Did My Eyes Decieve Me?

I literally cannot see any feasible explanation as to why a DRK would choose to /SCH for a zerg over more traditional subs like /MNK, /WAR, or /DRG.

can't say this for certain since we don't know what the new content is going to be like. for all we know it could be mass amounts of mobs attacking at once that have a timed spell that goes off. and they can't be slept but the mobs can be stunned...so...iono :/
Also I wouldn't put it past SE to try to implement some concept fights for FFXIV

Accession dread spikes could be coool
-edit forogt was for white magic lol

Oh sure but as it is now I don't really see any use for it for a DRK, I'd rather a BLM get it and DRK getting a new useful DD JA.

yes as it is now...but you're focusing on a tree. not the forest. Theres going to be loads of new content we have no clue about. So yes in the present state of the game. A stunga is somewhat useless outside the realms of einherjar and dynamis but other than that we'll have to wait and see. Just a few more days :D

Oh there will be uses for it, I'm sure. Like someone said earlier, if fighting just one mob(and no others near), you would basically have 2 stun spells, which would be kinda nice, and there might be other situational stuff. Either way I would rather have stunga then not have it...it wouldn't hurt.

I'd rather a BLM AND a DRK get it, AND DRK getting a new useful DD JA too!

Why ask for one thing instead of both?

But then again, I do think that that was just Manifestation + Stun with /sch...

SE never gives us both :(

Screw assumptions & second guessing what we may get, what we might be able to do, ect...

Just wait until the update than you can jump for joy or QQ lol. Pic shows stunga but at the bottom it mentions about /sch, so to me "It's just a picture" to go with what they mention.

Fixed.

don't forget the 3 minute recast time

Yes, they did. SE cropped the SCH/DRK(BLM) in the background using Stun-ga. The DRK was just Drain II'ing a helpless Sapling next to the Quadavs.

Except Stun has a regular 45sec recast timer.(without taking into account haste or fastcast)

With a triple recast with manifestation, you would have a 2 minute and 15sec recast time(and that's still with no haste or fastcast). Not "3 minute recast time" :P

Edit:

Not that I'm advocating DRK/SCH. Just saying.

The whole point of /mnk is more hp. If manifestation drain II worked that would be a ***ton more hp. Bam reason.

I mean sure yeah you gotta be zerging something in an area with a decent amount of mobs near it that aren't too strong but still that could add ALOT of hp.

This assumes you have multiple targets to drain from.

In the case of the more popular DRK zerg targets (Dynamis Lord and Animated Weapons, Bahamut v2, Kirin, King Vinegarroon, Cerberus, Vrtra), you only have one mob to choose from in the general area, which would make an AoE drain useless (since there's only one target).

Sure, you could round up some beetles at KV, or trolls around Cerberus, I guess... but that's way more effort and coordination than it would be worth. All the mobs around Vrtra are undead (so Drain is useless on them anyway). Every other popular zerg target is stand-alone, surrounded by nothing where you could make use of an AoE drain.

You ever done any DRK zerging, Dasva?

I'm not even going to start with the massive attack losses you'd incur by subbing SCH over a more conventional melee sub like MNK (subtle blow, HP), WAR (double attack, attack bonus, warcry, berserk), or DRG (attack bonus, accuracy bonus, and 4% haste with wyvern earring).

AoE Drain II might be a cool idea in theory... but awful in application.

DreadSpikes is dark magic skill.

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Additional facts about Dreadspikes:

Resists on the amount drained with the spikes vary depending on the type of mob that you're fighting, and also depends on your dark magic skill, as well as interruptions when casting it.

It has a 1 minute duration, however, the spell's effect will wear off after you have drained an amount of HP equal to half of your Maximum HP(which is why people usually gear dreadspikes with +HP gear and darkskill) or after 1 minute has passed, whichever one comes first.

Dreadspikes seems to generates no additional enmity.

Dreadspikes will hurt the mob when they hit you. For example: Mob hits player A for 400 damage, "player A's spikes absorbs 400 damage" .. in that case, player A didn't lose 400HP but the mob got hit for 400 dmg instead.

Dreadspikes does not work if you're fighting undead mobs, since Dreadspikes does not work against undead. It works on dark mobs but the spikes get resisted some on those so they don't absorb as much.

Dreadspikes will protect you from mob's normal attacks, as well as protect you from mob's critical attacks, but it does not protect against special attacks. Also if a mob hits you for an amount of damage that is higher than your current HP, you will still die because technically you get hit and immediately absorb and "get healed"...though the in game screen or your HP bar just stays the same if the spikes absorbed the full damage, thus you don't actually see your HP bar drop if spikes absorb full dmg, but again, you still die if you get hit for more than your current HP.

Getting hit(mob hitting you) with dreadspikes on also gives you TP, and since it protects you as well as damage the mob, it is a pretty good defensive and offensive spell if used properly.

Now, as for whether or not this will work with Manifestation... I really do not think so. It's dark magic skill, but still a spike type spell.

klimaform is an enhancing magic, but works with manifestation, so its theoretically possible...i hope it is, dread spikes-ga would be friggin sweet lol

Who cares about attack loss when you are souleater zerging?

......................................................

you're *** kidding me, right?

Oh I guess you wear attack gear over hp then. My bad

You cant make Spikes AoE

no Shock spikesga or anything so thats out of the question, and you wont get much HP from /SCH and Dark Arts

Blu can AOE shock spikes! (once every 10-20 minutes <_<)

Anyway, I kinda get the impression that Manifestation/Accession doesn't have such strong rules about what it can be used with, but rather, it works with whatever SE damn well wants it to work with.

As for Drain II'ga, IF it's possible (highly unlikely), doesn't the HP bonus wear off as soon as the HP is depleted? So if you have 1k HP, do drain II for 200, putting you at 1200, and you get hit three times for 100 damage, you'd still show as being 100% HP for the first two hits wouldn't you? And unable to get back to that 1200 HP with cures/drain/dread spikes/whatever? Anyway, if that's how it works (wiki was no help) then all that bonus HP would only benefit you for the first X amount of hits, and only in those rare situations where you can actually gather enough worthless mobs to drain around a zerg target. All of those factors would make drk/sch for the sole purpose of drain II VERY situational at best.

Pretty much this. If you think it would be awesome with Manifestation/Accession, it probably won't work.

lol no, if you're curious you can very plainly see my DRK zerg item set on my profile...

But absolutely ignoring attack (not just in the form of gear, but also from job traits and abilities) during a zerg will undoubtedly gimp your parse and create more work for your alliance.

So trust me, it's very important during a zerg to keep your attack as high as possible. It's not all just about Souleater damage, as you still do initial damage with each swing of your weapon. It's not a huge amount, but distributed between the DRKs in your alliance this can account for thousands of non-Souleater based damage and will absolutely assist in bringing your target down faster.

@Blazza, Quote button isnt working.

No Once you Drain II the HP bonus lasts 60 seconds, it doesnt go away just because you lose the HP. If your Max HP is normally 1300, and you Drain II for 400 HP you will have 1700 HP for 60 seconds, if you drop below 1300 HP, say you take 700 DMG, you will have 1000/1700 HP.

I'd still think a couple of thousand hp would do more than whatever attack diff there is between subs

No, Drain 2 does not work like that.

If you have 1k HP maximum HP, then do a drain 2 for 400, putting you at 1400HP, then get hit 4 times for 100dmg each, and now you're at 1000HP, you will NOT be at 100%HP if the HP boost status effect is still active, you will be @1000/1400 HP, or in other words, you would be at ~71.43% HP. Now if the HP boost from drain2 wears off then, when you are currently at 1000HP, then your HP bar will correct itself, and it will show that you are at 100%HP.

The HP boost does not wear off after you have been hit for the amount of HP that you absorbed. It does stay active...it just depends on how long it has been active.

The HP boost is temporary, though I'm not exactly sure of the exact time in seconds that it stays active, since I never really bothered to time it heh... but now that I think about it, I think it's about a ~30-maybe 60sec max? HP boost duration.

Also, with Drain2 you will pretty much always see an amount absorbed in your chat log(unless fighting undead mobs, since drain does not work against undead, or if your drain gets resisted because of lack of skill, mob level.. etc.) because if you don't have max HP, Drain2 will heal you, and you if you're at max HP or go over your max HP by draining more than what you needed to get max, you will get a temporary HP boost effect.

Now, Drain 1..on the other hand, you will not see HP absorbed/healed past your Max HP, BUT drain still does damage to the mob. Even if you use Drain with your HP at max, and you see "Player A drains 0 HP from Mob X" ...you still hurt the mob and took HP from it, it just didn't transfer to you because you're at max so it says player A absorbed zero.

Magic attack bonus does nothing for Drain I and Drain II's potency. Only Dark magic skill affects Drain's potency, as well as interruption when casting.

Anrin obi is great to use with these during darksday, and/or dark weather.

really? cuz i thought drk zerg (k club anyways) was all about souleater+ gear and hp+ gear, because lets face it...those non-souleater hits are doing ***dmg...