The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[Reynhart]

Any lv60 DRK using controller could share his bars?

Here's mine (Only 2 bars needed) :
Left trigger:

• Left: Reprisal
• Up : SoulEater
• Down : Delirium
• Right : Syphon Strike

• Square : Hard Slash
• Triangle : Spinning Slash
• Cross : Dark Passenger
• Circle : Power Slash

Right trigger:

• Left: Shadow Skin
• Up : Shadow Wall
• Down : Dark Dance
• Right : Foresight

• Square : Provoke (Macro)
• Triangle : Unmend
• Cross : Low Blow
• Circle : Unleash

Left trigger+Right trigger:

• Left: Salted Earth
• Up : Scourge
• Down : Plunge
• Right : Abyssal Drain

• Square : Darkside
• Triangle : Sole Surviror
• Cross : Dark Arts
• Circle : Grit

Right trigger+Left trigger:

• Left: Blood Bath
• Up : Awareness
• Down : Dark Mind
• Right : Blood Weapon

• Square : Carve and Spit
• Triangle : Blood Price
• Cross : Convalescence
• Circle : Living Dead (Macro)

Hope that helps

[Akasha_Carnelian]

Here's how I have my DRK set up on controller.
I'm sure it's easy to see my thought process when setting it up. Hotbar 1 is enmity and tanking cooldowns mainly, hotbar 2 is where I mostly stay once hate is secured, whilst I use Expanded controls for things that I need to get to quickly regardless of what I'm doing.

Hotbar 1
L1
UP: Dark Dance
Left: Shadow Wall
Right: Forsight
Down: Shadow Skin

Triangle: Blood Price
Square: Dark Mind
Circle: Living Dead
Cross: Convalescence

R1
UP: Unleash
Left: Abyssal Drain
Right: Unmend
Down: Plunge

Triangle: Power Slash
Square: Scourge
Circle: Spinning Slash
Cross: Hard Slash

Hotbar 2
L1
UP: Mercy Stroke
Left: Provoke
Right: Sole Survivor
Down: Dark Passenger

Triangle: Blood Price
Square: Salted Earth
Circle: Bloodbath
Cross: Blood Weapon

R1
UP: Reprisal
Left: Carve and Spit
Right: Plunge
Down: Low Blow

Triangle: Delerium
Square: Souleater
Circle: Syphon Strike
Cross: Hard Slash

Expanded Controls
Both (but you can set most of this as you like or use for PVP actions)
UP: Limit Break
Left: Grit
Right: Strength Pot of your choice
Down: Darkside

Triangle: Low Blow
Square: Carve and Spit
Circle: Dark Mind
Cross: Dark Arts

[Mykha]

how important is it to be able to get 2 oGCDs in between your GCD?

I seem to be about 100 dps behind all of the highest DRK parses that I've seen, and I just don't know where else I could make it up except that my internet connection only allows me to use one oGCD between each GCD without a VPN.

[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.

[Lawson_Grey]

Wth are you using the rest of your mana on lol you should be able to throw out at least 3 or 4 a minute not just 1. Hell I find I usually have enough mana to throw dark arts onto CaS for the dps gain.

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.

[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.