The Definitive Dark Knight Guide

[Gardes]

C&S unbuffed rewards half the MP needed for a Dark Arts. C&S has a 60 second cooldown. It'll take 2 C&Ss (1 or 2min) for the MP return to provide a 'free' Dark Arts that you otherwise wouldn't have had access to - and you're sacrificing 700 potency to get it.

Still though - you're a tank, so EHP > DPS if appropriate. If you're in a scenario where you're taking high inc damage and you feel a self-heal is more important than a DPS boost - then yeah obey that priority instead and just vanilla C&S - which will move DA'd SE's availability up 1 syphon combo

Hmm, over 2 cns, you get 2x150 and 1DA. Assuming you dont use that mp on another DA cns and use it on SE instead, you get (2x150) + 160 = 460 potency gain for near 0 mp vs 2 x (150+300) = 900 potency gain for 3600 mp. I want to say DA cns is the way to go but my cheapass nickel and diming brain keeps sending conflicting signals lol..

It's like seeing a meal being sold for 5 dollars and another meal twice the size of the 1st one being sold for 20 while knowing the bigger size meal is the one that would sate me and I'm only allowed to purchase one meal.

[Xenosan]

Ignore MP cost. For comparison you should assume both rotations are using the same amount of Syphons, Blood Weapons, and Blood Prices. \

All that matters is the differential. Which is sacrificing +350 potency for +0.5 the cost of a Dark Arts.

Souleater is 260 potency, DA'd Souleater is 400 (+140) - not sure where you're getting 150 and 160.

C&S is 100 potency, DA'd C&S is 450 (+350) - not sure where you're getting 150+300.

Like Malusion said last page - you can't compare 400 (DA'd Souleater) to 450 (DA'd C&S) - because C&S is oGCD and doesn't disrupt combos, it's benefiting from unbuffed Souleater - if the rotations are identical:

C&S buffed is 450 + 260 (Souleater) = 710

Souleater buffed is 400 + 100 (C&S) = 500

It'll take 2 C&S before a 'free' +140 is available to the unbuffed C&S combo, which is not as good as +210 from constant C&S buffing.

The ratio is constant. It doesn't matter how long the encounter - not buffing C&S will never amount to higher DPS unless it's an AoE situation.

[Gardes]

Ignore MP cost. For comparison you should assume both rotations are using the same amount of Syphons, Blood Weapons, and Blood Prices. \

All that matters is the differential. Which is sacrificing +350 potency for +0.5 the cost of a Dark Arts.

Souleater is 260 potency, DA'd Souleater is 400 (+140) - not sure where you're getting 150 and 160.

C&S is 100 potency, DA'd C&S is 450 (+350) - not sure where you're getting 150+300.

I'm getting 160 from the potency you gain by using the mp you gain from 2cns on a soul eater. I went to double check the non DA potency on xivd but read the non combo DA potency instead.

As for the 150+300 one, I didnt check and just pulled from my head, which gave me 150 instead of 100 so assumed to gain was 300.

... it's past midnight where I am. That must be it. So uh, 340 vs 900. Yeah. damage to time, DA CnS is superior I guess.

Wait, that means an mp cns that is used for unleash would only amount to 400, not 450. Your DP example at 100 + (150x3) is better.

[Allyrion]

C&S unbuffed rewards half the MP needed for a Dark Arts. C&S has a 60 second cooldown. It'll take 2 C&Ss (1 or 2min) for the MP return to provide a 'free' Dark Arts that you otherwise wouldn't have had access to - and you're sacrificing 700 potency to get it.

Assuming you use your Dark Arts on SE instead of just not using Dark Arts at all, you won't just be losing 700 potency.
You'd be losing the difference of SE's and C&S's gains, which is 210. Multiply by that by 2 to make up DA's cost.

So you'd lose 420 potency for your free Dark Arts (and SE's self healing), rather than 700.

[Teleste]

Excellent work. Thank you for sharing.

[NaginataX]

Lots of information to take in as a new DK but worth the read.

[Giantbane]

In case anyone was wondering, here's the priority list for using your MP for damage for single targets:

1. Unmend - 150 potency/~350 mana = ~0.429 potency per mana spent
2. Dark Passenger - 150 potency/~885? mana = ~0.169 potency per mana spent (i forget exactly, it's like half of DA isn't it?)
3. DA + C&S - 350 potency/~2655? mana = ~0.132 potency per mana spent (dark arts adds 350 potency from normal C&S, and then C&S loses its normal mana regen effect. You're spending ~1770 on dark arts, and you're then losing the ~885 or so mana that you didn't regen from C&S)
4. DA + Soul eater - 120 potency/~1770 mana = ~0.068 potency per mana spent (see below)
5. DA + Dark passenger - 100 extra potency/~1770 mana = ~0.056 potency per mana spent

On DA + Soul Eater. If you're purely concerned with damage, when not using soul eater, you'll be using delirium. So going from Delirium (280 potency) to DA + SE (400 potency) only adds 120 potency. If you're stuck on the hp regen while tanking, then it's 160, which comes out to ~0.9 potency per mana spent, which doesn't change the order at all.

You'll notice unmend is the clear winner. But this is only if you can't use a normal TP based attack. So you'd only want to unmend if you were out of TP or if you weren't in melee range and unmend wasn't going to break your combo.

[Xenosan]

Dark Passenger - 150 potency/~885? mana = ~0.169 potency per mana spent (i forget exactly, it's like half of DA isn't it?)

884 MP. Funny thing, switch to PLD and check the MP cost of Stoneskin, it's also 884 iirc.

Think a quick fix for Dark Passenger. It has that base 884 cost to include I see it now

[Decrith]

Nice write-up. I'd like to point out though, some abbreviations doesn't seem consistent.

In the Abbreviations, you mention Delirium as (DL).

But in the Single target rotation, you refer to it as DE. That's all, thanks for your hard work.

[Fatshine]

If I don't have the mp for a DA + SE combo should I just stick with the DL combo? It's 20 more potency than a regular SE combo. So far that's what I have been doing.

DA + PS (establish amazing hate lead) > DA + SE > DL combo spam (when mp is low) > DA + SE > Non DA PS combo (including oGCD's between everything of course).