DRK changes from Prelim notes

[Llus]

Yo, I heard you liked dark arts so you can dark arts your dark arts.

Does SE even think about these things? So here's my take on it:

DA Potency increase on PS, kinda good. It's great that there's a potency buff because that will give DA+PS DRKS something useful besides a +1 enmity modifier

MP Reduction for grit; useful - now grit can be more easily used as a CD (depends on how much the reduction is though)

Dark Passenger potency buff & DA potency buff great! exceeeept, the effective potency has been REDUCED to 70/140 because recast is now 60s - not that anyone wasted 2400 mp on DP outside of dungeon trash mobs. The effect of increased enmity is great for trash mobs, but for those DRKS that use it in raids are now going to be stealing enmity; same threat management issues PLDs had when RA was on their enmity rotation in HW - is SE saying DRK MT or GTFO now?

No longer needing to DA your Dark mind to get a bonus? Awesome! DM still isn't a great CD, but FOR MAGIC busters; you can now get 30% mitigation w/o having to burn 2400 MP!

Shadow wall reduced to 120s! Ohh HELL YEA! That was SOOOOO needed!

DA+Plunge potency, more DA; but on another off-global; holy crap weaving oGCDs is going to be even more of a nightmare for DRKs
Plunge skill delay reduction! Needed! Badly
DA+Plunge now having an enmity effect? Again, going to be stealing hate - hey maybe that's SE's way of forcing DRKs to take shirk? Who knows. I know every plunge is going to be DAed for that sweeet potency buff (+140 potency AND ON A 30S OFF GLOBAL TOO!!!); you'd be nuts to not use it but people are going to hate you for using it when you're not MT)

Sole survivor hp+mp bonus even if the target doesn't die? Niiice. That's gonna be very useful, SS is finally going to get some usage outside of once on o6s and twice on o7s.

All in all, the biggest DPS gain is going to be on the DA+Plunge. Anyone that was using DP outside of dungeons will probably still use it thinking it's useful, but since it's an effective 30 potency or 100 potency (DA) loss due to the recast increase; it's still not going to be on most raiders hotbars outside of the opener if they're running MT. Second (and third and even 4th) biggest buffs are those to shadow wall, dark mind and sole survivor. Sole survivor will be used on CD to get that sweet MP boost, shadow wall got a MUCH needed recast reduction and since nobody wanted to blow 2400 MP to make their dark mind 30%; the removal of DA is a HUGE help.

The biggest issue I see though, is every 30s DRK is going to try to steal aggro with plunge having an enmity effect. Also, why so much DARK ARTS! What? Does SE really want DA to be the button pushed before ANY other button? I'm surprised they didn't give a dark arts bonus to hard slash and spinning slash. Can we get a dark arts effect to unmend, unleash, and salted earth (wait... are there really only 5 ATTACKS that don't have a dark arts effect for now?)

[Kabooa]

The biggest issue I see though, is every 30s DRK is going to try to steal aggro with plunge having an enmity effect.

Every 30 seconds Paladin has Circle of Scorn and 2 shield swipes.

Every 30 seconds Warrior could have two onslaughts.

[Llus]

Every 30 seconds Paladin has Circle of Scorn and 2 shield swipes.

Every 30 seconds Warrior could have two onslaughts.

onslaught is a DPS loss outside of IR since each cleave reduces the CD on infuriate by 5s and good WARs won't use it outside of IR or a gap closer; you do have a point on the circle of scorn and shield swipe (assuming you get a shield swipe proc) but bloodspiller, carve & spit, bloodspiller, plunge or BS, plunge, BS, C&S is a TON of burst damage (especially since C&S and Plunge are off-global) on top of the enmity bonus for plunge - PLD doesn't have that off-global burst potential. We'll have to see how much enmity it produces; but I still think it's going to cause DRKs to pull aggro at the worst possible times

[Tint]

The effect of increased enmity is great for trash mobs, but for those DRKS that use it in raids are now going to be stealing enmity

DA+Plunge now having an enmity effect? Again, going to be stealing hate

[...] you'd be nuts to not use it but people are going to hate you for using it when you're not MT

Dark Arts 140 potency buff on Plunge or 140 potency from Dark Passenger for the same cost of a Dark Arts... or getting an additional 140 potency for Dark Pssenger with another Dark Arts... as i said earlier in this topic: just because you can now use Dark Arts on more different skills doesn't change the fact that your mana is still the same as before. you simply can't use Dark Arts more often. and there is no reason to use DA Plunge or Dark Passenger as an offtank besides some rare instances maybe.

just... use the mana on DA Syphon Strike, DA Souleater or DA Bloodspiller. all these skills give you the same 140 potency a DA Plunge or a Dark Passenger will give you.

Dark Arts has a 2 second CD anyway, so you can't use it on GCD > off-GCD > GCD > off-GCD... so just use it on the GCDs and of course Carve and Spit. and maybe on Dark Passenger when you really need some extra burst, yeah. but keep in mind that you will miss out on slashing debuff with that skill.


also yeah, getting tons of mana and burning it away was always DRKs gameplay. they just changed it from the automatic mana drain through Dark Side into an manually mana drain through Dark Arts. I am not the biggest fan of it too, but i have long adapted... however, what they could do is changing it back to the automatic mana drain maybe, everything else will need a gigantic rework of how DRK functions in it's core and how it is played. everything revolves around the constant mana flow and that mana has to go into somewhere. maybe in 5.0, but until then it's Dark Arts spam.

[Llus]

Dark Arts 140 potency buff on Plunge or 140 potency from Dark Passenger for the same cost of a Dark Arts... or getting an additional 140 potency for Dark Pssenger with another Dark Arts... as i said earlier in this topic: just because you can now use Dark Arts on more different skills doesn't change the fact that your mana is still the same as before. you simply can't use Dark Arts more often. and there is no reason to use DA Plunge or Dark Passenger as an offtank besides some rare instances maybe.

just... use the mana on DA Syphon Strike, DA Souleater or DA Bloodspiller. all these skills give you the same 140 potency a DA Plunge or a Dark Passenger will give you.

Dark Arts has a 2 second CD anyway, so you can't use it on GCD > off-GCD > GCD > off-GCD... so just use it on the GCDs and of course Carve and Spit. and maybe on Dark Passenger when you really need some extra burst, yeah. but keep in mind that you will miss out on slashing debuff with that skill.


also yeah, getting tons of mana and burning it away was always DRKs gameplay. they just changed it from the automatic mana drain through Dark Side into an manually mana drain through Dark Arts. I am not the biggest fan of it too, but i have long adapted... however, what they could do is changing it back to the automatic mana drain maybe, everything else will need a gigantic rework of how DRK functions in it's core and how it is played. everything revolves around the constant mana flow and that mana has to go into somewhere. maybe in 5.0, but until then it's Dark Arts spam.

Yea every DA attack is a +140, but you're still looking at a +140 off-global (same as C&S) that during your BW phase is going to give you a nice bonus. You're also going to be making up something like 1800 mp every 120s with soul survivor as well as the extra MP you'll be getting during your BW phase with an additional +140 potency on your plunge (which you should be able to get twice during BW). We'll need to see how everything lines up, but napkin math is putting DA+Plunge clearly in the bonus room at least during BW.

As far as DP; that's a straight up nerf. Bad enough that it had the same cost as a DA with 40 less potency for single target (using DP in raids is and will probably remain pretty much worthless unless you don't have a ninja and are only using in your opener for the additional aggro - even then, using half your MP for a 280 potency attack just to get the extra enmity.... ugh)

[Tint]

As far as DP; that's a straight up nerf. Bad enough that it had the same cost as a DA with 40 less potency for single target (using DP in raids is and will probably remain pretty much worthless unless you don't have a ninja and are only using in your opener for the additional aggro - even then, using half your MP for a 280 potency attack just to get the extra enmity.... ugh)

i know that current Dark Passenger is a dps gain in aoe situations. 3 times abyssal drain on 3 enemys is less damage and less mana efficient than DA Dark Passenger and one Souleater combo. so yes, it is a nerf. and especially a nerf to DRKs mitigation kit in low level dungeons. i am relying on that aoe blind before i get Quietus and TBN and can spam DA Abyssal Drain.

but however, i am really excited for the enmity bonus, because one of the biggest problems i have with DRK is grabbing adds when i am off-tank and this will sure help me.

and as i understand it the enmity bonus is baseline on Dark Passenger.

Yea every DA attack is a +140, but you're still looking at a +140 off-global (same as C&S) that during your BW phase is going to give you a nice bonus. You're also going to be making up something like 1800 mp every 120s with soul survivor as well as the extra MP you'll be getting during your BW phase with an additional +140 potency on your plunge (which you should be able to get twice during BW). We'll need to see how everything lines up, but napkin math is putting DA+Plunge clearly in the bonus room at least during BW.

i... don't understand this part.

under blood weapon your speed is increased - not your damage per se. and for every weapon attack you use (combos, plunge, carve and spit, bloodspiller, quietus) you will get some mana. you will not get more mana when you do more damage or just for using dark arts.

so yes, you are getting a bonus for using Plunge under Blood Weapon. but if you have enhanced it with Dark Arts or not doesn't matter.

also the blood weapon duration is 15 seconds, 23 with delirium. the recast of plunge is 30 seconds, you will not fit 2 of them into one blood weapon window.