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

Don't forget to floor both steps.

WS hits after first are 10, but STP does apply, so +20 would give you 12. This is super handy and why any multihit WS set should include multiples of 10.

Benchmarks/optimals off the top of my head and a few mathed:
Delay: 6-hit, 5-hit (TP/WS, assuming Reso/Entropy, Torc/Scourge/Quietus are 'utility')
480: 23/10, 52/32? 54/30?
501: 20/10, 47/20
528: 15/0 37/20
Apoc: 22/0, 47/20 (because Cata)

These WS values are pushed as low as possible but keeping one-miss tolerance. Cross Reaper is generally as simple as adding one more STP piece (need like +7 more, but you're probably most of the way there already).

WS need is usually covered by /SAM and grip. You'll do most of these by accident, these are just minimums.

I leave exotics (5-hit GS, 4-hit Scythe) for you to calculate on your own, because that's a huge can of situational worms and rarely too viable, though possible.


Nostalgia/History time:

Misremembered ye old Fulgurante build, which was 27/17 before the stupid *** Rag buff midrange TP gain change. I honestly don't remember the specifics anymore, just that 5-hit involved Ogier's gauntlets and Phorcys but was also /WAR? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hah! Good times:
ItemSet 272243
57/5 /WAR 5-hit these days. Might have been 57/10 back then. This was the (theoretical, I never got the Murzim and substituted ace's mail and tactical mantle) 'Rag killer' outside of Voidwatch.
Post-Abyssea had the best gearing shenanigans.

I have two JSE capes for DRK so far. First one is dex, acc (30)/atk and stp. The other is str, acc/atk and wsdmg. I'm thinking about making a casting piece as the third, which would have fast cast, macc/dmg and either MP or INT.

Replacing Chuparossa (Absorbs) is going to depend on the level of the target. It's hard to deny duration +20 and potency +10, but it only has macc +5. My Niht mantle has dark magic skill +3, and drain/aspir potency +11, so I think it would be alright to sub them in for the macc and fast cast augments at least. Not sure if INT would be better than MP.

First alternative is a second TP piece with double attack instead of STP. Would be nice for if/when I afterglow Ragnarok, in low buff situations, or when I can't get AM3. Second alternative is to make another WS piece. Perhaps a VIT/Acc/Atk/WS DMG piece for Torcleaver. Not sure what would be better for Cross Reaper or Quietus, I assume the mantle I have is enough already.

Also thinking about putting extra 10 accuracy on my WS cape with dye. I'm open to saving it if anyone has a better idea. Any thoughts? :) Magic piece, 2nd TP piece, or 2nd WS piece?

Man, you are making me turn the game on to look at my capes.

I don't have a dex/acc+30 cape, once you get AG relic you really won't need it as much.

Right now I have
str+30, acc/attk +20, dbl attk +10% (reso cape)
str+20, acc/attk+20, wsdmg +10% (savage, cross reaper, cata)
vit+20, acc/attk+20, wsdmg +10% (torc)
int+20, m.acc+30/m.dmg+20, fast cast+10%

Niht mantle is attk+15, dark skill +8, drain/aspir +22 (not where I want it to be)
Still have chuparossa mantle for low m.eva mobs on absorbs, wish I had more mantles but cor, rdm, sch, thf took a few spots.

Ended up going with mp, macc/mdmg and fast cast. I like it because it takes me over 900 before switching to tp gear. Might change to int if I really need it, but it only effects the resist rate and there's plenty of options for macc.

Also didn't realize how Insurgency was changed, so it's better to use at 2000-3000 and certainly not at 1000. Just like Azagarth, I was thinking about Prosilio belt+1 over an ele belt.

On Quietus I see some using ele gorget/belt, but that don't feel right to me. I'm sure there's better options? Also, I'm curious as to when others (using lib) use cross reaper and entropy? Multi-step skillchains? Trying to clear up some sets before I jump into CP parties :)

3.33% true WSD each. Kinda hard to beat. I never worry about STP for it because I only throw it for double dark so the next cycle is a reset anyway. It's attack bonused and single hit, so acc/att isn't a big deal. 250 STR, some MND, and 250 base damage means you need like 17 or more STR just to match the fTP bonus. It's single-hit so you don't double dip stuff like Mala/Wobuffet, but those are what I end up wearing anyway. If there was a belt with skillchain damage bonus it'd probably be BIS.


Somebody talked about Spell Interrupt gear for DRK a while back. What pieces were those? Wasn't just salvage or Niht augs was it?

Torcleaver is kind of an annoying WS to gear for. It's a single hit, doesn't crit and has a VIT mod. At least it scales with TP so Moonshade and Ishvara are the obvious options for ears(Lugra+1 maybe for when it's active over Ishvara? I doubt it though)

The rings, neck and waist I'm not really sure on. Petrov in one of the ring slots looks to be the best option, and the WSD Adoulin ring isn't an option for me so I have no idea about the other. Initially I assume it's Spiral, but with such a high VIT mod maybe Titan+1? Now that I think about it though, I'm not sure you'd even want Petrov over Spiral if you don't care about the stp. Maybe even Mujin if you are skillchaining.

Waist slot I am currently using Prosilio+1 because I have been mostly under buffed, but maybe Caudata is better? Or another option I'm not aware of.

Is there a better option than Unmoving+1 for the neck? The high VIT is nice, but the only other thing on it is 5 acc.

This would be the Eschite gear, Path C

Pretty sure whenever someone uses the fotia pair on a single-hit WS, it's for the chance at a free follow-up.

The damage increase is smaller than some options, but the chance for a larger TP SC-closing WS tends to make up for it.

Then again, it's only 2%. So not something to rely on.
And the +20acc and +14 conserve TP are nice when the proc doesn't hit... So it's not like they do nothing.

Ultimately it just comes down to preference.

This is the reason why I have been considering to ws in just fotia on all ws's. I currently keep trying all these different belts/neck and honestly for my playstyle I am starting to miss fotia. Yes its only 2% and technically caro/prosilio on cata etc is 'better', but that 2% for instant ws is cool.

That full tp back usually end up being like 160~ for me after overflow before/after ws normally. That means on avg I am going to wait just 1-2 round to have a 200% ws (and instant sc). While the sc should be there regardless you have to imagine that on CR/RESO that the different between a 100% and 200% ws is easily 8-10k about. Add that dmg to your sc dmg and your looking at more like 12-15k~ extra dmg 2% of the time, or if you avg that out its 300 extra dmg. I am unsure of how much other options are adding, but I am having a hard time seeing it being 300 on avg per ws. maybe it is though, maybe we need a mathematician in here! Dont kill me for my numbers, by now way have i tested.

Thanks that makes sense. I'm still using the standard gorget/belts, so I might have to get them upgraded to try it out.


I looked through what I had, and found 71% spell interrupt in these pieces:

Founder's Hose (30%), Odyssean Greaves (20%), Impatiens (10%), Ninurta's Sash (6%) Evanescence Ring (5%).

Wouldn't instant ws only cool if proc made up the dmg lose? So if you do 1000 dmg ws 100 times and proc twice for 102000 dmg total, and do 1030 dmg ws with alternative options for 103000 ws dmg total after 100 times, wouldn't gears that allows higher ws avg still wins in the long run?

Also since you do more dmg every ws and sc using none fotia alternatives, I don't understand the argument of fotia proc= more tp for closing bigger SC, nor seeing how it can be beneficial. Sounds like 98% of time it's lowering SC dmg when it doesn't proc, and those time that it doesn't proc quickly add up and lose more dmg in the long run.

Minor nickpick, but Fotia Gorget doesn't have Conserve TP on it- just the belt.

Like I said we should get someone to math is out. I really am unsure of the difference, But when that 2% procs its awesome, I dont see a huge difference in ws, I know its there but its so lackluster that I cannot visually see the impact like Fotia.

However, i dont use fotia on every ws, im following the rule, but for my playstyle I am looking to go back to fotia on all ws fulltime. I want to know how big of loss this ttruly would be.

Well, to be completely honest no one ever points out whether Fotia belt or gorget overtakes other viable weaponskill accessory options so I'm left to assume the WSD+10% on one-hit weaponskills is superior to other options. I've noticed quite a few instances of posters throwing out there "I use this" without any backed up reason why one neck-piece or belt is better than either fotia piece.

It's not actually 10% WSD on the Fotia pieces. That was a mistranslation on SE's part. It's still the same 25/256 fTP as the original ones. Particularly powerful for multi-hit WSs with fTP transfer, but much less useful for single-hit ones in general.

That's interesting.... So no WSD+10%, but the +0.10(.20) ftp it's always been? That just makes it slightly less useful though...

I mean I'm not a mathy person but I would have to assume one would need to throw large amounts of raw base stats (STR for resolution or VIT in Torcleaver's case) in order to overtake the FTP bonus from belt/gorget.

Just use spreadsheet and get the avg ws for both sets, then calculate which does more dmg after 100 ws.



I swear we need to sticky how fotia works on top of every job guide so people don't have to explain this once a week D=

I read fairly regularly though, I never see an explanation. Today's the first time someone's actually said "the gorget belt description is a mistranslation"... sorry. :/

It's SE's fault for the mistranslation, don't worry.

Absolutely nothing beats Fotia for Resolution, as it's multi-hit with fTP transfer. Situations like these (CdC, Resolution, Evisceration) are where Fotia shines. They're much less helpful for single-hit WSs like Torcleaver, however.

Thats true, But hey it does add 20 acc, a bit of store tp and a 2% chance at keeping your 160~ tp from ws.

I am just curious to how much this would be different from say grunge+caro (good benchmark) which is 11 str/dex 30 attack 10 acc 2% DA.

I dont like to think of fotias return as a full ws, since that isnt to practical in real situations. I like to think of it as 1/50 ws will get a 160tp~ boost in dmg. So your 100tp Torc is really 260tp. That easily is a 15k difference in dmg. 15k/50 = 300 dmg (not adding acc, and the 50/256 fTP every ws) if you wanted to avg it out. Now the question is. will the caro+grunge set avg to over 300+?

SO I am having some issues with my lua. It will not swap to Heath. Flancard +1 during my actual casts, but then I got to thinking.

Does it only need to be on when nether void is activated to get the 35% bonus, or must you cast said spells in the legs too? If not then I can not worry about my code since it puts them on for precast fine already.

Just finished my 119 Apoc(no AG yet) and updating DRK gearsets, any advice for worthwhile gear swaps to make during aftermath?
Gear haste seems a little redundant these days.

Current Mid.Acc set for 5-hit:

ItemSet 251371

I've always loaded up on DA/TA/QA on my AM sets, providing you have enough accuracy. It's harder these days to take advantage of the AM haste effect tho.

If you can eek out a 4hit, I'd have a set ready for that for capped haste situations too. I haven't got my calculator out and nailed down my sets yet. Still working on gear

ItemSet 345778

Path D on body, hands, and feet because Argosy +1 TP all the things!

If I had gil I'd melee in this because mo' money mo' problems. I'd probably go with Argosy legs as well if the STP for an x-hit was satisfied.

I'm a brand new DRK, just leveled it to try it out. I need some "quick and dirty" tips to get me in a good place to "try out" the job to see if it's fun or I should try something else. I'm a dual wield player, so pretty much none of my gear works for this and I haven't had to worry about x-hit since I played DRG in Abyssea days.

This is what I have to work with:
Weapons: I'm guessing one of these, I have 5/5 Resolution.
Macbain 510 delay 303dmg/18acc/5DA
Montante 475 delay (will upgrade to +1 if its better than Macbain)

Would love to play with a scythe, even if it's not as good. What's easy to get in a group of trusts or 1-2 helpers? I haven't looked at the JSE option yet.

Armor:
Sulevia +1 set
Odyssean pieces I only have legs, but I think the others would be easy to get; can probably just stand around and beg for scraps.

I was just going to rock 5/5 Sulevia but I noticed I'm a good 15-16 haste behind target. Where would be best to get the remainder? I can't make an ambuscade cape; and I probably won't commit to doing so unless I decide to stick with the job since I am limited to only a couple per month and I'm behind. Not sure if I should get one of the 14% belts or get a mix and the haste strap... you guys have a lot of puzzle solving with your haste and xhits.

I noticed the front page was super old, and I couldn't find any sets that looked relevant to me in the last couple pages, so pardon if you feel this has been covered.

If you have access to Sinister Reign, Brutality scythe that drops from Morimar might be a decent free option for you.

JSE Scythe, Cronus, is pretty decent after you upgrade it.

You'll definitely want to unlock Quistes empy WS and Insurgency mychic WS if you're going to be using scythe. Entropy is pretty lack luster.

If you want to have some real fun with scythe tho, you'll want to build Apocalypse.

As far as gear goes, you're best options are to get some reisijima T1 gear. You could get lucky and get some abjurations for Argosy from event right now too.

You have to have a serious love for Drk to stick it out these days. Until I got AG liberator, a very NQ Blu could out parse me pretty easy.

There are sets ranging from extra beginner to low, mid, some high tier sets as well.

As always, like a broken record, I will say the same thing. You will never find a BiS for tp sets because of the random augment system.
Drk sets thread

Why is insurgency good ? I've only been back for a while but...

Guillotine has a better STR mod and higher Mind mod.

Entropy even with it's lolINT mod seems like it would have a much higher dmg potential because 80%~INT > 20%STR.

I can see why it's good on mythic cause it gets a DMG boost and u need to use it but outside that it has always sucked for me.

As for a decent starter gear full set of amb gear w/ haste cape is an easy way to get going.