Dark Knight is the best designed job in Frontlines

[gidsonBrand]

Macro Gameplay
I'd like to think I'm pretty good at PvP, but in general it can feel pretty hard to parse exactly what's going on. Dark Knight allows for an easily understood game plan that can be countered or followed by anyone paying attention.

Following the plan is simple: hold your burst, wait for the Dark Knight to go in, follow up with AOE damage. While some jobs contribute more direct damage than others, every job can participate in this plan. And not all jobs need to contribute right away to the big slam. In the aftermath, 10-20 seconds later, jobs that deal hefty single target damage or have big DoT damage are given a chance to shine by cleaning up a weakened team.

Countering a Dark Knight burst is difficult. I say this as a good thing; Frontlines and PvP in general encourages you to be active and get the drop on your enemies. But while specific LBs can outright counter a Dark Knight succ (Dragoon/Sage/Samurai/Paladin/Scholar/etc.), there's quite a few other things that let you survive and turn momentum on the enemy team:

1) Spacing, spacing, spacing. When in an engagement there are two positions you need to consider: stay as far away from your teammates as possible (to receive/give heals) and as close to your goal as possible.

2) Disrupting burst. This is the realm of specific jobs with knockbacks, pulls, AoE stuns, and is a more reactive approach to defense. As soon as you see that Dark Knight moving towards you, stun them and move them away from your team. Monk/Reaper/Dancer LB them or their team, stun their AoE bursters, distract them with Viper's tankiness beforehand, anything to keep them from going 3...2...1...now!

3) Take initiative. All of these require you to keep an active eye on your enemy and your team, during which time you may see an opening. Set up a hotbar to call out when and where to hit, and do it before the enemy hits you.

All in all, Dark Knight encourages people to pay attention to the larger game at hand: when and where is my team going to attack, and when is the enemy team going to attack. People who lack this game sense will get blindsided by the Dark Knight burst, but also any other burst in the game. Which brings me to my last point!

Learning Curve
Dark Knight is the first job you should learn to look out for, and the easiest to read. Read their posture -- do they have sprint on? Do they have one of my teammates targeted?

You start doing this on a single class, the most important one in the game. Then you learn to read the other players on their team: the Dragoons, the Astros, the Summoners. Needing to understand and adjust to what your enemy is doing isn't unfair, it's inherent to video games.

It gets you in the mindset of reading the macro-gameplay of Frontlines -- when to pull back, when to attack, how to communicate with your team. It's healthy for the game, as the threat of a high-paced attack is exciting to wield and dodge.

[LibitIncarne]

this is bait

[gidsonBrand]

Nah, it genuinely brings some focus to the game mode that was missing in Shadowbringers. Idk about anything earlier.

[IDontPetLalas]

So, the question is, was Chat GPT used, or is another AI assistant now better at this? THAT is the real question, because that is how this reads.

[Mecia]

Somewhat agree but FL is 90% tourists with no game sense or even any intention to learn.

[gidsonBrand]

Which is fine honestly. Either they get some direction and can contribute meaningfully, ooorr they're clumped up for a good pull. Either way it's a win-win

[Lydia77]

Another DRK *pull in followed by billion cheap AOE* meta thread.
I wonder why they keep poping up. All you have to do to prevent is to paly a specific class, pinpoint shot an enemy with LB while they are using their 20 sec CD ability, call in chat so other teammates dont feed them scores / BH, take some nodes on their side becuase game decided not to spawn any on yours. Even then just go in and take it against BH5 team its easy. Push away DRK with a monk, machinist LB one of 4 astros for 40% of their HP... Its nothin right?
Yeah its so ballanced. No need to do anything. And just in case of UNFAIR skill we removed chainsaw 2% insta kill which was the fantasy (final) of FF6.

[Mawlzy]

Another DRK *pull in followed by billion cheap AOE* meta thread.
I wonder why they keep poping up. All you have to do to prevent is to paly a specific class, pinpoint shot an enemy with LB while they are using their 20 sec CD ability, call in chat so other teammates dont feed them scores / BH, take some nodes on their side becuase game decided not to spawn any on yours. Even then just go in and take it against BH5 team its easy. Push away DRK with a monk, machinist LB one of 4 astros for 40% of their HP... Its nothin right?
Yeah its so ballanced. No need to do anything. And just in case of UNFAIR skill we removed chainsaw 2% insta kill which was the fantasy (final) of FF6.

It does seem DRK mains are aware their salad days will likely be over in November, and are mounting a last-minute defense.

[Nubrication]

The crazy thing is, those are some solid advice and tips yet the bad players will just cry about it instead of taking your advice.

[Aravell]

People are calling it a bait thread, but OP isn't wrong though?

The DRK does give an objective to follow for people who are clueless, it's easy to just follow the DRK and mash your AoE keys and contribute. The advice for dealing with a DRK is also pretty solid.