Dark Knight Megathread

[MagiusNecros]

The devs love TBN and LD. I don't think they will ever be changed. Dark Knight is gonna forever be a Raid Tank. That is it's purpose. Dungeon content isn't for DRK. Just use DRK for raids, trials and hunts.

Happy fun times of HW/DB are long past us.

[ItsUrBoi]

Hi!
I am gonna try to make an attempt at reworking the job, so I kindly ask people to look at THE IDEAS presented and less so at numbers.

1. The job could have 2 combos:
->Hard Slash -> Syphon Strike (600mp ) -> Souleater ( heals + 20 blood )
->Hard Slash -> Delirium ( 400mp ) -> Scourge ( 21 secs DoT + 10 blood )
2. Darkside could stay the same. However its maximum duration could be increased to 120 seconds.
3. ->Living Shadow could be changed to 60 secs.
->When activated, Fray fuses with you and you get to do a new special 5 action combo. This combo would be fast paced, reducing your GCD to 2 seconds ( RDM / Reaper design ) and would be within 1 button.
->Living Shadow would drain your Darkside ( 20 secs per action from the special combo )
4. ->Living Dead could be the same as it is now in matters of CD, Walking Dead, and length.
->Your GCDs and OGCDs heal you for an amount of damage dealt.
5. ->C&S could be 30 seconds to increase frequency.
->Abyssal Drain could be 30 seconds as well. Both sharing a CD is fine, so you get to choose which one you use.
6. Blood weapon could stay the same but 5 stacks. A 40 second CD would be a bit more intuitive since you generate MP which you spend on Edge/Flood to generate Darkside preparing you for your Living Shadow.
7. Dark Arts enhances the next action used, increasing its potency. 20 sec CD. Works on Living Shadow to increase damage of all the combo. Works on TBN to grant a 35% shield, instead of 25%.
8. Dark Arts could also offer Edge/Flood a combo action. If Dark Arts -> Flood you'd get Shadowbringer. If Dark Arts -> Edge -> ? ( Shadowbringer looks like a cooler Flood, this action could be a cooler Edge )
9. ->Blood price replaces Dark Mind. Same CD and duration.
->Heals for a % of damage mitigated via damage reductions or shielding.
10. TBN
-> 25 sec CD, no MP cost
-> If broken grants 1 DarkArts only if it was augmented by DarkArts
-> At lower levels, Oblation is a 15% dmg reduction, at 70, Oblation is upgraded to TBN.

The overall flow of the job would be the kind of the same as it is now. Use Edge/Flood to generate as much Darkside, every 20 secs augment an ability with Dark Arts which bets fits the situation, every 60 secs go into your Living Shadow form to burst the enemy ( preferably augmented by Dark Arts, since they align and with a high Darkside timer), keep up your Scourge DoT, generate as much blood from your basic combos and spend it on Bloodspiller/Quietus or on Living Shadow.

DarkArts could have straight forward uses: use on Flood/Edge for damage as they combo into Shadowbringer/ ( ? ), use on TBN if you need to mitigate, use on Bloodspiller for a high potency heal ( 600? ).
DarkArts does not work with anything other than what was mentioned.

[RatCopter]

The one thing that TBN has going for it in dungeon pulls is the fact its up 10s faster than any other mitigation, so you get more uses depending on the timing of it as a whole. It's probably the only thing that makes DRK functional in dungeon content.

Something for the "just remove TBN cost and put to 25s and you fixed DRK" Xeno-parroting crowd should consider. And something the mathematicians should factor in, too; pulls aren't done when your first mitigation runs out.

[Mortex]

The one thing that TBN has going for it in dungeon pulls is the fact its up 10s faster than any other mitigation, so you get more uses depending on the timing of it as a whole. It's probably the only thing that makes DRK functional in dungeon content.

Something for the "just remove TBN cost and put to 25s and you fixed DRK" Xeno-parroting crowd should consider. And something the mathematicians should factor in, too; pulls aren't done when your first mitigation runs out.

But tbn is a set hp shield so it doesn’t matter how long it is up. A shield and a mitigation skill aren’t same in any shape way or form. Shields scale better with dmg mitigation but here is the kicker because Drk already has the least dmg mitigation skills. The more hits you take, the weaker a shield gets as a dmg reduce option and in the same moment hard % mitigation gets better. A well timed HoC reduces more dmg then 2 tbn could and you get a heal on top

[Pyitoechito]

Two solutions to make Living Dead less of a "Benediction only" mechanic, perhaps even making the skill fun to use:

1. Reduce the healing required to remove Walking Dead from 100% of max health to 50%.
2. Add a buff to Walking Dead that increases all healing received by 100%.

Both accomplish the same goal of halving the healing needed to remove Walking Dead, but the first option potentially leaves the DRK with less HP after Walking Dead expires. That said, the first option may feel more "natural" to remove Walking Dead, as most healers upon seeing a tank hit 1hp will try to heal them enough to that they don't die when their invuln expires. Getting a tank to at least 50% HP may just come more naturally than fully healing a tank to 100% (especially in a 10-second window).

[Shurrikhan]

A well timed HoC reduces more dmg then 2 tbn could

For HoC to nullify more damage than 2 TBNs, you'd have to have nullified, off a mere 30 and/or 15% mitigation, 50% of your HP over 8 seconds.

That means, at minimum, you'd have to take what would have been 167% of your HP (enough to kill you, through a non-crit Catharsis of Corundum, from full HP) in the first 4 seconds. If the damage was taken over more time than the first 4 seconds, the would-be damage would have to be doubled, because the mitigation at that point nullifies only half as much (15%, down from 30%).

What, in this game, deals 167% of your HP, after all other forms of mitigation (as in, leaving out only TBN/HoC), in under 4 seconds without you having taken unnecessary vuln stacks?

-How these could be fixed:
->Delirium could go as a GCD for a new combo, along with Scourge making a comeback.
->Living Shadow could be on a 1 min, and offer you a new combo ( like Paladin's Confiteor combo, but around 5 or 6 gcds, granting you a Reaper like Enshroud effect )
->I got this idea for Dark Mind to be renamed Blood price and heal you for a % of damage mitigated and shielded. Would work well in dungeons, and with the kit of DRK in general.
->Shadowbringer could be a combo for Flood. Edge could have the same treatment.
->Someone posted here before that Living Dead could just grant you a 300% max HP shield if you were to die.

[1] Please not this. If the problem with Delirium Release is that it's spammy and thoughtless, copying anything like Confiteor combo would just be spammy, thoughtless, and even more constraining.

[2] Does that actually do anything different, except to fetter Shadowbringer slightly?

Fully agreed on the problems you mentioned, though.

[ItsUrBoi]

Well the idea would be to have Living Shadow act like a Reaper's Enshroud allowing you 23 seconds to pull of a new fast paced combo ( like RDM, RPR) of 5 or 6 GCDs. You have 23 seconds to use it since you will be in the Living Shadow form, that's plenty of time, and other shouldn't interrupt it.

Shadowbringer could contribute as a heal or maybe just as damage.
At the end of the day DRKs identity should be Living Shadow as a "I go crazy mode", and Dark Arts to augment abilities.
If you strip down the design of something like Edge to its core, it does damage. Now what's the difference between an Edge with 500 potency and a Dark Arts which makes Edge stronger by 25% but Edge has 400 potency?
They are the same, except the choice of using Dark Arts on it, when you coould perhaps use it on something else for another use.
If Dark Arts would return it should have clear uses:
-augment one ability for better defense
-augment one ability for more damage
-augment one ability for healing

If you can augment 2 abilities for damage when they are the same, it becomes bloat, if one is weaker than the other, it becomes not so good.

I was trying to include work on Shadowbringer into a more interactive kit. Like what if using Dark Arts on Flood/Edge allowed you this combo into Shadowbringer / "stronger Edge" and that'd be the damager oriented use for a new Dark Arts? Use it on Bloodspiller and you get a bit of a damage loss, but you heal for a lot. Use it on TBN for defense and you get a 35% shield, and the DarkArts back if TBN breaks.

Little interactions like this giving you a choice between mitigation, sustain and pure damage would be pretty cool imo for DarkArts.
Of course, mitigating properly should be rewarded so you do not lose damage, doing more damage should do more damage, and if you made a mistske you can have the flexibility to recover, with a small damage loss.

I especially think Dark Mind turning into Blood price which would heal you for a % of damage mitigated and shielded would bring some synergy. ( Thrill of battle but DRK style?)

[Oizen]

If Living dead hasn't been changed for the past 7 years, why would anyone think its going to change now?

The developers are clearly fine with it existing as "You die unless theres a WM with Benediction paying attention", and don't have an issue with that having a longer CD than Holmgang.

[RyuDragnier]

If Living dead hasn't been changed for the past 7 years, why would anyone think its going to change now?

Because MNK hadn't changed since launch, and now it has.

[Danelo]

Two solutions to make Living Dead less of a "Benediction only" mechanic, perhaps even making the skill fun to use:

1. Reduce the healing required to remove Walking Dead from 100% of max health to 50%.
2. Add a buff to Walking Dead that increases all healing received by 100%.

Both accomplish the same goal of halving the healing needed to remove Walking Dead, but the first option potentially leaves the DRK with less HP after Walking Dead expires. That said, the first option may feel more "natural" to remove Walking Dead, as most healers upon seeing a tank hit 1hp will try to heal them enough to that they don't die when their invuln expires. Getting a tank to at least 50% HP may just come more naturally than fully healing a tank to 100% (especially in a 10-second window).

Either one of these options need to be paired with “invulnerable status remains for 10 seconds after WD phase begins regardless of when cleanse occurs”.

That being said, the death mechanic is not fun and “but lore” is a slap in the face by Yoshi when you look at all the abilities that have been deleted, passed out and shuffled around in this game for the sake of appeasement alone.