Oh god, DKs!

[GeekMatt]

As for keeping them alive--utilize regen. The second you see their AoE enmity builder go off, throw regen on him, don't wait for HP to start dropping. Regen will help prevent their HP from dipping and diving, and you can balance it out with Cure I, hitting Cure II only when HP is lower. On larger pulls if you can get off a Holy, I recommend doing that twice for the stun, and more for the DPS if you feel safe (If my tank is extra squishy I'll swiftcast my first Holy)

[Alisi]

As for keeping them alive--utilize regen.)

I do use regen. It's my most utilized spell (I keep the others up with regen while I'm spamming the tank.) As for Cure 1, I couldn't. The damage he was taking was greater than what Cure 1 healed. That was my problem with going OOM. I know that. But Cure 1 just wasn't doing anything. He dropped so fast. With my scholar, I had the buffs and the fairy heals and shields, and all that. I level my scholar to 60 first and I don't remember DKs being so hard to heal on my Scholar. But in a dungeon lower than level 50, I don't have Benediction and regen is my only insta-heal.

That's my biggest problem. It's that huge drop of HP. It's so sudden and random. They'll be up at 100% HP and suddenly they're at 15% HP, and it's a scramble to get them back up. Maybe this is a WHM problem though. Just the way the class is set up.

[GeekMatt]

I do use regen. It's my most utilized spell (I keep the others up with regen while I'm spamming the tank.) As for Cure 1, I couldn't. The damage he was taking was greater than what Cure 1 healed. That was my problem with going OOM. I know that. But Cure 1 just wasn't doing anything. He dropped so fast. With my scholar, I had the buffs and the fairy heals and shields, and all that. I level my scholar to 60 first and I don't remember DKs being so hard to heal on my Scholar. But in a dungeon lower than level 50, I don't have Benediction and regen is my only insta-heal.

That's my biggest problem. It's that huge drop of HP. It's so sudden and random. They'll be up at 100% HP and suddenly they're at 15% HP, and it's a scramble to get them back up. Maybe this is a WHM problem though. Just the way the class is set up.

My WHM getting to 60 didn't have problems going oom, and always had the necessary potency for the type of pulls I encountered in DF with DRKs/WARs/PLDs, not to say it was always easy or that I never let someone die but those were my own derps, and I noticed squish with DRKs specifically with trash mobs, bosses/trials seemed fine. On AST I lacked the potency once to keep up a DRK on a pull.

For you, it sounds like an issue where the tanks were consistently biting off more than they can chew and it's just bad luck on your part to see it so often, or the healer was undergeard (but I think you were sync'd down for some of this?) In any case if you know you're going to be depleting MP quickly, don't wait to pop SoS, the sooner you pop it the sooner you get it back and if your MP never refills then SoS wasn't wasted.

[Anubis_Nephthys]

How are you healing a monk ability?
Oh! You mean Dark Knights.
That would be DRKs...

[Culfinrandir]

There's another post about this with exactly the same issues - DRK seem incredibly squishy for no discernible reason. When the DRK is less than lvl60 this is mainly due to the gear they have to choose from but why some, and it is only some, are a HP sink at i160+ I have no idea.

[Marveth]

Because Dark Knight us still a relatively new job, a lot of people who level dark have low level gear and are generally low level for the dungeon in itself. Most other tanks in the same dungeons are level synched, thus their stats are vastly different and is probably the reason to this topic.

[Raminax]

If there's anything that Dark Knights lack compared to their other tanking brethren, it's passive mitigation, so to speak. Ignoring each tank's stances...

Paladins get their shield and can thus block a fair amount of physical damage. They also naturally Blind enemies while generating AoE enmity.
While tiny, Warriors will be getting some bonus Parry (2% per Wrath stack, I believe) by just performing their basic rotation in Defiance.
Dark Knights get... nothing. Zero, zilch, nada.

So, if your tank barely ever uses their defensive cooldowns, then it isn't particularly wierd that Dark Knights may seem weaker (and I don't know about your experiences, but a tank popping so much as a Rampart is a serious contender for a commendation to me). They have no passive mitigation besides their tanking stance bonus, while the other two at least get something by playing the bare minimum. Dark Knights need to regularly use their cooldowns, else they're mitigating less than the other two tanks.

[Phoebus]

I know 40 to 50 was rougher on drk to level in dungeons due to no relic armor the other two tanks have. As far as mitigation their skill set is very similar to pld.

[Kumori_Kumo]

I can't speak with any real authority on it, but I'm told that tanking with DRK at 60 is way different than tanking at 50, so there remains a possibility that it was just built differently? Like it's not a full set pre-60? I can't say for sure, I'm still only 35 DRK myself.

I do notice however that WHM and AST have a harder time healing DRK, while as a SCH I really don't have half the problems they do. Perhaps they just interact better with a mitigation healer? It's hard to say.