The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[Freyyy]

[...] because it reduces distance the boss travels to the party at the start, resulting in a longer distance for the dps to travel to reach their target which translates into a lowered raid-wide dps

wat ? Every single melee DPS in this game has a gap closer, DRG can Elusive Jump in right when Unmend reaches the boss, MNK can Shoulder Tackle, and NIN has Shukuchi... And if you don't use these tools, you can still run in at the same time as the MT instead of waiting for him, that way you're at melee range right on time and you may lose what... 0.2 sec of DPS maybe ? Which is nothing... I've never seen any discussion about this, it's just plain silly.

The only scenario where using Plunge on pull is a bad thing is when you want to tank the boss at a specific spot, like the center of the room, so you want to wait for the boss to move a little after your Unmend, so you won't Plunge. But these scenarios are very rare.

Edit : I don't know about Midas. I stopped playing the game in december (it was before 3.2 for the reminder) and came back in July, so I still haven't entered savage Midas, I'm just getting some gear waiting for 3.4. But I've done savage Gordias pre-3.2 and everyone was using Plunge after Unmend back in the days, and it didn't hurt anyone. The argument about the melee DPS losing DPS because of it is just complete BS. The ONLY thing that Plunge has an influence on is the boss's position afterwards.

[Lyth]

The role of plunge in the opener gets revisited every so often and is met with heated debate.

If you look at the openers of the top performing DRKs, you'll find that it's situational. For the typical boss which starts to move towards you after you tag it with unmend, plunge won't save you much travel time because you're effectively plunging from a closer distance. The time that you save is offset by the animation lock of the skill. As a result, it often gets used later in the opener, as there are higher potency oGCDs that you may wish to use first.

If the boss is immobile, or if the boss starts the fight animation locked due to a cast (A5S), you're using plunge enough distance to offset the animation lock, so it does save you travel time. In such cases, you will see plunge being used after unmend.

[Freyyy]

The role of plunge in the opener gets revisited every so often and is met with heated debate.

If you look at the openers of the top performing DRKs, you'll find that it's situational. For the typical boss which starts to move towards you after you tag it with unmend, plunge won't save you much travel time because you're effectively plunging from a closer distance. The time that you save is offset by the animation lock of the skill. As a result, it often gets used later in the opener, as there are higher potency oGCDs that you may wish to use first.

If the boss is immobile, or if the boss starts the fight animation locked due to a cast (A5S), you're using plunge enough distance to offset the animation lock, so it does save you travel time. In such cases, you will see plunge being used after unmend.

Okay I actually understand and agree with these points, it really has nothing to do with melees losing DPS because of it then.

[Sweetgrass]

Is it a boss that you want in the middle? Delay it until after all your other off GCDs, DA > Salt(I sometimes place this after Unmend depending on the boss) > Unmend(back up slightly depending on the boss) > CnS > Scourge > Dark Pass > Low Blow > Hard Slash > (Plunge or relevant off GCDs)

Plunge is pretty poor in terms of using it in an opener due to the DRG Jump-tier animation lock that only makes room for itself, instead of 2 off GCDs.

[wRaiz]

Guys i can't fully understand, so what stats should i take from attributes?

[Sarynth]

I like what you made as well sweetgrass, gonna toy around with these later. Stupid question though is it a str or vit potion?

[FinalWolf]

I wish they fix living dead.
Since it's supposed to the the MP/ magic tank when you pop LD your maximum MP covers your health helping you survive a blow otherwise would've killed you.
The only downside should be is your MP is reduced to 0.

[Sweetgrass]

I like what you made as well sweetgrass, gonna toy around with these later. Stupid question though is it a str or vit potion?

I've updated it since 3.4 came out, this is the new one; http://puu.sh/rF9os/2c39d253c5.jpg

The potion is of course Vitality, I just made it back in 3.07 for Gordias, when tanks used Str for damage, haven't changed it. The rotations also change a lot without potions, so these will not hold true if you don't use them.

[Rocond]

As a tank you can use strength or vitality potion. They carry the same weight at Max and Supramax level. During the X-potion days a vit pot had slightly more than a strength because they weren't designed around Vit being an attack power stat at the time.

Edit: Correcting myself. Supramax strength is 154 and Supramax Vit is 158.

[Vateri]

I've updated it since 3.4 came out, this is the new one; http://puu.sh/rF9os/2c39d253c5.jpg

The potion is of course Vitality, I just made it back in 3.07 for Gordias, when tanks used Str for damage, haven't changed it. The rotations also change a lot without potions, so these will not hold true if you don't use them.

Why the drastic opener change with Scourge and Salted Earth? You seemed very adamant on using them within the first two GCD's in the last page. What changed, if I may ask?