[Opener/Tips/Advices] How to play Drk

[LuceliaUltima]

Hi everyone,

I'd like help my co-tank on improving his Drk gameplay.

I'm looking for main Drk, or ppl that knows very well this class, who could link me the most effective guide possible, reddit threads, youtube video-guide ...

Not really in terms of basics, but more on an offensive PoV, i'd like to know what is recognize by the Drk community as the "official" way to play a Drk.

I'm doing researchs on the net this and there, then I don't find what i'm looking for, I'm sure u guyz know what you are talking about, and can light my candle.

I'm looking for tips, and advices. Aswell I'm looking for the correct openers and what numbers it might bring to team.

Thx guyz.

[Brannigan]

The first thing you have to know about Dark Knights is that they are driven by anger and sadness. Therefore, you should immediately have your entire group start making fun of the Dark Knight however they can. Tease, ridicule, and berate him/her constantly. Don't pull your punches, either - get really personal with it. Passive aggressive stuff works, too. This will fuel their dark powers and give them a massive increase in DPS.

[MagiusNecros]

In a party have the Drk communicate with the Healer. As ironic as this may sound the Drk is healer reliant in certain situations. Telling the WHM not to Holy like a loser when Bloodprice is up might also help. Since enemies will be stunned(and build resistance) and starve the Drk of MP. Usually if a Drk and a Healer are on the same page battles run much more smoothly.

[Februs]

I'm looking for main Drk, or ppl that knows very well this class, who could link me the most effective guide possible, reddit threads, youtube video-guide ...
Not really in terms of basics, but more on an offensive PoV, i'd like to know what is recognize by the Drk community as the "official" way to play a Drk. I'm doing researchs on the net this and there, then I don't find what i'm looking for

You're gonna have trouble finding this, because I honestly don't think it exists.Most of the introductory Drk guides that came out when the Job was first introduced were by no means "advanced" or aggressive styles of gameplay, and a lot of the earliest ideas about Drk have been either debunked completely or revised since then. There are also, seemingly, several different methods of playing Drk against regular trash mobs that are equally effective, but are have different priorities, difficulty of rotation, and aggression. I'd like to link you a video that does a good job of summing them all up, but I've never seen one.

It might help you get specific answers in this thread if you get a little more specific in your questions, though. I've seen a lot of good advice thrown around about Drk on the forums, we just need to know what exactly you want to learn. Is your biggest concern Trash pulls or boss fights? Are there any specific moves you're not sure about? etc. If you can narrow down the question a little than the group here might have better help for you.

[LuceliaUltima]

I'd like to know more about boss fights, trash pulls and dungeons doesn't really matter to me, since i'm looking for advanced tips, not basics. Like you said Februs an "agressive style" guide like it's been done on warriors.

I'd like to know what are the top Drk openers on raids, then what's the most effective rotations to use (we have a mnk in team), also about the best use of darkarts regarding the manapool or/and the choice between using it on a defensive or offensive way. The use of carve'n'spit between building mp or dps, same for souleater over powerslash regarding mp regen/hate/dmg.

My goal is to know how could my co-tank improve his dps while keeping up his tanking abilities. It's not only u want more deeps, drop grit and tell your healers to get gud. No, like other classes there's a rotation to use, priorities to have and tips to follow to get the best of the class.

I'm looking for useful threads like those posted on the dps forums, including openers, rotations, detailed tips on specific fights. Not gonna lie, i haven't scrolled all the tank forums pages, and probly what i'm looking for is somewhere. I'm gonna spend more time on seeking forums.

Again thx guyz.

[Freyyy]

I don't know any good/reliable DRK guide out there, but I'm a DRK main and I can surely give some advices.

First, my playstyle varies if there is a MNK or not in the party. My group is running DRG + NIN so I 90% of the time make sure to refresh the Delirium debuff, unless the boss isn't doing very high magic damage (but in savage they all do except in A2S).

The opener I usually do in most fights as MT is :

DA pre-pull, then Unmend + Plunge -> Scourge + Carve & Spit + Low Blow -> Hard Slash + Salted Earth + Dark Dance -> Spinning Slash + Dark Passenger + Blood Price -> Power Slash, then I do a Delirium combo, then another Power Slash combo, then drop Grit and start rotating between Dark Arts + Souleater combos and Delirium combos while using Blood Weapon and Bloodbath together and rotating defensive CDs as needed to compensate for Grit. If I have a MNK in my party, or if the enemy doesn't deal magic damage at the beginning, I do two Power Slash combos back-to-back, then drop Grit and start to use Dark Arts + Souleater combos, and only use Delirium to replenish MP when they start to get too low (my "danger zone" is around the cost of one Dark Arts. If you're at say, 1800 MP, don't take the risk to Dark Arts right now, because you will most likely lose Darkside by doing so. Do a Delirium combo instead, at ~2300-2500 MP you're safe to DA if you're sure that you'll have the time to replenish MP enough before you need them again, like for example if you need to put Grit back on). Keep in mind that when I say that I drop Grit, it's just that I do it here most of the time, but it really depends on the fight. If you need to be in your tanking stance for a longer period of time, do it. Grit usage depends on each fight, and also depends on you and your healers' comfort zone. Generally when you're still getting used to a fight, I'd recommend to first play safe and analyze when the big damages are occuring in order to plan your tanking stance and cooldown usage accordingly. Then you can start to optimize your DPS by finding how and when you can be out of Grit while not being a total paper-tank.

The rotation is kinda based on a priority system which could be very simply explained like that :
1. Refresh Scourge
2. Refresh Delirium if there is no MNK
3. Use as much Dark Arts + Souleater combos as possible

While using the least amount of Power Slash combos as possible as it is your lowest damaging combo AND doesn't give you MP back. Only use it if you're in absolute need of single-target enmity.

While doing all of this, make sure to use all of your offensive oGCDs on cooldown, as well as Blood Price and Blood Weapon (when out of Grit). Don't forget your Low Blow resets, and your Reprisal when you get a parry. Use Dark Dance without Dark Arts to force-proc a Reprisal if you need it at a precise time (for a tankbuster, or heavy raid-wide damage for example), it works pretty well. For MP management and Dark Arts usage, I can explain it with a priority system too. In single-target fights, you'll basically use your MP with this order of priorities :

1. In the case you need to mitigate high magic damage within the next 10 seconds, Dark Arts + Dark Mind comes first priority. Otherwise, ignore this line.
2. Dark Arts Carve & Spit. You'll want to spend a Dark Arts on Carve & Spit everytime it becomes available again (every 60 seconds). You basically gain 350 potency oGCD (from the 100 base to 450) at the cost of a Dark Arts by doing this, this is absolutely HUGE. You shouldn't have/need to use a non-DA Carve & Spit in single target fights unless you fuck up, the only case in which you'll want to Carve & Spit for the MP is when AoEing on 4+ targets, because in that case, an extra Abyssal Drain outweights the 350 potency loss from not DAing your Carve & Spit.
3. Dark Passenger. It's 150 potency oGCD at the cost of half a Dark Arts. It's almost as MP-efficient as DA Carve. Prioritize this everytime it's available. Don't Dark Arts it tho, unless you have 2+ targets, then DAing it becomes more powerful than DAing a Souleater (+100 potency per target, which means 200 potency with 2 targets as opposed to +140 potency with Souleater).
4. Dark Arts + Souleater. +140 potency on your Souleater (from 260 to 400) at the cost of a Dark Arts. Ideally, you should never use Souleater without Dark Arts, because a Delirium combo does more damage than a raw Souleater while refreshing the INT debuff.

Never ever Dark Arts a Power Slash. It's the most useless thing you can spend your MP on. The bonus in enmity it grants is utter garbage and is a big big waste of MP. It's already a loss of MP to use a Power Slash combo, don't make it harder on yourself by DAing it.

Hope this helps. If there is any question(s) left feel free to ask, I'd be glad to answer.

[LuceliaUltima]

That's basically the things I'd like to learn about Drk. Thx a lot Freyja.

[Kotemon]

I've been trying to improve my Dark Knight now that im getting new abilities and rearranging my layout. I've been using this video set as a starting point while I'm getting use to the new abilities from 52 ~ 60.

Openers:Rotations and they are listed in the description.

Intros and basics

Stats or what ever will work for you There is no right or wrong, just play style and how much your healer likes you for it.

[OogaShaka]

don't slot points into strength, your not a dps that is all I have

[Brightshadow]

don't slot points into strength, your not a dps that is all I have

Learn to heal you are most likely the problem because 90% of the tanks use strength gear and it isn't a problem. The reason Vitality isn't used is because it's useless after a certain point and SE hasn't done anything to address this which has many solutions such as making tank skills scale with VIT