If you could rework DRK and base it off of one DRK themed anime/video game character

[Soge01]

Who would you choose and why? :3

[Darthgummibear]

Wesker. OG Wesker, not the abomination from the Milla movies. He pretty much fits all the criteria and was a pretty bad-ass villian.

[Duskane]

DMC 3/4/5 Dante

[ryouma17]

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Siegfried/Nightmare

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

The Claymore is made out of NoseHair!

[RatKing]

I would just change the combat pose from weird squat to how thordan holds his blade, literally my only gripe with drk other then its annoying opener.

[Soge01]

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

Lol, I miss that show! xD

[Caurcas]

Berserk, as a few animations are already there.

[JisKing98]

Literally Guts. He's the best representation for dark Knights.

[Shurrikhan]

Guts is... an XIV Warrior, just with a sword and less bare skin, though?

He's a purely physical berserker who unleashes his (far from merely metaphorical) inner beast for incredible strength and tenacity. He gets angry, trading sanity for power, while reining it in through drive, purpose, and determination, exactly as per the 1.x and ARR questlines' take on Warrior.

Might that indicate that DRK has always stepped into Warrior's thematic grounds? Well, yeah. It's always been the bastard job. But it worked for precisely that reason, placing its emphasis less on that it has a big weapon and can swing it, etc., than on its mindset -- on being the unapologetic, rule-less bastard (of the "I reject your reality and, to a subtle degree, literally substitute my own" persuasion). Void magic is the magic of pure disorder, activity, overwhelming creation, befitting the highly anti-authoritarian DRK whose inner power is less "beastly" than simply "done (with all these false trappings and worthless rules)."

And as far as a combat aesthetic, Guts again leaves us with ambiguity. Is he the slower, plodding fighter of the original anime and somewhat implied by earlier episodes? Or is he the speed-dashing, speed-slashing, wolf-panther-man-thing in black armor we see later on? Granted, magic manipulation of one's blade (admittedly, more MSK territory than DRK) can allow for both via some new take on Blood Weapon or Delirium or the like, but if it comes merely from power-surging, especially if off anger... that's again just... Warrior.

Personally, I don't think there's any existing character, at least that I've yet seen, that quite fits the open spaces available to DRK given the tanks preceding it. In terms of personality and combat tactics (if taken somewhat abstractly), Trevor Belmont, oddly enough, comes closest among obvious examples. (Guts would, for his messed-up world and its lack of comparable magic, fit almost as much as a Paladin and even more the niche of a Warrior, while the likes of Dante is just a perfect Gunbreaker in his speedy tech-and-tactics mixing).

I would just change the combat pose from weird squat to how thordan holds his blade

The "weird squat", though lower than typical (perhaps to emphasize the weight of the blade and maintain sight lines over some of its very broad blades), is a very typical guard for especially long two-handed blades. Decreasing your exposed area, meanwhile, is common to nearly all martial arts.

If we were allowed more than one resting pose, you'd likely see a more casual resting pose (such as near to the side of one's head, hilt over or against shoulder, not far off from vertical) mixed in, but it'd offer less ready protection and thus would only be complementary.

____________

yeah ok but Dark Knight main inspiration was Berkserk/Guts and even Clouds buster sword was inspired by berserk
big reason why so many Dark knights paid tribute to Miura's death

In terms of weapon choice and armor vibe, sure. But there's just nothing to how he fights, his powers, nor what sources his powers that wouldn't better define him solidly as an XIV Warrior. The distinction rests, paper-thin, on the Armory Chest and "inner beast" and the "thrill of battle" (Gut's core components) having been tied solely to greataxes, rather than being available to a great sword.

In terms of animations, it's a mixed bag, but again mostly favors Warrior or its source Marauder (which he literally was, earlier in life), if we constrain the MRD skills to those you could use with a sword. Fell Cleave and Skill Splitter are far more Guts than Bloodspiller, Hard Slash, Syphon Strike, Carve and Spit, or the like. (Probably the most frequent strikes he's used across the manga were simply DRK's cross-classed Savage Blade, a simple rising diagonal cut, and Skull Splitter, a simple mostly vertical falling strike.) He hits hard, with no care for fanciness. He presents no noisy aftereffects outside of blood spurts.

DRK is cool. Guts is cool. But Guts is no XIV DRK; he's a Warrior with a big sword and black armor.