Some ideas for DRK

Dark knight is in an unfortunate position as it stands being the weakest damage dealer of the tanks, being too close to Warrior in terms of playstyle for many, very poor aoe damage, living dead requiring a healer and having a monotonous rotation of 1-2-3

Here's some ideas to fix some of these issues

Shadowskin- replaces rampart
If ranged can keep unique looking but identical abilities, why can't tanks? Bring back shadowskin

Syphon strike
Combo potency upped to 350 (previously 300)
Mp restored upped to 800

Souleater
Combo Potency upped to 500 (previously 400)
Cure potency upped to 320

Stalwart soul
Potency upped to 210

Living dead
Living dead status remains the same
Walking dead: While under the effect of Walking Dead, most attacks will not lower your HP below 1. If, before the Walking Dead timer runs out, Healing received equals to 75% of your max hp, the effect will fade. If 75% is not restored, you will be reduced to 1hp

Bloodspiller
Potency upped to 640(previously 600)

Quietus
Potency upped to 280(was 210)

Living Shadow
Timer now only takes effect when Simulacrum is able to attack

New combo
Scourge>Delirium>Power slash
All use their original animations from HW

Scourge
Obtained at level 33
Does damage potency 150
Additional effect: Deals damage overtime potency 40, duration 30 (550 total)

Delirium
Obtained at level 42
Does damage potency 100
Combo action: Scourge, potency: 200
Additional combo effect: Deals damage overtime potency 50, duration 30 (700 total)

Power slash
Obtained at level 48
Does damage potency 100
Combo action: Delirium, potency: 500
Grants 10 blackblood

Sole Survivor
Obtained at level 58
Marks target with status Another Victim and self with Sole Survivor
Duration: 15 seconds
Recast: 120 seconds
When Sole Survivor hits target marked with Another victim with a skill or ability, a cure with potency 300 is received
Additional effect: If target marked with another victim is slain, grants dark arts

Level changes
Edge of darkness>level 30
Flood of darkness>level 40
Stalwart soul>level 38
Shadow wall>level 36
Edge of shadow>level 68
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Current Inner release delirium was deleted. The new combo is designed to replace it via two dots. The combo is more frequent being once every 30 seconds to replace the 90s recast.
The idea for the rotation being power>souleater>souleater>power>souleater>souleater etc

Living dead changed so its still possible to die if you aren't healed via autoattack or roomwide, but at least you have a good chance of mitigating it solo via TBN and use of sole survivor/abyssal/souleater

levelling changes were designed to plug gaps in the levelling kit, match up with other tanks and where possible, preserve the feel of the original job quest (such as sole survivor coming right at the end of the vault...)

I wouldn't mind turning DRK into the 'DoT Tank' and bringing back Scourge in exchange for losing Delirium, but a lot of these changes just seem to be turning the clock back to SB DRK.
Buffs for the sake of it, and then there's:

Living Shadow
Timer now only takes effect when Simulacrum is able to attack

Yeah, the timer reflects the couple seconds at the start where the 'summon animation' plays, just like MCH's Queen and SMN's Bahamut/Phoenix.
If they cut out that animation, they'd just reduce the timer by however long it takes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

Level changes
Edge of darkness>level 30
Flood of darkness>level 40
Stalwart soul>level 38
Shadow wall>level 66
Edge of shadow>level 68

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some of these leveling changes are all right but some of these just make me shudder, to be honest. you're moving DRK's 30% reduction back by almost 30 levels, making DRK the squishiest tank between 38 and 66, Flood is better than Edge in the levels where you only have one because it's primarily dungeons with multiple enemies (Flood is good enough to maintain aggro on a pull while single-targeting with weaponskills right now, which is the one place DRK does feel unique at lower levels), and 38 is too early to get the AoE combo's second hit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SnowVix

some of these leveling changes are all right but some of these just make me shudder, to be honest. you're moving DRK's 30% reduction back by almost 30 levels, making DRK the squishiest tank between 38 and 66, Flood is better than Edge in the levels where you only have one because it's primarily dungeons with multiple enemies (Flood is good enough to maintain aggro on a pull while single-targeting with weaponskills right now, which is the one place DRK does feel unique at lower levels), and 38 is too early to get the AoE combo's second hit.

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my apologies, i hit wrong key on my numpad there, it should have been 36 for shadow wall

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

my apologies, i hit wrong key on my numpad there, it should have been 36 for shadow wall

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i still disagree with moving Shadow Wall. all tanks get their 30% at 38. it's a set design that means you'll have it when you need it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

Dark knight is in an unfortunate position as it stands being the weakest damage dealer of the tanks, being too close to Warrior in terms of playstyle for many, very poor AOE damage, living dead requiring a healer and having a monotonous rotation of 1-2-3

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While it is true that Dark Knight happens to be the weakest damage dealer of the tanks and is essentially identical to Warrior in weaponskill rotation, the rDPS and aDPS difference is negligible as DRK is very close to the other three tanks, only GNB actually having a slightly better lead. Each tank has strong and weak points - DRK having less rDPS is mitigated by the fact that its mitigation for busters and fluff damage is arguably the best for most situations discounting the invulnerability ability, making it one of the best progression tanks and a viable speedrun tank.

DRK's AOE is actually very powerful - having an oGCD MP spender of 300p/target and Stalwart Soul combo generating MP + Blood (+ converting it directly into potency) is efficient at two targets already. Living Shadow has three attacks that are also AOE (hitting for I think 300-400 potency per hit), further adding to DRK's AOE damage, especially in bursts, being very strong. For three targets and beyond you also have access to Quietus.

Here is average DPS data on 95th %tile range:
https://i.imgur.com/aOhxzyT.png
All in all, the difference is very small when comparing tanks on equal playing fields and gear, so I fail to see the need to boost DRK's dps.

Also since apparently this is being beaten like a dead horse - it is disingenuous to say that DRK is the only tank whose invuln requires Healer intervention. Warrior's Holmgang can be healed up via its own toolkit, but for most fights you essentially burst through most of your HP tools very fast instead of utilizing Healer oGCDs / efficient GCD heals and spreading the use of it more evenly to make Healer weaving more practical for them. Gunbreaker's Superbolide essentially does what Warrior's Holmgang does but in reverse - you dont need actual healing for about 8s, but after that period you need heals regardless as you just postponed the need for immediate healing. Paladin is the only tank with a true invulnerability but it pays with generally weaker / less practical self-mitigation and an overlap of block effects within the kit. Living Dead requiring healing intervention is true, but you can minimize the need for Living Dead to absurdly low amounts due to its core mitigation kit and TBN interactions, making DRK require less heals outside of Living Dead.

Going over the changes regardless since some of it contains gameplay changes, some I tend to like even. Will skip over mere potency changes unless it interacts with new combos.

Shadowskin - signed, gladly and anytime, I also want Foresight to be the "Rampart" of Warrior and for the stuns to be unique again (which means we could make the currently useless Shieldbash into the PLD's stun ogcd.

Bloodspiller + Quietus - I assume the potency change comes from the Delirium rework, so I guess thats alright, thought I am not super math savvy so I'm not exactly accurate in my assessment.

Living Dead - I "guess" this is a way we could do it? I mean there is a penalty for not healing enough, but at least it isn't an instadeath for failing the heal check. Though I think either reducing the heal check or reducing the penalty is enough for most.

Power Slash Combo - idea of dot combo is alright, but dropping two dots on combo starter + transitioner doesn't increase the thought process. Essentially you created Goring Blade -> Royal -> Royal / Atonement cycle from PLD on DRK. But the idea of having dots or even multiple dot combos with different dot durations has potential, so I like the idea.

Sole Survivor - idea is cool, but I would limit it to weaponskills / spells only - if you'd get 300 heal potency per ability as well, you'd have an unholy HP burst in those 15s, potentially putting WAR to shame since DRK's Edge burst is like every minute, so every 2nd minute you essentially need no heals, which is overkill on top of TBN.

Not too hot on accessibility changes - making Edge of Darkness upgrade into Edge of Shadow aleady at 68 isn't exactly needed since its just a raw potency boost. Based on Lv70 ultimates, this DRK is already pretty solid, so I fail to see the need.

Stalwart Soul being accessible at low level is only justified if you trait the Blood and MP gain to later levels - Lv62 adding Blood gain via Blackblood trait and Lv72 to add the MP generation component.

In fact, DRK's AOE is more than capable before Lv72:
- Flood of Darkness, Salted Earth and Abyssal Drain are OGCD damage abilities, increasing AOE damage / burst potential
- passive MP regeneration is 200MP/3s, giving an additional Flood of Darkness every 45 seconds without MP generators
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Post is generally constructive, so props regardless.

I think if you want to make DRK the DoT tank, without going for a complete rework, this could be something a bit more realistic:

Remove Delirium as an ability.

Lv. 48 Ability: Scourge
200 potency magic damage.
Additional effect: Deals damage overtime potency 40, duration: 30s, recast: 90s

Lv. 68 Trait: Delirium
Using a weaponskill on a target inflicted with Scourge within the first 10s grants you the effect of Delirium.
Delirium Effect: Increases Blood Gauge by 20 upon landing weaponskills or spells on targets suffering from Scourge, duration 10s.

Changes to Blood Weapon effect:
Increases Blood Gauge by 10 and restores MP upon landing weaponskills or spells.
Effect does not stack when hitting multiple targets with a single attack.
Additional effect: Restores HP at 100 potency and 200 MP for each weaponskill or spell used on targets suffering from Scourge.
Increases to 200 potency HP when under the effect of Walking Dead.


I feel like this would be enough. You're adding one new DoT (to go along with Salted Earth and Living Shadow) which has interaction with other abilities and aids in self-sustain.
By Stacking Scourge with Delirium and Blood Weapon, you're regaining 30 Blackblood every GCD, allowing you to sustain (two?) more Bloodspillers, providing a similar burst phase, without being a copy-paste of Inner Release, and the dps lost by the 5th Bloodspiller is provided by Scourge itself.
The bonus effect of Blood Weapon with Walking Dead could allow you to recover up to 1000 potency HP with an Abyssal Drain, and 1300 by using a Souleater in that 10s window as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Recon1o6

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I've done some maths, and the issues I see with this, is that over 60, 120 and 180 seconds, DRK dps would be increased by around 10 and 15%. Added to this, the timings of the dots means that at 2.5gcd, in each 5 "cycles" of the rotation, you have to drop the dots for a GCD twice, and then clip them by a GCD once. The only way to stop this would be to have a 2.36s GCD which would actually be pretty fun, but you would be sacrificing pretty much all your direct hit to make that threshold.

To solve this, you could halve the potency of the dots, and make Bloodspiller OGCD. DRK dps would increase, but only by 2-3%. No clipping at all, But again, having a class with 2 dots, really makes you stick to a strict GCD.

The ideal would be to have the 2 dots skill, not as part of a combo, but still on the GCD, get rid of power slash, and keep BS on the GCD, much like the GNB dots, and have them so they dont break combo. People can still play at whatever gcd they like then.