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

Those are pretty close to optimal, but everyone's gear selection is greatly different.

Steel/blade ear combo is almost a 20 dps point different on the sheets. Moonshade/brutal combo is even further behind that.

Wouldn't use Pak +1.

Are those apoc sets also for fodder mobs? I have no idea how to use the spreadsheets xD Is there a guide somewhere? (I messed around with it and got numbers but not sure if I was doing it right)

Yes, you can use the top one as a fodder set. Only update I would make to that is windbuffet +1. Swap to Xaddi(A)/Fallen +1/Igno. +1 if you do not have Haub.

Just out curiosity, how much dps are you getting with the DRK Apoc top set on the spreadsheet? - target Tojil.DiaII, MinuetV/Madx2/Marchx1/HasteII and no cor rolls.

Had LS/Hasso up as well, since you should be using those. Cizin assumes +2DA.

Coming in at 410.969 with that top set. If you swap out to Xaddi(A) body you come to 410.017

I also did a set with swapping out earrings to blade/steel and all Xaddi pieces(body/legs/feet PathA, Hands PathC) and that comes in just under at 409.319.

So Fallen's Sollerets.

These "enhance Desperate blows", so are they worth TPing in when Last Resort is up?

They "enhance Desperate blows" by granting you Subtle Blow at a rate of +3 per merit, so yeah for your max subtle blow TP set

Is subtle blow sets really a thing?
I mean you have Absorb-TP if you are worried about tp feed, You can get up to like 1500tp from a single cast.

I don't really think the Fallen boots are that hot since they're weak on accuracy. If you need to rock a hybrid set and counter some of the defense loss from last resort, then just use cizin?

Yeah, max out your subtle blow as a priority and spam absorb-TP so that mobs don't use TP moves, this is especially apparent on Morta 2 inside Yorcia delve so you can avoid charm

vex is your friend. lol at subtle blow set

Well we all know DRK is the master of Subtle Blow, so I guess I have to use them!

I thought they would enhance something more real, like further enhancing the DB effect or something silly like that...

DRK confirmed as a "tank" in FFXIV.
Looks like I'll be playing XI for another 5-10.

Sure does look pretty though. Shame its Greatsword and not Scythe though

Greatsword 4 lif3!

I have questions about Drain II. The FFXIcyclopedia page says the max amount drained is skill +85.

Does this mean that if you have 69 dark magic skill in gear, and 16 from the merits, you would cap drain II? Would you then fill the rest of the slots in with drain/aspir gear?

Is drain/aspir gear more potent than dark magic skill? I currently have a dark magic, absorb, and a drain set and am looking to make them the best I can. Thanks for any info.

Edit: I think I originally misunderstood what it meant. The result of drain II is the skill + 20-85, so it doesn't cap I assume.

Sooo happy its great sword.
dreams do come true

Town knight 4 life!

After we got the extra 80 macro sets, I began playing around with gearsets for my DRK, and I ended up redoing them all. I will post all of my DRK sets below.

Please bare in mind I do not have: Trux Earring, Cizin Head/Body +1, Mes'yohi Haubergeon, Ginsen, Scuffler's Cosciales, Fallen Legs/Feet+1, some +1 accessories, and an augmented Niht Mantle. I only have one Ifrit Ring atm, Rajas can be switched in the WS sets for Ifrit.

I welcome feedback on these sets. My ilvl sets are not for extreme accuracy situations, they are most suited for Adoulin areas and the high tier battlefields, but not for the hardest content available. If anything is blatantly wrong please let me know. I would appreciate your feedback and maybe others will learn from it as well.

Augments

Otomi Helm - STR+8 Haste+2
Ejekamal Boots - STR+8 Haste+2
Xaddi - Body (A) Hands (C) Legs (A) Feet (A)
Cizin Mufflers +1 - Dbl Atk +1 (Could be +2 and used for fodder)
Cizin Breeches +1 - Dbl Atk +1 (+2 would make these more amazing)
Cizin Greaves +1 - Acc+7 (Bad augment for now)

Situational Pieces

Fallen Burgeonet +1 - Dark Seal
Fallen's Cuirass +2 - Blood Weapon
Fallen Finger Gauntlets +1 - Diabolic Eye
Ignominy Burgeonet +1 - Souleater
Bale Flanchard +2 - Nether Void
Bale Cuirass +2 - Dread Spikes
Bale Gauntlets +2 - Absorb-TP

ItemSet 330137

This is more of a Dynamis set. Whenever trusts are unavailable on older content.

ItemSet 330138

I use this set whenever I use trusts on older content. It's not too bad on weak Adoulin content. (Ceizak, Rala, Reives)

ItemSet 330139

I only use this in ilvl areas if I do not have full buffs. Also could be used on older content for more survivability.

ItemSet 330140

I use this in buffed ilvl content situations. Accuracy can be added with other gear (eg. Letalis, Ej Necklace, Tzacab Grip, Hasty Pinion +1/Ginsen etc), but I feel I have the right balance here for the content I play.

ItemSet 330141

It's tough to decide which is more consistent, Resolution or Torcleaver. I will provide two sets for Resolution as not everyone has access to Torc. Standard set for when accuracy isn't an issue. (I use this for Morimar Delve)

ItemSet 330142

Resolution set for content requiring more accuracy. I tend to use this for "Difficult" battlefields and Incursion.

ItemSet 330143

Not used as much these days. It's nice to start a fight with, only if you have 300 TP though.

ItemSet 330144

No data to back this up, but from eye balling alone, Torcleaver is stronger and much more consistent than Resolution. Also you can self skillchain Light with Sekkanoki up. I can imagine Torcleaver becoming less powerful than Reso if buffs are down, or the mob has high evasion ... so it's good to have both.
**Scuffler's would be best for legs. I also believe Fallen is best for feet**

ItemSet 330145

Only used for Endark and Dread Spikes. (507 Dark Magic Skill)
Dark Earring over Loq. Earring if you have one.

ItemSet 330146

Never underestimate the power of a good absorb set. I like to use Absorb-VIT for physically resistant mobs, and Absorb-AGI for evasive mobs. If I am weakened, I tend to spam absorbs with this set to weaken the NM for the other DD.
**Onyx/Black Sollerets would be a welcome addition, if you can get hold of a pair**

ItemSet 330147

Set for Drain, Drain II and Aspir spells. I have done 1k+ Drain IIs in Delve before today. Striga Crown can also be used in the head slot.

ItemSet 330148

I don't like to have separate pdt/mdt sets, so I make a hybrid one like this. Cizin body +1 is probably better than Ignominy for this. I have used this set to hold NM during a wipe phase, with the help from a support job.

ItemSet 330149

This set has +9 regen during the day, +8 at night. Refresh +4 as well. Scuta Cape and Ogier's Gauntlets would go well here if you have them.

I used to have Twilight Body in the above set for Auto RR, but I decided to make a separate set after getting Ares' +1. It is basically the -dt set with Twilight Head and Body, just for those inevitable zombie moments.

That took a while to complete! Once again ... if you see anything which is seriously wrong, please let me know.

can someone do this but for apoc xD

Would be the exact opposite due to Reso's dependency on Acc an Atk vs Torc. Ultimately Reso will have higher averages on virtually all content that you are appropriately buffed for. Buffs do get stripped and there are times when your native attack buffs might be offline or the target has enacted some sort of physical defense / evasion buff, in those cases Torc will shine as it lacks the -15% attack penalty of Reso and also has a large acc bonus (in the neighborhood of +200) on the first hit.

Was Dark skill+ ever shown to have any effect on Dread spikes?

I would think that the priority gear for dread spikes would be recast- then HP+. To increase the active up time, and increase the max amount of HP that can be drained. Or if you didn't feel it was worth recasting during fights, due to DPS loss, you could go full HP+ for pre-fight casts.

This is what it says on FFXIcylopedia: While the Dread Spikes is in effect, the caster drains up to 100% of the damage inflicted upon them by a melee attack from an enemy monster, depending on their Dark Magic skill and the level of the enemy.

It also says: Dread Spikes effect lasts one minute, or until the caster has drained up to half of their maximum HP.

On bgwiki it says: Drains a maximum of 50% of your max HP without enhancing equipment. (I guess "enhancing equipment" means Bale Cuirass +2") In the description for Dread Spikes, it is labelled as a black magic type, and dark magic "skill".

It doesn't say anything about dark magic not effecting Dread Spikes. Is there any extensive research somewhere to state that dark magic doesn't effect it??

If it does effect it, maybe it doesn't effect Dread Spikes as much as HP gear would? I don't know. Would be nice to have some clarification.

Edit: Is it safe to say that for higher mobs you would want to cast in as much dark magic skill as you can get (so when they hit you, you are more likely to drain 100% each hit), and stack the rest with HP. On fodder dark magic skill wouldn't matter, you could just stack HP because the monster's level is well below yours?

There doesn't appear to be any extensive research for either stance. That I can find anyway. Which is why I asked if there was some supporting data behind using skill+ that I was unaware of.

The FFXIcylopedia claim of dark magic skill and mob level appears to be equally unsupported, with no references to any testing.

And it shouldn't have to be specifically stated that something has no effect. All the protect and shell pages don't say enhancing magic doesn't do anything for them. But we know they don't. It should be stated when they do have an effect, then the nature of the change and the math behind it noted. You'll see this standard reflected in the various skill enhanced spell pages on either wiki. Endark and other enspells, phalanx, barspells, and so on.

If I'm understanding Dread spikes mechanics correctly it drains back the amount of damage taken, Unless the mob has MDT or dark elemental resistance(and I mean % reduction, not Meva by this.) And then wears off when the dmg cap is reached.

What then is skill+ supposed to be doing?

The most likely possibility, if any, would be some effect on the magic acc of the spikes. If this were the case, then a mob being high level, and your skill being low could result in resists. Which would make it look a lot like mob level was a direct factor, when it was actually the mobs high M.EVA coming into play.

Now, if this were the case, the next question would be; When is the M.acc of the spell determined? Spikes spells have some unusual mechanics. The base dmg of blaze/ice/shock spikes is determined by INT at the time of cast. However, MAB is applied when a hit is actually taken, making swapping in MAB gear pointless. I'm not sure when the Macc check is for spikes spell, if anyone does know, feel free to chime in.

We know that the dmg caps for Dread spikes, and Reprisal, are determined at the time of cast. But when does the Macc check occur? Depending on this, there may or may not be any point in swapping in skill+ for Dread spikes even if it does effect spikes Macc.

EDIT:I type so slow, I didn't see your edit till after I posted.

For the second edit question(vs fodder) I'd say that's safe to say. I strongly doubt that there any kind of skill based tiering on the amount drained. And with Macc a non-issue on fodder, there be no need to consider whether skill adds Macc.

For the first question I don't believe we can assume that.

There are two things we need to know. And I'm kinda repeating myself a bit, but.

1: Does dark skill contribute to spikes Macc? I don't think it's unreasonable to assume it does. But assuming is not knowing.

2:WHEN is the M.acc for dread spikes determined? If it's on hit, you'd have to stay in your dark skill to get the effect.(enspell II were like that... stupidest thing ever) And you don't wanna do that.

ItemSet 330159
This is my absorb set, its been very successful for me, its very heavy on int and macc while shunning the usual non-ILvl dark skill pieces.
I always start with Abs-Int if I decide to spam several absorbs afterwards.
The tp return from Abs-Tp with this set lets me self skillchain consistently with Cross Reaper->Abs-TP->Entropy.

Also while on the subject of sets
This is my Drk/blm set, it's pretty awesome to firaga a wave of skirmish plants for ~2600 each.
ItemSet 330158
Obi is best in slot for matching day/weather. Stone can do 1k with.

I like your sets but for your macc set, wouldn't the fallen flanchard +1 pull ahead for having the dark magic +14? Also for the nuking set wouldn't the fallen cuirass be better for overall Mattack?

Yeah fallen flanchard also works for legs, I also have onyx cuisses that I also swap in, so there is flexibility depending on your gear availability and target mob.

For the nuke set I havent 119'd a fallen cuirass cause i'm a bad person and use Pak+1/Xaddi for everything non-nuking and have the wayfarer set in my wardrobe all the time for other jobs.
But yeah Fallenbody would be better in slot probably for nukage.

Haruspex coat is also a good substituation for Wayfarer.

I think what needs to be determined is how much dark magic is needed on targets to get the 100% drain on the spikes. It would require someone casting dread spikes with a much lower dark magic skill on something reasonably strong. I am stacking dark magic skill all the time, so I have never noticed my spikes doing anything less than 100%, unless like you say, it's a dark based mob and loves to resist drains.

Once it can be determined, then we will know how much skill is needed. I only really use dread spikes for ilvl content, it doesn't matter on fodder really. I would love to make a dread spikes set, but I don't want to find myself losing hp because i decided to stack HP like no tomorrow for it. Maybe we need a balance of dark magic and HP?

Just an example here: If you was able to take DRK into delve with a dark magic skill of 100, would your dread spikes still do 100% drain spikes? I doubt that. There has to be a fine line.

Also thanks to Sapphire for the set. I can see the set being exceptional on ilvl content when your absorbs may resist more. It's tough though, because dark magic helps with the accuracy. I notice a difference on ilvl content if I cast in TP gear over my absorb set that's for sure.

Your set is much more suited for when you are soloing and taking hits, and wearing old gear like in my set could be detrimental. I won't lie, I rarely solo on DRK as I would rather use my THF to solo, so my absorb set is more for party situations and are used in conjunction with Dark Seal/Nether Void to ensure the best drain. (Absorb-VIT on Kurma for example)

What I don't understand is, why use Onyx hands over Pavor? Pavor is the only piece that gives potency+ aside from Liberator and Chuparossa.

I can't really think of anything that resists dread spikes with my set that has me at 450ish skill.

For ~127 incursion and tons of surge WoE spamming i've never seen resisted dread spikes.
I think you'd have to test against 129+ incursion to find something that might resist, at that target difficulty you have a healer looking out for you and the spikes wont be lasting long if you start getting smacked around anyways.

That is a good point. If the mob is much higher level than you, dread spikes probably isn't going to last long enough anyway. I can imagine my 500+ skill doing quite well, and I could use my above set for 129+, but for lower stuff a HP set could be used. Still it would be nice to know where the fine line is.

Edit: After looking around everywhere, I am still trying to find out why you stack Intelligence for absorbs. Dark Magic is stated as being the biggest influence on whether they resist or not.