Taru DRK

[moulson]

As a Taru Taru, should I do DRK//WAR then DRK//THF later, Or go along the lines of DRK//WHM DRK//BHM?

[Xephoid]

As a Taru, your are gonna be handicapped in the melee damage department. The normal attack damage difference would be insignfiicant compared to your shortfall in the Souleater damage.

And unfortunatly, DRK's magic power isn't something to write home about either, even if you are a Taru. There are some useful spells, especially the Dark class of spells, but due to the very high recast time (1 minute) and the low MP cost, even as a Human DRK, I never fall short on MP. So a taru's extra MP might be wasted.

Many would suggest you go DRK/BLM as a Taru. But I would suggest you go DRK/WHM instead.

DRK already has access to most of the black magic your BLM subs have. So it's somewhat of a waste IMHO. Instead go with a WHM, so you can use your considerabel MP as a backup healer.

But of course, you should keep WAR/THF/SAM up to date. As many parties would want you to sub those when they have enough mages already. DRK in their 50's have a very hard tiem finding a party, so you need to have good stuff if you dont want to LFG for hours and hours.

[moulson]

Thanks man

[Hinbin]

Speaking from experience, your damage will not be handicapped as a Taru drk. It may be a few points behind your elvans, humes and galkas, but not significant enough to be a problem. It seems most people know this as well, as I certainly haven't had trouble getting groups.

Your dexterity, however, will be the same as a humes or galkas - and that's whats important. An extra 5 damage per swing is... nice, but I consider an extra hit much more important, and as far as that's concerned your fine.

To answer your question though, I chose THF. A guarenteed critical hit a minute is a god send when using a scythe against IT mobs, and you don't want to be any sort of tank. I also didn't fancy leveling a WAR as a Taru, because HPs are far more important there. As the gentleman above suggested, however, BLM would probably not be good, as your already half a BLM, so this would be a bit of a waste.

With regards to Souleater, I use it like most other players, when you've got a reliable tank who can hold agro.

Play to your strengths, specifcally your MP. If you leveled to 30 as a BLM (as I did) you've already got great magic skills, be sure you use them for MB and for Drain/Aspir spells! A lot of DRK's I've grouped with in the 40s still haven't bothered learning how to do these, but an extra 90+ damage you can do at the end of a skill chain makes me (at my level) wonder why. I also tend to be the puller and use poison to pull with. It keeps the mob interested because its a dot - and you'll need that when you get to places like galiage.

[Mithrael]

I don't think he was referring to the sub-par normal swings...

Elvaan DRK/WAR at 75 = 1454
Taru DRK/WAR at 75 = 1107

that's a guaranteed loss of 35 dmg per swing with souleater active. that's 140 damage for guillotine with it active. 140 + 140 (for the four swings in between ws and the next guillotine) + 140 for the next guillotine = 420 damage lost once every 5 minutes.

As for DRK/WHM, your hp is 1051. You suffer an additional 5dmg per swing loss, so make that an additional 60dmg lost per 5 minutes. And of course, this doesn't even take into consideration use of the AF helmet

All other stats are easily made up for. but 350 hp is hard to fill in with equipment. even if you could fill in 350hp in equipment, that means you're sacrificing dex, str, accuracy, and attack up equipment.

That doesn't mean a taru drk is impossible, but it's a pretty large gimp to yourself. If you're going to pull it off, you'll probably need to find a nice static party.

[Hinbin]

I can see your point of view, Mithrael, but in my opinion you seem to of taken a very unlikely situation to support it.

I would be using SoulEater before a high damage ws just as often as an Elvaan would - it would be ludicrous not to. To my knowledge, I have been doing it so far without copping a death for it. So if we both have SoulEater active the damage difference becomes less significant.

If we take HP percentages as a differnce between the damage we would do, and use it in Mithreal example, you'd do about 95 damage less every 5 mins. How would you get that back, you ask? By playing to your strengths and using your MP. Difference between MP between said Elvaan and Taru = 204. That's a good three high level nukes above him to use come magic bursts. I've not had experience with Fire II/Blizzard II etc, but I'm willing to bet that you'd clock in with more damage than 95. Oh, its also around 9 drains - very handy!

As I said, play to your strengths, a player who relies on stats to get him/her through a battle doesn't make a good player - just one of the herd

[Blindside]

Farming

Taru Drk/Blm is actually really nice I see a few running here and their at high levels on garuda...

They would destroy in farming instances...


Round up a gazillion mobs... Use the higher level BLM -ga spells.. in addition to AE WS of the DRK... plus the other nice side is... your done with farming you cast warp

It is doable, and if you wanted to sub a mage class on a melee main... taru is the only race i think that could really get away with it.

[Socrates]

sub war. any drk needs a good non-mage sub after getting past a certain lv.

drk/whm maybe for extreme cases where you have a whm and bard but lack a backup healer. still drk subbing mage is highly crippled and do less than a warrior.



i partied with a taru drk/blm in my early 40's and his dmg really fell short by a lot because he lacked berserk. if tarus subbed war, then the dmg would rise significantly though they would still do the least cumative dmg of all the races.


dun worry though, people that play taru drk consider other things such as keeping the fun factor high and taking up a challenge and being original.

[Mithrael]

Well, as I said, you /can/ do it. I wasn't saying you couldn't. However, you totally misunderstood my post, or perhaps you misunderstand souleater, I'm not sure which.

Souleater takes 10% of your hp and adds it to every successful hit.

If your hp is 1454, it adds 145 dmg to every swing.

If your hp is 1107, it adds 110 dmg to every swing.


That damage is based on successful connect of the weapon to the enemy, so a 4-hit weapon skill will add..
110 + 99 + 89 + 80 = 378 bonus damage as a result of souleater. assuming then that you are healed by whm, you do the same for 4 additional strikes, then guillotine again.

378 * 3 = 1134 total damage added when a fully levelled taru uses soul eater and guillotine.

for an elvaan: 145 + 130 + 117 + 106 =
498

498 * 3 = 1498

1498 - 1134 = 364 (a 62 pt. margin of error from my previous post, i appologize for my laziness before.) That's about a 25% loss in damage for the use of that ability, which is quite a shame. Galkas have it even better.

That's the hard number form of it. I was lazy before and just multiplied out 10% of full hp. Of course you are not being healed in the middle of a WS, so that skews the damage numbers from my previous post.

Now, take into consideration that the AF helm alters the souleater ability so that the amount hp consumed and used toward damage is increased and you will fall farther behind.

To my knowledge, I have been doing it so far without copping a death for it.

I in no way suggested that it was more dangerous to use the ability for a taru than an elvaan. it's a percentage skill. it hurts both equally (approximately 35% of our total hp after 4 hits). If you ever get to a point where 30hp is the difference between life and death and you still have souleater on, your whm is going smack you before giving you the boot in the behind on your way back to jueno to seek a party. (well probably not, but you get my point.)

Oh, its also around 9 drains - very handy!

If one battle last long enough for you to drain 9 times, then you win. most battles don't last longer than 2 minutes.

That's a good three high level nukes above him to use come magic bursts.

Again, it seems unlikely to me that you'd be in a battle long enough to have 3 renkeis that you could cast lv.2 magic in to burst. assuming that you were for some reason in a battle so long that you had 3 separate renkei, all of which were necessary for the DRK to spend mp on, you would gain about 300 dmg. That seldom battle that you gain 300 free damage that way will simply not meet your potential.

To answer the question of the post however, if you sub blm or whm, you destroy your souleater damage. it's our best ability. even when you don't use it in a ws, it great reduces our damage over time output. Every lv.2 spell you cast stops you from making one scythe swing (all of the level 2 spells are slow enough to delay your attack). Every scythe swing you don't make loses tp. Every guillotine you don't do in a battle won't be replaced by casting fire2 on the mob once.

Yes. Play to your strength. Do not however diminish your strengths by subbing BLM to a job who's only task is to hit things until they're dead.

Anyway, as Socrates says, Taru DRKs are in it for the fun factor, etc. I'm only providing cold hard stats which are worth what they are worth. Their value will vary for you.

[albert lee]

i solo souleater, using it for a ws/cancel is just a waste. i dont know about the stats mithrael gave out being true, but what he is pointing out is true. i agree

btw, war1-59, 60 pick war/thief/sam ur choice.

[surlung]

Here's my theory.

Typical cookie cutter melee races can have some break in the way they play. Taru melee is clearly perceived as not good. Hence, we (i'm a taru drk as well) have to bust our ass to prove otherwise. Of course, I'm generalizing the player base - and generalization works here IMO because i'm taking average of the both cases.

Taru melees are smarter in the way they play. No.. they NEED to play smarter. This is not because the players are smarter... but tarus are forced to learn how to play smarter to stay in the ball game.

I don't wanna boast myself, but I earned good reputations as a taru dark, because I played smarter than most others. Here's few tips for my fellow taru melees, to stay on top of the game:

1) Learn the renkei chart - learn how to make effective skillchain that is strong to the monster you are fighting. This goes a long way to make a long lasting impression on other people.

2) Learn how to pull - sure, anybody can be good puller. However, it takes much more brain power to be a GREAT puller - From my short experience, puller is one of the most important factor in determining how much xp a group gets. I once made a 2k per hour xp group into 4k xp per hour, because I pulled smarter. It's not too hard - remember to keep in mind how far away from the camp you are.. mages can get few ticks of mp regen while you are still running back. Remember to keep in mind which xp chain it is - help build TP for your pt and finish the chain with a bang. Watch how much mp is consumed after each battle, and plan ahead on how we can pull what mob to maximize xp and lower the downtime.

3) Get few types of food - I carry meat mithkabob, but I sometimes carry few boild crab and give them to the tank if he has hard time taking damage. This will make a very good impression on the tank and whm that this lil taru is prepared for anything, and he is a viable member.

4) Be vigilant - do not be afraid to voke. One dead taru is better than a dead mage. Always be aware of what's coming to the group - is there aggro mob pop near? People will remember you again as a brave taru, and will befriend you.

5) Always offer advice when you can - learn the hunting grounds, carry different weapons, what subs they should take, what weapons to use for good renkei, etc.

6) Always have above-average equipments. This tells others that you take time off to farm money and have appropriate equipments.

7) Have few different subs available. Be an asset to the PT. Be a chameleon.

8) Know your class WELL. Did you know that you can aspir an enemy while not waking him up from sleep? Do you know what kind of attacks you can stop by casting Stun? Do you know how to time your weapon bash? etc.

9) Learn how to put together a good group. Make many friends of different jobs.

10) Learn to midburst. This is a great way to impress the back line, as well as draw the awe-factor of the front lines - we have mp to spare. True, this will make us swing one less. However, show others our strength to cover our weakness... and people will be impressed and think you are better than other drks. Plant a seed in their head, and make them think, wow... i wish I can do that.. I've been in many many PTs, where even blm don't know how to midburst, while I'm bursting in mid skill chain.

11) Make the following macro:
/panic motion
/wait 1
/dance

and use them sparingly but often enough to boost your cuteness +10. This skill is better asset to a taru than berserk ability. Boost your cuteness every 5 min or so.


Finally, I know you can virtually do same thing with elvaan/galka/hume/mithra drk. However, the truth is, not everyone does this. Excel on the areas where class is not the factor (like being vigilant, equipment, pulling, etc) and make that your differentiator factor.

People tell me alot that taru melee is useless. And I prove them wrong when I play with them.

And most importantly, have fun with your choice

EDIT: My grammar and spelling sucks..

EDIT2: OOPS! I forgot to answer the original question. DO NOT SUB A MAGE JOB! Our magic is already stronger than others while melee is weaker. Do not abandon melee ability... this is still Drk's bread and butter. Get war from 1-60 at least, berserk is my god. No reason to sub a mage class unless you are asked to due to lack of healer, etc in the group.

[albert lee]

lol... dance.. :spin:
besides the bursting and whatnot, everything you said goes for all races and all jobs, (except giving things out, waste of gil, offer to sell it at cost price) everyone needs to be on the top of his game or you will suck. I.E. i pted with a galka drk, guy barely did anything and had crappy equip. i would rather have a taru drk that knew what he was doing then the ideal race DRK that sucks.

[surlung]

Hehe albert, I don't think of it as waste. I think of it as a "marketting".... if you know what I mean

I'm planning for my future (50+ groups )... it's like down payment ^^

[albert lee]

if your good at what you do, you don't have to market yourself. ive ran into many crappy melee's 1-52, they're nice and all, but if i'm going to get 1.5k xp per hour i don't want to keep them in my pt. good players remember other good players, they also remember bad ones.. lol. no need to market yourself by handing out free crap when you can just save all that and get a sniper ring or two, makes you more appealing

[surlung]

Originally posted by albert lee
if your good at what you do, you don't have to market yourself. ive ran into many crappy melee's 1-52, they're nice and all, but if i'm going to get 1.5k xp per hour i don't want to keep them in my pt. good players remember other good players, they also remember bad ones.. lol. no need to market yourself by handing out free crap when you can just save all that and get a sniper ring or two, makes you more appealing

Yeah. being good makes you get noticed. And that was the whole point of my post. Don't get caught up on the idea that all I do is pass out stuff and try to look pretty

And boiled crab was left overs from my warrior days (tanking as a taru is very tough :sweat: ). Well, one boild crab made me befriend my personal whm that i can call anytime ^^ pretty good turn out imo.