The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[AeresSilverfox]

Hotbar 3:
Alt 1 = Reprisal
Alt 2 = Shadowskin
Alt 3 = Foreskin
Alt 4 = Shadow Wall
Alt 5 = Convalescence
Alt 6 = Awareness
Alt 7 = Dark Dance
Alt 8 = Blood Price
Alt 9 = Blood Weapon
Alt 0 = Mercy Stroke
Alt - = Darkside
Alt = = Grit

[Kleys]

You can't always do 2 oGCDs between your GCDs. It depends on which combinations of oGCDs you're using. Every oGCDs have their own animation-lock, some of them can be interrupted really fast (any buffs, Carve & Spit, ...), while some others can't (Plunge).
Also some combinations of 2 oGCDs aren't possible whenever you have Blood Weapon on, so that's something you'll have to figure out yourself in the long run.

But in any case being able to put 2 oGCDs between your GCDs won't give you 100 more DPS, so I'd say it's not that important.

[indootje]

Hello,

First of all, thank you for the DK guide. It was really helpful to get me through the dungeons and tanking. As first time tanker in FF, I really quite enjoy it. (Was playing WHM before)

Anyway, I got a question regarding some boss battles.

i.e. Ifrit and Ramuh Extreme is the battle where the 2 tanks need to switch after debuff stacks, and the problem is when I was off tanking, and I need to take over the Boss from the main tank, I seem to not be able to take over the boss agro off from the main tank which leaves them dead because debuff stacks / damage becomes too high.

I have used the enmity rotation that you have listed in your guide.
Starting with "Unmend"
Then the rotation of Dark Arts > Hard Slash > Spinning Slash > Power Slash.

But somehow the boss wont switch his agro to me and keep sticking his agro on the Paladin or warrior. I hope someone can help me out.

Thank you in advance.

[Phoenicia]

Snip.

Do you have provoke cross-classed? You need to use provoke in order to take over.

Basically, you should prepare your combo like this:

Hard Slash > Spinning Slash > Provoke > Power Slash.

Don't bother using Dark Arts on Power Slash, it's too much mana for a very week additional aggro multiplier (from 5.5x to 6.5x).

If you're afraid to be late, you can just use Provoke and follow up with Unmend or Unleash. But a prepped Power Slash combo is the safest snap aggro.

[indootje]

Oh I see. I guess I have to level a paladin then.

DK is the first tanking class I have played, hence have no provoke. Thanks for the info, ill level Paladin right away then.

[Phoenicia]

Oh I see. I guess I have to level a paladin then.

DK is the first tanking class I have played, hence have no provoke. Thanks for the info, ill level Paladin right away then.

Ideally, you wanna get PLD to 34 for Awareness. But if you don't want to, then at least get to 22 for Provoke. Marauder to 26 for Mercy Stroke is nice, but you don't really "need" it any higher than level 8 for Blood Bath.

[Drtoxicmedica]

When you say "Hell, I find I usually have enough mana for DA C&S", you make it sound like you're not doing that normally. Should you, though? I feel like the priorities for mana are DA C&S > Dark Passenger > DA Soul Eater

If you divide mana spent by potency gained, DA C&S and even Dark Passenger vs 1 target comes out ahead of DA Soul Eater. DA Soul Eater is for when C&S and DP are on CD and you have excess mana. I'm open to any DRKs disagreeing and explaining why, but I've never used C&S for mana unless I just messed up my MP by not paying attention or something.

Honestly depends on the fight. Imo if your using DK on C&S but losing out on 2 SE it's not really worth it if mana is on the lower spectrum. And you'll need a little mana for dark mind or DP for adds etc. What I mean by find mp for it simply means I tend to usually have mp for it regardless of situation. Really only matters on certain bosses or fights that aren't straight dummy fights.

[Lawson_Grey]

. Imo if your using DK on C&S but losing out on 2 SE it's not really worth it

That doesn't make sense. They both cost one Dark Arts to boost. Boosting C&S gets you 350 potency gained over the 100 C&S normally gives. DA Souleater only gives 160 of a boosted potency (240 normally, 400 with DA). C&S restores exactly half of a Dark Arts in terms of mana (About 800-850). You would not lose out on 2 souleaters because C&S only ever returns enough mana for HALF of a Dark Arts. Which means DA Souleater comes to 240 potency vs C&S 300 if you add half of a DA SE to a full DA SE. Or you could look at it is using C&S twice to get one more DA SE, which is obviously not worth it.

It's ALWAYS better to use DA C&S instead of DA Souleater. DA C&S > Dark Passenger vs 1 target > DA SE is just how the math works out.

The only time I'd ever use C&S without DA is if I messed up managing my mana and got too low to handle a boss mechanic, such as burning all my MP and not having enough to Dark Arts Dark Mind in AS1. But I just try to not do that and stay one step ahead.

[Giantbane]

That doesn't make sense. They both cost one Dark Arts to boost. Boosting C&S gets you 350 potency gained over the 100 C&S normally gives. DA Souleater only gives 160 of a boosted potency (240 normally, 400 with DA). C&S restores exactly half of a Dark Arts in terms of mana (About 800-850). You would not lose out on 2 souleaters because C&S only ever returns enough mana for HALF of a Dark Arts. Which means DA Souleater comes to 240 potency vs C&S 300 if you add half of a DA SE to a full DA SE. Or you could look at it is using C&S twice to get one more DA SE, which is obviously not worth it.

It's ALWAYS better to use DA C&S instead of DA Souleater. DA C&S > Dark Passenger vs 1 target > DA SE is just how the math works out.

The only time I'd ever use C&S without DA is if I messed up managing my mana and got too low to handle a boss mechanic, such as burning all my MP and not having enough to Dark Arts Dark Mind in AS1. But I just try to not do that and stay one step ahead.

DA+SE isn't even really worth 140 extra potency. If you weren't using DA + SE you'd be using Delerium (dps purposes only) which is 280 pot. So DA + SE is really only adding 120pot.

[Lawson_Grey]

DA+SE isn't even really worth 140 extra potency. If you weren't using DA + SE you'd be using Delerium (dps purposes only) which is 280 pot. So DA + SE is really only adding 120pot.

Good point! You wouldn't ever use regular SE anyway, which puts DA C&S and Dark Passenger even further ahead in terms of MP priority.