(Don't) Fear The Reaper: A Dark Knight Guide

If I wanted to make just an Apoc and then Anguta, but none of the other REMA..would that be an ok thing to do? Seems like DRK get so many good REMA compared to other jobs, but personally I don't want to commit to all of them. Thanks for your advice.

I don't see anything wrong with that. Eventually you might want something else "just 'cuz" but that's fine.

Its pretty overhelming what to augment if you have several rema jobs, but damn, DRK is a problem itself. Looks like it has at least 4 rema weapons worth to augment.

Liberator - currently probably the best choice with how wsd works. Great damage and buff to absorb and very high macc to actually land them and drains.

Apocalypse - Great survivability and catastrophe damage is almost competitive at 1000tp. Possibly highest damage drk ws to spam for darkness sc too? Highest accuracy? Ability haste on AM is great for last resort down.

Caladbolg - Highest damage and independent from wsd future. Great to spam light.

Anguta - Entropy is in much better spot now with wsd working for all hits. Cross reaper is not far behind Torcleaver too. All that makes x steping Umbra even better.

Ragnarok - Overall quite good and adds Fusion WS. Great when you want to use GS but have acc issues with Caladbolg. Especially good if you also play WAR. Great for Resolution which is currently boosted quite a lot, but we dont know if that will stay.

Does anyone have some strong preferences and arguments what to augment first or at all?

I wouldn't make an argument for a potential bug that will get fixed, which puts caladbolg at the top of my list. Even if it gets changed back, Caladbolg keeps it's place for the most part.

And it also seems that the WSD benefit we enjoyed a couple of weeks has now been reverted back to the way it was. (Thru hearsay)

Anyone able to confirm?

Seriously? I was looking for justification to make a Lib on this char...

Yeah it's my point of view too, but Caladbolg outside of DD potential has kinda nothing to go with it. I understand your point of view that DD potential is the most important for you on DRK weapon, because I kinda suspect in what type of parties you usually doing stuff (top buffs). For me it's a little different I run with mediocre buffs usually and while I also agree that choosing weapon now when WSD thing is happening could end up bad in the long run, but currently with the WSD Liberator is probably a better choice than Caladbolg. Almost the same DD potential, while being FAR more versatile for other DRK stuff. I kinda love the idea of Apocalypse tho. Cata is pretty strong WS now at 1000TP (75% of augmented Torc damage?) and 10% ability haste is pretty good for /nin /drg and even /sam with no haste samba in ally.

I probably wont touch DRK weapons tho and start augmenting weapons on other jobs with more obvious choices and see what happens with WSD too.

It hasn't been reverted, my Insurgency numbers are still silly.

Non-DRK here, hope my off-topic chiming in is welcome! For whatever reason I have been infatuated with Redemption. Does it have any merit what-so-ever? I'd love to have an excuse to build one (other than "I like it") especially considering I don't even have DRK geared.

It is not a good thing.

think it was mentioned a few pages back, its not "bad" but compared to all the other cream weapons its kinda poopy

Poor thing. : - (

Appreciate the input, everyone!

The problem with Redemption is the WS its tied to. Queefus doesn't really put out that great of numbers. TP doesn't effect damage, but rather how much defense is ignored. So saving up for an AM3 with it doesn't yield much in the WS department, compared to say torcleaver with a Calad which puts out massive numbers. On the other hand, the STR/MND on it will go a ways to helping your Cross Reapers hitting higher numbers. Overall, its not a bad weapon but there are certainly better REMA choices.

The other down side to redemption is getting it. Chloris pops are a big pain in the *** to get. You are better off spending the money on an army of mules and using daily login points to get the 50 items needed than attempting to pop him. I actually think they used the wrong "C" word when they named him because of how much of a pain he is to pop.

As an odd note, one thing that does amuse me about Redemption is the new augments. All of the weapons except the scythe and axe(?) get +20 to 2x main stats. However, those 2 weapons get +15 to 4x main stats.

if you have an army of mules and you're lazy ~ you could get chloris buds and other abyssea empy items from the login campaign when it rolls around too.

Speaking as a Drk who actually has Redemption, I can tell you it's not horrible, but it's not the strongest weapon we get. Redemption will out damage Apocalypse by a pretty strong margin, but won't be able to keep up with Liberator. My personal favorite use for Redemption is anytime Amnesia is going to be an issue. The AM3 white damage of Redemption is unreal. 10-13k crits are not uncommon. Quiestus isn't a bad WS at all either.

If you're planning only one weapon, Redemption may not be you're most powerful choice. I would suggest you make what you want to make. Don't listen to these people who say it's junk and don't actually have one. Also, Caladbolg is not impressive unless you're in a full buff situation.

It's literally the best great sword DRK has access to. Maybe beat out by Raetic in escha zones?

It's a great weapon for sure, but I have yet to see it out parse my Liberator in any non-zerg situation.

I apparently missed when they converted Liberator into a great sword.

Nobody limited this conversation to great swords only. The post I replied to was also asking about a scythe and people were comparing to Caladbolg.

I will TL;DR because I somehow lost my longer post.

How you do 10-13k crits with Redemption, when on paper you should be doing around 6500 max. Are you fighting stuff that takes double damage or you take sums of hits from battlemod chat as single swings?

Augmented redemption has pretty much almost no advantage over augmented Caladbolg for situations when amnesia is an issue. They have pretty much almost identical white damage, while Caladbolg has on avg much better 3000TP WS to use when amnesia wears off.

Quick question on Ambu capes. My wife has been working on her DRK, so she has 4 so far- DEX/ACC/ATK/DA/DT, STR/ACC/ATK/DA, VIT/ACC/ATK/WSD, STR/ACC/ATK/WSD... how many more for a complete DRK?

Fast cast, Meva, Macc, DEX/STP

personaly I use this many

STRDAMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'STR+20','Accuracy+20 Attack+20','STR+10','"Dbl.Atk."+10',}}
DEXDAMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'DEX+20','Accuracy+20 Attack+20','DEX+10','"Dbl.Atk."+10','Phys. dmg. taken-10%',}}
INTDAMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'INT+20','Accuracy+20 Attack+20','INT+10','"Dbl.Atk."+10',}}
DEXSTPMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'DEX+20','Accuracy+20 Attack+20','DEX+10','"Store TP"+10','Phys. dmg. taken-10%',}}
WSDMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'STR+20','Accuracy+20 Attack+20','STR+10','Weapon skill damage +10%',}}
VITWSDMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'VIT+20','Accuracy+20 Attack+20','VIT+10','Weapon skill damage +10%',}}
FCMantle={ name="Ankou's Mantle", augments={'INT+20','Mag. Acc+20 /Mag. Dmg.+20','INT+10','"Fast Cast"+10','Spell interruption rate down-10%',}}

With current WSD bug the INT/DA Entropy cape would be better as INT/WSD

SE says working as intended.

Stop spreading this false info. SE only confirmed augments on REMA working for all hits. Someone for some reason understood that as "WSD on all gear work for all hits" which is FAR from SE statement.

Thanks for the posted capes :)

I think we'll do the casting capes and hold off on doing an Entropy cape until after this week's update. I'm wondering if S-E will "fix" WSD or if this is a permanent change. You never know with them.

Hey all, decided to go ahead and get DRK started. Got my 75 Apocalypse that I'll be working on trials for..just looking for some quick guidance.

It looks like the gear sets in the OP are out of date, but in a good way for me. Am I to understand that the gear sets for Apoc in the OP are sufficient for pre-omen? I am looking for non-omen gear sets for the following:

DRK Apoc TP 5-Hit
DRK ACC Scythe
DRK DT-TP
DRK Cata
DRK CR
DRK Entropy
DRK Drain
DRK Spikes

and maybe FC and MACC set (lower priority)

Is the OP good for this? Or are there more updated, pre-omen gear sets I can look at somewhere?

Obviously with omen we start throwing in Utu Grip, Niqmaddu Ring, Regal Ring, etc etc..but until I start doing Omen content I'd like to have gear sets ready.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Sets for drk in order of priority would be TP, WS, DT, Drain/Aspir Endark, Dreadspikes, Absorbs

Depends on what content you are doing. Ambu gear mixed with augmented Escha zitah/ru'an and reisenjima would be what I would go for. If you shout and provide your own pop sets, people will be more likely to join you. Even if you have no idea what you are doing. Looking up strats and kill videos is easy enough. Is Nishida geared enough to aoe stuff on blu?

The augmented jse capes are an easy thing to do. Getting flamma and sulevia to +2 is another easy goal. Start with volume 2, unless you know some people that will let you tag along on volume 1 stuff that is better reward for your time. As a drk you will need to have a few TP sets with that allow you to take a hit or two. You are going Apocalypse, work on getting that to item level 119 with the afterglow, aka (Level 119 II). There is Level 119 3, that requires Dynamis Divergence currencies and to have certain KI from wave 3 bosses. https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Oboro#Step_3:_REMEA_.22119_III_Augmented_Stage.22_Upgrade_Process

Good luck, Nishida-kun


P.S. Two boxing is a faster way to cap ambuscade stuff, but having people drag your undergeared self is even easier, just be super grateful most people get bored easily and help out the less furtunate. They themselves were once in your situation.