The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[Docfiord_Fowling]

How often do you guys find yourself using the Power Slash combo? I feel like it's way easier to move Soul Eater to 1-2-3 since I use it way more often than Power Slash.

Rarely. I use a Dark Arts Power Slice opener and, for some fights, I never have to use it again. Otherwise, only do it as necessary. I'm running with 2/5 STR accessories

[Xenosan]

"Never use C&S without Dark Arts" is a poor way to put it. It suggest sitting on the CD if MP isn't available for DA.

Sitting on a large recast oGCD WS for more than a few GCDs is not optimal. The longer the fight, the worse it gets.

IMO better way to think of it is to just stay aware: every 60 seconds, "I better have enough MP for a Dark Arts." It is indeed forward thinking.

[Miyuyu]

Yeah. That's basically what I'm getting at. I see a lot of people trying to optimize DPS without considering the tank stance as a whole. It's not generally as simple as "do all the dps all the time."

In a perfect world scenario, sure. Not in actual play tho.

[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.

[HidingYoshis]

"Never use C&S without Dark Arts" is a poor way to put it. It suggest sitting on the CD if MP isn't available for DA.

Sitting on a large recast oGCD WS for more than a few GCDs is not optimal. The longer the fight, the worse it gets.

IMO better way to think of it is to just stay aware: every 60 seconds, "I better have enough MP for a Dark Arts." It is indeed forward thinking.

Delaying a 100 potency off GCD for two GCDs in order to more than quadruple the damage of it is worth it. Forward thinking it is -- Thus, never use it without Dark Arts. If you don't have the mana for it because you're over investing and not managing well enough, then fix it for the future because you're not doing it properly.

If we didn't strive toward optimal play "because no one plays perfectly", then we would never get anywhere.

[Xenosan]

If we didn't strive toward optimal play "because no one plays perfectly", then we would never get anywhere.

You are making an argument where there isn't one.

No Dark Arts for C&S is a DPS loss.

Sitting on an available C&S until you have enough MP to afford DA is also a DPS loss.

Neither choice is good. You screwed up either way. Is sitting on the CD the better of the two mistakes? That depends on the length of the fight and the number of occurrences the player holds back on it.

[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.

[Eej]

You are making an argument where there isn't one.

No Dark Arts for C&S is a DPS loss.

Sitting on an available C&S until you have enough MP to afford DA is also a DPS loss.

Neither choice is good. You screwed up either way. Is sitting on the CD the better of the two mistakes? That depends on the length of the fight and the number of occurrences the player holds back on it.

On PLD, sitting on Circle of Scorn CD for ~8 seconds so that it matches up with Fight or Flight cooldown so you can get two of them within the duration of F&F is a DPS increase. I don't see how this is any different.

[Faytte]

It has no cost but off gcd is misleading. You have to press the button and then click where it will be casted. It isnt worth a full gcd but its is treated as two keyboard inputs in the game which requires a delay between 1 and 2.

Its still a dps gain and should be used whenever possible.

[Faytte]

Snip

1)yes
2)10% is huge (busters)
3)Critical mechanics ignore dodge, 30% chance to lower damage by 20% vs like near 100% (base shield block is quite high) to reduce by 25-35 with current shields.
4)Agreed
5)HG lets the healers focus on the raid, LD puts them under the gun to full heal you. Holmgang is better.
6)Too small to be meaningful when it matters. Paladins can heal themselves back to back with 1200 potency healing when its needed. Warriors can do something similar with cooldowns.
7)Traited Cova/Awarness--we get more out of both skills.
8)Simply having a shield, shield blocks occur very very often and the damage mitigation scales with item level of your shield(block strength).
9)Sheltron: 30 second on demand block on a physical attack (buster
10)10% less damage from rage of halone
11)Easier Blind(if ap)

If mitigation was similar then you would be very over powered with all of your damage capabilities.