DRK needs re-tuning/buffing.

[mcspamm]

Just because we have Dark Mind doesn't mean we are the "magical tank" now.

PLD's shield works against magic attacks as well now.

Yeah, exactly. Not to mention Cover now works against magical attacks as well.

While I'm glad they addressed PLD's "weakness" to magical attacks in SB, it seems like a gross oversight to have left Dark Mind untouched.

TBN in its current form just isn't enough to make up for all the defensives lost to the battle system changes.

Perhaps they could modify TBN such that when combined with DM, it grants an additional defensive effect (could potentially replace DADM).

e.g. The Blackest Night
Creates a barrier around self that absorbs damage totaling 20% of your maximum HP, or around a party member that absorbs damage totaling 10% of your maximum HP.
Duration: 5s
Increases Blood Gauge by 50 when full 20% (10%) is absorbed.
If Dark Mind is active when using The Blackest Night (on self?), <insert defensive effect here>.

Some ideas for this effect include:

• +Parry chance akin to Dark Dance (and would stack with Anticipation, if you ever actually took it)
• For the next N seconds, whenever you would take damage, immediately restore X% of that damage as health. Not sure how well this would work as a HoT instead. Wording might have to change, but ideally I would see this as healing a percentage of any damage you would have taken (meaning it would still heal you while TBN's shield is up), however you eat the damage first before the heal triggers (something like a reverse Bloodbath).
• Gain the effect of Eye for an Eye.
• The next attack you use heals you for 200% (or whatever #) of the damage dealt.
• Increase the damage absorbed by The Blackest Night to 40% of your maximum HP, or 20% for a party member. Increases Blood Gauge by 20. (#s might need tweaking)

Another thought would be to rework Dark Mind so that it acts as another universal defensive cooldown, but costs Blood to use instead.

Maybe something like this?

Dark Mind
Recast: 60s
Reduces incoming damage by 15%.
Duration: 10s.
Blood Gauge Cost: 50

Given the current state of DRK's damage numbers, this change would need to be supplemented by potency and damage buffs to make up for having to spend Blood to survive.

However, this might make the Blood mechanic even more interesting if you have a legitimate choice between spending it on offensive versus defence, and could combo nicely with TBN, as breaking the shield would allow you to follow it up with DM for further damage reduction once a minute.