3.4 DRK BUFF

Unleash
Now binds enemies for 6 seconds in PvP areas.
Auto-attack will stop when this action is used.


Thats a big BUFF to DRK.
No but for real, didn't they say there were going to be some BIG changes to DRK in PvP in 3.4.....?

Edit: Reference to the "DRK BUFF 3.4" - http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...3.4-PvP-Update

God. The tank class with a gap closer, heavy pvp action, and weapon through doesn't need another cc imo.

Should have given warriors and paladins some cc instead. At least rework holmgang by separating the spear from the invuln.

If anything, they should have buffed dark knights self healing outside of grit.

And does unleash bind everyone in the radius? Sounds so whack.

I can already see adders running drk solely for unleash in frontllines. Unleash plus trip bind plus cometeor!

Sounds fun... not....

But seriously. How is this fair to bards and machinists? Darks have too much cc. Dark in grit for healing souleaters would be unstoppable 1v1.

And in team fights they would be so crazy over powered with a black mage it's not even funny. The amount of cc and aoe in that combo sounds too good to be true.

Anyway, well see.

Pretty weak buff as every range has a stronger bind (10s for bard, 8s for blm/smn/MCH) and every healer has a 8s bind via blizz 2. With 3 people that can bind on a team you're competing against these other jobs for DR resistance, which is going to be a diaster in solo queue and hard to co-ordinate in light party.

Also one of the biggest issues with DRK is you see a melee charging your healer with fetter ward up ready to LB you can do literally nothing to stop it outside of tank LB. As a paladin you can testudo or cover the healer so they don't get low enough that it kills. As a Warrior you can thrill and they now have enough HP to survive (you can even thrill during the LB animation as the heal is instant). As a dark knight you just pray and hope for the best.

This might make DRK stronger in a light party or high level setting, but with matchmaking how it is now it feels like it will be a headache to certain roles.

BRD/MCH want to LB? Bind... oh the drk gave that class DR because they spammed bind, guess my LB missed.
WHM need to fluid aura to relieve pressure? I hope you just want a knockback effect.
SCH/AST/SMN/BLM needs to bliz 2 to kite? LOL nope, binded randomly.

Not saying this is completely bad, it will probably be a great buff for great players. This buff makes me totally dread my unranked/bronze being DRK though, almost as bad as those paladins who stun DR healers 1s into the match.

It's just not the right buff. Drk didn't need more ways to slow or bind runners. Warriors and paladins yes. Dark no.

They could have increased class utility in other ways. If nothing else, a healing reduction or corruption spell would have been nice. Like how storms eye used to work.

In fact, why don't they do that? Add a healing debuff to one of the darks combos and give a bind or heavy or gap closer to a warrior or pally who actually needs it.

And whys is it an aoe bind on a non cooldown ability? Sounds really whack imo.

Like I said. Separate warriors pull from the invuln, give it 15 yard distance, 40 or 60 or even 90 sec cooldown, give darks warriors old storms eye healing debuff.

Everyone gets what they need to feel fleshed out and fun. AND a healing corruption or debuff fits better with the class lore.

I have a 60 drk too. And I'd prefer the debuff over the aoe bind.

A dark can do something to protect. They could carnal chill the dps.

But I agrer. This buff doesn't really help drk be better tanks. Well it does... but there were other better options.

I can see how this will be useful in very specific circumstances, but in solo-queue I can imagine it being a nightmare, most of all for Drks.

Thinking on CC utility, Pld's have a specifically targeted stun. It hits one target. Yet, despite this, Dps still find ways to cock it up and clip it by going crazy and throwing out oGCD stuns on seemingly random targets. Compared to that, Binds are far easier to screw with. I can picture a Drk throwing out a mass Bind for a beautiful cometeor LB, or maybe let the team escape if the healer needs a breather or is dead, etc ... only to have some whack job dps clip the duration of the Bind by swapping targets randomly and knocking them all out of it. Having the Bind available is great for team utility, but I can picture it being far more useful in a party-queue than in solo-queue.

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Originally Posted by TiramisuMacaron

This might make DRK stronger in a light party or high level setting, but with matchmaking how it is now it feels like it will be a headache to certain roles.
...
Not saying this is completely bad, it will probably be a great buff for great players. This buff makes me totally dread my unranked/bronze being DRK though, almost as bad as those paladins who stun DR healers 1s into the match.

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I totally agree with this.
It's not a bad "buff" but it needs a lot of coordination and can even ruin party performance so... mh, I expected something different.

I like the role that SE is trying to give to the DRK, but it is still too imbalanced compared to other tank, basically because the annoyer role is due mostly to his PvP abilities, instead:
• WAR -> Is DPS masked by tank, and his burst is based on his normal skillset,
• PLD -> Can stunlock, can heal other, can cover + heavy defensive CDs.

Maybe it's time to rethink about DRK's MP managment most of all,
maybe halving Dark Arts MP cost in pvp,
enhancing MP regeneration via BloodWeapon or
making Blood Price recovering some MP is the party members in 10y around you are taking damage.
(Not all of this and they are just random hints)

Also Delirium and Power Slash Rotation potency are all ways too similar, actually they have a total of:
Soul Eater 800(with DArts), Delirium 680, Power Slash 670,
and the Delirium one even aplly a debuff and restores Mp, the other... manage the enmity ... wow

so giving him another debuff like Slashing debuff attacked to Power Slash could be a viable way (if you want even via Dark arts).
To me he can even receive put Mind Down debuff too with DArts using Delirium. (but at this point he will the the tollset boy of the pvp xD)

So he will have finally have a nerf rotation, a build up rotation, and then a damage rotation.

I think that this way, or with similar fixes, it will be a more complete job, not a job that have his potential all locked to 2 PvP abilities (that are still very strong and I like them),
but he can use a very wide skillset that maybe won't make him shine for his DPS like Warriors, but will make him versatile.

Drk already has reduced mp consumption in pvp. Don't really need more. And slashing debuff is useless in feast since the only other slashing damage class is a ninja which already has slashing debuff.

Give drk healing debuff imo. Make it their thing. Whereas wars go for straight damage, pallies reduce team damage, drks can reduce the amount of healing of the enemy. All three methods accomplish the same goal in different ways.

Adding more cc which us useless to the drk individually because it already has enough and which requires a lot of team coordination to take full advantage of in a year setting is the wrong way to go for drks themselves and for pvp as a whole.

*in a team setting

TFW you try and Blizzard 2 melee off you, but bind is DR'd because of dRK randomly binding.

I feel like the same argument is being used here that Paladin has suffered through since the dawn of time. Many classes can stun, but doesn't mean they should. While this isn't the perfect update for DRK, it can still be useful if the rest of the team is mindful of their liberal use of bind.

On another note, I see DRK gaining a bit of synergy with certain jobs, namely casters and SCH/AST. My friends I and I will likely try plenty when custom games hit.

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Originally Posted by Atreus

I feel like the same argument is being used here that Paladin has suffered through since the dawn of time. Many classes can stun, but doesn't mean they should.

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This is very true. _Casts Celestial Opposition_

I've been playing DRK a bit on Feast recently and this will be a really good defensive utility. As a DRK I feel useless when my healer dies while when I'm PLD or WAR I can hold enemies while my party retreats. This bind effect will be pretty helpfull with that. Not only that but helps set Ranged Limit breaks and if people try to wall kite the DRK, well... you're not stuck outside LoS.

I don't think random DRKs will use binds ever, all they ever do is running with 10 stacks and dying in last minute as usual, still without Grit. Good DRKs are so rare and almost all good tanks have switched to WAR/PLD, so when I see a DRK in The Feast it's 95% chance he's unranked and we'll lose.

A Bind huh? Nice utility in a retreat or chase in conjuncture with Plunge... Great synergy with AoE shit, but that's not really worth mentioning... Not going to waste Bind resistance on getting the most out of Salted Earth/etc. when other Jobs can get a lot more out of their Bind... Maybe in Frontlines if I'm alone and get surprised by a couple DPS, it's not bad damage, it's just AoE and delivered over 12 seconds... Regular PvP is very single target burst oriented... Heck, even in that example all I'm doing is likely getting them to blow their self heals, having blown mine... Probably better off doing Unleash and turning it into 1v1 fights...

Might be nice for Limit Breaks when there is no communication and things just go wrong... Black Mage hits Sleep then Limit Breaks, only for the melee to break the target out of Sleep? I can hit Unleash. Melee went for a Stun + Limit Break, but forgot about Stun resistance? I can maybe hit Unleash and keep the target within range...

I guess elsewhere I can save my healer/mage time/Swiftcast by Binding for them, but that's not the kind of communication I expect in Feast... I'm more likely to just use this to keep an enemy healer stuck round a corner for 3 GCDs or so... I'd have preferred an adjustment to Carnal Chill to have it impact Limit Break damage, or some boost to healing... Dark Knights self heals aren't great (weak drains, slow too, even Tar Pit can be completely omitted by a shield), and we've nothing to save anyone else with... If my healer pops Attunement there isn't a lot I can do, meanwhile Warrior can pop Thrill of War and Paladin can Clemency...

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Originally Posted by Nalien

A Bind huh? Nice utility in a retreat or chase in conjuncture with Plunge... Great synergy with AoE shit, but that's not really worth mentioning... Not going to waste Bind resistance on getting the most out of Salted Earth/etc. when other Jobs can get a lot more out of their Bind... Maybe in Frontlines if I'm alone and get surprised by a couple DPS, it's not bad damage, it's just AoE and delivered over 12 seconds... Regular PvP is very single target burst oriented... Heck, even in that example all I'm doing is likely getting them to blow their self heals, having blown mine... Probably better off doing Unleash and turning it into 1v1 fights...

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Instant bind isnt that bad as tank/melee dps its one of the most annoying CC when u start bursting unless you waste a purify etc. but yeah nothing big that would make me switch from WAR to DRK in pvp.

Exactly. Drks don't need utility in the form of crowd control imo.

Healing debuff is the way to go.

Could save a life, allow a catchup, or just give the healer some time to breathe lol. Not all bad.

Seriously though...when I heard drk was getting buffed, I was thinking along the lines of:
Whose Yer Daddy of Darkness: Depletes Max hp by 70%+ Nullifies Living Dead for duration but autoattack x3/ AA+skill damage +65% for 20 secs. (gives off a super demonic black aura) OP maybe but ffs, the job comes with a sexy g-sword ; ; Give it something that makes the @50% hp healer poop her pants the same way she does when the enemy mch suddenly binds her

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Originally Posted by P4X0R10N

Exactly. Drks don't need utility in the form of crowd control imo.

Healing debuff is the way to go.

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I'd rather have Bind than a healing debuff... This potentially lets me lock a healer down in a similar way to Paladin, the healer can try and remove Bind, but I've got a few tools to mitigate that and even if they're successful, I can just reapply it and then finally throw out a Stun... It's not Stun lock, but it's the next best thing IMO... Should be what, 8~10 seconds worth of holding there? Throw Sole Survivor out on the DPS before hand and lock the healer down when LoS is broken and I either have a kill for my team, or shit DPS.

It also has plenty of utility in a retreat situation, which currently Dark Knight just completely lacks in... So many times I've had my team retreat and I'm just able to do nothing, Heavy arguably does something, but with gap closers being a thing it really doesn't... Instead I usually just toss out the odd Stun, hope Blind does something, and watch my team get melted... Having a Bind is a great addition for those situations...

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Originally Posted by Vaeria

Give it something that makes the @50% hp healer poop her pants the same way she does when the enemy mch suddenly binds her

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I'd say our burst can already do this... Problem is very few Dark Knights know how to burst properly... Christ, half the ones I see actively use Abyssal Drain for some reason... A lot attempt to keep up the pressure with the odd Dark Arts Souleater, and that's certainly possible (and the ideal IMO, better than sitting on full MP between bursts), but I really need all my MP for a burst, including Blood Weapon half the time... Short of either a MP cost reduction on Dark Arts, or some kind of adjustment that gives Dark Knight more MP to play with (Manadraw pleaseeeeee, or make Blood Price worth a damn), I don't think we'll ever see many good Dark Knights...

That's true.

Well, I like this change... Very useful for retreats, although good luck getting a team that actually has the common sense to fall back... Reasonably useful in combat, though very situational and I imagine healers will eventually adapt and stop letting me stick them out of range of their team...

My main concern with it seems justified though, but I perhaps just need more time to get used to it... MP management is more of a problem now, even if I adjust to having Unleash for Bind, that's MP that would otherwise go towards damage and I've definitely noticed a dip in my damage since getting this... It's really long overdue that they look into MP recovery on Dark Knight in PvP... Just make Blood Price function like Shroud of Saints/Luminiferous Aether and be done with it, maybe adjust Dark Arts or Grits cost... We're never going to see many good Dark Knights so long as MP management is as punishing as it is, and even the great ones don't really hold a flame to Warrior, which is far simpler to play... Someone over at SE could probably do with learning how to balance skill requirements and Job output...

1 on 1

melees & tanks pop their offensive cooldowns, DRK uses unleash, gets some distance, runs away, GG offensive buffs lol