DRK June Update.

241 Enfeebling if you put merits into it, as anyone who levels BLM, SCH or RDM should do. AF body, torque, and a sea cape... is gear that I can think of off the top of my head. 258 skill isn't THAT bad. Though if you're a career DRK, odds are you might not drop that much money on an Enfeebling Torque due to focusing on other aspects of the job, or get priority on a cape for your DRK. lol

A DRK not carrying a Dark Skill set is like a SAM without a Penta set. It should be common sense and highly recommended to have one. I have 8/8 Dark skill merited, so once you get past about 310 skill it's quite useful in most situations. As for the Elemental spells...
DRKs don't have a native MAB trait at all, so I don't expect to see a lot of people or even myself, working on a Nuking set. The numbers aren't even decent at all compared to a T2 from a RDM/SCH/BLM. (Just assuming the same for T3s)

As Zicdeh mentioned, if the TP return is half way decent I'll just seem myself having a just cause to use Drain I/II more often. Helping the mages out, and helping yourself out at the same time. ( ' 3')

Sigh. Why does everyone think I am speaking only for apoc, its like every thread I go to. March and haste are standard buffs for most events.

I never get haste...nor refresh!! sitting at like 3 mp...desperately need a drain...but no refresh my way ; ;

as far as haste....SAMs always take priority it seems...followed by whoever is tanking...then the RDM gets lazy halfway through cast and forgets everybody else (my poor cor ; ;)

I always give DRK refresh when they are in my party. ;)
if that makes you feel better :P lol

Stun go!!!!!!

you aren't on levi ; ;

I always get jewed on haste/bard as WAR in Einherjar (while the sams get them) so it's not always on DRK!

Ahhh finally SE I've only had to complain for the past 4 years...

Been a DRK for 4+ years, its always been my main love, nowadays i end up THF or even PLD more as thats what benefits my endgame linkshells,

I remember when DRK used to be as people say.. the LOL job, it was hard for us to find parties, specially between 40-55 and we did not have much to protect us if we took hate, specially with souleater, so the majority of the time people would tell you not to use it and call you an MP sponge

It was also hard for a DRK levelling up, as an elvaan my accuracy was always an issue and i constantly tried my hardest to get as much of it as i could.

Over the years they have not upgraded DRKs melee power much, but instead they have focused more on the much neglected side, the Dark Magic, which made them introduce spells like Drain II, and Dread Spikes, which helps a DRK to survive and even tank certain mobs while a Tank heals up.

They also brought in Absorb ACC, which to be honest i dont use too much, i seem to keep forgetting its there lol, usually when DRKs fight mobs at endgame they have food and bard songs, so that spell was more for those up and coming DRKs who had not reached 75 yet.

Although i really wish SE brought out an ability to increase the melee damage of DRKs, as personally i think DRG and SAM are way overpowered... im just glad that we got something, and this is what i think of the new abilites.

Nether Void - This is a bit vague, but its nice that the recast is not too long, im guessing that it might make absorb spells slightly longer in duration, or it might make you take off an extra 10-20% with drain or drain II, but as we dont know the details, its complete theory at this time.

Occult Acumen - I like how this is level 45, this basically encourages DRKs from mid levels to start using their spells, before a lot of DRKs would ignore magics as it slows down their TP build, we dont exactly know yet how much TP bonus this will give, but to gain TP while casting our magics is very welcome by me.

Aspir II - WOOOOOT! This is my favourite by far, DRK runs out of MP so dam much, and even with refresh gears on it can still be difficult to gain our MP back, now with the mix of Aspir and Aspir II, a DRK should be able to use their magics a lot more, making them more powerful overall, Love this! BLMs can be jealous ;)

Stone III and Water III - Wow! Now to some people this may seem really ***, but i personaly like this, this will be just the start to what a DRK can do, we will become a pure Melee DD, who can switch immediately into a Mage, and help out BLM SCH and RDM to nuke down mobs.
These can also be used on Magic Bursts, the only downfall i see to this, is that DRKs elemental skill is quite low, and even if its capped, it still may not compare to the strength of a BLM or RDM.

Overall i see this update is pushing DRK to what its always meant to be, a Melee/Mage who can switch immediately to help the situation, they will be able to keep MP more and gain TP quicker, which will make it easier to build up a stronger WS with Souleater, and could be pretty devastating.

Also think of it this way, it could really help endgame Zerg, if your Drain II is going to take off more, your DRK will recieve even more HP, so when your using KC/OC or Mkris, your going to become an even more powerful DD against HNMs or Dynamis Lord.

Let me know what u think :)

I think your confusing DRK with DRG when you say the loljob.

Secondly I think everyone is talking up Stone 3 and Water 3 way too much, you are not going to have the MP to justify using those spells when they will not get anywhere near the damage of a blm or rdm w/e.

It used to be loldrk, then it moved to drg.

Well i fought Kaiser Behemoth today, would have been nice to be able to do a bit more then a Drain II, it would be for situations where melees are completely useless.

And yea im saying that drk used to be the LOL job 4 years ago, way before Aht Urhgan was even thought of :)

Seems like you already know what to do!

Hirudenea Earring + Vampiric mitts + Vampiric boots + Nether void + Dark Seal MB Drain II = epic hp? And maybe some nice tp return if the JA works like I hope it does.

Lol, well yea im not just gonna stand back and let the BLM and RDM have all the fun :D

I think he means that you shouldnt have come a melee to NW app lol.

Well of course, that should be common sense...but what if you only have melee jobs leveled? and if there is room for you on the run, might as well come drk and not some other pure melee job. Very situational but yeah... just saying.

Casting magic is also not bad at all when mobs do perfect dodge in Dynamis also, but that is pretty obvious.

Also, if you go drk to Omega, perhaps cast while he's on 4 legs ? if not the higher tier elemental spells... then for sure at least some bio and/or stone spam to build TP with the new Job trait that gives you TP when doing dmg with spells? (Then of course, melee when he's on 2 legs etc. )

It should also be nice for letting you build TP without having to melee for the TP if you were in need of such a situation, besides just waiting for meditate timer like SAMs.

Yes you get the idea Giazz :) And yea i only come DRK today for NW because i have DRK THF and PLD at 75.

Im not a player who goes through every job or levels a job like BLM just because everyone says i should, i dont like to be a pure mage, but the most fun i get is being on my DRK, and i know i can melee and use magic when its appropriate.

I see these updates making DRK even more unique, and may be used more often as players know if there is no attacking to be done, a DRK wont just be stood back using Meditate or resting like all the rest of the melee.

Now we could see the new evolution in the melee/mage combo, DRK BLU and PUPs will have this in common, i hope these 3 jobs can show that sometimes its more beneficial then loading up on pure melees like WAR DRG, and specially SAMs.

Not elitist douchery here, if it's an organized even that can actually afford someone on DRK, You have Marches/Haste on. Even if that is just to lower the cast of stun to Halt Fulmination/Gates of Hades. Ect.

This topic is about the update though, they will help any situation, also being a drk a long time, i know that its not possible to have a brd for you every single event you do.

At endgame say in a HNM LS, brds are necessary, but not everyone does that, so i dont understand why people are arguing over whether you got a BRD or not, dont quite get it.

Also i dont understand why you would say.. If a LS can afford to have a DRK.. when its pretty clear if your fighting something which needs to be zerged, bringing some DRKs would help.

Btw a DRK is a lot more useful then just being an extra Stunner.

Well, in endgame application, Melee jobs are inferior to Mage jobs without the proper support. This usually comes from a bard. If you bring Melee to an Endgame event without proper support, there is some issues with planning and logistics in the group. It's a painful truth, but a truth nonetheless.

DRK doesn't need to Zerg, I frequently full-time damage on Dark Ixion, Fafnir, Nidhogg and Even a Few Non-Zerged Kirin (Can't really zerg with 12, but can tank it like any normal mob after adds).

I meant that last bit as a point saying, even if all the DRK is going to do is hang back and stun, you want them hasted to get that cast down to minimum. Even for what some people would call a benign role.



The whole point is, Yes you can Melee without proper support, but you can also shove pencils up your piss-hole. I wouldn't recommend either.

I find this update pretty hilarious to be honest. Can't help but *headdesk* when I see DRKs screaming "yesssss, tier3 spells! Man this is going to be awesome, we can keep up with Rdms and Blms now when it comes to spells!" ...No... just stop. It's like nobody remembers that those other jobs have an innate MAB trait, and higher skill, so our Tier3's will probably surmount to the damage of a Rdm T2 spell(even if you're geared for the nuke), if that.

What SE should of done is give us Attack Bonus V, even if it does only go up by 13 Att. per tier. Don't get me wrong, I love DRK, it's my "main", I do cast spells when they are absolutely needed and have the gear for it(Although I recently swapped 8/8 DarkMagic to 8/8 Enfeeb for my RDM). But that need to cast is very, VERY rare for my situations(being in a HNMLS).

Most of these adjustments/updates for DRK I can only see being useful for say... Low manning a weak NM, DRK tanking, the occasional Vrtra/KV zerg, or when Seigan was broken and DRKs had 0 recast on spells. When you realize how irregular these events happen, you kind of recognize that most of the spells DRK have are useless, unless trying to save your *** with a Drain/II so you can get chomped once more to lose Enmity, assuming you don't resist(lol).

Had more to say on the subject but there's no point lol.

Other than ranting, I hope this is just a preview of what SE will update, since they say there are still some adjustments that aren't mentioned yet before the update.

Edit** Before anyone says "hurr play War or Blm if you want to be on either side of the DD spectrum!" I have both of those jobs also, but play more aggressive on DRK since it's needed more than War or Blm to be a sufficient DD, therefore I do more damage in parses than my War or Blm(when the situation doesn't call for either of those jobs).

It has been show (a few times, by a few different people) that a DRK casting is a doing less damage than a DRK that isn’t casting.
*Absorb-TP and Stun being the only exceptions*

It has also been shown (a few times, by a few different people) that a DRK full time meleeing isn’t as strong as a WAR or SAM (or DRG).

Now I can understand that DRK can NOT be as good a melee as the ‘full time’ melee jobs as that would be unfair; but I don’t understand why casting magic, which is supposed to be DRK’s niche (other than zerging) actually reduces the damage done.

* 100% of SAM damage comes from straight melee/WS damage (inc SC)
* 95% of WAR damage comes from straight melee/WS damage the other 5% comes from retaliation
* 90% of DRG damage comes from straight melee/WS the other 10% comes from the wyvern
* 90% of DRK damage comes from straight melee/WS the other 10% SHOULD come from magic.

So using my (made up) numbers DRK is never going to reach the potential of the other DDs. As the other DDs niches (pets and countering) add directly to their melee/WS damage, DRG doesn’t have to pick melee or pet damage.

DRK is still a nice job, great at zerging, a good tank and an OK melee. Some might argue that’s enough. But when compared to SAM (good at zerging, good tank, and great melee) there is distinct deficit.

this ...?

and lol @ using T3's its rare to see a DRK using any spell but absorb's and stun.

at times ive often wondered if the DRK's around actually had any other magic.

Stone 3 and Water 3 are pretty lame damage compared to other tier 3 nukes, unless that particular mob is weak to that element, and even then they`re not great

I was a bit *meh* when I read the update, but we knew it was coming - they've mentioned boosting DRK magic recently.

Personally, i'd love to use more magic on DRK, it's DRK's defining trait (well, that and SE). Personally, I only have RDM and DRK at 75 so I have full magic sets for DRK and merits in all the right places. I idle/swap in Plastron/Chain so 2MP/tick is usually enough with aspirs to keep me in MPs.

To the people who cry that casting takes away from dps etc, try using your spell as/before you engage (depending on the situation) - I usually get off an absorb before any melee hits the mob so I lost at most 0.5 of a swing (if that).

Sub /SAM with sekka, absorb-tp and meditate, you should be able to get some nice self-SCs after the update - though it will be annoying with every other DD/SAM:

/party WARNING SELF-SKILLCHAIN <call12> etc etc etc

Problem with DRK self-skillchaining would be the fact that DRK has no "good" SC's it can make with itself besides Compression(scythe) and Distortion(G.Sword), if I remember correctly. Unless of-course you have an Apoc/Rag.

This is another thing though, why are people saying "oh DRKs can self SC now!!" when it was possible to do it before Sekka, still nobody used it because, it wasn't efficient, just like it will still be inefficient when we do get Sekka.

I'm pretty damn sure you will get more damage out of 2x Guillotines and maybe 1 or 2 swings, than you would out of a self-skillchain > Tier3 MB lol.

Edit** This is of course without knowing what the new WS will be like when it is released.

In events like merits, dynamis, einherjar there should be little or no time between mobs (except when running about, but then there is no mobs). Limbus is one place where you may have ‘traditional’ pulls where you can cast as the mob runs into ‘camp’.

On most HNMs you will either be full time engaged or TPing off trash. While full time engaged your only option is to cast on the HNM which WILL drop your DPS. If you are TPing on trash then you might be able to get a quick absorb spell off before WS the mob, but because they run out so fast, its hard to cast more than 1 or 2 in time.

I levelled DRK as I wanted to play a DD that was more evolved than ‘wait for TP -> WS, wait for TP’, but when I was playing it, I realised that it was exactly the same as the other jobs (if you wanted to maximise the damage). Dark magic is fun for messing around with in low haste situations, but not much more

DRK has higher ele skill than RDM, same skill as SCH, and SCH has no Mag. Atk. Bonus, either (I know you were talking about BLM, but nothing is really gonna touch BLM in terms of straight nuking damage, I think?).

The issue DRK is gonna have with these nukes is the crappy MP pool, and the gear switches (especially ele staves). Can't see people switching from scythe/gs to stave for a nuke. If you have the space, DRK nukes could definitely be a bit more viable, but I think I'm sitting on like 10 spare slots, as I won't be rushing to gear my DRK's nuke set quite so readily.

Another issue is, DRK/SAM means you're constantly gonna have to drop seigan/hasso for nukes (not a big issue, but a pretty big conviniance).

Then there's the closing WS and MBing, I'm not sure there's going to be enough time to close a SC and be able to burst it with Drain II/Tier III's, but I could be wrong. Just a shame Stone and Water III are bother darkness aligned, would of been nice to have something for Light.

DRK self SC I was hoping/assuming the new WS would be good for it (but then this is Square Enix...)

As for the casting at start of fights, yes, valid - but there are situations when it's useful, and vs high eva mobs, absorb acc will often help your dps, and absorb AGI may well help all the other DDs hit (especially when you are using the full Black set to lengthen the effect time) and absorb VIT can be handy too on certain mobs. Absorb INT and MND I always use when mages are time nuking mobs, but I don't see many other DRKs bother. Drain II can easily go for 400/500+ so that's fine to rep a melee hit with, especially with this new TP gain from spells trait.

Basically, yeah, at the moment too much casting screws your DPS, but it wouldn't take THAT much adjustment to make it worth while.

Sorry, I should of been specific, I meant including gear, not to mention switching to a staff. Adding gear/staff to Rdm, Blm, Sch far outweighs anything DRK could do in that department. Unless of course you were using DRK for that purpose only, in which case you'd be better off leveling said mage job, lol.

(Yes I do realize you are agreeing with me)