Crazy idea to improve DRK mitigation

[Giantbane]

DRK seems just a touch light on mitigation. Definitely in the anti-physical dpt. vs the other two tanks, and for the "anti-magic specialist" (or whatever) it's arguably not much (if any) better than WAR.

So, what if Dark Arts provided -10% damage while it was up? Kind of like a mini mitigation cooldown. You couldn't spam it since it's so expensive. -10% doesn't seem so strong as to be overpowered, but it's good enough you could stack with the existing DRK abilities to make your self that much tougher.

Would definitely make the mana management more interesting at any rate. May even give us a reason to use carve & spit for mana regen instead of damage.

thoughts?

[TouchandFeel]

Crazy, yes ... crazy awesome.

I was thinking almost the exact idea last night, except I think I was contemplating a buff to Parry with Dark Arts.
Either ways I think a defensive buff attached to the DA status is a very interesting idea that could really make for some fun decisions and gameplay for DRK.

P.S. I still think C+S should give more MP back, as much as the cost of 1 DA seems fair.

[Xenosan]

It's not unreasonable. And the 10second duration would make for a nice min/maxing rotation considerations for players.. Especially if it also provided a damage increase as well.

If DA provided even 5-10%mitigation / 5-10%dmg up while active it would create a 'forward-thinking' incentive to using Dark Arts.. Instead of:

Hard Swing > Syphon > [Dark Arts] Souleater

do

[Dark Arts] Hard Swing > Syphon > Souleater

So constantly pre-loading the DAs for whichever skill/spell/CD you want to use it with would be really maxing the job.

There's already an incentive to pre-load DA since it has that 5 second recast cool down.. so such a buff - whether it's just mitigation or also damage up included - would fit in nicely.

Not sure how well it fits with Dark Dance though, might prefer that 10% mitigation over DDance's lolEVA.

[Giantbane]

It's not unreasonable. And the 10second duration would make for a nice min/maxing rotation considerations for players.. Especially if it also provided a damage increase as well.

If DA provided even 5-10%mitigation / 5-10%dmg up while active it would create a 'forward-thinking' incentive to using Dark Arts.. Instead of:

Hard Swing > Syphon > [Dark Arts] Souleater

do

[Dark Arts] Hard Swing > Syphon > Souleater

So constantly pre-loading the DAs for whichever skill/spell/CD you want to use it with would be really maxing the job.

There's already an incentive to pre-load DA since it has that 5 second recast cool down.. so such a buff - whether it's just mitigation or also damage up included - would fit in nicely.

Not sure how well it fits with Dark Dance though, might prefer that 10% mitigation over DDance's lolEVA.

DDance's evasion works well against anything you *can* dodge, it's just that most of the important stuff can't be dodged and, even then, you can't leave it up to random chance.

I don't know about the dark arts doing extra damage. It seems like we're in a pretty good place for damage, especially while tanking. Think we're going to need more analysis to see how DRK's stronger base potency and numerous oGCD attacks stack up against WAR's burst.

Even then, maybe -10% damage with grit/+10% damage no grit?

But I really like how you would have to think more about DA usage in order to get the most out of it due to the cooldown, high mana usage, and all the abilities that will use up the dark arts effect.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

As long as the damage reduction was not something that went away after you used it.

[Giantbane]

As long as the damage reduction was not something that went away after you used it.

I think it would be a little too much if we got 10s worth of mitigation every time we hit dark arts, regardless of whether we used it or not. Besides, having it go away when used makes the ability more interesting to work around.

[Syzygian]

For magical/physical tankbusters: Shadowskin/Shadow Wall + DA Dark Mind = 50-60% reduced magic damage. Uh that's better than War, factoring in Grit of course. And that's not factoring in Reprisal or Delirium. Shadowskin/Shadow Wall + Dark Dance = 20-50% reduced physical damage with a longer duration at the cost of parry RNG.

Really tired of people thinking DRKs are too squishy. At level 60, with cross class skills, they have less beefy cooldowns, sure, but not by much, and they have MORE OF THEM, and with CRAZY SHORT RECAST TIMES. Dark Mind and Dark Dance have 60s CDs. OP if anything. Both of these abilities pair beautifully with Foresight/Awareness/Convalescence/Bloodbath and are easily off CD to rotate stacking between them in between Shadowskin/Shadow Wall casts assuming there isn't a tank buster to save those for. In RavEx for example, I rotate between Shadowskin and Dark Dance + Foresight/Awareness/Bloodbath, and when the Prey wave attacks come, drop Shadow Wall for the first four, and then after orbs DA Dark Mind + Convalescence or Shadowskin if its off CD. I've taken less than 1K per hit with Reprisal and Delirium up. In A4, I rotate between Shadowskin + DA Dark Mind and Shadow Wall + Convalescence for Discoid<Perpetual Ray. It hits me like a wet paper bag.

It feels like tanks have already forgotten T13 where they actually had to pop more than one CD at a time. DRK is like that, but all the time. Because you have so many CDs and so much potential uptime on some of them, to get the most mitigation out of the job you need to be doubling up on anything not named Shadow Wall or Shadowskin. And if you're cross classing all the MRD/GLA CDs you have more than enough buttons to push to have at 1-2 cooldowns 99% of the time with only a few seconds of downtime.

Also, are people still talking about DA Dark Dance? Don't do it D:< Save your MP for DA Abyssal Drains, C&Ses, Souleaters, and Dark Minds.

[Valenth]

I myself feel like my mitigation is indeed fine. However, because of all the talk of being squishy I was thinking of perhaps adding a short 5-10% dmg mitigation buff (maybe 10s?) to a DA Power Slash and maybe make it a Grit effect only? I wouldn't tie it to Dark Arts itself at least, IMHO. Also, if anything, I think a "dodge" should restore MP as well when under the effects of Blood Price. But they don't need more tweaking than that if you ask me. DRK is my favorite class so far and my healer tells me I'm not noticably more squishy or incredibly much harder to heal.

[Xenosan]

What if Dark Dance - instead of consuming Dark Arts - added 10 seconds to Dark Arts duration (refreshing it) ;3

@Syzygian & Valenth
It's a matter of distinguishing the Job from the other tanks as much as it is about balancing

I rotate between Shadowskin + DA Dark Mind

Stacking lesser mitigation CDs yea anyone with PLD experience knows the drill. But Shadowskin &&& DA > Dark Mind together? :O

[Phoenicia]

Stacking lesser mitigation CDs yea anyone with PLD experience knows the drill. But Shadowskin &&& DA > Dark Mind together? :O

You mean anyone with "tank" experience. WAR is also all about stacking a CD over IB to deal with tank busters.