Dark Knight Megathread

[Kalaam]

For the DPS roles though, that bonus is for unavoidable damage like raidwides etc. It is a light defensive tool, a small edge for players who have better mastery of the jobs. So it giving a small dps bonus is fine, I think.

[ArthurATDayne]

It's been an interesting discussion and though I'm not thrilled with the lack of exciting content for Patch 6.0 Dark Knight, part of me is also glad that SquareEnix doesn't just change things without thought from loud vocal minorities on the English Forums i.e. TBN nerfed to 25s CD, etc

Woo woo Endwalker Enhanced Unmend (which I don't like) VERY SOON (Unmend + Plunge Meta Single Target Combo, We really deserve something better than this trash)

Oblation! (I'll use it plenty but why the hell is it level 82 and not available pre 70?)

Salted Earth- TWO effects! Shitty version of Circle of Scorn. (Guess I'll use it but why 90s CD instead of 60s or under?)

Shadowbringer! (I'll take it)

Enhanced Living Shadow II (This doesn't even need to be a trait, it should be a given that Living Shadow will act like a level 90 version at job level 90)

I hope you guys also got your anti depressants and booze ready for Early Access and Next Week, I already got mines. Well, it probably won't be that bad, Dark Knight is still fun & playable and looks to be a capable enough tank going into Endwalker.

I'll still hope for more reliable on demand HP Sustain, MP too but it is what it is.

[Lycieus]

A hypothetical rework that will solve most DrK issues and preserve or enhance its identity.

A few caveats:

Potencies are me spitballing and are not final, even cursory examination reveals that these numbers need serious balancing.

‘Blood Price’ as outlined here is more or less a blatant ripoff of brewmaster monk’s stagger mechanic from WoW, but LD was ripped from WoW as well, so why not?


“New” passive:

Blood Price- Certain abilities will cause the DrK to accumulate stacks of Blood Price rather than taking damage. 2% of the Dark Knight’s hp = 1 stack. Each stack of blood price will spread its damage out over 10 seconds. Stacks tick off in the order they are acquired. Overhealing will remove stacks. All stacks must be removed before hp can be restored.

Reworked skills:

Living Dead- for 10s, DrK cannot die, all the damage taken during this time is stored in ‘Blood Price’ stacks.

Shadowbringer- Removes up to 10 stacks of Blood Price, does damage proportional to stacks removed.

Delirium- removes 6 stacks of blood price, restores 3k mp.

TBN- Over its duration, all damage taken is stored as stacks of Blood Price, up to a maximum of 15.

Blood Weapon- converted to charge system a la Endwalker Delirum.

[Shurrikhan]

Blood Price- Certain abilities will cause the DrK to accumulate stacks of Blood Price rather than taking damage. 2% of the Dark Knight’s hp = 1 stack. Each stack of blood price will spread its damage out over 10 seconds. Stacks tick off in the order they are acquired. Overhealing will remove stacks. All stacks must be removed before hp can be restored.

The mechanic as described here would seem to have a bit of a paradox (you can't overheal a less-than-full-HP target without first healing) and a healing quantization issue. The order, meanwhile, does not matter -- only the rate does.

Additionally, this would likely look and feel quite clunky unless you could first support an intuitive UI solution, such as a healable damage-to-be-taken (over time) component of one's health bar. (Most likely there'd be some color for predicted DoT damage to-be-taken in general and a special one for DRK to indicate that the DoT damage is cleansible.)

[Lycieus]

The mechanic as described here would seem to have a bit of a paradox (you can't overheal a less-than-full-HP target without first healing) and a healing quantization issue. The order, meanwhile, does not matter -- only the rate does.

An oversight on my part. In my original draft healing did not prioritize stacks, forgot to remove when changed it, so overhealing was possible.

As for the health bar, I believe in WoW stagger caused a grey overlay on your hp bar (it’s been years, I can’t remember), but I concieved of the UI dealing with the mechanic in a similar way.

[Edewen]

I swear I must be the only person who enjoys the simplicity of drk. Then again, I stay out of ultimate e-peen contests.

[Kiteless]

I swear I must be the only person who enjoys the simplicity of drk. Then again, I stay out of ultimate e-peen contests.

But we have three other really simple tanks. DRK's more complex playstyle circa 3.0 was the most fun I've had with this game (serious jank aside), and it hurt to lose that. You can find simple tank to play with any of the other options, but I can't find any alternatives to what I lost. It's not a matter of comparing egos, managing those systems was engaging.

[Mekhana]

I swear I must be the only person who enjoys the simplicity of drk. Then again, I stay out of ultimate e-peen contests.

Me too actually, but DRK really wasn't that complicated in 3.0/HW. Just had a learning curve because of novelty and required memorization. However, it was really satisfying and felt more rewarding.

[Crater]

They actually (very slightly) nerfed DRK from the Media Tour to 6.0 release. Although admittedly it does (again: very slightly) relieve some of the usability issues.

[shao32]

I just love how on the definitive changes they didn't actually care at all about blood weapon before release that they even nerfed DRK self healing capabilitys on single target by making Abyssal drain sharing recast with carve and spit.
I mean I didn't expect reaching even lower ends but they amaze me more and more every day, I would love to say this is bcs they are restructuring the job complety but I would be really stupid to hold any hope for it.