Is it me, or is DRK really isn't that super great, nor super bad.

[Ooshima]

Alright, I've been tanking Neverreap and Fractal. ilvl 160. I felt like DRK is too squishy. Apparently, for "big" pulls, Paladin still is the #1. I mean, I gathered the first 5 monsters in Neverreap and I ate damage like a champ...

At the same time, you will be slow like a champ too

I'd say big pull, a seasoned WAR is still the king. 2 days ago I did a couple of "speed runs" with a very good WAR that I know of - easily pulls 2 packs every time (which means up to 8 mobs), tanks and deal dmg to them like a boss and I think we completed the Fractal dungeon in about 23mins.

[Asierid]

DRK, even with its perceived initial shortcomings, is the only tank class that makes me want to tank permanently (I've done 100+ clears on both WAR and PLD.) I'm only at level 50 with it, but I can already tell that a lot of people aren't playing it the way that (I think) it's designed to be played.

Here we go. The "WAR is supposed to use Dex!" cult has risen yet again to try and defend DRK.

[Beoth]

Hello, i165 Drk here.
I've played war for 2 years prior to this.
Well from what I seemed, DRK is clearly bested by WAR on every aspects.
I can rush every dungeons without being threatened at all for dying or aggro wise, even with good dps with me. But so do the other tanks and with more ease.
I see the drk as a niche tank because of its good potential against magical damage (we'll see with Alex).
I suppose i'll start leveling war now, just in case drk will be too much neglected for raid content ( with good reasons, or just because of bad reputation)

[Valenth]

Pardon me if it's been opted already in the thread, I was too lazy to read through 17 pages of replies. However, from my experience so far, you switch Darkside off when regenerating MP, stance-dancing if you will. MP regen abilities from others, if present, kick in again, your own MP isn't constantly drained and you'll be up at max in no time again, especially when getting hit during Blood Price. It's worked very well for me so far and I can't wait to see how much Carve and Spit will help even further.

[Rhaja]

I've gotten a few more dungeon runs in, won't get any of the new ones till this weekend (work and other things eat too much time) but there is definitely one thing DRk has going for it over WAR and PLD.

When everything lines up right, the ***** does not stop attacking, ever. I hit a streak of luck and damn near had Low Blow reset every other GCD, allowing me an awesome feeling of being a relentless MF'er. It makes me wonder if that's going to be our true strength later on, once the rate of parry gets much higher and some minor tweaking is done.

Another thing I've trained myself to completely stop is using Dark Dance and Blood price together. Near the end of Blood Price I'll pop a DA+DD so that I can get one extra hit in to mitigate the MP lost, and this has proven to work far better. Granted these are considered lower level dungeons now, but that evade is highly noticeable in large pulls.

I've also stopped seeing Reprisal as utility and more as a defensive CD. With that in mind I've rushed every trial roulette (yes lower level, I'll get caught up when time allows) as MT and treat it as such. If I can't use foresight or Shadow Skin, pop reprisal; god knows it's constantly popping up.

One last thing that I can't wait to test out is Sole Survivor. Its a ranged execute on a 2 minute timer that is actually reliable. I haven't raided past T5, but as a Tank with enough awareness that's free MP and HP on snakes, on dreadnaughts and on the dragons at the start.

If any utility needs to be changed its Delirium, not reprisal (beyond it lasting a bit longer so it can be timed better). The int down is nice and all, but chances are MNK's will still find a way into raids. DK buff's both the MNK's damage and Ifrit's damage, Delirium doesn't really contribute much at all. It either needs to be DK, or something completely different.

But maybe my determination to find the shine to this class has made me jaded to its flaws =\

[Kaim_Sanctalux]

I'm loving the way DRK plays right now but changes do need to be made. Some of which in my opinion could be fixed with Dark Arts like for reprisal can be switched on when Dark arts is Up and Grit is off and add an effect to delrilium blade to change it from INT to a STR down ( though not as strong as PLDs one). My 2 cents anyway.

[Avalon_Albrook]

You cant evade raid bosses attacks aka coil
DA does have a 5 sec cd, but MP is not an infinite supply, especially if you wanna talk high dps while tanking, your mp for DA would go to Soul Eater

Yes you can. If you can't, then feel free to find another explanation for the couple of times, for instance, I've dodged a Flatten.

[stoxastic]

Yes you can. If you can't, then feel free to find another explanation for the couple of times, for instance, I've dodged a Flatten.

Uhh, no. Flatten is absolutely not dodgable. Evasion doesn't work at all on Coil bosses. This is why no one takes featherfoot on WAR.

[Niyuka]

Basically, give Delirium the slashing debuff from Warrior/Ninja, or perhaps a magic damage debuff, anything to make it worth using next to a Monk, and to give us a role as offtank, instead of competition for the awesome PLD tank.

And Reprise needs to have a way of near-permanent uptime.

These changes would go a long way to make us more feasible as both MT and OT. As it is, we really suck in conjunction with a PLD.

[Syfer22]

I actually don't mind the way things are being done -- It's better to release a new class to be middle of the road and buff as needed, instead of making it the new hotness and nerfing to bring it back in line with the other classes.