Question for the DRK's out there.

So I'm leveling my drk and I have him at 56 at the moment. My question pertains to the ability blood price. When you use it, does it restore mp relative to the amount of damage taken, or is it a set amount of mp restored regardless of how much damage is dealt? I ask because I usually pop a defensive CD like shadowskin or dark dance along with it and I want to make sure I'm not hindering myself by doing so. Any advice or tips are welcome. I just want to refine my knowledge a little better.

Same MP return regardless of the damage taken.

Awesome. Thank you for the quick response.

Remember that Dark Dance has a relatively short cooldown and any hit that is parried still gives full mp back, so it is good to always have that up at the start of a pull regardless. However, make sure you are not using Dark Arts + Dark Dance if you want to get maximum mp back, as it adds evasion with Dark Arts.

In my opinion, depending on how large the pull is, you can lead off with a Shadow Skin + Dark Dance, followed by Dark Arts + Abyssal Drain (Repeat the last combo as magic levels permit) that will generally establish a good threshold of enmity and be pretty self sustaining at the same time.

An alternative to that combo is Dark Arts + Dark Dance (for the parry and 20% evasion) and Dark Arts + Dark Passenger (for the blind and AoE threat) followed by some Dark Arts + Soul Eater Combos to keep your health up. You will need to adjust the combo pattern depending on the relative threat levels of your party members though, so it is not set in stone.

A warning with the second combo though, don't pop Blood Price if you use Dark Dance and Dark Passenger with Dark Arts, as you will dodge too many hits to make full use of Blood Price. I usually save it for when that wears off and I pop Shadow Skin to take the rest of the damage until the group finishes off all of the mobs.

Yeah, I did a lot of research on how to play the class properly and just about everything I read said to never use DA+DD or DA+DP while using blood price. Makes perfect sense. But none of them ever explicitly stated that blood price has a set amount of mp restoration regardless of the amount of damage taken. I feel like the guides should suggest popping blood pricee with a defensive CD like shadowskin. I'm sure some of my healers hated me for a while there because I thought that if I had one up, I wasn't getting all the mp I could have. As it is now, I usually wait until about 3 seconds left on blood price before before popping a DA+DP combo. Generally I try to end a pull or any given fight with at least half mp. I might be wrong, but I feel like a high level drk that has full mp isn't capitalizing on their mitigation or damage output.

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Originally Posted by whiteblade89

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Well, later you will get Sole Survivor and Carve and Spit which really help with managing your mp between trash pulls. I generally try to enter each trash pull with close to full mp because then I know I have a comfortable zone to make I can unleash all of my initial skills for each combo setup without having to stop and start working towards my mp management. Once all of the mobs start getting to 25%> I won't pop Dark Arts at all, unless I have to otherwise I run the risk of not having enough mp for the next pull. Plus, at my gear level even Soul Eater without Dark Arts heals decent. If I remember correctly I think I get about 1200-1300 or so without Dark Arts. I can't remember at the moment, it may be slightly lower than that. But it is still enough to assist the healer and let me regenerate mp at the same time.

I see your point there. Come to think of it there have been times where I've screwed myself in mp and had to quickly pop some syphon strikes to get the mp back. I'll try to hold off on DA when the trash gets low. But my next question is about abyssal drain. I just got this ability and I'm wondering what the ideal situation would be to use it. I know it increases enmity, but atm I'm not having any trouble establishing a good amount of enmity. And with DA it replenishes hp, but is it best saved for when I have more than 3 mobs on me? Is it even worth it to use it on bosses?

For me Abyssal Drain is your bread and butter for large AoE pulls. Gather them up, pop your Blood Price and spam it like no tomorrow. Course, this all depends on how many mobs are hitting you and how often, so you'll have to watch you MP guage and adjust accordingly. I think it was if there were more than 5 mobs, it would be worth it to DA it for the HP gain? Someone will correct me on that, I am sure :p

Another good use for it is when your pulling two separate pulls together, you can add in a single Abyssal Drain for that added enmity, since some DPS like to tag mobs on your way to either your next set, or your stopping point.

However, with each use be sure to keep a good eye on your MP and be sure you are still in that safe zone, otherwise, you end up starting a pull with very little MP xD

Abyssal drain in the new 24 man Weeping City for the trash is amazing highly undervalued as an AoE mob grabber helps in big AoE situations but you need Blood Price to keep it going or it'll be too mana intensive. The HP gain is worth it since it can crit giving you a ton of HP back if used correctly with CDs your healer(s) will love you. I recommend using this for long distance AoE pulls where mobs are grouped together, remember target the small enemies with mobs that are bigger/huge as you'll get all of them when targeting the smaller guys and only the target (big guy) if you hit them with it!

Thank you all for the replies and the advice. Seems like abyssal drain is pretty subjective to the circumstances, but I'll play around with it when I can. Really love this class. It reignited my love for tanking. Drk=embrace the chaos haha stay classy folks, and any other general advice is welcome as well. I really want to play this job well, so anything you got is more than welcome.

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I personally find it useful to Abyssal Drain on 4+ mobs. You can Abyssal Drain on 3 mobs also, as the healing is similar to one Dark Arts + Soul Eater with a higher mp cost of course, but it has the added benefit of being faster than using e whole Soul Eater combo. Sometimes depending on the situation time may force you to Abyssal Drain under not ideal circumstances.

When it comes to bosses, unless they have a lot of small adds I wouldn't even try using Abyssal Drain as you will be better served by constant Dark Arts + Soul Eater combos. Also a tip for when you are fighting bosses, try to time your powered up Soul Eater to land right after a bit hit is going to land or after a tank buster. It helps the healers out tremendously. I know with proper mitigation abilities I can get hits down from 10k or 9k to around 5k if I know it's coming. A good 5 or 6k hit isn't bad when you heal around 2k of it right after it lands.

A good place to practice this is in Hullbreaker Island(Hard) as the mob before the last boss consistently uses a large hit for around 9-10k with proper warning in advance. If you get good enough at timing certain things you may even be able to try and make sure Reprisal will be up to offer a little more cushion.