Dark Knight Megathread

[Kaixern]

Can we go back to speaking about the permanent issues of Dark Knight we know of? instead of this thing concerning the devs (which is "unknown" so to speak)

We know the problem about living dead and it's lack of visual effect, either in the battle field or the HUD (without even talking about the mechanics of the ability itself)
The problems with the animations of the class gettiing more and more dull and weightless (shadowbringer being flood of shadow 2.0 and a majority of attacks feeling like wet paper)
The complete and utter lack of synergy, class identity, uniqueness, making it feel like all the spells of the dark knight at the moment have no correlation with each other at all except for their visual effect and their color pattern.
And also the fact that, despite those flaws (and many, many, mant others),
there is still this weird idea that the class is fine because "it does damage" in endwalker, or during shadowbringer the excuse of "well at least it got blackest night so it's good enough", and the worst offender of all "who cares about class identity, it's viable"

I'm not an Expert when it comes to dark knight (far from it) but i love this class since i played it at heavensward, and i just think there are more problems to speak about that some hypothetical grudge from the dev team (whenever it's true or not)
(As usual i may speak nonsense so , sorry in advance)

[Shurrikhan]

...

Careful there; any logic is inherently arrogant and shrill.


On the broader topic, I'd love to see...

• Some self-sustain.
• A slightly more impactful Oblation.
• A Living Dead fix.
• A more interesting Living Shadow.
• Further general polish (no bloat, no dead mechanics).
• Pipedream/Long Shot: Darkside as an actual mechanic

Spitball means of getting most of the way there:

• Bloodspiller and Carve and Spit now heal for 300 potency and Quietus for 100 potency per enemy hit. (Because we have some flexibility in how we time Delirium (even in NIN-comps, but especially in NIN-less/2-minute comps), this should allow at least as much control as the likes of Equilibrium.)
• Oblation changed from 10 seconds of 10% mitigation to 8 seconds of 15% mitigation. (This is a slight buff both on-paper and, further, in practice.)
• Living Dead no longer has a Doom effect. Walking Dead now simply prevents your HP from falling below zero and increases your self-healing by a percentage equal to twice your missing %HP. Triggering Walking Dead also heals you over 9 seconds for an amount equal to the would-be overkill damage. (Otherwise put, it's now a more self-sufficient Holmgang, rather than the directly worst of the invulns despite not having the shortest CD among them.)
• Living Shadow now summons in far more quickly and thereafter duplicates each of your actions at 25% effect. Rather than a 250 GCD DoT, you instead get a 25% increase to your damage dealt and Blood, self-healing, and active MP generation over its duration, which has been adjusted to compensate. (This should feel more integral and rewarding, a large step up from the current fire-and-forget version.)
• Darkside removed (bloat-gauge gone, Dark Arts procs moved to Status Bar); potencies adjusted to compensate. Blood Weapon wrapped into Delirium, which now generates a further 600 MP and 20 Blood per strike. All Bloodspillers now generate 200 MP (ST combo MP/GCD) and all Quietus casts generate 300 MP (AoE combo MP/GCD). Blood Weapon and Delirium together therefore totals to 2400 MP and 60 Blood, in place of 3600 MP and 50 Blood.
• Carve and Spit and Abyssal Drain gain a second charge and their CD is reduced to 45 seconds.
• DRK gets a trait that duplicates Skill Speed to Spell Speed.

Or, more realistically...

• Oblation gets a regen.
• Blood Weapon gets +1 second of duration or swaps to 5 stacks.
• DRK spells reclassified to weaponskills.
• Living Dead loses Doom state, but gains no advantages to make it worth its extended cooldown relative to Holmgang.

But even that would honestly be a notable boon.

[Danelo]

“ Or, more realistically...
Oblation gets a regen.
Blood Weapon gets +1 second of duration or swaps to 5 stacks.
DRK spells reclassified to weaponskills.
Living Dead loses Doom state, but gains no advantages to make it worth its extended cooldown relative to Holmgang.
But even that would honestly be a notable boon.”

Some have said it would be too powerful to up oblation to 15-20% dr with a regen so I propose it replace dark mind entirely. It may be an unpopular opinion but dark mind needs to die a gruesome death. It’s a relic from a time when sqex was supposed to have learned it’s lesson with pld only being able to block physical damage.

It was decent because of it strength when it was 30% magic resistance in hw. But it was ridiculous when it was nerfed in sb for no reason; and then there was dadm…. Damage specific mitigations are crap in concept. Their dr values have to be incredibly powerful to be viable and often leave the kit with a hole bcs devs view it as just another defense cd when they are niche at best and don’t add depth. In reality it is just another button to press since most players rarely can point to a time that it saved them from certain death.

[Derio]

They worked on so many other Jobs this expansion though. SMN rework, addition of Sage and Reaper, Monk semi rework, BRD changes, and of course PLD changes.

They simply ran out of time for DRK.

But the problem is the rework DRK got last expansion was already bad.

Last expansion they did not fix BW, LD, TBN, Dark Mind or self sustain.

3.0 DRK was very good. However they made decision to move away from this complex playstyle. However DRK still has the most complex abilites. Most complex invuln. Dark Mind is a very situational cooldown to where the game does not tell you which attacks are magical vs physical without add ons. BW still requires skill speed to meet the optimization requirements. TBN is tied to damage. It has been proven that souleater and AD are not enough for sustain.

DRK has so many issues but that is the problem. It has so many issues that it cant be fixed in a simple hotfix or .5 patch.

[Sacrilegion]

Ran out of time? Lol like they did for 3 expansions now? Oh warrior wants a buff, here you go. Scholars need nerfed, here fuck you. Rework potencies for some dps classes, sure why not. DRK has been ignored and given the shaft for 3 expansions, keep fucking it over. They have a personal vendetta against DRK or they put the lazy ass who gets drunk every night and probably lied on their resume in charge.

[Sacrilegion]

They can fix it anytime they want and chose not to for several years. RPR was a smack in face to every DRK hoping for a rework.

[Undeadfire]

Scholars need nerfed, here fuck you.

Fun fact, Sch/Sge together overpower Ast/Whm pretty easily, their DPS are higher than the pures.

[Sacrilegion]

You have to pair them though, which outside statics, may luck be on your side.

[Undeadfire]

I meant they're paired, the Healer comp destroys Ast/Whm, there's nothing damaging enough to warrant them, except Whm having MP issues.

DRK has been ignored and given the shaft for 3 expansions, keep f****** it over.

About this though, Drk had a DPS issue in SB, but it's pick rate pretty shot up for UCOB.

SHBs, Dark Knight had been a meta tank since the release with Gunbreaker, it was tough for Paladin to beat Dark Knight because of "TBN" alone, 25% HP barrier is ultra strong in raid content, Paladin only started making it's place over Dark Knight in Eden Promise, but still 1-2 fights Dark Knight had an advantage in Promise.

[Noctisnine]

Tuesday is coming. Pray we get something good...any Change will be good at this point.