when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

[Takiri]

Ok heres the story.

was parting with a 63 dark knight and i noticed he didnt use any absorbs exept absorb tp. i never got that high of a level on drk but i thought they would use dex or str absorb so you can hit harder or hit more.

then he had to go.

now a 62 drk comes into party and we ask what absorbs he has. and he answers the noobest thing i ever heard! "i have no absorbs they arent worth it yet"

why would he say that and i dont get why he said "yet"

T_T

edit: maybe they were just newbies? i dont know

[Neomage]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

OMG I R TEH 1337 DRK!!11!111one11!11eleventy-one1! MAGIK IS 4 N00BZ!

They where being idiots. All of the absorbs are incredibly useful, and they have a full MP pool sitting there. Even if they don't rest and/or get refresh, they should at least run it dry(with useful spells) before stoping casting. And saying they don't want to delay their swings between hits is nonsence, at they can do it at the start unless they get out a crossbow when the monster becomes visible(which I highly doubt)

[Mhurron]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

Absorb-TP benefits them and lets them put up big numbers, The rest benefit them only a little or not at all (Absorb-MND for instance) and therefore is not worth their time since it will not let them put up big numbers.

A lot, seemingly an increasing amount, of players have very little clue and no wish to help others, even if it means they get something in the long run. If it doesn't benefit them directly by making them look awesomely powerful, they won't do it.

[Standablaze]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

A lot of DRKS that level, myself included, dont have Absorb-DEX. AbTP is obviously useful, but I personally like using AbsAGI and AbsSTR the most.

Some DRKs dont use them, those DRKs are idiots, and shit at their job, to be blunt about it. The absorb spells and stun are one of the things that seperate us from bogstandard DD with no use but to deal numbers.

[Queen Uma]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

I've encountered this too when levelling my rdm (pre abs-tp, haven't levelled my rdm since the update). I honestly couldn't believe that players had got to such levels without having any absorb spells.

I, on the other hand, made sure I had all the abs spells ready for when I hit the appropriate level. I always cast abs-agi at the start of the fight to lower the mobs evasion, abs-str before I use a weapon skill and abs-dex if needs be. I will also use abs-vit right at the end of a fight if I am the trick partner, so that I won't take too much damage when the thf gets back with the next mob.

[Nazo]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

I don't get it either, my dark is only 42 but I always use at least 1 or 2 absorb spells per fight depending on the mob type. A mob with high def gets an absorb vit, a mob with high damage gets absorb str or absorb dex if we have a Nin tank etc. I don't understand people's unwillingness to do what is best for the party, sometimes it feels like we're winning in spite of each other rather than complementing each others' strengths.

I was in a merit party the other day with a drk. We didn't have anyone with ranged attack so we asked him to pull with poison or something. He was complaining that it was an 'inefficient' use of his mp. After about the 3rd time he whinged about it I pointed out that he wasn't using his mp for anything else (not even stun) and his mp was back at full by the end of the fight so what did it matter? At this point he suddenly started using spells in battle (probably just to spite me :p)

[Taebus]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

Might have to step in an disagree here-

Absorb spells are great .....to a point.

Example; Last night, party in the new ToA Mt. Something; leader-drk (me), decked JP drg, decked brd, soso whm, blm, and nin tank.

We we're tearing through eruku crawlers (VI-IT) like you wouldn't believe, skillchain Drg Wheeling thrust >> My SATA spinslash either onto Drg or Nin (depending on how deep into the fight). Now this was drg was a tp machine with three equip sets, and pre-absorb tp I wouldn't have had a chance at keeping up. With it I was able to lead tp about 3/4 of the time, depending on any resists or poor/unlucky timings.

The point was this, what tore through these mobs was an awesome skillchain and mb. What tore through these mobs quickly was the fact the drg and I could pull 1-2 skillchains every single fight. Now Abs-agi is a great spell, but the time it takes to cast it can be equal to 13%tp and 100+ dmg, which often simply isn't worth it.

Now, when I was 25%+ tp above the drg I found abs-str was great for the sc, particularly in lowering Light SC damage resists, but with abs-tp every single fight it just wasn't mp efficient to open with abs-agi/dex/vit on the inc mob with no rdm (mages ballad II is good, but I only had it on for the 10 seconds between fights).

So though I love absorb spells, and have used every single one, there does come a point when they're not worth it. Of course, the drk you described just sounds like a noob, but hey, just one more fish in the sea.

[M_X]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

The drks you incountered are idiot.

However, the only reason why I can see them not casting a absorb is if your party was killing the mobs so fast, they would have spent half the fight casting; I doubt this is the case though since it is incredibly rare.

That or you all were exping off the undead. Their resistance to dark magic doesn't make trying to stick a absorb worth it (depending on lvl range, gear, ect).

[Corthaemus]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

I've never seen a drk land an absorb spell on an xp mob. It's always resisted. That may have something to do with the lack of use. If a mob resisted my spells that often, I wouldn't cast them either. Of course, it may also be that every drk I've been in pt with did not have their magic skill capped.

[Omni]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

Heavy resist rates.
Absorb DEX isnt cheap.
If /thf, you need all the TP you can get and casting spells just takes away from your TP gain.
Need to save mp for stun, since RDMs have drk very low on their refresh list, you need to watch your mp. DRKs tend not to step back to get ballad either because that takes up 1 buff spot which can be used for minuet or madigral.

If you are sitting at 100+ TP and waiting on others, sure, try letting one off. However, other melee are usually waiting on drk for TP so wasting time on absorb spells that can have no effect is just not worth it sometimes.

[Queen Uma]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

The drks you incountered are idiot.

However, the only reason why I can see them not casting a absorb is if your party was killing the mobs so fast, they would have spent half the fight casting; I doubt this is the case though since it is incredibly rare.

That or you all were exping off the undead. Their resistance to dark magic doesn't make trying to stick a absorb worth it (depending on lvl range, gear, ect).

I agree, if the party is speed killing such as Taebus's was, then there is no need to use abs spells. Also if you are fighting bats/undead where the drk is likely to get alot of resists, then it clearly isn't mp/time efficicent to cast absorbs but in a normal xp party situation drks should be using absorbs other than just abs-tp.

Whilst we're on the subject, I encountered a level 52 drk who didn't even have stun. I questioned him as to why he didn't seem have any spells at all and the response I received would of made most dark knights ashamed.

lolz drks r melee dmg not blm

[tdh]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

I always cast Absorb-AGI, as it helps everybody. It can take a mob with High Evasion and drop them down to Low Evasion. I usually cast it on the pull, so as soon as it gets in range I start casting, and I can get it off before 1st Provoke with out any problem.

As far as high resist rates.... That's news to me. I land my spells 90%+ of the time, so I see it as always being useful. (And we don't EXP on Bats or Undead.) Being in a static, we get to pick our EXP spots, so we try to make sure we're killing things that have MP for me and the Mages to Aspir back, so that helps. Absorb-INT for Great Sword WS since I have plenty of STR I stack on for WS, and it helps with the MB as well. I sometimes use Absorb-STR for Vorpal Scythe but honestly it just delays the Skillchain, and I haven't seen any significant return from the lost of MP and the casting time.

I find that a handful of the spells are really useful. Absorb-AGI is a must, Absorb-STR for the DRK, maybe for the PLD, Absorb-VIT helps the melee, Absorb-INT helps Great Sword WS damage & MBs. But I have always stuck to AGI, STR, and INT.

I've always seen Absorb-DEX as a luxury. Have it just to have it, but there are other more useful spells. It would cut down on Crit hits Vs. the tank but I don't think I saw any DRK cast this in the 60's at all.

[Macht]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

You know I could see one use for Absorb-MND. I mean if a DRK can use a decent X-Bow and Holy Bolt(Which I'm pretty positive they can) then they could get a decent amount of +MND equipment along with absorb-MND and get additional effect damage output that probably could put a RNG relying on MND and Holy Bolts to shame.

[Lmnop]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

I've heard of Drk/nin or Drk/rng in Garlaige Citadel with Archer's knives, lots of R.acc gear, and holy bolts. This is nice since it's bats so the bolt part gets a damage bonus. And Abs-Mnd being level 31 is prime for just that. Granted, that's bats with hefty dark resistance... When fighting the beetles in there, though, you could always Abs-Mnd them so you have a Mnd Boost to your dmg against beetles and a piercing boost against bats. This would be even better with Xbow merits. >.>

[Lionheart]

Re: when i party with dark knights why dont they use any absorbs ; ;

Here's the deal with absorbs, I'm not picky about this or anything, but I won't absorb unless I get a regular refresh, which isn't always an option. (understandable). But I always drain when I can, makes the fights easier, and slightly makes me stronger (no reason not to). Another reason I think many don't drain is because their skill levels are low and drains will never hit. I use to be like this, I never used and drains so my skill level was really low. So I started usign Bio ( I think ) and stuff like that to raise it, now I drain all the time.