The lens through which we must view DRK when discussing its balance and problems.

[OPneedNerfs]

That will make them quite useless indeed regarding that debuff if you happen to get two Dark Knights though, especially considering the offtank won't be able to get a proc if it's a single boss.

Same goes for double war/ double pld since those debuffs don't stack either. What's your point? :/

[Xenosan]

The thing is being the best aoe damage tank is a completely meaningless distinction, what fight does that actually matter? No one cares about performance in four mans, that is not and should never be relevant to the discussion.

Quality of life. That's DRK's forte. Ground Placement DoT, a gap closer, a ranged AOE, and more oGCDs than a Dragoon can shake a spear at. Things PLD/WAR know they'll never have

But

Warrior has Slashing buff, Damage Down debuff (both 100% up-time), and absurd DPS.

PLD has better self mitigation, much unique party-wide support, and a STR Down debuff -- also 100% up-time (DRK Delirium INT-Down false equivalency responses incoming!).

DRK has QoL, but like AST, it is not fitting into optimized raid configurations as well as it should. With Tank/Healer roles, there's no middle road. Raids go with the best until over-gearing and Echo allow otherwise.

[Seku]

I think that drk needs some re-balancing, but i don't think that it's as bad as people are claiming it to be. It has virtually the same cool downs as 2.0 PLD and Warrior's damage from 2.0. With how their debuff for reprisal work and on parries. Dark Arts also seem to increase everything dramatically in terms of damage. Not a level 60 yet, but I can see them starting off the fight and basically throwing threat up through the roof, tank swapping when a mechanic goes off and then switching out into full DPS mode. To me, they look like a professional OT for raids.

Shadow skin = Rampart
Shadow wall = sentinel
Dark mind = free unique added bonus to the job.

The rest of GLA'S old (2.0) defensive abilities can be brought over. So I don't know why people are trying to claim that DRK can't take a hit, when virtually it's PLD just minus a shield. I just wish SE would have given them lancer's abilities instead of mrd.

Only thing it truly seems to be missing is the same thing DRG was missing until recently, something to benefit the group in terms of raid utility since it crosses over with monk's Dragon kick.

[BadRNG]

So I don't know why people are trying to claim that DRK can't take a hit, when virtually it's PLD just minus a shield. I just wish SE would have given them lancer's abilities instead of mrd.

I agree some are exaggerating their squishiness a bit, but why do people keep saying stuff like this as if not having a shield isn't a big deal. The shield is part of the reason PLD is so durable. It's incredibly strong passive mitigation going on constantly, and it just got better in 3.0 with shelltron.

[TheCount]

Same goes for double war/ double pld since those debuffs don't stack either. What's your point? :/

My point is that it would be even more useless than those instances, since reprise can't be reliably kept up. The only good point about it is that it stacks with other damage debuffs.

If it isn't clear yet:

Let's assume you have a double war. You won't be able to benefit doubly from it but at least it can be kept up as much as they want.

Now let's assume you have a double drk. Not only is it impossible to keep up for them, one can't even apply it to begin with because you need a parry for it. So not only can't they stack with eachother obviously they also can't reliably keep the debuff applied for the life of them.

[Felorr]

Storms Path and Reprisal, is it additive or multiplicative?

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I do think Flash needs a damage component added to it. However DRK needs a lot of buffs. Flash should do at least 80-100 potency. Just because of how new content works, maybe a trait that adds damage to flash?

[Timat]

I see a lot of people saying DRKs have a big advantage (or at least a noticable one) in damage vs other thanks.

Anyone have hard numbers to prove this? Or is it all just by feeling?

And secondly...the main purpose of a tank is to...tank. Does having the best damage really matter in that case?

[Xenosan]

Hard numbers tbh aren't so definite atm, Heavensward is not being friendly to ACT -- whether it's for the new jobs or the original ones. If someone is having better luck.. wooops wrong forum. but there's also a lot of aspects to factor just having a level cap, stat weights changes, rotations, etc etc before accurate comparisons can be made

The DRK DPS advantage - if any - would only be when MT

It's an easy bet to place that Warrior still sits the throne at OT if they're effectively zerking triple FCs.

[Kiteless]

I also feel that it's worth mentioning that PLD DPS isn't actually as terrible as a lot of people make it out to be. I honestly expect all the tanks will be fairly close as MT. DRK might outstrip WAR and PLD by a bit, but I don't think it'll be by much.