How to fix Dark Knight

[StingRay104]

New Job abilities like Hasso or seigan except with drk they focus on Physical or magical damage. Physical JA should increase weapon damage, ws damage (which is already increased from previous ability) and Critical Damage (Thought this would mesh well with the theme here) and it should also increase casting/recast time and mp cost so as to make you want to focus on melee damage. Magical JA should MASSIVELY increase Magic attack, lower cast/recast time and Occult Acumen, this way you can get tons of tp from the chain spell blasting and then unleash those magic attack based weapon skills like Herculean Slash for considerably greater damage and effect. As for downsides for Magical side major decrease to weapon speed and damage should suffice.

Also SE need to stop making everything so resistant to Dark magic just cuz they hate that people use sleep to gain the advantage on a monster. They also need to fix abyssea so that drk can use absorb - STAT spells while having cruor buffs on (also HP boost from Drain 2) and increase the stat drained by skill level so that a drk at our current level can drain 50 of each stat from opponent. Also need to look into the following ideas for new spells and abilities

Absorb Attack
Absorb Defense
Absorb Evasion
EnDrain - make it really strong so that we can actually justify using souleater
EnAspir - stronger than dnc's ability
JA "MP Attack" - Souleater that uses mp instead of hp to increase dmg plus its not gimped (Yet)
Enspells 1-3 - Yes i know i put 3 on there but listen I have always thought drk was based on usin magic to increase their power and thats what enspells do, as for rdm they are mages that can hit, at least let both jobs benefit from these spells.

[Gamiina]

Some decent ideas, but also some that are already convered in the thread "Unlike Cecil I'll forever be a Dark Knight~!"

but i guess that thread title doesnt really show that we were havign this exact discussion.

[Ash]

They could just unerf Abs-Tp, unerf Last Resort duration and give a little boost to some of our WS mods.

Giving drk a Crit ws wouldn t fix the problem outside abyssea.

But s-e has made a very good job of gimping drk the travesty of a job it is today.

[Kurai-Akuba]

DRK job is not a travesty!! It's f$@#ing awesome!! It ain't all about stats ya know, some people like to just enjoy playing a style. "Enjoying playing a game??? Shock horror"

The suggestions about DRK's magic skills are a great idea, what's the point of having nukes if they are too weak to make them worthwhile. Actually most of those suggestions are great! Let's hope SE are reading :)

[Seoha]

They could just unerf Abs-Tp, unerf Last Resort duration and give a little boost to some of our WS mods.

Giving drk a Crit ws wouldn t fix the problem outside abyssea.

But s-e has made a very good job of gimping drk the travesty of a job it is today.
Pretty much.

Those are simple solutions but they would be very helpful for DRK.

[Ash]

DRK job is not a travesty!! It's f$@#ing awesome!! It ain't all about stats ya know, some people like to just enjoy playing a style. "Enjoying playing a game??? Shock horror"

The suggestions about DRK's magic skills are a great idea, what's the point of having nukes if they are too weak to make them worthwhile. Actually most of those suggestions are great! Let's hope SE are reading :)

I don t get whats so fun about playing a job that has been nerfed so much over the years thats its at bottom of the DD list now (Fyi drk is my main)

[Jacode]

What would be really awesome is if they implemented a jump type of ability for drk that uses hp like souleater. Give it the same 1 minute duration like jump as well.

Also, and this goes for pld as well, a long time ago SE decreased the maximum MP of Drk and Pld. I think it's time to revisit this decision and maybe increasing their MP so that it would be more feasible to use the spells.

[Cruentus]

What would be really awesome is if they implemented a jump type of ability for drk that uses hp like souleater. Give it the same 1 minute duration like jump as well.

Also, and this goes for pld as well, a long time ago SE decreased the maximum MP of Drk and Pld. I think it's time to revisit this decision and maybe increasing their MP so that it would be more feasible to use the spells.

We're dark knights, not dragoons or lancers. The Jump idea is silly, no offense.

[Valkrist]

We're dark knights, not dragoons or lancers. The Jump idea is silly, no offense.

Truth be told, it's a good idea. He's not asking for a DRK to literally jump into the air and impale themselves to do damage to the enemy, he's asking for a JA that directly does damage to the target, while sacrificing their own HP in the process.

[Cruentus]

Truth be told, it's a good idea. He's not asking for a DRK to literally jump into the air and impale themselves to do damage to the enemy, he's asking for a JA that directly does damage to the target, while sacrificing their own HP in the process.

That much is fine, sure. I guess I just didn't like the analogy, or didn't interpret it as an analogy. Bonecrusher, a technick from Final Fantasy XII, comes to mind. It lets you sacrifice some HP to instantly kill an enemy. It was on the Uhlan's license board in the game's international version, which is basically a dark knight with a polearm anyway.

[Seoha]

Could have potential if toned down.
Sacrificing HP to defeat a mob is just too much to ask to SE I think. That and DRK would become the new bandwagon job if it proc'd at a 50% proc rate (instant KO against target that is).

Imagine that.
everyone that laughed their asses off at us, now lvling DRK.
Bet half of them would be gimped players too. Boy oh boy.

Also, inb4 haters saying "I'D LIEK, NEVER LZVLZ A DRKZ LAWLZ JOO SUCKZ, LEVLZ WARZYO YHAET!!"

[Cruentus]

Summoners got Odin, though, and we're supposed to be the "OMFG OVAH NIEN THOWZAAAAAND" DD job. We deserve an instant-death attack. The difference is summoners have to use Astral Flow, and get an area-of-effect instant death attack through Odin. Ours would be a job ability with, say, 20 minutes for recast, and kills one enemy.

[Siros]

Drk is my main as well and one of the first 2 jobs(Drk,War) i got ta 75 back in the old days.I think this idea u mention is a great one.Now we play the waiting game due ta SE......

[solidous]

I think these could help fix dark.I think these changes and additional will could help fix dark. It is not fair that we get a watered down version of other jobs abilities.

Blood Weapon
Level 51 Job Ability
Duration: 30 seconds
Recast: 15 minutes
When active, all standard melee attacks will cause an Additional Effect that converts the damage inflicted into a "Drain" effect, healing the Dark Knight by 100% of the amount of damage inflicted.


Last Resort
Level 15 Job ability
Duration: 2 minutes
Recast: 5 minutes
Increases the users attack by 14.84375% and defense is decreased by the same amount.
(Desperate Blows should be adjusted to 3% delay reduction per merit.)



Dark Eternal
Level 1 Job Ability
Duration: 30 seconds
Recast: 2 hours
User gains a 20% boost to attack and magic attack bonus. Drain Spikes effect gained.
If user is defeated while Death Eternal is active, the user remains attacking through out the remainder of the Death Eternal's duration, attack and magic attack bonus gain an additional 10% boost.

Job Trait

Quick Cast
Level 95 Job Trait
Duration: Always active
User has a chance to instantly cast selected spell.
Chance of Quick cast activating is 5%
I do not think this would not be broken as you lose a hit or 2 if it doesn't proc.

Imbibe
level 70 Job Trait
Duration: Always active
Absorbs a single status bonus from and enemy.
Chance of absorbing status bonus is 5%

New Job abilities

Dark Masochist (or Truculence I doubt SE will find masochist suitable for the game)
Level 76 Job Ability
Duration: 2 minutes
Recast: 10 minutes
User gains regain effect of 5 TP per tic at the cost of 30 HP.

Dark Mirror
Level 55 Job Ability
Duration: 5 seconds
Recast: 1 minutes.
While ability is active damage received by the user will be recorded. limit of damage recorded varies by player level.

Riposte
Level 55 Job Ability
Duration: Instant
Recast:1 minute
Damage recorded by Dark Mirror with be dealt two fold to current battle target.

[Cruentus]

I think these could help fix dark.

"Blood Weapon" recast to 10-15 min.
"Last Resort" duration 2 minutes recast 5
Desperate blows should be adjusted to -3 delay per merit.

2hr must be used while alive.

New 2hr: "Dark Eternal" Duration 30 seconds recast 2hours.

If hp above 0 you gain attack + 25% mab + 25 and drain spikes.

If hp 0 dark remains attacking through out the remainder of the 2hr, attack + 50% Mab + 50

New JT
Drk lv90 Quick cast 10%
I dont think this would not be broken as you lose a hit or 2 if it doesnt proc.

Drk lv70 Absord status bonusses 5%

New JA


Drk lv76 "Dark Masochist"(couldnt come up with a better name atm im at work) recast 10 minutes duration 2 minutes.
regain 10 tp per tic at the cost of 30 hp per tic for 2 minutes.

Drk lv55 "Dark Mirror" (not to great at making up names) duration 10 seconds recast 2 minutes.
absorb damage magic or physical and deal it 2x.

Sorry for the spelling.

You really need to clean this up so we can read it.

[solidous]

Cleaned it up and Fixed it a little.

[Ayasha]

To Solidous,

All in all, not horrible ideas. I do like the Quick Cast suggestion above all, and the trade off of extended duration of Last Resort at the cost of 2% delay reduction per Desperate Blows merit.

A few concerns and suggestions, though. Your idea for Dark Eternal, while good in THEORY, just won't last long enough to be worthwhile. Your average player MIGHT get 4-5 swings in 30 seconds, and DRK just doesn't hold enmity as well as the more dedicated DD jobs in the game, rendering the spikes effect negligible at best. If a DRK and a MNK, both equally geared and skilled, were in the same party, odds are that the MNK would be tanking unless he's taking it easy. This sounds more like an "Oh sh*t" desperation job ability rather than anything effectively useful in a normal basis.

Imbibe would be awesome, however a 1 in 20 shot of absorbing a status effect seems to me to STILL be rather high. maybe a 1-2% chance native, with slight increases available with gear. Also, there should be a caveat to avoid it being abused: Only effective with a two-handed weapon, or chance of occurring limited to the first attack in a round.

Clarification needed on your suggestion for Truculence. Is that 5 TP per tick at a cost of 30HP TOTAL, or 30HP per TICK? I suggest the latter.

Dark Mirror and Riposte also sound good in theory, but are too easily manipulated. Most mobs are rather predictable, and in such, this ability would make reversing damage from catastrophic hits easily exploitable. For example: Throat Stab. Deals 95% damage to the recipient, yet takes forever to ready. A well geared DRK can easily have huge amounts of HP, making 1600+ outside of abyssea and 3000+ inside abyssea damages not unheard of from that move. A caveat to that one, to make it not overpowered would be something along the lines of "Normal physical damage directed at the Dark Knight will be recorded etc..."

Not bad though, well thought out ideas.

[Sayomi]

Fix Apocalypse! qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq!

[Kaeoni]

SE has been moving drk towards the magical side of the spectrum recently, and since they are insisting on it, I'd have to agree with either a quick cast or some sort of native fast cast.
I like the Dread spikes route to be honest in terms of magic as well as making absorbs better. It would be quite noticeable and welcome increase. That's about all that needs to be done.

Lets remind ourselves we aren't warriors nor were we ever intended to be, in my opinion doing more damage than or equal to a warrior should never be realized. Otherwise how can you justify what we already currently have in our magic arsenal? We're simply a more well rounded and versatile job.
The job is not technically at fault here, Its designed to work well in what it currently does. It's how players in general choose to build their party as well as how the Drk in question decides to play.

Sometimes it's just bad habit to look over a Drk, sometimes its taught from friends and LS leaders, personal experience is also another notable factor. It's true Drk is missing a critical WS in Abyssea, which everyone seems to be pretty upset over.. This is why people view it as a job that needs to be "fixed".

Dark Knight's not terrible at anything it does, but it's certainly not the best, so it's not like i don't understand what this is all about. It's a niche is what i'm getting at. If all DD wanted to output dmg like a War, nuke like a Blm, heal like a Whm, enfeeble like a Rdm, evade like a Thf, mitigate dmg through shadows like a Nin, why are we not playing those respective jobs instead of trying to play Dark Knight for what it is?

Dark Knight can do many things including DD, Tank, Enfeeble and Support. Our Magical side of the spectrum is what sets us apart from a simple hack and slash Melee. If you Can't DD, If you can't Tank, If you can't Enfeeble, If you can't provide Provisional support, you have not been playing Dark Knight to it's full potential.

The only real problem besides a few possibly minor fast cast issues and regular wide spread job updates is peoples attitudes.

[Saion]

I know how to fix Dark Knight! Just give them a Crit Based Weapon Skill!! Problem solved.

[Dart]

I know how to fix Dark Knight! Just give them a Crit Based Weapon Skill!! Problem solved.

We have rampage. Its sad that my maneater/ridill can keep up and maybe even beat my apoc atm -_-

buy yes a crit based ws for scythe/gsword and gkatana for sam would be a huge step in the right direction. However, all these people posting these blatantly stupid ideas about magic need to just stop. If SE takes any of you guys seriously and tries to turn drk into some hybrid mage job. We'll be a dead job forever, even worse than loldrg back in the day (and we're pushign for that already)

Soul Eater needs to be fixed,

Blood Weapon needs to be fixed,

Last resort needs to be fixed,

and of course as we mentioned a crit based ws for our main weapons

We don't need all this new stuff that people keep bringing up, just fix what we have.