DRK the least chunkiest or is it just me?

[Flay_wind]

But I'm talking about BEFORE getting The Blackest Night...
It's like, no mitigation or substain before that compared to other tanks.
I have some pop CDs but so do the other tanks.
I've seen a GNB heal himself through Nidhogg and as a DRK I can't do that, I don't have the buttons to keep myself alive and heal up that way.

You are using Arm's Length and new Reprisal, correct?

[RicaRuin]

The Soul Eater Combo regenerates some HP, though. Abyssal Drain as well.

[Siete]

You cant help about it, the game is balanced around lvl 80 and there are some glaring issues in between 1-80 that are impossible to solve.
If it may help, in role actions you have additional 3 damage reduction tools.
Arms length that reduces mobs attacking you attack speed by 20%, Rampart which reduces incoming damage by 20% and Reprisal which reduces mobs damage damage by 10%, use them with Shadowall which you get at lvl 38 and it should be enough for lvling dungeons/etc.
Stunning big mobs with Low Blow role action also helps a lot.

Also i could asure you that GNB will never outheal DRK on the same lvl and gear.

I already make use of all those skills, even reprisal before big burst attacks.

[Nedkel]

I already make use of all those skills, even reprisal before big burst attacks.

Time then to lvl and gear yourself.

[shao32]

I look at you character profile here on lodestone and asuming is more or less updated to you current progress you are a lvl 75 DRK using crafting lvl 70 gear with the ilvl of 385 more or less, you gear is pretty low for you level so thats the primary problem i see, lvl 75 gear have a ilvl of 406.
If you are progressing on SHB main quest right now i recomend you to use all the coffer chest they give you on the quest rewards to properly progress with your gear and don't get behing, other option is use you old allagan tomestomes to buy ilvl 390 gear on Rhalgr's Reach to make everything more easy, if still with all that you feel you are like a paper tank despite DRK being incredible strong on the defensive department you should look at guides to properly mitigate, i hope all that helps ^^.

[Maeka]

Also i could asure you that GNB will never outheal DRK on the same lvl and gear.

He mentioned Nidhogg which is Lv60.

At Level 60, GNB's self-heals come in the form of the HoT that they get which I am fairly certain is Lv60 or lower, and also Brutal Shell which is the 2nd attack in a 3-button combo (if you wanted to focus on self-healing, and not care about DPS output, you could just do the first two buttons repeatedly and skip the 3rd).

Meanwhile, Souleater is the last button in a 3-button combo and, AFAIK, other than Abyssal Drain (which highly favors groups of mobs rather than one enemy), is the only heal button a DRK has at 60.

So I could understand the illusion that DRKs are softer (or at least have less self-heal) than GNBs (at that level), given those two points.

Also, GNB puts out way more damage. Way more. So if you kill the enemy faster, you'll obviously take less damage.

EDIT: I am really surprised, though, that the OP did not mention Paladin. I mean, if you're going to complain about a tank being underpowered, wouldn't you compare said tank to PLD? PLDs can solo some bosses at current level or at least could in Stormblood, dunno if they still can in ShB. I've seen the first boss of Ghimlyt Dark, and the 1st boss of Sirensong Sea being mostly solo'd by a capped PLD.

I look at you character profile here on lodestone and asuming is more or less updated to you current progress you are a lvl 75 DRK using crafting lvl 70 gear with the ilvl of 385 more or less, you gear is pretty low for you level so thats the primary problem i see, lvl 75 gear have a ilvl of 406.
If you are progressing on SHB main quest right now i recomend you to use all the coffer chest they give you on the quest rewards to properly progress with your gear and don't get behing, other option is use you old allagan tomestomes to buy ilvl 390 gear on Rhalgr's Reach to make everything more easy, if still with all that you feel you are like a paper tank despite DRK being incredible strong on the defensive department you should look at guides to properly mitigate, i hope all that helps ^^.

^^
Also, this.

It's this ridiculous notion that people keep propagating that "Tomestone gear is fine until x7!"

Um, no.

No, it's not. Especially not for a tank, and I would say not for a healer either.

You should be replacing Tomestone gear at x5. x3 is... "eh."

x3 is better than Tomestone, but only barely.

Since you got trusts in ShB, go to Don Mheg, use Trusts, that way you're guaranteed to get all the drops to yourself and the Trusts can usually keep nearly anybody alive as long as you pull single groups. Just don't bring Urianger.

[Tint]

EDIT: I am really surprised, though, that the OP did not mention Paladin. I mean, if you're going to complain about a tank being underpowered, wouldn't you compare said tank to PLD? PLDs can solo some bosses at current level or at least could in Stormblood, dunno if they still can in ShB. I've seen the first boss of Ghimlyt Dark, and the 1st boss of Sirensong Sea being mostly solo'd by a capped PLD.

I was in Grand Cosmos, the new expert dungeon, and because too many items were destroyed the healer and I died to the blue fire attack. The Paladin then kept himself and the other DD alive and they cleared the fight.


DRK is a wet noodle until he learns TBN at lvl 70. With that skill he becomes the most defensive tank. But in regards to self sustain he is really bad and needs a healer to survive.

[ArianeEwah]

snip

DRK on 60 actually selfheals more than GNB because DRK doesn't have any other weaponskills besides the 1-2-3 combo, while GNB has extras in form of Burst Strike and Gnashing Fang. Aurora just makes it even. Their overall heal is pretty much the same.

And while GNB DOES more damage, it's only 'way more' in lower levels, but at 72+ they should be almost equal.

It's this ridiculous notion that people keep propagating that "Tomestone gear is fine until x7!"

Tomegear is actually 'fine' until x9/10 IF it is augmented! You don't need to fully upgrade your gear with HQ crafted or dungeon-gear every 2nd dungeon. You take what drops for you, you don't need to spam the same dungeon over and over to get a full set (unless you like glamour). SE did a great thing with guaranteed drops for your role/job.

I agree tho, if it's not augmented, it should be upgraded asap.

The problem why people start to cry about gear is because those tanks and healers don't make full use of their toolkit, and underperform heavily.

And I would like to add that DPS should not be excused either. Yes, we are not allowed to use DPS meters, that makes it easier for DPS to get away unnoticed. But the impact of thier out-dated gear or bad performance is noticeable and can't be out-healed or -tanked once you see that big pull just not dying. Those people lack self-awareness, and are going to blame the tank or healer, despite them being unable to deal acceptable damage. (<- experience fictional /s)

But I am drifting away from the topic, so back it.

@OP: I really don't know what you might or might not have seen about said GNB or whatever tank. You just can't compare situation A with situation B, and then say that you couldn't handle A while on DRK, but it was actually B. You are mixing apples and oranges, and compare them to berries and melons (or something like that).

I bet you also didn't check 1) gear, 2) level, 3) skill etc.

You will get better over time with practice, just watching a video doesn't make you a DRK master in a day.

[Hierro]

Prior to lvl 70, DRK sucks in comparison to the rest of the tanks. Facts are facts, DRK essentially has the bare bone basics for mitigating damage up until that point. Can it get the job done? Obviously, but it's not going to be a pleasant journey.

Still, after 70 it's a whole different ball game. DRK is the most consistently tanky tank. The secret is to not use flood of shadows at all (unless you've activated both BW and Quietus), and instead just spam TBN and holding onto Abyssal Drain to use it in between cooldowns and TBNs when your health is around 75%.

[DRKoftheAzure]

DRK is actually the most clunkiest tank in the game, thanks to having a terrible rework this expansion and we are more than likely waiting yet another expansion to see if leveling gets better or gets worse for DRK...


I've listed a lot of problems in other threads and how to fix them but because of how they treat DRK after Heavensward, just expect DRK to get worse and worse with each expansion until the x.3 patches where the damage is already done to the class that makes people not want to play it/bring it into raids outside of roulettes or PF that don't lock DRK out...