Healing DRK tanks sucks.

[Coltvoyance]

Speaking as a lvl 60 WHM, I dislike healing DRKs. To be honest, it feels like I'm healing a 2.0 WAR. They're like wet paper. Their HP just melts and I'm stuck constantly healing them so they don't disintegrate.

I've had maybe 1 or 2 okay DRKs that didn't need constant mending but even then it still was more attention than I needed to give an equivalent WAR or PLD.

You also absolutely run into DRKs who care more about making damage than mitigating it. I had a DRK with an i180 sword and the rest of his gear was all white quest stuff. He totally prioritized a better weapon over better armor.

Bottom line, they're too squishy.

[Hysterior]

been healing some DRK until 60: no issue whatsoever
I take a DRK tank over a MCH DPS anytime of the day

[xxhieixx]

Ok I didn't go through all 62 pages here but the first dungeon run I got was with a DRK tank and it was just as easy to heal him/her as any other tank. I'm assuming you got someone who didn't know what they were doing....I've had no issues with them so far.

[Risvertasashi]

Ok I didn't go through all 62 pages here but the first dungeon run I got was with a DRK tank and it was just as easy to heal him/her as any other tank. I'm assuming you got someone who didn't know what they were doing....I've had no issues with them so far.

It's really a mixed bag, but I think the average quality (my perception) has already risen... people are figuring it out, not making gear mistakes, etc etc. Sometimes I still get the ultra squishy ones, however.

[Xenos74]

I agree, definitely mixed bag. I've had those where I'll have to spam Benefic among other spells with barely time to see which cards I'm drawing during battle. Then there's those roulettes where I get a really good drk and I'm sitting there with my finger over my heals waiting to heal them. Its pretty apparent which kind of drk you get from the first or second pull. I obviously prefer the ones that do well at mitigating damage and absorbing hp, as it let's me cleric stance pretty often

I just recently started leveling my scholar (53) after getting my ast to 60, and I've noticed that war actually seems faaaar more squishy than drk. Sometimes even had wars running that new offensive stance and they're tanking with a max hp of 8k while taking huge spikes if I'm not on top of heals.

Edit; Forgot to add, I have no issue healing warriors at 60. They just feel extremely delicate in the mid 50s atm

[Saseal]

Same - it's probably as mixed bag as any player in the playerbase - just more apparent at the moment while people are trying to get a hold on them. It will probably be like this for a month or so, as people play and level their jobs at different paces and at different times. I found DRK fun when I did the first job quest, so I might actually seek out to level it a bit, but not till after I get WHM better geared and through the MSQ, MNK to at least upper 50s and start my BRD character/alt int he Heavensward MSQs....(and I'll probably poke around moreso at the other two new jobs, first), so I'll be late in the game to start figuring it out. Just to use myself as an example.
It will even out with some stragglers (like myself) on top of fresher/newer players hitting the Heavensward content for the first time.

With that said, I haven't had many probs healing DRKs - had one mass pull one area in Vault and, while it was a sudden shift from prior run throughs with everyone taking one mob encounter at a time, it wasn't anywhere near undoable, nor too squishy to handle it.
Had another in Aery that was as good as a good WAR (I don't know why, but I just compare them to WAR, rather than PLD - though it's described as playing between the two... o_O)

Only time I did have a problem was in a roulette into a lower level dungeon

[Trespar]

The OP's DRK problems almost certainly stem from poor gear.

I made the mistake of entering Cutter's Cry in my level 30 gear and got dunked pretty bad. We made it, but the myself and healer had a few heart attacks along the way.
Upgraded to level 40 gear and all was much better.

There's also the matter where tanks take a lot more damage in general in the later ARR leveling dungeons, especially when you're used to ilvl 110-130 tanks.

As a healer who has healed a number of level 60 tanks, I didn't find them any harder to heal than other tanks. I heal as a SCH.
In fact, all of the bad runs I had were with PLDs or WARs, so it's definitely more of a skill issue than a job issue.

[Kaedan94]

Someone on the Tank forum did some testing and it appears there's a defense bug with Drks atm. With the same gear on, and the Plds shield unequipped, the Drk was taking more damage than the Pld. But removing all gear, they were taking the same damage.

[SDaemon]

In fact, all of the bad runs I had were with PLDs or WARs, so it's definitely more of a skill issue than a job issue.

Can honestly say in the dozen or so runs of Fractal and Neverreap I've done so far, the tank I enjoy healing the least is by far WAR. An FC mate of mine argued that WARs were the sturdiest tanks atm, but I'm just not seeing it.

This long string of horrible WARs just makes me cringe when I queue into a dungeon with 'em.

Comparatively, DRKs have been very pleasant to heal and PLDs are a breeze as always.

[HyperiusUltima]

I have a friend who mains DRK in my FC and he is very good with his Defensive CDs. Shadowskin and Shadow Wall are VERY BIG CDs, and popped off at the same time is an instant 50% mitigation. As a WHM I haven't had any problems with him even when we started in i145 gear in Neverreap. He didn't use Convalescence until today, however, so at least I was doing alright with my heals when I using Cure for 2k HP. The cross skills from MRD and GLD are very useful as always for DRK.

The only Healing CDs I've had to pop on occasion is Divine Seal and the usual Shroud, maybe Assize after a room-wide AoE or Eye for an Eye if he's doing a big pull.