Quote Originally Posted by SyzzleSpark View Post

Otherwise its not "risk-reward", its merely "risk---"
DRK does have rewards/benefits to the skills in the OP.

TBN is available every 15s. That's more often than Sheltron, and Sheltron is only really great against tankbusters while TBN works well on everything: tankbusters, boss autos, and trash packs. A 10k+ shield (closer to 12k at i340) every 15s is a lot of mitigation and it doesn't even have diminishing returns when stacked with a % mitigation cooldown. Sheltron only works on a single hit so it's not amazing against autos and bad against trash. IB is the best mitigation of the 3, but it's also a guaranteed DPS loss because it requires tank stance unlike the other two and also uses a DPS resource that won't get refunded. So for the risk of a small DPS loss you get a great cooldown that's almost always available and works in pretty much every situation. Converting MP to Blood also stops DRK from being as boring as it could be by letting you use Bloodspiller/Quietus instead of another Dark Arts/Abyssal Drain.

Living Dead has a 2 minute shorter cooldown than Hallowed and only activates when you actually hit 1hp so you don't have to be as exact with the timing. In exchange, your healer has to do a little bit of work to keep you alive after. That shorter cooldown means you can use it in places a PLD couldn't use Hallowed, like all 3 Delta Attacks in Neo Exdeath. Then there's Holmgang, which has just over half the duration of the other two cooldowns and also roots you. If you're planning to use Holmgang on a specific mechanic then your healers need to heal the WAR too: Thrill isn't enough HP and you don't want to swap to tank stance for Equilibrium/IB. DRK isn't the only one that requires healing. Tanking isn't just about using your invincibility cooldown as a panic button.

Let's be serious, Sole Survivor isn't "a chance to get healed". It lasts 15s, it's off-gcd, and it doesn't cost anything. You use it on something that's at low HP and you're going to get that heal/MP. It's not Mercy Stroke, it doesn't require you to get the kill with a low potency skill. It's not an impressive skill, but when you have the chance to use it (in every single dungeon and plenty of bosses) it's going to work.

You're also making Dark Passenger sound a lot more complicated than it is. Got a lot of MP coming in from a big pull? Go ahead and use it. Forced to do a small pull with 2-4 enemies (like after the second boss of Skalla)? Use it. It's a boring off-gcd and should be deleted in my opinion, but it's not really complicated or risky.