The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[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.

[SpookyGhost]

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.

Usually helps to point out why openers are god-awful rather than just saying they are.

[Sweetgrass]

.

1. None of them use Salted Earth first, when it is DRK's single highest pps off GCD skill.

2. None of them use Scourge as the first GCD, when it is DRK's single highest pps GCD skill.

3. None of them use Carve and Spit ASAP, when it is DRK's second highest pps off GCD skill and great for establishing enmity.

4. None of them use potions early to boost the above.

5. None of them use Dark Arts prior to pulling, when it has a 10 second duration and out of combat MP regen is extremely useful.

6. Using Unmend as the first GCD in a offtank rotation.

It's sloppy, barely thought out, and not even mathematically accurate. Compared to the DPS threads, it makes this guide look like a joke, which isn't fair to anyone that likes the class.

Here's something I made a while ago that would probably be useful if people were looking to minmax their play, but I have my doubts if it'll actually get rectified in the OP
http://puu.sh/qIvTK/fd2d93ce4a.jpg

[SpookyGhost]

While I agree they aren't the best openers,

2. None of them use Scourge as the first GCD, when it is DRK's single highest pps GCD skill.

3. None of them use Carve and Spit ASAP, when it is DRK's second highest pps off GCD skill and great for establishing enmity.

4. None of them use potions early to boost the above.

You may want to re-check them, as one is with NIN and one is without. TA isn't up on your first GCD, so with TA you want to be able to snapshot Scourge under it as well as use DACS under it. The potion delay is also due to this, since potions sit on a relatively long timer it's significantly better to get it's duration to line up with TA.

I do, however, agree with points 1, 5, and 6.

[Sweetgrass]

.

Scourge is 16.7 pps, waiting any length of time on this for a 10% increase is not worth it.

Carve and Spit is a very slight DPS increase by using it after TA, yes, but it provides no initial enmity spike for tanking, and it's very questionable if it's possible to hold enmity without using it early, even with a NIN.

You misunderstood point 4, DRK's extremely high pps is best used ASAP, this includes under potion buff, as most of DRK's damage is done in the first 2-3 GCDs.

A lot of BRDs/MCHs will apply Foe Requiem/Hypercharge ASAP as well, so this will benefit the DRK that uses their skills ASAP. A lot of bosses also only give you windows to reapply skills like Scourge or Carve and Spit very sparingly, so being able to get off another usage before they phase/jump away/mechanics happen is a big deal.

[Hierro]

http://puu.sh/qIvTK/fd2d93ce4a.jpg

I like what you made. I once posted in a thread some months ago about MT DRK openers, and I got some flack for mentioning I like to use unmend>plunge>scourge for my pulls. You could check here http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...er-as-mt/page6 , but the point is there was quite a bit of discussion against the use, either due to damage lost from being done in grit, or 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. Thought it'd be interesting for you to check out to refine your opener, or if you disagree could you explain how your way could be better than the other thread's suggestions?