Am I missing something about DRK?

[pandabearcat]

I feel like I'm playing it wrong, either that or I am not seeing the huge damage nor the "decent" mitigation that it has.

It feels like a PLD without block. I feel like I'm taking a lot more damage without really giving any more in terms of self healing or mitigation. Do you guys use soul devourer (even though it is 20 less potency) rather than delirum spam?

PLD get block, WAR get parry + self healing, DRK get worse self healing...and nothing else. I feel like they need something here, just to smooth out autoattack damage.

Darkside drains so much mana I am lucky if I can get 1 dark arts per minute, using Dark Passenger as well.

Dark Arts uses so much mana that on prolonged fights I do not use it - in favor of using unmend as I run out of TP (unmend, assuming you are out of TP is more efficient per point of mana, even with darkside up).

The heal from soul devourer, even with dark arts, still feels very low. Maybe 7% of my health?

Mana upkeep without blood weapon just feels impossible...I am fighting a losing battle vs darkside.

I checked my usage, and with full syphon > delirium rotation, I gain roughly 1/5th of a dark arts back every time. 5x3 rotation is something like 40 seconds per dark art.

Out of grit, I feel extremely squishy compared to my PLD. I do enjoy spamming ~4 dark arts in a row, but I feel like it isn't even that much more burst. On paper, it is something like 500 more potency than PLD in similar scenario...only if the PLD doesn't have FoF, and FoF is up every 90 seconds, compared to blood weapon's 45. So I'd say its almost a wash here as well.

Bottom line is, I feel like I'm missing something. I don't want to dump on DRK, I just want to learn why it feels like I'm taking more damage and doing meh damage compared to my PLD.

On a related note, why won't they let me use blood weapon with grit? Mana regen without it is horrifying.

[Hundred]

Using Syphon strike at least once every 20 seconds pays for Darkside.
Additional syphon strikes after that work to alleviate the cost of Darkside and pay for other abilities.
Given an initial set up such as
Power slash combo + 2x De/SE combo you'll gain back 1768 mana. Darkside will take 846 of that.

Soul Eater is more-so just retroactive AA mitigation. Given AA's are typically every 3s. an 800 soul eater for instance after getting whacked for 2.4k AA's x3 gives you back basically 10% of what you lost. That doesn't make it great mind you, but it contributes.

Passive mitigation is slightly lacking to PLD in the context of physical (and assuredly in terms of active mitigation). Gap isn't particularly large @ current because Shield strengths have been reset, but it will widen overtime.)

Basically just a bit more dmg then PLD and an extra skill for magi busters. That is drk yes their passive magical mitigation is less then PLD and their magical mitigation is basically good for 1 hit.


Mana without blood weapon is fine, handle your syphon strikes.

[TwerkMastaJdo]

Your missing blood price & Sole Survivor. Both have utility in every single raid encounter in the game as of yet.

[pandabearcat]

I know I'm missing a few abilities, but the core rotation should be there, and it is very painful.

Even with exclusive syphon combo usage (aside from the first dark arts > power slash threat combo) I cannot manage much more than using dark arts solely for defensive abilities.

I will maybe get one buffed (really though...120 potency for 30% of my mana? >.<) soul devourer for damage every 30-40 seconds, and when I get that carving ability I doubt I will ever use da > soul devourer.

DRK's mana usage per minute just from dark passenger and darkside is extremely high, you say 1 syphon every 20 seconds for darkside, I say 3 syphons every minute, you only get roughly 8-9 combos a minute, meaning you only get 5 combos of syphon. Syphon itself takes about 1.5-2 to pay for dark passenger, twice a minute, meaning you are left with about 2-3 syphon strikes. It takes about 2.5 syphon strikes to pay for one DA...hence 1 DA per minute baseline, without blood price.

With blood price you get maybe 1 more. If you're using dark mind on cd or using DA > dark dance for aoe mitigation, you're already boned again.

I feel like the cost of it should be down by 25-50%, to allow us to liberally use it for defensives while still having some left over for offensive abilities.

[Kleys]

Pro tips: Don't use the enmity combo. Only use syphon's strike based combos.

[Hundred]

You basically never do more then 1 power slash combos on a single enemy in this game for dungeons, and like 3 at most if that for most bosses and often won't use it when dealing with mobs given unleash will cover that. Basically all Drk does is Soul eater and delirium combos which recover mana. It's literally 1 syphon every 20s to pay for Darkside which is lamen terms is "if all you do is maintain Delirium, you will pay for Darkside".

Once aggro is established only Dark arts and DP are mana taxes. Mana for Dark arts is provided at the same rate as Warriors. 8 GCD's. Only difference is that Darks are frontloaded with their "stacks" (mana) where as Warriors start from 0.

Simply plug in Blood Price then throw in Sole Survivor opportunities and Carve & Spit if you get overzealous.

Really simplified rotation:
Power Slash, 3-4x of Delirium/Soul eater combo, Throwing Dark arts and Blood Price as you see fit. Maintain Salted Earth on your target and Scourge. Though basically when you look at your party list if you're not going to lose aggro, power slash doesnt exist. It provides no sustain unlike Soul eater and DA soul eater and it's less damage then Delirium its sole purpose is aggro which you already have.

[pandabearcat]

It just feels kinda boring spamming soul devourer.

I KNOW to use the syphon combo. If you guys read my posts, I use it exclusively. The problem is this still nets you roughly 2 dark arts a minute...kinda poopy.

I was hoping for more nuanced and liberal dark arts usage, esp since your defensive cds aren't actually useful unless you save DA for it, and Dark Passenger is an added mana drain.

I just feel that dark arts is way too little of an improvement for way too much cost, aside from using it with cds (and I'm assuming carve).

PS, do you guys spam delirium or go soul devourer? Soul is less potency but gives you healing. Do you notice the healing at all?

[Nico_Of_Awesome]

Ummm I'm pretty sure you're not supposed Dark Arts as much as possible, that's why the mana cost is so high. I personally use it once every three Syphon Strike combos, I only use Dark passenger DA'd on large groups. Other than that Blood Price on large groups will allow you to have all the mana ever. (Okay exaggeration but you'll have a lot.) Other than that I use my Power combo once or twice per boss and never on single mobs, your unleash and unmend can easily hold threat and save you some TP usage as well. and just syphon strike combos will keep your Mana at acceptable levels as long as you aren't DAing every single rotation.

I personally do 1 Delirium for every 2 Souleaters, when tanking Souleater while not a ton does contribute to your mitigation. If I have a monk I just use Soul Eater, unless I feel like I can get away without Souleater.

I don't play Paladin, but I hate Paladins (in general in every fantasy game it's a dumb bias I know don't judge.) but my DRK at 55 feels much more durable than my WAR at 53. I really don't care about my damage TBH I'm there to mitigate damage control the positioning of the fight, maintain aggro, pick up adds if needed, and keep an eye on boss cast bars. "If" while doing all that I so happen to put out good damage that's cool!

[Allyrion]

It just feels kinda boring spamming soul devourer.

I KNOW to use the syphon combo. If you guys read my posts, I use it exclusively. The problem is this still nets you roughly 2 dark arts a minute...kinda poopy.

I was hoping for more nuanced and liberal dark arts usage, esp since your defensive cds aren't actually useful unless you save DA for it, and Dark Passenger is an added mana drain.

I just feel that dark arts is way too little of an improvement for way too much cost, aside from using it with cds (and I'm assuming carve).

PS, do you guys spam delirium or go soul devourer? Soul is less potency but gives you healing. Do you notice the healing at all?

Only Dark Dance and Dark Mind are tied to DA. Shadowskin and Shadow Wall are useful all the time.

I use Delirium when I'm pretty topped off, and to keep the debuff up if there's no MNK.
I'll use SE if I feel like the heal won't be overheal and damage is a consistent.
The heal is noticeable but not really significant.

I get as much DA-SE as I can, but yea you do have to save it for CDs sometimes.
It's not that liberal, but I feel most of the DA effect is significant enough. I'd like if DA-SE gave more healing though.

Don't use Dark Passenger on single target. It's really not worth the mana.
And it's not a mana drain for AoE because of Blood Price.

There are a lot of fights where you can turn off DA to regain some mana, with minimal to no dps loss.
The biggest one is Ravana Ex. When tanking Rav Ex, I toggle Darkside a lot because there's a lot of waiting around between phases (and his damn reflect shields).
There are places to do that in most of the Alex fights too.

If they decide to buff DRK, then reducing the cost of Dark Arts would be pretty great.
It would be nice if it could be used more when Darkside already adds a drain.
But as it is, you can maintain with every 3rd combo which makes it a constant thing to do.

Add in proper Blood Price and Sole Survivor usage, as well as good Dark Side toggling, you get it a good bit more.

[pandabearcat]

Dark passenger is twice as efficient mana wise as dark arts...

I will look into toggling darkside, but its mana cost means you'll have to be at least a couple mana ticks in to make up for it, not to mention lowered damage, obviously.