DRK Adjustments via Manifesto

Catastrophe's Haste Aftermath is still pretty damn strong, but I certainly wouldn't complain about it breaking the 80% cap and taking us to 90%.

As it stands, Apocalypse is currently DRK's strongest weapon, and Catastrophe is the strongest 100tp Scythe WS.

This is either awesome when you think that having Apoc makes your DRK the strongest it can be, or sad when you think about Empyreans and other jobs like WAR's Ukko's Fury.

just hearing from the dev. team is a plus in my book, hearing their thoughts, what they like and what they are planning it hawt stuff. we'd only get that info on the update version day or days previous.

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Originally Posted by Seriha

Meh, DRK's blubbering about a lack of gear to make nukes count has me shaking my head. As is, the back is certainly our weakest slot for these builds, but +53 INT and +34 MATK is possible with a set, maybe more depending on what you have access to. Compared to RDM, I'm sitting on +73 INT and +33 MATK. No doubt a native MATK trait helps, as well as the likelihood of swapping staves. Regardless, these can double toward the elemental WS like Infernal and Herculean, which may be further adjusted amongst the vague reference to WS adjustments. Insurgency going crit-based could also be among those tweaks. I do feel DRKs should get at least level 2 in the MATK trait, though, and all the MP jobs deserve some form of tiered auto-refresh to both up longevity and versatility.

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All the magic att gear in the world means nothign since our basic melee hits will do more damage and do it faster than our current "Nukes" not to mention our low mp pool makes it even more useless to bring this point up. Rdm has access to all this refresh gear, refresh 1 & 2, and convert, DRK has none of these, all we get is aspir and aspir 2 and we all know how well they work. BTW I have actually gone out in abyssea with hell's guardian and ultimate atmas on my DRK to see if they made Herculean worth using, and the answer is nope. DRK was never meant to cast t3 nukes, period, rdm was built to cast lots of nukes and do it very fast.

As for all the QQ about no crit ws, well they are still doing a big ws adjustment, so just because they didn't mention it doesn't mean that it won't happen.

Well, with the new abilities, wouldn't you be able to MB on your own SC and do competent damage? I know that SC aren't the big thing in abyssea, but I definitely remember magic bursting on my own skill chains back in CoP days.

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Originally Posted by Anathiel

Well, with the new abilities, wouldn't you be able to MB on your own SC and do competent damage? I know that SC aren't the big thing in abyssea, but I definitely remember magic bursting on my own skill chains back in CoP days.

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I wouldn't magic burst with elemental magic on DRK unless you get a big return on Drain2/Absorb-TP.

I am waiting to see what they have planned for Apoc 95, and how much WS boost we get again.

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Originally Posted by Gotterdammerung

Does "Revamping the difficulty of skilling parry" mean its going to be easier or harder to skill parry?

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Who knows what the fuck this means.

Or what it had to do with the question about DRK actually getting use out of one of the most useless Job Trait/Job Combinations ever.

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Originally Posted by Quetzacoatl

I wouldn't magic burst with elemental magic on DRK unless you get a big return on Drain2/Absorb-TP.

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DRK is long overdue for increased potency to its spells, or having the unique quality where magical attack bonus increases the power of its Drain/Aspir line.

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Originally Posted by Unctgtg

I am waiting to see what they have planned for Apoc 95, and how much WS boost we get again.

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Apoc is already DRKs best weapon, stop sweating the weapon and hope they fix the job.

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Originally Posted by Taint2

Apoc is already DRKs best weapon, stop sweating the weapon and hope they fix the job.

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Does Catastrophe do 3k-5k though?

Weapon Bash should have a lower recast, and DRK should get a trait that occasionally knocks the mob with a strong enfeeble like Amnesia or Plague. Can't believe they're considering giving that to SAM, makes no sense at all.

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Originally Posted by Kojo

Does Catastrophe do 3k-5k though?

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In Abyssea sure, but whats it matter, everything is auto kill and you shouldn't be on DRK anyways. Outside Abyssea Apoc sh!ts on every other weapon, bar maybe Rag.

Torcleaver is DRKs best damaging WS but the weapon itself (and the gear DRK can use) really hurts it against Apoc.

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Originally Posted by Taint2

In Abyssea sure, but whats it matter, everything is auto kill and you shouldn't be on DRK anyway.

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I've never seen Cata do 3-5K... >_>

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Originally Posted by Quetzacoatl

I've never seen Cata do 3-5K... >_>

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Not sure how to help you with that, but it can.

Highest I have done with my basics (RR, VV, GN) was 4531 or around there, now I am sure I can get higher with the GC added in, and of course thats not the Norm.

Cata should hit for like 9999 damage :)

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Originally Posted by StingRay104

All the magic att gear in the world means nothign since our basic melee hits will do more damage and do it faster than our current "Nukes" not to mention our low mp pool makes it even more useless to bring this point up. Rdm has access to all this refresh gear, refresh 1 & 2, and convert, DRK has none of these, all we get is aspir and aspir 2 and we all know how well they work. BTW I have actually gone out in abyssea with hell's guardian and ultimate atmas on my DRK to see if they made Herculean worth using, and the answer is nope. DRK was never meant to cast t3 nukes, period, rdm was built to cast lots of nukes and do it very fast.

As for all the QQ about no crit ws, well they are still doing a big ws adjustment, so just because they didn't mention it doesn't mean that it won't happen.

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If all you're doing is looking at things from the perspective of being constantly engaged with high levels of haste, then of course nukes aren't gonna mean much. However, in the odd kited fight (I know, rare right now) DRKs can do things other melee can not when it comes to inflicting ranged damage through their magic. If you wanted to be ambitious, you could also carry a staff or two for the appropriate nukes, which wasn't exactly unheard of for getting the most out of Drain II for SEBW zergs before swapping to your weapon.

Unfortunately, yes, staves are almost too good. RDMs face a similar problem if trying to justify a melee presence, as giving up their potency is grounds for people to tell them they suck at the job. Both jobs deserve some kind of trait that could convert 1H and 2H weapon skill ratings respectively into a raw MACC/MATK value. That way the need to swap is minimized while reducing some of the conflict inherent in being a hybrid class with SE pretty much refusing to mix the needs of such jobs into single gear sets.

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Originally Posted by Seriha

If all you're doing is looking at things from the perspective of being constantly engaged with high levels of haste, then of course nukes aren't gonna mean much. However, in the odd kited fight (I know, rare right now) DRKs can do things other melee can not when it comes to inflicting ranged damage through their magic. If you wanted to be ambitious, you could also carry a staff or two for the appropriate nukes, which wasn't exactly unheard of for getting the most out of Drain II for SEBW zergs before swapping to your weapon.

Unfortunately, yes, staves are almost too good. RDMs face a similar problem if trying to justify a melee presence, as giving up their potency is grounds for people to tell them they suck at the job. Both jobs deserve some kind of trait that could convert 1H and 2H weapon skill ratings respectively into a raw MACC/MATK value. That way the need to swap is minimized while reducing some of the conflict inherent in being a hybrid class with SE pretty much refusing to mix the needs of such jobs into single gear sets.

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A kited fight won't have a DRK in the party. The TP a DRK nuke feeds isn't worth the damage and if the TP doesn't matter then you'll be engaged and swinging.

Draining with a stave died when Kclub zerging did. Now you'll want to open with a WS, so such swap isn't going to benefit.

DRK needs an ability that inflicts Amnesia or Plague, lowered recast on weapon bash, please ask the Dev's about this Camate and put it in our part 2 response.

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Originally Posted by Selzak

Weapon Bash should have a lower recast, and DRK should get a trait that occasionally knocks the mob with a strong enfeeble like Amnesia or Plague. Can't believe they're considering giving that to SAM, makes no sense at all.

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Nothing really makes sense on Samurai, samurai is the "Japanese" job and therefore gets all the crazy stuff that makes no sense.

This all started when they got Plague on weapon bash.

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Originally Posted by Urteil

DRK needs an ability that inflicts Amnesia or Plague, lowered recast on weapon bash, please ask the Dev's about this Camate and put it in our part 2 response.



Nothing really makes sense on Samurai, samurai is the "Japanese" job and therefore gets all the crazy stuff that makes no sense.

This all started when they got Plague on weapon bash.

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Cept Y/G/K all have enfeebs on them, and from what I read it sounded as tho they were gonna continue this with newer ws's or redo some older ones to create this possibility. However if they flat out give sam amnesia and plague as anything other than ws's or blade bash, then I'd agree with you. As for the first part of your post I agree completely, we need lower recast on WB and we need the spells plague and amnesia. Also another response from Camate is much needed.

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Originally Posted by Urteil

This all started when they got Plague on weapon bash.

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Plague makes sense given the era of samurai.

Are we talking about a rare triple attack or double attack or are we talking about a normalized weaponskill average for catastrophe. I think that is the more applicable question here. I am wondering myself about the dark updates.

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Originally Posted by Yugl

Plague makes sense given the era of samurai.

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Plague on Weapon Bash makes more sense, given the era of Dirty European Medieval people.


The Black Plague, I could have sworn that happened in England.

You would be partially right because it is thought to have originated in China.

A Black Knight using Dark Magic would be an abomination in Medieval England in the first place.

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Originally Posted by Quetzacoatl

I've never seen Cata do 3-5K... >_>

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It definitely can inside Abyssea although it's usually relying on something like souleater or a double/triple attack. Hell, even outside Abyssea it can hit that sort of damage.

4388 on Sarameya
3510 on Tyger

That Sarameya one is even pretty much unbuffed. Only had on a Red Curry Bun as Last Resort and Souleater were still down from the previous pop and wasn't getting minuets/chaos roll etc.

Of course that isn't average damage (Average was a little over 2k) unlike the WAR's who were throwing consistent 3-5k Ukko's at them.

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Originally Posted by Neisan_Quetz

You would be partially right because it is thought to have originated in China.

A Black Knight using Dark Magic would be an abomination in Medieval England in the first place.

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It seemed to happen a lot in Fairy tales, King Arthur etc, magic and sorcery and all that.



So an Eastern warrior known for their sense of Honor and following Bushido getting black magic-esque abilities does?





Bottom line Samurai getting plague or anything darkness related is stupid.

This whole plague argument is really stupid.

Nukes should definitely get overhauled to be reasonable damage/give good occult acumen returns. Drk mp pools are small enough as is, nuking should be an asset to drk, not a waste of space in the spell menu. This should not be dependent on a job ability, especially one that costs more mp.

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Originally Posted by Mightyg

This whole plague argument is really stupid.

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Care to explain why? DRK is for all intents and purposes, a terrorist/sadomasochist. They're the freaking embodiment of Black (See: Magic the Gathering).


So plague fits perfectly with their theme of pain and sacrifice and tormenting your opponents. They already have bio, poison, and all kinds of absorption spells that sap the strength of their enemies, so why not plague & terror as well?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/

Dark Knight doesn't live up to its name

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Originally Posted by Unctgtg

Highest I have done with my basics (RR, VV, GN) was 4531 or around there, now I am sure I can get higher with the GC added in, and of course thats not the Norm.

Cata should hit for like 9999 damage :)

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How often does the 2.5x attacks hidden effect proc? If it's a low rate then a Caladbolg would more likely catch up in DoT from riding Aftermath.

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Originally Posted by Soidisant

It definitely can inside Abyssea although it's usually relying on something like souleater or a double/triple attack. Hell, even outside Abyssea it can hit that sort of damage.

4388 on Sarameya
3510 on Tyger

That Sarameya one is even pretty much unbuffed. Only had on a Red Curry Bun as Last Resort and Souleater were still down from the previous pop and wasn't getting minuets/chaos roll etc.

Of course that isn't average damage (Average was a little over 2k) unlike the WAR's who were throwing consistent 3-5k Ukko's at them.

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Wow, that's impressive. What was this person wearing (or rather, what were you wearing if you're the name in the Screenshot) for Cata? It's a shame it can't constantly do that much damage.

The only thing i can see the reduce tp gain for increase damage ability being used is similiar to how some drk use souleater right before a big weapon skill and then cancel the ability immediatly after the weapon skill.

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Originally Posted by Quetzacoatl

How often does the 2.5x attacks hidden effect proc? If it's a low rate then a Caladbolg would more likely catch up in DoT from riding Aftermath.

Wow, that's impressive. What was this person wearing (or rather, what were you wearing if you're the name in the Screenshot) for Cata? It's a shame it can't constantly do that much damage.

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Relic proc is around 7%. But a CataAM build will have more DA and a 5hit that solos Darkness quite often. A cata build will also have around 80 more acc in gear.

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Originally Posted by Quetzacoatl

Wow, that's impressive. What was this person wearing (or rather, what were you wearing if you're the name in the Screenshot) for Cata? It's a shame it can't constantly do that much damage.

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My WS set is

Apocalypse
Rose Strap
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Bomb Core
Twilight Helm
Ganesha's Mala
Brutal Earring
Bale Earring
Augmented DA/STP E Body
Khthonios Gloves (Ideally aiming for Augmented P Hands)
Spiral Ring
Rajas Ring
Atheling Mantle
Shadow Belt
Calmecac Trousers
Ace's Leggings (Have to WS in these to keep 5 hit)

Cata is okayish against older content but still outclassed by Empy's. And it's fairly useless on newer higher tier NM's. There's basically no point me bothering to hit T4 Voidwatch mobs or Abyssea NM's with it.

I think the most depressing thing was seeing Apocalypse instantly outclassed by a fresh WAR 90 with an 85 Ukon using AH gear with ~150 Greataxe skill. It's still a good weapon but just one that pales in comparison to some Empy's.

There's always the chance that this will be rectified when/if they buff Relics. If it isn't then oh well, no sense crying over it.

I just wanted to throw my two cents in here on an issue that has been mildly overlooked. Granted deviates a tad from the content discussed thus far. As much stated about the direction and true nature of Dark Knight I do believe that the "Greatest Blade" also strikes a true meaning in the regards or PLD/DRK on the same coin. Now even with all the attack, JA's, and spells to enhance ourselves there is a core that still stunts all of this. Weaponskills are a core aspect of any job that aspires to have DPS comparable to the top notch DD jobs. When I look at the math for the Weaponskills Dark Knight has for Scythe (Which is the weapon I choose to use and Like to).

Our primary WS for damage is Guillotine which is thus in Mathmatical form: Multiplier - 0.875 (Across the Board TP 100-300) & Modifiers - STR/MND 30%.

Ok now as much as I've used it and played with other jobs in this game even PRIOR to Abyssea. This WS was outdone 90% of the time in the sense of output. It doesn't even make sense. So for every hit of the WS it does 0.875 of the base of the attack + STR/MND 30% Modifiers? So what you're saying is my single attack is better than 1 hit of my WS? Even with the modifiers it doesn't make sense. Raging Rush for a Warrior has a multiplier of 1.0. They get full return for every hit of thier WS so why don't we get it? Hell even Samurai on every one of thier good WS the Multiplier is ABOVE 1.0 even if they are single hit WS they do 1.5625 with just 100% TP? Not including Modifiers? Where did the math go awry here. Even with Dark Knight having Tier 5 Attack Bonus it's not even close in making up for the multipliers that make our DD Capability Lack Luster.

Now let me shine a little light on a Weaponskill I would have loved to see take over Guillotine.

Insurgency: Multipliers 0.5/0.75/1.0 & Modifiers STR/INT 20%

Where did this go horribly wrong? So I get half a normal hit with 100% TP? With shitty % on modifiers? No wonder it's so awful. The "Appears to be Heavily Modified by Attack" is a joke. Why does it matter if it's heavily modified by attack when it doesn't even do half a normal hits worth of damage at 100% TP? Even Penta Thrust will do more damage than this.

Let's start more at a simple basis for improving Dark Knight here. If we had WS's that had Multipliers/Modifiers that were worth a damn maybe we could compete with a Samurai, Warrior, or even Dragoon for that matter. As far as I'm concerned I'm a Dark Knight to the Core but I haven't touched it hardly since Abyssea came out and I've been forced to play Warrior to even do something in the game. I utilize it in every aspect I play including mage style which is rare and far imbetween however I cringe everytime I see how much my Warrior does in normal hits/WS's in general in and outside of Abyssea. I can hardly reach the 2k mark in Abyssea on Dark Knight where as I constantly break it on Warrior. Even with the magical aspect our magic is limited. There are a staggering amout of monsters that are either immune or highly resistant to Dark Magic. It does not give us the edge we need to stand up to the numbers and versatility in combination that other jobs put forth.

I've been waiting for a new weaponskill or an update to improve these simple things. With no avail and no sign of changing this I still believe that on this base level as a DD we will not compare. Until there is a such a time as either making our magical aspect enrich our DPS capability to be able to balance with our Normal Melee/WS we will be outshined as a viable and stable DPS source. I will still play it to the very end. Born into the Grave.

Guillotine is 0.875 modifier yes but only on the first hit. All the other hits are 1.0. So it is effectively 3.875 if all 4 hits connect with 25% STR and 25% MND modifiers.

Raging Rush is 1.0 on the first hit. So 3.0 total if all 3 hits land. It has a 35% STR modifier.

The only reason Raging Rush is better than Guillotine is because it can crit whilst Guillotine cannot. If they both could crit then Guillotine would outperform it.

Also, your comparison to SAM WS'es is off. It wasn't their base modifier that made them so good pre-Abyssea. It was the fact that they had a pseudo-attack boost. And we already have WS'es similar to SAM's Yuki/Gekko/Kasha in Spinning Slash/Ground Strike. SAM's just outperformed DRK's because of other factors (Overwhelm, TP'ing more often, having access to a more offensive sub)


We could do with a good solid Scythe WS I agree. On the Greatsword side we're fine with Torcleaver. The problem wasn't really that Scythe WS'es were bad, it's that the WS'es they added for other jobs were ridiculously good. And inside Abyssea the problem is that certain Atmas make crit WS'es godly and DRK lacks a crit WS.

If you take Empy's WS'es out of the picture then outside of Abyssea we aren't really any worse off than other jobs. Even including Empyrean WS'es we're decent using Torcleaver.

Based on everyone’s feedback, we will be making the below adjustments during the upcoming version update.

Scarlet Delirium* Lv95
Converts damage received into attack power and magic attack power.

Absorb-Attri* (absorb attributes)　DRK Lv91
Absorbs an enemy’s beneficial status effects.

Additional magic that can be learned:

Blizzard III　DRK Lv92
Break　DRK Lv95

We tested it out…
Scarlet Delirium*
　→After taking approximately half of your current HP in damage, your damage output increase by over 20%!
　　(This is also reflected in weapon skills it seems)
　　Additionally, while under the effects there is no decay over time)

Absorb-Attri* (Absorb attributes)
　→Used in conjunction with Nether Void you are able to absorb two status effects.

Just in case, we confirmed with the lead dev. once more and he said that they are finalizing the adjustments, but as long as there are no major problems it will be implemented as stated. Yay!

(*Please note that names and descriptions are under development and are subject to change.)
*Updated with in-development terminology at 7:18pm PDT

If I understand this right and after taking some damage you will have 20% damage boost for duration of the ability then it's full win.

Absorb buffs might also be great but I wonder about it's accuracy vs high lvl mobs.

This is all incredible news!

Will the increase in magic attack power effect our most important spells, Drain and Aspir?

Could we get some details on how Absorb-ATB works exactly?
Does the target (I hope so) lose the status effect absorbed?
What can and it can not absorb?
Can I recast it to absorb another status effect, meaning if I cast it again I know have two.

(Please make this spell on a lenient recast timer.)




Do we get the full effect, the effect left?
Is it based off the mob/target casting it's power, so basically its just a transfusion?

If I absorb Shell IV off a target will it overwrite lower tiers?

I.E: What happens if it is absorbed of a Red Mage with Composure on do I get the enhanced duration/effect?

It'll probably be like Aura Steal (THF Merit) except better and on a shorter timer with a higher chance to absorb the buff.

Seeing as how Aura Steal is "Far too broken to be on less than a 5 minute timer"... Absorb-ATB will likely be on a 1 minute timer or less. But to be realistic maybe 2 minutes or so.

And if i recall right, You steal the Effect as it is, Duration/etc. Meaning if you stole a Composure you'll get the same effects from it as the person who used it would have. Could be wrong.

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Originally Posted by Camate

Based on everyone’s feedback, we will be making the below adjustments during the upcoming version update.

Readily Rearm* Lv95
Converts damage received into attack power and magic attack power.

Absorb-ATB* (absorb attributes)　DRK Lv91
Absorbs an enemy’s beneficial status effects.

Additional magic that can be learned:

Blizzard III　DRK Lv92
Break　DRK Lv95

We tested it out…
Readily Rearm*
　→After taking approximately half of your current HP in damage, your damage output increase by over 20%!
　　(This is also reflected in weapon skills it seems)
　　Additionally, while under the effects there is no decay over time)

Absorb-ATB* (Absorb attributes)
　→Used in conjunction with Nether Void you are able to absorb two status effects.

Just in case, we confirmed with the lead dev. once more and he said that they are finalizing the adjustments, but as long as there are no major problems it will be implemented as stated. Yay!

(*Please note that names and descriptions are under development and are subject to change.)

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This is pretty much what I want to see for DRK, though IMO it should get Break before BLM.

Besides that, Readily Rearm sounds pretty awesome for zerging!

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Originally Posted by Camate

We tested it out…
Readily Rearm*
　→After taking approximately half of your current HP in damage, your damage output increase by over 20%!
　　(This is also reflected in weapon skills it seems)
　　Additionally, while under the effects there is no decay over time)

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I hope the dev is adjusting the enmity control for the tanks as well.