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

[Starkbeaumont]

hmmm maybe Delirium should give slashing down too and treat it as the higher debuff (as in neither storm's eye nor dancing edge can overwrite it). on top of that change dragon kick to apply 2 debuffs (like Miasma): 1 for blunt down and 1 for int down. while int down can't overwrite delirium.

this would boost it's synergy with the other tanks a bit, especially pld. and i can guaranty to have the int down up when i need it and not rely on a mnk, that has a tight timing and might screw up somewhere in it's rotation, or simply die. (atm as a drk you have to wait for dragon kick to fall off, before you can refresh delirium...)

[Cyrus-Wallace]

Coming from Paladin, you're going to feel that way because PLD in general is built to tougher. That transition to DRK softness is better from WAR. Though I can't really vouch how WAR feels when it comes to DRK's defense.

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.

Sup, guys!

It was matter of getting used to it. As you point out, paladin is a solid and straight forward tank. It has a nice skillset plus a nice balance between passive and active defensive moves. DRK plays completely different. Even different than WAR on my experience. Big pulls became a cake by rotating the base CD like a paladin (Shadowskin), plus the efficiency of a Dark Arts + Dark Dance is super amazing, in combination with inflicting blind status (Dark Arts + Passager). You don't run out of MP as long as you know when to activate Blood Price. Dark Dance has a super low CD, so even pull I've got these two up. If the DPS is low, that's when I use Shadow Wall, Foresight and Convalescence. Just to make some time until the first 2 mentioned CD are ready to use again.

Being able to recover Low Blow upon parrying, is a plus, as I can either stun lock the potential monster that deal the most damage or I can separately stun them to reduce the damage received.

All that while having Salted Earth and using a couple of Unleashes.

The class is super fun to play in dungeons. However, I need to test it in raid content now.

[Faytte]

Its a great class for dungeons (many targets hitting you, dodgeable attacks, many targets to use abyssal drain off of).

Its a terrible class for raids (worst skill suite for tank busters, provides no meaningful debuffs on an OT, has no raid utility, no ability to burst heal itself like paladin and war can).

[Croisciento]

Can we stop about the healing capability on tanks? Paladin had no way back then to heal himself (I don't consider a 120hp cure to be a "heal") and he was doing just fine. The delirium effect alone is worth of having a DRK in your party just because not every group automaticly have a monk. Except the groups that are aiming for the early encounters are obliged to have a monk because of dps checks, and it was only the case in final coil. Who knows how it's gonna be in alexander? Seeing the new monks skill i'm very doubtful about stationary fights where monk shines.

[Croisciento]

Also, DK debuff is sometimes tricky to pull because of your rotation and you cant just stop and keep it because you'll loose stacks. The monk debuff is extremely important when it came down to surviving in final coil, it had to be on someone else. War is increasing nin DPS thus giving you paths to optimize your group. Do not judge the class before seeing it in action. I would personally liked to see an OT debuff with dark arts

[Tila]

Can we stop about the healing capability on tanks? Paladin had no way back then to heal himself (I don't consider a 120hp cure to be a "heal") and he was doing just fine. The delirium effect alone is worth of having a DRK in your party just because not every group automaticly have a monk. Except the groups that are aiming for the early encounters are obliged to have a monk because of dps checks, and it was only the case in final coil. Who knows how it's gonna be in alexander? Seeing the new monks skill i'm very doubtful about stationary fights where monk shines.

Unless the tooltip is bugged, the dragon kick is still superior since it also lessens blunt resistance.

[Beoth]

Unless the tooltip is bugged, the dragon kick is still superior since it also lessens blunt resistance.

Which only benefit the monk if i recall correctly (MCH??)

[Xenosan]

MCH is piercing

[Hundred]

Dragon kicks blunt resistance is only relevant to monks, if there are no monks in the party it again doesnt matter.
So Delirium works just fine in the context that a Monk doesn't exist.
If a monk is present then -int is already covered and so yeah Drk loses value there.
Given that Pld, War, Ninja and Drk are all slashing though if you have a Ninja in the party already and want reduced Int, you may just decide to have the Drk instead of the monk if they didn't have other balance concerns.

[Faytte]

Can we stop about the healing capability on tanks?

Paladins and Warriors got very good healing cooldowns, before that the best was thrill of battle for 25% of the warriors hp. At the moment the 1200 potency healing seems to be for about the same amount with just the base gear at i170 and it scales 'well' with weapon damage and strength. Its very relevant to top yourself off before and after a tank buster.

As to delirium... RoH works against MUCH more damage sources and storms eye works against ALL of the. Tank busters are almost always physical, and neither the rage or storms is replicated by another class. You can replace a dark with a monk if you needed magic power down. As to monks not being good...-hahahaha-...this thread is hilarious..