Drk Today

DS is not to land more potent Drain III (EDIT: I mean it kinda is, because you can use more potency without macc, but still NV recast is main reason), its to land it consistently and for long enough effect, so NV go back from recast. Also bis Drain gear doesnt have much macc. Its another problem for inventory tbh, we should have two Drain III sets. One for max potency with DS and one with max macc to land good Drain III without DS (in case DS/NV Drain III got dispelled, or because you want to use DS/NV for absorb)

What could use an update: Drain 3 with BiS is Roughly 3500 for me BUT with Appetence Crown it is roughly 1k more! Wish I could use Fallen's with ability and change to Appetence Crown for the spell potency. OH'well can't have it all, lol.

10% on that crown for sure shouldn't give you 1k more. You need to remember Drain numbers aren't static. It's random number between max and min potency, so you probably tested this and just got lucky with max roll with crown. Best potency head if you don't use fallen for DS is by far Pixie Hairpin +1.

I've been playing DRK for years, and while I do not have ALL the scythes, I feel I can confidently provide some insight (may have already been mentioned...if so, I'm sorry).

My DRK runs with both Apoc and Caladbolg. They are situational. Apoc is great for survival when you can't effectively rely on endless healing. It also has more opportunity for dark-based skillchains. Calad, on the other hand, dishes out more raw power, but it doesn't have many opportunities for Dark-based skillchains. Apoc is the less time-consuming of the 2 to acquire, and I actually JUST got my Calad a month ago after 17 years of playing (I hate Mythic quests). NOTE: Apoc focuses on high accuracy, while Calad focuses on high Attack damage.

Assuming you don't intend to scoop either of those up yet, I'd say it's still situational, but you'll probably find more utility in scythes. The wide range of dark-based skillchains affords you more opportunity to magic burst the many DRK spells. MBing Drain III is particularly useful, as is MBing Absorb spells.

Caladbolg isn't mythic, so it's not really that hard or annoying to get.

And one of the easiest Abyssea paths to do.