New Dark Knight Tank

[Drakanous]

From what I remember of Dark Knights in XI, they primarily focused on 'drains' and 'absorbs', as well as the use of minor black magic. There would need to be changes to their casting in order to make them viable tanks and still have these abilities, however. It'd be useless to have black magic and not be able to cast due to interruption from damage.

The core idea for a revised XIV DRK tank would be a persistent buff that would give them a sort of 'bloodbath' lifesteal effect and would then be enhanced upon by other abilities in their repertoire. In addition to this, have their combos not only increase enmity, but absorb attributes from their targets to enhance their own. Either this or have abilities to take care of this and make the combos deliver elemental damage depending on how they're executed.

Of possible additions to the tanking role, I think it would fit perfectly in its own way.

[Alphras]

Why would DRK be a tank? Traditionally, the class focuses on sacrificing HP to deal huge damage. They are the polar opposite to PLD (big two handed weapons, black magic, squishy because they convert hp to damage).

[SirTaint]

Why would DRK be a tank? Traditionally, the class focuses on sacrificing HP to deal huge damage. They are the polar opposite to PLD (big two handed weapons, black magic, squishy because they convert hp to damage).

The only tank reference for DRK is FFXI where it was one of the best tanks in the games prime.

[Nanaho]

The only tank reference for DRK is FFXI where it was one of the best tanks in the games prime.

In what universe was DRK a Tank in XI? i played from 2004 till Now, and DRK was never tanking at any time or period.

[ckb]

In what universe was DRK a Tank in XI? i played from 2004 till Now, and DRK was never tanking at any time or period.

DK with an Apocalypse was an amazing tank. However, it was more of the community repurposing it than by design. The reason we could tank so well with it was the weapon skill catastrophe. Every time it was used (except against undead) it healed for around 1/3 of the damage (give or take). That was in addition to most of DK's abilities generated a massive amount of hate.

[Korbenik]

They already KILLED Summoner if they make dark knight a tank I think I might quit the game.

[SirTaint]

In what universe was DRK a Tank in XI? i played from 2004 till Now, and DRK was never tanking at any time or period.

Not sure what to tell you. I tanked HNMs my entire career. (PLD,MNK,SAM,DRK,NIN were my jobs) DRK was the premier tank for HNM content from 06-2011ish when SAM took over, then it turned into MNK for Delve. DRK has more hate mechanics then other jobs and could hit the cap the fastest, especially before the haste cap/spell hate cap. (RDM and BRD had their moments as well but I still put DRK on top because of the added DPS)

I had all the tank toys besides Koga:
http://www.ffxiah.com/player/Cerberus/Taint

[Giantbane]

They already KILLED Summoner if they make dark knight a tank I think I might quit the game.

It's not a horrible idea. As much as I'd like DRK to be DPS, I think I'd get much more opportunity to play it if it were a tank.

They always wore heavy armor, so they've got that covered. The drains, enfeebles and absorbs could be used for threat and sustaining itself. The only thing that gets tricky is souleater, as sacrificing life for damage wouldn't be good as a tank. But perhaps sacrifice hp for a stoneskin/alod bubble type damage shield? or life for a reduction in incoming damage? A hallowed ground ability that takes them down to 1hp but makes them invincible for a time? The option to sacrifice life for damage to be used only during burst phases?

They could make it work.

[RubenSnizzle]

The only tank reference for DRK is FFXI where it was one of the best tanks in the games prime.

FFX-2, dark knight ~ One of the best melee dmg in the game, sacrifice HP to deal massive dmg to all enemies, ect..

[TouchandFeel]

I too would prefer dark knight to be a dps that comes from gld if they keep with the current system.
I think they would be interesting if they actually had them use hp management to do high damage as their gimmick. They would have abilities that would do lots of damage but also do damage to the drk (classic soul eater ability) and abilities that would do less damage but would cause the drk to regain health (maybe one that did a self regen and a different one that did a self flat heal). There would also probably have to be some sort of effect that would temporarily disable the drk from being able to be able to be healed by other players for balance purposes, for example a "stance" called shroud of darkness that increases damage done and healing from their own abilities, but restricts healing from others. So those mechanics with Vit stacking to maximize HP to use as your resource to do more damage, abilities with a good mix of off gcd and short cool downs requiring you manage your dps or kill yourself could make for a very interesting and powerful burst damage dps.