Dark Knight, or Paladin?

[nyttyn]

Hi all, I'm having a...strange problem. I love both Paladin and Dark Knight, but the setup of Esoterics forces me to have to pick one to gear up. I love Paladin's shield, Hallowed Ground, and Clemency, but at the same time hate that it's punished for Flash by doing zero damage. Meanwhile Dark Knight has a goodly damage lead, and I also love how dark arts works. I also like the look of both sets, so...

I can't make up my mind, who should I give the inital AF2 tomes to? (or I could just pick a third option and go scholar I guess but the gear feels kind of wasted going to a healer).

[Eye_Gore]

So you listed 3 things you like about PLD and only 2 about DRK, also one thing you dislike about PLD and nothing about DRK. So the one dislike cancels out one like about PLD so then you evenly like both. So grab a coin and pick a side, you will then have your answer.

[SirTaint]

I'm in the same boat I'm a career PLD with WAR being my secondary job. I have PLD DRK and WAR at 60. WAR would be the easy pick in terms of which is best. PLD and sword/board is my favorite but PLD is lacking hard right now. DRK is an excellent job for DPS and Alex tanking.

Let me know what you decide! Since weapon is your first purchase we have a 1.5 weeks to figure it out.

[Phoenicia]

Personally I'm disappointed with esoterics forcing me to pick 1 of the three tanks.

I think I'm leaning to stick to WAR since it's been my main since 2.0 and the fluidity of their stance dancing is pulling me in more than DRK's Dark Arts and MP management. However, I have this VERY VERY strong urge to switch to SMN main. Not only is it my favorite DPS class, their esoterics set is cute! lol

EDIT: Forgot to post something relevant lol

DRK does more DPS than PLD in general. But PLD brings more utility. Outside of the obvious magical vs physical mitigation, these factors can help you decide.

If you want more utility go PLD. If you want more DPS and less utility go DRK.

[pandabearcat]

I have the same problem.

However, I would suggest to everyone that you should take "effectiveness" out of the question. Rather, focus on whether you like the gameplay, and (if this is important to you), the aesthetics.

For me, I love the way paladin plays. It is very slow and methodical and having a fixed rotation gives me freedom to worry about the raid instead.

However, I love the DRK weapon. And I love learning new classes, and right now I suck at DRK.

However, I hate the DRK armor.

However, I'd just like to wield a 2h sword in one hand and a giant shield in the other (D3 Crusader anyone? ^^)...while wearing the awesome PLD AF2.

Oh man =(

[Freyyy]

However, I hate the DRK armor.

But... How...

[pandabearcat]

But... How...

Very spike. Much emo.

I prefer the clean lines of PLD armor, and love the AF2. The DRK AF2 seems a very generic spiky dark plate set with no real character...similarly the sword looks like an oversized frat paddle with spikes. I was really hoping for swords more...I dunno. Elegant, or something.

That is what made me realize I love paladin swords. The Hot Claire is pretty amazing, and I was running Zantetsuken (a 2h weapon in 1h size ^^) previously.

I went with PLD simply because of aesthetics.

[Kydi]

I'm in a very similar situation with PLD and DRK.

I leveled DRK as soon as HW was released, and have it at 60 through finishing msq etc. I'm now working on PLD and using DRK for my expert roulette.

I really enjoyed leveling DRK, however when doing the exact same dungeons as a PLD, I am finding them a whole lot less stressful and a whole lot easier. Whilst DRK damage is awesome whilst tanking, especially compared to PLD, I feel that the inclusion of dark arts effects on defensive cooldowns was a mistake. I felt that whilst leveling, a lot of the DRK cooldowns were quite lacklustre compared to PLD, unless buffed. It seems silly to need one tank use resources to buff their cooldowns.

This brings me onto the second point, resources. I feel that the MP management of DRK is just an unnecessary layer of complexity. The DRK abilities just don't seem to mesh all that we'll with recovering MP and abilities, particularly key ones such as grit, cost way too much. PLD doesn't suffer quite so much in this department as flash is relatively MP efficient and shield/sword are pretty cheap. MP management as DRK just seems like an extra thing to worry about, but the effect is to bring it up to PLD/WAR standards.

Looks wise, it's a wash. The new DRK artifact gear is gorgeous, as is the weapon, but there's something about the classic sword and board type knight, especially in some regal armour that looks awesome. I'd really like a cloak vanity slot though and to actually do some pvp for the lionsmane gear.

Overall, I think once I have it leveled to 60 I'll be going PLD for everything except dungeon farming where the extra dps of DRK will really come in handy.

[Drakkaelus]

MP management as DRK just seems like an extra thing to worry about, but the effect is to bring it up to PLD/WAR standards.

Yeah, this bothers me about the DRK more than anything else. You have this extra shit to worry about but there doesn't seem to be any payoff. A WAR that knows how to stance dance and use their cooldowns properly is rewarded with a massive spike in damage. It's not necessary but it's something to shoot for if you're looking to get the most out of your job. But you have to do all this fussing over your MP as a DRK just to function at a basic level and it doesn't look like there's any way to go above and beyond with it without running out of gas in 5 seconds.

[Phoenicia]

Snip.

Snip.

DRK MP management is fine and is in line with WAR's wrath management and PLD's CD management. Granted PLD is the "easiest" to "manage".

DRK has the highest consistent damage if MP is managed. And ONLY 2 of the DRK CDs are buffed by Dark Arts and they are VERY potent. DRK is by no means squishier than PLD or WAR. ALL three tanks have the exact same effective HP with slight difference due to base VIT. The different tool kits make up for what they lack in different departments. (PLD has a shield, WAR and DRK have self heals for fluff damage, etc.)

Now if MP management is not your thing, that doesn't make the DRK weaker than the other two tanks. It just means DRK is not the tank for you.