The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[Able]

Player skill will always be the determining factor, but....

on paper WARs should be doing more. Deliverance is +5%, maim is +20, so (100 * 1.05) * 1.2 = 126% all the time. Season with Berserk as necessary. In Defiance, they only do 90% damage compared to our 92%

Agreed. I don't think DRKs would typically do as much DPS as a WAR if two equally skilled players are involved.

[Eej]

What are all you guys at 60 doing to compensate for TP issues when you don't have Goad/Spire or Paeon/Rook to rely on? Throwing out an Unmend every so often?

[Taranok]

If I ever run out of TP, yeah, I just throw Unmend and free Unleashes out for a couple GCDs. It's usually enough to go back into quite a few rotations afterwards. As far as I am aware, this is just as true at 50 as it is at 60, so me only being 58 shouldn't affect this rested rotation overmuch.

[FenreyVarnell]

Subscribed. Glad to see the community working towards how to best use one of my favorite jobs since Ninja.

[Miyuyu]

Just a thought. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned "never use Carve and Spit without Dark Arts" and I simply disagree with that. It's something that takes a lot of pre-planning and thought, but I tend to line up my C&S + Dark Arts combo any time I have a surplus of mana and want to just go full DPS.

There are times where you will need to play conservatively and C&S is a REALLY good catch up tool for that if you're in a mana hole for any reason.

[HidingYoshis]

Just a thought. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned "never use Carve and Spit without Dark Arts" and I simply disagree with that. It's something that takes a lot of pre-planning and thought, but I tend to line up my C&S + Dark Arts combo any time I have a surplus of mana and want to just go full DPS.

That's not optimal at all. You're dropping 350 potency to gain 800 mana. When you're going "full DPS", you're dropping Grit and activating Blood Weapon, which will give you way more from your Syphon Strike than Carve and Spit will.

At Eej: TP usage is actually something that I'm worried about. It does seem like Unmend or Unleash is the only real alternative you have when you go out of TP. Paladins have auto attacks in Sword Oath if they wanted and Warriors have stacks that they consume instead of TP. I think Dark Knights might need something to offset TP costs. But theorycrafting is about working with what you have.

[Miyuyu]

That's not optimal at all. You're dropping 350 potency to gain 800 mana. When you're going "full DPS", you're dropping Grit and activating Blood Weapon, which will give you way more from your Syphon Strike than Carve and Spit will.

It's not "optimal DPS" sure - but I'd consider it optimal play. Humans are incapable of being perfect at all times. Saying "never" is a strong descriptor. I'd say "most of the time you want to use C&S w/ DA" but I completely see the value in it as a catch-up \ emergency tool.

[HidingYoshis]

It's not "optimal DPS" sure - but I'd consider it optimal play. Humans are incapable of being perfect at all times. Saying "never" is a strong descriptor. I'd say "most of the time you want to use C&S w/ DA" but I completely see the value in it as a catch-up \ emergency tool.

It's not optimal play. Optimal DPS equals optimal threat, too. Increasing your mana is all nice and dandy, except mana issues don't really occur if you're managing them using Blood Price, Syphon Strike, Blood Weapon and Sole Survivor, which is proper usage.

For any decent Dark Knight, mana issues aren't existing. TP issues are.

[Giantbane]

It's not optimal play. Optimal DPS equals optimal threat, too. Increasing your mana is all nice and dandy, except mana issues don't really occur if you're managing them using Blood Price, Syphon Strike, Blood Weapon and Sole Survivor, which is proper usage.

For any decent Dark Knight, mana issues aren't existing. TP issues are.

Blood weapon? How are you making this work while tanking? Using grit to get back in defensive mode eats up like half of what you'd possibly gain from blood weapon.

[Sweetgrass]

The openers in this guide are god-awful, and it's really sad that an image macro with a lalafell and curse words gets that much publicity.

What are all you guys at 60 doing to compensate for TP issues when you don't have Goad/Spire or Paeon/Rook to rely on? Throwing out an Unmend every so often?

Blood Weapon takes cares of this pretty much singlehandedly. If you're running out of TP you're probably not stance swapping enough.

It's not "optimal DPS" sure - but I'd consider it optimal play. Humans are incapable of being perfect at all times. Saying "never" is a strong descriptor. I'd say "most of the time you want to use C&S w/ DA" but I completely see the value in it as a catch-up \ emergency tool.

Being able to always DA your CnS is optimal play, though. Having MP for when you need it, mitigation OR damage, is part of that.