DRK Defensive CD's. Am I missing something?

About to level DRK to 80 (from 70) and I'm looking at their Defensive CD suite. Shadow Wall, TBN, and Rampart / Arm's Length from Role Actions.

It just seems like they don't have as many def CD's as the other tanks unless I'm missing something.

Can any vet DRK's help someone out? How do I manage bigger pulls effectively now that DA > AD isn't a thing anymore.

They have like 6 AoE damage moves (?!) and not as much mitigation

You have to use your TBN all the time in order to make it working during big pulls.

DRK is defficient in deffensive department, he no longer could heal himself for large amount of HP, has to rely on TBN and rotate it between cooldowns.
Also dont forget to use Arms lenght from role actions, it reduces the attack speed of mobs if they hit you, pretty useful.

TBN on cooldown. stagger the remaining cooldowns. Don't forget stun is a form of damage mitigation as well, weave that in on stuff that hits hard.

TBN is a very powerful tool. The feedback I'm getting from my FC's healers, is that DRK is the easiest to heal in dungeon wall-to-walls. The one thing to consider with TBN is if you're running with a WHM and they pop swift on holy. it can deny you a pop. No longer a concern after diminishing returns though.

Yep, DRK is really strong defensively with TBN on 15s. You forgot to mention dark mind as well, although that has less usefulness in dungeon trash, it's incredible on bosses, especially someone like innocence who has magic autos.

Offensive AOE is fantastic on DRK, you will output as much damage as DPS on big pulls. That's their next best form of mitigation, kills the packs very quickly.

Yea I was wondering about this as well. Glad people explained it.

BTW how exactly does TBN work?

My biggest piece of advice is to use abyssal drain smartly. Don't use it right away, instead hold on to it for the heal. Try using it in between TBNs. It's better to use it when there's more mobs than less to maximize the healing, so keep that in mind to avoid holding on to it for too long.

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Originally Posted by AncientCrystal

Yea I was wondering about this as well. Glad people explained it.

BTW how exactly does TBN work?

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It gives you (or someone else you use it on) an absorb shield for 25% of your/their maximum health at the cost of 3,000 MP. Other forms of mitigation are taken into consideration before TBN's shield; rampart, shadow wall, or what have you will all reduce the amount of damage the shield itself takes.

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Originally Posted by Absimiliard

It gives you (or someone else you use it on) an absorb shield for 25% of your/their maximum health at the cost of 3,000 MP. Other forms of mitigation are taken into consideration before TBN's shield; rampart, shadow wall, or what have you will all reduce the amount of damage the shield itself takes.

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Most tanks have 120k+ hp now meaning TBN will give you a shield that prevents 30k+ damage every time its used. This is in addition to any mitigation from other cooldowns being used. On large pack pulls it may only last a few seconds. But that's a few seconds of zero damage giving your healer time to heal. Then use Abyssal Drain to restore hp as it falls off and use again every 15s in large pack pulls.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AncientCrystal

Yea I was wondering about this as well. Glad people explained it.

BTW how exactly does TBN work?

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It gives you a shield, but remember that your aim is to make enemies pop it, in order to get resources back and buff oGCD. You should use it on large packs or tankbusters, not for standard mitigations, because you need to take roughly 30k damage to make it pop. TBN is the reason you should never reach less than 3k MP if you don't know the encounter mechanics, it's a good MP management exercise.

Abyssal Drain in Wall to Walls is another cooldown to consider. It ramps quite nicely.

you're looking to rotate TBN (Let it pop) > Use a cooldown > Use TB when cooldown expires > Use another cooldown. Staggering them this way should ensure that you can keep chain pulling and always be able to have coverage with something.