Good way to lvl dark

[Hamlet]

My dark skill is pretty low for my lvl. I just haven't used many dark spells for a long time. Do you guys have any good ideas on how to lvl up drk besides using spells in an xp party? (aspir and drain do very little right now, so it's a waste to do them and I prefer dia to bio). I was thinking of fighting robber crabs but I don't know if they will give me lvls in dark.

Thanks

[Rodin]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

I believe a RDM's Dark Magic skill will cap out at 200. I know from skilling up (a whole lot) that Robber crabs in Kuftal will get you to a 200 skill. So yes, you should be able to skill on them, to cap actually. If not, just find a Steelshell party, and offer to heal, and spam Bio, Drain, and Aspir.

[Dryhus]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

What's wrong with using Dark Magic in XP? Casting Aspir every minute on the dot is going to cost you 8MP a pop at the most. When you get returns for it, even better. You don't have to cast it on Aspir-able mobs to get skillups. Drain works the same, but it's a little more expensive, so I'd stick to Aspir.

Additionally, even though every intelligent party will prefer Dia to Bio, you can cast Dia II for the debuff and DoT effect and Bio (I) for the skillup chance.

You're not going to get faster skillups soloing robber crabs unless you're using Chainspell, which is really time delimited.

[Icemage]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

Go solo some easy preys and just cast Bio on them over and over (as MP allows). Personally, I never almost never use BLM sub, and I never use Bio, so the only Dark Magic skill I have comes from levelling BLM to 56. It's pretty much a non-issue XP-party wise.

You'll have plenty of opportunity to increase your Dark Magic skill if you do a lot of soloing or ever level DRK (for RDM/DRK access to Stun if you ever do anything that needs that combination at end-game).


Icemage

[Rodin]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

What's wrong with using Dark Magic in XP? Casting Aspir every minute on the dot is going to cost you 8MP a pop at the most. When you get returns for it, even better. You don't have to cast it on Aspir-able mobs to get skillups. Drain works the same, but it's a little more expensive, so I'd stick to Aspir.

Additionally, even though every intelligent party will prefer Dia to Bio, you can cast Dia II for the debuff and DoT effect and Bio (I) for the skillup chance.

You're not going to get faster skillups soloing robber crabs unless you're using Chainspell, which is really time delimited.

ANY bio will take priority over ANY Dia. If you have Bio III, and Dia I is cast on you, the dia will over-write it. Unless I'm mistaken, and they've made a patch where the stronger spell takes the priority.

[Fynlar]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

If a mob is level 60 (around the level of the weakest Robber Crabs), it will skill you up to whatever your skill cap would be at 60.

Best way to do it is to hop into a Steelshell skillup party and spam like crazy. These mobs range 73-76 and the ones that are 75+ are capable of capping your skill all the way to 200 (once you are 75 that is).

If you need to do it solo, good idea might be to go deep into Kuftal Tunnel (where the Phantom Worm spawn is, you'll probably see RMTs around here) and spam Bio on the Kuftal Diggers, while keeping them silenced as best you can. These mobs are around 65-68ish I think. Drain/Aspir as necessary as well. Beware of Sound Vacuum, this can silence you. Also beware of spells like Stone 4 and Stonega 3 that they stand a good chance of firing off when Silence wears off, if you're not quick with the re-silencing.

Double Post Edited:

ANY bio will take priority over ANY Dia. If you have Bio III, and Dia I is cast on you, the dia will over-write it. Unless I'm mistaken, and they've made a patch where the stronger spell takes the priority.

Incorrect.

Bio 2 overwrites Dia 2, Bio, Dia
Dia 2 overwrites Bio, Dia
Bio overwrites Dia
Dia overwrites nothing

This has how it has always been, nothing has been "patched".

[Taskmage]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

I kept mine relatively up to date by using Drain to recover the hp difference between my highest level cure and my max hp after converting, and Aspir whenever I had the chance on beetles and crabs.

For someone that's already high level and has their dark skill noticably behind, I can only suggest you solo the highest level thing you can reasonably fight and use those spells whenever their timers come up, as others have said.

[Rodin]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

If a mob is level 60 (around the level of the weakest Robber Crabs), it will skill you up to whatever your skill cap would be at 60.

Best way to do it is to hop into a Steelshell skillup party and spam like crazy. These mobs range 73-76 and the ones that are 75+ are capable of capping your skill all the way to 200 (once you are 75 that is).

If you need to do it solo, good idea might be to go deep into Kuftal Tunnel (where the Phantom Worm spawn is, you'll probably see RMTs around here) and spam Bio on the Kuftal Diggers, while keeping them silenced as best you can. These mobs are around 65-68ish I think. Drain/Aspir as necessary as well. Beware of Sound Vacuum, this can silence you. Also beware of spells like Stone 4 and Stonega 3 that they stand a good chance of firing off when Silence wears off, if you're not quick with the re-silencing.

Double Post Edited:


Incorrect.

Bio 2 overwrites Dia 2, Bio, Dia
Dia 2 overwrites Bio, Dia
Bio overwrites Dia
Dia overwrites nothing

This has how it has always been, nothing has been "patched".

Guess I should go train some low level beastmen then, and see what happens. I've always remembered seeing my icon for Bio getting overwritten by Dia before, and my icon for Dia being overwritten by Bio.

Usually everytime I go and help a friend with a BCNM on my WHM, I go and train a boatload of mobs (from where people aren't XPing) out of sheer boredom of walking (and the fun of casting a Banishga II on them.)

[Taskmage]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

Don't forget to Haste yourself to shorten the long recast timers on those spells.

[LoneGamer]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

I capped my Dark riding the Aspir clock during XP, and Drain as necessary. You can get some nice returns, even with our low Dark skill.

[Dryhus]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

ANY bio will take priority over ANY Dia. If you have Bio III, and Dia I is cast on you, the dia will over-write it. Unless I'm mistaken, and they've made a patch where the stronger spell takes the priority.

You are mistaken.

This is 100% false, and not because of some patch. Bio II > Dia II > Bio > Dia since NA release.

EDIT: Oh, didn't see that this correction had already been made.

[Aeni]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

Usually it's party dependant (With regards to casting Bio over Dia) If a PLD is having trouble with mitigating damage, I throw out Bio II. Curbing the monster's offense takes priority to reducing the monster's defense any day, unless your tank is a blinking type.

I don't like it when players are reduced to nothing more than a strict adherence to a list of spells to cast every fight. Every fight from monster to monster can differ very greatly, so that you should be flexible in the spells you cast.

With that, the best way I find to keep up with your dark skills is to use it when you can. The interim skill up PTs will be unavoidable, but you get skills faster if you try to stay within the skill range (For example, 130 skill range on Cocatrice in LoO is better than doing Steelshells in TBT)

[Hamlet]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

I just checked and my dark is 94. Very low. I think if I can get it up to a reasonable level, I can make up the rest in xp parties (casting aspir or drain now is just totally wasting mp and time).

So, should I go do robber crabs now and will I be able to go from 94 to wherever the skill caps at? Or do I need to start on lower lvl mobs?

Thanks for all the replies btw.

[Dryhus]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

Usually it's party dependant (With regards to casting Bio over Dia) If a PLD is having trouble with mitigating damage, I throw out Bio II. Curbing the monster's offense takes priority to reducing the monster's defense any day, unless your tank is a blinking type.

I disagree, and not because I like forcing my opinions on people. If you have one tank and 3 melees, consider the following.

If Bio II is a 12.5% reduction in ATK, you are effectively reducing damage taken by the tank by 12.5%, or a similar factor. This is akin to bolstering the tank's DEF by 12.5%, or a similar factor.
If Dia II is a 12.5% reduction in DEF, you are effectively increasing damage done to the mob by 12.5%. However, this is akin to bolstering EACH melee's ATK by 12.5%, or some similar factor.

If Dia II buffed ONE melee's ATK, I would consider it to be comparable to Bio II, which buffs ONE tank's DEF. However, because it buffs ALL melees ATK, it makes the battle end MUCH more quickly. This, in all likelihood, saves the tank from more damage than if Bio II were applied.

[Aeni]

Re: Good way to lvl dark

I disagree, and not because I like forcing my opinions on people. If you have one tank and 3 melees, consider the following.

If Bio II is a 12.5% reduction in ATK, you are effectively reducing damage taken by the tank by 12.5%, or a similar factor. This is akin to bolstering the tank's DEF by 12.5%, or a similar factor.
If Dia II is a 12.5% reduction in DEF, you are effectively increasing damage done to the mob by 12.5%. However, this is akin to bolstering EACH melee's ATK by 12.5%, or some similar factor.

If Dia II buffed ONE melee's ATK, I would consider it to be comparable to Bio II, which buffs ONE tank's DEF. However, because it buffs ALL melees ATK, it makes the battle end MUCH more quickly. This, in all likelihood, saves the tank from more damage than if Bio II were applied.

Well, I could argue with you on your point, since you're only talking about one situation. You've got to look at all the factors. If the mob has insane amount of defense but the offensive power is not proportional, then Dia II would be better. However, if the monster's attack is really powerful and the defense is already weak to begin with (i.e., Raptors) Dia II will make little difference, almost negligible compared with what Bio II delivers.

Double Post Edited:

I just checked and my dark is 94. Very low. I think if I can get it up to a reasonable level, I can make up the rest in xp parties (casting aspir or drain now is just totally wasting mp and time).

So, should I go do robber crabs now and will I be able to go from 94 to wherever the skill caps at? Or do I need to start on lower lvl mobs?

Thanks for all the replies btw.

At 94 you can work those beetles out in W. Altepa Desert. It's a lot less painful, wouldn't you agree?



I'd wait till you cap out (Around 130 or so) before moving on to Blazer Beetles and then to Robber Crabs.