Can't decide between DRK and WAR

Hey guys,

and sorry in advance! I know this question came up so far and I feel like I read every single thread about it I found on google but still.. I can't decide and hope you can help me.

Some background: I quitted shortly after HW release because of disputes in my FC. However before I quitted I leveled up the DRK to 55 and he was pretty fun. Now I am back into the game. I used the 4 day Free Login event for trying out PLD and got him up to lvl 30 and.. well.. he seems to be boring imo. Don't know if he gets more challenged in the endgame.

Now as I am back into the game I found a friendly FC and decided to go as a tank. So I want to raid with them and want to be viable for the group but also I want a class which makes fun tanking. As I mentionend above imo PLD feels boring. So WAR and DRK are leftover.
In all the other threads I read (most of them were few months old) they said that DRK isn't by far as viable as a WAR and that a raid group rather want to have a WAR then a DRK. Is this true?

If they are both viable for the Endtcontent, which is (in you opinion) more fun to play and why?

Hope you guys can help me :)
Big thanks in advance!

Well i cannot vouche for War as myself only have it @ 30 and also find it does not suit me but i really love DK.
I have heard from countless players that War really does get better at 50 and currently it is the best tank in game.
Level them both i would say :)

Having both tanks at 60 i can safely say it boils down to your personal playstyle. there's no such thing as the better choice as the better choice is obviously what you prefer to play.

In the case of WAR he excels in off tanking, has infinite resource generation at lvl 60 and can stand its ground as a main tank. Atm he is the Top Tank DPS and relatively simple with rotations and skills. Of course practice makes perfect but it won't take you months to master the class.

In the case of DRK he excels at main tanking, has a rather complicated resource generation at level 60 and you need to be careful as you can ran out of gas very quickly. On the other hand gameplay wise at least for me it feels more rewarding as the skill requirement to properly play the class is much steeper than the other tanks.

I would suggest to level both to 60 then decide what you prefer.

Okay, so here's my advice, since you've already read several threads on this topic you should have a good idea of both classes playstyles. So instead of worrying about viability choose the playstyle that appeals best to you. This isn't me brushing you off either, balancing will always be subject to change, the only time we've seen actual (major) playstyle change is in the case of bard though. Personally I prefer warrior and it is admittedly in a good place right now. But who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Currently, for end-game raiding, DRK/WAR is the best tank comp. Basically, DRK is the best MT, while WAR is the best OT. This may change in the future, but as for now, it's how end-game is. PLD is currently trash-tier. I suggest you to level both DRK and WAR and see with your future tank-bro what he wants to play too. If he wants to play PLD even if it's trash-tier, you're gonna need to play WAR. WAR is currently so good that you absolutely want one in your party. If he wants to play WAR, go for DRK, but still level up WAR because it's a very fun job and WAR/WAR is also completely viable if you happen to enjoy WAR more than DRK. All of this information is relevant for current end-game, but could completely change with 3.2 and the next set of raid/gear, we don't know.

Thank you for the answers guys!

Due the fact that my DRK is already lvl 55 I ma level him up to 60 and maybe gear him up abit and doing some Endcontent stuff before leveling WAR - but not sure yet.

A friend told me that once you have a char at level 60 you get Bonus EXP for your alts up to level 60, is this true?
If yes, how long does it approx. take to get a char from level 15 to 60?:)

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Originally Posted by 1900

A friend told me that once you have a char at level 60 you get Bonus EXP for your alts up to level 60, is this true?
If yes, how long does it approx. take to get a char from level 15 to 60?:)

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You get an EXP bonus as long as you have one job at a higher level than the job you're currently levelling. Let's say you currently have DRK at 55, all your other jobs have an EXP bonus until level 55. When your DRK will hit 60, all your other jobs will have EXP bonus until 60. From 15 to 60... I can't really tell how much time it takes, but from 15 to 50 it's very fast if you're farming dungeons as a tank. For example, at day one of Heavensward I levelled DRK from 30 to 50 in like 12 hours or so. 15 to 30 doesn't really take much time, maybe it will take you 15-17 hours for 15 to 50. 50 to 60 is not that long either if you're farming dungeons. I'd say between 15 and 30 hours for 50 to 60 only ? I don't really know. I just do dungeons here and there to level my remaining jobs to 60.

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Originally Posted by Freyyy

You get an EXP bonus as long as you have one job at a higher level than the job you're currently levelling. Let's say you currently have DRK at 55, all your other jobs have an EXP bonus until level 55. When your DRK will hit 60, all your other jobs will have EXP bonus until 60. From 15 to 60... I can't really tell how much time it takes, but from 15 to 50 it's very fast if you're farming dungeons as a tank. For example, at day one of Heavensward I levelled DRK from 30 to 50 in like 12 hours or so. 15 to 30 doesn't really take much time, maybe it will take you 15-17 hours for 15 to 50. 50 to 60 is not that long either if you're farming dungeons. I'd say between 15 and 30 hours for 50 to 60 only ? I don't really know. I just do dungeons here and there to level my remaining jobs to 60.

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Thank you for the clarification :)

Since you are already 55 DRK it would be better to finish that off, but they both have widely different play style, and I think if you like DRK somewhat, War might be a little boring by comparison (tho not as much as pld), they just simply have a lot going on with resource management that neither of the other tanks have to deal with.

Both are more than viable in end game. They're the two best tanks in the game at the moment. DRK still has a LOT of misinformation floating around about its abilities so do your research ;)

If you like, slow, deliberate, BIG heavy hits and huge numbers while dancing between offense and defense and burst DPS that comes close to putting actual DPS to shame, and prefer OTing, go WAR.
If you like fast, intense edge-of-your-seat playstyles, and high sustained DPS with a swiss-army-knife of AoEs and machine-gun-speed button-mashing and prefer MTing, go DRK.

I have both at 60, and main DRK. They're both defensively capable and they way they feel while playing is largely a matter of their DPS playstyles, and I like to think of WAR as the slow wrecking ball and DRK as the full-auto machine gun. Probably the biggest difference in "feel" between the two jobs is DRK is more somewhat smaller, speedy damage, and WAR is big, slow, heavy hits.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

I like to think of WAR as the slow wrecking ball and DRK as the full-auto machine gun. Probably the biggest difference in "feel" between the two jobs is DRK is more somewhat smaller, speedy damage, and WAR is big, slow, heavy hits.

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Agree 100%. That's why I play both classes -- sometimes I feel like going pewpewpew and sometimes I feel like going smash.