Dark Knight Megathread

[Anahlise_Auhn_Giinslai]

Let me levy some further questions while we're still on the first page. I'll edit them to include others if anyone quotes this and adds a question of their own they'd like to be more (i.e., first-page) visible.

1. Assuming that spending MP or a similar resource on a defensive skill could sometimes be an rDPS gain (i.e., is worth using even in optimal play, given the right circumstances), would you want the ability to spend MP or any similar core resource defensively?
   
   
2. How reactive would you like DRK's playflow to be, and what kinds of things do you imagine it ought to react to. These can be external cues, such as from damage, healing, shields, or HoTs taken, or internal, such as procs.
   
   
3. Assuming that attacking quickly were part of DRK's identity, would you prefer that come from a baseline speed increase or, say, a bankable resource that you'd want to time precisely for stronger but limited-duration bursts of speed?
   
   
4. What thematic centers do you think DRK should be based around, insofar as Blood, Void, Dark/Shadow, Soul, or whatever else?
   
   
5. Do you want any manner of stance on DRK (any kind of stance, perhaps more like Witcher or Nioh 2 than the old Grit toggle)? If so, to what purpose?
   
   
6. What are the sort of things that you want your attention to be drawn to on DRK? For instance, in HW, much pivoted around your Blood Price, Blood Weapon, Carve and Spit, and Dark Passenger timers and your Scourge duration, alongside perhaps Dark Dance or Dark Mind if you didn't much trust your healer and thus may need to bank MP for their augmentation. What would be pivotal to or direct your attention from moment to moment on your ideal DRK? What, if anything, would you be actively trying to sync to or capitalize upon?

may as well also throw in questions about Blood Weapon, Delirium, and Living Dead, concerning the common issues felt about with them, and questioning complaints and/or suggestions for change, since those three are the actions that draw discontent to them more than any other.
while, to give a answer to this set of questions...

first.. Blood Weapon needs to be fixed, whether that be a buff, or a complete design change.

current Delirium is lousy and my thoughts on that are threefold, but all three share in common the opinion: "get rid of current Delirium". one, revert Delirium back to it the original, a third-in-combo GCD WeaponSkill, but with a new additional effect. two, revert delirium to being similar its StormBlood version, make it a ability that either restores MP or buffs actions that restore MP, to restore more MP. three, another new Delirium again, but this one should have a effect that matches the definition of the word "Delirium".

Living Dead / just trash the stupid thing... its awful design is not even worth a fix, improvement, or being salvaged. it should be completely re-designed, into a better form. I had my own extensive idea for a complete re-design of Living Dead that I can post, if any whom wants me to copy-and-paste it from the other thread to here.

1 / I do not agree with the mentality that the Dark Knight should focus solely on only spending its resources for DPS potential... Dark Knight is a tank,
not a Melee DPS. defensive skills should not need to have resources spent on them, just to be use-full and on par with the other Tanks, but I would like it
if the Dark Knight can some-how make basic defense skills more interesting or buff them.

2 / I imagine Dark Knight more on the internal side. actions interacting with each other, actions that change or add effects to other actions, casting barriers on self, through Dark magic or Blood magic, MP should be the main resource in use, and the BlackBlood gauge as just a side thing that you use on what ever actions cost its BlackBlood points.

3 / in my opinion, the part of Dark Knight's identity that was "speed" should lay in its design being focused on the "illusion of Speed", double weaving.
for example, since Warrior has a heavy GCD that hits for a potency of 590, then Dark Knight just needs two oGCDs and a GCD that together hit for a potency of 590... a Double Weave design that is constant and sustained, instead of a Burst like GunBreaker, can make Dark Knight seem like it is three times faster than the other three tanks, without having a 0.80 GCD.

4 / I think that Dark Knight's identity is a "a fast-attacking physical damager-Tank that uses dark magic and blood magic". pure darkness, referred to as
the abyss and the power of the abyss by Fray, and this source of power utilized through dark magic and blood magic, and also physical WeaponSkills.
...also, NOT VOID. The Void is Reaper's thing, Dark Knight does not need to be a Reaper clone... going from WAR clone to Reaper clone would not be a improvement. there is a big difference between darkness itself, and the void, created by darkness.
Dark Knight's identity is darkness itself, not the 13th shard and VoidSent.

5 / I think that to go back to the old DarkSide would be interesting. have the old DarkSide "Stance" come back, the same permanent passive buff that increases damage dealt and both turns off natural MP regen, and blocks any MP recovery from other sources, so the Dark Knight can only restore MP through actions. we could have both the old DarkSide and the current much less interesting DarkSide, even. why not both? the current DarkSide just needs to be made either more interesting or more difficult to maintain...

6 / I think that Dark Knight needs to be completely re-designed... turn Dark Knight into the 3.x Dark Knight, remastered and made into some thing similar to its original, but new, a combination of the original Dark Knight and some of the new toys that 5.x Dark Knight introduced... I will just leave it at that summary, though, as I have too many in-depth extensive ideas already written about completely re-designing Dark Knight into "my ideal Dark Knight", around a remaster of the original 3.x Dark Knight combined with a few things from 4.x SB and trash 5.x ShB versions.