Dark Knight Megathread

[VicariousXIV]

Just gonna make a list of my ideas;

- Add a cure potency to CS so it can be used for healing like Drain is, feels so weird that they both restore the exact same amount of MP but only the AoE version has any healing on it.

- Add a regen to Dark Mind, so it's not a worthless defensive in at least half of the game.

- Add a cure to Blood Gauge abilities, would be thematic and would make Delirium more useful then just "IR lite," hell, if it scales per enemy hit like Bloodwhetting then this would solve a ton of problems.

- Make BW either charges or a trait. Putting BW on a charge system, either 5 charges on 60 secs or maybe 3 charges on 30 secs, would certainly be a MASSIVE upgrade to it's annoying state now, but why not just remove the MP gain on Syphon and make BW a trait so all spells and skills grant MP? Doesn't even have to be 600 MP per use either, lower it to 400 MP or something, but a more steady flow of MP would simply make the class feel so much better. Then give Syphon like 10 Blood Gauge to make up for the loss of that on BW use, which would also slightly help sustain with my previous idea.

- If the above is followed and BW becomes a trait, maybe add a couple extra charges (w/ duration ofc) to Delirium, since there would be no more "BW phases" in rotation, and would give it something over IR cause right now it's just a worse ability, especially since WAR also gets Rend off of IR.

- Give Stalwart at lvl 70 or earlier..... cause... come the fuck on already....

- Remove the downsides on LD. I think the ability needs a full rework but that ain't happening. With all the other tank invulns now being 10 secs without any sort of drawbacks (aside from GNB shooting themselves lol), LD should be standardized as well. Keep the first part as is, the actual Living Dead part, but when going into Walking Dead just make it a 10 secs of "can't be reduced past 1 HP" like WAR or even "impervious to most attacks" like GNB. Does that remove some of the uniqueness? Ofc! But why does that matter? Every other invuln is being "standardized" except LD, and this change would honestly just make the ability comparable, the fact that the DRK can't even control whether it lives or dies is the problem, so without any sort of rework to the ability just removing the dependency entirely would be enough.

- Finally, give DRK a trait early on that makes it's SKS count towards it's spells. Having max GCD on it's AoE and Unmend just feels shitty, not a huge problem, mainly if BW is also made a trait or given charges since that's where a lot of the issues arise, but for thematic reasons I do think keeping them as spells is preferable to most, and this trait would simply allow this to stay while not needlessly nerfing the DRK AoE.

- Bonus, Enhanced Unmend is as worthless as everyone with common sense thought it would be. Maybe remove it for the previous "SKS=SPS" trait idea, idk, but this trait will forever go unnoticed in gameplay anyways.

[Oizen]

- Finally, give DRK a trait early on that makes it's SKS count towards it's spells. Having max GCD on it's AoE and Unmend just feels shitty, not a huge problem, mainly if BW is also made a trait or given charges since that's where a lot of the issues arise, but for thematic reasons I do think keeping them as spells is preferable to most, and this trait would simply allow this to stay while not needlessly nerfing the DRK AoE.

No need for skill bloat like this when they could easily just make those into weapon skills, no one would care if they weren't spells.

[Shurrikhan]

No need for skill bloat like this when they could easily just make those into weapon skills, no one would care if they weren't spells.

Keep in mind the context, though. Clemency and Holy Shock have the exact same issue, but there's no way those are going to be passed off as weaponskills. In which case, either Skill Speed and Spell Speed ought to simply be consolidated into Speed or a trait for DRK and PLD, visible or otherwise, is still the most direct solution. Keep in mind no two jobs need have the same number of actions, traits, nor total of the two. It's completely fine for DRK and PLD to have an extra trait to cover that. And so long as PLD needs it, there's no need to rebrand DRK's hand-summoned energy blasts from weaponskills to spells.

[VicariousXIV]

No need for skill bloat like this when they could easily just make those into weapon skills, no one would care if they weren't spells.

I wouldn't consider this "skill bloat" though.

For one it would be a passive, and two like I suggested "Enhanced Unmend" could be replaced if having another passive was just too much lol

[SakuraHadoken]

I don't disagree but classes feeling terrible under level sync has been an issue for ages now, and it doesn't even seem to be a concern of their seeing how terrible reaper feels to play below 80.
I honestly would love if they took an update to do re-evaluate what skills go where on each class, as it currently doesn't even seem to be a problem that is on their radar.

That's true its a shame. It always makes you dread level syncing. All of the gap closers should be the same level in my opinion Plunge being locked at level 54 sucks for anything that is 50 and below lol. I know it makes it a bit cookie cutter having them all at the same level or close to it but it would be great quality of life.

[Sazuzaki]

Which one? Delirium, Living Dead, Edge/Flood as a pair, and Living Shadow can all equally be considered a DRK signature ability (burster, immunity, resource spender, and gimmick).

I... don't think DRK is known for Delirium nor Edge/Flood. Well, it may be be infamous for Living Dead. But when someone brings up DRK, usually the first thing to come up to someone's mind is TBN. You get what I mean? TBN (and yes... Living Dead) is unique to DRK, but Flood might as well be Shinten, Delirium is Inner Release, Living Shadow is Automaton Queen. Those things aren't unique to DRK. Hell, most are just inferior versions to the other variants.

[TouchandFeel]

Honestly, Final Fantasy as a series already has a solution to the self-sustain issue for DRK.

Blood Weapon

Blood Weapon (ブラッドウェポン, Buraddo Wepon?), also known as Sanguine Sword, is a recurring ability in the Final Fantasy series. Often a form of Limit Break, it grants the user the ability to drain an opponent's HP to heal themselves when attacking, similar to the Blood Sword and other blood equipment weapons.

[Seku]

Honestly, Final Fantasy as a series already has a solution to the self-sustain issue for DRK.

Blood Weapon

They gave that to warrior. Maybe not in name. But in concept.

[TouchandFeel]

They gave that to warrior. Maybe not in name. But in concept.

The life-steal/heal with attacks concept is far from unique to or the sole province of WAR, even among the tanks; for example PLD heals with Holy Spirit and Holy Circle.
Might as well say that WAR can't have Vengeance and DRK can't have Shadow Wall because PLD had been given Sentinel and so strong base % mitigation was their thing.

Besides the life-steal game-play niche wasn't originally "given to WAR", they just used to be able to cross-class Bloodbath, a lancer/melee dps ability.
So even historically it wasn't really just a "WAR thing"; and the precedence of Blood Weapon being the predominant life-steal ability in the series as a whole and it often being an ability found on the Dark Knight job is a strong enough reason to consider it having its classic effect in this game as well, especially considering the current player requests to give DRK more self-sustain.

[Marxam]

The life-steal/heal with attacks concept is far from unique to or the sole province of WAR, even among the tanks; for example PLD heals with Holy Spirit and Holy Circle.
Might as well say that WAR can't have Vengeance and DRK can't have Shadow Wall because PLD had been given Sentinel and so strong base % mitigation was their thing.

Besides the life-steal game-play niche wasn't originally "given to WAR", they just used to be able to cross-class Bloodbath, a lancer/melee dps ability.
So even historically it wasn't really just a "WAR thing"; and the precedence of Blood Weapon being the predominant life-steal ability in the series as a whole and it often being an ability found on the Dark Knight job is a strong enough reason to consider it having its classic effect in this game as well, especially considering the current player requests to give DRK more self-sustain.

2.0 Inner beast used to heal you for 300% of the dmg dealt. WAR was always about healing yourself after taking a hit. The problem with 2.0 WAR was it couldn't survive tankbusters in the first place so healing was pointless if you were dead. 2.1 turned WAR into a beast and 3.0-4.1 kicked into man mode.

However WAR is still unique in that its self healing is synergetic with its tool kit, even though PLD and GNB got self sustain of their own. EQ benefits from ToB, BW/NF can proc crits from IC/CC/PR, SiO can be buffed by sacrificing other cds, etc. DRK's toolkit just seems disjointed and only revolves around TBN. It's literally the Flex Tape of tank cds cuz when TBN is not up, I take a lotta damage. I like the idea behind TBN, where you take no damage but its just one potency away from being broken in raids to meh in dungeons.

IMO, TBN should proc another TBN but that point why even bother with MP cost since it becomes redundant after the first use. A defensive cd should not be tied to your dps. Personally I would like to see TBN moved to two charges and recast increased to 25 secs. It would match perfectly with Oblation and they won't need to buff it. On shield break, it can give MP or reduce recast of TBN by 5 secs.