[5.x] Dark Knight Wishlist

[Lyth]

[...]

To clarify: I think that tanks, as a whole, should have a smaller pool of defensive cooldowns than they do presently. I'm just focusing on Dark Mind because this is primarily a thread about DRK's design, rather than a thread about overall tank balance. More broadly, I'd like to see Dark Mind, Raw Intuition, Thrill of Battle, and Bulwark removed, the 30% DR cooldowns standardised across the board (i.e. Vengeance, Shadow Wall, and Sentinel brought into line with each other), and invulns set at 5+ minute recasts at a minimum.

Because fights and incoming damage are designed with available cooldowns in mind, having ready access to powerful mitigation tools tends to devalue the weaker defensive cooldowns in your set. Conversely, if 30% DR cooldowns and invulns are relatively rare, resource-based mitigation moves like TBN and Sheltron become much more powerful, even on their own.

Dark Mind also makes DRK's defensive kit lopsided. It's better to be consistently good at mitigating damage than it is to be fantastic in some fights and mediocre in others.

My proposed suggestion was also about addressing a different complaint about DRK, namely the lack of access to defensive cooldowns prior to TBN at level 70. Basically, my suggestion is this: get rid of Dark Mind, give the player a self-target only version of TBN at level 42, and then let them upgrade it to the full version (i.e. can target a party member as well) at level 70.

There's a slight lore issue to this as well. You can't simply reduce the level at which the player gains TBN because there's a very important scene in the level 70 DRK job quest which not only references the ability, but tells you the significance of using it. So what I'm saying is basically this:

Dark Mind (Level 42): Creates a barrier around self that absorbs damage totaling 20% of your maximum HP.
Duration: 7s

The Blackest Night (Level 70): 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: 7s
Increases Blood Gauge by 50 when full 20% (10%) is absorbed.

Trait: "In your darkest hour": (Level 70): Upgrades Dark Mind to The Blackest Night.

As with other similar upgrade traits (i.e. Berserk and Inner Release), you lose access to the original ability once you gain the upgraded form.

Level 70 DRK story reference:

"In your darkest hour, in the blackest night… think of me… and I will be with you. Always.
For where else could I go? Who else could I love but you?”

[Melichoir]

To clarify: I think that tanks, as a whole, should have a smaller pool of defensive cooldowns than they do presently. I'm just focusing on Dark Mind because this is primarily a thread about DRK's design, rather than a thread about overall tank balance. More broadly, I'd like to see Dark Mind, Raw Intuition, Thrill of Battle, and Bulwark removed, the 30% DR cooldowns standardised across the board (i.e. Vengeance, Shadow Wall, and Sentinel brought into line with each other), and invulns set at 5+ minute recasts at a minimum.

Because fights and incoming damage are designed with available cooldowns in mind, having ready access to powerful mitigation tools tends to devalue the weaker defensive cooldowns in your set. Conversely, if 30% DR cooldowns and invulns are relatively rare, resource-based mitigation moves like TBN and Sheltron become much more powerful, even on their own.

Im actually happy with how the CDs are currently. They add flexibility to each tank, giving them some level of difference from other tanks. I dont want War, PLD, and DRK to be so similar that it ultimately doesnt matter which one you play.

Im also fine with weaker mitigation cooldowns being used the way they are. It should be part of a player's kit to manage how to use cooldowns to minimize the amount of damage taken to the greatest extent. Using Rampart for enemy boss Autos during certain phases were healing may be needed elsewhere is a perfectly fine use of the skill. It's fine that Rampart isnt used as frequently for tank busters as other skills. Rampart has uses elsewhere and is still valuable. Much like all the defensive skills. What I want to avoid is making it so that what tank you pick is meaningless beyond a few superficial differences. Currently, you can get through any savage fight with some combination of the 3 tanks. But how you set up your tank composition meant dealing with encounter mechanics differently. That, to me, is fine and brings interest to the roll. I fear that if you were to make it all homogenized, that would no longer be the case. If you wanted to trim CDs, the best place to trim them is from teh bottom, not top. So this is taking care of skills like Anticipation, Awareness, convalescence. They have their place too in mitigation, but theyre much more non-necessities due to the fact you typically cant mitigate effectively against busters with them.

Also, if you do hemoginize, and focus more attention on skills like Sheltron or TBN, you have less flexibility in your kit to deal with mechanics, not more. And simplifying how we use CDs means the jobs focus just shifts more and more into being a defacto DPS, and none of the tank kits have that much depth in that department. So all this would most likely do is make playing tanks even more boring, and not even give us the satisfaction of doing high numbers.

Dark Mind also makes DRK's defensive kit lopsided. It's better to be consistently good at mitigating damage than it is to be fantastic in some fights and mediocre in others.

It's fine if a DRK (or any tank) cant always be the best at mitigating a mechanic. That is where you have to get creative with your co tank to deal with the mechanic. Again, it's not like you didnt have another CD in your kit to deal with Phys busters, and learning to manage your CDs so you have the right CD for the right buster is a good thing I think. That's part of learning how to be a good tank. Your job is to keep aggro and not die. That means using your kit (along with your cotank) to manage the boss and not over tax your healers. I think DRKs kit, in this regard, is perfectly fine. It offers a few things the other kits dont, which changes the dynamics of how you deal with a boss.

My proposed suggestion was also about addressing a different complaint about DRK, namely the lack of access to defensive cooldowns prior to TBN at level 70. Basically, my suggestion is this: get rid of Dark Mind, give the player a self-target only version of TBN at level 42, and then let them upgrade it to the full version (i.e. can target a party member as well) at level 70.

Lack of cooldowns pre-70? I love TBN, dont get me wrong. It's amazing, but DRKs arent without CDs. We have...Ramp, Anticipation, Reprisal, Convalescence, Awareness, SW, Grit (if you really are worried about that incoming damage). All these skills are available to you once you hit 48. Before then, you shouldnt be struggling so hard with Cooldowns. We also have some small bit of self sustain with with our DPS combination as well. At 45, your DP gains a blind effect with DA, which is also useful in helping with mitigation on non resistant targets. I dont quite see how you think DRK doesnt have all that many cooldowns. If youre burning up everything to stay alive while in grit, you might want to consider what your healer is doing, or if the fight is dragging on to long.

There's a slight lore issue to this as well. You can't simply reduce the level at which the player gains TBN because there's a very important scene in the level 70 DRK job quest which not only references the ability, but tells you the significance of using it. So what I'm saying is basically this:

Dark Mind (Level 42): Creates a barrier around self that absorbs damage totaling 20% of your maximum HP.
Duration: 7s

The Blackest Night (Level 70): 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: 7s
Increases Blood Gauge by 50 when full 20% (10%) is absorbed.

Trait: "In your darkest hour": (Level 70): Upgrades Dark Mind to The Blackest Night.

As with other similar upgrade traits (i.e. Berserk and Inner Release), you lose access to the original ability once you gain the upgraded form.

Level 70 DRK story reference:

"In your darkest hour, in the blackest night… think of me… and I will be with you. Always.
For where else could I go? Who else could I love but you?”

I mean yeah, this would work but youre just giving a lvl 42 person another 20% cooldown, more or less, at the expense of having a pretty substantial magical tank buster cool down with additional easily applied mitigation of TBN at 70. Meaning, under these changes, we would have less mitigation, and less mitigation choice. Now if you want to deal with a buster, you got SW+TBN....and thats it. You can do Ramp + TBN, but now youre not mitigating other attacks (AoEs, autos, misc damage). Youre increasing the burden on healers in this case. I dunno, this really seems like a short term gain for an overall loss in tanking proficiency for DRK.

[Seraphor]

I mean yeah, this would work but youre just giving a lvl 42 person another 20% cooldown, more or less, at the expense of having a pretty substantial magical tank buster cool down with additional easily applied mitigation of TBN at 70. Meaning, under these changes, we would have less mitigation, and less mitigation choice. Now if you want to deal with a buster, you got SW+TBN....and thats it. You can do Ramp + TBN, but now youre not mitigating other attacks (AoEs, autos, misc damage). Youre increasing the burden on healers in this case. I dunno, this really seems like a short term gain for an overall loss in tanking proficiency for DRK.

Bearing in mind they're also reworking role skills, and likely doing something with Rampart/Anticipation/Awareness/Reprisal.
I think we have far too many weak mitigators as it is, and Dark Mind is one of them as far as I'm concerned.

If role skills are abolished and each tank gets say, two skills that replace the four lost, greater potency with shorter cooldown or longer duration to make up for the fewer options, then this could easily make up for the lack of Dark Mind at 70.

For example:
PLD gets Ramp and Anticipation back as exclusives.
Rampart: 20% damage reduction, cooldown reduced to 60s.
Anticipation: Parry rate increased by 30%, and the damage reduction of Blocks/Parries increased from 20% to 30%. 60s cooldown.

WAR gets:
Awareness: Nullifies chance of critical damage, and 20% chance of incoming attacks only dealing 50% damage. Cooldown reduced to 90s.
*Rapid Recovery: All incoming damage triggers a heal for 20% of the damage dealt for 10s. 45s cooldown.

DRK gets:
Reprisal: Lowers targets damage by 20% for 5s.
*New Skill: 20% of incoming damage is taken by your MP instead of your HP for 10s. (paired with more effective MP regeneration elsewhere, say an improved Blood Price/Weapon or something)

[Reynhart]

My Wishlist :

• Tank stance to be changed to Dread Spikes, that leeches and reflects 20% of damage taken
• Darkside removed and all DRK's potency increased by 20% to compensate, with all "Dark" skills natively available
• Dark Arts changed to a toggle that increases the same skills as now, with any enhanced skills costing additionnal MP
• Soul Eater having it's HP leech even without Grit

Alongside those, I'd like to see the Blood Gauge changed drastically. Instead of it being a ressource you build and spend, it would be something that fills overtime, increasing your damage step by step, but that should not reach 100 carelessly. Some skills would spend portion of it, or prevent it from increasing, mainly the "Dark" skills, so that you would have to plan their rotation. And if the gauge reaches 100, it would create an Explosion around you, but would apply "down for the count" for a few seconds, and back to 0 Blood. So it would be strategic to make your blood explode before a phase change.