How would YOU make DRK work ?

[trailmix9999]

I am extremely interested in DRK, it was my main in FFXI for 10+ years and I was always on the forefront of tanking on DRK in FFXI. (I was in a big HNM LS that could support it) It was by far the best HNM tank in FFXI for years but very few players ever even tried it, or didn't have the support to make it work.

The stole a lot of DRKs ideas when they made WAR so it will be interesting to see what direction that take this.

My thought is in the tank stance DRK will build stacks through taking damage and then unleashing the stacks for hate/DPS.

Simple moves like Bio,Drain,Absorb would be cool and effective if they give us multiple choices.
TP Absorb, STR Absorb, INT Absorb etc.

Dread Spikes is a no brainer. Maybe even make it more of a crowd control move then one for single tanking.

Thats one thing i was concerned about, SE has already used some of DRKs abilties and motifs on WAR.

[Lawson_Grey]

Terror Blade combo - This would be the Drks main 1, 2, 3. The 3rd hit would do the typical increase enmity, however the FIRST hit would simply add a stack of Terror to the target. Terror would have both a stack cap and a duration. Terror does nothing, until. . .

Darkness - OFF-GCD skill that consumes stacks of Terror on nearby targets to grant the Dark Knight a shield/damage reduction/etc.

I think this would be a cool way to let the Drk mitigate the big hits that we've come to expect in tanking raids in this game (Death Sentence/Raven's Beak/etc), while keeping it different from just a boring Cooldown to pop. The stacking with a duration and a stack limit means gives the move this pro and con that I find interesting.

1. You'd have to pay attention to your stack number and time left so you can't just set it and forget it.

2. However because it does cap out, after you reach the cap as long as you hit it with a combo every other rotation or so, you can use the downtime to cast other moves/taunt adds/use a different combo/etc without feeling penalized for not using your basic 1, 2, 3 over and over.

[Lawson_Grey]

(continued)
Nightfall - Copy target's current number of Terror stacks to all targets within 10 yalms.

I think Nightfall would be interesting if Darkness had either an enmity plus component (based on # of stacks?) or if Darkness straight up taunted targets with Terror stacks. This way you could build up Terror stacks on a boss, then once adds come Nightfall the Terror stacks to all the adds and then Darkness everything for an aoe taunt + mitigation which would reduce the spike of damage you'd be tanking by suddenly gaining a bunch of mob aggro.

Fading Light - A self-buff on a decently long CD that grants max Terror stacks on a target immediately. This would be the Drk's "Oh Snap" move. Did your Terror stacks fall off (or they're only at 1 or 2) and Boss is about to use a huge move that you need max stacks to defend against? Did the OT just drop and now all the adds are about to go wild? Falling light to get max stacks of Terror on boss, Nightfall to spread Terror to everything nearby, then Darkness to immediately regain control of the situation.

[Lawson_Grey]

(continued)
My main concern, though, is on the two debuffs that War/Pld provide. Although you CAN do content with two Plds or two Wars, it's nice to get one of each for the debuff stacking.

So I hope DRK has an ability that provides which ever tank debuff is currently not on the boss. That'd be an easy way to make sure it can fit in raid teams who want both debuffs.

Other than that, I hope it can hold it's own with Pld in terms of mitigation. I'd like to see them ditch the HP for Dmg that the class has traditionally had as it's now a tank role and not a dps role.

[Lunar-Templar]

Dark Knights have always been a risk/reward type of class. Sacrifice HP to do obscene amounts of damage. This is the theme I hope they stick to.

If I had say over how it was though.

DPS focused tank.
Most attacks would burn HP to do more damage. (and probably some kinda self buff to make all your attacks burn HP for more damage)
Higher over all defense but a much lower HP pool then the other tanks.
Status effects would lower defense ratings and accuracy.

[Dererk]

Dark Knight will probably have a continues buff that will drain hp from what their hitting will also have cleave weapon skills to fit a big weapon like the great sword.

I heard some one say that miasma II would also be a good use for hate control on drk.