Dark Knight Megathread

[Syaoran_Black]

And, again, Oblation is DRK's lv82 ability, mirroring Catharsis and Clarity, Resolve and Benediction, and Stem the Flow and Stem the Tide, not TBN.

If you compare Oblation to what the other three tanks got, then...well, there is no comparison as it is laughable.

I am sure everyone here was expecting Oblation to be the upgraded form of TBN, like Bloodwhetting does for Raw Intuition, Holy Sheltron does for Sheltron, and Heart of Corundum does for Heart of Stone. They all got new looks and uses when you use them and are correctly timed, but DRK you ask - what did they get? GNB's Camouflage without the parry added onto it. TBN..is another topic as it still shares with your damage resource, but that is another story for another day.

Now - before some people jump me and start ranting (he said, she said), getting a charge every minute vs. GNB's version is 30 seconds (60 seconds per charge vs. 90 seconds for single use) has its pro's and cons, however, the difference between why GNB's is 30 seconds longer is what I assume is due to the .50 (50%) parry rate.

Off-topic: I will be quite honest as sometimes I forget Oblation is there even along with Dark Missionary (and HoL) as compared to Shake and Holy Veil, the latter is so much better, especially combined with Passage of Arms (15% mit) the PLD gives + any extra mitigation Shake can add on to it; now that, that saves lives.

[Shurrikhan]

If you compare Oblation to what the other three tanks got, then...well, there is no comparison as it is laughable.

Agreed. Which is why it needs that focus, rather than the conversation being derailed over TBN, which held up fine against its competitors until DRK's kit was left nearly as is while everyone else's kits moved up ten paces. (Though it makes me wonder if, had GNB received only a 10% mitigation tool on a 60s for the entirety of its EW additions, their community similarly would pick up torches against Heart of Stone, rather than... the lack of additions.)

We also ought to compare the likes of Enhanced Equilibrium and Divine Magic Mastery II against... DRK's complete lack of anything remotely equivalent, and remedy that imbalance -- if not directly, then in terms of overall capacity.

[Kabooa]

We also ought to compare the likes of Enhanced Equilibrium and Divine Magic Mastery II against... DRK's complete lack of anything remotely equivalent, and remedy that imbalance -- if not directly, then in terms of overall capacity.

Gunbreaker: Have another charge of Aurora.

Warrior: Have Aurora.

[TouchandFeel]

If you compare Oblation to what the other three tanks got, then...well, there is no comparison as it is laughable.

It's not bad, I would even argue good, from a design stand-point since it being a % mitigation allows you to get the most benefit from layering two different mitigation/defense types together.
Having Oblation be a separate ability provides an often underrated value of flexibility where you get to fit it in where and when it would have the most benefit. Taking big spikes of damage, layer it on top of TBN and maybe another defensive if necessary. Taking lower more spread out damage, use it by itself to fill in gaps between other defensives. TBN not breaking and DRK having no extra low end defensive ability were two major complaints in the last expansion and Oblation from a design standpoint covers both those things while also giving you the choice to bolster your TBN if and when needed.
Also having them separate side-steps the issue of making it potentially harder to break TBN which would be an issue if they were just lumped together in one ability.

The primary problem is that while Oblation appears to be the DRK equivalent to extra bits that the other tanks got for their short recast defensives, it seems like it is not quite as strong with the most glaring part being it having a recast of 60s while all the other tanks have the extra stuff available with the parent ability every ~25-30s. The other part is that it feels like it is missing just a bit of that extra something, like the extra healing, of the other defensives and that probably Oblation should get either a small burst heal, a small regen or maybe a little extra % mitigation attached to it in addition to having a shorter recast, adjusting the amount of this extra bit depending on what the recast is shortened to of course.

Then there is the separate issue that Shurrikhan mentioned of DRK having no trait at lvl.84 that upgrades an ability to provide additional self-healing like the other tanks got, and instead DRK got Enhanced Unmend.

Also of note, why is the duration of TBN still 7s? All the other short recast defensives got an increased duration to the base part of them with their upgrades, going from 6s (Raw Intuition, Shelltron) or 7s (Heart of Stone) to 8s. TBN should have it's duration increased at least to 8s if not a little more. It's not like it would really increase the defensive capabilities of the ability like increasing the duration on the other abilities did, it would just make breaking TBN a bit easier.