DRK needs re-tuning/buffing.

[Falar]

Just because we have Dark Mind doesn't mean we are the "magical tank" now.

PLD's shield works against magic attacks as well now.

[DWolfwood]

They need to eliminate DRK's lopsided magical vs physical defenses, just as they removed PLD's in Stormblood...

I definitely agree that in a vacuum, DRK (and WAR considering Raw Intuition) needs to be brought back up to PLD's level defensively. I don't see it happening outright until there's a need however. Obviously PLD had a need to be brought up to a reasonable defensive level. I do favor the approach of balancing DRK in this way, simply because I would like to see a bit more variety in endgame other than only magic tank busters.

That said, having all three tanks, they're all pretty balanced right now in terms of self-mitigation, and I'd actually go as far as to say that DRK has the edge on it. PLD's CDs are extremely long, and it's pretty much left with Sheltron and having to use Passage of Arms as self-mitigation. WAR is solid with tons of CDs on short timers to rotate, but losing Raw Intuition when things become magic damage hurts.

[mcspamm]

Just because we have Dark Mind doesn't mean we are the "magical tank" now.

PLD's shield works against magic attacks as well now.

Yeah, exactly. Not to mention Cover now works against magical attacks as well.

While I'm glad they addressed PLD's "weakness" to magical attacks in SB, it seems like a gross oversight to have left Dark Mind untouched.

TBN in its current form just isn't enough to make up for all the defensives lost to the battle system changes.

Perhaps they could modify TBN such that when combined with DM, it grants an additional defensive effect (could potentially replace DADM).

e.g. The Blackest Night
Creates a barrier around self that absorbs damage totaling 20% of your maximum HP, or around a party member that absorbs damage totaling 10% of your maximum HP.
Duration: 5s
Increases Blood Gauge by 50 when full 20% (10%) is absorbed.
If Dark Mind is active when using The Blackest Night (on self?), <insert defensive effect here>.

Some ideas for this effect include:

• +Parry chance akin to Dark Dance (and would stack with Anticipation, if you ever actually took it)
• For the next N seconds, whenever you would take damage, immediately restore X% of that damage as health. Not sure how well this would work as a HoT instead. Wording might have to change, but ideally I would see this as healing a percentage of any damage you would have taken (meaning it would still heal you while TBN's shield is up), however you eat the damage first before the heal triggers (something like a reverse Bloodbath).
• Gain the effect of Eye for an Eye.
• The next attack you use heals you for 200% (or whatever #) of the damage dealt.
• Increase the damage absorbed by The Blackest Night to 40% of your maximum HP, or 20% for a party member. Increases Blood Gauge by 20. (#s might need tweaking)

Another thought would be to rework Dark Mind so that it acts as another universal defensive cooldown, but costs Blood to use instead.

Maybe something like this?

Dark Mind
Recast: 60s
Reduces incoming damage by 15%.
Duration: 10s.
Blood Gauge Cost: 50

Given the current state of DRK's damage numbers, this change would need to be supplemented by potency and damage buffs to make up for having to spend Blood to survive.

However, this might make the Blood mechanic even more interesting if you have a legitimate choice between spending it on offensive versus defence, and could combo nicely with TBN, as breaking the shield would allow you to follow it up with DM for further damage reduction once a minute.

[Dizzy_Derp]

Well at least your better than warrior. You get a shield and you do more damage that warrior now that you got a buff.

[Chrono_Rising]

Well at least your better than warrior. You get a shield and you do more damage that warrior now that you got a buff.

False. Warrior is above drk in dps and mitigation. Bloodspiller was buffed so that our utility was no longer a dps loss. As far as utility warrior still has slashing dark knight has TBN, as far as utility they seem about the same, very far below paladin. According to the sam I run with warrior is super helpful for their opener since warrior has the earliest slashing debuff of everyone now.

I think someone worked out in another post that warrior has less loss involved with its stance swap and than dark knight as well.

[LegolasT]

False. Warrior is above drk in dps and mitigation. Bloodspiller was buffed so that our utility was no longer a dps loss. As far as utility warrior still has slashing dark knight has TBN, as far as utility they seem about the same, very far below paladin. According to the sam I run with warrior is super helpful for their opener since warrior has the earliest slashing debuff of everyone now.

I think someone worked out in another post that warrior has less loss involved with its stance swap and than dark knight as well.

Actually heard dark doing more dps now then warrior in Omega!

[Starkbeaumont]

I don't really see it. if we go by Normal Omega all tank busters are magic based. That gives DRK Rampart, Shadow Wall and Dark Mind. On top of that you have TBN for every tank buster. You can't beat WAR with all it's CDs but you are better than PLD.
PLD only has Rampart and Sentinel + Sheltron.
In physical fights DRK and PLD are almost equal when it comes to mitigation. The difference is that Sentinel is stronger than Shadow Wall.

imo DRK only needs a buff as OT but so does WAR. Both fit the MT spot more than PLD does. Though PLD is really ahead as OT afaik.
I'd really like to see some real numbers when PLD actually has to use it's utility kit. Using Clemency yields no damage. So does PoA unless you use it when there is some long casting time and you can't target the mob anyway.

[Chrono_Rising]

Actually heard dark doing more dps now then warrior in Omega!

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-Cost-Numbers

Found the thread discussing warrior stance dancing, this way people can objectively find the math and reasoning while reading this.

As far as numbers in omega story mode... does anyone actually follow this? Can you offer a source for some statistics?

[Chrono_Rising]

I don't really see it. if we go by Normal Omega all tank busters are magic based. That gives DRK Rampart, Shadow Wall and Dark Mind. On top of that you have TBN for every tank buster. You can't beat WAR with all it's CDs but you are better than PLD.
PLD only has Rampart and Sentinel + Sheltron.
In physical fights DRK and PLD are almost equal when it comes to mitigation. The difference is that Sentinel is stronger than Shadow Wall.

imo DRK only needs a buff as OT but so does WAR. Both fit the MT spot more than PLD does. Though PLD is really ahead as OT afaik.
I'd really like to see some real numbers when PLD actually has to use it's utility kit. Using Clemency yields no damage. So does PoA unless you use it when there is some long casting time and you can't target the mob anyway.

Paladin also has passage of arms for another 100% block mitigation. Though this could come at a dps loss depending on how long it needs to be kept up. Of course dark mind is also a dps loss if the tank buster requires dark arts in addition the advantage of course being that dark mind can be used more frequently.

Also paladin does have more passive mitigation. Doing nothing but keeping bulwark on CD will mitigate a nice number of attacks.

[Starkbeaumont]

Paladin also has passage of arms for another 100% block mitigation. Though this could come at a dps loss depending on how long it needs to be kept up.

ya but it's also a block. you can't combine it with sheltron if additional mitigation is needed. they have the same effect. PoA would only out do Sheltron if you take a multihit to the face.