(Don't) Fear The Reaper: A Dark Knight Guide

hmm damn I wish I hadnt tossed out that great 14 mbd oseem aug on my valo feet now.... I personally am still skeptical, but again if I MB my current set gets me 9999 so not a huge deal. And I will be honest, last time I actually was able to mb a drain3.... was in apex haha. Most events there is just to much WS spam and others wont wait the 6 sec for me to get 9999hp.

I feel like it's worth it. It lets you become incredibly sturdy especially combined with Dread Spikes. On Omen bosses you're already gonna be taking greatly reduced damage with Arcane Circle + Founder's, even lets you fight through Dancing Fullers with a Bubble up lol.

On a side note: Dacnomania Souleater with 9999 HP is absolutely hilarious and scary watching all that HP fall so fast.

looks like that dark magic skill affecting duration is listed on main page of absorbs for bgwiki either

On the BGwiki Absorb page it states:

"It is worth noting that the potency of these spells is not enhanced by Dark Magic Skill. Their accuracy is enhanced by it, and Resisted Absorb spells will be given half duration or have no effect (two-state spells). As of the March 2015 Version Update, the effects of Absorb spells no longer decay over their duration."

On FFXIcylopedia the pages are outdated as it says Absorbs decay over time. On the Dark Magic page it encourages gearing for dark magic skill as we didn't get many MACC gears at 75 cap.

Edit: Read the last page .. wow, so I guess that's another Wiki page with false info. What we need is a side-by-side reference for how much estimated duration each piece with major Dark Magic skill gives us. It makes Black gear less desirable as you can gear for duration and accuracy using Nether Void legs for example while keeping ilvl stats.

I think we need more testing .. and updates to these wiki pages as it's very misleading. Can anyone play around with Absorb Duration/Dark Magic skill gear and give us a set when they found the max possible duration possible with what they have?

I was finding that af+2 head/chup/black hands+feet+legs/kosher/Evans. for duration is strongest obviously didn't test abyssal/dark earrings yet and I'll need to pick up casso sash but I'd swap out earrings/legs(eschite)>>feet (pure macc af+2/3); fallens +1 hands are I think our highest dark skill at 14? I would use black in that slot above all first from what I was seeing and since it's got the lowest dark magic skill/macc available to it(?) least with what I have currently (leyline for macc in that slot)

Edit:carmine body as well for skill/macc?

If you're going to use black gadlings, you may as well use vicious muffler's. Less risk and same duration increase. Pavor also give some skill with a small boost to the stats absorbed. I don't personally use any non-ilvl piece, though.

From what I understand absorb duration gear effects the result far more than skill.

You get +20 second duration per 100 skill, which isn't a lot, but there's a few ways we can gear for Absorbs in different circumstances.

Extreme: Stack MACC/skill for peace of mind they land on highly resistant NM.

Casual: All possible duration gear (including Black), and the rest fill up with skill for fun, long absorbs on old content.

Practical: A mix of ilvl absorb duration gear (no black) and accessories like Chupa mantle & Kishar. Stack MACC to the max to ensure no resist. Skill might (depends what you lose) be acceptable in large amounts, or if it goes with MACC like on Carmine body.

Special: All the above sets using Relic+1 Head with 5/5 Dark Seal to get the 50% duration boost.

I fixed this on the relevant pages.

Yeah there's a few things to be fixed:

-Absorb gear (like Black & Chupa) increases duration by a % and not by a set number of seconds.

-Relic +1 head increases the duration of the HP boost of Drain 3 while it doesn't effect Drain 2's at all.

-Dark Magic skill increases the duration of Absorbs slightly (1 second per 5 skill) while also giving magic accuracy. It does not increase potency. This means Absorbs at 500 skill last for 3 minutes (without other enhance gear) instead of the stated 1 minute 30 seconds.

-Liberator 119 AG certainly does stack with other Absorb gears. Perhaps standard 75-99 Liberator does not? I have not tested them, but Lib AG works without a doubt.

-Absorb gear duration effects are cumulative, so for example .. three pieces with 10% Absorb Effect Duration will give more than 30% as it adds them individually after each calculation. It also considers the added seconds from Dark Magic skill. From testing, I assume (but cannot confirm) the equation to calculate Absorb duration adds 20% pieces first (as adding 10%ers up first means we end up with less). I cannot confirm if 20% pieces stack together (need more cards to get AF+3 to find out) and are cumulative, but I can't see why it would be any different than the other pieces. In the case of Dark Seal 5/5 with Relic +1 head, again I have to assume it adds the 50% duration before calculating the rest.

-Dark Seal requires Relic +1 head (with augment) be equipped as the spell lands to get the extra duration for Absorb and Drain 3s HP Boost effect. Tried bringing in Pixie +1 for extra potency after casting but always end up losing duration.

Have I missed anything? And thanks for editing Funkworkz.

Please .. if anything I've said above can be disproved or expanded upon (especially the 20% absorb gear), do so as we don't need false information; we need detailed information. I failed Maths in college .. so if a proper mathematician can figure out how absorb spells are calculated it would be super cool to know.

Also, I need to know for sure if you can use the Relic +1 head for Drain 3 and get the duration .. while bringing in Pixie +1 for the potency. I'm not sure if it's possible.. other than through gearswap perhaps, but I remain skeptical.

If it can be done without gearswap, I'd love to know how as I use manual macros and I'm certain other players don't use gearswap. Can we get some proof of this? Can it be done at all? And if it can .. can it be done manually? (please don't tell me I need to be using gearswap .. I know, I've had this argument a few times already)

Got these from my daily augments this morning:

Me and Ganno did testing a few pages back, its very clear that you can get 4:30 drain3, and yes the head must be on during casting or you will not. Ganno has posted his lua which has a toggle for Duration or potency also, on the advanced forum, check it out.

You have to be wearing it for the effect. This is why I've been advocating for the Magic Burst meta, so you could get the power Drain IIIs for the 4:30 duration.

So I did some testing on abs and duration. Let's just say we need someone wiser to me to get anything concrete haha!

So @2100 jp you have a base dark skill of 469 I will write down a few tested items/sets.

status ....................skill stats time
naked.................... 469 +22 2:54
Erra....................... 479 +23 2:55
Kishar.................... 469 +22 3:10
Chupa.................... 469 +24 3:33
af+3...................... 490 +22 3:37
erra+chupa+kish.... 479 +25 3:53
chup+af3............... 490 +24 4:14
kish+err+chup+af3 500 +25 4:36
duration+skillgear... 562 +25 4:56

taking out the duration gear to see effect of dark skill
status ............. skill stats time
naked............. 469 +22 2:54
dark earring.... 472 +22 2:54
Casso+D.ear... 477 +22 2:54
casso+ear+leg 497 +22 2:59
---------------- 501 +22 3:00
---------------- 522 +22 3:04
---------------- 546 +22 3:10
pavor.............. 556 +24 3:13
---------------- 560 +22 3:13

so 91 skill gives +19 sec, its close to 5skill/sec but not spot on.

times are taken off timestamp, so give it an error of 1 sec. Regardless I think its overly clear that stacking dark skill past your "normal" skill gear is near pointless. Below is my set which gets me 563 skill +27 stats and 4:57 time, basically to hit that 5 min mark I want it would not really be worthwhile, not including black gear.

ItemSet 349381

You can hit the 5 minute mark with black legs and/or feet, and can get several seconds more with Evanescence Ring, Casso Sash, and Abyssal Earring. My low MACC Absorb set puts me at 5:25 without Dark Seal, 7:20 with.

Random question, Azagarth; would you happen to know any good endgame linkshells that might be willing to take a very experienced DRK and RDM?

ya I was trying to avoid the black gear, I dont do to much low lv content on drk.

I find them quite useful, as the other slots give plenty of MACC to land absorbs on Reisenjima NQ mobs before a pop, Ru'aun NQ mobs before a pop, and Omen NQ mobs before you go up a level.

Im trying to figure out what im missing that's causing such a difference for me.
This is they set I have right now for low macc absorbs. Both with and without DS/NV, i'm getting 5:18. I understand not being at 5:25 since my AF head is only +2 right now, but seems like im not seeing any increase with DS/NV up to approach anywhere close to 7:20.

ItemSet 350854

You have to swap to Fallen's Burgeonet +1 (or any variation with the augment) with 5/5 Dark Seal merits.

You're also missing Abyssal Earring for a little bit more.

Cut my HP into half please
I am using souleater and last resort

Yesterday , i got the opportunity to test my Absorb set on ilvl 140
( Escha Ruan Ark Angels ) .
We had Idris Languor buff, and thats it.
All Absorb landed, none resisted.
This is the set i use.
ItemSet 347489
Macc+28 INT+9 aug on Ody feet
INT+12 on carmine body

Curious to see Pavor Gauntlets being used for absorbs? It only enhances Absorb potency by a small amount and does not enhance duration further. You will get +3 (perhaps more with Nether Void) to each stat using it, but you lose a ton of magic accuracy or the chance to use Black Hands. Unless it gives something extra I don't know?

If you don't need the magic accuracy (such as when you're casting on fodder before fighting an NM, or you have Dark Seal up), then +10% potency is actually pretty nice, and IMO more significant than the duration from black hands. In my NV/DS set, adding Pavor Gauntlets enhances the absorb's potency by ~7.1% more than black hands, while black hands only gives ~4.8% duration over Pavor Gauntlets.

Guess it depends how many pieces of Black you use compared to what you fight? I'd rather keep a high magic accuracy piece in that slot so I don't feel bad for bringing in one or two black pieces. Also, Pavor is only good if you use Nether Void with your Absorb, otherwise it's adding +3 stats max using Liberator. On fodder it's fine, but against anything i130+ I would advise against it unless you have a bunch of buffers behind you to increase your magic accuracy.

Yeah, im still on the fence about changing my DM earring out, but im considering swapping to Abyssal. I have the 5/5 DS, so ill try again with Fallen's Burgonet +1.

Tried with the right headpiece, and ended up with 7:14.

Thanks

I don't really use absorbs during a fight (unless with NV/DS), so unless I'm trying to steal a buff with Absorb-Attr or I REALLY need accuracy, I usually go without rather than losing melee time for a weak and short-lived absorb, especially since land rate on tough stuff is often iffy even with maximum MACC gear.

Abyssal 4 lyfe ..

only DM earring I ever used.

Random Question time .. I don't have Erra Pendent yet, is the Absorb Effect +5% potency, duration .. or both?

It's potency.

Oh .. even Pavor has 10% potency. I guess it's the magic accuracy and dark magic skill which makes it a good piece. I'll get it eventually when I don't get outlotted. Pavor and Erra get better if they can be combined with each other, Chupa Mantle and Liberator .. so I'm starting to see why it gets use.

ya im on the fence for pavor too, though the +2 stat is nice and the dark skill does give a time bonus of 2 sec~ the dark skill also does add a small amount of macc.