(Don't) Fear The Reaper: A Dark Knight Guide

Shoha has an attack bonus and made it solid. Didnt try Scythe but your points are valid.

Did Fimb, Torc and Reso with GS. Reso was terribad.

This is probably true, but at the time we didn't know this to be the case. I likely misremembered this fact when i typed my response, but I had in mind how we approached the fight 3+ years ago, and it was one of the reasons we felt SAM wouldn't be as effective because we fought from behind. Hence, DRK would be stronger (our thoughts at the time). Good clarifying comment.


Can Sworn set "fix" Resolution?

I don't think it can fix it much better than Ampulla can. Reso's already 5 hits and Ampulla's turning it into 7, just one hit short of cap.

The att penalty is the biggest issue with Reso. Its good with Ampulla and capped attack.

I've always used DRK for Mboze KI1, using father time so the SB2 on mpaca pants don't mean ***.

The heals from origin are laughable. The healer is basically AFK the entire time because mboze doesn't do ***for damage. Also: since you're incredibly underbuffed, having a WS/aftermath that benefit from PDL is a joke. You aren't remotely close to attack capped, at all.

Soul enslavement doesn't hold a candle to mighty strikes, I'm sorry. You could say it's a bit safer, if that's relevant (note: most of the time it isn't), but it doesn't provide anywhere NEAR the level of offensive capability as MS does.

It's one thing to want to support your favorite job and talk about the reasons you like it. I love DRK, it's my primary DD job on maletaru. It's entirely another thing to glaze it with false praise and pretend Absorb-AGI will save your life.

If someone asked me if they should play DRK I'd tell them it can serve as a fine DD in a lot of content, but it's rarely optimal or the meta choice. You can definitely get by with it, it's very fun and it has a lot of unique characteristics, but it's not the best. It also feels like dragging your nuts through a swamp about a quarter of the time because of the LR situation.

Not that I don't believe you, but your comments on how to "fix" drk suggest otherwise.

All the 2h jobs, war included, are well balanced at this point, IMO. Nothing needs changing.

If drk needs fixing then bst needs.. to be deleted for being irrelevant outside spitting cheese, maybe.

It’s nostalgia. It looks cool. Caster DD. It’s everything I’d want in the job it just doesn’t have a place. (Meta?)

DRK was once the top DD. Could help with stun rotations. Was the best tank for HNMs. Apoc was bonkers. Souleater was game changing risk. 93.xx% weapon delay.

Ah so you feel drk is slow compared to perma hundred scythes with apoc pre everyone finding out you could push dps near infinity with it.

Hate to break it to you but those times are never coming back. And good riddance too.

Any HNM setup in those days revolved around drk with kraken club abusing SE and 1hr with drks rotated in as their 1hrs got depleted.

How "fun" for everyone not on drk.

Drk is unique in being the only caster heavy dd job. That's its niche.

Super fast tp generation is Sam's niche not drk. Stay off my meditate, gimp drk.

100 Scythes was awesome, agreed it needed to go. But everyone had access to it via Rune Chopper.

KClub was high risk reward, perfect for the job. I don't remember Kclubing any HNM besides Vrtra which was an absolute crapshoot between undead adds and charm. (I guess AV and Dynamis Lord could be in that category)

DRK/NIN was the best HNM tank for years but most people didn't even try it.

After another Temenos run on DRK, I stand by my suggestions. Souleater would fill the gab during LR down. (like Impetus/KA MNK) Consume Mana would add some burst.

It wouldn't hurt if they removed the casting penalty on Hasso, I'm not sure it necessary in todays game.

Why don't you just sub dnc and give yourself haste samba.

Acting like JA haste is hard to come by these days.

Back in 2004 the only way anyone I knew did Kirin was with an entire army of kclub drk/nins. Got sick of seeing armies of copycat drk/nins.

Back in 2004 we spent 3 hours 10 boosting Chi Blast and delevling all your BLMs for w.legs to not drop.

2004/2005, wtf remembers from 21 years ago. Thanks, now I feel old.

You are a deeply unserious person and this question is braindead on so many levels.

DRK/SAM gets 10% JA haste, why would someone sub DNC to get 5% JA haste that costs 350 TP and locks you in an animation for 5 seconds, doesn't give any STR or zanshin, and only lasts 90 seconds?

Here are some fun numbers to play with. Adjusted delay assuming capped magic and gear haste:

SAM with Kusanagi and Hasso: 87
BRD/NIN with Naegling/TP bonus: 85
DRG with Gae Buide: 98
NIN with Dokoku/TP bonus: 85

DRK with Foenaria and LR: 103
DRK with Foenaria and haste samba: 135
DRK with Foenaria but no LR, Hasso, or Haste Samba: 160

So uh yeah...it attacks about half as fast as other DD jobs. So...it feels like molasses climbing up a hill on a cold day.

Lol. Relax dude, not that deep.

Touch grass or something.

I honestly don't even notice Last Resort ever being down during Limbus or Sortie runs. You're travelling more than fighting, and especially in Limbus, each floor takes like 30-45 seconds and then you're moving to the next camp. Any time lost swinging slower is kind of minimal, plus as /DRG you get a couple of jumps/Absorb TP for an instant refill of TP. By the time I switch to my second target, the floor is done, so Last Resort downtime is practically non-existent from my experience running DRK in either of those events. You may notice it slightly more in Limbus, but never in Sortie.


None of the dark magic spells have any real lengthy casting durations; Absorbs and Drains are practically instant, Dread Spikes/Endark is only really used at the start of a floor/fight so does not take away from your attacking. So I'm not sure that's a real issue for DRK's native spells. I'd be in favor of finding a way to make Impact casting significantly faster, perhaps by allowing Consume Mana to instant-cast your next spell or something similar to Spontaneity. OA+Impact is like 1800 TP before SAM roll, but it takes a few seconds to go off. Still probably faster than swinging without Last Resort active, so it's a net positive. But would be nice.

You can supplement loss of Last Resort like I said by rotating those: Jumps (2), Absorb TP, Impact OA. Not great, but faster TP gain when your attack speed is lessened.


I find very few DRKs treat DRK the way it is designed. They play it almost exactly like WAR and I feel it is underwhelming to do so. Other DD jobs you can get away with pressing one button nonstop until things die and you have to be cognizant of survival, but on DRK, there's a few extra things you can do to make the job fun, and you can afford to take risks because the job is based on that premise.

For example, in Limbus/Sortie/Segments, I almost never see people pumping out Absorb INT/STR/VIT or whatever on mobs prior to fights to boost their own damage (depending on WS). I almost never see people Absorb-Attri on unique buffs, which is practically a free dispel or buff steal. I never see people dropping into a DT+ or non-ilvl set and using Diabolic Eye+Scarlet Delirium for max damage boost potential. You can DSNV Drain 3 and have a ton of HP and then just tank everything (your parse won't display how much damage you absorb, but it still counts). You have a free 100%* stun in Weapon Bash, which can be chained for a free SC (Sortie Boss start). There's tools available to you; yes using some of them might take away from your dps slightly, but you also gain a huge amount if done right.

The job is still a "high risk, high reward" style, but people play it like a WAR with a great sword or scythe and almost never cast anything, and thats the issue. You can afford to take greater risks and buff your self to a greater degree, but it takes good timing to use all of the tools available.

Very confused.

On one hand, floors only last 30 seconds before you're moving to the next floor.

On the other hand, you're spending 10 seconds casting Dread Spikes, Endark, Absorb-STR, and Absorb-Attri, and then using Diabolic Eye and Scarlet Delirium.

So you can WS twice and then move to the next floor. Seems kinda contradictory to me.