Dark Knight Megathread

[Kalaam]

That I do not know, it could generate blood or just have different ways to build it (both a MP dump like edge/flood are as of now, and some other actions like a weaponskill or ogcd).
It could just straight up use MP the same way HP is used in PvP too, though since this ressource is so static it might not feel as good.
Maybe by having a MP drain effect again ? I don't know, it is just a suggestion.

[Shurrikhan]

I don't know, it is just a suggestion.

That's fair. And I apologize for seeming to require you to have all the answers from the start.

My concern is just that many here (on the forums, broadly, but also on this thread in particular) seem to think that just throwing additional on-paper complexity at the job will necessarily produce improved gameplay, despite that greater on-paper complexity actually allowing for fewer options and thus less in-practice complexity, let alone gameplay improvements.

[Kalaam]

That's understandable.
Adding complexity without creating a satisfying loop or mechanics wouldn't work. I'm of course not suggesting slapping a sudden tight ressource management without changing anything about the kit ahah

[Shin96]

I would also like them to utilize Abyssal Drain more. I feel there is more that can be done with that.

[Oizen]

I would also like them to utilize Abyssal Drain more. I feel there is more that can be done with that.

Abyssal Drain has always been screaming to me to become a no CD, 3000 MP move that can be used with a Dark Arts stack.

I feel like that alone would give DRK a much better dungeon experience.

[Shurrikhan]

I think it'd work on a melee DPS but on a tank the risk of getting hit a bit too much when you're spending your HP is too high, and it'd feel bad to not attack to wait until it is safe to do so again.

So long as it's on charges, that much would be fine.

More crucial though is that the skill can't be particularly frequent, or you introduce a "give me HoTs just so I can DPS more" loop.

Abyssal Drain has always been screaming to me to become a no CD, 3000 MP move that can be used with a Dark Arts stack.

I feel like that alone would give DRK a much better dungeon experience.

I take it we're effectively removing Flood of Shadows, then? Or are we nerfing Abyssal's offensive potency so the prior might still be worth using?

[Oizen]

So long as it's on charges, that much would be fine.

More crucial though is that the skill can't be particularly frequent, or you introduce a "give me HoTs just so I can DPS more" loop.


I take it we're effectively removing Flood of Shadows, then? Or are we nerfing Abyssal's offensive potency so the prior might still be worth using?

Flood is already stronger than Abyssal?

Not by much but the idea should be Damage or Healing honestly.

[Shurrikhan]

Flood is already stronger than Abyssal?

Not by much but the idea should be Damage or Healing honestly.

You're going to trade 200 potency of healing per target for... 10 more potency in damage?

Else, that's... not worth keeping on one's bars.

[Archwizard]

So long as it's on charges, that much would be fine.

More crucial though is that the skill can't be particularly frequent, or you introduce a "give me HoTs just so I can DPS more" loop.

I should think that as long as the charges put a fixed upper limit on the number of uses you have (not unlike our MP is for Flood/Edge), whether or not you beg for HoTs becomes a waste of raid DPS and source of overhealing provided that Drain (or any single-target variant) can largely repay that cost, but I can only speak from a theoretical standpoint.

"Particularly frequent" is a bit of a tricky statement though. Too long between uses and you could acquire multiple DAs before a single charge is spent, so we probably want to keep its CD and TBN's close together (or just scrap the idea of having DA subvert HP costs at all, returning to exactly what we have now).
Around a 30 sec CD and 2-3 charges ought to work I think? Assuming TBN is normalized due to not using MP anymore, the spender CD would be slightly longer than an on-demand but the additional charges will allow you to line up DAs for most of the encounter...

Alternately they could do something wild and make it so the cost paid to use DRK's HP-spending skills can only be repaid by DRK somehow, like putting a debuff on his max HP based on how much HP he paid, which he has to cleanse with his personal healing skills.

I take it we're effectively removing Flood of Shadows, then?

I would be for it. As I said before, they could recycle effects that exist as needed -- for instance, having Flood of Shadow/Darkness become the HP-consuming action and retain its Dark Arts interaction, or a lower-level holdover for (if we take the PvP inspiration to its most literal extent) Shadowbringer.

But as far as making Abyssal Drain take Flood's current position as the AoE MP spender, I'm for it, and it's a functionally irrelevant distinction in raid content anyway.
What happens to Edge, if anything at all, is the slightly more important question for that. And again, none of the loop I've proposed has any consideration for the place of Blackblood skills.

[DannyDeDitto]

What happens to Edge, if anything at all, is the slightly more important question for that. And again, none of the loop I've proposed has any consideration for the place of Blackblood skills.

I dunno if it'd be overkill but i think Edge could perhaps work like Death Strike from WoW's DKs, which heals you for a small amount baseline but scales up with the damage you took in the last 5 seconds.
I don't know if it's gonna fit with the current game content, but that's a reaction based lifesteal playstyle that i very much enjoyed.

As a matter of fact, didn't they say that they wanted to introduce ''parries'' to tank defensives before endwalker?