Description

The Shadowknight is an evil-alignment dark magic tank class. They have the ability to cause fear, hate, and despair in their enemies. Their ability to drain their oponents life and make it their own is matched by no other tank in this game.

Solo-Play

The Shadowknight is arguably the best solo-play tank class in the game. A lot of people will say "No, Paladins are the best solo class in game because they can heal themselves" They could be right, but here is why I think Shadowknights lifetaps, unlike paladin heals, are designed for combat. They are used to damage your enemy and heal yourself at the same time. The Shadowknight is also able to buff itself with lifetaps that proc throughout a fight. True the paladin has a melee attack that heals himself and does the enemy damage, but while the Paladin pauses in combat to try healing himself while still getting hit and possibly interrupted, you can see why Shadowknights are arguably the best solo-play class in the game. Shadowknights also have the ability to escape battles quickly, steal their opponents strengths, and expose their opponents weaknesses.

Group-Play

If you were to take an equally geared Shadowknight and Guardian and had them tank a raid mob, the guardian would without a doubt do a better job. But if you took the same scenario again and applied it to a 5 man group you will see that Guardians cannot compete with Shadowknights. It's true that Guardians have more hp and damage mitigation than the Shadowknight, but it is rarely needed in group combat. The extra mitigation is only absorbing such a smaller amount on 1 groupable mobs that it is easily made up by the Shadowknights ability to lifetap and heal itself. In addition, it's not always possible to find a cleric type healer for a group, so having a Shadowknight or Paladin tank for your group will make it easier on some of the other healing classes.

Summary

The Shadowknight is a great class if you prefer to solo but also want to tank for groups when you feel like it. The various Shadowknight abilities will help you accomplish both goals. If you don't like tanking and just want to solo this is probably not the best class for you. For pure soloing you may want to find another class that has a higher damage rating than the Shadowknight.