Living Dead is universally a weaker form of Holmgang, even before the drawback. It's not risk for reward. It's just risk. Fights are scripted down to the second, and a simple google search should give you a timeline for any fight that you like. If you're struggling with timing cooldowns as a tank, you should probably take up botany as your main progression job instead.

Quote Originally Posted by Agner View Post
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It doesn't even make sense from a lore standpoint. Dark Knights are outcasts, feared by oppressor and oppressed alike. It's all about being self-sufficient. I understand how the bit about fighting past pain fits into the worldbuilding. I don't see the part where the lorebook states that we need to be babysat by a healer, though.

Furthermore, there's also this bit from the DRK quest chain:
So as I was saying, that heretic was fighting like a man possessed. Even after he took several wounds, he showed no sign of pain─though there was no mistaking the blood. As the fight wore on, it began to soak through his armor, spreading to every ilm of his body. But when it began to rise and envelop him as a mist, I realized it wasn't blood, but something dark and twisted...

Where's the part where the damage that we've received gives rise to a dark and twisted aura? I feel like we're cherry picking parts of the lore that excuse the status quo.