DRK needs re-tuning/buffing.

[Janhyua]

I see a lot of people arguing that it is DRK and PLD that are instalocked, but I tend to agree that unless a group is giving TBN more credit than it honestly deserves, most will take WAR.

TBN is a skill base ability you got your time it to get gauge back to become your dps which is highly rewarding

[TheCount]

TBN is a skill base ability you got your time it to get gauge back to become your dps which is highly rewarding

Yet you only get it at the very max level and Dark Knight still does less damage than the rest, even assuming you use your TBN perfectly, so it's not all that rewarding

[Deathshiro]

TBN is a skill base ability you got your time it to get gauge back to become your dps which is highly rewarding

As someone who parses pretty high in susano/lak... this ability feels like garbage to use. For the most part, to me it's a "well I don't have a defensive and I got a lil mana to spare" button. I rarely use Bloodspiller without DA unless I'm about to cap on blood during blood weapon.
The 400 potency is just a lil better than DA syphon strike and worse than a DA Souleater for the same mana cost essentially. Not only this, it further delays my mana regen from Syphon strike which makes it feel like even more of an ass ability to press. Maybe giving it another effect or more damage and I'd feel like it's worth losing the 140 potency potency of Syphon strike?

Other than that TBN is fine, it's single target and aoe blood usages are lackluster and boring to press.

[Lyth]

...

Stormsplitter hits for about 60k unmitigated. In full Vit gear at around 48k HP, TBN is a 9.6k shield. You need a minimum of 4% additional mitigation to survive the tankbuster (assuming that your co-tank provoked mid-cast and you shirked, to ensure that you don't take a follow up auto for an average of 9k extra damage (20k if crit). I feel that Reprisal is a bit wasted here, as it's better for raid damage like Ukehi, but your approach does work, and one tank can handle all of those reprisals on their own.

If you're doing it in STR gear at 36k HP, TBN is a 7.2k shield. You need a minimum of 28% additional mitigation to survive the tankbuster. That's requires SW at the absolute minimum, and it's pretty tight at that. I can see the rationale for stacking Rampart and SW to get to 44% mitigation, if you end up having to take more than one Stormsplitter (with just one, you can LD instead, and use Rampart and SW to soften incoming autos).

I suspect that you're both correct, but Syz is almost certainly talking about a STR scenario, and you're probably talking about a VIT one.

[Tegernako]

I don't think WAR is in as good of a spot as some people here think but other then that, this seems really spot on and nobody can argue OP is being "toxic" or whatever as an excuse to downplay the criticisms.

I will be spreading this thread around as much as possible. Both tanks are in really bad spots imo right now.

[SyzzleSpark]

TBN is a skill base ability you got your time it to get gauge back to become your dps which is highly rewarding

snip

My wording was misconstrued, I mean that you'll use both for Stormsplitters but not at the same time i.e. Rampart/TBN - > SW/TBN - > Rampart/TBN. I've found this to be enough to survive with a 4:1 STR:VIT accessory setup, and HQ level 60 food which is what I usually default to in pugs. (this usually nets just over 40K HP)

A lot of people have said that it sounds like the devs designed this job all the way up to level 69 and then realized the job had its mitigation utterly eviscerated and then decided rushedly to cram all of what it was missing into one ability (TBN). I think a lot of people would prefer a longer cooldown on TBN in exchange for more of our defensive power redistributed elsewhere. I still think Blood Price could use a small defensive effect (-10% damage taken) or something similar, in exchange for TBN being on a 20-30s recast instead.

On an additional unrelated note, someone in another thread mentioned that DAC&S pretty much mandates double-weaving since there is only one GCD in our rotation across which you can weave it (Hard Slash). I can see this being really annoying for players with less than perfect ping. Now, double weaving has been a staple of DRK rotations since its inception, but to have an ability that is practically locked behind the technique feels... idk. Clunky.

[RaidPanties]

As someone who parses pretty high in susano/lak... this ability feels like garbage to use. For the most part, to me it's a "well I don't have a defensive and I got a lil mana to spare" button. I rarely use Bloodspiller without DA unless I'm about to cap on blood during blood weapon.
The 400 potency is just a lil better than DA syphon strike and worse than a DA Souleater for the same mana cost essentially. Not only this, it further delays my mana regen from Syphon strike which makes it feel like even more of an ass ability to press. Maybe giving it another effect or more damage and I'd feel like it's worth losing the 140 potency potency of Syphon strike?

Other than that TBN is fine, it's single target and aoe blood usages are lackluster and boring to press.

You're severely undervaluing TBN, and your mana management may need a little work, based on limited context clues. You should never have "a little mana to spare sometimes", rather, you should always have the mana to spare a DA or TBN, considering 4800 is the sweet spot for DRKs where you're still doing overall max DPS and are able to respond to C&S coming off CD or baiting a TBN, and not overflow when Delirium comes up for BW.

That said, TBN is a flat DPS positive since Bloodspiller's potency was increased, especially since you can hold the blood you've bought until you can comfortably churn out a DA for it so long as you properly plan ahead to resource dump before TBN'ing, say, Susano's Stormsplitter. If you're using Bloodspiller raw, then sure, it's a loss - but you shouldn't be, unless you severely messed up your gameplay and need to dump blood fast, as wasting blood is even worse.

tl;dr TBN is a great defensive and offensive boon to overall DRK DPS when used and planned around correctly.

[Praesul]

Dark passenger and DA quietus will have to be buffed, it's like not even arguable otherwise. Dark passenger is crap both baseline and dark arts, and dark arts quietus is like....Why? The MP you spend on dark arts quietus can be spent on two more abyssal drains for 240 potency as opposed to the 2400 MP to get 50 extra potency on quietus. It's laughable.

Drk
The Blackest NightCreates 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.

The only skill ahead in the drk kit. However using it during trash is a huge waste of mana

Also are you for real? TBN used during trash is a waste of mana? It's amazing for trash specifically. You get a sizable HP buffer and either a higher potency aoe (So it's basically a dark arts worth of MP for a big shield + 160 potency) or the shield and a free delirium. This isn't even taking into account the GCD or two that you free up on the healer.

DRK needs some help, but definitely not in the form of blackest night. It's EASILY our best ability, especially now that they buffed bloodspiller to incentivize more usage of it.

[SyzzleSpark]

...but definitely not in the form of blackest night. It's EASILY our best ability...

Yeah... this is kind of the problem. TBN is so good because the rest of our kit is garbage. And you know that SE knows it, because that is specifically why they made it as such. TBN screams "oh crap, we nerfed the living balls out of DRK's mitigation, quick, give it something crazy and top-heavy to even it out!" I'd happily trade a longer recast time on TBN in exchange for Shadow Wall, LD, or DM being buffed. As it is they are relics of 3.x that are aging rapidly and poorly.

[Starkbeaumont]

we nerfed the living balls out of DRK's mitigation

i guess you are talking about the old reprisal? cause DA dark dance was never a thing for raids. and non of the other skills got nerfed. rampart = shadowskin, shadow wall is the same as before, so is dark mind, conva and living dead. grit is also the same.

and talking about reprisal. you couldn't even use it in some encounters as it required a parry to activate.

Is DRK perfect? hell no! is it as bad as some ppl say? Definitely not.