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

Community guide looks like junk info and this thread and the gear advice thread are both pretty dead. What are people TPing in with Calad and using for Torcleaver for master levelling on 137-139 mobs with just trusts?

I have R25 Sakpata and Nyame and 5/5 emp+3 etc.

What you've done is sh1te and I hate it.

Please help me.

Sakpata works. AF3 legs work. Post your current sets and I can look them over for easy improvements.

Emp+3 head, 4/5 Sakpata for TP.
Emp+3 feet, 4/5 Nyame for Torc.

Accessories are all obvious choices, I have Cornelia ring so should I pair it with Epam as 2nd or use Niqmaddu or Sroda or Regal for Torc?

I think my gear is fine, but the guides are confusing the f out of me because they assume new gear in game (R20 ody and emp+3) but then suggest things like augmented Valorous body.

Actually it's earrings that are bothering me. I have never gotten DRK+1 from Sortie even and Schere earring drains MP like mad so have avoided using it but that seems a pain to lose the 15 acc and 5 STP. Do people still not use it on DRK?

Telos, Dedition, Crepuscular, Brutal. Sortie earring isn't a TP earring in any scenario unlesss maybe you have a +2 and REALLY need accuracy.

If you're using a scythe and/or not casting much, Schere is still used. Sometimes you have to use your brain when playing DRK

I thought the same, so why is it in the guide? What about if you made full use of the PDL in say Ody? (I would never DRK for Ody since I have WAR, just curious)

Clearly said I'm using Calad. So Teles/Crep is best for now? Or Brutal/??? ?

Dedition > Telos > Brutal > Crep but they are all DAMN close.

I personally use Dedition/Telos 99.97% of the time. My ACC set has Telos/Crep. As DRK if I have ACC problems I probably just got raised, otherwise its not the right job for the assignment.

I was responding to "Do people not use it on DRK?" I'd say if you're using Calad, you'd only use it while not casting. If you have a RDM and have breaks between meleeing, you can have MP for Endark II and absorbs prior to battles, so long as you don't need to be doing any stunning or Dread Spikes, you should be fine. If you don't have a RDM (or WHM to give you devotion, or w/e) then you shouldn't use Schere. Really depends on the situation & your party comp.

I agree with Taint's lineup, though also consider it depends on your acc and the target. DRK's accuracy is pretty trash TBH, compared to other DD jobs, so you might not be able to afford the -10~20 acc from Dedition. Choose your earrings depending on the buffs you're getting and the enemy you're fighting. Might depend on your ML.

Ideally, if you have enough support and/or accuracy, I'd say Dedition/Telos best case scenario. Crep/Telos if you need acc, Telos/Brutal if you don't.

As Taint said, it really is a minimal difference regardless, so pick whatever you're comfortable with. Dignitary is another option but I don't like the lack of DPS stat. The SB is nice though, so it's not a bad earring and worth considering. All 5 of these are pretty close in terms of DPS potential.

My DRK acc is trash no matter what buffs so I would never use Dedition. If Koru will Refresh me I guess I can get away with Schere. I don't really get to use it for anything since I cleared Kalunga and Mboze on other jobs, but I want to ML it higher just in case it is needed for anything in future.

I have Cornelia ring so should I pair it with Epam as 2nd or use Niqmaddu or Sroda or Regal for Torc?

Only other PDL is traits and neck, no Sortie earring over NQ.

Trust buffs may just not be enough, unless the jobs heavily stacked in acc/eva down i.e dnc/drg/rdm/blu it felt like id eother need to be in heavy acc sets or just needed a brd to function smoothly. Drks a lil behind in the gift acc area but isnt that bad, im assuming this is inner raz and you cant play with abs acc either

Mostly Bibiki. Would go to inner if I wasn't so lazy.

Thats something you could potentially mess with then, without knowing what your acc sits at its hard to say just how you need to add in, distract II helps but idk if koru even tries at that high a mob level

I still wouldn't bother with Dedition even here at ML36. I won't get the PDL of Sroda I'm sure, so I'm guessing I should just use Epam.

I was using Teles/Brutal anyway which I will continue using. I only began to doubt myself when seeing the guides which are all dubious as *** all over.

ItemSet 395512
Ankou's Mantle >
HP +60
DEX +10
Accuracy +20
Attack +20
Critical Hit Rate +10%
Damage taken -5%

Why is that better than Ioshenka+1 and Emp head+3?

Meva on the helm makes it better for most content.

Sailfi has higher DPS, Ioshenka+1 has higher ACC. Great first swap item for an ACC set.

Wow, never realised emp+3 was so low. Expected it to be at least >100. Doesn't matter for EPing on Dhalmel for me for now though.

Cessance Earring isn't terrible either but it's not the best at anything.

I have it also but think I will stick to Brutal/Telos and Crep/Telos if I need more acc. This is what I was using already but checked this earlier:
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Community_Dark_Knight_Guide
tbh the whole thing is complete nonsense, how is this the community guide? Suggests Valorous body for TP, DRK earring, etc.

ItemSet 395516
Ankou's Mantle >
HP +60
DEX +10
Accuracy +20
Attack +20
Double Attack +10%
Damage taken -5%

I assume this is your town set, and you are showing an example of a cape you should never make. Very informative.

All of his sets are like that. Just doesn't understand the fundamentals of any job from the sets he posts. Just full-time Empy+3 everywhere I guess? Could be worse, but the HP+60 is just...why?

How else are you going to go from 5k HP in idle to 2k HP engaged and vice versa and aggro all of C/G in sortie?

I mean some of that is just based on stuff you have and the ***isn't end all be all. If you know it's nonsense just make your owe set and stop using guides? Like why complain about guides if you don't know how to play the job yourself or ask for info on something if you just gonna ignore it anyway seems like a waste of time.

Well... this guide opens with "Please don't be a R15 Calad / R0 Sakpata DRK..."

I have been exactly this for about two years now, and only because I have focused more so on Sortie and other content than Odyssey (I also took a year break). It baffles me how being a R15 Calad / R0 Sakpata DRK is a bad thing.

I had a look at the guide, and while I admire how plentiful they are, some of the sets are puzzling. You're right about random Geas Fete equipment which has no place in 2024, especially if a player has a full set of R0 Sakpata. It is old gear severely lacking in defensive stats. I've had a better time making my own sets from the damage calculator, and it feels like I should share some of those soon.

WAY too many "guides" show you what the best sets are assuming you have Nyame/Sakpata maxed, which is absolutely ridiculous for anyone looking for a guide. Nobody with gear this maxed should be needing help from anyone else (although a few might). Would anyone be interested in my sets from the damage calculator? I'd only take the time to share if there is decent interest for DRK sets.

Ah well, that's what I get for reading half the page.

Sakpata doesn't matter if it's R0 or R30. There is sick stuff on the augments, like the hands getting STP, but the main reason to use Sakpata is for the massive MEVA and the DT. If you play Ody and Sortie, you need to survive, using Sakpata is better than any glass cannon busllhit. It's still great DPS pieces even at R0, it's not gonna beat your Relic legs, but you also won't die as much in them.

As for Nyame, yeah, the WSD is on the augments, so if it's sub R25, you still need to use the AF, Relic and Empy pieces with 10%/12% WSD instead, and fill in your weaker Nyame in the other slots. If you are literally R0, you may have to build some Reisenjima gear with WSD rolls on them, but none of this invalidates or makes guides useless, you just don't know how to *** read them...

If you don't have said piece, look at why that piece is good and find a suitable replacement for it with similar stats. Or, crazy idea, go try to build/earn/buy it. Guides are to be used as a base, and then you build around them until you can get the gear. The WSD Calculator is great and you can use that to help you, but it's also VERY BAD if you use it wrong. If you enter the wrong buffs or the wrong mob stats, you are going to get recommended really shitty gear choices. It will bring your acc/atk up to cap if you gave the mob too much eva/def, and put on shitty acc/atk gear that you didn't actually need in-game instead of WSD or PDL stuff that would be ideal for that mob and so on.

If you can't even use a guide properly online, I wouldn't trust you with a WSD Calculator at all.

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Unrelated side tip, find an Ody group and build other REMAs. If you aren't gonna make Foenaria, make an Anguta or Mythic. You need a scythe and using only Calad isn't gonna work, especially in Sortie. It may not be easy to find a group, but this is a team-based game and you aren't gonna get any of the good gear without one. Idk how you have spent 2 years in the game without finding an Ody group and at least doing V5 or V10's. The game is, imo, not worth playing without a group. By all means, do what you want to do, you just sound ridiculous when you complain about guides not being catered to a R0, one-weapon DRK that is too lazy to get the gear you need.