Walking dead should be a gift not a curse

[Fernosaur]

If anything, a better way to make LD less shitty would be making it so you reach a certain negative HP amount depending on the damage you are dealt, and just healing that amount of HP makes WD go away. I think they could potentially do this by snapshotting the attack that reduces you to 0 or less, and giving that value to WD, kind of in the same way adloquium works. That way it would be easier for a DRK to heal themselves with potions and/or SE.

I agree that LD is not stellar, but I also don't think the invincibility cooldowns should be all that great, really. They're already amazing because you don't die from boss damage. Hallowed Ground is great, yeah, but on a 7 minute CD, you will ever only use it once. As someone else said, invincibilities are meant to be used as part of a strategy, not just as a CD to toss out for shits and giggles.

HG is waaay superior in trash pulls, but in trash pulls PLD can't do anything to help with AoE damage, so I think that's how it balances out. A PLD can just have a healer DPS through an entire pull with just one Regen. DRK has Salted Earth and DA Abyssal Drain to deal ridiculous AoE. <- This is the only scenario I can think of in which an invincibility can just be popped without planning.

[Tint]

If anything, a better way to make LD less shitty would be making it so you reach a certain negative HP amount depending on the damage you are dealt, and just healing that amount of HP makes WD go away. I think they could potentially do this by snapshotting the attack that reduces you to 0 or less, and giving that value to WD, kind of in the same way adloquium works. That way it would be easier for a DRK to heal themselves with potions and/or SE.

this would make LD even worse, because if you get hit lets say for 100k damage there is no way to survive this anymore. and yes, there are raid mechanics wich deal that much damage.

[TenZer0]

Actually..amongst the three: Hallowed Ground, Holmgang, Living Dead... Holmgang is the one that needs the most work.

I DRK a lot... I get a lot of praises for being a really good Dark Knight (omgyheadsobiglulz). And when communicated with healers; especially in raid groups/static. Living Dead is so OP. You're essentially invulnerable for close to 20s. Think about it... You know incoming tank buster is gonna kill you, or you're about to die for whatever reason. [Macro Time] Pop Living Dead--BOOM 1hp--Let healers know how much time is left (you know, the green number under the grey icon)--2s to 3s before timer is up, let healers know to heal you for 100% of your max hp. Voice chat does wonders for this btw

I've been in some parties with some of the same healers and they get this concept. Just gotta communicate with your healer. In PUGs..yeah good luck with that lawl XD (omgysodead). But with the same consistent healer(s), this is so heavenly. I see no reason for this to be nerfed. I love this move.

Actually..if you do end up dying after Walking Dead is up..I wouldn't mind being changed into a zombie like in Qarn (HM) and just run randomly somewhere lol. DEVS PLEASE DO THIS!

[Tarta]

Better fix:

If you do not get healed through Walking Dead State to 100% your MP+TP goes to 0 and your HP becomes your MP+TP total. That way it punishes trigger happy DRK, rewards OT taking a mechanic with 2 heals down while SMN rezzes heals to have Raid continue, and doesn't invalidate terrible heals right off the bat.

Work with the idea, seems legit to me.

[Lyth]

Holmgang is extremely powerful. It has a 180s recast. This means that any time that you would have needed to use Sentinel or Shadow Wall on a different tank, you can just pop your invincibility move and not even have to change stance. You generally don't need the four extra seconds, unless you're dealing with a multi-hit tankbuster. If that's the case, you need to combine Holmgang with one or more additional cooldowns, and pop it just before you bottom out. I ended up using Holmgang on two different Akh Morn sets during my first T13 clear.

Let's also not forget that Holmgang also has three hidden functions. You can prevent a knockback, you can root an opponent, and in some cases, you can interrupt "uninterruptible" casts with it.

Hallowed Ground's strength is that it allows you to simply negate a tank buster and any associated debuffs. It simplifies a section of the fight that your group doesn't want to have to deal with. Hallowed Ground and Holmgang do have overlap in their usage, but they can often see very different uses in the context of a fight.

The problem with LD isn't that it's there to fill the same niche as Holmgang. It's there to fill the same niche as Hallowed Ground. It sits in the middle without the main selling points of either, and is the most healer intensive move on a tank job with the least self-healing capability.

I'm also not convinced that the zombie theme fits, either in terms of in-game lore and previous games. Perhaps if we were Death Knights, instead of Dark Knights.

[MagiusNecros]

Zombie theme is crap honestly. LD should be casting doom on self to increase defenses and attack power at the cost of your life and should be lifted off a max heal or raise. Being a Dark Knight also would mean we have Darkness Element attacks to bypass defenses, unfortunately elemental attacks don't exist in XIV so in effect most of what makes a Dark a Dark is missing entirely.

We are more playing a Magic Knight template more then anything. Primarily a Thayan Knight who always served a Red Wizard. In layman's terms to be at their best they needed to be paired with a healer at all times.

[Kallera]

I don't like living dead, It often kills me when I use it, or gets misfired to do nothing. I've done a clutch win with it all of once. Its really not easy to use.

[Tint]

Zombie theme is crap honestly. LD should be casting doom on self to increase defenses and attack power at the cost of your life and should be lifted off a max heal or raise. Being a Dark Knight also would mean we have Darkness Element attacks to bypass defenses, unfortunately elemental attacks don't exist in XIV so in effect most of what makes a Dark a Dark is missing entirely.

We are more playing a Magic Knight template more then anything. Primarily a Thayan Knight who always served a Red Wizard. In layman's terms to be at their best they needed to be paired with a healer at all times.

the problem with sacrificing life is that you just sacrifice it and put the downside of it to the healers hands. even more because DRK is a tank. a tank who sacrifices his life? in an mmo? good luck with finding a group... and good luck when there is no healer at your side...

i think they have made a good job with sacrificing mana instead of life.

[Reynhart]

I think they have made a good job with sacrificing mana instead of life.

Yes, they did.

But it's still puzzling that they decided to go from "a job that spend HP to deal high damage" to a job that spend MP to survive"...if they really wanted a DRK to fit the "gloomy" theme of HW, they could have made it a DPS and chose another tank altogether...like a Templar

[ADVSS]

Holmgang is extremely powerful. It has a 180s recast. This means that any time that you would have needed to use Sentinel or Shadow Wall on a different tank, you can just pop your invincibility move and not even have to change stance. You generally don't need the four extra seconds, unless you're dealing with a multi-hit tankbuster. If that's the case, you need to combine Holmgang with one or more additional cooldowns, and pop it just before you bottom out. I ended up using Holmgang on two different Akh Morn sets during my first T13 clear.

Let's also not forget that Holmgang also has three hidden functions. You can prevent a knockback, you can root an opponent, and in some cases, you can interrupt "uninterruptible" casts with it.

Hallowed Ground's strength is that it allows you to simply negate a tank buster and any associated debuffs. It simplifies a section of the fight that your group doesn't want to have to deal with. Hallowed Ground and Holmgang do have overlap in their usage, but they can often see very different uses in the context of a fight.

The problem with LD isn't that it's there to fill the same niche as Holmgang. It's there to fill the same niche as Hallowed Ground. It sits in the middle without the main selling points of either, and is the most healer intensive move on a tank job with the least self-healing capability.

I'm also not convinced that the zombie theme fits, either in terms of in-game lore and previous games. Perhaps if we were Death Knights, instead of Dark Knights.

THANKYOU! Best balanced description I was trying to find words for. I wish i could like more than once