Dark Knight Megathread

Joking aside, i do hope for some kind Oblation and/or Dark Mind buff/rework.
I'd hope SE removes shared cooldown on the AD and C&S and shortens AD cooldown to something like 30 seconds. Or merge them into AoE attack with a falloff which both heals and restores MP per target hit.

Having their CD lowered or have something like reducing it by 5s upon execution of Bloodspiller/Quietus might make them more useful (and while we're copy/pasting warrior anyway, might as well commit to it)
Honestly I just wish we had more ressource to manage than blood and MP. Have something to do with darkside for gods sake.

Considering that Abyssal Drain heals less than a singular Bloodwhetting GCD but has more than double the cooldown of Bloodwhetting, its the skill I'd like to see reworked more than anything else.

I dont think it should have ever been stapled to Carve and Spit as if its the AOE version of that skill, Abyssal is infinitely cooler for being a ranged AOE on a tank. The skill should be way more usable than it currently is, and I wouldn't even mind seeing it return to the single target rotation.

Fixing Dark Mind is as simple as moving some of its mit to not be magic specific. (10%/10% would be perfect), Abyssal needs a full rework.

This is a really rough (and dumb) idea, but if Flood of Shadow and Edge of Shadow are going to remain mostly the same going into Dawntrail, I'd like if they sprinkled some extra mechanics into the mix in ways that are tied to them. It might make more sense to try this with Delirium, Bloodspiller, and Quietus, but I think those could have their own host of changes to move them a bit further away from feeling like recolored WAR skills.

I'd like if they implemented a new gauge mechanic of four "shards," as I'll call them for the sake of example. Every time Edge/Flood of Shadow is used, you generate one shard, up to a maximum of four at a time. They do not decay over time. Using Edge/Flood of Shadow a fifth time while at maximum shards would consume all shards, and cause potent AoE damage in an area around the DRK. Alternatively, certain abilities can consume shards for strengthened effects based on number of shards consumed.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...0e67519befe60&
(Graphic design is my passion.)

Firstly, detach Abyssal Drain and Carve and Spit, and let C&S generate one shard on use. Lower AD's cooldown, and have it consume shards for a higher potency heal per shard.

Second, change Dark Mind and Dark Missionary's magic mitigation to universal mitigation. After unlocking this shard mechanic, upgrade both with a trait that allows them to consume shards for stronger effects. Say, 5% additional per shard. (Alternatively, axe Dark Mind and have Oblation consume shards.)

Keep Salted Earth the same I guess, but let Salt and Darkness generate one shard.

I don't know if anybody would find this system interesting at all, but I believe tanks are in desperate need of having additional mechanics sprinkled into their existing kits to make them more interesting and set them apart from one another. I don't know if this "fixes" DRK, but it revolves around two skills you'll be using consistently while bringing some of their abilities into the modern age. It's not perfect, but I'm not a one-person dev team.

I think they should remove one of the DRK's gauges and focus on expanding heavily on the remaining one.
For example:

"Darkside":
- Remove Bloodgauge or heavily simplify it ( look at "Bloodgauge" )
- Increase upper capacity of Darkside to 90 seconds, Darkside does not decay over time passively
- When above 0 , Darkside gives 10% more damage, with an additional 10% skill / spell speed when above 60
- Delirium grants a special 3 part combo that can only be used when Darkside is above 60, each attack consumes Darkside gauge by 6
- Bloodspiller also consumes Darkside gauge by 6 , but does less damage than Delirium combo
- Remove Living Shadow, make the frequency of the Delirium combo 40, so you have to manage your Darkside so you are always above 60 but don't over cap too much as you can use that for combos or Bloodspiller

"Blackblood":
- Mostly every action grants you blackblood
- It doesn't do anything on its own, augments defensive abilities with healing effects
- Up to 100 points in gauge, using a defensive action consumes 50 points
- When used on TBN - grants a 10% heal after barrier breaks
- When used on Oblation - grants a 200 potency regen for 12 seconds
- When used on Abyssal Drain - grants a 600 potency heal per enemy hit and increases the radius of the "explosion" by 50%
- When used on Dark Missionary - grants a heal of 50 potency over 21 seconds to everyone hit

Its not hard to achieve as you anyway do about x3 -> x5 Edge of Shadows and you cannot go under the 60 point mark unless you do the Delirium combo or Bloodspiller / Quietus

It's got too many OGCD options to fire off in the first few rounds with the way it is designed right now that is for sure. There's some kind of breaking point on having just the right number of cooldowns and too many cooldowns, and it gets hit somewhere between 70 and 90.

Just went back to playing DRK at 90 and holy crap is my brain stressing out trying to deal with having all of these up at once...

Oblation, Abyssal Drain, Blood Weapon, Delirium, Salted Earth, Carve and Split, Edge of Shadow, and plunge on top of the main combo. And with all of that going on you're trying to also balance out the defense cooldowns because this job even with the changes feels like it leans a crap ton on a shield that lasts 7 seconds. This sounds like a long time until you realize this games GCD system is 2 seconds and sometimes monsters just decide to chill out doing some aoe move that costs most of the time. Or just have this brain fart during pulls where they stand there until the server realizes "Oh yeah this should probably be chasing the tank now".

Still feels like the coolest tank to play, but this job definitely is hard to just pickup again if someone takes a break. Most of the other ones have a chain and stuff kind of slots in along the chain. This one is like "roll face on keyboard" 1-2-3 1-2-3 "do some minor stuff" 1-2-3 1-2-3 "do something minor" 1-2-3 "roll face on keyboard".

And when someone is in the rolling face on keyboard phase, they have no way to react or use defense cooldowns because all the OGCD slots are stuffed with dps stuff. So it isn't even the same set of stuff all the time depending on the situation. Even DPS generally fall back into the same pattern if they get resurrected, just the timing goes a little off on a main combo. With DRK because of all the OGCDs it just warps into different things, so someone constantly has to keep their eye on the hot bars just to make sure they can make sure they hit the right OGCD attack on the priority list.

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Originally Posted by Colt47

It's got too many OGCD options to fire off in the first few rounds with the way it is designed right now that is for sure. There's some kind of breaking point on having just the right number of cooldowns and too many cooldowns, and it gets hit somewhere between 70 and 90.

Just went back to playing DRK at 90 and holy crap is my brain stressing out trying to deal with having all of these up at once...

Oblation, Abyssal Drain, Blood Weapon, Delirium, Salted Earth, Carve and Split, Edge of Shadow, and plunge on top of the main combo. And with all of that going on you're trying to also balance out the defense cooldowns because this job even with the changes feels like it leans a crap ton on a shield that lasts 7 seconds. This sounds like a long time until you realize this games GCD system is 2 seconds and sometimes monsters just decide to chill out doing some aoe move that costs most of the time. Or just have this brain fart during pulls where they stand there until the server realizes "Oh yeah this should probably be chasing the tank now".

Still feels like the coolest tank to play, but this job definitely is hard to just pickup again if someone takes a break. Most of the other ones have a chain and stuff kind of slots in along the chain. This one is like "roll face on keyboard" 1-2-3 1-2-3 "do some minor stuff" 1-2-3 1-2-3 "do something minor" 1-2-3 "roll face on keyboard".

And when someone is in the rolling face on keyboard phase, they have no way to react or use defense cooldowns because all the OGCD slots are stuffed with dps stuff. So it isn't even the same set of stuff all the time depending on the situation. Even DPS generally fall back into the same pattern if they get resurrected, just the timing goes a little off on a main combo. With DRK because of all the OGCDs it just warps into different things, so someone constantly has to keep their eye on the hot bars just to make sure they can make sure they hit the right OGCD attack on the priority list.

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You're supposed to plan your mitigations, not react. That's a Warrior thing.

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Originally Posted by GoatOfWar

You're supposed to plan your mitigations, not react. That's a Warrior thing.

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Planning works in the more controlled environments like savage and doesn't work in less controlled environments that show up in regular content. Tanks have to have a mix to support both environments to really function well.

Also as a warrior main, it isn't a job that only reacts: It basically can do what the DRK can do but also has the ability to react effectively when the person hasn't memorized an encounter. That's why it handles so well and why so many people favor warrior, paladin, and gunbreaker over DRK. There's a lot of opinion on what DRK should do in terms of balancing what it has, but there isn't much to debate on the lack of its ability to self heal in response to unknown threats. That and someone would be rather hard pressed to argue that it is somehow beneficial it lacks that capability outside of a few loose skills, one of which has the same cooldown as carve and split and the other being it's invuln.

They were able to jury rig some solutions in with the invuln including self healing so that it isn't simply suicide without a benediction or something at the ready. Also 3-hit combo actually providing healing at the final blow helped a bit.

I'd prefer if DRK retained it's high APM, in the event the devs continue to refuse to give tanks interesting mechanics to work with. It's the only of the four I actually enjoy playing purely because it's high APM keeps me from passing out at my keyboard. That is to say, though, it's high APM doesn't make it interesting to me. In fact, I don't find DRK very interesting at all, but that's an issue I have with every tank currently. PLD feels half-baked (probably on purpose), WAR puts me to sleep, and GNB... well, I don't know what GNB does, as I can't stand playing it.

I could probably stand to have some of it's burst trimmed off, but unless it actually gets some meat to work with mechanically, I'd prefer DRK stayed busy during burst.

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Originally Posted by Mayhemmer

I'd prefer if DRK retained it's high APM, in the event the devs continue to refuse to give tanks interesting mechanics to work with. It's the only of the four I actually enjoy playing purely because it's high APM keeps me from passing out at my keyboard. That is to say, though, it's high APM doesn't make it interesting to me. In fact, I don't find DRK very interesting at all, but that's an issue I have with every tank currently. PLD feels half-baked (probably on purpose), WAR puts me to sleep, and GNB... well, I don't know what GNB does, as I can't stand playing it.

I could probably stand to have some of it's burst trimmed off, but unless it actually gets some meat to work with mechanically, I'd prefer DRK stayed busy during burst.

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It's not a matter of it being busy as much as not having a clear execution path without having to go to icy veins or some other website to tell you what it is. That and since it is busy the person has to watch their hot bar more than the fight until they have put a rather significant number of hours into it. Machinist can sort of fall into this category, but they are still a lot easier to work around than the DRK since they only got DPS cooldowns and the automata is sort of a fire and forget thing. RPR and WAR take way less hours to master and get good at.