DRK Redesign

[DWolfwood]

Preface: To those that would only say, "they'll never do this," that isn't what this is for. I'm merely painting an image of what DRK could be for both players and developers in order to better show just how far DRK is from where it should be.

A tiny bit about me, I'm an independent game designer, and one of the games I'm working on balances classes similar to FFXIV, thus balancing is of great interest to me. I did this rework in the course of one night and feel that the design team should be equally capable. Like many other players, I have felt that DRK's design has been sorely lacking since its implementation in both its image and functionality. Stormblood was supposed to address the lack of DRK's unique identity, however I feel nothing has been addressed to this extent.

DRK's image has a lot of potential to be very unique and interesting. It has the unique theme of one that, unlike PLD, seeks justice even at the expense of being ostracized. While a PLD should be susceptible to arrogance and self-righteousness while upholding the order of knighthood, a DRK shirks this in favor of walking a fine line of seeking justice for the weak outside the laws while keeping their lust for vengeance in check. There exists a dark power within them that constantly thirsts for blood and it is the DRK's burden to control this and direct it towards the wicked. The more practical aim of these changes is to bring in elements of sacrifice, more uniqueness to their abilities, enhance their burst damage, and giving them utility that raises them to the level of PLD.

A large issue many players, including myself, have with Stormblood's DRK iteration is the overuse of Dark Arts. These changes will reduce the number of Dark Arts actions performed by more than 25% while shifting the focus onto Blood Gauge by more than doubling the amount received. Another issue many have is they feel the job is too simplified, so I've included a DoT that can only be applied with Dark Arts. I feel this will make the job more interesting without being too difficult. With all changes made, their DPS sees an increase of about 1.5% which may or may not bring them to around PLD's level, but when played in a group with raid buffs, their DPS will increase slightly more than currently. In similar fashion, potions will have a greater effect when used properly. Additionally, the DPS while tanking will see a further increase by about half a percent. Anyone is welcome to question the truth of this and do their own calculations, and perhaps their method of testing will prove more accurate. That said, DRK's current DPS is a fault that is the least of its worries since it is easily adjusted. It's the rest of its kit that has long been in need adjustments, so I urge readers to instead focus on how this iteration of DRK will play and how its kit interacts with itself while looking at the image it creates versus focusing on the actual damage output, which is quite similar to PLD's.

With the advent of PLD's shield blocking magic damage, DRK's niche for sustaining magic damage has been removed in favor of a more versatile tanking style. They've been given access to better passive mitigation and a significant means of self-healing, both of which are currently lacking to a great extent and The Blackest Night has been adjusted to better facilitate this. Their passive healing has been shifted with the removal of Souleater's HP restore which currently cuts a DRK completely off from their self-healing when not in Grit. Continuing on the topic of Grit, the penalty has been changed to reflect the goal of making it more beneficial to tank with it than without compared to the current trade off which favors tanking without it. Finally, there are some minor cosmetic changes included which both the NA and JP community have been vocal about. I didn't feel I could ignore these reasonable requests and have thus included them.

I should mention that while this iteration of DRK puts it back on equal footing with PLD in a raid setting, I believe PLD is still in need of some improvements. However, once we see DRK brought back up to speed, we'll have a much better idea of where to go from there. Justification and reasoning for changes is included in the commentary.

Without further ado, I give you my redesign:

Hard Slash UNCHANGED
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 3y

Delivers an attack with a potency of 150.

No adjustment needed.

Spinning Slash
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 3y

Delivers an attack with a potency of 100.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
Combo Action: Hard Slash
Combo Potency: 220
Combo Bonus: Increases Blood Gauge by 5

Blood Gauge has been added to Spinning Slash, Power Slash, and Syphon Strike in order to help facilitate the emphasis on Blood Gauge usage. Like WAR, their largest contributor will remain the final action of their DPS combo. This idea is in fact borrowed from WAR, and while it is not unique because of it, I think it's an instance in which parity is welcome.

Unleash Vile Feast
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 0
Radius: 5y
MP Cost: 1080

Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 50 to all nearby enemies.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
Dark Arts Potency: 100
Dark Arts Effect: Absorbs damage dealt as HP
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

The addition of an HP drain on this action is to compensate for the removal of Abyssal Drain. Unleash is currently a bit underwhelming outside of being used to gain aggro, so this makes the ability more interesting.

Syphon Strike
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 3y

Delivers an attack with a potency of 100.
Dark Arts Potency: 240
Combo Action: Hard Slash
Combo Potency: 250
Dark Arts Combo Potency: 390
Combo Bonus: Restores MP and increases Blood Gauge by 5
MP restoration increased while under the effect of Grit.
Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Additional Changes: MP restored under the effect of Grit reduced from 2400 to 1600, MP restored while not under the effect of Grit reduced from 1200 to 800.

The MP restored from Syphon Strike has been reduced to take emphasis away from the usage of Dark Arts.

Unmend Dark Missile
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 15y
MP Cost: 480

Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity
Additional Effect: 30% chance that next Unleash will cost no MP
Duration: 15s
Additional Change: Enmity increased

The name has been changed so that the name better reflects the action. It will lead to less confusion among players as to what this ability does. The enmity has been increased to better help with initial aggro. This is a problem I've seen many tanks experience, particularly when pulling adds during an encounter. I think this enmity change should be made across the board for similar actions on all tanks.

Blood Weapon
Cooldown: 40s

Reduces weaponskill cast time and recast time, spell cast time and recast time, and auto-attack delay by 10% and converts physical damage dealt into MP, while reducing weaponskill TP cost by 20% 30%.
Also increases Blood Gauge by 3 5 each time a physical attack lands.
Additional Effect: Restores partial MP when damage is taken.
Duration: 15s
Cannot be used while under the effect of Grit.
Additional Change: MP restored reduced from 480 to 240 per hit.

The TP cost reduction buff was made to better facilitate the shift towards TP based AoE threat via Harvest of Hate. Additionally, the MP gained per hit has been reduced while the Blood Gauge gained has been increased to further help shift the focus onto Blood Gauge usage over Dark Arts. The addition of Blood Price's effect has been made due to the removal of the ability. This ability has also been made to be used in both tank stance and without to not further hinder the damage penalty that DRK experiences while using Grit.

Power Slash
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 3y
Radius: 0

Delivers an attack with a potency of 100.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity
Combo Action: Spinning Slash
Combo Potency: 300
Combo Bonus: Increases Blood Gauge by 5
Dark Arts Combo Effect: Increased enmity
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

See Spinning Slash.

Grit
MP Cost: 1800
Cooldown: 2.5s 10s

Reduces damage taken by 20% 30%, while reducing damage dealt by 20% 10% and increasing enmity.
Effect ends upon reuse.

Grit has been placed off the global cooldown, a change which has been long wanted by the community. The recast of 10s will force a DRK to keep the stance for a significant period of time as well. The reduction of damage taken and damage dealt have been adjusted to better encourage the use of tank stance while tanking. This is a change that I believe should be made across all tanks.

Darkside
MP Cost: 600
Cooldown: 5s

Increases damage dealt by 20%. MP regeneration stops during battle and Refresh statuses granted by others have no effect.
Effects end upon reuse.
Change: Aura is now purple with black flames like Lakshmi.

Not much changes here aside from the aura. Darkside only exists in the game at this point to restrict DRK from benefiting from MP refresh statuses given by the party. I understand that SE would not want to deal with the headache of balancing the job around the extreme situations of a DRK that always has refresh and a DRK that never receives refresh, so I believe it should stay in place. That said, since it is nothing but a burden, I think it's fair to give DRKs an aura they deserve. Purple is the conventional color for representing darkness and the black flames will go a long way in creating the feel that this job should exude. As a side note, red is typically the color to represent rage and anger, so I think WAR's auras will be better served by it.

Blood Price REMOVED
Cooldown: 40s

Restores partial MP when damage is taken.
Duration: 15s
Additional Effect: Increases Blood Gauge by 1 immediately and another 4 over time while in battle.
Can only be used while under the effect of Grit.

This ability was removed due to being extremely underwhelming while also consolidating it with Blood Weapon. The MP restoration on it is better served as a footnote on another skill.

Souleater Carve and Spit
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 3y
Animation: Uses previous Carve and Spit animation.

Delivers an attack with a potency of 100.
Dark Arts Potency: 240
Combo Action: Syphon Strike
Combo Potency: 300
Dark Arts Combo Potency: 440
Dark Arts Effect: Applies damage over time with potency of 25.
Duration: 24s
Grit Combo Bonus: Absorbs a portion of damage dealt as HP
Combo Bonus: Increases Blood Gauge by 10
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

The name of this ability was changed due to the belief that Souleater, being a significant skill in Final Fantasy lore, should be more significant and meaningful than a simple combo action. The Dark Arts potency has been removed in favor of a DoT which also reflects the duality implied by its name. This will see more strategic use of Dark Arts which has been called for by the community in Stormblood. Furthermore, the HP restoration has been removed to make way for more interesting HP restoration. By removing it, it also punishes the DRK less if not using Grit.

Dark Passenger
Cooldown: 30s
Range: 10y
MP Cost: 2400 240

Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100 to all enemies in a straight line before you.
Blinds all enemies in a straight line before you.
Can only be executed while succumbing to the Darkside.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
Dark Arts potency: 240 140
Dark Arts Effect: Blind
Duration: 15s
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

The MP cost has been greatly reduced to reflect the removal of damage. This ability now provides significant utility for a low cost, and if wanting to dump MP and do burst damage, the Dark Arts option is available.

Dark Mind REMOVED
Cooldown: 60s

Reduces magic vulnerability by 15%.
Can only be executed while succumbing to the Darkside.
Duration: 10s
Dark Arts Effect: Increases magic vulnerability reduction to 30%.
Dark Arts fade upon execution.

This ability no longer has a meaningful place. While it is strong when useful, it is very weak when not and does not parallel the passive mitigation of the other tanks' abilities. It is outright removed in favor of the following ability.

Secret of Suffering NEW
Cooldown: 120s
Animation: Same as Dark Mind

Increases parry rate to 60%
Additional Effect: Can also parry magic attacks.
Dark Arts Effect: Parry rate increased to 100%
Duration: 15s

This ability functions similar to Bulwark with the exception that it can be made into a full blown defensive cooldown at the expense of MP.

Dark Arts UNCHANGED
Cooldown: 2s

Attune with the darkness within you, increasing the potency of several actions.
Duration: 10s

No adjustment needed.

Shadow Wall
Cooldown: 180s 120s
Animation: Souls of the undead now surround the DRK.

Reduces damage taken by 30%.
Additional Effect: Increases Blood Gauge by 10.
Duration: 10s

This change has been long overdue, and with the removal or DRK's Reprisal, being given to PLD, it has been in desperate need of a buff. While I think Sentinel should provide a little more mitigation for having a 3 minute cooldown timer, I balance this ability around Vengeance. While WAR receives a DPS boost in the form of reflected damage, DRK will receive a small boost to their Blood Gauge upon use.

Living Dead REMOVED
Cooldown: 300s

Grants the effect of Living Dead. When HP is reduced to 0 while under the effect of Living Dead, instead of becoming KO'd, your status will change to Walking Dead.
Living Dead Duration: 10s
While under the effect of Walking Dead, most attacks will not lower your HP below 1. If, before the Walking Dead timer runs out, HP is 100% restored, the effect will fade.
If 100% is not restored, you will be KO'd.
Walking Dead Duration: 10s

This ability has been lacking since implementation. Controversial at best, outright bad at worst. It has been removed in favor of an ability that encompasses the same ideals while reducing faults to better be in line with its cooldown timer.

Heart of the Pariah NEW
Cooldown: 300s
Animation: Same as Living Dead

Renders you impervious to most attacks while also suffering heavy damage over time.
Duration: 10s
Additional Explanation: This ability will immediately inflict damage worth 25% of the DRK's current HP and another 25% of current HP with each tick.

DRK's new ultimate now functions similar to the other tanks in that there is no preliminary status window before it kicks in. It provides 10s of invulnerability, more than Holmgang and the same as Hallowed Ground, with the catch that the DRK will sustain damage while using it. This functionality coincides with the name in that a pariah has a strong will to endure anything, but there is still suffering along that path. The closer they get to death however, the more resilient they become. This damage infliction warrants the shorter cooldown timer than Hallowed Ground.

Salted Earth
Cooldown: 45s
Range: 15y
Radius: 5y

Creates a patch of salted earth, dealing unaspected damage with a potency of 75 to any enemies who enter.
Duration: 21s
Additional Effect: Increases Blood Gauge by 1 5

Minor adjustment to Blood Gauge accumulation to compensate for the lack of MP restoration across all skills.

Plunge
Cooldown: 30s 15s
Range: 15y 20y

Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 200 100.
Cannot be executed while bound.
Blood Gauge Cost: 20
Additional Change: Animation Lock reduced.

Another ability heavily influenced by WAR. The range and animation lock have been improved to be in line with every other gap closer in the game. The potency has been reduced to eliminate this from being part of the DRK's regular rotation. As most DPS will attest to, having a gap closer that does no damage is preferable to one that is part of their rotation due to more easily being accessible when needed. The Blood Gauge cost facilitates this.

Abyssal Drain REMOVED
Cooldown:
Range: 15y
Radius: 5y
MP Cost: 1320

Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 120 to target and all enemies around it.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
Dark Arts Effect: Absorbs a portion of damage dealt as HP.
Dark Arts effect ends upon execution.

This ability has been removed in favor of making Vile Feast (formerly Unleash) more interesting while also adding the following ability.

Harvest of Hate NEW
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 15y
Radius: 5y
TP Cost: 120
Animation: The DRK throws their spinning great sword at the target and it returns to them.

Delivers an attack with a potency of 120 to target and all enemies nearby it.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity and increases Blood Gauge by 1 per target.
Dark Arts Potency: 170

This ability functions similarly to Abyssal Drain in that it is a ranged AoE. The TP cost will help keep the usage in check while the enmity and Blood Gauge effects will keep it true to its name while also helping to keep a focus on Blood Gauge abilities during AoE. 1 Blood Gauge per enemy might be considered too strong, but it would require testing to see exactly. It could easily be changed to a flat number per usage.

Sole Survivor
Cooldown: 120s
Range: 25y

Marks target with the status Another Victim. If that target should be KO'd in battle, 20% 100% of your maximum HP and MP will be restored.
Additional Effect: Target cannot deal critical damage while Another Victim status remains.
Duration: 15s 20s

This ability simply is not that effective anymore. Its long timer coupled with the requirement that an enemy needs to die makes this ability very forgettable currently. The HP and MP restoration has been increased to 100% due to the rare event that this ability sees the benefit. The addition of nullifying critical damage is the main source of making this ability useful again. While this normally is not significant, as v3.0[S] has shown us, it can have its uses. It will also see actual use in long encounters against a single target.

Carve and Spit Souleater
Cooldown: 60s
Range: 3y
Animation: Uses previous Souleater animation.

Delivers an attack with a potency of 100 160. Also restores MP, TP, and Blood Gauge if used while not under the effect of Dark Arts.
Additional Effect: Restores HP.
MP Restored: 1200 2400
Cure Potency: 500
TP Restored: 100
Blood Gauge Restored: 50
Dark Arts Potency: 450 475
Duration: 15s
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

Among the most difficult to balance. The idea behind these changes was to make the use of this ability significant when not used with Dark Arts. While it may seem like the use of Dark Arts on it will be useless, when used inside of raid buff windows like Trick Attack, it becomes a DPS gain. This fine balance is what this ability has been lacking since its implementation.

Blood Delirium
Cooldown: 120s

Restores MP and HP while also suffering damage over time with potency of 100.
Additional Effect: Extends Blood Weapon and Blood Price by 8s and 16s respectively. Extends Blood Weapon by 15s.
Damage Sustained Duration: 12s
Cure potency: 500

Another ability considered underwhelming by the community given its long cooldown timer. This ability is made more interesting in that it heals the DRK initially while they sustain a near equal amount of damage over time. This provides short term gain at the potential risk of long term negative if the DRK is already capped out on HP. The change to the increase of Blood Weapon's duration has been made to maintain balance from the change in DPS from shifting the focus to Blood Gauge over Dark Arts. Lastly, the Japanese name has been given to better reflect the icon and ability functionality.

Quietus
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 5y

Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 to all nearby enemies.
Additional Effect: Restores own MP
Dark Arts Potency: 250
Dark Arts Effect: Inflicts Silence and Pacify for 2s.
Blood Gauge Cost: 50
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

The MP restoration has been removed to lessen the emphasis on MP AoE actions. The MP restoration was always welcome as a buff, but the reasoning was questioned since it did not make much sense given the name. Instead, the real issue with Quietus has been addressed in that its Dark Arts action is now meaningful while also reflecting the name of the ability.

Bloodspiller
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 5y
Animation: End of animation is changed so that the DRK no longer nearly loses their balance.
Sound Effect: Made more intense.

Delivers an attack with a potency of 400 450.
Ignores the damage penalty inflicted by Grit.
Dark Arts Potency: 540 640
Grit Potency: 475
Dark Arts + Grit Potency: 650
Blood Gauge Cost: 50
Dark Arts fades upon execution.

It's a common issue that JP and NA players have in that this ability just “feels” underwhelming. This is partly due to the sound effects and partly due to the damage itself. A potency increase was necessary to maintain balance from the loss of MP across my adjustments, but it has the added effect of making this ability feel more powerful while also giving DRK a little more burst damage. I've included the adjustment to the animation because I feel the end of this animation just looks a little goofy and has no place with the DRK job. Finally, the wording has been changed to better reflect its damage being unaffected by tank stance without confusion.

The Blackest Night
Cooldown: 15s 90s
Range: 30y
MP Cost: 2400

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. Increases Blood Gauge by 50 when full 20% (10%) is absorbed.
Covers you in darkness and, over the next 6 seconds, all damage dealt during this time is converted into a barrier around self or party member that absorbs an equal amount of damage.
Duration: 5s

The current iteration of this ability is far more powerful than it needs to be and makes the rest of DRK's kit suffer because of it. Furthermore, it tries to do too much by costing MP and giving back Blood Gauge. The changes made will be better in line for an ability that provides the party utility of giving another a shield while also making this ability more interesting and befitting its name. In the blackest of nights, the DRK's strength becomes a shield for themselves and their comrades. While there is potential for the shield to be massive if the DRK can manage to pump out significant damage over the course of 6s, the short duration of the shield prevents this from ever being too powerful. That said, while on average this will be equal to the current iteration's shield, it still has potential to be very strong and adjustments may need to be made, like reducing the duration in which the DRK builds the shield.

Essence Drain NEW
Cooldown: 2.5s
Range: 15y
MP Cost: 2400
Animation: Same as Abyssal Drain without the spiky ball and sees energy drained into the DRK.

Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100.
Additional Effect: Restores HP.
Cure Potency: 1200

This ability provides DRK with the long desired and needed self-healing it has been lacking. It provides the same amount as Equilibrium and Clemency while costing the DRK a bit more due to also dealing damage. Given the nature of the skill, it needed to do damage, but the damage should not be the appeal of this skill. Instead, it should be there to only serve the name and the DRK should make the trade when they truly need the healing. Unlike PLD, this cannot be used on another.

Atonement of the Exile NEW
Cooldown: 120s
Animation: The DRK shield themselves with their great sword while a Dark Energy barrier with souls forms behind. The DRK also spills large amounts of blood with every hit sustained.

Increases damage taken by 10% while increasing parry rate to 100% and creating a designated area in a cone behind you in which party members will only suffer 80% of all damage inflicted.
Duration: 10s
Additional Effects: Increases Blood Gauge and can parry magic attacks.
Effect ends upon executing another action or moving.

The main goal of this ability is to provide DRK with a means of mitigation for the entire party due to their loss of Reprisal. Why SE decided to give PLD all three forms of party mitigation and not spread them out is beyond me, but with this implementation I expect it will be more easy to see WAR receiving Thrill of War. PLD will still maintain Divine Veil, Cover, and Passage of Arms. While this ability is nearly the same as Passage of Arms, there are a few differences that are important. First, the “increases damage taken” is necessary to help establish the image of DRK. They are taking damage for the party after all, but they are also in a purely defensive stance, so it would not make sense that they only suffer more damage. The increased parry rate is given due to the DRK using the great sword as a shield. While this ability has the same cooldown timer as Passage of Arms, a shorter duration, and smaller self-mitigation percentage (-12% overall versus Passage of Arms' current -24%), it makes up for this by increasing the Blood Gauge slightly to help fuel the image that DRK's suffering is also their strength while also giving an extra -5% to reflect the strength of the nobility of their heart and protection compared to their PLD counterparts. Basically, they suffer more to protect their comrades more.