1 person who does drop the ring: Ladrus Lightheart. Re read the whole journal entry

[regal garnet]

Once you get the ability to steal soul essence, you can regain stamina. HKs turn it on at lvl 10-12

[stuck crest]

For the poison quest - where's the NPC you need to administer the poison to?

[jolly rose]

I'm considering an Ogre, but IDK if that's available. Haven't played much yet. Just like the Ogre HK idea. Curious how this class feels solo and grouping.

[stone lava]

so far i decided to do an ashkin for fun. digging it

sorry human for HK

[buoyant arrow]

I went with human because ogres are too far away from my guildies and I think humans had more constitution than Ashkin because im everquest brained where people put points into stamina at character creation for more hp

[tidal scroll]

anyone know where Squire Geoff is?

[night zinc]

Resource management might need to be looked at. Mana is bizarrely trivial, we get a free ability with a very short cooldown that restores most of your mana, so it's a complete non-issue and you can freely spam spells non-stop. You basically cannot run out of mana at all. On the other hand, you're permanently starved for stamina to the point where you generally can't use more than one or two attack skills per fight. These two need to be balanced out more so it isn't infinite supply of one and crippling shortage of the other.

I can freely spend a full mana bar on literally every mob I fight and have absolutely never had to think about it at all, but my melee abilities might as well have 2-minute cooldowns because that's about how often I can use them. Level 9 so far and I'm just spamming nukes from start to finish of every fight, and my meditation skill is like 7 because I have never once had to sit down and recover mana.

[daring patrol]

are HK's still the best tank right now? over pala?

[tawdry marsh]

You get a stamina heal mechanic at 12 that will alleviate this a good bit. Also, start using campfires as much as you can and make a shaman friend for the stamina regen totem. Also, beg passing Paladins to give you their stamina regen buff.

[night zinc]

I already use a campfire at all times. That doesn't change things.

"Beg other classes for a buff that fixes your class" isn't a valid argument.

Even if the stamina regen ability helps, it's still weird design that a melee class has literally unlimited mana but struggles to use its melee abilities.

If a class functions only in the presence of other specific classes, it's a design problem.

[noble zenith]

The class still functions, but is maximized in the presence of others- encourages community

[daring patrol]

I feel like that's fine as long as other tanks are the same way... like if pala has great stamina but terrible mana and HK is other way seems like would be even

[noble zenith]

Has anyone found any cool under lvl 10 quests is Osgul? I have been turning in bone chips to the guild master and the other guy in the same room wants a skeleton femur or something, says he can turn it into a weapon

[fickle parcel]

What are the 2 other items ?

[honest orchid]

is a hex knight like a death knight from wow

[daring patrol]

its ok pala fulls so much stronger tho

was hoping HK have better sustain or out shine pala in some way

[buoyant arrow]

I'd like the class a lot more if I didn't have to constantly spam hexes to use my "real" abilities

[sage turtle]

yeah feels like they don't really know what they want to do with the class

feel like im playing the xylophone and a lot of the abilities feel like they should be instant cast or at the very least not share cooldowns with other spells

[daring patrol]

be nice if our autos put the hexes on the enemy

[wicked sky]

Ive leveled up all 4 tanks, and while Warrior is the most straight forward and kind of boring, Hex-Knight for sure feels the worst by far.

Very frustrating.

[daring patrol]

ya pala feels like the best tank to be rn... good off heals and good buffs

HK just drains stam soooo fast

[wicked sky]

And feels good to play. its not even a numbers thing.

If some of Hex Knights abilities got lowered to like 1 sec cast time, and give them like double the stam, also Mediate should recover stam, then maybe. I also think the HK Leont questline is way too vague.

[daring patrol]

ya idk why sitting doesnt give stam back thats the dumbest thing ever

i was tanking with pala with their stam buff and shaman stam buff and campfire and it felt amazing

[wicked sky]

The biggest thing is getting 1-10 takes long enough that if a class doesn't feel good by 4-8 usually, people are going to be turned off. In its current state, HKs would be by far the least represented class at 20+

[wicked sky]

Not really but thematically yes, kind of.

[daring patrol]

whats the best tank you feel like right now?

[wicked sky]

We've only seen 1-15 and now 1-20, but at these levels being super tanky doesn't really matter as much as offense. So currently 1-15 and now 1-20 WW is probably followed by Warrior. But they have the least amount of support and such for higher.

I bet by the end of the game, Warrior will be the raid tank

[daring patrol]

i was looking at warrior and they have like no skill seems like nor ways to regen stam only think they get looks good is that aoe taunt

what makes them stand out to you?

[wicked sky]

Rage (Level 10) is a brand-new passive skill: taking damage now restores stamina. This is a game-changer for sustained tanking. Warriors no longer run dry in long fights; the harder you get hit, the more fuel you have for your abilities. The stamina return has been tuned down slightly per hit to prevent it from being infinite, but it fundamentally changes the Warrior's resource economy. Rage has a cooldown of 3.5 seconds.

[daring patrol]

oh dam how did i miss that... if thats the case i can see why they would be number 1 easily

more you get hit more stam it insane

HK has no way to get stam back rn atleast

[wicked sky]

They do at like 10-12

But its not very good

[daring patrol]

ya i see at 12 HK get soul inversion but it didnt say the cooldown nor amount of stam u get

[daring patrol]

i dont see that new passive u was talking about raging at lvl 10 or anywhere

[regal garnet]

150 sta per soul essence. You need to use Soul Strike to harvest soul essence

[regal garnet]

These are not HK abilities

[daring patrol]

Ya he was talking about warriors being best because they get stamina for taking damage so was looking for that skill

[regal garnet]

Oh ok

Yeah eventually HKs get the ability to regen stamina and mana

[sage turtle]

but you need stacks on enemies for it which requires you to spend either stamina or mana in order to create the stacks you need

class feels weird feels like it wants to be aoe but also single target, but has long cast times and too long cooldowns

not counting that you are in melee and have aggro so the mobs are constantly interrupting your spells

[wicked sky]

its the only class to me that needs a rework

[sage turtle]

class should be immune to interrupts

its crazy to have so many spells and abilities you have to use that can BOTH miss AND be interrupted

[wicked sky]

Your main attack should cost mana, not stam

The first ability you get

That would go along way just off that

[sage turtle]

like the gloom spell that reduces enemy accuracy/attack speed is good for a single maybe double pull but theres too many more important spells to use if you have a pull of 3+ mobs

[wicked sky]

BC then the loop is spend mana to get stacks. Use stacks to blow up target or use 2 stacks to heal or use 1 stack to buff. I also think that the heal should start at 2 stacks and maybe scale up to 4 stacks or something for a bigger heal

[sage turtle]

getting tendrils on every mob, getting the spread on at least 2 mobs so you are able to leech strike whenever(no higher tier of leech strike is wild btw it heals for almost nothing even with 5 stacks at higher levels)

[sage turtle]

leech does scale with stacks afaik

[wicked sky]

Later on? oh good

[sage turtle]

no just base im not on to look rn

[wicked sky]

Also, I think its funny that if a Paladin buffs you with their armor buff, it overwrites yours, meaning their base buff is just stronger than yours

[wicked sky]

I never got Leeching strike to take more than 2 hexes

So it still only takes 2, but scales higher if more are present

[sage turtle]

wwhich isn't noticeable at higher levels

[wicked sky]

The biggest leech strike heal ive seen was like 20 hp

But even if I pull an equal con mob as me, I pretty much run out of Stam on 1 mob.

It's silly

AND there is no way to regen it unless you literally put down a campfire and pull to your campfire

I made the comment they should rename the class Campfire-Knight

[sage turtle]

idk i think if they gave you a late game tendrils that was aoe as a form of aoe taunt

would be one of best changes they could make

[sage turtle]

once you get soul infusion its manageable

[wicked sky]

I dont want "Managable" at level 12 while the rest of the tanks have far better stam management

[sage turtle]

i mean you should be farming with a campfire active always anyways tbh

[wicked sky]

Literally changing the main strike to Mana cost instead of Stam would fix a lot of it.

[sage turtle]

for every class

[sage turtle]

but then it would be a spell

and you would lose out on other important spells

because you can only have 8

[wicked sky]

Classes should function without requiring a campfire. Campfires should be bonus

Then cut the stam cost by 90%

[sage turtle]

class is functional without it most classes have issues fighting on levels at lvl 10 and managing their stam without a camp/shaman i believe

[wicked sky]

I couldn't kill big rats at level 5 while they were level 5. I died like 80% of the time bc I ran out of Stam

[sage turtle]

would be nicer if the soul inversion reagent didn't have carry weight and didn't cost stamina in order to harvest or a 1.5 second cast time that can be interrupted

[wicked sky]

Class shouldn't start working at level 10-12

[sage turtle]

i mean most games like this are hardcore following EQ gameplay afaik and supposedly that game is all campfires all the time

how it was in mnm for me

[wicked sky]

Go play the other 3 tanks

You'll see

And dont use MnM as an example

[sage turtle]

but then i probably won't finish leveling my hex lol

[wicked sky]

That game is tedious just to be tedious

Well, while yes Warrior and Paladin use stam more so than WW, all 3 sail through to 10

and only get better and better

Warriors 1-2 shot stuff

[sage turtle]

counter point i don't think either class gets this ability

[wicked sky]

If the game were to go live right now (I know its like 2 years off) HKs would be the least represented class at 20+

HK has some cool stuff for sure. But the basics of the class aren't right

[sage turtle]

the synergys and ideas behind the skills and kit are nice but i think its down to mostly adjusting how they interact

and there usefulness at different levels

[wicked sky]

I mean Warriors get pass stam regen based on damage taken or damage done

How HK gonna compete with that

[sage turtle]

could give a passive that applies hex's to enemies that attack them over time

feel like this is the cornerstone ability for the class

[wicked sky]

Chance to apply hex on damage taken, 3 second cd

[sage turtle]

but building hex's on enemies is only part of the problem

i think it would be nicer if class leaned more into the aoe tank role

im sure the other tanks are for sure always going to be the best single target tanks but who knows

im still not sure if this ability applies damage to enemies in an aoe on each cast or if its just reapplying the DoT when it procs

current rotation on a 4-5 pull is spread curse on 2 of the mobs, haunting strike

then work on applying tendrils to all 5 mobs

to maintain threat

but due to cast times + cooldowns its more like spread curse on one or two of mobs, haunting then tendril on one mob, consume hex for mana off one mob

cast leech strike as soon as its up

re up shadow protection

avoiding using cursed strike unless you need to cast leech strike right away and mobs one stack short

void bolting occasionally to save stamina building hexes(probably downgrade to tier one bolt since void bolt cost too much mana)

2 spread curses should be enough to maintain enough hexes on different mobs to keep them busy

then try to keep casting tendrils and gloombind off cooldown on each enemy

while weaving all the other stuff in

not counting misses

or interrupts

higher tier tendrils having long cooldowns and missing more often is not great either with higher mana i might downgrade to lowest tier of the spell

almost never using hex rend because it cost mana and you need to nuke your mana to gain stamina

[sage turtle]

also switching from 1h to 2h with equivalent dps my clear speed went way up because my combat abilities were scaling off my top end damage instead of dps so i think leveling with 2h is a must (especially if you are soloing mobs)

unless you are main tanking for a group in which case you have to go back to shield and start leveling that (don't like having to dedicate time leveling 3 seperate weapon skills)

[wicked sky]

I leveled with 2h and it almost felt like I ran out of stam quicker. And they already start off pretty fragile.

[daring patrol]

ya HK sounds so good on paper than u play it.... it just needs more ways to spread hexes then would be better off

[wicked sky]

it can spread a hex, it needs more passive ways to get hexes up. If you are spending all your stam and cds to put hexes up, when you go to spend hexes, you are empty... Classes should work on their own without any campfire or other players buffs etc, food buffs etc. Campfire, other players, food buffs and such should ENHANCE and take the class to the next level.

[sage turtle]

i'd honestly feel much better if soul inversion and gloom bind had 0 cast time and tendrils was an AOE

[regal garnet]

Sounds too spammy

[sage turtle]

you are constantly spamming tab target and pressing buttons as is, might as well make it actually feel good

and making tendrils aoe actually reduces spamming

less tab targeting and recasting same spell

if not aoe then at least make the cast time .5 seconds so you can take all 4 different tiers of tendrils and get them off at a decent speed for large pulls like it feels they are want the class to be for

[regal garnet]

Sounds like an aversion to CC. AoEs can cause a lot of issues to coordination of multi pulls/chain pulls.

[sage turtle]

if the tank has his monitor turned right sideup instead of upside down it shouldn't create issues

[regal garnet]

If we are going to AoE everything and swarm pull to get mass aggro on a tank, we are limiting the usefulness of an enchanter to a clarity/haste bot.

[sage turtle]

?

in what way

because they don't have mobs to just stun and make afk while you single target farm other mobs in front of it

still has its use for accidental overpulls etc but hex feels like its built for large pulls and as is feels tedious to manage those large pulls

[regal garnet]

Hex Knight, at later levels has amazing sustainment for longer single target fights. AoEs not so much.

What level is the HK you have been working on?

[sage turtle]

?

what sustainment

almost max lvl

[regal garnet]

Cursed Strike + Soul Strike + Soul Inversion + Dark Empowerment

[sage turtle]

and what does that have to do with anything i said

[regal garnet]

Sustainment

That's your sustainment rotation

[sage turtle]

im aware

what does that have to do with anything i said

[regal garnet]

My reply to this

[regal garnet]

And this

I hope this information helps 🙂

[sage turtle]

not really relevant to the issues i was talking about

and the sustainment isn't really that good

you need to use lowest tier of bolt to stack a hex in order to consume it to replenish + mana, without wasting stamina so that you can use stam abilities to stack more hex's just for leech strike

then soul inversion with 1.5 second cast time

THAT CAN BE INTERRUPTED

just to maintain a little stamina

on top of casting tendrils on all targets because you only get one single target taunt

to maintain aggro

all of which can miss or be interrupted mid cast

gloombind included

class feels like it wants to be a multitarget tank

since spread curse does not build on the target it effects, you are left with only 3 (2 tiers of bolts or cursed strike) ways to build hex's all of which take stamina or mana

only way to feel like you have enough hex's to do everything you want on enemies is to have multiple enemies and to use spread curse

unfortunately having long cast times and being targeted by multiple mobs each with potential to interrupt casts AND chance to miss the cast (why can "consume darkness" use all surrounding hex's but fail to buff you) make large pulls feel bad as well

[regal garnet]

What kind of mobs are you comparing this or and what kind of group comp?

Also what lvl mobs and what lvl are you in relation?

[sage turtle]

why would the mobs or group comp effect anything i said

[regal garnet]

I'm trying to understand if you are looking through a group lens or solo lens

[sage turtle]

if you read what i wrote you would see i talk about it from both pov's

[regal garnet]

My bad I didn't extrapolate that from your post.

[sage turtle]

you are not doing large 5 mob pulls as a solo unless you are farming super low lvls

[regal garnet]

Maybe HK doesn't suit your play style?

[sage turtle]

lmao

[regal garnet]

The things you are telling me are vastly different from the game play I have experienced.

Knowing the classes strengths and weaknesses drive a play style. I feel group comp is very fluid(albeit a bit busy to play).

[sage turtle]

are you pulling 5+ on level dungeon mobs and enjoying having tendrils take forever to apply to each mob and requiring a good team in order to not die just because you are still waiting on cast time/cooldowns in order to apply all your threat gen to keep squishies from getting blown up?

not counting the spell interrupts or misses

[regal garnet]

We are not pulling 5+ dungeon mobs.

[sage turtle]

then there you go

[regal garnet]

If you are pulling 5+ dungeon mobs without CC your wiping the group

Thats not a HK problem, that's a pullers problem.

[sage turtle]

except its not a problem

i manage without wiping

[regal garnet]

Then it sounds like you got HKs figured out

Nice

[sage turtle]

its just inconvenient and clunky to have more than half the kit to be based on casting spells and built towards large pulls

which naturally creates scenarios of a lot of interrupts

not counting misses

casting gloombind on 5 targets takes almost 20 seconds

because you have 2 sec cd on every spell after every cast

thats not counting interruptions or misses

[regal garnet]

I rarely cast gloom bind, tbh

[sage turtle]

its one of your best spells

at minimum you should be gloombinding the highest level mob in the pull

[regal garnet]

If I'm soloing, yes, in a group environment no

[sage turtle]

in a group environment you want to maximize pull size

to maximize xp gain

best way to maximize is to pull enough to not instant die if every mob hits you at once

[regal garnet]

Several classes get a slow that is far less resources taxing then HK

[sage turtle]

gloom helps with that

bind isn't resource heavy

just time heavy

[regal garnet]

It's a good one to have in the tool belt, but snare is in the same boat

[sage turtle]

its like saying hex haste is bad cus it takes all the stacks

[regal garnet]

That's a great ability

[sage turtle]

snare is useless unless solo farming

[regal garnet]

I agree, same with slow

[sage turtle]

so is fear unless you're vs an actual boss that spawns random mobs

[regal garnet]

I like to use fear to kite outside dungeons

[sage turtle]

yeah at mid levels

xp farming

but higher level you need to go into the dungeon

for the nameds

fear is a party wiper

[regal garnet]

Fearing in a dungeon is a no-no hehe

[sage turtle]

hex's should generate hate

[regal garnet]

That would be cool

I can get behind that

But what happens when you burn hexes?

Or should the ability used to apply the hex generate more hate?

[sage turtle]

doesn't matter bc one or two spread curses lasts long enough for me to put tendrils on each mob

or just put spread curse on all 5 mobs

[regal garnet]

Let me ask you a weapon question

Do you sword and board or 2h?

[sage turtle]

i've done both

[regal garnet]

Cool, how do you compare them?

[sage turtle]

sword and shield seems better on paper for larger pulls

[regal garnet]

Yes mitigation is king

[sage turtle]

2h feels better for single pulls

because even though they said abilities are based of dps

they most definitely are based off topend damage im almost positive

and hex having 3 combat abilities lets you burst damage really well with 2h

[regal garnet]

I like to 2h if/when I get to off tank

[sage turtle]

only thing would be that with sword and shield

and a good shield

the shield bash skill

takes HALF of the stamina of your cheapest combat ability

[regal garnet]

Shield bash is in a good place

[sage turtle]

doing same damage

2h up until you're higher levels/vs bosses and dungeons with a group

then its sns

[regal garnet]

Imo, HK are built for single target tanking. Spreading curse and the DoT(can't recall the name) seem to be the only AoE items HKs get

Additionally, Spreading curse does no damage but will continue stack on other mobs(while CC'ed) so that when you finish one single target you can bounce to the next with 5 stacks of Hexes on it ready for you to sink your teeth into.

[wicked sky]

If even you talk about ST tanking with HK, they still run out of stam way too quickly on their own. I dont have one at 12 or whatever, but noone will get one to 12 if its that uncomfortable to get there.

[buoyant arrow]

I got to 13. I think the stamina issue is a bit overblown. You just can't endlessly spam cursed strike and leech strike, similar to how other classes can't endlessly spam mana consuming spells. Use dark bolt more, especially before 12. I basically use Dark Bolt+Dark Empowerment on cooldown.

[cunning garnet]

The level 9 nuke, which is presumably bugged so that it only removes one hex really did a lot to make game play more interesting to me, even outside of the power level. I think the earlier tier is also bugged as its damage didn't scale so extra hexes were wasted, so it's pretty easy to feel better. I hope the design leans more toward the level 9 spell of not using all hexes, as it felt rewarding to build to 5 to land a good nuke followed by a max lifetap. Hopefully the nuke can scale to 5 but only take 3 hexes at most.

[low thicket]

I played mostly Hex-knight this playtest (April1-6) and I enjoyed the combo feel of it and being able to manage all my resources to survive. The only minor thing I felt was that from levels 4-11 the gameplay felt the same. I had the same rotation of skills and spells and in this specific case, that was most of my time during this playtest. I briefly got to 12 and got the soul stuff to try out and that felt good too. In the grand scheme this might be a small part of the gameplay and not be a big deal but this is the only feedback i really had. Otherwise loved this experience.

[chrome drum]

Hex-Knight OP 🙂 -- really enjoyed playing this.

[low thicket]

Also I noticed that Life strike/leech didn't give any heal with 0 hexes but the description says it increases with more Hex. Anyone know if this is correct or am i misunderstanding the skill?

[regal garnet]

Are you certain leech strike went off without hexes? I don't believe it can

[sage turtle]

You can use with no hexes it just doesn't heal

[keen shuttle]

it heals for about 7.5% per stack, all the way to 20

i'm way far on the chat

[sage turtle]

If it's 20% at 5 stacks at all levels then that's very good/balanced imo

Hex rupture at 17 doing 200 damage at 5 stacks to even lvl mobs and like 120 to +1 level named mobs made the grind feel a lot better

[keen shuttle]

I really enjoyed Hexknight, I think it's a great class I love the physical stamina cost and spell mana cost balance we have to find, and managing Hex as well, I hope it stays that way

it got a lot easier to manage resources at higher level with bigger stamina//mana pool (I mostly used stamina to apply hex between spell//shield bash, or in rare case when there is multiple mob in camp to heal)

[sage turtle]

Really hope they add cast bars to mobs so we can use shield strike interrupt for things other than just cheap stamina attack

[keen shuttle]

They have glowing hand particles when they cast if you pay attention ( when there isn't 319501935 spell going at them :D)

[sage turtle]

If you can build hexs easier on single mob pulls it would be nicer

Curse spread on pulling 2+ mobs makes the class feel so much better

Shadow protection was MVP spell later on

I don't know that the other tanks get any shield that absorbs like 100 or more free damage for such low mana cost

But it saved me more times than I can count

[keen shuttle]

It's really nice 😄 I could survive some solo mob without taking damage

[sage turtle]

Shadow step being a blink to target that auto applys a hex is kind of nice didn't get a chance to test in any dungeons but I imagine it would have some uses

[keen shuttle]

Oh it does an hex too I didn't use it other than when traveling or running with a mob after me because it cost soul essense

[sage turtle]

Yeah just got the spell then only got to test it for like last 2 minutes of the test haha

60 second cool down is rough

Not sure why it's so high

Think if haste gave you spell cast speed as well would make class feel a lot better but probably broken on other classes if they made that change

[regal garnet]

i noticed it added a decent amount of aggro too

and yes Shadow Protection is SUPER nice

i think at 21 HKs get the Shadow Protection II

[sage turtle]

Shadow protection 1 is already hexs best spell if you get a tier 2 you can stack with it the class will feel like a proper tank

Or I should say make it feel like the best tank

Not sure about paladin or ww but I know warrior requires way more healing when tanking vs hex and that's simply because of the shadow protect

[regal garnet]

Warrios have an inate AC bonus i tbelieve

i doubt 1 and 2 will stack

likely override

[sage turtle]

I think if they make hexs create aggro it will be very nice they might already, but although I'm not jealous of a warriors kit overall I am jealous of their instant aoe taunt

[regal garnet]

i think paladins get an aoe taunt too?

this is lining up to make HKs the best single target boss tank

[sage turtle]

And at level 200 hexcraft giving hexs a chance to spread would make hexs generating hate feel like we get aoe taunt too

[regal garnet]

before the test ended, we did some lvl 25 and + mobs

my HK beasted them

one mob took 8min to kill

i just did my sta/mana rotations with tendrils and didnt have an issue with aggro

[sage turtle]

Yeah I mean single targets fine

[regal garnet]

spamming Shadow Protect

[cunning garnet]

Life strike did not ever increase healing past two hexes. One hex gave half the healing of 2 hexes and 3-5 hexes never healed for more.

[low thicket]

Right, at 0 it still does damage but doesn't heal and then only uses up to 2 hexes to heal.

[keen shuttle]

it wouldn't change much imo, for auto attack, you can cast between attack

[keen shuttle]

yes 😄 I thought that was a given, 1 hex consumed give me about 7% health and 2 always gave me 15%

may look weak early but pretty strong later on, it can be a huge amount of hp

[cunning garnet]

okay good, i got worried I was playing like an idiot. I did like trying to keep up 5 stacks for better nukes. I really hope that doesn't remove all hexes in the future.

[delicate brook]

does shadow protect out-threat fracture spam? I couldnt find a skill that outdid it (aside from hard taunts) but I never tested SP.

[regal garnet]

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Shadow Protect is a melee damage absorbing ability on a longer cool down that can be used in a pinch or on a cadence for endurance (drawn out) fights.

[delicate brook]

Oh I thought you were referencing it in context to "didn't have any issue with aggro"

I thought I misunderstood something not listed on the tooltip 😛

[safe copper]

Hey folks, I've read a fair amount of comments in this thread but could someone who has played HK to near 20~ give me a brief TLDR on the pros and cons of the class? I'm considering playing this class next test and I'm having a hard time gauging the community perception.

Let me know if this is basically it:

Pros: Great sustain, Good tank DPS, fun class mechanics
Cons: AOE threat, getting interrupted

[regal garnet]

Good basic analysis.

• HK is a really good single target/boss tank at lvl 20 almost zero AoE threat aside from a spreading curse that sets up mobs for you sink your teeth in to after the current one dies.

• interrupted? Not any more than any other class, may take another melee round to get aggro but nothing to break the class.

I personally love the cyclical mechanics of regaining HP, STA and Mana. This is a very active class to play well.

Con - zero sustain against anything you can't Harvest Soul Essence from. Undead or mobs that con green and below for example

[safe copper]

I was reading someone was getting their casts stopped a lot but I haven't played it