Lineage II/Shillien Knight

Shillien Knight is a defensive melee warrior (tank). He uses swords and blunts with shield and heavy armor. He has a large palette of debuffs and can paralyze. Too, he can drain hp from enemies and poison them.

Like all pure tank classes, he has Aggression and Hate Aura to attract mobs to focus their attacks on him (instead of on other party members), and he has Shield Fortress and Ultimate Defense to increase his defense values, and Deflect Arrow to make bow attacks much less efficient on him. He also has the passive skills Final Fortress to increase p.def with falling hp, and Shield Mastery to improve the effectivity of shields.

He can absorb health with both Drain Health (like Dark Avenger) and Life Leech (the later is however weaker).

Like Temple Knight, he get the passive skill Aegis which allows to get the shield bonus for attack from all directions on level 60, and the active skill Guard Stance to boost tank skills at the cost of MP. He can also summon cubics, but of different kinds (debuff/absorb health/poison instead of heal/support).

Like other darkelven warriors, he has a number of debuffs. Hex lowers enemies p.def. Freezing Strike slows enemies down. Power Break reduces enemies p.atk. And with Sting one can try to make enemies bleed, while Poison causes some other form of damage over time.

From level 58 on, he can paralyze opponents with Lightning Strike. The only other class which is able to paralyze are the Necromancers with their Anchor spell.

Key Abilities
Format: Name (max Level) - Description (Level [+Number of Advancements] [/ ...])

Active

 * Aggression (49) - Provokes opponent's desire to attack. (24+3/28+3/32+3/36+3/40+3/43+3/46+3/49+3/52+3/55+3/58+3/60+2/62+2/64+2/66+2/68+2/70+2/72+2/74+2)
 * Attack Aura (2) - Temporarily increases P. Atk. Conflicts with clerical "Might" Buff. (10/28)
 * Confusion (19) - Throws the enemy into confusion and gets them to change the target of their attack. (24/28/32/36/40/43/46/49/52/55/58/60/62/64/66/68/70/72/74)
 * Corpse Plague (4) - Corpse emits a cloud that poisons nearby enemies. (46/58/62/70)
 * Defense Aura (2) - Temporarily increases P. Def. Conflicts with clerical "Shield" Buff. (5/20)
 * Deflect Arrow (4) - Increases defense against bow attacks. (24/32/43/49)
 * Drain Health (53) - Absorbs HP. (20+2/24+2/28+3/32+3/36+3/40+6/43+3/46+3/49+3/52+3/55+3/58+3/60+2/62+2/64+2/66+2/68+2/70+2/72+2/74+2)
 * Freezing Strike (24) - Instantly freezes target area. Temporarily reduces enemy's Speed. (36+2/40+2/43+2/46+2/49+2/52+2/55+2/58+2/60/62/64/66/68/70/72/74)
 * Guard Stance (4) - Increases P. Def. and the success rate of a shield defense. MP will be consumed continuously. (43/52/62/70)
 * Hate Aura (37) - Provokes your opponent to attack. (40+3/43+3/46+3/49+3/52+3/55+3/58+3/60+2/62+2/64+2/66+2/68+2/70+2/72+2/74+2)
 * Hex (15) - Instantly decreases enemy's P. Def. (40/43/46/49/52/55/58/60/62/64/66/68/70/72/74)
 * Life Leech (15) - Absorbs an enemy's HP. (40/43/46/49/52/55/58/60/62/64/66/68/70/72/74)
 * Lightning Strike (5) - Lightning bolt attack that temporarily paralyzes the enemy. (58/62/66/70/74)
 * Poison (5) - Poisons target. (20/49/58/66/74)
 * Power Break (17) - Instantly reduces enemy's P. Atk. (32/36/40/43/46/49/52/55/58/60/62/64/66/68/70/72/74)
 * Sting (49) - Inflicts a serious, bleeding wound upon the enemy. Used with a sword, dagger, or two-handed weapon. Over-hit possible. (24+3/28+3/32+3/36+3/40+3/43+3/46+3/49+3/52+3/55+3/58+3/60+2/62+2/64+2/66+2/68+2/70+2/72+2/74+2)
 * Shield Fortress (6) - Increases personal shield defense rate. Continuously consumes MP. (64/66/68/70/72/74)
 * Summon Poltergeist Cubic (8) - Summons a cubic that weakens the enemy's P. Atk., P. Def., and Atk. Spd. (40/46/52/58/62/66/70/74)
 * Summon Vampiric Cube (7) - Summons a cubic that absorbs the enemy's HP and thereby restores its master's HP. (43/49/55/60/64/68/72)
 * Summon Viper Cubic (6) - Summons a Cubic, which poisons enemies. (49/55/60/64/68/72)
 * Ultimate Defense (2) - Instantly increases P. Def. and M. Def. significantly. User must remain still while it takes effect. (20/46)

Passive

 * Aegis (1) - Provides defense from all directions when a shield is equipped. (60)
 * Cubic Mastery (2) - Ability to summon (n + 1) Cubics at once (n = skilllevel) (43/55)
 * Final Fortress (11) - Automatically increases P. Def. when HP level falls. (52/55/58/60/62/64/66/68/70/72/72/74)
 * Focus Mind (6) - Increases one's MP Recovery Speed. (36/43/49/55/64/72)
 * Heavy Armor Mastery (52) - Increases P.def. with Heavy Armor. (20+3/24+3/28+3/32+3/36+3/40+3/43+3/46+3/49+3/52+3/55+3/58+3/60+2/62+2/64+2/66+2/68+2/70+2/72+2/74+2)
 * Shadow Sense (1) - Increases Accurancy at night (15)
 * Shield Mastery (4) - Shield defense rate increases. (20/28/40/52)
 * Sword Blunt Mastery (45) - Increases P. Atk. for Swords and Blunts. (20/24/28+2/32+2/36+2/40+3/43+3/46+3/49+3/52+3/55+3/58+3/60+2/62+2/64+2/66+2/68+2/70+2/72+2/74+2)

Outdated

 * Armor Mastery (5) - Increases P.def for heavy / P.def and Evasion for light armor. (5/10+2/15+2)
 * Power Strike (9) - Gathers power for a fierce strike. Sword/blunt only. Over-hit available. (5+3/10+3/15+3)
 * Weapon Mastery (3) - Attack power increases. (5/10/15)

Equipment
Naturally, the SK tries to get the best one-handed sword or blunt and shield of the level.

C-grade: Samurai Longsword / Yaksa Mace, B-Grade: Sword of Damascus / Art of Battle Axe / Deadman's Glory, A-Grade: Dark Legion's Edge / Elysian Axe.

On c-grade, the full plate armor gives another nice bonus to the shield skills. On b-grade, the Avadon and Doom Sets are even much better. The boni of the a-grade Dark Crystal set on shields is amusingly less good, but the improved p.def and good immunities make up for this.

Sacrificing Str for Dex and/or Con is no bad idea for the SK, obviously. As an Darkelf, the very low Con of 32 is a real disadvantage, while the high Str helps only while being solo.

SKs need the following spellbooks: Level 40: Hex, Life Leech, Summon Poltergeist Cubic; Level 43: Summon Vampiric Cube; Level 46: Corpse Plague; Level 49: Summon Viper Cubic; Level 58: Lightning Strike.

Playstyle
Tanks are obviously quite easy to solo, only a little boring maybe.

Inside groups, they activate their Hate Aura and keep mobs attacking them instead of the damage dealers.

Best group for a tank is of course a mix of buffers, a large number of damage dealers and nukers, and maybe a healer. Best buffer for the tank himself is a Prophet who avoids buffing 'Berserker Spirit' to the tank, plus an Elven Elder - can also give mana and healing and raise almost as good as a Bishop - and a Swordsinger. The damage dealers will want to get the buffs of a Bladedancer, too. Nukers will want to have again a Bladedancer, and a Shillien Elder for their Empower (adds to the Berserker Spirit of the Prophet) and for additional Mana, and they also have Greater Group Heal and Vampiric Rage.

The SK himself is optimal for fighting a single tough opponent at one time. He can paralyze and debuff them, and use his damage over time abilities on them.