Why is DRK so squishy and how do I stop it?

[Emitans]

Cooldowns and Dark Arts Abyssal Drain really help.

[Jukebox12]

in low lvls its Dark>war>pld who are the most squishiest imo but in higher lvls its War>pld>drk or war>drk>pld depending on the fights. It always depends are on your play style of the tank job and how you manage your Cds even during Trash pulls that only have 3. It is always and I do mean always your play style.... all tanks are equal in some form nor another. I feel people always mislead on things as a tank. but you got to find your own play style with tanks not every job you play will have the same playstyle and not very person is the same tank. One pld can differ another pld and so on. Just find your own playstyle and that will help you out. :P

[Awful]

For me as a drk since it's my main it's the most comfortable tank I tank on (have pld at 60 war at 54 had em both 50 pre hw). And in Brayflox I ran it with a friend while stance dancing I didn't take much dmg at all was chain pulling with a monk and blm. Maybe it was because ilvl sync but my new healer friend had no issue as a sch I personally don't find Drk squishy it's how you play it honestly and knowing what you can get away with.

[Fynlar]

Brayflox gear was just fine for me all the way up to 45 (AF level) on all three roles.

Chances are either you're overpulling (alas, this sort of thing just tends not to work out as well until the level 50/60 dungeons, which allow you to gear way past the dungeon's intended level) or... your healers were just junk (rather common thing)

[Fluffernuff]

In Temple of Qarn on the 3 spider monsters and the blue ghost blob right before the Golem boss I dropped dead both times. Both times the healers said "I wasn't expecting the squish" despite using the -20% inc damage CD (Shadowskin?) and also the Parry Buff (Dark Dance), then after those went off I would use Bloodbath in addition to +healing received (convalescence?)

They did say they were in Cleric Stance both times...perhaps they just weren't prepared because those monsters hit harder than normal monsters?

However on the same pull after the boss we didn't die - so maybe they were just in cruise control mode and those are special monsters they were surprised by at first

First of all, DRK can't heal themselves. not in qarn. you MIGHT have bloodbath as a cross-class, sure. but thats not going to keep you alive. if that's your definition of "squish", then fine, DRK is "squishy". but simply put, your cooldowns as a DRK or PLD purely REDUCE damage. they dont REMOVE it, and they certainly dont RESTORE it. not even the famous healer tank warrior has that many restoring tools in qarn. they have bloodbath and inner beast. MAYBE second wind.

Secondly, if your healer is in cleric stance, they have 0 right to blame a wipe on "squish". period. they were actively reducing their own healing or not healing at all. if youre in cleric stance as a healer, youre doing damage. you cant cast cure at the same time as stone II. here's a newsflash. if your health is above 0% after 15-20 seconds (enough for your cooldowns to run their course) then youre not "squish". if you have the time to use your tools, they have enough time to use theirs.

Lately, I've been trying to level arcanist rather than tank. yknow. take a little break from the BS like this. get 2 classes up to 60 for the price of 1. maybe work on mentor. oh boy. let me tell you. im glad i chose arcanist and not archer. every other run, if not EVERY run, the tank will die. at least once. the healer wont be OoM, but they might be in cleric stance. but they wont be OoM. the tank never just evaporated. even when theyre pretty dumb and charge into a pull that realistically should kill them, the healer always has time to heal them. i've actively been watching tank HP bars. as a DPS. because if the healers mess up, i need to be real freaking quick on that swiftcast resurrect.

"squish" should reserved for vastly undergeared (hall of novice gear in brayflox, for example), or any tanks that still somehow swear that pure STR acc. are the way to go. no, im not kidding. they still exist. and i have to fight them for aggro in CT and VA. and its rediculous.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

DRK are the most fragile of tanks in nearly all situations except against magic. Most DRKs I've seen are wearing armor made of papier mache. It's not your fault, DRK is just that weak.

[Crizhalid]

DRK are the most fragile of tanks in nearly all situations except against magic. Most DRKs I've seen are wearing armor made of papier mache. It's not your fault, DRK is just that weak.

You should follow up with an example instead of "I say it's this, that's all."

With that said, all tanks are fine and no one should be stating that "This tank is bad" for asinine reasons or that they are "weaker" when, in most situations, it's negligible at best.

[Awful]

DRK are the most fragile of tanks in nearly all situations except against magic. Most DRKs I've seen are wearing armor made of papier mache. It's not your fault, DRK is just that weak.

You've probably seen Drks that don't pop CDs and literally sit there getting gang beat by everything in plain sight i've been helping my friend lvl a bit who's new to the game they don't play that much but I did almost all their dungeons with them if not all I found that:

-When I tanked Brayflox - Qarn it was so easy to keep up/chain pulling. Ran it as Drk the first time, War 2nd time no difference, same pace. Did it as a pld was awful (don't get shield oath till 40...why SE WHY!) so dmg coming in was more noticable

-Stone Vigil- Dzmeal. I found SV hit harder than DD the difference was astonishing and the mobs in SV can drain a bad tank who's not popping CDs. Found it easier as a Pld surprisingly. DD was faster/easier than Pld though on War and Drk due to more DPS/AoE, however Pld was bulkier due to getting Sentinel and Bulwark etc.

- Cutters Cry. Easy on all the tanks nothing hurts at all,I also had shield oath due to paladin being 40+, nothing really stood out to be honest.

- Aurum Vale. Ah yes ol AV did it once as a Pld and the 2nd time as a Drk, 3rd time as War, chain pulled/CDs the whole shebang didn't take hardly any dmg with my Sch friend. Found it easier on Drk and able to drop Grit in more situations then using Sword Oath on pld and more threat on Drk and drk has more AoE dmg compared to Pld which made it faster. War was easy Vengeance + Bloodbath + Steel Cyclone = GG.

Like I said I am ilvl sync'd but it really shouldn't matter unless a tank has a REALLY bad weapon/armor/accessories you'll only notice a squishy tank and add it with a tank with no CDs you're in for a terrible terrible time. I also found Paladin suffered the most out of all the tanks as it felt I dunno sluggish? That's my general feeling about Paladin I just prefer to run as either a Drk or War it's a lot more enjoyable and out of all those dungeons Pld took less dmg in SV and that's about it the other tanks out preformed it.

Edit: Forgot to add in Cutter's Cry d'oh.