Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker, My thoughts on DRK in this expansion so far and how I feel about the job, what I love, dislike and what I think could use some improvements!
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I feel like oblation needs a regen like paladin. Would make it a lot more useful.
All I really want from DRK is some better self sustain in dungeon content. At minimum, some more healing potency on Abyssal Drain and HP restore added to Carve n' Spit since they share a cooldown. Also any kind of new trait over "Enhanced Unmend." It really feels like a waste of a trait slot.
I agree it's fine in raids for the most part. I don't do ulitimates but I've heard complaints about DRK not having access to Dark Missionary for UWU and UCOB while the other three tanks have their party wide mitigation before lvl 70.
Love these short thought videos I main DRK so I like hearing how others who prefer other tanks/don't play it as much think and see it. I'll defer to you and others on DSR because I haven't done it at all and you are a lot better/more experienced than me but after progging/clearing this tier I do have some thoughts on the utility aspects you brought up
I respectfully disagree on oblation just because having the flexibility to put 2 oblations on other members or pairing it with TBN for tankbusters was great for example. I wouldn't mind seeing it become a trait upgrade for TBN and don't think you are off with why it exists but calling it just button bloat doesn't seem right to me. I am conflicted on it though because maybe it needs something extra like a small heal over time. It's design is really cool with having 2 charges. Dark Mind was insanely good this tier but I worry if they decide to make it like 20% all damage they may increase it's cooldown which I would hate
On DPS aspects
I agree on Salted Earth having to hit it twice is unnecessary imo, should just be a trait upgrade at lvl 86 and above or something. Also I do enjoy Living Shadow for its pros but yeah I would be down to see if they did something different with it, maybe making it something like RPR's enshroud phase or something?
There’s honestly a lot things I wish they would improve about the job, a shame because the aesthetic and story is so amazing.
More mitigation before level 70, I freaking hated leveling the job, like really hated it, and post 80 isn’t much better either. It’s just plain awful before you get TBN because Dark Mind is worthless outside of trials and raids. I wish they would bring back shadowall as a lower level TBN, would help build proper muscle memory that the job has post 70. And the Dark arts mechanic honestly isn’t all that great because using it to much can lower ones damage, and it’s a mitigation, you shouldn’t be punished for doing a tanks job.
The rotation itself combines the two best parts of Warrior and Ninja, but it completely fails to make things fun despite that. Darkside is superfluous and is practically worthless as a “mechanic”. I honestly wish they would go back to the drawing board for this job, a good idea I’ve heard of it is reworking the blood gauge as the main mechanic but have it be used to change you’re Gcds into different skills like Scourge, Power Slash, Tar pit, etc. Something like that would make the job more interesting visually.
The same complaint about Living Shadow, I have for Shadowbringer too. It's a very lackluster ability that just bloats your ogcd windows. Maybe fuse Edge and Flood of Shadows into one ability and then make that one ability become Shadowbringer at 90. I don't hate Salted Earth, I hate how it got nerfed over the years. It's just an inferior Bow Shock at this point with an additional button taped onto it that you can't put on the hotbar. How it works in pvp would be a great way to implement it in pve. A personal Sacred Soil with a DoT and HoT. On a 90s cooldown, I doubt it'll be that overpowered.
probably next expansion wont be a DRK rework since DRG and AST get their reworks with 7.0
Job has my favorite aesthetic and weapon (greatsword) but I just find it such a slog to play. Delirium is such a boring skill, with all these jobs getting single button combos with different animations why o why do we need a bloodspiller spam? Honestly dislike Living Shadow, too, it’s a fire and forget skill that you press every 2 minutes, I’d like if Frei was more like Reaper’s Voidsent avatar but alas Reaper already has the Stand fantasy.
Job is meta probably, but is it FUN to play? Not for me. The opener alone oof, not even DPS jobs have such a ridiculous opener. Might be alone in this but I feel like it needs a full on rework, more synergy between its kit imo.
I thought the same about Oblation at first but honestly it feels really good in DSR mostly cause of the two charges and being able to help yourself and party more.
My theory is that Oblation was originally part of an upgrade to TBN, mirroring all the other tanks' active mitigation upgrades. The animation even looks like an upgraded TBN. But in testing, they likely found that it was too hard to break and because they want to tie DRK's damage to it's mitigation, they just said screw it and made it two different abilities. Now we have unupgraded TBN and Oblation as separate buttons while all the other tanks' have their upgraded active mit in one button.
Personally I would Remove Oblation and the MP cost of TBN, then make TBN work like the pvp version of holy sheltron. Thus make TBN give it's shield and 10% damage reduction, if it breaks OR expires it deals damage around the dark knight. Give it 2 charges and remove the dark arts side of it. (Hence the mp cost removal). You can add a regen when it pops as well to help with self sustain similar to the holy sheltron.
I would remove dark mind and let the dark knight have a magic resist increase while standing on his own salted earth.
Finally I would make replace quietus with abyssal drain for dungeon tanking, similar to how warriors used to heal with chaotic cyclone was it? During SB.
And an obvious change but, can our aoe combo be a skill plz?
I think it just feels like the DRK job designer is running out of ideas for the job. I really liked how DRK was in HW as it was unique and required good planning and resource management. The only annoying part of it was the Dark Arts spam.
Then SB came and DRK pretty much just became a cheap WAR clone with TBN. They went with that design all the way to EW and just gave it some additional buttons to press.
The job has so much potential based on how it was portrayed in other FF games. They could make it a dark magic weilding sword swinging tank hybrid that helps the party by debuffing the enemy. They could even make it sacrifice HP to boost its damage and/or get access to different skills like reaper does when in enshroud. To balance the HP sacrifice they could make it get (better) self-sustain or take reduced damage while in that mode or instead of HP they sacrifice a different resource they build up during the fight.
I just wish the job gets the rework it deserves. In its current state DRK to me just feels like someone took some aspects of different jobs and made them into one awkward feeling tank hybrid.
drk is warrior with more buttons
sadge
I will never not hate TBNs mp requirement, it feels shit having to save for it
In your experience, should I even play Paladin? As a new player planning for the future, it seems like most ultimates only run DK and Warrior. 🙁
DRK feels bloated.
Would have prefered to see some combined abilities instead of just tacking on new ones.
Carve and Spit straight out removed, just let Abyssal drain take its place in the rotation, same potency on first target, 50% to others.
Dark Mind removed, you don't need 7 mitigation cooldowns, just tack 10% extra magic damage reduction on oblation charges.
Freeing up 2 buttons makes the class feel much better to play, its already a pain having upwards of 27 keybinds for a job.
Hell i would remove Edge of shadow and just use Flood of Shadow if it did 460 potency on first target and 160 to all others.
Button bloat is what made me step away from DRK.
DRK is basically WAR with a bunch of oGCDs and shittier GCDs imo. If you aren't into raiding but enjoy tanking in other content, then to me it does fall short to the other tanks. Feels like DRK in it's current state is the "meta tank in raids", that's all. Perhaps the devs feel like that is its identity? Honestly I have lost all hope that DRK will receive any rework where DRK mains will be happy with.
Really like this format. Eagerly awaiting ranged DPS guides as well.
This is how they could change it up.
Get rid of the damage buff flood and edge give and instead replace it with a heal.
Blood weapon now becomes the standard damage buff that all tanks get.
TDN now has a 25 second cooldown and still has a shield. But when it expires it will give you a heal. If it breaks it will give you double potency and crit heal.
Or instead of a 25 sec cooldown. It costs 50 blood.
I think the dark knight is supposed to be a transfer tank. "The blood of my foes fuels my power"
Edit. The 123 combo is slightly changed. You now get mp on 3 and 2 gives a tad more blood gauge.
Ngl I just want living shadow to feel actually impactful and rework oblation to just be part of TBN at this point. I actually love all the buttons and ogcds so It feels really active but not on the same level as gnb.
❤🧡💛 Solo Neo lets goo~
Drk is in a good place except dungeon, (honestly who cares about dungeons) it does good there as well require a bit TLC. Whenever I hear about drk having button bloat or its too busy…its just gonna make the job too easy and turn a lot of the better players off from it. Drk is in a very good spot in comparison to the other tank when it comes to actual content because remember they can still move the boss with no real loss.
DRK used to be my favorite tank, but I abandoned it in ShB since most of my tanking was in dungeons and it really suffered there. When the latest changes happened, I was so excited to return to it. And while they have definitely fixed some of the issues, I find that after playing GNB, DRK felt really hollow. As you say, it feels like it's just pressing buttons for the sake of pressing buttons and not part of any decision-making. This makes me very sad because aesthetically, I really love it, both from a lore perspective as well as the combat animations.
"ExTrEmElY HiGh DpS TaNk"
Being on par with GBN and like 3% above WAR and PLD. Yeah, extremely. Its still below any other DPS, its not any 5th DPS, not even close. Your static drag you through roles to fit meta that doesnt exist.
Another way to think about it is that WAR is just DRK with less buttons… which when you think about it that way makes WAR feel much worse to play. I am a Warrior main btw, and please Yoshi add Meld Plates so I can play more than 1 tank without the hassel of swapping my entire gear set out D:
I think all the tanks besides PLD are in a good spot
When I got tired of my drifting gnash for gnb during P3S, I gave drk a shot and oh my god I've never felt fear quite like desperately mashing TBN while offtanking phoinix's 2nd aggro damage. Experiencing that is what got me to learn how to realign gnashing and go back to corundum rather than desperately cling to TBN in P3S.
oblation literally exists to compensate dark mind, imo they should merge the two CDs and have dark mind say "reduce damage taken by self or party member by 15%
duration 10 seconds
2 charges
60 cooldown"
oblation should be an upgrade or a trait to tbn as it already looks like it from an animation standpoint, maybe they can add a fixed heal potency if the shield breaks or not and if it does you get your refund but if it doesn't you get the remainder of the shield as hp
the other thing they can do is combine salted earth into abyssal drain where you shoot it and it gives you mp, then the aoe turns to a dot pool with added effect for every enemy inside you get a hot with fixed potency
last thing they can change is delirium, my problem with it that it's just a poor mans inner release
imo they should bring back old dark arts into delirium but have it only affect GCDs, these being bloodspiller and quietos where they both give mp if used without delirium and delirium removes that for higher potency and on cooldown with 2 charges maybe, because most of the problem with old dark arts that it was spammable and it affected offensive and defensive GCDs/oGCDS so it was quite obnoxious to use
thoughts??
Could just make living shadow a bunshin clone the shadow would go an attack depending of the gcd used
My wishlist for my favorite tank with the worst sustainability outside of tank buster scenarios: 1) TBN on break grants regen. 2) Oblation is lackluster, either roll the 10% into TBN and get rid of it or my funky idea. Oblation reduces your current health by 25% of your max health, dropping you to no less than 1 hp, and grants a barrier equal to your missing health to your target. 3) Carve and Spit grants a decent heal over time and Abyssal Drain restores mp. If their cds are tied together they should offer similar benefits or just merge the two actions. 4) Salted Earth should function like PvP, dmg reduction and health regen while in it. 5) Salt and Darkness heals for every enemy hit, 1000 potency for one enemy and 80% less for all other enemies. Or it can just be another barrier o3o.
Edit: oh one more wishlist item, more flavor than anything. I want Living Shadow to summon Esteem as our character in default drk armor rather than Fray.
I mained drk for a while up to the end of ShB , the nerf in numbers made TBN not as satisfying to use , yes i know its a mitigation for dps trade off , but i really miss the old balance of dark arts. I agree oblation is a pure joke i would have rather have made oblation a passive that upgrades TBN to 2 charges maybe or make it stronger with guaranteed free dps if a charge of oblation (50% of the shield maybe idk just ranting here) is consumed. Idk DRK is strong on the opener but falls flat fast. Great vs boss but warrior is just the superior tank here.