Differences between WAR and DRK?

Hello all,

I've been playing a lot of WAR over the past year and just started dipping my toe into DRK and am finding it harder to stay alive in the mid 30s/low 40s. All my gear is up to date, all class quests are done, and I use mitigations just as I do on WAR, but I seem to be squishier on DRK. At least, I've died more often than I did on WAR, for sure.

Is this normal? I can't think of a way to play differently than I am, mixing mitigations with AoE and the skill that self-heals on pulls. What can or should I be doing differently?

The defensive differences at that level are fairly minimal, with WAR's Thrill of Battle being its only concrete advantage.

DRK feels extremely squishy at lower levels especially than the other three tanks. You will notice it all the way to 90, even if you wear best in slot gear for whatever level you're on, and you will feel it again between 91-99 next expansion. It's always like that. It's just the way scaling works for this game.

DRK doesn't get its real mitigation until lv 70, meanwhile WAR gets its real mitigation in its in lv 50.

DRK is a slog in content up until then. Its not AS bad in those levels, but 50/60 are the weakest the job will feel due to how much of nothing you get in those levels. Remember that Reprisal and Arms Length are also mitigation and take your time. You're not going to get much help until lv 56 with Abyssal Drain, which honestly isn't a lot.

WAR has a much easier time, you can ride the same mits as DRK, as well as Thrill until you get Raw Intuition which can basically be one button clears of Dungeons.

Thank you all, I feel better knowing it wasn't significant screw ups on my part other than perhaps pulling too much for the level. I'll keep the pulls smaller for a while.

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Originally Posted by Oizen

DRK doesn't get its real mitigation until lv 70, meanwhile WAR gets its real mitigation in its in lv 50.

DRK is a slog in content up until then. Its not AS bad in those levels, but 50/60 are the weakest the job will feel due to how much of nothing you get in those levels. Remember that Reprisal and Arms Length are also mitigation and take your time. You're not going to get much help until lv 56 with Abyssal Drain, which honestly isn't a lot.

WAR has a much easier time, you can ride the same mits as DRK, as well as Thrill until you get Raw Intuition which can basically be one button clears of Dungeons.

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I mean one significant difference, Drk has far more stronger AOEs and actually tears below 60 content apart starting 30-40, it's not even funny. War/Pld/Gnb don't come close.

Once again the reasoning becomes that DRK has high damage.
But really its whole levelling kit needs to be looked at. It doesn't feel "complete" until level 70.