As a DRK, what would I need to solo the Praetorium?

I'm just curious for the sake of going back and completing every ARR dungeon alone. Would I need the restored artifact gear to be capable of this?

Nah. Can do it pretty early on. I'd recommend duoing it, makes Nero a lot easier.

Yeah Nero is the most annoying thing ever solo. I personally did this back in the early 3.0 days with full i180 Law gear and Hive Claymore. Nero is really a pain in the ass.

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Originally Posted by Soldowner

I'm just curious for the sake of going back and completing every ARR dungeon alone. Would I need the restored artifact gear to be capable of this?

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Just level up WAR. It's just so much better solo than the DRK or PLD are.

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Originally Posted by Giantbane

Just level up WAR. It's just so much better solo than the DRK or PLD are.

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Yeeeeah, no. WAR is unappealing to me.

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Originally Posted by Soldowner

Yeeeeah, no. WAR is unappealing to me.

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Unless you intend to solo titan EX, i'm sure you'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by Giantbane

Just level up WAR. It's just so much better solo than the DRK or PLD are.

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Except... that it's not, especially in dungeons where you can pull entire packs for a Drain spam.

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Originally Posted by Reynhart

Except... that it's not, especially in dungeons where you can pull entire packs for a Drain spam.

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I mean this is true, but in the same token WAR can OP spam w/ Berserk + IR + Bloodbath with Decimate weaved in and Equilibrium back TP. The main advantage DRK has solo against trash is Shadowskin and Shadow Wall, whereas WAR only has Vengeance for damage reduction since Thrill works as a self heal without a healer (you can RI + Awareness but 1. that's better against a boss and 2. you're not going to get everything out of RI). Living Dead will actually kill you, though, whereas Holmgang you can potentially survive with. It's not entirely worth discussing though, both can do fine soloing stuff (except some harder stuff that only WAR can manage due to self healing on top of necessary DPS required). PLD, on the other hand... not so great for trash.

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Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

I mean this is true, but in the same token WAR can OP spam w/ Berserk + IR + Bloodbath with Decimate weaved in and Equilibrium back TP.

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Lots of CD that have far less uptime than Blood Price + Dark Arts + Abyssal Drain.
That's their most definitive advantage againt trash.

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Originally Posted by Reynhart

Lots of CD that have far less uptime than Blood Price + Dark Arts + Abyssal Drain.
That's their most definitive advantage againt trash.

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Ok, but generally you're just pulling half the dungeon and AOEing everything down, and unless you are for some reason doing lvl 51-60 dungeons solo then everything will die when WAR's CDs run out. Unless your gear is trash, in which case DRK has a slight advantage but again, not entirely relevant, doesn't really matter, do it on either, etc.

Also WAR does higher damage on bosses due to the slashing debuff. But, again, irrelevant, blah blah blah.

"Hey guys how do i do this/that/the other on DRK/PLD?"

"Lol just use WAR instead xD"

Probably not the best PR policy for a job that like half the community wants nerfed.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

Probably not the best PR policy for a job that like half the community wants nerfed.

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But sadly...mostly true. :p

♪ Anything you can do, WAR can do better ♪
♪ WAR can do anything better than you ♪

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Originally Posted by Reynhart

But sadly...mostly true. :p

♪ Anything you can do, WAR can do better ♪
♪ WAR can do anything better than you ♪

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Can't do magic damage.

:3

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Originally Posted by Kabooa

Can't do magic damage.

:3

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Goddammit, why did you have to do that?

Now 15 WAR mains are gonna come in here and tell us 15 different reasons (per person) why that isn't true and they're just as good if not better at it than everybody.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

Goddammit, why did you have to do that?

Now 15 WAR mains are gonna come in here and tell us 15 different reasons (per person) why that isn't true and they're just as good if not better at it than everybody.

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I'm a black mage.

I just want to see the world burn.

You'll need your sword and your pants. Shirt is optional.

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Originally Posted by Reynhart

Except... that it's not, especially in dungeons where you can pull entire packs for a Drain spam.

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If you can pull big enough packs such that dark arts + drain is able restore any noteworthy amount of HP and blood price can restore enough MP that you can actually afford it, then you're not trying anything even remotely difficult. The WAR should have no trouble face rolling that too.

If you get into more difficult situations where you are forced to deal with smaller packs, then drain is mostly useless. The WAR will win out.

Use a SMN, so easy

Why is the war thing even a question? War can self heal better than dark knight all day, and in more than 15 second bursts.

DRK is good for those big packs but war can solo heal it's way through packs, bosses and primals without issue.

Guys seriously, OP asked about tips to solo old content as a DRK. Not who's better or why, neither to do hard content :S

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Originally Posted by Greven

Guys seriously, OP asked about tips to solo old content as a DRK. Not who's better or why, neither to do hard content :S

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Thank you. You understand me. This mostly stems from my wish to two-man those low-level dungeons and up with my kid brother. For the higher level ones, I need to be able to clear them solo so I know that even if he messes up, he'll still get the clears. Same deal for my girlfriend too. She wants to play, but doesn't want to play with other people for fear of looking silly if she messes up. Since I can't assure her that won't happen, since clearly it will in a community like this, I told her I'd two-man pre-Heavensward content with her.

You can definitely solo Castrum/Prae, as well as any of the story dungeons in the 2.X series. I'd recommend queueing for the Steps of Faith + Crysalis + Primals (you'll also need to complete Ifrit/Garuda/Titan HM to start the final 2.X quests), or alternatively see if anyone from your FC is willing to help undersize them. The more people you have the easier it'll be.

Im sure a drk could solo that at il 180 easy and war il 160 maybe 150, course pld is 190ish cause dps.

The biggest, most annoying problem in Prae is Nero.

Here's a clip of me messing up a bunch, but will generally give you an idea of what is annoying about Nero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvjTFAkJd2w

If you'd prefer to skip that video, I can summarize it by saying that the hands can't be killed in 1 GCD, spawn generally out of range, and if they get close to you they will push you to near the other side of the arena. Eventually the hands start spawning so frequently that you have no choice but to accept that you're going to get ping ponged across the arena until Nero dies. There are points where you can kill multiple hands at once as you're flying across, but you generally just have to accept your fate.

However, with as little as One Extra Person this fight becomes significantly easier, simply by having that person deal with the hands. None of the other bosses are problematic, Ultima can be slightly annoying but is generally easy.

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Originally Posted by Soldowner

Thank you. You understand me. This mostly stems from my wish to two-man those low-level dungeons and up with my kid brother. For the higher level ones, I need to be able to clear them solo so I know that even if he messes up, he'll still get the clears. Same deal for my girlfriend too. She wants to play, but doesn't want to play with other people for fear of looking silly if she messes up. Since I can't assure her that won't happen, since clearly it will in a community like this, I told her I'd two-man pre-Heavensward content with her.

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Tell your girlfriend that you can turn chat off. People will always be dicks I'm afraid, but turning the party, shout and say off should prevent her from seeing any harassment that could demoralise her.

After that, practice with her. If she cares enough to not want to look bad then she has the potential to diligently learn her role until she is generally good at it.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

"Hey guys how do i do this/that/the other on DRK/PLD?"

"Lol just use WAR instead xD"

Probably not the best PR policy for a job that like half the community wants nerfed.

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As a NIN, I don't want WAR nerfed because people may stop using it, which will result in me needing to spam Dancing Edge :(

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Originally Posted by Kabooa

I'm a black mage.

I just want to see the world burn.

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I'm a NIN.

I just want to see the world bleed.

Souleater or Abyssal Drain on big packs are your first means to heal if you don't have an healer, prioritise them. Things like Max or X Potion or Ether can be useful

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

I'm a NIN.

I just want to see the world bleed.

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I'm a drk and want to see the world bur... wait, that's not right! Hmm