How much spellcasting should I do?

[Armando]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

yes, dia > bio in most cases.

if your fighting low def mobs, like mandies, bio is fine.

Bah, Mandies have too much HP. I still prefer Dia on them D:

[wolfjorg]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

I usually go thru ABS VIT DEX STR and INt other than that it is the usual stun, or drain. It is up to you how much MP you want to blow through, but don't fuss when the RDM does not refresh you, DRKs are usually last on the totem pole of refresh.

[Hubby]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

I have a static party with WHM BRD WAR WAR MNK DRK. I cast quite a bit and carry a few yagudo drinks with me just in case there's no time for a Ballad in between pulls. I usually don't rest, but if I finished off a mob with my WS, I may rest until the next mob is pulled to get 1 or 2 ticks of mp. If you can help it, fight mobs that have MP so that you can Aspir them and never have to worry about resting. There could be a whole other topic on Dia VS. Bio, but yeah, consult the other enfeeblers before you cas Bio. I tend to Bio mobs that are squishy and have a high damage output.

[DrkMateo]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

Your not going to need to do a lot of spellcasting, unless you've skilled them up on rdm or blm you shouldn't bother with enfeeb or elemental because honestly, your just not gonna find the time as you progress, you need to make sure your swings count.

Side note: All the elemental spells lower than blizzard in mp cost are fast enough for you MB if you close the sc, cast those if you feel like it. I've skilled up my elemental and on an unresisted MB I could do 200-300 with a Tier II spell if someone else is closing the sc.

Absorbs aren't really that big a deal, cast Abs-str later on when you do drk/thf for SATA spinning slash and it will help with the mods on the ws a bit. Dark magic skill progresses pretty much by itself, if you pull with bio and cast drain after you take a hit and throw out an aspir it will keep your dark magic up to date.

At 37 you get the ever useful Stun, this is drk's most important and best spell, it's what get's us in to endgame stuff most of the time, now this spell has a multitude of uses and a big recast time so you need to pick and choose when to do it. If you see a pld or nin having trouble casting, throw out a stun, if you see the mob suddenly break away from the tank stun immediately, I've saved the lives of many mages with a well placed Stun.

Against certain NM's they are just going to want you to Stun whenever it's up and at the endgame level your gonna be in a Stun cycle with some blm's and other drk's.

Stun > Drain > Aspir > Absorbs > all your other spells.

[Karinya]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

Well, I have a slightly different perspective on this because all my magic skills were pre-capped from my RDM and BLM.

I've only taken DRK to 37 so far, but I found that up to that point, I could always do more damage with 100 MP than with 100 TP. A lot more, in fact. Partly through Drain, but also through magic bursts. And that was without any attempt to macro in INT gear.

Of course, if you can rest after you've just used TP, or rely on Aspir and Refresh, that's even better, but don't be afraid to rest any time you need to. TP aren't really a big deal until high levels.

DRK doesn't get any native magic attack bonus, but Moldavite Earring is all jobs. I think there are other DRK usable MAB items too.

[Sabaron]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

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Step 3: Raise Cooking to level 20
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Icemage

The cap for pineapple juice is 30, so you'll get a good deal of breaks if you only go to 20--25 recommended. I did Pineapple with DRK and yes, it does rock especially with the near-necessity of skillchain participation for DRK and your desire to continue to cast high-mana spells (Drain/Bio).

[Queen Uma]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

Well, I have a slightly different perspective on this because all my magic skills were pre-capped from my RDM and BLM.

I am in the same boat as you, having everything capped on my rdm so my drk will never have to skill up any magic.

I'm guessing from the OP's post he's probably still in the dunes/Qufim range if he's hitting for 20-30 a swing and stone does around 18 dmg so Abs spells are out of the equation. There is nothing wrong with alot of spell casting, especially if you're a Taru. You can get away with being drk/blm and macroing in some int gear for spell casts. Magic bursts on skillchains will be your best bet to do some good damage with your elemental spells or if you want to stick an enfeeble for a really long time e.g Poison on Reverberation. If you are MBing you really want to macro in a few pieces of int gear, couple of ermite's rings and a black silk neckerchief should do the trick, just remember to swap them back out after the cast.

If you are 2nd in the SC and still want to MB you should stick a cast line into your ws macro. As far as I can remember Slice and Dark Harvest use a wait 3 between ws and spell; Shadow of Death, Nightmare scythe, spinning slash and vorpal scythe use a wait 4; Guillotine, Cross Reaper and Spiral Hell I'm not too sure about.

One extra point to note for later on; if you want to make the absolute most of your MB make sure you use absorb-int and absorb-mnd before the SC as this will increase both your magic damage and lower the mob's magic defence.

[DrkMateo]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

One extra point to note for later on; if you want to make the absolute most of your MB make sure you use absorb-int and absorb-mnd before the SC as this will increase both your magic damage and lower the mob's magic defence.

No do NOT do that, the spellcasting time takes way too long, drk MB isn't going to end any fights, the time your casting is time that your NOT swinging and doing damage.

Drk is not a magic-DD, we're a melee DD with some magic to use in certain situations.

Only elemental nukes below Blizzard in mp cost are fast enough to MB off your own SC if you close.

[Aeni]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

No do NOT do that, the spellcasting time takes way too long, drk MB isn't going to end any fights, the time your casting is time that your NOT swinging and doing damage.

Drk is not a magic-DD, we're a melee DD with some magic to use in certain situations.

Only elemental nukes below Blizzard in mp cost are fast enough to MB off your own SC if you close.

I agree. There's a lot of misconception on how to play your DRK to fullest potential and this has been muddied by first time meleers/long time magers.

Each Abs take a wallop of a full scythe swing and then some. By the time you're done casting the second Abs spell, the first Abs spell is already worn off (Less than 50% effective) By the time the skillchain forms up and you MB on it, I'm sure the first Abs is pretty close, if not comletely worn off and the second Abs close to 30%. That's a pretty damn lame way of burning 66 mp + mp for MB spell. I don't think a Galka DRK has that much MP period.

Basically, MB works at lower levels, but Tier II spells stop working at 60+ and most of the time, they just get totally resisted without the proper +macc and staff, which I will strangle a DRK if they do that (Swapping in staves for casting)

Abs-TP does not allow you to cast other spells more. It just makes it so that the SAM only has to wait a few swingsfor you to get 100% TP instead of the usual "TP will be ready for the next fight... orz"

[Queen Uma]

Re: How much spellcasting should I do?

No do NOT do that, the spellcasting time takes way too long, drk MB isn't going to end any fights, the time your casting is time that your NOT swinging and doing damage.

Drk is not a magic-DD, we're a melee DD with some magic to use in certain situations.

Only elemental nukes below Blizzard in mp cost are fast enough to MB off your own SC if you close.

I didn't say you had to do it, just that you could. Abs-mnd works wonders before a skillchain to boost the blm/rdm/smn MBs anyway.