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

That's why i want both lol

How does Liberator stack up today?

Best Scythe. About par with Cala for DPS but way more fun.

Liberator gang assemble!

Hi all,

Is it possible to cap VIT on Torcleaver?

No.

What about a brew? :D
Technically that is "the cap"

Fun indeed. I used to really squeeze cheeks when I saw Hundred Fists or EES. Now I make sure I have what Ruaumoko on Asura calls 'optimal circumstances" and pretty much shrug them off.

I'm missing the reference I guess. What's optimal circumstances according to Rua?

So, how far off is Ullr being bis for majority of stuff drk wants?
The only major weakness is lack of Stp and HP/dt that I can tell. Can’t that be made up elsewhere? please inform me. Not trolling.

It's basically only useful as a MACC piece for when you really, really need to land an Armor Break or something. It's basically equal to R15 Seething Bomblet +1 for Resolution, but the fact you have to TP in it as well hurts it pretty badly.

15 DEX and 40 MACC is a LOT for that slot, though.

It may have function for its magic accuracy, but the problem is that if you swap from an ammo piece, like an Auglemir Orb, Yetshila, etc to a ranged piece, like the Ullr, you lose all TP. Such a swap is manageable for backline mages, but to really use it on DRK you're going to have to give up ANY ammo piece for ANY set. That's a big sacrifice.

I made Ullr and Khonsu a long time ago for a max magic accuracy set. I did the work, I can swap them in when I need them.

I think I've used them at most twice now. I just don't need them.

Ullr has nice stats, but Aurgelmir Orb +1, Knobkierrie, and Seething Bomblet +1 are just too important to pass on.

Wow didn’t even know about seething bomblet augments. Disregard anything I posted about ullr. My arguments would have gone deaf with Bomb having 15 str us extra goodness.

If you have a pulse weapon on hand and want to use it for Dark Knight, get a Lycurgos, not Ullr. Lycurgos is fantastic.
In my opinion, Lycurgos and Apocalypse are the two weapons a new DRK should aim for before anything else.

Jumped on the DRK wagon not too long ago, ended up making Calad for it as I had been hoarding the upgrade mats for a while. These are the two weapons I'm working on now. Just need a pulse to finish the GA (be nice having access to Full Break and Fell Cleave on DRK). Apoc is gonna take me a bit as I'm farming it more or less, spending my gil on R15ing my Calad. Can't wait to have some different options to play around with, but I must say I do love my Calad.

The more I think about it, the more Lycurgos appeals to me as a starter weapon for a new Dark Knight.

For those who weren't aware, Lycurgos grants a TP bonus based on your current HP.
This bonus is based on your raw HP, not your HP percentage.
At 2000 HP Lycurgos grants +400 TP bonus, at 5000 HP the TP bonus caps out at +1000 TP bonus. Considering that Warrior gets +500 TP bonus on Chango, and how popular that weapon is, this should be a good indicator that Lycurgos is a big deal.
This means the wielder has to pay attention to keeping their maximum HP as high as possible with drains, further adding incentive to building good drain hygiene. Incentivizing positive habits is good!

So what does Lycurgos have going for it?
TP Bonus up to +1000: Make all WS Bigger
Armor Break: Lower enemy defense by 25%
Shield Break: Lower enemy evasion by 40
Fell Cleave: The biggest AoE physical WS Drk has access to
Steel Cyclone: A deceptively strong single hit WS, more on this later
Upheaval: Needs merits, but Upheaval is a great axe Warrior's bread and butter these days. Hits hard and scales well with TP.
Good accuracy values: 250 Great Axe Skill, accuracy +40, Dex +20 makes for a big chunk of accuracy. Yes Drk has lower Great Axe skill than Scythe or Great Sword, Lycurgos is still more accurate out of the box than Caladbolg.
Good Stat values: +20 STR +20 Dex and +20 Vit are all significant stat modifiers for Great Axe weapon skills. These add up!
"Steel Cyclone": Get access to Steel Cyclone without having to quest it is convenient, and also grants the WS a straight up +30% damage multiplier!
Easy Drain SC + MB: With at least ignominy gauntlets +2 you can easily make your own compression SC with Weapon Bash to Keen Edge or Upheaval. This is convenient for letting even a relatively new Drk magic burst Drain 2 or 3 for large amounts, which directly contributes to damage output in the form of TP bonus. I generally prefer Keen Edge over Upheaval for this, so as not to kill the mob before landing the magic burst.

What does Lycurgos have going against it?
Skillchains: Drk does not get access to any great axe WS that have an inherent level 3 SC property. Furthermore the two WS we get that have level 2 properties (Distortion on Steel Cyclone, Fusion on Upheaval) do not directly make a level 3 SC with each other. Multistep Darkness skillchains are an option, but not convenient when compared with Entropy <=> Cross Reaper, for instance.
Not a REMA: Lets not kid ourselves, ignorant party leaders assume that if you don't have a REMA you haven't invested enough into your job. Lycurgos can be extremely competetive even with R15 REMA weapons, especially when attack is not capped. The only way to get around the "No REMA no party" mentality is to show people how strong Lycurgos is, despite not being a REMA.

"Wait a sec, you said Lycurgos is competetive with R15? And whats this about attack cap?"
Yes, yes it is. Lycurgos has two attack related things that make it shine when attack is not capped. Obviously Armor Break raises the damage of the entire alliance, but Steel Cyclone also gets its own +50% attack bonus.
Steel Cyclone is a good WS. Yes, its fTP values look weak at first glance. 1.5 fTP at 1000 TP, 2.5 fTP at 2000, 4.0 fTP at 3000 does not look huge compared to Torcleaver. Keep in mind, with drains capping out Lycurgos' TP bonus value and a TP bonus Moonshade Earring, we are effectively starting at 2250 TP, or 2.875 fTP . Secondly, Steel Cyclone has abnormally large stat mods. 60% Str, 60% Vit, and 10% Dex (Assuming Utu Grip) adds more damage than you might think. Thirdly, Steel Cyclone has an inherent 50% attack bonus on it, which is easy to ignore. This is why Spinning Slash was so good back in the day. Attack does not cap in all situations, and a newbie Drk is going to be uncapped on attack a lot more than a more experienced Drk. Attack is what can potentially make Lycurgos better than REMA weapons. Finally, Lycurgos gets a +30% bonus to Steel Cyclone damage that multiplies with other factors.

All these factors combine to make Steel Cyclone with Lycurgos really good. And then when attack is higher, Warriors already know that Upheaval is a badass WS, so Lycurgos has that going for it as well.

So yeah, wall of text. (Now edited for clarity, removed typos)

Lycurgos has incredible utility and damage, you should get one.

tldr;
New to Dark Knight? Get a Lycurgos to start out with before going for a REMA weapon.

You can do Steel Cyclone->Upheaval->Steel Cyclone for Darkness.

EDIT: sorry, you do need force the detonation property with another step, such as by opening with Armor Break (which you may want to do anyways) or with another Upheaval.

I am aware that you can 3 step darkness with great axe, the point I'm trying to make is that it's not the most convenient, especially when compared to something braindead easy like Torcleaver to Torcleaver.

/edit
That doesn't make Darkness.
Upheaval => Steel Cyclone => Upheaval => Steel Cyclone is darkness in a 4 step, to 3 step Dark you need Fell Cleave => Upheaval => Steel Cyclone.
The problem is getting the Gravitation property in there

You're doing the lord's work Mims. Nice writeup.

its a free, incredibly valuable beginner weapon and incredibly versatile weapon that STAYS in your arsenal even with multiple RMEAs. The ability, if needed, to provide those Breaks for an entire party/alliance if no WAR present is always valuable, even if you just pop the Break and swap to your main weapon choice.

EXCELLENT pointing all of the benefits of Lycurgos!

Glad you guys liked it, tried to clean it up, make it more readable and removed some typos.

I value versatility, so these are the weapon sets I have for my DRK:


Ragnarok is in-work, which is why I also have Nanadaka. Father Time is for Undead fights.

My next random solo adventure on DRK. He was pretty annoying, but not crazy dangerous, and his regen wasn't a big problem as long as I kept up the pressure while he was in his shell. Harden Shell should be absorbed whenever you see him use it. With Last Resort up, I was making slow headway against his regen, while once it wore my DPS was basically keeping his HP constant until he came out. His breath upon exiting shell and drawing everyone in tended to bring my trusts into the yellow or red range, but he's not too dangerous other than that.

I had a bit less than three rows of buffs and he only dispelled twice, so it's not too likely he'd have hit any of my important buffs (Max HP Up, Last Resort, Sushi), but the fight is still a bit luck dependent due to his dispels.

It took about 4 1/2 minutes in total.

It's been a while, but I'm returning to this thread. Appreciate Mims feedback on the upside of Lycurgos, I'll be getting one when possible. In the meantime, Jokushuono should tie me over (drops from Byakko).

While I'm here, I wanted to ask a question regarding Liberator AM3 sets.

Currently, it is possible for me to have 95 STP (110 /sam), with another 11-12 doable if I were to get a few other pieces. I know it is pretty easy to aim for a 3 hit, but is it possible to get any further? What if you overshoot the STP and get a SAM roll? Or is it mathematically impossible to do any better than a 3 hit?

I have been using the calculators and it has helped, but I am looking for a good general number which can cover any WS I may end up using. Hit builds has never been my strong point, and it would be cool if we can find some magic numbers for the weapons we may use. If anyone is interested, I can share some of my updated sets soon. Cheers guys! :)

Cross Reaper and especially Insurgency have very strong TP scaling, and as such going for specific X-hits is not important, especially in an AM3 set where many of your rounds would overshoot 1000 TP even with an X-hit.

For AM3, just stack as much STP, QA, and TA as you can.

The threshold for a 2hit build is in the vicinity of 150 Store TP, plus or minus 10 for various factors. You aren't going to hit that in gear, but hitting it with Samurai Roll is quite doable. Last time I looked I needed a lucky roll (2) with regal neck to personally hit a WS+2 hit scenario, but I roll with around 90 Store TP /Sam included, before any rolls.

So, if you are looking for magic numbers, 70-74 Store TP in gear is still the starting point, and whether or not to go higher depends on the quality of the gear you can fill your slots with. More Store TP is good, but accuracy and Quadruple Attack are also good. Individual mileage varies with gear.

Yeah, I guess the important thing is to keep haste and accuracy up as well. Assuming you guys are aiming for 26% haste and a good amount of accuracy (depends on content)? I see some like to add critical hit rate in there, but I can't see how that is beneficial unless the target regularly does amnesia.

My current AM3 (for Insurgency, I calculated one for Quietus too) has 74 STP, including no double attack. I'm wondering if anyone considers QA gear like Ganesha's Mala anymore, and how you would gear if you added the Mala and Windbuffet +1 for example. There's so many options and I think it would be cool to explore these possibilities, because there's many ways of going about it. Currently, I do not have a pair of Acro hands, but I could easily get one and augment it for that STP+10.

Yeah, people started stacking crit in their AM3 builds when Odin body came out, and while it is technically a thing you can do, crit stacking is very much a "Do this if you can't fit in more damage in any other way" sort of thing. Don't worry about that too much.

As for whether xhit is worth it or not, in my mind it is about establishing a minimum. Yes, with all the multiattack I have I rarely fire WS at minimum TP, but having that consistency as a baseline is real nice.

As for AM3 specifically, Store TP and Multiattack combine multiplicatively for overall WS rate. That is common knowledge, what is less common is the knowledge of how multiattack and AM3 stack up with each other.

As a general rule, with Liberator AM3 up,
Quadruple attack is worth roughly 73% of what it would be with AM3 down
Triple attack is worth roughly 60% of what it would be with AM3 down
Double attack is worth roughly 20% of what it would be with AM3 down

And the more you stack, the less favorable those numbers get. QA fares the best, DA fares the worst as you stack more and more.

So yeah, QA gear is good. I don't use Mala as much as I did, but it is still worth considering. Personally I'm using Abyssal +2 neck and some Accuracy35 QA3 Odyssean hands, but with how good Flamma+2 and Emicho+1 hands are out of the box, I wouldn't bother aiming for Acro. And yes, Windbuffet +1 is great when overcapped on haste with LR up. Fine tuning AM3 gear varies heavily person to person with how different everyone's Oseem augments are.

I can see that. For example, I have STP +7 augs on my Odyssean Legs and Valorous Greaves with decent amounts of accuracy, but don't have any good QA aside from my Valorous Body (QA+3, no extra STP or acc though) which I am not using.

What I am considering, is making sets (LR up & Down) where I know accuracy isn't much of an issue, and more ideal sets maintaining the standard 70-74 stp with good accuracy. I could post what I end up with, if you guys are curious to know how it turns out. Gearing for Lib is some of the most fun I've had with this job.

PS: I cannot afford the +2 neck and the Emicho is not available on my server at the moment.