Drk Tanking

So im curious about the builds of those crazy drks that take it seriously enough to tank with it where possible (like me)
im close to finishing apoc so starting to think about tanking builds that maintain a minimum hit build with tanking focus

lets play the gear sets assuming optimal gear where possible (or atleast minimum augments)

example:
my drks current pdt set


mdt set just adds shadow ring, ogier's leggings and blood cuisses with augments to help magic damage mitigation (work in progress pending se giving more inventory space)

then simple stuff like what subs do you like to use in various situations? like when i drk tank in abyssea i generally /mnk but outside im considering /rdm if solo or stick to /sam if duo (with apoc)

When you call it "tanking" you actually mean.. solo?

you never see a drk tank lowman?

With apoc (aside from blinking into pdt for mob ws or mdt for nukes) I tend to tp in full offensive gear. The only exception I can think of is legion or fighting undead.

Once you get apoc you'll see but frankly the more you cata the more your hp is full and it sometimes becomes a "i couldn't stop wsing because I didn't wanna die" in low man.

Drks will hybrid-pdt for legion. I only legion a couple times a month anymore and havent really amped up my sets for it.

For what it's worth (just to expand a little on Ashman's point), this is what I use in Legion as a Hybrid DT/TP build.



You can switch Hands/Waist to Magma/Nieren/Flume or Phorcys/Windbuffet depending on what buffs you have up. You can probably throw in a PDT earring too, I don't for no reason other than crippling invent issues. Ammo is going to vary pending on how many acc buffs you have on.

Shadow Mantle outperforms Metallon in terms of raw damage mitigated for that set (I think anyway...) but it's more about consistently not taking full damage rather than infrequently taking none so I use Metallon (obviously opinions on this will vary from person to person.)

you make it sound like it would be something special, ("crazy drks" and especially because you asked about subjobs). But every DD should have pdt/mdt sets since every decent DD is tanking whatever you fight, they'll have a TP Set and the pdt/mdt set to get in when needed. (well ok and Hybrid sets for stuff like legion) So was curious what you are looking for

What outside Abyssea is hard enough for a DRK to solo that Apoc wouldn't handle?

What you posted is a PDT set. We macro PDT sets in before a monster uses a powerful WS, or after a certain hp %. TPing in a PDT is not optimal.

Hybrid set wise, should you happen to do Legion or have a real linkshell, these two sets are suggestions for you to start with:

2nd Earring should be a dark earring/pearl from abyssea quest with 2% PDT

my pdt/mdt sets are macro in and an example i threw in to get the thread started, with rag there isnt much worth in hybrid sets (i have one thats basic for aby tanking but im plotting to tank with apoc onry when it comes down)

im just curious if anyone has built a hybrid set for apoc that makes use of dt and the fact youre going to get hit, while still holding some level of xhit, as far as content im planning to duo with a thf/dnc or whm, doing any content that can be lowmanned for any sort of challenge/fun

yes i know all jobs should have a pdt set, mine is fairly generic for any dd job, but drk, especially apoc drk has way more potential than say a sam straight seigan tanking

the suggestions from legion seem like a good start, definately something ill keep in mind, im kind of curious is those setups would be good on things like old hnm lowman

It's generally pretty easy to retain a 6 hit + capped haste in DT gear with Apoc (both with and without SAM sub). The issue is that it's just not really necessary the vast majority of the time.

Usually it's better to just switch in and out of PDT/MDT (if the mob can one shot you/quickly drop you) or to just to go all out attack as Cata will cover any HP losses regardless of PDT worn.

There are instances where it is handy but sadly the game has changed and there isn't really the content/scenarios for DRK tanking anymore outside of self-created lowman scenarios. Most mobs just don't need tanks anymore or are obscenely overpowered and will drop you regardless of DT gear.

I think the only thing I really DRK tank nowadays, and I use the term loosely, is lowman Meeble Burrows.

My "tank" set involves switching out Rag for Apoc.

I guess we really were 20 across all servers to fight things like Tiamat without a PLD to tank it.

You guys are using PDT? oshit that's crazy

DRK/NIN

DRKs haven't legitimately tanked since they nerfed the enmity on the majority of it's spells.

The closest you'll get to real tanking now is add holding as PLD.

I don't know I'm partial to tanking in this set.



Keep the healers on their toes~

Wonder if damage taken+ has a cap >_>

I want to ballista against you for epeens.

I use a similar set for Scarlet Delirium but don't change my weapon/grip, use HP up gear and Rancorous mantle over settler's.

And eva set.

Tanking bukhis with drk is fun.

im interested in the challenge, so sounds like an outright tank hybrid is a waste when macroing in sets works just fine, i look forward to testing out the drain on cata, im probably underestimating it

i think one modification i will do tho is keep mekiras body on instead of tping in armaberk with all that -eva, tho like it was stated earlyer, if that -11 eva made that big a difference its probably not going to work out anyway

ive heard drk can solo just about any 75 content with apoc now, what about king behemoth? its the challenge ive got my eye on when i get there

Only eyeballing (through years of use) but Cata drain is probably somewhere in the region of 40-50% of damage dealt.

30-70% is more accurate IMO.

It's kinda surprising that after all these years it's never been tested / nailed down. I mean we don't even know remotely how it works do we?

It just seems to be a random figure within a % range and cannot drain more hp than the mob has remaining. Plus doesn't work against undead. Oh and that it goes through shadows but not blink (which I assume is down to the HP draining aspect since Entropy works in the same way).

We don't know if it's subject to resists / day + weather procs / MDT/MDB, etc, etc. Or do we? I've never seen any testing on it.

EDIT: It does seem to have a wider range like Taint says but it seems to be more consistently in the middle of that range (for me at least). Although it's hard to really notice exact numbers it drains.

I've always suspected there was a correlation to tp. Maybe like 200 tp cata is 100 tp cata with nether void etc. 300 tp cata obviously never lands.

Taint you still around I see :)

And yayy for more Apocs on my server.

Whats up Unctgtg

It would be really hard to narrow down since most of the time it fills your HP to full.

Yeah, the easiest (well still not exactly easy) way of testing it would be to Berserker's Torque your HP down to sub 100 and Cata'ing naked against something with reasonable defense or some sort of damage cap on it.

Still a pain in the *** and time consuming. Plus you'd probably need variable mobs.

Is Cata drain nerfed in PvP?

It seems to be roughly 1/3 of the damage dealt to HP on the average in Ballista. I Catastrophe someone for 900~ I get about 300~ back.

I have had it give back near zero hp while doing full damage which leads me to believe it was "resisted."


I'm pretty sure Catastrophe goes through blink, I'll test this soon.

I would wager it is an INT based check (perhaps contingent on other things as well.)
Fealty seems to block the effect (further testing needed.)





I feel it operates the same way everywhere as when I fight mobs with large amounts of PDT/defense and do a low Catastrophe, the HP returned is proportionally low.

Normally my HP is filled to full in PvE so it's near impossible to tell what the % returned is.

The word have always been "around half your dmg", let's just keep it at that :P 30-70% variable seem reasonable though