DRK is going to be Nerfed in Stormblood

[Falar]

After logging in I discovered The Dark Passenger nerf is WORSE. Instead of the MP doubling and 10 pot loss during Dark Arts the base potency is only 100 now as well.

I don't even.....

[NocturniaUzuki]

Well, I'm not a pro tank, but I've been really into DRK lately. Here's how I'm handling the change:

Initially, I was really peeved. My entire playstyle appeared to have been obliterated, and I was depressed about tanking seemingly being reduced to nothing but hanging out in tank stance and spamming basic combos all day long. Thankfully, I've discovered a few things about the new DRK that catch my interest (at Lv60, I can't comment on 61+ yet).

First of all, even though we can't use Blood Price out of Grit anymore, we do get double the MP regen from Syphon Strike while in Grit. A single Syphon Strike gives you the same amount of MP as a Dark Arts cast. This is a lovely change because it seems to me that, as long as you have Blood Price on, you can essentially do the same DPS with Grit on as you can with Grit off, as long as you keep your cooldowns properly managed. I've actually be stance dancing more on DRK now. For bosses, I start out in Grit, build my aggro cushion, using Blood Prie and my Syphon combo. Because of the enhanced MP restore from Syphon, I can use two Dark Arts per combo; I enhance both Syphon Strike and Souleater. Heck, I sometimes even throw in an enhanced Carve and Spit (though I usually save that CD for when I'm off Grit). After Blood Price ends, I switch out of Grit, use Blood Weapon, and repeat the process. However, due to getting less MP from Syphon and the new lack of oGCD skills (which is annoying me greatly), I can't manage more than one Dark Arts per combo, reducing my damage while not in Grit. So as a result, I think I'm doing roughly the same damage in Grit as when I'm not. However, Grit is only useful when I have Blood Price up, and no-grit is only useful when I have Blood Weapon up. So I'm constantly switching between the two.

I have heard that switching stances drains the Blood Gauge later on? If that's the case then perhaps this is only a 60-and-below strategy. However, I am finding the stance dancing quite fun. I just wish we had a DoT to manage upkeep on and still had at least one of our oGCD MP gains for Blood Weapon.

[Reynhart]

However, due to getting less MP from Syphon and the new lack of oGCD skills (which is annoying me greatly), I can't manage more than one Dark Arts per combo, reducing my damage while not in Grit. So as a result, I think I'm doing roughly the same damage in Grit as when I'm not. However, Grit is only useful when I have Blood Price up, and no-grit is only useful when I have Blood Weapon up. So I'm constantly switching between the two.

One thing I didn't fully realized until now is how much MP Dakside used to drain. Now that it's removed, it's extremely fast to replenish your MP by simply not using Dark Arts...especially with the reduced cooldown on Blood Weapon

I still have to gain to experience how the Blood Abilities work.

[shao32]

a single note from my part, soul eater self heals is still 100% the damage you dealt.

[Falar]

I would say at this point the Blood Price change is an intentional nerf.

[MagiusNecros]

Grit Soul Siphon restores more MP then Sole Survivor restore. Hilarious.

[GrizzlyTank]

I'm not a good tank, nor do i usually main tank. But some changes that feels like it would be usefull for DRK would be something like this.
"Sole Survivor" Either make it cost blood gauge, or make it reset the durotation on kill.
"Scourge" Give it back as a combo finisher and maybe add some Dark art bonus to it.
"Delirium" Start with halving the cooldown in two.
And merge "Blood Weapon" and "Blood Price" since not it just clutters the interface.

[Claire_Pendragon]

a single note from my part, soul eater self heals is still 100% the damage you dealt.

It didnt for me.

The bosses in Anit Tower do practically no dmg to me.
Our healer kept dieing from the very start of the fight, and id just sit there, waiting for AoEs to kill me, since auto attack dmg wasnt strong enough to kill me. (I was practically regening my passive 2% roughly equal to auto attack dmg from the bosses)

But after 10-15mins the boss would kill me.

But eventually we'd get the bosses to near death, again, no healer, and i started only using soul eater combo, and dark arts soul eater, trying to kill the boss quickly (with grit on) and my HP only went down. (at the same slow rate it did when i sat afk for 10mins)

So while this isnt numbers, and technically other RNG factors could have effected the results, im inclined to think something else changes the %, otherwise it would specify the %.
(maybe how much MP u have left, or something.)

[Hierro]

First, we were nerfed because we couldn't use bloodprice outside of grit.

Now, even when we blood price in grit, we don't get as much MP as before? This is unacceptable, and that's putting it lightly since I really wanted to make the analogy to equestrian fecal matter. The whole saving grace of sustainable DRK AoE damage was spamming DA-AD, and now that's pretty much gone out the window.

Why this? Our AoE dps isn't even that strong in grit.

[Starkbeaumont]

First, we were nerfed because we couldn't use bloodprice outside of grit.

Now, even when we blood price in grit, we don't get as much MP as before? This is unacceptable, and that's putting it lightly since I really wanted to make the analogy to equestrian fecal matter. The whole saving grace of sustainable DRK AoE damage was spamming DA-AD, and now that's pretty much gone out the window.

Why this? Our AoE dps isn't even that strong in grit.

spam quietus then. it's stronger anyway. only you can't keep yourself healed up now