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A lot of people seem unsure about sub jobs. DRK is a flexible class, and should be treated like so. Enable to fully utilize your abilities, you should have, if not all, as many of the following subs as you can at the ready:
Level Up Parties
WAR - War is like the "basic sub" for before level 60. Dual swing is a godsend, on and off WS. It gives defense boosts so that you live a bit longer when you deal too much damage and take hate. Also, sometimes you're expected to take hate at times in the game (I.E., when you have a THF in the party who needs to sneak+trick on the tank); sub WAR will get that done. Even before 50 when you get dual swing through sub, berserk is one of the best offensive boosts in the game. WAR sub gives the highest attack boost you can get from a sub.
THF - Starting 60, you can use it to trick your guillotines onto the tank if you're afraid of hate. This sub doesn't really start to shine until 65 or 66, when you get cross reaper and spinslash. After this, it becomes the undisputed best level-up party sub. Cross reaper and Spinslash damage are almost doubled with sneak attack, making DRK the best skillchain closer for both dark and light level 3 skillchains. DRK completely takes over THF's previous role at this point.
Activity Subs
SAM - The use for SAM sub is on some HNM that you can't hit, or can't damage due too too much evasion or defense... though the only one I can think of atm which is that difficult physically is kirin, everything else is meleeable. Use SAM sub to charge TP for the 1h sword Spirits Within WS. Unfortunately, due to the multi-hit WS nerf, SAM sub is no longer useful in level up parties.
WHM -or- RDM - At low levels, such as valkurm, many parties may suffer the problem of low MP for the party. Here, WHM sub works out very well. Eventually, however, mage sub doesn't work that well anymore. At higher levels, keep one of these available for skill-up hunts. Not many mages attend skillup hunts because, frankly, they don't have much weapons to skill. As a result, melees are gonna have to heal themselves most of the time. WHM or RDM subs are also godsends for hunting for coffers.
NIN - Just for blink. Many HNM and higher level NMs have very devastating area attacks, as well as some monsters in dynamis. Having blink is a lifesaver in these situations.
These are the tried, tested, and qualified subs. Have them ready and change it accordingly with your PT's configuration. Basically, if you already have a thf in the PT to increase hate on the pld, sub war or sam. If there isn't a thf and it seems like there would be trouble keeping hate in the party, sub thf. If you end up in a 4 melee PT, sub whm or rdm. None of these subs are "better" than each other; they each have their uses at different times.
On the other hand, here are some of the subs for DRK that do NOT work:
DRG - Only 1 passive Acc + boost, nothing else useful. Has 1 passive offense boost, but DRK has enough of those on it's own, one more doesn't help much. Doesn't do much to increase the damage (war and sam add more), and no useful active abilities either. Subbed jump helps with TP charge, but dual-swing and sam TP charge are much better. In short, it has stuff to help DRK, but WAR and SAM help so much more it's not worth it.
MNK - No passives to help DRK. Don't mention vit or counter, because DRK A) War's passives give more defense, and B) DRK shouldn't be taking hits in the first place. A bit of extra HP to help with darkness, but sub's HP doesn't help it that much, so it's really not significant. The acc up ability isn't really necessary, as a good DRK with decent equips should be landing most of his hits anyways, and accumulate isn't anywhere near as useful as berserk as far as DRK is concerned.
PLD - DRK shouldn't be taking hits, added defense is useless, sub PLD's white magic is too crippled to be useful anyways. Can't shield bash with two-handed weapon.
BLM - You already have black magic. BLM gives you an INT boost, but generally if your spells keep getting resisted, subbing BLM isn't going to help much. DRK is a fighter geared towards magic, but it is fighter nonetheless. Your attack spells are next to worthless and only waste MP, it's better to just attack. The only magic that's useful is your absorb and drain spells, and subbing BLM won't help those enough to make up for all of the things you lose by not subbing something else.
I hope this post helps. Good luck ^^/
Level Up Parties
WAR - War is like the "basic sub" for before level 60. Dual swing is a godsend, on and off WS. It gives defense boosts so that you live a bit longer when you deal too much damage and take hate. Also, sometimes you're expected to take hate at times in the game (I.E., when you have a THF in the party who needs to sneak+trick on the tank); sub WAR will get that done. Even before 50 when you get dual swing through sub, berserk is one of the best offensive boosts in the game. WAR sub gives the highest attack boost you can get from a sub.
THF - Starting 60, you can use it to trick your guillotines onto the tank if you're afraid of hate. This sub doesn't really start to shine until 65 or 66, when you get cross reaper and spinslash. After this, it becomes the undisputed best level-up party sub. Cross reaper and Spinslash damage are almost doubled with sneak attack, making DRK the best skillchain closer for both dark and light level 3 skillchains. DRK completely takes over THF's previous role at this point.
Activity Subs
SAM - The use for SAM sub is on some HNM that you can't hit, or can't damage due too too much evasion or defense... though the only one I can think of atm which is that difficult physically is kirin, everything else is meleeable. Use SAM sub to charge TP for the 1h sword Spirits Within WS. Unfortunately, due to the multi-hit WS nerf, SAM sub is no longer useful in level up parties.
WHM -or- RDM - At low levels, such as valkurm, many parties may suffer the problem of low MP for the party. Here, WHM sub works out very well. Eventually, however, mage sub doesn't work that well anymore. At higher levels, keep one of these available for skill-up hunts. Not many mages attend skillup hunts because, frankly, they don't have much weapons to skill. As a result, melees are gonna have to heal themselves most of the time. WHM or RDM subs are also godsends for hunting for coffers.
NIN - Just for blink. Many HNM and higher level NMs have very devastating area attacks, as well as some monsters in dynamis. Having blink is a lifesaver in these situations.
These are the tried, tested, and qualified subs. Have them ready and change it accordingly with your PT's configuration. Basically, if you already have a thf in the PT to increase hate on the pld, sub war or sam. If there isn't a thf and it seems like there would be trouble keeping hate in the party, sub thf. If you end up in a 4 melee PT, sub whm or rdm. None of these subs are "better" than each other; they each have their uses at different times.
On the other hand, here are some of the subs for DRK that do NOT work:
DRG - Only 1 passive Acc + boost, nothing else useful. Has 1 passive offense boost, but DRK has enough of those on it's own, one more doesn't help much. Doesn't do much to increase the damage (war and sam add more), and no useful active abilities either. Subbed jump helps with TP charge, but dual-swing and sam TP charge are much better. In short, it has stuff to help DRK, but WAR and SAM help so much more it's not worth it.
MNK - No passives to help DRK. Don't mention vit or counter, because DRK A) War's passives give more defense, and B) DRK shouldn't be taking hits in the first place. A bit of extra HP to help with darkness, but sub's HP doesn't help it that much, so it's really not significant. The acc up ability isn't really necessary, as a good DRK with decent equips should be landing most of his hits anyways, and accumulate isn't anywhere near as useful as berserk as far as DRK is concerned.
PLD - DRK shouldn't be taking hits, added defense is useless, sub PLD's white magic is too crippled to be useful anyways. Can't shield bash with two-handed weapon.
BLM - You already have black magic. BLM gives you an INT boost, but generally if your spells keep getting resisted, subbing BLM isn't going to help much. DRK is a fighter geared towards magic, but it is fighter nonetheless. Your attack spells are next to worthless and only waste MP, it's better to just attack. The only magic that's useful is your absorb and drain spells, and subbing BLM won't help those enough to make up for all of the things you lose by not subbing something else.
I hope this post helps. Good luck ^^/
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