As I said:
You can make an argument that you liked specific things about DRK's combos in HW that aren't present in their SB combos, or that you think their SB combos aren't interesting, or whatever - but the meaningful variations DRK has on its combos have increased, not decreased.
Quote Originally Posted by Reynhart View Post
No, it hasn't. You dont't use Delirium only when you couldn't DA-SE, because DPS is not the only focus. In heavy magic fights, the INT down from Delirium is useful.
And this is exactly the sort of thing I was attempting to head off at the pass with that remark. There are still only two viable combo options for HW DRK, compared to four for SB DRK, regardless of how many use cases there are for each of those combos, or how many reasons you can come up with to use one over another.

However, for this point specifically, this is mostly placing importance on something that never actually was important. Past the first 2-3 combos of a fight (and past the first 2-3 combos after any significant length of disengagement from the boss), Delirium's INT debuff has pretty much full uptime. It isn't adding significant depth to the class, because it's basically always there when you need it, whether you make a special effort to keep it there or not. And there are startlingly few places where it was important to have it up during the first 2-3 combos of a fight (or the first 2-3 combos after a disengagement) - That's important basically once per raid tier, and even then only really important during very early progression (eg: Week 1-3, it was very important to have Delirium up on Alexander Prime after his Time Stop, for the Mega Holy. Past that, not so much, and that was really the only time it ever made a difference in all of Creator).

2) is a bad option, because 2) and 3) have the exact same average, and if you're hoping for a crit on one WS, it's better to use the highest GCD potency available, which is Soul Eater.
This is faulty math.

Assuming a 150% damage critical hit, the effective potency of a Syphon Strike is 375, and the effective potency of a Dark Arts Syphon Strike is 585 - Dark Arts has added 210 potency to your critical hit.

Assuming the same, the effective potency of a critical Souleater is 420, and the effective potency of a Dark Arts Souleater is 630 - Dark Arts has added 210 potency to your critical hit.

Just for fun, the effective potency of a critical Bloodspiller is 570, and the effective potency of a Dark Arts Bloodspiller is 780 - Again, Dark Arts has added 210 potency to your critical hit.

You can "hope" all you want that your one-crit-of-three lands on Souleater, as you should - but the chances of a crit are equal between all weaponskills, your chances of using Dark Arts on the weaponskill that lands a critical hit is equal no matter which you use it on, and the damage you gain by guessing correctly and using DA on the one that crits is equal, no matter which weaponskill you use it on. There is no bias, as far as Dark Arts is concerned, toward any one weapon skill or another, in general.

If, on the other hand, Trick Attack, or Balance, or Battle Litany, or Chain Stratagem, or Brotherhood, or any other team buff, is going to wear off after your Syphon Strike but before your Souleater, a Dark Arts on Syphon Strike will inherit all of those bonuses. Likewise, if team buffs go up after Syphon Strike but before Souleater, those bonuses will be reflected in your Dark Arts only if you use it for Souleater, and if team buffs are up through your entire combo but will end afterward, then stacking them together and using Dark Arts consecutively on both will maximize the damage gained from your DA. Or, for that matter, even if there aren't team buffs in play, being able to use DA on Syphon Strike can allow you to avoid capping out on MP, while simultaneously leaving you with a much smaller window in which you'll be missing the MP from your previous DA, allowing you to more easily take advantage of Blood Weapon's MP gains without having to dump MP like you're bailing out a leaky rowboat just to avoid capping out.

The ability to more easily take advantage of buffs, and to fit many more Dark Arts-boosted attacks inside of those windows, is where SB DRK is going to be getting much of its complexity.

There are certainly some concerns about the Stormblood incarnation of DRK as we understand it from the information we have - but overall class and combo complexity is emphatically not one of those concerns, as both of them are objectively a marked improvement over their Heavensward counterparts.