Dark Knight F.A.Q./Guide

[fuz]

Ran some quick calculations...

Difference between Arondight (Cancer) and Zweihander is that Zwei is 1.25% stronger in a string of normal attacks. But Arondight would be stronger in WSs and the added water dmg effect might nullify the 1.25% damage advantage the Zweihander has. Acalon, another Rare/EX is also similar to the base Zweihander, but less than 1% weaker and has a slight str boost to possibly put it over Zweihander in damage. Given the moderate AH price for the Zewi, and the convience of buying--I sort of wonder why you would want the Rare/EX stuff except for fun.

Zweihander+1 on the other hand is 5.6% stronger than Arondight in a string of normal attacks, which I don't think Arondight can make up for in WSs and the added water damage.

Lockheart is pretty bad, 2.7% LESS powerful on regular attacks than a regular Zweihander, 8.3% less powerful than the Zwei +1, and does less damage on WSs. I doubt the dispel effect is good enough for the rdm or brd to stop using dispel, so with a dispel-er in the PT the sword is pretty useless. Maybe if youre in an all melee PT it might come in handy, but I think it's best just to get it upgraded to Mythirl Heart/+1 asap when you hit lvl 66 and can equip it.

And just to make things more complicated... higher attack usually deals with higher def better. Then again the attack on all these is so close, my calcs probabaly aren't off by much.

:confused: I think I confused myself more.

*EDIT*

Anyway forgot about Mithril. It has the exact same dmg/sec as a base Zwei, but the extra attack should boost dmg a fair bit higher on WS, and the dispel effect I guess--is nice if not always need. Mithril+1 again, is virtually the same as a Zwei+1, but as with the base swords, Mithril should do more dmg on WSs to put it over Zewi.

More comparisons in DPS versus a base Zwei (Stats ripped from FFXI MysteryTour). Remember that higher base attack=more powerful WS that can offset minor DPS differences:

Balmunk (93/480) +16.25% Rare
Nagan+1 (85/466) +9.4%
Skofnung (78/444) +5.4% Rare/EX
Nagan (84/480) +5%
Mithril Heart+1 (81/466) +4.3%
Zweihander +1 (77/443) +4.3%
Rsv.Cptn (75/444) +1.4% Rare
----------------------------------------------
Mithril Heart (80/480) +0
Zweihander (76/456) +0
SwordOfTrials (74/444) +0 Rare/EX
----------------------------------------------
Ascalon (76/458) -0.4% (but STR+3) Rare/EX
Arondight (79/480) -1.25% Rare/EX
Lockheart (72/444) -2.7%

Ok... that took way to long to type, so i'm going back in game. :p

[Awntawn]

Lockheart can't really be considered gimp tho, the only reaon why anyone would use it is because they aren't levelled enough to use mithril... basically, it really isn't even an option, so I should take it off altogether heh. Anyhow, when it comes to equivalent DPS, the one with more D is always better. It's engineered so that TP is gained at around the same rate, but more WS damage.

The dispel effect isn't that good for mages to stop casting dispel, but some things like weapons or beastmen or anything that casts magic usually has more than just 1 layer of buffing, so it'll removing anything that the mages happen to miss.

Since spinslash is a strong one hit WS, a lot of your damage comes from the D of your weapon (this throws that San D'Orian conquest sword down the garbage). The 3 strongest in that department would be the ones I listed. In terms of both DPS and D, arondite is inferior. Zweihander is gimp as well, but the +1 makes the DPS a desirable factor.

Also, your balmung stats are wrong, it's also 80D 480 delay, except is has acc+5, attack+15 and -5% HP. Skofnung doesn't exsist in the game as far as I'm concerned, unless it's the relic sword. Relic sword's stats are 80/444 or something like that, real good to have.

[fuz]

I just sort of assumed on balmunk that the +attack and the weapon's base attack are still the same in the end, so I just added them togeather not knowing if that was really the case. 80/480 = 16.6667 is basically the same dps as a normal Zwei, except better on WS damage with the higher attack as obviously WS have no factor of delay to slow the WS down.

(FFXI Mystery Tour and list The Bilingual Website for FFXI Balmunk attack bonus at +13, I haven't checked ingame writing this.)

I didn't list accuracy either, and just used a best case scenario of 100% hit rate for all swords. I'm sure it would make a small but noticable difference on enemies that you haven't hit an acc cap on. It would up the dps factor by a fair amount. Maybe not a huge difference from a sword one step down, but should be a pretty big gap for a sword at more than two notches below.

In any case, it's obvious Balmunk owns.

[MAK]

fine ill keep my gimp cancer sword that has 1 D less then mithril heart...i dont think you would notice a difference in 1D, i mean its not like 1D will make you do 100 more dmg..

[fuz]

Really I don't see any reason why Arondight is significantly worse than Mithril heart in damage unless that dispell effect is really good.

Given no need for dispel, I think Zwei +1 would do more damage than either, or at least equivalent.

[Aldo]

If your thinking in terms of delay per second or whatever then your swords are all ranked very low. according to database site
å??称 : D / éš”
ナーガン+1 18.24
デュナミスブレード 18.02
ギガントソード 17.76 　
スコフニュング 17.57
ナーガン 17.50 71
ツ�イ�ンダー+1 17.38
フランベルジュ+1 17.38
ミスリル�ート+1 17.38
ラãƒ_・ダオ+1 16.95 59 　
アダマンクレイモア 16.89 　
ライオン�ート 16.89
å‚_兵騎士団長大剣 16.89
ツ�イ�ンダー 16.67 　
トライアルソード 16.67
ãƒ?ルãƒ_ンク 16.67
フランベルジュ16.67
ミスリル�ート 16.67
アスカãƒ_ン 16.59
ã‚¢ãƒ_ンダイト 16.46

[Awntawn]

*ナーガン+1 Nagan+1 <- 20 gazillion gil
*デュナミスブレード Dynamis Blade <- relic, ultra rare and millions to activate for the final stage
*ギガントソード Guilded Blade <- relic, ultra rare and millions to activate for the first stage
*スコフニュング ??? <- tulia drop from the olla grande pot, practically no one has it. I, personally, have never seen one on anyone, can't even confirm that it exists on my server.
ナーガン Nagan <- 3 mil
ツ�イ�ンダー+1 Zweihander+1 <- 150k
*フランベルジュ+1 Flamberge+1 <- PLD only
*ミスリル�ート+1 Mithril Heart+1 <- non-existant in game
*ラミ・ダオ+1 Ram Dao+1 <- PLD only
*アダマンクレイモア Adaman Claymore<- non-existant in game
*ライオン�ート Lion Heart <- non-existant in game
傟兵騎士団長大剣 San d'Oria Conquest (don't know/care name) <- WS damage sucks penis
>>ツ�イ�ンダー Zweihander <- 10k? +WS damage sucks penis
*>>トライアルソード Trial Sword <- trial.. you don't equip this for keeps, even if you did WS damage sucks
>>�ルミンク Balmunk <- 3 mil
>>フランベルジュ Flamberge <- PLD only
>>ミスリル�ート Mithril Heart<- 1 mil
アミンダイト Arondite <- sucks

The >> ones all have the same DPS
* indicates neigh unattainable, for the given reason.

So if you narrow it down to the actually attainable swords, the list is:

ナーガン Nagan <- 3 mil
ツ�イ�ンダー+1 Zwei+1 <- 150k
傟兵騎士団長大剣 San Conquest <- WS damage sucks penis
>>ツ�イ�ンダー Zwei <- 10k? WS damage sucks penis
>>�ルミンク Balmunk <- 3 mil
>>ミスリル�ート Mithril Heart <- 1 mil
アミンダイト Arondite <- sucks

By DPS, really it's only down to my placement of the San Conquest sword that's controversial. When it's down to WS damage (which is what 2h sword is all about, finishing WS. The other fighter in your party is worried about the consistent damage, not you), the san conquest is seriously lacking. I guess this one can be put in the "decent" category with Zwei+1 though... Arondite is, as you can see, the worst overall.

Maybe we should have a separate post for the 2h swords debate... Maybe if a mod can shift all the posts to another thread ^^

Anyhow, in my eyes there are only 3 worthy swords... Mithril Heart - the compromise, and Nagan and Balmunk (If and when I get enough gil for one of these, I'm gonna have to make a decision :p )

BTW Arcane you spelled so much shit wrong orz

[MAK]

just admit it! There is no difference WHAT-SO-EVER between Arondight-Mithril heart >< just because a sword is worth 1mil(wich it is 600k now) does not mean it is good. I mean 1D will now allow your WS to do 100 more DMG. MAYBE and just MAYBE 5-8 more dmg a WS, 0-1 more DMG a hit.

Mithril Heart is

A: a total waste of gil
B: ugly as hell
C: Arondight is just as strong and looks 100x cooler and costs 300g (from Quus)

[Aldo]

>< i know my encoding seems to have been messed up for some reason, i didn't type those names myself heh, just pasted them after organizing the database list by dps, oh i edited the post to include the swords dps.
edit2: nagan+1 isn't a bagillion gil its about 5.5-6mil on our server XD

[Awntawn]

No one even considers arondite as a candidate for good sword. it's like AF... free and gimpy :p When a person is seen wearing arondite, no one says "wow". Lower D than the other swords without a higher DPS to make up for it. Sucks :p admit it, you're too poor to afford a better sword so you're trying to justify your gimpiness. That's like that blue 1h sword from that NM in quicksands... rare/ex blue crappy stuff that's free. Gimp :p

[MAK]

1D just 1D..fine when i hit 75 we go to somewhere and see who does more dmg..mono-e-mono -_-

[l)@RK-l)EVIL]

Originally posted by MAK

B: ugly as hell

i agree :p

[Whatguy]

well, i now know that it's ok to be a Galkan DRK, and i've found the job i'm going to lvl to 75. thanks Awn!

[Langolier]

Great guide. A little demoralizing, seeing as how at some point I'm going to have to raise up either thief or sam. I -hate- thief. ...and samurai would be out of character for ....my character(roleplayer). Still though, I have high hopes for the future...

[supermanspower]

Can you please do something this great for samurai and ninja