Magic Bursting

[lionx]

I had a party of PLD, DRK, WAR, WHM, BRD, RDM. And well we were lacking in the artilery. So when we do SoD => Sturmwind the DRK would MB AeroII with it and to my surprise it actually does a decent ammount of damage. Its nothing comparable to a RDM or a BLM or SMN even but it was not bad. While the RDM would burst AeroII for about 200-ish on Robber Crabs, the DRK would burst 140 max depending on resists. I am assuming that the DRK had cap or near cap lvl of elemental magic.

The thing is how many of the DRKs actually lvl this up to burst? Do you DRKs think that it is worth it to burst when you do 140 compared to a RDM's 200? Dont know since i dont hear many DRKs actually do this. Just like to know your thoughts.

[Aeolus]

I always used to MB but its hard to cap elemental magic when you only lv up PT cause of mp. Extra damage is always good unless its less than an additional swing, might as well just have that instead.

[lionx]

I dont know, its just i thought it was really really cool when the DRK did that and it wasnt the crap 30 dmg that most other DRKs have, so i thought if you skilled it up(Skill up PTs etc), would it be worthwhile? I mean yea he did run out of MP a little bit faster, but nothing that Ballad or Refresh cant handle. Dunno just wanna explore new things and this looked mighty cool to me

[modnar]

My 2 gil.

In a party, I consider DRKs to be part of the "Refresh cycle". So I encourage them to use their MP to its full potential, MB or not. If they need to lvl up their Elemental Magic, I suggest that they cast a spell at the beggining of a battle while the monster is approaching (therefore not adding more delay to their swing).

And MBing is good if the damage they deal is more than thier swing. If there is not RDM to Dispel, a mob might not get hurt from physical attacks, and might get hurt from magic more... perfect oppertunity to MB.

Just make sure you don't waste MP. Absorb-xxx spells take priority over most/all other Elemental spells, and not having Absorb-AGI and Absorb-VIT on the monster most the time is a sign that the Dark Knight is not fully living up to being a Dark Knight. Those spells are exclusive to DRKs and they should be used and not spared.

[Aeolus]

By the time you get absorb spells your Dark magic usually isnt lved up enough for any of them to actually work and even with almost capped dark magic my absorb-Agi/Vit/Mnd spells hardly ever worked.

[Izual]

With capped dark magic the absorb spells will land pretty often, I'd say maybe a little less than rdm's debuffs but not much less.

As for MB'ing with the elemental spells, it gets less and less useful as you get higher. The biggest problem, even looking past resists which will happen frequently, is that the amount of mp used doesn't justify using a nuke that probably isn't much stronger than a normal swing. Drk doesn't have a huge mp pool, if you're casting 2-3 absorbs, drain, and a stun here and there per fight, that's a significant amount of a drk's mp. If you're blowing 90-some mp on a thunder II burst in addition to that, you're gonna run dry pretty soon. The only time I really MB anymore is with drain on a darkness skillchain, which is ALWAYS worth it (I've seen near 400-damage drains, not bad for 21 mp).

[Langolier]

I always MB'd my elmental magic and kept it capped. I usually could MB Aero II for 140-180. I don't know if it's really 'worth it', but it's not gimping you in any way.

[modnar]

Originally posted by Aeolus
By the time you get absorb spells your Dark magic usually isnt lved up enough for any of them to actually work and even with almost capped dark magic my absorb-Agi/Vit/Mnd spells hardly ever worked.

I have my Dark Magic capped from being a RDM/BLM. But here are a few ideas of how to keep it up:

1) Pull using Bio when you are the puller.
2) Use Bio when the mob is approaching when you are not the puller.
3) Use Drain as soon as you see a mob use a DEF/Evasion move.
4) Use Aspir to get MP back as you need it.


Having Dark Magic being at low lvls is no excuse to not use Absorb spells. If things are that bad, go and find ways to lvl it up. They are part of being a Dark Knight, and you are gimping yourself if you don't use them. (Might as well be a Warrior...)

[Rhyel]

I have dark magic capped and find that against IT mobs I'm lucky if i absorb at all, it is usually always resisted. As for elemental I have made no effort to cap it or use it at all because the rdm/blm will always out damage. In the time that it cost to cast this spell I could have hit for another attack and built up more tp.

I notice that no-one has mentioned that a drk's enfeebling magic can be particularly useful in long fights, such as poison II and sleep II for when link's occur.

My conclusion: drk's have more to worry about that doing minor dmg with mp munching spells. Save your mp for stunning that Jet stream or sickle slash (or whatever uber attack mobs use at your level) and keep mp for draining when things are looking rough, Absorbing str before a SC and so-on.

[Nevil]

I've been wondering about this for a while my self. I'm gonna try to cap my elemental magic. Then I'm gonna buy some Elemental Magic Skill up & INT + gear, and macro them in for the MB. Would to also get a moldivate earring, but that might out of my reach until I can solo that Goblin.

[Lmnop]

Do any of you macro in INT gear for spellcasting? INT should affect every single one of a drk's spells. RDMs stock up on +Int for black magic and +mnd for their white magic just to make sure it all sticks and stays... why not do the same thing?

[Langolier]

I recently bought a Zircon ring, does that count? :p

I don't think getting a whole bunch of +INT will help.

If I use Absorb-INT before I MB I get quite a lot of INT, and it doesn't improve spell damage very much.

I think our problem is a lack of Magic Attack.

[Raqua]

my drk is only lvl 10, but since i'm a Taru, i have around 100MP, and since my main is a blm, my skills will be capped for awhile, don't really plan on lvling it up anymore....but oh well lol

[Lmnop]

I was intending to digress a bit, actually. I'm not so concerned with a drk's MB damage (fine by me if there's a smart refresher, by the way) but + Int will mean higher rate of sticking those enfeebles that some people are complaining about.

[Jei]

usually for Drk I add them into refresh cycle depending on their MP spent. Some fights their MP stays above 80% I don't refresh. If their MP go below 50% then i'll add Drk to the cycle. /Brd also really helps with a Drk in PT.