DRK math for Media Tour information

[Veritas-Ancora]

300 combo potency + additional effect: damage over time and increased enmity, Duration: 21 sec, Potency: 40.

And this is just one of the things they could do to make DRK better imo.

Totally agree. Damage over time can easily be consolidated into a combo finisher to ensure the tank is doing their job.

It keeps DRK viable and makes it simpler to run. Everybody wins.

[Sarcatica]

From what I can see in the changes, DRK becomes way easier to play now. For single target, potency wise you are looking at flat 20potency gain each combo from Souleater, 5% extra from Darkside is welcomed which offsets the loss of Scourge. The RNG on Low Blow and Reprisal probably is a net loss but then again 20pot gain might make up for it. Single target wise should be more or less the same, just way easier to play.

The biggest change is on the AoE mostly because of the nerf on Unleash, now we are probably going into using Unleash opener for AoE into Abyssal Drain spam with the occasional DA+Quietus.

The gameplay is definitely shifting DRK into paying attention to the Blood Gauge more due to the 2 new skill. The more you can pump out Bloodspiller/Quietus = more DPS. DA effect seems linear at this point, you gain 140pot from every single target with DA.

DA+Bloodspiller/Souleater/Syphon is not prioritized, especially in AoE situation where you normally gain more than 140pot each cast.

DA priority: single target, CnS > everything else. AoE, DP > Quietus.

Delirium feels like a party pooper, probably only used if you are still bad at managing MP but we also have no info on how much mana we get.

The Blackest Night is actually interesting, giving 50 Blood Gauge means that we can actually do a good amount of burst at opener (does it even work with precharging the gauge?) and it guarantees 50 Blood Gauge to spend on a 380pot attack (520pot with DA), most probably best used at opener for DPS gain. Else it just another button with the Rampart effect with added 50 Blood Gauge which is nice.

Overall I still think DRK is viable unless if you need Passage of Arms for week1 prog. If you compare rotation wise, DRK should have way easier time to DPS VS PLD which has 2 separate combo pieces (Holy Spirit spam until OOM then you have to rotate into your normal GB>RA>RA). It's also still a question on how fast PLD can regain mana to keep using Holy Spirit to fit into the separate 60s CDs, PLD does look pretty fun to play because you are on the 60s timer to do the most DPS. 4.0 PLD seems to be more complex than 3.0 DRK.

[eagledorf]

TBK I believe is designed so you can't precharge the gauge. You have to use it while somebody is taking damage.

Also Famitsu says their tooltip for Sole Survivor is mistaken and there is no vulnerability effect on it as far as they know.

[Crater]

I do hope that they've done something better with the DA effect, though. going from a 5.5x multiplier to a 6.5x multiplier was worth just 300 enmity potency, and wasn't worth the cost. Even if they just increased the multiplier, they could turn it into something more useful if it meant not having to use the combo more than once.

Considering that they seem to have pretty much standardized Dark Arts into a 140 potency damage boost, I'm surprised they didn't think to just apply that to Power Slash as well.

It would still be a bit of a loser combo from a pure DPS standpoint since you don't generate any MP on the second hit (and since Spinning Slash is so weak compared to Syphon Strike), but going from 300*5.5 enmity to 440*6.5 actually generates enough additional enmity that I can see it being worth the effective loss of ~90 potency (rather, 10 potency, 1200 MP, 10 Blood) versus a DASE (or DASS) combo.

[SyzzleSpark]

Kind of a nitpick, but this thread should really be renamed so that it actually looks like a feedback thread and not DPS theorycrafting (even though it is that too). As it is named right now it doesn't look like anything SE will pay attention to.

[Tint]

[...] potency wise you are looking at flat 20potency gain each combo from Souleater [...] The RNG on Low Blow and Reprisal probably is a net loss but then again 20pot gain might make up for it [...]

this is not a gain. we lose the delirium combo, wich had 20 potency more than the souleater combo. so we will use our selfheal more often, but it's not a dps increase.

[Gildarts]

this is not a gain. we lose the delirium combo, wich had 20 potency more than the souleater combo. so we will use our selfheal more often, but it's not a dps increase.

Soul Eater now have same potency as Deli, 280.

anyway we will see tomorrow if there is any more changes made compare to what we know so from from the tour .

[LeoLupinos]

Syphom Strike gives 884 mp, it's 50% of DA mp. In grit it gives 1768 mp, it's 100% DA mp.

Now that we can DA SS maybe we can see some combos while in grit:
HS>SS = 200p/GCD = 50% of DA mp/GCD which is 70p = 200p+70p = 270p/GCD
HS>DASS = 270 p/GCD = 50% of DA mp/GCD which is 70p = 270p+70p = 340p/GCD

HS>SS>SE = 226,66p/GCD = 33,33% of DA mp/GCD which is 46,67p =226,66p+46,67p = 273,33p/GCD
HS>DASS>SE or HS>SS>DASE = 273,33 p/GCD = 33,33% of DA mp/GCD which is 46,67p =273,33p+46,67p = 320p/GCD
HS>DASS>DASE = 320 p/GCD = 33,33% of DA mp/GCD which is 46,67p = 320p+46,67p = 366,67p/GCD

So the best GCD combo for specific situations while in grit:
Burst = HS>DASS>DASE = 366,67p/GCD
Normal rotation with 1 DA = HS>DASS = 340p/GCD
Normal rotation without any DA = HS>SS>SE = 273,66/GCD