The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

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Originally Posted by Aerin92

I must be over-thinking this or missing something huge, but what in the world does DS stand for? If it means Dark Side than this makes no sense since Dark Side isn't a part of any combos at all, it being a toggled buff and all that.

Unless OP is simply stating Soul Eater without Dark Arts is not worth it most of the time, which perhaps could have been worded better imo. Anyone else have an idea?

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It confused me a little too. It is Darkside.
It's more clear if you look at the part above it.

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Originally Posted by Docfiord_Fowling

Hard Slash (150)
Syphon Strike (250)
Souleater (260, DA 400)
Delirium (280)

Souleater Darkside: 660 potency
Souleater Dark Arts: 800 potency
Delirium rotation : 680 potency

First and foremost, establish aggro with your Power Slash combo described above; afterwards, its all about using the right tools for the job.

1. The DA/SE combo brings MP replenishment, HP replenishment, and 800 potency to the table. I usually sneak in as many of these as possible while I have BP or BS up. This is your highest DPS rotation.
2. The DE rotation is your second highest DPS rotation at 680 potency. This should be used if you need to replenish some MP and/or if you need to keep the -10% INT buff up
3. The SE/DS rotation is your "I need some HP" rotation. Don't expect a lot of incoming heals from this, its more about maintaining. You'll rarely be using this rotation.

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It's a bit weird to mention Darkside at all in this, since it should be a given as it is with DA/SE, otherwise it should be DA/SE/DS.
Adding DS to everything would be pretty redundant though. DS also isn't actually in the abbreviations so though it's pretty obvious, it was confusing in the context of 'why is it mentioned for this combo if active for all?'.

But yea, I'm pretty sure it's just a non-DA Souleater as they mention Darkside Souleater combo above it in comparison to 'Soul Eater Dark Arts' and Delirium.

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Originally Posted by Aerin92

I must be over-thinking this or missing something huge, but what in the world does DS stand for? If it means Dark Side than this makes no sense since Dark Side isn't a part of any combos at all, it being a toggled buff and all that.

Unless OP is simply stating Soul Eater without Dark Arts is not worth it most of the time, which perhaps could have been worded better imo. Anyone else have an idea?

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Yeah, I meant that to be a raw Souleater combo with Darkside up. Obviously it is not recommended, but I figured it would be a good idea to at least cover all the rotations available. I'll add Darkside to the abbreviations and clarify this rotation a little better. Again, it is not a recommended rotation, but if you don't have enough MP for a Dark Arts, and you need healing, it is better than nothing.

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Originally Posted by Docfiord_Fowling

Yeah, I meant that to be a raw Souleater combo with Darkside up. Obviously it is not recommended, but I figured it would be a good idea to at least cover all the rotations available. I'll add Darkside to the abbreviations and clarify this rotation a little better. Again, it is not a recommended rotation, but if you don't have enough MP for a Dark Arts, and you need healing, it is better than nothing.

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One more thing -
Salted Earth is always worth using, right? That's been the impression I've got.
Obviously not if the enemy has to be moved and such, but if it's stationary it's good for single target too, right?

It's mentioned in the AoE rotation, but not in the single target one. It's 525 potency and it's even off the GCD.

Just an aside, it's a little weird there's no debuff on the target when they're in Salted Earth. Only a buff on you.

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Originally Posted by Allyrion

One more thing -
Salted Earth is always worth using, right? That's been the impression I've got.
Obviously not if the enemy has to be moved and such, but if it's stationary it's good for single target too, right?

It's mentioned in the AoE rotation, but not in the single target one. It's 525 potency and it's even off the GCD.

Just an aside, it's a little weird there's no debuff on the target when they're in Salted Earth. Only a buff on you.

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Yes, Salted Earth is hella free damage. No MP or TP cost and it is off GCD. Even if they only take 1 tick, its worth it. (Provided there wasn't some other oGCD you could have used)

Regarding Salted Earth: According to the ability description "dealing unaspected damage with a potency of 75 to any enemies who enter"

So is that just initial damage when they go in? Or do the enemies suffer from damage over time while immersed in the aoe also?

Thanks for clearing that up, and thanks for making this guide! It would have taken me a lot longer to figure DRK out without this guide.

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Originally Posted by Evantide

Regarding Salted Earth: According to the ability description "dealing unaspected damage with a potency of 75 to any enemies who enter"

So is that just initial damage when they go in? Or do the enemies suffer from damage over time while immersed in the aoe also?

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Salted Earth deals 75 potency damage every 3 seconds for 21 seconds. So, (21/3) x 75 = 525 potency! Keep in mind, that's if they stay in there for the entire 21 seconds. Otherwise, 1st "tick" is 75, 2nd "tick" is 75, so now they have taken 150 potency damage. Make sense?

Can we talk def cooldowns? Im new to the tanking role, and with cooldowns I try to keep at least something up at all times and shadow wall if i know a big hit/s is coming. Is that what everyone else does? Other than that I'm loving dark knight, despite what anyone says about squishy and utility, its fun as hell to play!

Sure! I'll add a detailed section to the guide on this later. Its all about counterbalancing the amount of incoming damage to make healing somewhat predictable for the healers. If there is no expected incoming damage, things like Foresight, Bloodbath, and Dark Dance are great to use in order to maintain mitigation and counter balance damage by self healing. Parrying will also proc Reprisal which is a nice -10% outgoing damage across the board while Souleater is a frequent 400 potency self heal. Your percentage based cooldowns should be used for big spikes in damage or if the healers need to turn their focus to other people for healing. In Alex Floor 1 for example, the first half of the fight there is only 1 enemy, so you should able to be get away with minimal cooldowns. Then, as more healing is needed, you can gradually use more cooldowns so the healers don't have to pay as much attention as they did to you before.

DRK requires very different cooldown usage from the other two tanks and that's why I think a lot of people are finding it squishy.

Basically the only two CDs you should be using for any reasonable amount of damage, by themselves, are Shadowskin and Shadow Wall. Everything else is something that should be stacked with something else. For example, in between Shadowskins and Shadow Walls, I mitigate damage with Dark Dance + 1 of Foresight/Awareness/Conva/Bloodbath.

Between DRK's surplus of cross class CDs and Dark Dance's brief 60s CD its good, consistent mitigation. And on that note, its worth saying that Foresight and Bloodbath scale in usefulness with your gear for defense and damage dealt/HP respectively, and particularly in Foresight's case, are only gonna become better and better CDs as ilvls rise.

That and then there's Dark Mind, also with only a 60s CD. If you Dark Arts this combined with Shadowskin or Shadow Wall for any magical tank buster like Discoid in A4 or even (sorta) the constant prey wave attacks in RavEx, you take a pitiful amount of damage. Even less with Delirium and Reprisal up. In RavEx I pop Shadow Wall for the first set of attacks, and after the orbs go out, try and see if i can have Reprisal and Delirum up, and pop Shadowskin + DA Dark Mind. I've taken under 1000K per hit without any mitigation from healers.

Basically DRK has two big mitigation cooldowns, two decent cooldowns with very short recast times, and 4 cross class abilities for seasoning.

As for DPS, people are getting too salty about C&S usage. Basically if you just Dark Arts'ed two SE combos in a row, and you follow it up with unDA'ed C&S, you've just bought yourself another DA SE combo. DA SE is only 50 potency less and is usable every 3 GCDs.

There will be situations where if you DA SE and then DA C&S before your next SE, you won't have enough MP to keep DA SEing. its really dependent on the fight, and fights are so varyingly mechanic-heavy in new content I never would claim something like C&S usage to have an end-all-be-all strategy uniformly across every encounter. It depends on a crap-ton of things, how much damage you're taking, how much your DPS aren't watching their hate, your MP, and so on. But essentially if all other factors are equal, there are times where I've been able to DA 4-5 SE combos in a row, while using unDA'ed C&S, whereas had I DA'ed C&S, would not have been able to get off more than 2 or 3. UnDA'ed C&S is like a free Syphon Strike. It has its uses. If you're ever hurting for MP bad enough to use unDA'ed C&S, it should be because you've been spamming 400 potency SEs and want to keep doing it. 50 potency isn't always worth it.

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Originally Posted by JayCommon

If you blow CD's while Blood Price is up, then you are nerfing your own MP regen but that also puts stress on the healer.
If there are a lot of mobs, I will usually pair Dark Dance with Blood Price since Parrying something still causes you to actually get hit by it.

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Thanks for the tip! This is one of the main things i think needs to be discussed more is CD rotation on Big AOE pulls while Blood Price is up.

Many have mentioned not to DA + DD due to the evasion negating the MP regen of Blood Price. DD without DA seems like a good choice since as you mentioned your still taking damage even with 20% parry.

My Question now is: Which would be the better cooldown to use in this situation. ShadowSkin vs. Dark Dance ?

Shadowskin seems like it would be better at normalising the DMG we take but Dark Dance seems it would replenish more MP due to not all the attacks being parried.

Is there an indication of magic vs physical? There's obvious ones, but for non obvious ones, do we just guess?

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Originally Posted by SpecialKK

Is there an indication of magic vs physical? There's obvious ones, but for non obvious ones, do we just guess?

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If you can parry the attack, it's physical.

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Originally Posted by JayCommon

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C&S is only 50 potency more than a DA/SE and does not heal. If you have plenty of MP, go for the extra damage; but to say if you aren't managing your MP if need to use C&S for mana is incorrect. By using Blood Price and C&S for MP, you are able to keep alternating Delirium and DA/SE combos much longer. This is more DPS and more incoming healing. It seems that you are just happy to see big numbers when C&S crits.

A Dark art Power Slash is 6.5x enmity compared to PLD and WAR 5.5x. I'm not really convinced the cost of a DA is worth the extra 1x enmity.

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If you blow CD's while Blood Price is up, then you are nerfing your own MP regen but that also puts stress on the healer

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Not true. Defensive cooldowns DO NOT reduce the amount of MP regen from Blood Price. If you take damage, your receive the same amount of MP each time. Pop your cooldowns, reduce stress on the healers and enjoy your MP regen.

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Originally Posted by PROBOUND

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Check out my AoE tanking section of the guide for MP efficiency, DPS, and Aggro.

In regards to MP regeneration with Blood Price, JayCommon is incorrect - defensive cooldowns do not reduce the amount of MP absorbed.

With this in mind, when I pull a big pack, I will usually use Blood Price and Shadowskin together. You can't beat flat damage reduction. As Blood Price is close to falling off, I will use a Dark Arted Dark Dance for the evasion as well as a Dark Arted Dark Passenger for the Blind. In my opinion, this is the best cooldown combo for trash and since Blood Price is not up anymore, you aren't losing out on any MP.

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Originally Posted by Docfiord_Fowling

C&S is only 50 potency more than a DA/SE and does not heal. If you have plenty of MP, go for the extra damage; but to say if you aren't managing your MP if need to use C&S for mana is incorrect. By using Blood Price and C&S for MP, you are able to keep alternating Delirium and DA/SE combos much longer. This is more DPS and more incoming healing. It seems that you are just happy to see big numbers when C&S crits.

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You have to count how much potency increases with DA, not the total. Dark Arts adds 350 potency to C&S, and 140 to SE. Trying to count the potency before DA that they do as part of the amount gained doesn't really work.

Edit: As a side note just to echo your other point, Blood Price mana gained is indeed not based on damage taken, it gives a flat amount of MP back per hit regardless of how much the hit is for.

New DRK here:
I'm learning both the class and how to properly tank in behalf of raid content. Recently hit level 50, so I do not have access to Carve & Spit yet.

The use of Dark Arts; It's tempting to really go at it while you regain a bit of MP back with Blood Price (Which recovers only a fixed ammount of MP per hit, if I'm not mistaken? Or so I've seen...), but you get depleted of MP quite hastly if you use many times (And even with Delirium combos between each DASE, it doesn't mean the MP lasts long): Which point on your MP pool do you decide to stop using Dark Arts until you recover enough MP?

Besides that, I would like to know if Carve & Spit is an offgcd ability, working as a free Ether every minute, or as a huge hit.

Also, I would like to know what am I going up for if I'm looking for a raid group; what kind of stuff is the people looking for a tank going to ask of me, besides tanking their stuff, being resilent, and all the givens of the task. Thank you very much.

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Originally Posted by Kuinu

Besides that, I would like to know if Carve & Spit is an offgcd ability, working as a free Ether every minute, or as a huge hit.

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It's an off-GCD ability once per minute restoring the same amount of MP as Syphon. The first impression I got was that C&S was supposed to be an MP tool for main tanking and a DPS tool in Dark Arts while off-tanking/soloing, however reading some of the posts here seemed to suggest a more relevant use on the MP regeneration in order to use Soul Eater more. I'm not good on math, but it makes sense I guess.

I have a question too: how do people manage frequent (less than one minute between each) tank busters with DRK?

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Originally Posted by Malusion

You have to count how much potency increases with DA, not the total. Dark Arts adds 350 potency to C&S, and 140 to SE. Trying to count the potency before DA that they do as part of the amount gained doesn't really work.

Edit: As a side note just to echo your other point, Blood Price mana gained is indeed not based on damage taken, it gives a flat amount of MP back per hit regardless of how much the hit is for.

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But shouldn't the mp you gain from non DA cns be counted as that cns's contribution to damage? Like, 150 potency + 800 something worth of mana vs 450 + (-1800mp)? I mean, I guess it's hard to quantify when you cant immediately replace that 800 mp to a dark arts (being 1800mp cost and all). But then again, blood price mp gain seems high enough for it to not matter (in the long run of a nonstop 10 min battle too? haven't tried)...but what about in grit stance as mt when incoming mp varies and therefore mp has varying, uh, 'values'?

That said, 150 cns's mp gain seems to be just enough for an unleash, with 3 targets will give you 150 + 300 potency at near 0 mp cost while da cns gives you 450 potency for the cost of 1800 mp (Am I wrong?). But then again, it's 1gcd and 1ogcd vs 2 ogcd. Based on time the latter has the 1st beat, based on mp efficiency the former has the latter beat. Same goes for single target cns issue. The DA cns is better for immediate damage and if mp isnt at a premium but it is...right? Where am I even going?

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Originally Posted by Gardes

But shouldn't the mp you gain from non DA cns be counted as that cns's contribution to damage?

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C&S unbuffed rewards half the MP needed for a Dark Arts. C&S has a 60 second cooldown. It'll take 2 C&Ss (1 or 2min) for the MP return to provide a 'free' Dark Arts that you otherwise wouldn't have had access to - and you're sacrificing 700 potency to get it.

Still though - you're a tank, so EHP > DPS if appropriate. If you're in a scenario where you're taking high inc damage and you feel a self-heal is more important than a DPS boost - then yeah obey that priority instead and just vanilla C&S - which will move DA'd SE's availability up 1 syphon combo.

edit: And yeah I agree in AoE/Multi target situations C&S can be better strictly for the MP because it gives a 'free' Dark Passenger with each use.

Passenger is 30s CD, C&S 60s CD. Every other Passenger is free.

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

C&S unbuffed rewards half the MP needed for a Dark Arts. C&S has a 60 second cooldown. It'll take 2 C&Ss (1 or 2min) for the MP return to provide a 'free' Dark Arts that you otherwise wouldn't have had access to - and you're sacrificing 700 potency to get it.

Still though - you're a tank, so EHP > DPS if appropriate. If you're in a scenario where you're taking high inc damage and you feel a self-heal is more important than a DPS boost - then yeah obey that priority instead and just vanilla C&S - which will move DA'd SE's availability up 1 syphon combo

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Hmm, over 2 cns, you get 2x150 and 1DA. Assuming you dont use that mp on another DA cns and use it on SE instead, you get (2x150) + 160 = 460 potency gain for near 0 mp vs 2 x (150+300) = 900 potency gain for 3600 mp. I want to say DA cns is the way to go but my cheapass nickel and diming brain keeps sending conflicting signals lol..

It's like seeing a meal being sold for 5 dollars and another meal twice the size of the 1st one being sold for 20 while knowing the bigger size meal is the one that would sate me and I'm only allowed to purchase one meal.

Ignore MP cost. For comparison you should assume both rotations are using the same amount of Syphons, Blood Weapons, and Blood Prices. \

All that matters is the differential. Which is sacrificing +350 potency for +0.5 the cost of a Dark Arts.

Souleater is 260 potency, DA'd Souleater is 400 (+140) - not sure where you're getting 150 and 160.

C&S is 100 potency, DA'd C&S is 450 (+350) - not sure where you're getting 150+300.

Like Malusion said last page - you can't compare 400 (DA'd Souleater) to 450 (DA'd C&S) - because C&S is oGCD and doesn't disrupt combos, it's benefiting from unbuffed Souleater - if the rotations are identical:

C&S buffed is 450 + 260 (Souleater) = 710

Souleater buffed is 400 + 100 (C&S) = 500

It'll take 2 C&S before a 'free' +140 is available to the unbuffed C&S combo, which is not as good as +210 from constant C&S buffing.

The ratio is constant. It doesn't matter how long the encounter - not buffing C&S will never amount to higher DPS unless it's an AoE situation.

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

Ignore MP cost. For comparison you should assume both rotations are using the same amount of Syphons, Blood Weapons, and Blood Prices. \

All that matters is the differential. Which is sacrificing +350 potency for +0.5 the cost of a Dark Arts.

Souleater is 260 potency, DA'd Souleater is 400 (+140) - not sure where you're getting 150 and 160.

C&S is 100 potency, DA'd C&S is 450 (+350) - not sure where you're getting 150+300.

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I'm getting 160 from the potency you gain by using the mp you gain from 2cns on a soul eater. I went to double check the non DA potency on xivd but read the non combo DA potency instead.

As for the 150+300 one, I didnt check and just pulled from my head, which gave me 150 instead of 100 so assumed to gain was 300.

... it's past midnight where I am. That must be it. So uh, 340 vs 900. Yeah. damage to time, DA CnS is superior I guess.

Wait, that means an mp cns that is used for unleash would only amount to 400, not 450. Your DP example at 100 + (150x3) is better.

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

C&S unbuffed rewards half the MP needed for a Dark Arts. C&S has a 60 second cooldown. It'll take 2 C&Ss (1 or 2min) for the MP return to provide a 'free' Dark Arts that you otherwise wouldn't have had access to - and you're sacrificing 700 potency to get it.

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Assuming you use your Dark Arts on SE instead of just not using Dark Arts at all, you won't just be losing 700 potency.
You'd be losing the difference of SE's and C&S's gains, which is 210. Multiply by that by 2 to make up DA's cost.

So you'd lose 420 potency for your free Dark Arts (and SE's self healing), rather than 700.

Excellent work. Thank you for sharing.

Lots of information to take in as a new DK but worth the read.

In case anyone was wondering, here's the priority list for using your MP for damage for single targets:

1. Unmend - 150 potency/~350 mana = ~0.429 potency per mana spent
2. Dark Passenger - 150 potency/~885? mana = ~0.169 potency per mana spent (i forget exactly, it's like half of DA isn't it?)
3. DA + C&S - 350 potency/~2655? mana = ~0.132 potency per mana spent (dark arts adds 350 potency from normal C&S, and then C&S loses its normal mana regen effect. You're spending ~1770 on dark arts, and you're then losing the ~885 or so mana that you didn't regen from C&S)
4. DA + Soul eater - 120 potency/~1770 mana = ~0.068 potency per mana spent (see below)
5. DA + Dark passenger - 100 extra potency/~1770 mana = ~0.056 potency per mana spent

On DA + Soul Eater. If you're purely concerned with damage, when not using soul eater, you'll be using delirium. So going from Delirium (280 potency) to DA + SE (400 potency) only adds 120 potency. If you're stuck on the hp regen while tanking, then it's 160, which comes out to ~0.9 potency per mana spent, which doesn't change the order at all.

You'll notice unmend is the clear winner. But this is only if you can't use a normal TP based attack. So you'd only want to unmend if you were out of TP or if you weren't in melee range and unmend wasn't going to break your combo.

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Originally Posted by Giantbane;3181095[*

Dark Passenger - 150 potency/~885? mana = ~0.169 potency per mana spent (i forget exactly, it's like half of DA isn't it?)

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884 MP. Funny thing, switch to PLD and check the MP cost of Stoneskin, it's also 884 iirc.

Think a quick fix for Dark Passenger. It has that base 884 cost to include I see it now

Nice write-up. I'd like to point out though, some abbreviations doesn't seem consistent.

In the Abbreviations, you mention Delirium as (DL).

But in the Single target rotation, you refer to it as DE. That's all, thanks for your hard work.

If I don't have the mp for a DA + SE combo should I just stick with the DL combo? It's 20 more potency than a regular SE combo. So far that's what I have been doing.

DA + PS (establish amazing hate lead) > DA + SE > DL combo spam (when mp is low) > DA + SE > Non DA PS combo (including oGCD's between everything of course).

What are people using in A1S for the Plasma buster? What do you save for it?
I don't know if it's cause we have an AST or just me, but the boss hits pretty hard outside of the buster.
You can use anything at the start of the fight and it'll be up by the first Plasma, but what have you guys been using to survive it?

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Originally Posted by Fatshine

If I don't have the mp for a DA + SE combo should I just stick with the DL combo? It's 20 more potency than a regular SE combo. So far that's what I have been doing.

DA + PS (establish amazing hate lead) > DA + SE > DL combo spam (when mp is low) > DA + SE > Non DA PS combo (including oGCD's between everything of course).

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I think that's right, but I don't mind using SE without DA if I think the heal wouldn't be wasted.
For most content, going for potency is usually fine because the healers are gonna top you off anyway.
I've found that in Savage, every bit counts when it comes to helping the healers because I'm usually not topped off.

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Originally Posted by Allyrion

What are people using in A1S for the Plasma buster? What do you save for it?
I don't know if it's cause we have an AST or just me, but the boss hits pretty hard outside of the buster.
You can use anything at the start of the fight and it'll be up by the first Plasma, but what have you guys been using to survive it?



I think that's right, but I don't mind using SE without DA if I think the heal wouldn't be wasted.
For most content, going for potency is usually fine because the healers are gonna top you off anyway.
I've found that in Savage, every bit counts when it comes to helping the healers because I'm usually not topped off.

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Yep yep, I had the same thought.

I'm not sure how people are using DA + SE all that often when tanking unless they're dropping Grit and Using Blood Weapon. Since DA + SE is such a low priority, I rarely find I have enough mana to use it more than 1x per minute (maybe) in a single target fight.

This is with only using 1-2 power slash combos to start the fight and doing siphon combos (SE / DL) from that point on.

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Originally Posted by Allyrion

I think that's right, but I don't mind using SE without DA if I think the heal wouldn't be wasted.
For most content, going for potency is usually fine because the healers are gonna top you off anyway.
I've found that in Savage, every bit counts when it comes to helping the healers because I'm usually not topped off.

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On lower level content like EX: DR, I find the extra SE's allow healers to stay in cleric longer.

I just started to play DRK. I did tanking in 2.0 but stopped a while before 3.0. I took a look at the job and tried to learn things on my own. So far I'm getting the grasp of it, maintaining MP while keeping hate. I was looking at this for macros, hoping the OP would update the main post.

24 pages is a lot. If I missed a thread please point me to it but I'm trying to gather up any useful macros for this job that I do not currently use on WAR and PLD (both 50 but still have all the stuff ready to go.), I have a general idea of what I want to use but you often find very rare and golden egg macros.

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Originally Posted by Leigaon

I just started to play DRK. I did tanking in 2.0 but stopped a while before 3.0. I took a look at the job and tried to learn things on my own. So far I'm getting the grasp of it, maintaining MP while keeping hate. I was looking at this for macros, hoping the OP would update the main post.

24 pages is a lot. If I missed a thread please point me to it but I'm trying to gather up any useful macros for this job that I do not currently use on WAR and PLD (both 50 but still have all the stuff ready to go.), I have a general idea of what I want to use but you often find very rare and golden egg macros.

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In PvE never use macro's unless addressing the group to incoming damage or using certain abilities to help mitigate.

In PvP I have 3 macros. (DPS) Blood weapon+Bloodbath+ Convalescence (Melee Def) Shadowskin+Foresight+Parry buff+Blood Price (Magic Def) Shadow Wall+Dark Mind+Blood Price.

These all have a /wait 1 in between to be used effectively. Using this macro's while using keys and clicking may ofset and cancel certain skills so it may be nessecary to click it several times to make sure. In any situation you never want to macro, but use each ability as needed. That's very very easy to do in PvE. In PvP things are incredibly fast pace and can last a matter of seconds so you need to burst skills.

No reason not to use macros for oGCDs.

Here are my macros:

# generic defensive macro
/ac Dark Dance
/ac Shadowskin
/ac Shadow Wall

# button saver reprisal
/ac Reprisal
/ac Carve and Spit

# mana regen
/ac Blood Weapon
/ac Blood Price

You press each of these ONCE when you need to use them.

That works, I've seen a lot of these macros where people compile moves into one. Which would be much easier. Currently I use certain macros to address the group of things (such as provoke) but also use ability / hotbar / crossbar switch out macros mixed with voice commands to activate other macros..it gets really unnecessary, I always love seeing what I need to and put away the things I don't. Always enjoy seeing what others do, so a thumbs up to both of you.

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Originally Posted by Allyrion

What are people using in A1S for the Plasma buster? What do you save for it?
I don't know if it's cause we have an AST or just me, but the boss hits pretty hard outside of the buster.
You can use anything at the start of the fight and it'll be up by the first Plasma, but what have you guys been using to survive it?

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Our DRK is using the following defensive cooldown rotation:

For the first Hypercompressed Plasma: Dark Mind (Dark Arts) + Shadow Wall + Shadow Skin = 3-4k damage taken
Second: Living Dead
Third: Same as first

Use Convalescence after Hypercompressed Plasma has gone out.

Actually I've found oGCD macros do slow down your wheel, you can hit 1 oGCD macro'd without delaying the GCD wheel, but if you try hitting 2 oGCDs (that are both macro) it does.

for example a macro of:

/ac Sentinel <me>
/ac Bloodbath <me>

Hitting it repeatedly between a GCD will delay the next. Also I've felt you need to tap it repeatedly - as the click doesn't 'register' unless the GCD wheel is passed 30-40%

without the macro just using the 2 oGCDs vanilla will be faster and not delay the next GCD (although Bloodbath may be a bad example, I feel that that OGCD has relatively long animation - but most others can do 2 oGCD between GCD without interrupting)

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

Actually I've found oGCD macros do slow down your wheel, you can hit 1 oGCD macro'd without delaying the GCD wheel, but if you try hitting 2 oGCDs (that are both macro) it does.

for example a macro of:

/ac Sentinel <me>
/ac Bloodbath <me>

Hitting it repeatedly between a GCD will delay the next. Also I've felt you need to tap it repeatedly - as the click doesn't 'register' unless the GCD wheel is passed 30-40%

without the macro just using the 2 oGCDs vanilla will be faster and not delay the next GCD (although Bloodbath may be a bad example, I feel that that OGCD has relatively long animation - but most others can do 2 oGCD between GCD without interrupting)

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The difference is pretty huge actually since you CAN queue OGCDs. Just try tapping 2 gcds in succession with no timing what so ever, just tapping them once each really fast and the 2nd ogcd will cancel the 1st one's animation way faster than when you have 2 OGCDs macrod and mashing it.