The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[Pure-Power]

For bonus attributes, are you taking strength, vitality, or a mix of both?

[Syfer22]

For bonus attributes, are you taking strength, vitality, or a mix of both?

Right now I'm doing full STR. I haven't hit any content that necessitates the bump in HP from putting everything into VIT yet.

[Gextiv]

Thanks for making this guide!

Feedback: Perhaps unabbreviate the abbreviations in the rotation section of your guide? I think it would facilitate in memorizing the rotation.

[Praesul]

If Alexander is going to be anything like Final Coil, I would take Awarness over Fracture or Mercy Stroke..

Both Fracture and Mercy Stroke are minor DPS gains, and fracture is really costly without the trait. Awareness was useful as fuck in Final Coil though, because SO MUCH of the bosses and adds crit in there, and at a fairly high rate.

[Taranok]

If Alexander is going to be anything like Final Coil, I would take Awarness over Fracture or Mercy Stroke..

Both Fracture and Mercy Stroke are minor DPS gains, and fracture is really costly without the trait. Awareness was useful as fuck in Final Coil though, because SO MUCH of the bosses and adds crit in there, and at a fairly high rate.

Fracture isn't a DPS gain for the DRK, and is of questionable use otherwise.

Fracture is a 220 potency ability for 80 TP or 2.75 potency per TP. Your threat combo is (150+220+300)/3 or ~223 potency average with 3.53 potency per TP. Your unmodified SE combo is (150+250+260)/3 or 220 potency average at 3.47 potency per TP, and your Delerium combo is (150+250+280)/3 or ~226 potency at 3.58 efficiency.

I won't even bother with a DA SE combo as it's just going to get better than that. The only other abilities you might consider at this point are Scourge, which just blows every other GCD out of the water short of raw AOE against a ton of mobs. But the point of this is to show that Fracture is horrible.

There is literally one reason to ever bring fracture, and that is if you know your combo will be interrupted before you get the third ability off. At that point, Fracture is superior. But even considering using the ability could cause you to lose more DPS than simply keeping it off your bar, as you're talking bottom of the barrel potency levels before it can even start being considered.

To even call Fracture a DPS gain is farcical at best. It's a sidegrade of the absolute worst rotation for output that you have, on a combo that should only be used if you both need to regen mana and want to get some light healing in at the same time.

Long story short, don't use fracture. It's horrible.

[Docfiord_Fowling]

Agreed. Fracture (cross classed) is a very situational move. However, I am curious to see how Skill Speed will effect the damage of DoTs since the change. Regardless, I doubt Fracture will beat Scourge anytime soon.

[Miyuyu]

Hey all! Figured I'd share a few of my tricks that I've picked up along the way.

If single target - My general plan is to open with a big burst of threat. To that end, I use: Mend --> SC --> HS --> DA --> SS --> Carve and Spit --> PS - Pas

At this point, I've frontloaded so much damage that I shouldn't have to worry about threat for a significant portion of time. At that point it's just a matter of DPSing. I toss up Blood Price immediately after I've established threat. Weave stun \ plunge (assuming this will not be needed for fight mechanics). I made it a habit to always hit dark arts immediately before I press SyS.

I tend to only use Carve and Spit with Dark Arts during my threat combo and use it as an MP boost during my DPS time. This is because while it would be more DPS to use C&S with Dark Arts, using DA with Soul Eater leads for bigger self healing and thus more survivability. The rest is just hitting GCD abilities \ BP.

[Miyuyu]

As for AOE packs, I -try- to set it up such that I have salted down as I pull them to me. What I like to do here is initiate with mend in hopes of an unleashed proc, spam unleash a few times when the mobs are on me, and then hit blood price. After blood price goes up, I will start using Dark Arts + Abyssal Drain as much as humanly possible to assist with the self healing. I make sure to place Another Victim on the mob lowest so that I get a chunk of mana back when blood price is down.

Sometimes though you'll drain mana due to using BP at a bad time or using dark passenger at the wrong time. In this case it's when I tend to fall behind and have to start going into syphon combos. If your DPS is GOOD, like.. REALLY good, or you have a SMN, you'll need to start looking at threat bars because as soon as your mana is safe, you may need to do PS combos for threat. Chances are your mana won't be strong enough for you to start spamming unleash \ abyssal. It really just depends on the group.

[Miyuyu]

I find my biggest threat is that I will run out of TP before I run out of mana if there aren't any bards\ mchs around.

I dunno. Just some muddled thoughts that I gathered while tanking today. Hope this helps.

[Praesul]

Fracture isn't a DPS gain for the DRK, and is of questionable use otherwise.

I should have clarified that I was going by how it functions on PLD and WAR, and assumed it'd be similar. I never actually tested fracture for DRK myself.

And even if it WAS a minor DPS increase, I feel like it just costs too much TP anyway.