Dark Knight Megathread

[Shurrikhan]

Again, by viewing TBN as the catch-all for the kit.

But who, other than you, does so, given TBN's current strength? Not the concept of a shield. Its being 25% HP, on that cooldown, at that MP cost / refund procedure, in DRK's kit.

The devs took a hard look at tank design for Shadowbringers, and by the end of it

Tanks didn't lose defensive value over the course of Shadowbringers.

DRK was left with TBN and a few other niche abilities for survival.

Every tank was left with solely their 'on-demand' and a few further abilities. Some (WAR) simply were left with a more powerful on-demand (WAR) or self-heal (also WAR) than others.

until EW dropped and suddenly tank damage intake was upscaled to fit a new paradigm of tanking that TBN was shockingly not read in on

Then why would you blame the unchanged tool instead of the relative lack of bonuses come EW?

If I give you the same pay as everyone else and then later give you half the raise that everyone else gets, do you blame your original pay, rather than the difference in raise, for your making less than everyone else?

In short, DRK retains the design philosophy it had in Shadowbringers

That's not merely the same design philosophy. It's literally the same skills, outright, plus Oblation and minus Abyssal Drain (having been stuck to Carve and Spit).

because TBN is poorly suited for sustained damage intake

And again, the rate of damage has absolutely no bearing on the power of defensive skills outside of nonexistent scenarios whereby one must preheal Cure II every GCD and the single GCD of overheal or delay would therefore cost you your life. All that matters is how much it ultimately mitigates and heals.

and in part because of its other cooldowns being lackluster in general.

Not "in part". Almost wholly. Else there's no way in hell people would have been "fine," as you imply, with DRK's defensive kit before Endwalker.