Help regarding a future DRK.

[kingceltic]

Hello all, i just registered today and its a pleasure to meet you all.

Anyways, i have been playing FFXI for about a month or so, my current Char is a lvl 18 WAR/ lvl 9 MNK Galka. I plan to be a future DRK, and as i read a large amount of opinions, and facts regarding the DRK class especially WS, Weapons, Magic Skills, Magic level wise etc etc.

I feel i need an experienced point of view of either from a successful DRK or merely any players who have partied with a successful DRK. I am going to list my current character, and i would appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

lvl 18 WAR subbing lvl 9 MNK (MNK is originally lvl 13 - Plan to train it to lvl 18 to lvl up WAR to lvl 37 successfully for the DRK Job).

lvl 18 WAR/ lvl 9 MNK
My GSword lvl 42 (Hard Slash, Power Slash)
My Gaxe lvl 47 (Shield Break, Iron Tempest)
Evasion lvl 50 ---
Guarding and Parrying rising thanks to my MNK subjob.

Unforutunetely my Scythe skill is lvl 5, plan on lvling it up once i get my DRK.

I have a great deal of experience with a BLM, so i have understand the interruption rate, and how to cast and when to cast for i guess you could say training for my DRK

Also do i really have to lvl up my Elemental Magic with my DRK, i was planning on just giving my DRK Enfeebling and Dark Magic, instead of Aero and Stone etc etc.?

Now i would appreciate your opinions or any future references i should plan on doing now to be a successful DRK. I have been getting some easy gil farming and selling Silk Threads for 60K.

Thanks in advance.

[Jei]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

I don't think elemental magics are essential. But they are there, you might as well learn all the spells you can. Using them or not is another thing. Some Drks do MB at lower level, just for fun I suppose.

Learn how to set up an efficient group, and learn to love being leader. You'll need them.

[M_X]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

Congratulations on realizing you're WAR and playing as one (no sarcasm intended. This is a good sign of a well informed player). Just remember to keep G.Axe capped and work on G.Sword if/when it's okay with your party. Don't worry about Scythe until you are a DRK.

You might want to take some time to lvl up THF too. WARs great for damage over time, THF for high WS damage. Starting around 30, you can do alot more for your party by having both lvled.

Regarding your magic questions. You can try to keep your elemental and enfeebling magic capped. They can only help. Especially enfeebling for Bind and Sleep. Sadly, our elemental spells do so little damage that they aren't worth the MP to cast them.

Also, the gain rate with elemental/enfeebling is very slow. And the time you spend casting does not work well with scythe's delay. So it's not uncommon to have these skills royaly underlvled.

For your Dark magic, it will start out slow and low; You'll only have Drain and Aspir. However, once you make your way into the 30s you'll get the Absorbs and will cast 1~3 a fight. This will cause your dark skill to raise and fast.

[Standablaze]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

Keep leveling your Great Axe. Don't worry about Great Sword too much but do not go into a party as a war with a scythe! Theres nothing techinically wrong with it, but at those levels I would say the Great Axe is the most damaging weapon in the game... Sturmwind is a lot better than the pissy scythe weapon skills (untill you get vorpal scythe at 50ish).

It makes me cringe to see a WAR using a scythe and claiming its for their DRK later on; worry about that when the time comes, your scythe will cap fast.

[wolfjorg]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

THF meh, lv 74 DRK and THF is only 20. /p THF is only good for SATA. Just keep Great Sword and Scythe capped. Subs for DRK are Thf , Sam, War, and sometimes whm Nin only good for axe burn pts

Welcome to Dark Knight.

[Malacite]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

You might as well try to keep everything capped if you can. Yes, DRK's elemental spells won't do much on their own, but if your skill is capped you can add a nice bit of damage by magic bursting. (DRK has the 2nd highest Elemental Skill in the game, B+ I think)

Definately have THF and WAR levelled as well. I personally don't find that THF really shines until post 60 when you can Fuidama to do crazy spike dmg and plant the hate all on the tank. SATA Spinning Slash = Best light chain closer.

Also, you never know when that capped enfeebling skill just might save you and/or the party's life from certain death :D

[kingceltic]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

Ok guys thanks for the helpful tips, its much appreciated. Thx wolfjorg for the warm welcoming.

hmmm out of curiosity will i be using any other weapon skills in the game, or should i only capp my Gsword and Gaxe for now? As a DRK i understand i should at least have my Gsword and Scythe at its maximum potential but what about Sword, Axe, and even my Gaxe, will they be neccessary even after being a DRK. Eventually or sometime should i have a sword/axe with a shield, or just strictly stick with Gsword, and Scythe? Malacite mentioned that i should might as well get everything capped....i have no problem spending some time balancing out all my weapons together but i just want to know if its neccessary up to a point where i could benefit my party with say a sword/axe with a shield.

lol so many questions, sorry....

As a Galka DRK what specific stats should i focus on, i do know Galkas have the best HP, and Vitality i believe...is there anything specific equipment i should use to balance out my DRK abilities, i do know some INT would be nice for my Magic support. What are your thoughts?

Ok from you are telling me, i understand a DRK/WAR is useful till lvl 60+ where i should have by than at least my WAR and THF lvl 37 to balance at the end when i am finally a lvl 75 DRK (FAR FAR from today but hey it wouldnt hurt to do what i could do now instead of later). Also are there any other class tht would benefit a DRKs career, i guess you could say something to do after you have your DRK75/WAR37/THF37?Alot of people reccomended my sub be a NIN because both Duel Wield, and most parties will expect me to tank...what are your thoughts?

As for my WAR, and MNK i am up to date with both classes in equipment, and how to increase each ones downfall.I am on the path of lvling my MNK to lvl 18, switch jobs and take the WAR class all the way to 37, while have MNK at its maximum benefit. I guess from there i will lvl up my THF.

So now i have to focus on lvling up my THF and WAR to 37. THF is really a class i dont really like merely because i find it boring but if it will benefit in my DRKs career im going for it, do you have any helpful tips on how to lvl a THF the proper way? I dont know, or even experienced anything with a THF class before. For example, as i mentioned a little above, after my WAR achieves lvl 37 should i do THF/WAR till THF achieves lvl 37?

lol again i apologize for all the questions, i just want to understand what im getting into and not try to fix my mistakes after i dug myself in a hole. I want to know everything about my job, its downsides and upsides.

Thx in advance.

[Standablaze]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

You should focus on Great Sword and Scythe, but having sword, axe and great axe is useful. Great Axe is a devestating weapon.

As for being a Galka DRK, it doesnt matter, focus on +Accurany and +DEX religiously. untill you are in the 70s, THEN you can switch to str gear. DRKs have a very hard time hitting and Galkas arent exactly gifted in dex. You probably wont use so much magic you run out fast.. if you do, bring melon drinks, 1k each untill you get the chance to be refreshed by CORs BRDs and RDMs. Race doesn't matter, I do as much damage as an Elvaan DRK and I take as much damage as a Galka DRK, the only thing that differs hugely is the MP and HP pool.. Tarus will have more MP obviously, but since I'm a hume, I balance out nicely. You won't need a lot of MP for DRK untill you hit the 40s, where you get refreshed constantly and the ABSORB spells.

Most parties wont expect you to tank. Dark Knight is not a tanking class and shouldn't even be considered for tanking. You will probably be asked to first provoke when you hit 30 and there is a thief in your party, but this is only for a few seconds (youll not take much damage) and its basically so the THF can SATA onto the tank for a lot of hate.

Dont worry so much, you will learn as you progress.

[Malacite]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

Levelling up your other weapons such as both axe types may very well come in handy in certain situations, but keep in mind the utter pain in the ass it is to lv multiple 2-handed weapons. And it only gets worse the higher up you get >.> (took me a nearly an hour if not more during an xp party after I dinged 64 WAR to get my GAX capped again)

I'd say focus on stats in this particular order;

Acc > Attack > STR > INT/MND/MP (INT and MND should only be taken into account as possible equipment swaps for weaponskills. INT for Greatsword, MND for Scythe, and only if you can't find +STR for that particular slot)

While expensive, try to get a hold of as much accuracy up gear as you can, and eat attack food (rice dumplings will last you from 10 - 50 easily). You want to be able to land those slow, powerful swings, but you also want to make sure the mob cons low def.

As for how much casting you'll be doing, especially with Galka's extremely low HP pool (this is what makes capping your magic skills as DRK so damn hard if you haven't levelled BLM or RDM) you'll want to save your MP for absorbs, stun, drain aspir and a magic burst here and there.

[Aeni]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

THF meh, lv 74 DRK and THF is only 20. /p THF is only good for SATA. Just keep Great Sword and Scythe capped. Subs for DRK are Thf , Sam, War, and sometimes whm Nin only good for axe burn pts

Welcome to Dark Knight.

THF is {too weak} Unfortunately, many end game LS requires you to have it so that you can dump hate on a tank. Which is kind of pointless, because a lot of stuff in Sky are totally resistant to melee and BLMs can just rip hate off that tank even with SATA just by staring at mobs like Kirin.

[kingceltic]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

hmmm quick question, i have taken some time into lvling up my Elemental and Enfeebling Magic, so basically soloing my BLM class as we speak...now when i become a DRK will all my magic skill lvls be there. For example, my BLM is lvl 6 with a Elemental and Enfeebling lvl 10 a piece, now if i suddenly became a DRK now, as a DRK class will his magic be the same as my BLM since i did lvl it up?

[Mhurron]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

hmmm quick question, i have taken some time into lvling up my Elemental and Enfeebling Magic, so basically soloing my BLM class as we speak...now when i become a DRK will all my magic skill lvls be there. For example, my BLM is lvl 6 with a Elemental and Enfeebling lvl 10 a piece, now if i suddenly became a DRK now, as a DRK class will his magic be the same as my BLM since i did lvl it up?

Sort of.

Example: Dark Magic RDM and BLM
RDM Dark Skill cap at 75 = 200
BLM Dark Skill cap at 60 = 203

My BLM is at lvl 60 with capped Dark Skill, my RDM will have it capped all the way to 75, but at level 70 it is capped at 190. So the skill will only go as high as the cap for that level, but at the next level it again will be capped the moment I level up.

That your skill stays with you when you change jobs is a benefit to leveling several jobs.

[Icemage]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

hmmm quick question, i have taken some time into lvling up my Elemental and Enfeebling Magic, so basically soloing my BLM class as we speak...now when i become a DRK will all my magic skill lvls be there. For example, my BLM is lvl 6 with a Elemental and Enfeebling lvl 10 a piece, now if i suddenly became a DRK now, as a DRK class will his magic be the same as my BLM since i did lvl it up?

Your skills get capped at either the highest level you know it on any job, or the maximum cap for your current job combination, whichever is lower.

For instance, I have something like 210 Evasion when playing Red Mage, but my White Mage job is limited to 200 Evasion at level 75, so I only have 200 Evasion when I'm playing White Mage.

---

By the by, I wouldn't really worry about your Elemental Skill at all as a DRK. It's totally not necessary in any situation, since your low skill level in Elemental Magic pretty much guarantees that your nuking spells will be resisted the vast majority of the time, and unlike pure mage jobs, you can't swap in an Elemental Staff even at higher levels to improve your spell power and accuracy (since you'd lose all your TP).

Enfeebling Magic might be worthwhile to keep capped if you can, if for no other reason than being able to toss out an emergency Sleep or Sleep II. Dark Magic is really going to be the magic skill that will see the most use eventually, but it'll go up on its own just fine just by regular casting of Stun.


Icemage

[kingceltic]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

appreciate the help guys.

Not to be cheap, especially at my lvl but i want to buy Drain for my Black Mage, if i buy Drain will my DRK have that spell as well as the others, or do i have to buy drain again, as well as my other spells?

[Mhurron]

Re: Help regarding a future DRK.

appreciate the help guys.

Not to be cheap, especially at my lvl but i want to buy Drain for my Black Mage, if i buy Drain will my DRK have that spell as well as the others, or do i have to buy drain again, as well as my other spells?

Your spells stay with you too. You learned it, not your job.

Drain is questable, you might want to do that instead of buy it as it can be expensive.