Dark Knight Current State

[Grafeit]

Thanks!!

I am pretty good at using my CDs, except Sole Survivor, I usually use that too early, and don’t get the bonus from my target dying while it’s active. I have no issues with spamming Dark Arts..in fact, I assumed I was using it too much. My rotation is essentially one full rotation of my enmity combo (with dark arts), then I start with blood price and the aoe that does damage over time. Then spam dark arts and my mana steal/life steal combo. EVERY action I make I try to make sure I use DA first.

There is one ability that I am not sure about, the AoE that heals me when I use dark arts. The potency is low, and the heal is minimal (unless there are a BUNCH of enemies), I use it very rarely, and kind of don’t even want it on my hotbars lol...

[TouchandFeel]

DRK is fully capable of MTing anything in the game and I have MTed all the Ivalice raids and Omega as DRK with no problem, although I admit I am fond of OTing them and putting my ability to cast TBN on the MT to good use.
While DRK definitely has issues that need to be addressed and I could see how they could hold the mantle of being the "worst" of the 3 tanks currently, there is very little in this game that is so demanding that it puts DRK into a position of not being up to the task at hand. Sure some tanks may shine a bit brighter at stuff, but DRK can still get the job done and should never be excluded from a group.

There is one ability that I am not sure about, the AoE that heals me when I use dark arts. The potency is low, and the heal is minimal (unless there are a BUNCH of enemies), I use it very rarely, and kind of don’t even want it on my hotbars lol...

The ability you are talking about, Abyssal Drain, is probably one of the most used abilities in a DRK's arsenal for large group pulls.
For starters, it is an enmity generation ability like Unleash but the damage to mp cost is better whereas Unleash has better enmity to mp. Basically, you can use Unleash during a pull to get initial group agro and then keep up the damage and enmity with Abyssal Drain. If you are cycling TBN and Quietus to keep your MP up, you should have enough MP to pretty much spam Abyssal Drain until the pack is whittled down or dead. Since almost all other AoE damage abilities are gated by a cooldown time or Blood, Abyssal is your main go to for AoE damage, not including Salted Earth of course which you should just be keeping up.
As for Abyssal Drain's Dark Arts effect, yeah it sucks that it doesn't get the regular damage boost that it gives to other AoE abilities but the heal should not be discounted. Basically you only want to use DA with it if there are a lot of enemies and the incoming damage is high enough that you want to give your healer a bit more of a cushion to help them out, otherwise just save your MP for more regular Abyssals.
Lastly, in regards to it's "low potency", it is in-line with the other tank spammable AoE attacks with Abyssal having a potency of 120, Overpower having a potency of 130 and Total Eclipse having a potency of 110. While your non-AoE abilities may have bigger numbers attached to them, hitting 3 enemies for 120 potency each with a single attack will always be more damage dealt in total than hitting a single enemy for 300 potency with a comboed Soul Eater.

My rotation is essentially one full rotation of my enmity combo (with dark arts), then I start with blood price and the aoe that does damage over time. Then spam dark arts and my mana steal/life steal combo. EVERY action I make I try to make sure I use DA first.

If we are talking about boss fights, start them off with a DAed Plunge because it is a little extra initial enmity boost and gets you on the boss as soon as possible. Hit DA right before you go to engage the boss and then hit Plunge as soon as you are in range to be able to use it. From there I usually cycle straight into 2 DA boosted Power Slash combos, weaving Blood Price activation between Hard Slash and Spinning Slash in the first combo. I find that 2 DAed enmity combos is usually enough to last pretty much the whole fight without having to resort to using your enmity combo again. If you are with a good group that knows how to control their enmity and you are doing an 8-man with a co-tank that knows how to Provoke->Shirk to pad your enmity, you can trim down the initial enmity combos to 1 or even forgo them altogether.
From there I normally drop tank stance, pop Blood Weapon and just unload my big hit DPS abilities like DA Carve & Spit, however it is not advised to drop tank stance until you are comfortable tanking and with the fight.

I would also advise against trying to DA "EVERY action" as you will likely burn through your MP too quickly and not keep a comfortable reserve for TBN and DAing Carve & Spit as soon as it is off cooldown.
You want to use DA as much as possible but not so much that you leave yourself MP starved most of the time.
I would suggest a priority system for what to use DA on.
In boss/single-target fights: Carve and Spit always gets DA priority since the damage boost it gets from DA is much greater than other single-target abilities, 350 potency (or ~275 if you factor the MP gain from the non DAed version) vs. 140. After that it will depend on the situation. If I am out of tank stance or I need an extra enmity boost, I tend to give priority to Plunge. If I am in tank stance I tend to give Soul Eater priority for the tiny bit extra to the self-heal. Asides from that it doesn't matter much as it will just be a flat +140 potency gain per DA, so I just slip them in wherever.
In mass pulls: Dark Passenger get high or top priority for DA because of the massive damage boost in comparison to other AoE abilities as well as the extra blind effect. Asides from that you may want to DA Abyssal for the reason I already went over, but mainly your MP will be spent pumping out more Abyssals and not into DAs. If you are absolutely brimming over with MP and need to burn some off so that you don't fill your pool and waste MP gain, add DA to Quietuses.

I am pretty good at using my CDs, except Sole Survivor, I usually use that too early, and don’t get the bonus from my target dying while it’s active.

Try to time it where the mob you are using it on is just about to die. If I am worried that it may expire just a little before the mob dies, I will throw a little extra focused dps at them with things like Carve & Spit to finish them off more quickly.

While you get more resources back if the target dies in the allotted time, you still get something back when the effect ends. Because of that, unless timing for an add to pop and get killed, you should for the most part just keep Sole Survivor on cooldown during a boss fight for the little extra healing and resources it gives. If possible try to sync it up somewhat with your Blood Price/Blood Weapon uses so that you get that little extra MP boost during your BP/BW window. Alternatively you can time it to coincide with a tank buster so you get a nice little heal to help your healer out a bit. Basically just make sure you are putting it to use during boss fights, even ones without adds, and not letting it go to waste.

[ReiMakoto]

Thanks!!

I am pretty good at using my CDs, except Sole Survivor, I usually use that too early, and don’t get the bonus from my target dying while it’s active. I have no issues with spamming Dark Arts..in fact, I assumed I was using it too much. My rotation is essentially one full rotation of my enmity combo (with dark arts), then I start with blood price and the aoe that does damage over time. Then spam dark arts and my mana steal/life steal combo. EVERY action I make I try to make sure I use DA first.

There is one ability that I am not sure about, the AoE that heals me when I use dark arts. The potency is low, and the heal is minimal (unless there are a BUNCH of enemies), I use it very rarely, and kind of don’t even want it on my hotbars lol...

DRK Main here who plays in Savage. DRK is fine, few things to note though

1. You need to put in more mechanical effort to do well (I.E High APM)
2. When You're tanking in general on a boss you should turn Grit off after 1/2 Aggro combo's to use blood weapon
3. General rule I like to use, dont bottom on mana, you dont need to dark arts every ability, only ability you NEED to DA is Carve and Spit, the rest you can choose not too as long as you dont overflow on mana.
4. Sole Survivor: The Death Bonus is nice, but not necessary, just throw that shit out on CD, Holding onto it for the death bonus is rarely worth it.
5. In aoe dungeon pulls spam Blackest night, Quietus when available and spam DA Abyssal Drain, you should have plenty of mana, can also throw in Dark passenger if you have enough mana for it.

There's some basic, hope you enjoy the class more