Quick DRK Questions

Hey guys, few quick questions about DRK:

First thing is attribute points. Should I be going full Vit (which I have been doing), or all Str or a mix of both? I'm a bit lost here. Vit has been good, but I feel like it lacks on the OT side of things.

Second thing is when to use what combo. So far, I've been opening with either Unmend or Plunge, then using Unleash for mobs or starting the Power Slash combo to create initial enmity. From there, I have been swapping between the Power Slash combo and the Souleater combo (if I need MP and HP). Is this correct?

As an OT, what should I be doing for DPS? I have been pulling very terrible DPS, whereas I've seen some others doing much better. I'm assuming this is due to lack of gear, possibly lack of Str, or me just doing my combos terribly (very possible). I normally pop Salted Earth, then Scourge, then spamming either the Power Slash or the Soul Eater/Delirium combo. Any changes I should make here?

Your best bet unless your fighting Ravana Extreme specifically, (and even that is a toss up) is to go full strength in both accessories, and Bonus stats. Reason being is 3 fold.

1) You will hold enmity vastly easier. More damage, is more multiplication to your enmity. Grit = X2 for all sources, and Unmend/Unleash are X10 + Grit. So small gains in strength are invaluable for enmity.

2) You will self-heal double what you can in Vitality gear. Once you get enmity established, you can basically get away with the enmity combo once, and then Soul Eater until whatever you are fighting dies. You will see heals for over 900 leveling, and over 1000 in full Law gear. This helps with your lack of alternative mitigation, and overall less than amazing mitigation cool downs.

3) There is no encounter in the game currently that requires your usage of fending gear. Damage taken must always be healed regardless of what % of your life that damage is. AN extra 4000 HP as a cushion is only useful to a healer who is not paying attention, but you have cool downs for that.

Want a little more convincing about how useless extra HP is? Ask around your server to healers, what they think of healing warriors vs other tanks. Warriors "mitigation" stance is extra HP, and enhanced healing taken, but in general they all say warriors are harder to heal, even though it comes out to be the same number of cast to keep them alive as both Paladin and Dark Knight. "Feeling" like you are more sustainable doesn't actually mean much when everything dangerous in this game is 100% predictable, and telegraphed.

What about big AOE pulls? Again, you have cool downs for that. turn grit on, and cycle through the CD's. Your mitigation is identical to a Warrior's here, and your damage output during the pull puts Paladins to shame. The enemies will actually die before they get a chance to deal as much damage as a Paladin will end up taking in the same spot, because your adding at least 1000 DPS to an AOE pull against 6+ enemies.



Also! Remember. If asked, you can always swap out accessories, but there is no need for 17,000 HP. It only servers to cut your damage by 50%. (Were are in grit 650 DPS, I don't see why you would want to be less.)

This is ffxiv dude. Tanks are just DPS classes with aggro draw modifiers slapped onto their abilities.

Nothing in this game is threatening enough to warrant caring about defensive stats. And the stuff that is can just be cheesed with things like holmgang/Hallowed Ground/Living dead.

Full strength. Keep your eye on those DPS parses.

Go VIT. Still a new class that people are getting used to, and you'll want VIT over STR for upcoming content. As other players get better geared and your own comfort level with the class grows, you can adjust accordingly.

When starting a pull (assuming single target), Unmend into Pounce into Power Slash combo, weaving Salted earth in there somewhere. You can choose to DA the Power Slash. If you do, then you can do some Souleaters/Deliriums. Otherwise, do a second Power Slash combo, weaving in ogcd's of course. Gauge your hate against your dps players with the party list, and spam souleaters and deliriums (DA'ing Soul eaters when you can while leaving yourself enough MP to recover aggro if something happens) and use Power slash liberally when you feel it best. I personally started with the DA'ed Power slash, and than do two souleaters/deliriums, than a Power Slash, than two soul eaters/deliriums, and than two Power Slashes, and repeat it.

As an off tank, pop Blood weapon as much as you can, spam DA'ed Souleaters, Carve and Spits, and Deliriums as much as you can, weaving in all off globals. Scourge should be up all the time, replace it at 3-4 seconds left.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ergumenus

This is ffxiv dude. Tanks are just DPS classes with aggro draw modifiers slapped onto their abilities. With the best defense armor in the game, best defense cool downs in the game, and best self-reliance hp regeneration in the game.

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FTFY

To the OP. If you've got a good group you hang with, where you can play your job to your fullest or are up for making accessory melds with both STR and VIT. Go STR with your stat points.

If you're lacking a good group and are PUGing everything. Stick with Vit. You don't know your healer and more often than not will probably get one that can't deal with it (even though in theory, they should be). You then can get both slaying and fending accessories and go full on either one or mix and match until you get accessory melds for both STR and VIT.

I go full Vit for now myself but might change to Str to see if there is a difference in PUG healing on me. As well aggro is usually only a problem for me of I still have a regen on me at the start of a pull.

For mob pulling I tend to go for Unmend on the closest target, followed by Plunge on the farthest back. Especially good for getting group with ranged mobs since they usually already are in the back.

Note as well on the whole HP things: We have just as much HP as a Paladin in the exact same gear up if we also have the same amount of VIT (or lack of VIT) bonus stat.

wow thx guys i had the same questions as the Op did. glad to see i can use my str accessories for my monk, DRG for my DRK

Okay cool. I went Vit just because I was completely new to the class and it seemed my safest bet to start out with. I haven't had any issues holding enmity, but that could change in later content. The healing aspect does make sense though, as does the extra DPS/enmity generation.

So would you recommend Slaying gear instead of Fending then? The only thing I would worry about is having enough health to take some of the bigger hits, but if my health pool would still be large enough without Vit attributes or Fending gear, then I guess there's no need to use them.

If you and/or your healer(s) are under-geared and/or under-performing, a full STR build will result in a death. If that is NOT an issue however, STR is optimal in a majority of situations in this game outside of large trash pulls where VIT is more beneficial.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BannedatRegistration

If you and/or your healer(s) are under-geared and/or under-performing, a full STR build will result in a death. If that is NOT an issue however, STR is optimal in a majority of situations in this game outside of large trash pulls where VIT is more beneficial.

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Large trash pulls die faster with strength gear. There is no good reason for vitality gear unless your getting killed in 1 shot.