Dark Knight Megathread

[TouchandFeel]

As someone who for the most part liked the changes for DRK in Shadowbringer, minus some issues with some stuff that I feel should have been addressed such as Living Dead; I find the changes, or lack thereof, for DRK in Endwalker to be a combination of underwhelming and downright disappointing.

One of the reasons that I actually was okay with the Shadowbringer rework was that I felt it established a more solid foundation to build off of and actually try to create some interesting game-play elements from.
Unfortunately this opportunity was completely missed and instead just a few things were added, none of which expand upon or evolve any of DRK's game-play. It really is just a bit more of the same and a very measly bit at that.

The capstone lvl.90 ability, Shadowbringer, is imo a huge letdown in that it brings very little to the table in terms of game-play. Yes we, or at minimum I, wanted more oGCD usage on DRK but a single extra oGCD every 60s is virtually nothing in terms of evolving DRK's game-play in any direction, let alone emphasizing a game-play style that relies more on oGCDs as opposed to strict GCD rotations more akin to the other tanks.
I honestly feel that the guessed implementation that the community had where the ability was actually a GCD ability that was procced off of using Edge/Flood would have been way more interesting, sort of like a reverse Continuation where an oGCD procced a GCD, and would have gone a great way to diversifying DRK game-play and helping to establish a more unique feel to the way the job plays. The actual implementation is immensely boring in that it has zero interaction and doesn't play off of any of DRK's other abilities or aspects in any meaningful way.

I also find Oblation very disappointing. Sure, it is another defensive ability that can be used on yourself or an ally, which in a vacuum is great. However, when looked at in the context of the niche in which the ability is filling and comparing that to the updates that the other tanks jobs got to fill said niche, Oblation falls short. The other jobs have all had their primary self-defense and support ability buffed so they now all include a base-line aspect of mitigation with a longer duration, additional stacking mitigation on a short duration and self/target-healing. Oblation basically only really equates to the stacking extra mitigation aspect, leaving DRK short on the healing part, something that DRK is already severely lacking compared to the other tanks. On top of that Oblation is on a 60s cooldown while the other tanks get to take advantage of their defensive buffs far more frequently at approximately every 30s since those are layered onto their frequent use defensive/support abilities. Oblation having 2 charges doesn't compensate for being able to use it at half the frequency of it's equivalents on the other tanks. Then there is the quality-of-life/ease-of-use consideration where Oblation being it's own ability requires you to do two separate actions when you want to stack it with TBN for a tank-buster which is an annoyance when you have to do it to yourself and incredibly so if you are wanting to do that on another player. To be fair though, there is a silver-lining to them being separate in that you could separate their usages to cover different periods of incoming damage when the other tanks can't. However, I don't feel that this one potential benefit outweighs the multiple drawbacks of this ability compared to the others.

Enhanced Unmend ... well, there isn't really much to say about this asides from it seeming like a complete waste of a trait. It feels like it was just shoehorned in there so that there would be something to fill up that spot while also being like "look, see there is ability interaction in the DRK kit now!" while adding such interaction to probably the least used ability in the kit, Unmend. Who knows, maybe the fight designs will require a lot more disengaging and usage of the tank range attacks and this trait will actually be useful, but I definitely have my doubts. Interactions between abilities like this should be tied to abilities and game-play aspects that are more central to a job's kit, like Enhanced Infuriate on WAR. Two core abilities interacting with each other, that is good. Two fairly tangential abilities not central to the kit interacting with each other, why even bother?

Two separate "Enhanced Living Shadow" traits just two levels apart? Another absolute waste of a trait.

I will say though that I actually do somewhat like Salt and Darkness in that it provides a new ability that actually plays off of another ability, Salted Earth. That is a welcome change on DRK and I for one would like to see more game-play and ability tie-ins like that.

Then there are all the issues that have been consistently repeated for years now that have not been addressed. The death penalty on Living Dead needs to be addressed. The duration and/or not going the route of stacks for Blood Weapon needs to be addressed. The lack of good self-healing outside of mass dungeon pulls when compared to the other tanks, especially now, needs to be addressed.
And those are only my big issues, not even including the often repeated complaints of there needing to be more to Delirium than just spamming a singular button 5, or now 3, times. I think this complaint is extra warranted now since all the other jobs have had more complexity added to their spam burst game-play. Even WAR got a Confiteor-like ability to mix up their Inner Release spam.

Overall I feel that the Endwalker DRK is a huge missed opportunity to grow and do something fun with Dark Knight and they made some glaringly obvious mistakes with what they added to this job compared to the others in terms of complexity and as it also appears, to just basic balance. Too much of the changes just feel like uninspired filler.
Basically it is like I have been saying for a while after Shadowbringer release, it feels like DRK is one expansion behind the other tanks in terms of their kit. The Endwalker version of DRK fits better for what DRK should have been for Shadowbringer and now with Endwalker it seems like all the other tanks evolved along similar lines to fit the new expansion and DRK is still one expansion behind, only evolving enough to match where the tanks were with the previous expansion.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

Just throwing my 2 cents in as DRK was my fave tank when I started in Stormblood. For me the job lost it's spark in ShB which is sooo tragic since it was the poster job for the expac. It used to feel fast and had SOME complexity to it. The job now feels slow and its clone doesn't do enough to save it at all. EW the job still looks slow and boring, nothing new that looks interesting and more importantly it's main thing that it has left to make it unique, TBN is now ass compared to some of the new cds the other tanks got. The healing warrior has now is insane. They have a skill that does literally everything, heal, shield and mitigate..
DRK bloodspiller still are just a crappy fell cleave.. the job is having a serious identity crisis and needs a rework. Until such time as this happens I will permanently be shelving my favourite tank
inb4 they add another mount for all jobs at 90 and I am forced to level it and wallow in misery as I do so xD

[Awful]

Hell yeah time to go WAR, 2 seconds on Holmgang, juicy defensive buffs, QoL, Feller Cleave, time to put the greatsword down to Primal REND and TEAR! It's like all my namedays came at once!

Cries in enhanced Unmend Trait

[TouchandFeel]

I haven't commented on the forums before because I'm too busying enjoying the game but regarding the Endwalker Dark Knight changes I need to give my WTF commentary too:

Level 82 Oblation, another separate clicky that gives 2 charges of 10% Reduced Damage Taken on 60 second cooldown... WTF is this Trash?
82 levels later and this lame trash is what the Dark Knight gets? Not only is it a lame 10% but it's another button to put on the hotbar and keybind.

Suggestion: Upgrade The Blackest Night with this effect "Upon breaking or expiring, reduce damage taken by target by 10-15% for 5 seconds", that way with the 15 second Cooldown of TBN the 10-15% reduced damage taken only has a total uptime of 20 seconds per minute and there's still a brief period of unmitigated damage taken between when the 10-15% reduced damage ends and TBN cooldown ending so it's not OMG game breaking waaaah waaah.

Level 90: Enhanced Living Shadow II.... Sigh if SquareEnix is so hung up on this skill then...
Suggestion: Your Living Shadow, In Addition to upgrading Flood of Shadow to Shadowbringer, learns the skill Move Your Ass and immediately attacks your enemies instead of posing uselessly.

Honestly, the basis behind these two suggestions are pretty good.

If they wanted to make the defensive upgrades for DRK more equitable and/or equivalent to the other tanks, they could do it similar to how you suggested where either the extra 10% mitigation of Oblation, a heal or potentially even both are triggered off the breaking of TBN. If they went the route of adding the extra mitigation to TBN, they would then of course need to remove Oblation as a separate ability, but if they did just the heal part then they could keep Oblation. Either way, more needs to be done around these abilities.

Also, I agree that if they want to highlight the shadow simulacrum more, then they need to actually do more with it and make some real improvements. The movement speed boost like you suggested is something the shadow should get at a minimum. Far too much uptime of the shadow gets lost when it has to suddenly go chasing after the boss or switch to a new target. There really should also be some actual level of interaction with the shadow if they want to be a conceptual and game-play focal point of the job. Even giving DRK something like Machinist has with their Automaton Queen would be a huge leap forward, although I would personally prefer something more unique.

[Keagian]

DRK in Endwalker has the worst mitigation out of all four tanks. They'll probably also still deal the least amount of damage too and having our damage tied so heavily on Living Shadow is gonna just fuck DRK if the boss transitions during Living Shadows duration. Good Job Dev Team, you've continued your streak of fucking DRK in the ass and throwing it down the trash bin.

[ArthurATDayne]

I feel relieved that I leveled and got comfy with both 80 Paladin and Dark Knight so I don't have all my eggs in 1 basket... Holy Sheltron (100% Block, 15% Reduced Damage Taken AND Self Heal Regen!!!) and Requiescat Confiteor All Self Healing + Damage Super Combo, Incredible, I can tell who wasn't asleep on the toilet when looking at Paladin updates.

The folks who did the Dark Knight updates... like what happened? Did they fall asleep in the restroom, drop a huge load and go Ugh That's Brilliant, and literally pulled the stinking idea out of their butts.

Oblation, A Lame 10% reduced damage taken skill as an annoying separate clicky cooldown instead of just putting the effect on The Blackest Night as a Quality of Life Ease of Use 5 second 10-15% reduced damage taken effect upon TBN bubble ending or expiring that's in line with the rest of the Tank short cooldown defense skill buffs? Somebody must've literally pulled that Oblation idea out of their butts in the restroom.

[Absurdity]

Cries in enhanced Unmend Trait

[Shin96]

I mean they did expand on the job in some ways but it's really just cheap in comparison. Oblation? Enhanced Unmend? Salt and Darkness? Shadowbringer? The animations indicate a lack of effort. Just take a look at them.

Reaper seems to have stolen our show. It's fast-paced, hectic, your character goes into a frenzy.. and then you have the constipated Druk Knaight.

[AlucaDragonheart]

Enhanced Unmend is just the biggest middle finger we could receive.

Anyway, time to hop on the GNB train and I'm not looking back.

[RinaB]

They ruined gnb too. If you can tolerate current tanking and will continue to tank in ew I salute you for your dedication to the role. I can't take it anymore. I've literally tanked dungeons and almost fell asleep.