Hey there,

I'm very sorry to hear about your vault run; hopefully it won't sour your experience with dark knight or tank role in general. I main a healer whose tank job of choice is dark knight, so perhaps I could offer you some insights on this matter:


1. It is a good habit to check your healer's gears (and glaze over the party composition) at the start of the dungeon. This would allow you to gauge group capacity and set the pace accordingly. I do agree that pulling a bunch of mobs when the healer is AFK is ill-advised, so make sure everyone is ready before pulling anything. In your scenario, it was unfortunate your healer was being petty instead of picked up the pace. But yeah, in the future, try to avoid pulling before everyone is ready.

2. As dark knights, we unfortunately don't have as many mitigations as the other two jobs. Start off with shadow wall and see if you'd need to pop up rampart afterwards. If you only have 2 or 3 mobs by the end of shadow wall, I'd refrain from using rampart and use lesser ones such as anticipation or dark mind (if magic) instead. Oh btw, shadow wall + rampart does NOT equal 50% mitigation because these have diminished returns. Having said that, it's better to rotate these CDs instead of popping them all up at the same time.

3. You have no problem holding aggro, but I'll mention it just in case, since it also relates to DPS. When you're holding 3+ enemies, I'd suggest keeping grit on. Otherwise, the risk of losing aggro is pretty high and put pressure on your healer. Don't worry though, since your -20% penalty is somewhat offset by healer DPS, who now has more leeway thanks to you. When you have less than 2 (or 3), feel free to get off grit and pop blood weapon to boost your DPS. In this case, make sure to rotate attacking enemies to keep aggro on all of em.

4. Now the DPS. Generally speaking, Souleater, Dark Passenger, Abyssal Drain, and Carve & Spit (lv 60) are prime candidates for Dark Arts. The juicy part is when to use what. At the start of any pull, DA Dark Passenger is recommended as it gives blind debuff. When you're doing big pulls, DA Abyssal Drain is your best friend. DA Souleater and DA Carve & Spit are your burst attacks, so use these whenever possible. DA Souleater syncs pretty well, since you'd have MP from syphon strike beforehand. Throw in plunge every now and then, since it's essentially a freebie. You'll have more and DRK mechanics will truly develop after lv 60, but that's for another time. For now, try to use these skills with DA in these situations whenever possible. I think it'll come to you naturally after awhile, so practice makes perfect as they say.

As for raiding, Crimson provided a solid guide for you to peruse. Might want to check it out if you're interested in raiding as DRK.

Oh I'm also on PS4 and utilize full 32 slots (gets too inconvenient if using more than 2 crossbars, imo). I'd recommend putting all CDs in the same crossbar and all skills in the other, so you'd only need to switch bar every now and then. It works beautifully for me, hopefully you'll find what's good for you as well! Good luck and don't let these pineapples deter your interest in DRK.


Cheers,
Felix