Crepuscular Scythe + Heath. Cuirass +3

Info on the BG Wiki page indicates that Crep. Scythe paired with Heath. Cuirass + 1 can exceed 102% of the 9,999 HP cap. Is it safe to assume this number would be higher with Heath. Cuirass +3? Or is 102% of 9,999 a cap?

I'm not sure if I can answer this question but...how often are you finding yourself in a situation where you have 9,999 HP and are also taking off your weapon to put crep scythe on to cast dread spikes?

When in this situation, how often is it important whether your dread spikes lasts for 10,200 HP or 10,600 HP?

I think it's an interesting theoretical discussion, just wondering what the practical implications of this are.

I think based on the formula on the wiki it would be ~11,250 HP (9,999 * .5 * 2.05 + 999)

I prep my fights as a DRK. The below especially holds true during MLing or fighting a NM that will take a bit to kill (2 min+)

Pre-fight: Endark II, Last Resort

Start: 1000 TP, Nether Void, Dark Seal, Weapon Bash, Insurgency, Drain III (Father Time swap in).

Switch to Foenaria: 1000 TP, Origin.

Swithc to Crep., Dread Spikes

Switch back to Foenaria or Calad

If I recall, Dread Spikes has a shorter time than Drain, so I can feasibly use it twice before I have to repeat. It may be overkill, but it can be very useful when being attacked by a strong mob or multiple mobs.

My LUA includes an auto swap-in for Father Time (written by Sel back in the day). I'm not good at writing LUA, but I'd like to do the same for Crepuscular so I don't have to manually do it.

Put a Scythe in idle set
Add/Edit dread spikes midcast to include Crep Scythe


Start the encounter with your weapons unlocked. You'll be wearing scythe to build for Insurgency. Because midcsat takes prio over idle, your Crep Scythe will swap in when you cast dread spikes. After that you just manually lock/unlock weapons depending on whether you want the boost or want to keep TP.


Your opener is basically what I used to do, but I delayed LR. I never tested it out though. Just seemed like you'd want to put it at the end of anything that would delay your melee or WS frequency.

I don't think anyone has tested beyond what Brahmsz did in 2021:
https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/35174/dont-fear-the-reaper-a-dark-knight-guide/200/#3586735

(Has Empy+3 been out that long?)

To answer your question and to explain how BG Wiki's numbers come to be:

By default, Dread Spikes will wear off once you've drained 50% of your max HP (or if it wears off due to timer).

This cap can be increased by 10% from Job Points, so that is +50% to now +60%. Are you with me so far? OK, good.

Heathen's Cuirass +3 extends the 50% cap of Dread Spikes by 55%, so according to math: 50*(1 + 0.55) = 77.5%. However, if you have the 1200 Job Points Gift, then you add 10% to that for a total of 87.5%. So, you cast Dread Spikes, it will absorb 87.5% of whatever your Max HP is when you cast Dread Spikes.

...but wait...there's more!

By itself, Crepuscular Scythe gives a +50% increase to the HP drained from Dread Spikes, which means it's 50*(1 + 0.5) = 75% of your Max HP (and of course +10% = 85%, if you have 1200 JP).

Now, if we were to combine the TWO items, because they do indeed stack together, we have:

50*(1 + 0.5 + 0.55) + 10
50*(2.05) + 10 = 102.5 + 10 = 112.5% of your max HP

(Yes, It is possible that SE set an arbitrary cap beyond the previous value of 102.5%, but we won't know unless someone tests it)

TLDR: 112.5% (According to the math, that is, until someone tests it and proves SE decided to be mean, and set an arbitrary upper limit, like 105 or 110%, for example. I like to be optimistic).

The only reason I'm locking a weapon after Drain is so I can use Origin for HP return before Spikes.

Fixed it, Fel.

Good morning.
Yes, Dread Spikes cap increases going from Crepuscular Scythe & +1 body when I tested it originally to Crepuscular Scythe & +3 body.

More updated version of Sel's libs have this function. Check the discord

Sets.midcast.['Dread Spikes'] = {main='cerp scythe's} should work for a specific spell I thought. That syntax isn't exactly correct, but something along those lines

Not that anyone asked, but under certain conditions (I believe it's brew but don't remember) you can -technically- get 10k+ visible HP on DRK. I might have a screenshot floating around somewhere, if I find it I'll post it.

For those who aren't yet capable of capping HP with NV/DS Drain III, add +HP to this set to get as much as you can from dread spikes.

This won't overwrite locked weapons. I need to go update Sel's LUA...as soon as I find the link to who's managing it now.

Not at home on main PC but I'll check tommorow it's on my git, I'll post here

Right, I pointed this out earlier. It's a workaround to actually having the updated LUA and having to amend it. You're effectively trading cycling weapons for cycling drain/dread values.

I think this is what you're looking for though.