Dark Knight Megathread

[Freezaen]

5. What would you change about the media tour build?

I'd seek to build upon what we already have in Shadowbringers by rewarding good gameplay and by improving our existing skills, as SE have done for other tanks.

(a) Realistically:

82 - Oblation is fine. It's our version of Aurora.

84 - Scrap Enhanced Unmend. We need our own upgraded mitigation, i.e. Enhanced TBN. Each other tank has an initial effect and a lingering effect on their personal and targetable mitigation abilities, but we don't want copies of their abilities, so I propose that TBN now have an initial 8s shield at 25% that grants Dark Arts when popped + a lingering 4s shield at 10% that doesn't. I also think we should be able to accumulate 2 Dark Arts for increased flexibility in deciding to use TBN versus Edge of Shadow. They seem to want to keep the risk and reward mana-based TBN gameplay, so I believe this would be a viable change.

86 - Salt and Darkness looks cool and deals damage. Boring? Maybe, but I like it.

88 - Extra damage on Living Shadow is welcome, I guess, but I think there's more that could be done with it. LS is really just a glorified DoT effect that looks like our dead friend, so I'd add some style to it by bringing back some of our old animations; Scourge, Power Slash, Delirium and Dark Passenger. It'd deal the same damage, but offer a clearer differentiation between us and Fray, as well as a nod to those old animations we so miss.

90 - Shadowbringer is the big one for this expansion and honestly it's disappointing. 2 charges means we'll probably be saving it for our 120s burst window and adding two OGCDs to our already busy rotation, but it'll deal less damage overall than Double Down if the media tour potencies hold true. I propose that they rethink the ability to make it stand out from the rest of our kit (another OGCD just won't cut it) and from those of the other tanks. Currently, good DRK gameplay consists of executing 5 Edges during our 60s burst window, so I suggest that every time we spend mana (either on TBN or on Edge), we receive a stack of "Twilight" or something to unlock and enhance Shadowbringer, which would deal its maximum at 5 stacks, a bit like Apex Arrow. I think it should be on the global cooldown to give us some breathing room and let the animation be properly displayed. I also think it should deal damage similar to that of Double Down. This would reward good gameplay and make for a more satisfying ability.

(b) Ideally:

90 - The current animation for Shadowbringer is a HUGE let-down, especially if it remains off the global cooldown when the expansion goes live. It's basically just a bigger badder Flood and I find that to be an awful addition to our visual identity; a missed opportunity. I don't expect SE to change the animation, BUT IF THEY WERE TO DO SO, I think it'd be absolutely amazing for them to draw inspiration from the Shadowbringers opening cinematic. Dear developers, please give us an animation where we raise our sword up high above our heads and perform a deadly vertical slash that sunders the sky with some nice purple particle effects. <3