"Dark Knight: Tanking On The Edge"

[Cynric]

If there are other openers please post them so i can include them. There are multiple openers/variations of openers listed in the guide.

I personally don't like starting with Plunge, the animation lock is pretty annoying and on some monsters (like rafflesia in turn 6) it can be just long enough to get the party cleaved.
I prefer Pre-pull Dark Arts -> Unmend(Potion) -> Scourge(Salted Earth + Blood Weapon) After this part I change based on whether I'm OT or MT
-> Hard Slash(C&S + Dark Passenger) -> Spinning Slash(Plunge)-> Power Slash(low blow +reprisal)= enmity branch
->Hard Slash (C&S + Dark Arts) -> Syphon Strike(Plunge) -> Soul Eater (Dark passenger+ Low Blow) = DPS branch

[Syzygian]

Pre-pull Dark Arts -> Unmend(Potion) -> Scourge(Salted Earth + Blood Weapon) After this part I change based on whether I'm OT or MT
-> Hard Slash(C&S + Dark Passenger) -> Spinning Slash(Plunge)-> Power Slash(low blow +reprisal)= enmity branch
->Hard Slash (C&S + Dark Arts) -> Syphon Strike(Plunge) -> Soul Eater (Dark passenger+ Low Blow) = DPS branch

It is worth nothing that when used as a gap closer as opposed to using it within melee range, the boss will often overshoot you and then aboutface if Plunge is woven in after Unmend, as Unmend is what pulls the boss and gets it moving, not Plunge. The animation lock is also mostly over by the time you land at the feet of the boss. I've never cleaved my party in this fashion, but I digress.


As far as pot usage, I'd recommend delaying so that you can hit two DA Souleaters in the duration. This largely depends on what your GCD is with Blood Weapon up; it has to be 2.14 or less, which is why in the opener I listed, Delirium is applied first to give you some room for build-up:

SC applied earlier ----HS-SyS-DE-HS (DA) SyS (Pot) SE (DA/BW) HS (C&S/DP) SyS (DA/SaE) SE (LB) SC (PL)

Underlined is DA, Bold is pot, Italicized is BW.

This way, you get the most potency within your Pot's duration.

[Cynric]

snip

I get two Soul Eaters buffed no problem.The pot buff ends right after my second soul eater. You just have to make sure you do the OGCD's in the right places or you'll cross into your GCD.I haven't had any issues with getting two soul eaters with my opener buffed by my potion, including everything else. Also Scourge is a higher potency move that you're delaying for a possible 20 seconds of ticks. That's 2/3rds the duration just to move the damage further back in the opener.

Potion Duration : 15 seconds

Unmend(Potion)->Scourge(2.5s)(BW(15s)+SaE)->HS(4.6s)(C&S+DA)->SyS(6.7s)(PL)->SE(8.8s)(LB+DP)->HS(9.9s)->SyS(12.0s)->SE(14.1s) -> Pot End -> Blood weapon ends next GCD
A potion lasts 15 seconds, there's no reason to delay it with Delirium at all for two Soul Eaters, because you can get two soul eaters easily as long as you don't clip your GCD. You have almost an entire second of clearance for the 2nd soul eater.

This is assuming a GCD of 2.5 and a GCD during Blood weapon of 2.1, If you have more skill speed you have even more clearance.


I've never needed to delay anything by using Delirium and Delirium is hardly ever worth starting with because, It's less potency than DA -SE, The amount of magic damage going out that early is either non-existent or weak, and if you have a Monk it'll just be over written anyway.

As far as weaving plunge goes.
In my experiences my plunge always stopped exactly where the boss is, not where it was and puts me right in front of it, instead of where the front was when I used it. Weaving it doesn't give me the result you're depicting. I originally weaved it at the start but the inability to move and position 100% properly caused me to stop doing it.

My animation lock for plunge is usually a second or so after I've already landed.

[Syzygian]

I get two Soul Eaters buffed no problem.The pot buff ends right after my second soul eater. You just have to make sure you do the OGCD's in the right places or you'll cross into your GCD.I haven't had any issues with getting two soul eaters with my opener buffed by my potion, including everything else. Also Scourge is a higher potency move that you're delaying for a possible 20 seconds of ticks. That's 2/3rds the duration just to move the damage further back in the opener.

Potion Duration : 15 seconds

Unmend(Potion)->Scourge(2.5s)(BW(15s)+SaE)->HS(4.6s)(C&S+DA)->SyS(6.7s)(PL)->SE(8.8s)(LB+DP)->HS(9.9s)->SyS(12.0s)->SE(14.1s) -> Pot End -> Blood weapon ends next GCD
A potion lasts 15 seconds, there's no reason to delay it with Delirium at all for two Soul Eaters, because you can get two soul eaters easily as long as you don't clip your GCD. You have almost an entire second of clearance for the 2nd soul eater.

This is assuming a GCD of 2.5 and a GCD during Blood weapon of 2.1, If you have more skill speed you have even more clearance.

Mathed wrong in bold.

To get a GCD of 2.1 flat under BW your GCD without BW needs to be 2.33, which requires i-don't-even-know-how-much SkS. So your math isn't adding up here. With a 2.4 GCD, your GCD under BW is 2.16. My opener assumes Scourge was applied earlier and is being reapplied with a Pot, not delayed altogether.

Unmend(Potion)->Scourge(2.4s)(BW(15s)+SaE)->HS(4.56s)(C&S+DA)->SyS(6.72s)(PL)->SE(8.88s)(LB+DP)->HS(11.04s)->SyS(13.2s)->SE(15.36s) -> Pot End -> Blood weapon ends next GCD

So its very likely that next SE won't be buffed by the Pot. The first several GCDs of this pot rotation also aren't going to benefit from a slashing debuff, battle litany, and other potential buffs to your DPS. When I pot, I want to ensure that those buffed GCDs are also buffed by Trick Attack, Storm's Eye, Battle Litany, Balance, Rook Hypercharge... anything and everything.

[Iagainsti]

Mathed wrong in bold.

To get a GCD of 2.1 flat under BW your GCD without BW needs to be 2.33, which requires i-don't-even-know-how-much SkS.

Well over 1k skill speed, unattainable really.

[AlexiIvaniskavich]

.....As far as weaving plunge goes.....

There aren't a lot of fights that the boss starts off with an immediate cleave where the animation lock should cause trouble. None from present end game content that I can think of at present. Thordan pops a single target attack first granting you time to turn him --A3S is similar and A1S you have time to pull oppressor to from one end of the room to the other before cleave.

As with all openers, the goal is for a general rule, not an absolute rule. Sometimes the mechanics of a fight dictate a change in how you open a fight. A monk wouldn't use their Perfect Balance opener on Levi, because of the early dive.

I do prefer Cynric's line of thinking in having your first scourge boosted by the pot. Delaying such a potent move (for an extended period of time) that isn't tied to a combo is generally a poor idea. You really want your heavy damage hits to go early and often.

I lean to:
prepull dark arts > unmend > plunge (optional) + potion > Scourge > Salted Earth + BW > Hard Slash + C & S > Spinning Slash + DA > Soul Eater.... DA/Soul Eater combo - weaving in the oGCD's during the duration.

Drawbacks - Plunge + potion due to animation lock acts like a GCD + potential boss turning issues. Solution : You have enough GCD button pushes to weave your oGCD button pushes one at a time if you prefer before your pot wears off.

I go with Salted Earth then Blood Weapon, out of habit from PLD and WAR. Hitting FoF or Zerk just before your next GCD allows you some wiggle room if you are on the border for skill speed. (Versus hitting BW immediately after using a GCD). It's relatively minor, but hey, it has allowed me to sneak in that last little something before buff drops.

[Syzygian]

Yes, and if you pull with Unmend and then Plunge, the boss is continuing to move over the course of your leap, and your landing point isn't so much. I've never done this where I didn't wind up in the middle of the boss hitbox or completely behind the boss unless there was some huge lag spike. Its also worth nothing that I never just run up and pull, nor do I recommend that on DRK. You can get in Unmend range on almost any boss in the game without facepulling. So I do that, Unmend, then Plunge the full remaining distance and suffer less than half a second of animation delay by the time I've landed, as the animation is mostly over at that point.

[Jpec07]

Good guide!

Rotations are a little hard to follow because of the heavy abbreviation usage, but I can't fault you for it (just about every guide for every job/class/spec in every MMO ever does this).

I'll disagree with Grit being "essentially a defensive cooldown," because in my experience, in 90% of cases, you'll want to leave it on - it's a toggle-switch, which suggests as much. Especially given that Souleater doesn't restore HP without Grit, I've found that it's almost always more beneficial to leave it on.

The only thing I'd suggest is regarding Awareness: its effectiveness as a cooldown scales directly with an enemy's critical strike rating/chance, and also makes the Parry stat more effective over its duration. Not accounting for parry, the mitigation provided by Awareness is going to be half of the opponent's critical strike rating (5% Crit = 2.5% Awareness Mitigation; 15% Crit = 7.5% Awareness Mitigation, etc. - I'll provide maths later if needed). So against trash who probably have lower Crit ratings, it's not as useful, but against bosses (whose Crit ratings I suspect can go to 15%-25%), it becomes much more substantial. A note on it, though: to maximize its effectiveness, you don't want to pair it with anything that increases your ability to dodge an attack, since dodge is rolled before Crit. So DA-DD (+dodge) and DA-DP (blind on opponents) will actually work against Awareness. It does have excellent parity with other abilities, and can actually enhance their effects--especially non-DA-DD in a high physical damage situation (because Crit is rolled before parry, not being able to be Crit also means more hits coming in that can be parried).

[Syzygian]

I'll disagree with Grit being "essentially a defensive cooldown," because in my experience, in 90% of cases, you'll want to leave it on - it's a toggle-switch, which suggests as much. Especially given that Souleater doesn't restore HP without Grit, it's almost always more beneficial to leave it on.

At several points I state that having Grit off as much as I suggest is not mandatory. But in terms of maximizing your performance, using it like WAR's Inner Beast is more appropriate. Having Grit off increases DPS, simplifies MP management, and saves TP. It is up to the individual player, their party/static, and the encounter to determine when it is best to leave it on. This guide suggests resorting to cooldowns first, and when those are exhausted or insufficient, then activating Grit. As far as enmity goes, DRK's enmity generation is sufficient that a PS opener with perhaps a bit of help from a NIN is usually enough to turn Grit off afterwards. It is by no means incorrect or improper play to use Grit minimally and it is a level of play that I recommend DRKs strive for.

[Iagainsti]

Great write up, I will be referring future DRK's here. One thing I would like to state is that the DRK MT/ WAR OT combo does not awkwardly include the Enmity combo. Any Warrior worth his Loincloth will be using the SE combo, despite the loss of 20 potency, SE grants more DPS overtime them alternating SE/BB. Even when MT, War's will only BB when the aggro gets low or as the second combo of their opener. I raid with DRK MT and we never have this issue.