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

[Lorielle]

As to monks not being good...-hahahaha-...this thread is hilarious..

Someone said this? I get that we're trying to defend Dark Knight and all, but please people...No one really is trying to give DRK a hard time. It's constructive criticism. I love the job myself, but I'm not going to ignore the faults it has.

[Faytte]

If Dark Knight gets changed (improved) I plan to level it, maybe make it my main (i love the aesthetic) but claiming its competitive with warrior and paladin is either self delusion or ignorance.

[Starkbeaumont]

If Dark Knight gets changed (improved) I plan to level it, maybe make it my main (i love the aesthetic) but claiming its competitive with warrior and paladin is either self delusion or ignorance.

if you have access to PLD, WAR, MNK in your setup (and ppl who aim for progression at lower gear levels) then go for it. it's probably the best combo for this job. while your are at it also take a BRD, DRG, SMN, SCH and WHM/AST (whichever is superior) and be happy about your perfect group.

DRK is not perfect atm, but it'll get the job done. and any group without a mnk can be happy to have one, when it has to deal with huge magic damage.

[Cyrus-Wallace]

I'm doing Ravana EX no problem with DRK atm. It took me a while to get used to it but it has a nice DPS sustain and the mitigation comes when you need it. You can even solo some tank busters no problem.

[Kalma51]

Well I'm not 60 yet but here is some things I find need some love. I'm sure with a few tweaks to these abilities we'll be in a much better place then our sour middle of the road feel atm.

Dark Arts: Cost is too high for it's overall use. Honestly I would love to see this turn into a trance type buff. Last X amount of time for a given buff depending on stance.

Darkside: I have no real issue with this at all as it is. But for sake of balance I think our Grit / Darkside should work like how warrior's two stances work.

Grit: Like Darkside I really don't have a issue with what it brings, OTHER then it's retarded high cost in mana / GCD tax. Take off GCD and allow Blood Weapon to be used while active. Also Dark Arts should give more Def like bonus to abilities while this is up.

Delirium: Needs only a small adjustment really, Take the Int debuff off for something more useful. Also (If Dark Arts isn't a trance state or something) I think that Dark Arts should give this ability something depending on stance. Darkside = Dot or something Grit = Shield or Dmg reduction.

Those are few of our bigger issues. Now most of our Def CD's have a ok place but they need some love, main case is Dark Dance (while having a high upkeep % it just really blows overall).

I think we can all agree that Drk will be getting buffs, so these are just my suggestions that I think will improve our class some. But honestly I think the three skills that will get reworked the most are probably Delirium / Dark Arts / Dark Dance.

[Kalma51]

Also another major issue that needs to be address is our TP shortage on longer fights. Warriors got niffy lil buff for TP issues, in which I think all 3 tanks should have a similar type buff imo.

[Niyuka]

Also another major issue that needs to be address is our TP shortage on longer fights. Warriors got niffy lil buff for TP issues, in which I think all 3 tanks should have a similar type buff imo.

Get a ninja. Seriously, Ninja/DRK combo is probably about the best you can do, as it shores up the major weaknesses of the DRK.

[Taranok]

*snip*

On Dark Arts, the problem is it's actually really potent as it exists now. It's just incredibly underwhelming. It's not like a Warrior where you go "RAWRGLBLARGHL INNER BEAST SMAAAASH!" Instead, it's just a very strong potency buff to a number of abilities that actually brings DRK damage to comparatively high levels. For instance, it flat out makes Souleater superior to Inner Beast in healing potency despite IB's avoidance of Defiance' damage tax. It also (for DPS) gives the DRK a rather comparable amount of potency to a WAR throwing out fell cleaves. It's really strong, it's just also really underwhelming and feels like a bad mechanic because of it. As such, I agree it should be changed, but this isn't the way I'd change it.

Darkside: It's not a stance. This is basically DRK's version of Maim, and should be treated as such. The only change I'd make is really just remove mana degeneration and regeneration while it's on. Though, I personally would prefer seeing Darkside turned into a mana dump ability that procs dark arts on everything without needing to use Dark Arts, with DA being salvaged into another ability. That is, mark managing darkside an actual DRK mechanic.

Grit: I don't think any tank stance should be on GCD or cost resources. Seriously, why does the warrior get a free pass? Make them all free so that it doesn't feel so awful switching between them. It's not like 1 GCD is that huge a balancing problem.

Delirium: Should be able to override Monk's dragon kick, but without overriding the blunt resistance debuff part of it. I agree that it should have a Dark Arts effect, as right now, if you have a ton of mana to dump, you basically have no time to use delirium, and it would add nice options to the class.

Dark Mind and Dark Dance need a rework to not need Dark Arts to actually do anything. Seriously, it feels awful having to burn DA for those, and I'd rather see Darkside reworked so that it's not used for static oGCD cooldowns. Active abilities like a self-shield for Delirium? That sounds great, actually! But otherwise, no.

Blood Price and Blood Weapon should also probably be rolled into the same ability. For a gritless DRK, it functions as Blood Weapon does now. For a Grit Stance DRK, it should give a static amount of MP over time based on how many enemies are nearby to make it more consistent and not make me hate WHMs for doing their job well and casting holy. The consistency is the bigger thing, since right now Blood Price is just horrible for tanking bosses that either swap target a lot or attack very slowly.

Presuming DA is gotten rid of along with either BP or BW, the class needs more active cooldowns. It just really needs more buttons to push for E.G. physical damage, because right now the DRK is a bad paladin pretending to be a warrior, and failing at it.

[Kiteless]

The problem with Darkside and Dark Arts is that they basically fill the same roll, with no real reasoning outside of needing to fill in more skill slots. Additionally, the game never really gives you a reason to actually manage Darkside. It's something that should absolutely always be on, even if it means doing nothing but spamming syphon strike combos.

I've posted on potential solution in another thread, but I figure it's worth mentioning here (and probably every other of the hundreds of thousands of DRK suggestion threads)

With the way DRK is right now, it really feels like an unfocused mess. Darkside and Dark Arts feel like two wasted skill slots to do the job of one (it's not like you'd ever actually turn off Darkside anyway, and Dark Arts requires the use of Darkside in the first place... they're so much overlap here that it's ridiculous), and a lot of our abilities don't really work particularly well together, and I spend most fights that aren't trash mobs just spamming Souleater to keep my MP at a barely functional level. What I'd like to see is a more focused skillset that still emphasizes resource management and variety in tools, but with more consistent access to those tools.

Grit: Remove from GCD, lower/remove MP cost.

Darkside: Increase MP cost substantially (double? more? Either way, it should be at a level which is absolutely not maintainable, to encourage active "stance" management), increase damage boost to ~30%. While in this stance, various moves have bonuses or alternative functionalities applied. Change aura to either a glowing red eyes effect (see Fray during the level 50 DRK quest), or the one from the Job Skills preview trailer. Additionally, buffs activated while in Darkside that have altered properties retain those altered properties even after Darkside is deactivated.
•Souleater (Current Dark Arts Effect)
•Power Slash (Current Dark Arts Effect)
•Dark Passenger (Current Dark Arts Effect)
•Abyssal Drain (Current Dark Arts Effect)
•Carve and Spit (Current Dark Arts Effect)
•Delirium (Applies a 10% magic defense debuff)
•Shadow Wall (Heal for 75 potency whenever struck with an attack (scale from strength?))
•Dark Dance (Damage reduction from parrying is doubled)
•Dark Mind (Current Dark Arts Effect)

Dark Arts: Turn into a cooldown that, for the duration, should your MP not be sufficient to cast a skill or maintain Darkside, causes the cost to be taken from your HP instead. (Allows for some over-extending when optimal, rewards skillful play while punishing recklessness, removes redundancy with Darkside, fits well thematically).

Blood Weapon: Increase cooldown to 60 seconds, allow for use in Grit. Alternatively, simply allow for use in grit, while only applying the attack speed bonus while outside of it.

Reprisal: Reduce damage to 160, remove requirement for parry, repurpose "Low Blows" trait to affect Reprisal instead of Low Blows,.

Low Blow: Repurpose "Low Blows" trait to affect Reprisal instead of Low Blows.

Shadow Wall: Reduce cooldown to 120 seconds, increase duration to 15 seconds.

Dark Dance: Remove Darkside Requirement. Increase to 50% parry rate.

Dark Mind: Remove Darkside Requirement.

[TheCount]

The people who keep suggesting that Dark Knight abilities should in some way drain from their HP pool for some effect really don't realize how bad of an idea that would be for a tank in FF14.

Really, even in the hands of a skilled player, this would NOT be worth it. In fact it would make the people having to deal with that crap hate Dark Knights and not want them in their party most likely, especially considering a lot of people will not use such an ability well or at the right time.