Healers, how do you feel about DRK tanks?

[kejakalope]

I have a problem with players, not DRK. The majority of DRKs I get in DF do not use TBN, which is frankly appalling.

This, yeah. DRK attracts a lot of people who want to rock the cool black armor and huge sword but don't want to learn how to tank, so it's... played badly pretty often.

[Ultaniku]

I will say as a person who heals DRK tank and as a DRK myself it is all about managing their cooldowns. Just using them properly I can stay alive just fine and the healer doesn’t have to panic heal. My friends heal me on various healers and I don’t see much struggle if I use my abilities properly. Yes I have less self sustain but it’s been fine for me. And healing a DRK who will manage their coolodwns is fine, again for me, on my SGE.

[DiaDeem]

It's indifferent to me honestly.

[Makeda]

Too early and not enough samples to tell.

I do recall that the last DRK I had to heal in a leveling dungeon was extremely difficult to heal. BUT I was also thinking about the complaints about DRK tanks at the time - so I can't really say my thoughts were objective in that moment.

[Raikai]

Honestly, to my experience fairly well geared at 90... it comes down mostly to the tank properly using their damage mitigation tools, stunning the right mobs, etc. When they do not, every tank have their health spiking like crazy on wall to wall pulls. No matter how many oGCDs your healer has, it will run dry in no time. If not this pull, then the next one. Soon you, no matter which healer, will have to stop dpsing and spend your globals with heals.

[Deceptus]

If I'm on anything other than WHM I despise, loathe, and utterly abhor Living Dead / Walking Dead.

WHM: 1 Button fixes it right up

Everything else? THROW EVERYTHING YOU HAVE AT IT and still possibly fail because the LD wasn't planned and you burned a lot of CD's to that point to try to keep them alive.

[Accolades]

When I was playing I couldnt stand dark knight tanks. The tanks I liked was warrior only. The order of worst tanks to heal is Gunbreaker > Dark Knight > Paladin > Warrior.

[Yuella]

WHM main here, I found no difference among all the tanks.

[Naoki34]

This is purely anecdotal but I get nervous when I have a DRK tank to heal. PLD and GNB is cool, WAR I basically don’t have to do anything, but DRK I feel like I have to blow all my CDs on SGE and the tank still dies on large pulls. This is just in EW dungeons. Boss fights are fine.

Let me disclose that my gear is still basic. I’m in the 89 quest gear, and just now got the 90 weapon. As soon as I get more tomestones, I’ll get 90 gear. I’m also still adjusting to barrier healing. I love AST and WHM can be fun, albeit a bit boring. But SGE with DRK tanks is harrowing for me.

I’m an average player at best but enjoy healing. And I’ve actually been in groups with other SGE healers and DRK tanks and the tank dies. Not often, but it happens. I’m just curious if other healers feel the same or not.

I think that like any tank, it depends on the skill and stuff of the tank.

It just so happens that people think dark is cool, a DRK is cool and it has the Cloud Strife pose or it's a good way to do some sort of Sephiroth or whatever.

A newbie coming into the game who wants to tank is going to pick a job that looks cool by their standards, few will be attracted to the Paladin except those who like the idea that a tank is sword + shield.

The GNB is for fans of FFVIII and Squall Leonhart.


To come back to the feeling as a DRK healer, I will say that a good tank who knows how to play and mitigate well is obviously resistant and able to finish a boss alone if the mechanics of the boss allows it.

DRK, PLD, GND or WAR have all seemed fragile to me, played by people who don't master their job or simply how to mitigate well.

With the SGE well played, you can keep any noob alive and even keep alive a dps who takes the tank buster instead of the dead tank.

[Greyhawk]

Just like PLD in 580/590 gear that have no idea what a defensive cooldown is, or a GNB, DRK or WAR for that matter not knowing. I can tell how the tanking is going to go the first wall pull that's made. I am either very comfortable AoE DPSing while the tank does tanking well, or I am healing the entire fight because they have no idea what they are doing. The class hasn't really made a difference.

Yes, DRK tanking sucks and is considered bad, no matter who it is and how it's being played. Fact is, it's a sub-par tank that didn't need to be nerfed so bad that it makes people cringe to have as a tank. Sure it's fun to play. Sure, it sucks at surviving even with its tools.