Foresight

[DBelmont]

I find Foresight to be abysmal if not in synergy with other mitigation CDs. So basically I see Foresight as a combo CD and pretty much not a reliable defense mechanic.

[Violette]

Given it reduces physical damage by about 7%, yeah I use it on cooldown for all non A4S bosses. 500+enmity per use (iirc) and 7% is still more than dark dance (mfw).

[Syzygian]

Given it reduces physical damage by about 7%, yeah I use it on cooldown for all non A4S bosses. 500+enmity per use (iirc) and 7% is still more than dark dance (mfw).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for DD to be less than 7%, your base parry rate would have to be zero or very close to it. When progressing on an encounter tanks aren't able to get their parry rate to the bare minimum using Void Ark gear and other such shenanigans that are symptoms of being hideously overgeared to begin with, so its actually a much more powerful CD in those instances when you're gearing up and having to deal with having a parry rate higher than whatever it is at 341, which is still enough to make DD better than Foresight... And then there's its recast which makes it at least double Foresight's mitigation over the course of a fight.

Either way, DD almost 100% means Reprisal, which is raid wide mitigation at no cost to DPS and really is kind of an extra CD for DRK as much at it is just looked at as another oGCD DPS ability, so comparing it to Foresight which has no implications or effects for DRK beyond that 20% extra defense is a bit misleading, I feel.

[Violette]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but for DD to be less than 7%, your base parry rate would have to be zero or very close to it. When progressing on an encounter tanks aren't able to get their parry rate to the bare minimum using Void Ark gear and other such shenanigans that are symptoms of being hideously overgeared to begin with, so its actually a much more powerful CD in those instances when you're gearing up and having to deal with having a parry rate higher than whatever it is at 341, which is still enough to make DD better than Foresight... And then there's its recast which makes it at least double Foresight's mitigation over the course of a fight.

Either way, DD means Reprisal, which is raid wide mitigation at no cost to DPS, so comparing it to Foresight which has no implications or effects for DRK beyond that 20% extra defense is a bit misleading, I feel.

Well, you're not exactly wrong, it's just a simple mathematical calculation comparing the two:

I.E, 20% defence is roughly 7% physical damage taken down during it's duration.
Compared to dark dance,, which is 30% parry (roughly). A parry is 20% physical damage reduction, which mean it itself will average out to 6% over infinite samples. Of course, should you proc RE during DD (not guaranteed, just likely assuming you pop it during a auto-attack continuous phase), you will bump it up to 16%. (simply put, 0.2*0.3=0.06, hence 6% damage reduction)

EDITED SECTION: For the sake of science I had a look at some old threads and it appears the base parry rate for classes is different, with dark knight rocking much higher than expected, (8%), which would put DD parry at 38%, which would then put defensive end at 7.6%!, meaning it edges out the estimated defensive bonus of foresight slightly. However this can roll higher OR lower, but DD gets better with more parry and defense while Foresight only gets better with more defense.

Though I may have made a wrong assumption somewhere in there due to spending all day reading boring papers.

[Syzygian]

Well, you're not exactly wrong, it's just a simple mathematical calculation comparing the two:

ONE MOMENT MATH WAS WRONG

LOL, I think unlike raw mitigation CDs which are multiplicative, an % increase to a RNG *rate* in this game is additive. Otherwise things like Abandon Stacks, Internal Release, and Battle Litany would be so laughably weak as to almost make no difference. I could be wrong. It'd be really sad if I was.

[Violette]

As I was editting because I made the same initial mistake, DD at base parry rate is roughly ~0.2-0.4% better than foresight.

[Syzygian]

For the sake of science I had a look at some old threads

OMG. I know which ones you're talking about. Been looking for EVER. Link pls?

[Kotemon]

I usually try to rotate it on Dark with shadow skin usually during Dark Dance or at the tail end of Blood Price to close the gap between defensive buffs. Also a bunch on paladin and Warrior, to slow down hp loss. If you are barely using it then your total defense is likely good for content or your healer is on top of things (other than enmity.)

[Februs]

Foresight + Convalescence is a pretty potent combo. By themselves, they aren't all that great, but when used together they cover for each other's deficiencies (assuming your healer is even half awake, that is). Convalescence, also cover's for Foresight's lack of magic mitigation via active healing, and given that the two of them share a GCD, it's pretty straight forward to just pair them together regardless of which tank you are using.

Together, they work quite well for low dmg situations. This is pretty much my go to combo for small pulls or any instance in which I know dmg is light. If Dmg is heavy, on the other hand, they can also be easily paired with other GCD's for additional mitigation without using a strong CD such as Rampart/shadow skin or Sentinel/shadow wall. It's a good way to save your bigger CD's for when they're really needed.

[Shurrikhan]

When helping in Thordan learning parties where the dps is abysmally low so that Awareness, Foresight, and Clemency can just barely be used twice, I've actually gotten through Blade Dance just fine (like... consistently a nice 300 hp remaining, or 3.3k with Clemency crit) just with Foresight, Shelltron, Awareness, Convalescence, and a pre-cast Clemency (heal hitting on the 3rd hit, with Shelltron blocking the 4th; no further RNG blocks needed). Drop the Foresight, and I die. Similarly, my shittily geared pure str PLD can survive the cleave, Heel, cleave combo before phase shift even with just a Foresight, pre-cast Clemency, Shelltron, and a second pre-clemency, no Cure IIs needed. Again, without the Foresight, I die.

6% mitigation is quite nice when you would otherwise have died by 4%.