DRK June Update.

You have no idea how many people I try to explain this ***to. Bringing drk to cerberus is better than blm too for the purpose of stunning, but I still see tards bringing blm so they can nuke for 200 damage tops with water 4. Also, I've never tried to shove anything in my piss hole but now I'm curious.....

Are people really being serious about nuking actual elemental spells on DRK? this worries me a great deal for future exp pt
if it is the case.

Only way i can see this working is maybe if stone 1 can net u like 20-40 tp a cast then maybe? In any case, this should make casting drains a bit more tp friendly i would say, which should be cool as they can already do some decent dmg sometimes. Kind of hoping they do a last min change, tho and let it work on any dark spell instead of just damaging ones(wonder if aspire counts?)

first off drk is B+ ele skill water 3 combined with demon +1 AF2 body etc etc will do more dmg than rdm water 3 so nuking on blm is not so lol as you might think. 2nd is an mb with water 3 is easy in pts as its darkness sc if water3 gives decent tp return we could be looking at a new era for drk's

Im so gonna cast stone 3 as drk <.<

What? Are you comparing full lolnuking gear on DRK to naked Rdm? If not, please tell me you're kidding.

As it was previously stated, there's no way this is possible unless you swap your scythe/G.sword with a staff, even then you wouldn't get close to a Rdm with full nuking gear.


Apparently, this DarkChild guy is one of the many on the different servers, ***makes me facepalm.

lol funny i went and played with magic dmg calculator and usng things like novio + moldy + snow ring etc, i could at best hit 360ish against a mob with just 70 int. Considering drain 2 can get up to 400 none MB and only costs 37 mp, im gonna stick to my /facepalm at nuking drk, someone feel free to prove me otherwise lol

A naked RDM has a 24 MAB lead on DRK already, let alone a RDM with nuking gear on. DRK doesn't have a native MAB trait. Also.....Stone III doesn't really do that much more than Thunder II. ( - .-);

Not that I am condoning DRK nuking, I think that's the best a DRK could wear. Ignoring expansion gear ofc

On the plus side most of the people who actually nuke on drk probably also use those jet seraweels on their blm. Save some gil.

You people fail to grasp the full picture to this..

Stone III and Water III is just a start, what if down the line SE decides to give DRK MAB trait?? What if they add a lot of new gears which DRK can use for a nuking set, its pretty obvious that DRKs are not going to stand there casting Stone III during a HNM or an exp party, im pretty sure a lot of people have more common sense then that.

If any of you actually read my post, i explained that these nukes can be used in times when magic power is the only damage you want, not EVERYONE levels blm or rdm, so sometimes bringing DRK is going to be more useful for a certain mob then bringing a pure melee.

This update is just the start of many, i saw a picture of a DRK doing Stunga, but it didnt seem to be in this update, im pretty sure SE are pushing for DRKs magic so it does not gimp the DPS, so more players actually use the magics.

Any good DRK should be using their magics anyways, unless your in a HNM situation, or your against a mob which clearly resists dark magic, this is what i use on my DRK on a regular basis before these updates.

Absorb VIT- Start the fight with this, specially on mobs with really high defense, reapply when it wears off, YES it does not make you personally take off more, but the whole party/alliance benefits therefore everyone else takes off more damage.

Absorb STR- I dont use this everytime i WS, but there is a difference to WS damage when you do, try a combination of Last Resort > Souleater > Absorb STR > Guillotine. With that combo i have taken off some great damage.

Absorb TP- Really useful, obviously this needs to be used wisely and time it right so you get as much TP as you can, and not cast just as the mob as done a TP move.

Drain, Drain II, Aspir- These are clearly used often, using these to help keep yourself alive, something which some other DDs cannot do, which will therefore save your healers MP, the problems i see normally is that a mage always cures me when i just casted Drain, like they completely forget that we can heal ourselves.
Obviously use Drain II to boost your max HP, and use that extra HP to make your Souleater stronger.

Stun- The most useful one in a lot of players eyes, this can save lives, and i have saved so many lives using this move its unreal, it can mean the difference between winning a fight or losing one, timing is pretty essential when using it, and having a feel for your enemy, guessing when they are going to do a move next.

Bio II- Why do i not see this used? DRK has a high dark magic skill and this will usually always land, if you dont have a RDM landing a Bio III on it from the beginning, then get this on, it dont even cost that much MP.

Dread Spikes- Life saving move, great to start a solo battle with, or if you know for a fact your going to take hate, this can make you a DRK tank for a while and helps out a lot, the mp cost is definately worth it.

Thunder II- Ok granted, i dont use this all the time, but during those times, for example.. a Mega Boss in Dynamis, or Kaiser Behemoth in Limbus, while the BLM are clearly going to take a lot more damage with their nukes, at least your actually doing something to contribute, and not just standing their looking pretty.

Ok so theres 10 spells already!

Jet Seraweels are nice on drk as part of an Enfeebling magic set(in fact, unless something new came out that I'm not aware of lately, Jet Seraweels should be drk's best enfeebling magic pants), which is actually useful for sleep, sleep 2 etc.

Lets assume you're in a group/LS/merit party that doesn't suck for a second. Most non NM mobs will die in less than 15 seconds. Assuming that if you take time to cast magic u probably won't even have a chance to hit the mob. Most LSs at this point in the game should have reached this point now. I mean I understand nooby shells and all but really, this isnt very complicated.

The only time I actively spam magic is when I'm tanking tiamat as drk and he's in aeriel mode.

Hmm im not always fighting mobs that last 15 seconds, the only place i see that is in Dynamis, and i have never been in a HNM ls and never will.

What about if your doing ISNM puk? Or if your helping a friend to solo Dark Spark, or your out fighting a VNM? Or a ZNM? Mobs that dont last 15 seconds.

Its pretty obvious DRKs will not be using magics on mobs that die by the time they have even casted, it seems like your only ever in situations where DRKs wont use magic, where i am normally in a place when i can, like Campaign, Assault, Besieged, or any other place where mobs will last at least a few minutes at a time.

Corselete instead of Abyss. But yah, DRK has options, but the huge factor is that the magic gimps melee because of casting time. With the Occult Acumen, we could see a change in that, but it all depends on how good it is.

Also, I would Omega+Snow/Galdr. loldrkmagicacc ; ;

Btw DRKs wont use any magic in merit parties, unless your going to cast Drain II at the last second on a Colibri, before its able to reflect it, Aht Urhgan mobs are so annoying when it comes to magic

Unless I'm completely missing something, wouldn't it be kind of stupid to merit on a LV81 mob when you're LV80?

Im talking about the current merit parties at 75, i never said i was fighting a colibri at level 80 lol :P we would probs have some camps in Abyssea for that, i would imagine

@Kylos

Bad form, if you are wasting last resort and souleater while casting absorb str of all things.

Nuking on an HNM for whatever your tier 2 is pulling off, at best will cause a resist if a mage casts right after you reducing more dmg then a tier 2 i would bet(depends what ou fight but whatever).

Will give you credit on bio 2. It is useful sometimes to have a decent lasting DoT for like zombie or DoT killing stuff!

Drain, aspire, stun, and absorb tp are all generally accepted within reason as the only "good" spells, absorb tp being on borderline garbage for a good chunk of the time.

I'd give examples but to make this argument quicker the point I'm trying to make is this: For the purpose of damage drk spell casting sucks horribly. For the purpose of utility, it does have its place. Absorb tp is a very powerful spell if you use it on the right NMs and will greatly reduce the TP output of a lot of ***. I spam it on the ZR boss chariot for salvage for example. It really reduces how often it uses discoid. Unfortunately these situations are rare due to the fact that drk has such horrible accuracy with drk magic without using a full gearset and pluto's stave.

I would never nuke a HNM, never said i would, it would easily get resisted.

Also the thing is, After casting Last Resort and Souleater, you only take 3 seconds to cast an Abs Str, then you have so much more STR that it will be worth it.

That would be when your fighting only 1 mob though, when its one NM which can take time to kill, and you would do it in the last 10-20% of its HP, to make one big WS and kill it off, i would not start doing Abs Str during Dynamis, when clearly i need to be using WS soon as i get it, and move onto the next mob, its all pretty much situational.

Also the reason why i use Abs Str after souleater, rather then using it before Last Resort.. Is because the absorb spell would decrease over time, and you may lose 2-4 STR while using Last Resort and Souleater.

You got to make sure soon as Souleater is used that ur hitting the Abs Str macro so it starts casting asap, so you dont swing and lose HP, then start hitting your WS macro so you get everything out of your Absorb spell, try it out and see :)

Btw spellcasting can easily be reduced, Homam Legs, Loq earring, mix in some Afv2 with Dark Magic skill and a Dark Magic torque.
Should be able to cast a lot faster and be more reliable to land, and soon as your magics are out, switch back to TP and kill! :)

last resort lasts 30 sec, 3 second casting means u wasted 10% of it, and the WS animation itself reduces that even further, the loss of dmg from desperate blows along with souleater(if you have good healer) is pretty big. Heck im not sure on the maths, but i bet you get more dmg off but not WSing at all if you can keep both up at same time with some cures(to elaborate, not WS till last resort wears off).

But i digress. Point being str is a very bad stat in the sense that it will not do more then what you are wasting by casting it. Hope that makes sense.

My issue is that Melee Require support. Mages are basically self-contained win machines. For Cerb or Khim, you could use Summoners Instead of Melee, if you're low on Numbers. The second biggest cause of Wipes (Next to No.1 Retard tanks) is Retard Melee being too big a burden.

Melee'ing isn't simply "Engage and get TP" if you think it is, shame on you for being a failure at srsbusiness. This only applies to Real Endgame ***. Merits is not endgame, get over it.

1. Limit the strain you put on mages.

2. Limit the amount of TP you feed to Monsters (Rapid succession of painful TP moves = Turn for a few seconds-minutes)

3. Inflict Damage.


If you can't fulfill 1 and 2, you have no right to even attempt 3. But every group's ability is different. Some things, like Einherjar, call for the ability to rapidly inflict damage, regardless of the cost, but the alliances prepare for that fact by providing the necessary support required to maintain battle tempo.

The vast majority of my endgame experience comes from small group action. It's why Our Linkshell has such a high Awesomesauce Item Density. Recruit bare bones for what we need, focus on mantaining a core of strong, skilled and most of all, Loyal members, instead of spreading your legs for the onslaught of LOLBLU-DRGONLY ^^ I CAN HAS A.BODY?!


Anyway.

If it Occult Acumen just grants bonus TP without factoring in Damage (First of all, broken as ***, tyvm) DRK can open a battle with A Bio I (not II) and hay, that's bonus TP. So Occult Acumen does have the potential to be a benefit, it might even cause a resurgence of DRK/THF. Spamming Bio's to gain TP and then spinning Slash ***. That's not any way I'd like to play, but there are a few targets out there you definitely don't want to full-time Melee.

In regards to Absorb-Stat. The spells themselves oddly enough, have the potential to be very powerful in HNM situations, however their accuracy leaves much to be desired. Absorb-INT can boost the dINT factor for BLM's helping nukes land more strongly (Winds up being around a +300Damage boost for Scholar's Helix spell, that's a unique case though) And on HNM Vitality scaling, Absorb VIT could help reach new fSTR levels. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, the Accuracy and thus reliability of these spells, even at 320 skill, is lackluster. There needs to be a piece of Equipment that dramatically boosts the landing rate without sacrificing the weapon slot.

@ Zicdeh I totally agree with you ^^
especially the part where you said "there needs to be a piece of equipment that dramatically boosts the landing rate without sacrificing the weaponslot"

It may be possible that abyssea-relic-ish armor might suffice all the needs. Or In possible upcomming updates we'll see more scythes tailored to this purpose of high melee dmg but also support for landing spells.
The update poses many questions and offers a crap ton of new ways to play. We can only wait and see.

i get your point brayenn, i dont use abs str all the time in that situation, usually when im just building up to a big weapon skill when there is no pressure.

During times when we seriously need as much damage as possible, i would not be messing around, i would just WS as quickly as possible and get back to my tp gear :)

I was just messing around, all this talk of DRK nuking made me wonder what was possible.

There was some situational choices in there, W.Body might have been good, especially on T2) and yes rings etc could be varied as appropriate. But at the end of the day that set would be as accurate as any RDMs nukes, just lack power.

Zicdeh, u should try using some dark magic skill gear and dark seal :) If your absorb still dont land then there is no point casting in my eyes ^^

Don't forget about Merciful Cape or even Abyss Cape. Unless you we're actually going for a full DMG nuking set. As for the 320 skill being lackluster...I've gotten a little past 320 skill, used a Pluto's Staff, and still resisted consistently on HNMs. I sometimes think it's not the gear, but just the spells themselves. (Absorb stat spells that is. I usually land Ab.TP about an average of 1/2-1/3 tries on HNMs with the few pieces missing still, depending on the level)

On a side note: I did notice some of the Synergy stuff has some decent etches for Dark Magic...kinda pricey but meh. lol

Stunga is what you will get from /SCH, it most definitely wasn't a scroll spell. My LS used to use SCH/DRK's to Stunga adds during our Pandemonium Warden fights.

We're not saying all the spells DRK has are useless, some of them have their places, it's just the fact that these situations in which we use them don't come up enough to warrant using them, ESPECIALLY tiered elemental nuking, which if you read through the thread you'd see that some people are indeed happy about getting tier3's, for some unknown reason.

Most worthwhile HNM resist Abs spells, unless you swap your weapon for a Pluto's Staff(Yes, even with Dark magic gear). Which is what we're trying to say Kylos. Granted you aren't in a HNM shell and would prefer not to be in one, we can only tell you and you can't see for yourself, unfortunately(not saying this in that elitist "hurr I'm in a HNM shell and you aren't" attitude)

Quick Edit** btw, can solo Dark Spark easy as Drk/Sam only using maybe a Drain if needed. I do it all the time, so you can't use him as an example of NEEDING Drk's spells! lol :P

This will depend highly on how much tp we get from casting spells tbh.
If we can toss a 500 dmg tier3 nuke and still get our tp like a normal hit, that would be pretty sweet.