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

What content level are people discussing here because that can dramatically change how you play. Doing some of the stuff mentioned here will get you killed on anything worth discussing damage on.

Lets say apex cp parties because drk is good at those.

Ok now we talking about melee or magic as the primary damage type? Magic is the typical Geo-Maliase doing a SC with BLM / SCH / RDM / GEO's bursting off it. Melee is Geo-Fraility with capped haste and other melee buffs while doing a 3~4 step SC that kills the monster.

Magic then your goal is to reliable get TP and not die in the process, I used /RUN for most of that as I basically "tanked" those. SC'd with CR -> Leaden, or Entropy -> CDC and once I even did Insurgency -> Cloud Splitter. If it's darkness then you try to MB Drain II or NV DS Drain III for massive HP with dread spikes up.

Melee it's the opposite, I went /SAM for the Store TP and did multi-steps' with a NIN, a BLU and a DRG (three separate parties). It's really just about linking the various T2 SC's with a powerful closer at the end. Played a bit more aggressively in those parties with LR but never the silliness of intentionally trying to take massive damage, Apex Bats can *** you up real fast if your not careful.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I also hate apex bats.

I have got 2 capes from ambuscade, one for store tp and one for ws damage. I place the TP cape in mog wardrobe 1 and the ws cape in mog wardrobe 2, but when i go to ws etc i stay in what ever cape it used first and does not switch

1. Is there an easy way around this to ensure it loads the correct cape without using gearswap
2. If gearswap is the only method to do this, can anyone post some up to date gear swap files
3. How hard is gearswap to use if i only want to use it for macros and not worry about idle sets etc

Thanks

Use an equipset. Those remember where the capes are. (Can even have them in the same box and it will remember.)
After /equip slot "item" add the number of the box it's in. (Though the equipset is just simply better. Especially as you should be changing more than 5 things for a WS.)
0 for inventory, 1 for wardrobe, and 2 for wardrobe 2.

This is what im doing yet it does not select them from different numbers. What am I doing wrong.

i.e equipset 5 etc, I need to add wardrobe 1 / 2 in that text line?

If the two capes are in separate wardrobes you just have to set which equipset selects which cape. It will always remember which one to chose as long as you don't take it out of specific wardrobe. Otherwise you have to reset it.

I never got around to testing duplicates in the same inventory personally, but supposedly it works the same way long as the duplicate pieces remain in that inventory and aren't moved. Hope that helps.

Edit: 0 1 and 2 only work if you are using a single piece equip macro line. For example;

'/equip Back "Ankou Mantle" 0' (inventory)
'/equip Back "Ankou Mantle" 1' (wardrobe 1)
'/equip Back "Ankou Mantle" 2' (wardrobe 2)

Thanks, makes perfect sense now

I did da+10 and wsd+10 for torcleaver. should I need to make one for stp as well or do the da sets parse higher?

Oh yeah, I started making a Rag. Thorva and others convinced me, and I just enjoy DRK so much now, its worth my time.

rsg is a boss, I actually just 119 lib though. they are both great.

Thorva and others are right. Ragnarok is a beast on drk.

Point for Point DA is worth more then Store TP. A DA proc gives you an additional 100% TP return while also giving you extra damage from that melee hit. Typically you get Store TP in greater amounts then DA.

but not as good for AM3, I have a 4 hit ws build with liberator, but will be favouring DA when I complete Ragnarok for sure

Even for Rag I'd bet DA and STP are close, though I can't speak as to which performs better here (having said that, I'd also guess that DA is better for Rag DRK). Resolution scales quite nicely with TP, so "excess" STP is by no means a bad thing.

You still get TP from DA'd attacks, you get 100% of the TP you would of gotten normally. DA gives you more TP on average along with giving you more damage while Store TP just gives you more TP. That is why DA is worth more point for point then Store TP. Mythics AM3 is the only time Multi-Attack is really devalued and Store TP starts to mean more point for point.

You might be surprised.

An example from a somewhat similar situation for which I can speak with greater familiarity: RUN should use an STP cape over DA for TP if both are available (DA is obviously preferable as a first choice melee cape since it also directly benefits Resolution). This holds true with every greatsword I've checked, not just Epeolatry, and is not dependent on the STP altering your x-hit. In fact, it's not at all unusual for a RUN GS build to overshoot a 5 hit without reaching a 4 hit.

DRK has a lower base multiattack rate, among other differentiating factors, so it's completely plausible that the opposite will hold true here. I make no claim either way. I would, however, encourage more rigorous examination before any definitive statements are made.

On Rag WAR with over 60% DA, DA +10 still worth more then STP +10. Again a DA is 100% of the TP you would get anyway thus +10% DA raises your average TP gain rate by 10%, the same as +10 Store TP would. When you proc a DA you get both the TP from the original attack and the TP from the DA'd attack. Normally Store TP is available in greater amounts then DA but the cape offers 10 of each.

Since I don't have reiseinjima armor~ and pretty much lucking it out with the abj.gobbie dial, what would be good +acc feet armor?

If you have Ru-Aun access emicho feet are good.

That is all well and great, but we are talking about a job that doesn't get 60% DA in the drk forum here. People want to know about drk in the drk forums not war.

The point he was making is that despite DA's decreasing returns it's still worth using at high amounts.

At lower amounts, it's even more worth using.

I thought STP was better for drk. Or is it only better for certain situations?

You still need to factor in Warrior's native access to DA+ damage gear. That likely plays a very large role in the higher value of DA for them. I don't have a sheet and honestly don't play the jobs, so I have no definitive answer as to the better stat, but there are multiple variables that need to be considered.

Yes but better to give direct answers about the job at hand than talk about another job, most people won't get that.



sTP to get your xhit then stack multi-hit.

Depending on your AM you might want more sTP, in the case of mythic weapon for occ attk twice/thrice

If you have mythic AM up your DA is devalued. However if you have xhit build and rag you will want to add DA into your build for that tp gain.

Does drk need sTP or DA, that is situational.

Getting Sam Roll? Switch to a DA build or a build with less tp but still enough sTP to get xhit but get more DA since sam roll up.

Getting multi-attack from AM switch to more sTP.

Everything in this game is situational.

I had a stray thought while reading. Now bear with me, it might sound a bit absurd... Both DA and STP technically have caps. DA can't go higher than 100% and STP should effectively stop after 199 TP gained per swing(basing this off of TP gain from 999 delay weapons, I could very well be wrong there.

Granted yes, with 3000 TP aftermath (off the top of my head I don't know the multistrike % rates) more DA has diminished returns BUT... at the same time if you're chucking on more STP and it's NOT shaving off another hit is it really doing you any good where another few DA could benefit more?

Just throwing that out there. It's late and I should be sleeping...

#swinghardordietrying

If your WS scales with TP, then yes, STP beyond your x-hit still contributes to damage. At that point, it's effectively just TP bonus for your next WS. DA would most likely be better, but excess TP is not something to be ignored.

Yeah I don't have an issue making situational pieces. I'll likely have to make a FC cape too as well, so its whatever. Just was asking what I should be prioritizing in my builds.

That is what the xhit builds are for, once you have enough sTP in your build switch to adding multi-attack.

In the event you have AM (multi-attack of course) up DA is devalued, that doesn't not mean it is useless, it means it is devalued.

Just look for proper balance depending on buffs

There is no cap to Store TP. It functions as a multiplier to base tp. 1stp = 0.01 multiplier to base. Thus, the higher your initial delay, the better store tp is.