Woke up to DRK destroying whole team with astrologians...

[Kaurhz]

DRK play is mostly fine.

The biggest problem is DOT stacking and AoE stacking.

If they capped number of targets for an AoE, and then did %-based damaged, based on how many are hit, then it would be a LOT less of an issue. e.g., damage is, say 100% for the first target, 75% for the second target and then say 50% for all subsequent other targets hit to a maximum of 5, have this same application apply to draw-in effects.

I can accept there is rudimentary strategy involved in doing the follow-up, but this rudimentary strategy should not be the effective reward of 4 people being able to annihilate 2 parties worth of people.

And it's all well and good saying "Just avoid it" -- Yes, a lot of people are capable of avoiding it, but a lot of inexperienced people are not capable of avoiding it or too inexperienced to do so. So even when I avoid it, if 13 other people don't then they're quickly stacking up BH. At which point they can just play more objectively.

[kiotsukete]

Are there no good counters to the DRK pull strat? Other than attempt to run or mitigate with purify/guard?

Like some say focus fire the DRK, others say focus the supporting cast first etc.

[Mawlzy]

Are there no good counters to the DRK pull strat? Other than attempt to run or mitigate with purify/guard?

Like some say focus fire the DRK, others say focus the supporting cast first etc.

There are, but they require coordination. Most people prepared to organize such coordination have simply taken the simple path and formed a DRK+ stack of their own.

Ironically, I suspect the lack of responsiveness the new hit detection has introduced may level the playing field somewhat. Doing anything seems more random, and that might dilute the efficacy of DRK+ pulls and follow-up.

[gidsonBrand]

If the Dark Knight has a Reaper/Warrior with LB, guard or purify won't work well. If you get caught in it, you'll need support from a teammate to survive or try and use your own defensives.

Spacing around the Dark Knight and collapsing on their backline as they pull is also a good strat, as the backline is usually focused on supporting the Dark Knight or doing damage. Either you get a sneaky burst on them, or distract them long enough to keep your team alive. Win-win for you.

[PGuin]

The new delayed timing of Salted Earth makes it significantly easier to react to even if you weren't prepared. I think in time even a portion of the casual player base will learn to react better and guard/purify/run before the pull happens. It happened over the course of endwalker (though to varying degrees on each DC).

[Cesarion]

Skill issue.

Seriously, if you can't use Purify (which now prevents Salted Earth and many other draw in / knockbacks) then it's not the devs fault.

Yep, totally. Atleast that can be argued once purify doesnt take 10 clicks to actually go through

[Mawlzy]

Yep, totally. Atleast that can be argued once purify doesnt take 10 clicks to actually go through

Quite so. The "skill issue" argument has become thinner in 7.1 simply because the response to input has become more unpredictable. I do hope that wasn't intentional on the part of SQEX.

[AnotherPerson]

Are you serious? DRK is still overpowered even after the 7.1 pvp changes?

This game is a joke. hooooly cow. lol

They're not anymore. DRK is actually one of the worst jobs to play in the current patch.


Purify can help resist knockback and no longer lasts for 5s.

That means if you CC a DRK, they're pretty much going to break their combo fairly easily now. If they purify, the amount of CC immunity duration they have is far lower and should be far easier to stop. That also applies to any and all DPS who wants to synchronize their burst.
Alternatively, when the DRK already starts running or jumps on you and you noticed too late to get out of range, you can purify to cleanse the kb before the kb pull-in hits.

The increased HP pools and damage reduction formula on Frontlines make it far easier to survive DRKs one wave attempt to rush.

The answer to dealing with DRKs & basically every other job haven't changed - Just keep your eyes peeled against the enemy team when fighting and play proactive like usual. It's just this time, I found it to be considerably easier and far more forgiving to stop DRK dead in their tracks right now to the point they're not a real concern.

Though I'm more surprised to see people still AFKing and then complaining about DRK combo in game... like what? Everyone's trying to figure out how to make the new skills work and figure out how to play their job with the changes in abilities, potencies, and cooldowns. There's far stronger jobs than DRK at the moment. It's kind of weird to see people harping about DRK when DRK is doing really bad this patch. It made me realize there's just some people who just want a free exp and excuses to not play the game mode. It's very sad to see.




Also RPR's LB follow-up Perfectio is currently bugged to guarantee incapacitate any enemy regardless of invulnerability status. So if a DRK uses Eventide, you can just ruin their day and delete them with Perfectio.

[Mawlzy]

I think we'll have a better idea of how well DRK is doing in this 2-day old patch when we see if the premades are still running them. I would never underestimate the determination of some to maintain their win-rates. And the fundamental issues still remain. Half the players don't know or care how to counter DRK stacks, coordinated LB bursts are required to produce significant damage, and DRK still has a uniquely powerful skill at grouping up victims.

I'd agree DRK on its own is likely more vulnerable now, but my guess is once the pros tune single- and double-DRK stacks, likely with AST and/or SGE, we'll be in a similar state as before.

I think the real challenge will be figuring out the consistency (if any) with this awful new hit detection, and learning how to time attacks that may not go off against enemies who may not be there.

[Vandi]

The bigger question is. . .why in gods name are you still playing Frontlines? Please please don’t list tomes, or fulfillment as reasons. . .