Dark Knight - 30 and Beyond

[Talisien]

So I just hit Dark Knight 30 last night and wow, it feels like a whole new world has been opened up! Berserk, Sleep, Souleater ... so many new toys for my little Taru to enjoy. But I wanted to tap the minds of some of the more experienced folks here to see what I'm doing, and what I can do better.

Here's my gear btw:

Main Weapon: Merc Cpt Scythe
Main Weapon: Braveheart (@31 -> Demonic Sword)
(Both weapons near capped, tough to cap each level)
Ranged: Crossbow
Ammo: Lvl. 1 Bolts
Head: Centurion's Visor
Neck: Spike Necklace
Earrings: Beetles +1 x2
Body: Fine Jerkin (@33: Taru RSE)
Hands: Taru RSE (xhp 3str)
Rings: Str+2 x2
Back: Dhalmel Mantle
Waist: Brave Belt
Legs: Taru RSE (2 str hp vit mnd)
Feet: Taru RSE (2 str hp)

Are there any upcoming purchases i should be planning on besides weapons? I'm using the stickied guide for weapon purchases, and I was planning on Tilt Belt @40 and perhaps snipers rings one day, if BCNMs on my 47 Black Mage go well. Also any IM gear that will add str or dex @40 seems right. Any other things?

How to fight effectively:

Even as a Taru I find myself casting just to MB (Fire or blizzard do decent dmg, aero is ok, the others are useless) or Drain back HP. I'd rather not rest just to cast Drain as often as it's up, but I've been thinking of investing in Drinks just to cast Drain more. 100 hp is still huge at my level.

Use of Souleater/Berserk/Last Resort:

This is my default plan and I'd like critiques. Berserk always, that's my bread and butter. 213 attack at 30 is just amazing to me anyways. =) My Braveheart (which does crap damage) was hitting for 83 non crit, and crit for 111! Other members of my PT were like o_O.

Souleater, obviously scary. However I didn't know it takes a % of your HP, not a set amount. I'm surprised so many people view Souleater as so terrible for us Taru. 10% of my paltry HP is a small price to pay, and connecting for 3-5 swings when the mob is at 50% or below doesn't seem like a problem considering Drain should get back half. I use souleater when the mob is at 50% (sort of like a BLM nukes at 50%) so I won't steal Hate, and won't use Souleater in conjunction with Berserk, rather I save it so that my attack is high as often as possible without spiking. Last night with a Ninja I only stole hate when I had Souleater and Last Resort for my WS, and didn't take off LR to see what would happen. I was fine (we had a good WHM) but I was tanking for sure ; ; Mana sponge, not good.

Last Resort I use only for my WS. It's pretty shitty, but ah well, it's like a really agro-happy Boost effect. I used to keep it up after WS, but now stacking it with Zerk or Souleater seems like too much hate, so I'll probably just cancel it.


I wasn't parsing last night (I don't have one yet) but I was paying close attention to the numbers of my party members and of the War/Mnk, Nin/war, rng/nin and blu/nin, none were even close to my damage output once I hit 30. WS were hitting for 130 @100TP, and that's with my terrible WS, and normal hits were for 80-110 (depending on zerk or souleater). I honestly couldn't believe my dmg output, and I can't imagine what it will be like tonight wielding the Merc Cpt Scythe instead of the underlevelled Braveheart. Perhaps I'll be taking too much agro though ; ; Is investing in /thf ever worth it (before 60 I mean)? My party members seemed to think so, and I'm not sure ... if Power Attack can crit for 200, that seems rather intense.

Anyways, boring story short. Any advice/tips for the 30s and beyond? =)

Proud to be a Dark Knight!

-Talisien
totetote TaruTaru of Hades
47 BLM 30 DRK 29 WAR 27 RDM 25 WHM

[Maju]

Re: Dark Knight - 30 and Beyond

Is investing in /thf ever worth it (before 60 I mean)? My party members seemed to think so, and I'm not sure ... if Power Attack can crit for 200, that seems rather intense.

No. /WAR will always outdamage /THF. /THF is popular because later on DRKs often find themselves ending Light with Spinning Slash. That builds too much hate for most NIN tanks to handle unless the DRK tricks it on the NIN.

[Aeni]

Re: Dark Knight - 30 and Beyond

No. /WAR will always outdamage /THF. /THF is popular because later on DRKs often find themselves ending Light with Spinning Slash. That builds too much hate for most NIN tanks to handle unless the DRK tricks it on the NIN.

There's a big difference in this, however, with how Spinning Slash works (which makes it imperative to sub THF) The reasons you listed are partially correct.

Nice facts about spinning slash:

-Critical Spinning Slash scales immensely, due to the fact that it is a "one hit" weaponskill, as opposed to a WS like Guillotine.

-Spinning Slash has the accuracy of a RNG wearing -10 rng acc rings using Slug Shot on Ose at level 55.

Why isn't subbing WAR a good idea to use Spinning Slash?

(a) You will miss a lot. I'm not exaggerating here. Go use it on an IT mob if you want to test this.

(b) You won't get much damage from it. In fact, the damage without a critical is very different than a damage with a "forced critical" from Sneak Attack.

It is because of using SA with Spinning Slash that it is recommended to use TA with it. Fortunately, THF has both abilities

Here's a general rule of thumb on the modus operandi of a DRK post 60:

Scythe - works inherently well with a WAR sub.
Great Sword - just works better with a THF sub due to the weaponskills.

This is why DRK/WAR were popular in the "old" TP burn parties because Guillotine routinely pumped out enough damage by itself that the rest of the melees held out their TP for the next mob (While the DRK builds up TP on the next mob) I'm talking about those roaming sky ones where you're just feasting off of those weapons following an interesting circuit for hours on end until the BRD cries for a break.

[Nataka]

Re: Dark Knight - 30 and Beyond

Would a dark knight post 30 want to use theif until they start getting multihit weapon skills then? In theory it kind of makes sense, but in practice I'm not so sure...

If being a taru matters in the answer, then include that