Dark Knight Megathread

[Kalaam]

DRK already has 3 ressources: Darkside, Blood and MP. They just barely interract (only got 2 skills that spend MP to give darkside) and one that has no actual use (Darkside)

[Noctisnine]

We need to keep this fresh.
Please devs, we are humbly requesting that you read this thread.
We would like many changes to DRK. And as you can see and read here there are plenty of suggestions.

[ItsUrBoi]

Hi!
I am going to write my suggestions so that everyone can read fast, not get bored and not waste people's time. I hope SE can see this. These are my 10 suggestions that I have thought of for a while, I love this game and I am trying to help it get better - in a way that I can offer my respect and praise to the dev team.

Abilities:
1. Dark Side could be changed to 120 seconds duration maximum. Why? I will explain on point 2.
2. !NEW! Dark Arts would convert 50% current Dark Side timer into HP. The higher the converted duration, the higher the HP. This can solve Living Dead or give you a fighting chance. 90 secs CD.
3. !NEW! Blood Price would convert 20% of current HP into a 10% dmg buff for 20 seconds, dispels that amount from TBN instead of consuming HP if present. 120 secs CD
4. Oblation would give 10% dmg reduction for 8 seconds, with 10% more for the first 4 seconds.
5. TBN would not be tied to damage and it would be free - instead it has another potential use ( point 3 ). 25 seconds CD.
6. Blood weapon would give 5 stacks.
7. Unmend, Unleash, Stalwart Soul, Tar Pit ( see point 10 ) would be weaponskills.
8. An additional combo finisher would be Scourge which would be a DoT + 10 blood.
9. Living Shadow would function like Reaper's Enshroud, buffing yourself to do more dmg on your next 10 actions. ( off GCDs + GCDs ) The red shadow next to your Dark Side timer could glow red as it does now, and show you remaining actions while the actions used while under this would be the same ones as normally, they could look slightly more powerful in terms of animations.
10. !NEW! Tar Pit would be your 3rd AoE button, healing you for 25 potency per enemy and giving 20 blood. Stalwart soul would restore MP, but give 10 blood. This would also mean that the 2nd AoE button could be obtained earlier while the 3rd one at a later level.

Removed: Dark Mind , Shadowbringer ( the work on Shadowbringer is amazing and looks cool, put it on standard Flood of Shadow, and make something similar for Edge of Shadow?), Abyssal Drain ( Tar Pit + Dark Arts cover your sustain now )

Important note: I did account for button bloat: you lose 3 buttons, and you gain 4 buttons, and for the fact that Tar Pit would be on 8 mobs a heal of 200 potency every 3 GCDs.

[Garlan]

As a DRK main who hasn't browsed the forums too much, I wanted to hop in this thread and provide my opinions, concerns, and possible constructive criticism alongside my fellow DRK players. I am sure many of the things I am about to say have been echoed by others, so I apologize in advance. I would also like to thank the developers for creating a game that has kept me invested for so long, so out of respect for their dedication and hard-work, my suggestions don't aim to fundamentally change the job from its 6.0 iteration - DRK's current kit is solid and performs quite well, so most of my proposals are aimed at addressing feasible QoL improvements that can (hopefully!) be implemented within 6.0's lifespan.

A) Blood Weapon's window is too tight. Blood Weapon is listed as a 10s duration, but the unfortunate reality is that its actual duration is closer to 9s. Due to naturally higher ping as an east coast NA player, this forces me to only double-weave BW on the second oGCD slot, or to painfully time its application when the GCD timer is 2/3's of the way from being available again. DRK is already busy for a tank, and BW's strict timings can easily lead to accidental clipping and lost resources that feel more punishing and limiting rather than rewarding skilled play.
- My feedback for Blood Weapon is to either increase its duration so all 5 GCD's can be achieved more reliably, or change BW to use a charge-based system like the reworked Delirium and Inner Release skills.

B) Living Dead is painful to press. To put my concerns simply, every time I am forced to use Living Dead, I feel guilty for thrusting all the responsibility onto the healer. (especially in dungeons). This reality is made all the more agonizing by the fact that DRK currently has very limited healing capabilities, so I cannot reliably help my healer cure the Walking Dead status. In a static raid environment, Living Dead's drawbacks can be mitigated with call-outs and pre-planned tactics, and a second healer is available to ease the overall burden. However, even with the additional help, it feels odd that DRK is the only tank with such a severe, punishing fail-state.
- My feedback for Living Dead is to alter the punishment of failing to cure the DRK to 100% HP. I understand that the team likely wants to preserve the lore and thematics of the skill, and I have two possible suggestions to recommend:

a) Failing to remove Walking Dead inflicts weakness instead of outright KO'ing the DRK. This allows the DRK to stay in the fight, while still inflicting a thematic fail-state.
b) Failing to remove Walking Dead immediately deals damage to the DRK equal to the amount of unhealed hit points. As an example, if a DRK is only healed for 60% of their HP when Walking Dead expires, they will suffer damage equal to 40% of their HP.

[Garlan]

C) DRK has very poor self-healing. From a balancing perspective, I can understand why DRK has been allowed such limited healing capabilities - DRK has been designed as "the shield tank", so an excess of healing skills might make it too strong. However, it doesn't change the fact that our invuln is directly tied to our ability to heal, which DRK is currently very poor at doing. It feels like a contradiction, especially when DRK is compared against the other tanks that gained an abundance of skills and abilities that provide self-healing and shielding. Currently DRK struggles the most out of all the tanks in large dungeon pulls due its inability to self-heal but once every 60s (Abyssal Drain), which is compounded by the Living Dead concern I mentioned above.
- My feedback to address DRK's self-healing is an inclusion of a new trait that enhances and adds self-healing capabilities to certain skills:

Blood Communion (Lv. 84 DRK trait)
Adds a healing effect to Blood Weapon, Bloodspiller, and Quietus.
Cure Potency: 200

D) DRK gains key skills at late levels. This concern is a slight nitpick, but out of respect for those who still enjoy engaging in challenging, older content I feel it deserves a mention. Compared to other tanks, it takes DRK the longest to gain access to a second AoE combo, its AoE magic mitigation tool, and its short-CD defensive (TBN). This makes DRK unwieldy and inferior at select level tiers, as it lacks the utility other tanks can bring to the party.
- My feedback to address this issue to re-evaluate DRK's leveling path and reshuffle skills around to ensure DRK brings an equal or similar utility to the group, regardless of the level of content being engaged. As an example, instead of giving DRK Dark Missionary at level 76, give them access to the skill between levels 64-68 (the level range which GNB and WAR gain access to their AoE mitigation).

Again, I would like to thank the developers for all the love and effort they have poured into FFXIV, and hope that they understand that my suggestions are meant to be constructive criticism and not bitter lamentations. <3

[Garlan]

Honorary Mention, because while I feel DRK doesn't necessarily need the change, it would be a welcome one nonetheless.

E) Oblation could be a bit more impactful and exciting. I understand Oblation is the way it is because TBN has been such a powerful skill for two entire expansions, so Oblation having all the effects of, say, Holy Sheltron would be absurdly powerful. However, I feel the skill could use a bit of buff to make it feel more unique and rewarding when used properly.
My feedback would be to alter the skill by adding the following additional effect:

Oblation
Reduces damage taken by a party member or self by 10%.
Duration: 10s
Additional Effect: Grants Penitent's Absolution to target upon effect expiration.
Penitent's Absolution Effect: Increases HP recovery via healing actions by 20%.
Duration: 4s
Maximum Charges: 2

This allows Oblation to be unique, as the target of Oblation can recover from a debilitating attack a little faster, thus rewarding skillful timing and application. As an added bonus, it can even help DRK cure the effect's of Walking Dead faster!

[LitheSuxman]

I want to see a "enshroud" ability on DRK or could just be a new visual for the blackest night. I'm looking at the ShB trailer's DRK purple glow.

[Xrison]

Honestly, the devs need to do for Dark Knight what they did for Summoner. An entire rework while making key abilities available at lower levels.

[Ryaduera]

Darkside isn't really a resource worth talking about. you'd have to actually try to let it fall off, still not sure why it has its own gauge but Surging Tempest doesn't when Surging Tempest requires at least 2 brain cells to manage, which is 2 more brain cells than Darkside takes to keep up. in order for Darkside to actually matter as a resource it requires interaction in one form or another. Surging Tempest combo is 10 less gauge for warrior, but DRK doesn't get a single interaction, just make it a buff icon, the only reason to keep it a gauge is attaching the shadow to it, which can also just be a buff or integrated off Darkside timer and onto a little bar on the blood gauge that empties out. It's just fancier scourge anyway.

[Garlan]

With the removal of DPS stance, Darkside lost its purpose as a "resource". Whether this was for the best is, of course, subjective, but in my opinion Darkside was never really an issue in the 3.0/4.0 anyways. In those days, our MP regeneration was so abundant that we had little fear of Darkside actually dropping; the only substantial challenge it presented was knowing when you could safely toggle the status off/on to regenerate MP faster.

Maybe in 7.0 DRK will get a skill that consumes Darkside as resource, but I'm dubious such an ability will actually make the job more enjoyable rather than add a layer of unneeded tedium. I'm imagining scenarios where we are stuck in this bizarre loop of spending Darkside before spending MP in our frantic bursts, thus leading to capped resources regardless.

If Darkside has to be a mechanic beyond a passive DPS increase in 7.0 and beyond, I'd rather Edge/Flood increase our Darkside meter in increments of 20, which do not decay. Upon reaching the cap of 60, Edge/Flood becomes enhanced, replacing the respective skills with a new ability that causes the next offensive MP spender to deal increased damage (along with additional effects if needed). Does this make Darkside more complex? Not by much, but ensuring 1 or 2 enhanced Edge or Flood casts land during raid buffs can provide a more engaging challenge without overly complicating Darkside as a resource. However, this change will require that the Darkside gauge is modified to account for the lack of decay, which will likely mean that the 10% passive DPS increase will be impossible to drop once gained (which is more or less the current state of Darkside as a mechanic anyways).