Living Dead

[Izsha]

Like so many skills in this game, LD has the conundrum of being perfectly fine in organized groups doing top level content and unreliable junk in most other things. Use it in an 8 or 24 man DF? Probably just going to die. Go in a 4 man with 1 healer that isn't on their A game? Probably gonna die. Go with your static into (insert savage tier) and make it part of your defensive plan and you can make it do wonders and really get a lot of value.

For whatever reason SE has decided to set the game balance around the top end content instead of the lower tiers of stuff like dungeons, 24 mans, and other middle or lower tier content. Is that the right philosophy? probably not. But it is a practical one to just look at 1 set to standardize instead of balancing the trip to 70, 4 man overgeared on day 1 dungeons, 24 mans, savage, old level 50/60 content, hunts, eureka, and everything else. The top down view isn't always pretty, but it is practical.

[Hierro]

The top down view isn't always pretty, but it is practical.

Well said. People complain about LD, but often forget holmgang gets the same treatment in lower end content. Ever try holmgang in a dungeon? More often than not will end up in death.

[Cabalabob]

Well said. People complain about LD, but often forget holmgang gets the same treatment in lower end content. Ever try holmgang in a dungeon? More often than not will end up in death.

The difference here is the WAR themself can do something about it, they can go into defiance, berserk/inner release + inner beast spam, equilibrium, thrill of battle, hell even storm’s path. All they need is to not be at 1 hp after it wears off and they’re safe. A dark knight CANNOT save themself from living dead, no amount of grit + souleater is recovering you to full hp and it would take a pretty large pull for abyssal drain to cover it. So it is entirely in the hands of another player that might not even understand the move to save the DRK and that is where living dead goes from difficult to use to requiring co-ordination that you simply won’t have.

[Tint]

today i just died again after Walking Dead was wearing off, i was at 50% life... just do something SE, this skill is ridiculous!

[Hierro]

they can go into defiance, berserk/inner release + inner beast spam, equilibrium, thrill of battle, hell even storm’s path

....You cool, man?

[NobleWinter]

Dark Knight needs an ability called Martyr that reduces your CURRENT hp by 10 percent (so as your health gets lower you sacrifice less hp) and does damage in proportion to the hp lost. It would also give the benefit of increasing the potency of healing magic received for the next 10 seconds. Additionally this skill would reduce your HP to 1 if you are under the effect of Living Dead. This way you could force Walking Dead to activate and also help the healer get you back to full health. It would synergize well with the Scholar's Excogitation since you would get the heal after you activated Living Dead and not awkwardly beforehand. The Dark Knight theme needs this sacrifice skill for the lore as well but turning Living Dead into a powerful attack also greatly appeals to me.

[Lyth]

Setting aside comparisons to Holmgang, there are two design issues with Living Dead. First, anything that takes control out of the hands of the player is going to be poorly received. You can decide when to use it, but you have no control over the outcome. In single target, DRK has very little burst healing potential. It would be one thing if you could "fight for your life" and lifesteal your way through the healing requirement. But you can't.

The design interface also doesn't support the skill execution. Visually, neither you nor your teammates have no idea how much healing you require. If you have benediction, great. If not, frantic overhealing ensues. Wasn't the goal of the UI changes on Stormblood's launch to address issues like this to make them more visible and user-friendly?

How could this be redesigned? You hit 1 hp with Living Dead up? Walking Dead activates. You can't take any further damage for the next 10 seconds, regardless of when the effect is cleansed. Your attacks gain lifesteal, which allows you to help fight for your life (granted, 10 seconds is a very short time to do this, but it's still something). A black bar with a little skull replaces your HP bar to show you and your teammates how much healing you still need to ward off death. Perhaps consider dropping Benediction to 150 seconds so that you don't lose a recast every time you use the two together.

Build the communication and coordination into the ability visually, and give DRKs some degree of control over the outcome. Who knows? Perhaps we might even start to enjoy using our ultimate defensive cooldown.

[Brightshadow]

Why not give DRK some draining abilities since historically they are known to drain their enemies. That way they can help heal themselves while in living dead status.

New Skills:
1.) Drain - Drains a portion of the enemy HP. The amount healed, damage dealt is increased the lower your HP is. (Darkside Increases amount healed by 50%) (Recast: 1 min) (Instant Cast)
-10% or less HP = 40% HP recovery. (Dark Art - 60%)
-20% HP = 30% HP recovery. (Dark Art - 45%)
-30% HP = 20% HP recovery. (Dark Art - 30%)
-40% HP = 10% HP recovery. (Dark Art -15%)
-50% or more HP = 5% HP recovery. (Dark Art -10%)

[MKirro]

Yeah, the reliance on the healer to get the DRK to 100% is the real problem with the skill, especially when there's no obvious visual indication when WD is triggered. It depends on healers knowing a tank skill exclusive to DRK AND to notice the debuff on the bar, or else requires the tank to have an annoying macro, which in turn relies on the healer reading chat (and sharing the tank's language).

One change I would make to both Holmgang and Living Dead would be to add a significant damage mitigation to the skills. It just feels awful to use them and have them do nothing because the healer suddenly perks up. Hallowed Ground on the other hand feels badass every time I use it, because even if it wasn't 100% necessary, it always helps.

[Mycow8me]

Drks using living dead macros be like: