DRK viable in end-game content

Hello!

Was wondering, how viable are DRKs in end game content, namley Alexander Savage as main tank?

Any extra tips regarding that or any other tanks jobs are also welcome.

Would love to hear from experinced peeps.

Considering that the two top raiding groups in the world were using DRK/WAR, quite viable

Didnt know the 2 groups who cleared Savage turn 4 used a DRK, thats great to know, thank you!

DRK is currently the best MT for end game raiding. Tank busters are magical and DRK has the advantage of having Dark Mind for that which is awesome. DRK also provides MNK's INT down debuff which permits to take a NIN and a DRG as your melees which results in more raid DPS than taking a MNK in any of the 2 slots. And DRK is also the one who does the most DPS while main tanking in tanking stance and current end game fights are not joking when it comes to DPS checks, so having both tanks who can beat the shit out of the boss is a huge advantage. DRK just lacks raid utility outside of Delirium (and Reprisal is there but clunky and too RNG based to be really reliable) but everything else about the job is really good.

DRK is good in current end game meta due to it's high magical defensive abilities. If you're looking to MT, you should also level up PLD because if the next set of bosses end up being physical there is a good chance that PLD will replace DRK. Assuming you're getting into a hard core raiding group.

Reprisal is actually pretty reliable once you get used to a fight.

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Originally Posted by Brannigan

Reprisal is actually pretty reliable once you get used to a fight.

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You can't get so used to a fight that you make Reprisal have 100% uptime. It's pretty unreliable. At best it's up when you need it to be up (tankbuster), at worst you have to forgo using it so you can force proc it via Dark Dance when you need it, which means even less uptime on reprisal and having to save Dark Dance.

The skill is simply unreliable, especially compared to its WAR counterpart, at least they stack.

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Originally Posted by Lawson_Grey

You can't get so used to a fight that you make Reprisal have 100% uptime. It's pretty unreliable. At best it's up when you need it to be up (tankbuster), at worst you have to forgo using it so you can force proc it via Dark Dance when you need it, which means even less uptime on reprisal and having to save Dark Dance.

The skill is simply unreliable, especially compared to its WAR counterpart, at least they stack.

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This is not actually how these abilities work. DRK's Path counterpart is Delirium. The whole reason they even have Reprisal is so they can make up for Delirium being only magic. Reprisal is actually more like a weaker, longer-lasting, raid-wide Inner Beast than anything. When you use it/look at it like that, the design makes a lot more sense. In terms of preventing damage to the raid, DRK and WAR are actually averaging out to very equal footing, so long as you let the DRK MT.

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Originally Posted by Lawson_Grey

You can't get so used to a fight that you make Reprisal have 100% uptime. It's pretty unreliable. At best it's up when you need it to be up (tankbuster), at worst you have to forgo using it so you can force proc it via Dark Dance when you need it, which means even less uptime on reprisal and having to save Dark Dance.

The skill is simply unreliable, especially compared to its WAR counterpart, at least they stack.

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You don't need 100% uptime. You described the exact situation that it actually matters to have it up for: tankbusters. Any other uptime is great but not required.

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Originally Posted by Seku

DRK is good in current end game meta due to it's high magical defensive abilities. If you're looking to MT, you should also level up PLD because if the next set of bosses end up being physical there is a good chance that PLD will replace DRK. Assuming you're getting into a hard core raiding group.

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If SE doesn't ease up on the Savage DPS checks and/or make it so that tanks have to eat a physical tankbuster more often than Shadow Wall will be available (which may or may not actually be feasible due to Sentinel having the same CD and Sheltron being tricky to time for that), I don't see PLD replacing DRK. Even if they did do the physical damage thing, if DPS checks remain as tight as they are, I think we'd be more likely to see WAR/WAR comps than PLD/WAR (unless LB requirements dictate otherwise).

--Erim Nelhah

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Originally Posted by Erim-Nelhah

If SE doesn't ease up on the Savage DPS checks and/or make it so that tanks have to eat a physical tankbuster more often than Shadow Wall will be available (which may or may not actually be feasible due to Sentinel having the same CD and Sheltron being tricky to time for that), I don't see PLD replacing DRK. Even if they did do the physical damage thing, if DPS checks remain as tight as they are, I think we'd be more likely to see WAR/WAR comps than PLD/WAR (unless LB requirements dictate otherwise).

--Erim Nelhah

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The problem is Squeenix has created a meta where people don't care about PLD's defensive utilities (Cover, Clemency, SS, Divine Veil, etc.). They only care about DPS. Because DRK does better DPS than PLD as an OT and nearly equal DPS to a WAR as an MT, takes magic damage like a beast, and offers less utilities but ones that synergize well with WAR (Path, Delirium, and Reprisal all stack and raidwide damage is rarely physical so Halone is altogether a lesser debuff than all of those), they've rendered PLD pretty obsolete. I doubt they are going to boost their DPS because to give a job with so much defensive utility, however unused, DPS even close to comparable to DRK, let alone WAR, would render DRK almost completely unused.

I think what's going to happen is when the next tier of Alex isn't quite as magic-focused, Squeenix is finally going to realize that they made WAR too good and people are, as you said, just going to double WAR. WAR doesn't take magic or physical damage better than either of the other two, in particular, but because they have more or less equal degrees of mitigation now and can simply stack more HP to survive any big tank-checks (something the other two tanks can't do since they rely on raw mitigation and not HP, which you cannot influence with gear), rampant, community-wide double WARing is a very real possibility if they don't change the way tanking works in this game in relation to raid utility and DPS checks. When that happens, we're likely going to see a nerf to WAR, but I honestly think it is going to be a defensive nerf, since they've already put their foots in their mouths by proclaiming WAR's DPS as part of their utility. They'll probably also give a very very slight offensive buff to DRK, just to make PLD/DRK compositions even possible (assuming there's a NIN in tow) with continued use of these insane DPS checks and just general obsession with DPS over any other mechanic of any of the jobs.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

The problem is Squeenix has created a meta where people don't care about PLD's defensive utilities (Cover, Clemency, SS, Divine Veil, etc.). They only care about DPS. Because DRK does better DPS than PLD as an OT and nearly equal DPS to a WAR as an MT, takes magic damage like a beast, and offers less utilities but ones that synergize well with WAR (Path, Delirium, and Reprisal all stack and raidwide damage is rarely physical so Halone is altogether a lesser debuff than all of those), they've rendered PLD pretty obsolete. I doubt they are going to boost their DPS because to give a job with so much defensive utility, however unused, DPS even close to comparable to DRK, let alone WAR, would render DRK almost completely unused.

I think what's going to happen is when the next tier of Alex isn't quite as magic-focused, Squeenix is finally going to realize that they made WAR too good and people are, as you said, just going to double WAR. WAR doesn't take magic or physical damage better than either of the other two, in particular, but because they have more or less equal degrees of mitigation now and can simply stack more HP to survive any big tank-checks (something the other two tanks can't do since they rely on raw mitigation and not HP, which you cannot influence with gear), rampant, community-wide double WARing is a very real possibility if they don't change the way tanking works in this game in relation to raid utility and DPS checks. When that happens, we're likely going to see a nerf to WAR, but I honestly think it is going to be a defensive nerf, since they've already put their foots in their mouths by proclaiming WAR's DPS as part of their utility. They'll probably also give a very very slight offensive buff to DRK, just to make PLD/DRK compositions even possible (assuming there's a NIN in tow) with continued use of these insane DPS checks and just general obsession with DPS over any other mechanic of any of the jobs.

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Yeah, they've painted themselves into a corner extremely well on all regards because their lore isn't lore anymore, it's all meta that they've allowed/inadvertently contributed to while ignoring job issues left and right concerning direction and effectiveness.