Dark Knight is not fun to play

[Agner]

I was actually planning on giving DRK a serious chance when I got to HW this time around but threads like this and others just make me depressed.

Is WAR really the only Tank in a good spot right now?

Most tanks are in a fine spot in the sense they're playable and function well. If you play casually they will all 100% service you well. You can still run pretty much any of them in EX/savage successfully.

There are just a fair number of people who either miss the DRK playstyle from Heavensward release or Stormblood, or felt like the version that came out in Shadowbringers has only been downgraded. Give it a whirl for yourself if you want to, because it's really not that hard to play when you know how to use your defensives right. I just personally find it very boring right now.

If you are worried about needing to rely on healers a bit more, then the other tanks might be more your speed, WAR especially for self-healing. GNB is better if you want faster play (and best damage, lol). PLD seems pretty sturdily built.

[Blazeblast4]

"Just play WAR bro. Why aren't you playing WAR?"

I was actually planning on giving DRK a serious chance when I got to HW this time around but threads like this and others just make me depressed.

Is WAR really the only Tank in a good spot right now?

As of 7.05, all tanks are more or less fine numerically and Dawntrail’s been pretty good to Gunbreaker and Warrior while Paladin is still the same. Dark Knight just suffers a lot from weird design and getting homogenized in gameplay but still being left behind defensively, made worse by a Savage tier that’s mainly physical tank busters. It’s certainly playable, but Dawntrail made several weird errors in Dark Knight’s design and since Gunbreaker released, Dark Knight has mechanically struggled to have a niche.

[Oizen]

I think its notable that DRK is leading tank aDPS and it still has the playrate that it does.
I think DRK is a harder job than say WAR or PLD, but not by a lot, and certainly not so much that this should be the case.


Pray for a 7.x rework but its far more likely nothing will happen

[Teno]

The heal in salted earth would make a lot of sense and would add a bit more positioning in the kit. It's a fun one in pvp.

[mallleable]

DRK feels so skeletal compared to the other tanks. It needs changes to its gameplay.

[Terhix]

Pray for a 7.x rework but its far more likely nothing will happen

I'm hoping for some minor tuning for 7.1 before the 8.0 rework, even just putting a cure on CnS and Dark Missionary available at level 70 or below would go a long way. We got some QoL stuff in 6.1 with Blood Weapon charges and LD no longer being a worse Holmgang with a longer cooldown, so there is hope.

[Kalaam]

There is lot of small changes that could be made before an actual rework:
-Decoupling AD/CnS
-Potency/CD adjusts
-Mana regen/cost adjusts

[Ramiee]

One day I'll wake up and edge and wave will be gone and it'll all be a bad dream.

[AlessaImpera]

As a non tank main I find that the irony is while DRK definitely suffers from all the things you mention, it still remains the only tank that's remotely fun and rewarding to play defensively, notably in dungeons as it still favors skill expression there.

Imo WAR is more interesting defensively, trying to maximise Vengeance/Damnation procs, compared to getting in 1 extra Edge into Buff windows on DRK.

"Just play WAR bro. Why aren't you playing WAR?"

I was actually planning on giving DRK a serious chance when I got to HW this time around but threads like this and others just make me depressed.

Is WAR really the only Tank in a good spot right now?

All tanks look competently built, except DRK. But WAR and GNB look very much significantly more exciting and favoured by the design team, compared to PLD and especially the travesty that is DRK design.

[Oizen]

Making abyssal drain replace plunge as the 30s oGCD would be nice, especially on 2 charges.
I really just want TBN to not have a pseudo 120s CD when playing optimally for damage though, it feels awful. Give the mp back