[Sekighara]

Well not really +mnd just no huge negative if you have a promise badge definantly try it I haven't yet. Str will do fine if there is a low negative. Like I used spike necklace and then macroed in tiger stole (sp?). And when I got royal guardsman's collar at 55 I gave up on spike necklace.

I started over about 6 months ago and I made to 53 and I still can't afford a woodsmen ring. I recently sold my monk gear and vit gear for war to make ends meet for absorb spells. So if you decide to take it to 75 first I am with you and it is not going to be easy because you may be gimped for alot of it, but learn how to play the class. We can give you all the tips in the world but it won't mean anything if you haven't found a method to the madness. If you play foolish with gimp gear you won't help anyone if you play foolish with epic gear you will get your party killed. Find out what you can and can't do with it and then fit in our tips. For instance you may perfer greatsword over scythe because of the lower average delay. You may like using certian absord spell over others when you get them. Every one will play slightly different under certian conditions but don't play a certian way because you were told if it doesn't make sense.

[Armando]

Also watch your WSs modifers. At your level they are str and mnd. So spike necklace hurts because the WS ends up of having a 0 for a modifer. It isn't really important at the lower levels, but I have a tiger stole that I macro in when using those just because I like my ws dsmg to be higher then my normal swings.

Uh...even if the bonuses on Spike Necklace cancel out, your WS will still do more damage than a normal swing. Honestly stat mods are so lol at low levels (and in many cases continue to be lol at high levels) I wouldn't even bother.

[Evion]

What Ifrit said, especially the Ecphoria Ring.

BTW, everything a growing DRK needs to know right here. Also, after getting DRK to 75 and in hindsight bias, I'd say really try to keep a Great Axe and switch to it as your scythe skill caps everytime.

[JoetheAwesome]

Hey guys. Sorry, I've been pretty busy with work and stuff. But a little update: So far I just hit level 40 on DRK a couple of hours ago. It's been very fun.

Some new addittions I made to my gear:
Main: Mercenary Captn's Scythe (I plan to upgrade to Mutilator, it's pretty cheap only about 4k)
Body: Centurions Mail(Again planning to upgrade)
Hands: Royal Squire's gloves

And thats pretty much it. I've begun to farm for my Venerer's ring and woodsman's ring. They're both pretty cheap(40k and 180kish)\

Apart from that, everything seems good. Oh I am at level 20 with my war. I switched to Great Axe, it's more bearable, but still not as fun as drk. =P

[ShadowHolyFlyingDragon]

There's only one real way to play DRK that's cool.

And that's /NIN and tanking your own SoulEater. But you got to make sure you use it and time it correctly so the mob dies while you're able to sufficiently blink tank it for a while or you'll just waste your healer's mp and everyone's time and gain a bad reputation.

I sucessfully pulled off playing DRK/NIN to the 70's until I switched to SAM. Playing this way let me get away with using my specific job abilities and still making sure I wasn't an MP sponge.

I remember doing 800ish dmg at LV46 on Rumbles with a GreatAxe/Sturmwind. After it died, everyone stood there staring and was deathly silent... until my friend Gyoko said "my god.... you're a beast" lollermuffins goodtimesgoodtimes I even remember pulling off 600ish numbers at 37.

Of course I'm Galka and get more BANG for my BUCK since Souleater is fueled by HP.

Basically, the whole premise of playing DRK/NIN is to mitigate your damage. And believe me, it's a beautiful thing. DRK has some great JA's to help it blink tank effectively too, namely Weaponbash and Stun. If you've used up three shadows and you're timing is off where the mob will hit you on your next recast, you pop a macro for Weaponbash/Utsusemi and cast it freely. The mobs never recovered -ever- in time to interrupt me. With Stun, you have to time it right in order for the delay between the mob's attacks to be sufficient enough to blink cast. Just takes timing, very easy to figure out.

And if you do get hit? Well, you've got Drain, Drain2, and eventually Drain Spikes. It's usually best to save these spells for when you go apeshit after a Souleater, or it's also good to Drain2 before you SELRWS (SoulEater/LastResort/WS) But, I found myself grabbing hate from time to time with my GAxe in the levels below 60 and Drain helped out in those situations. But the real neato thing is when you get up in to the 70's, the Black gear with the Absorb enhancements really makes your drains look super nice. I remember eating carbonara and using Drain 2 and breaking 2k barrier in HP on my Galka. Believe me, that Souleater was beautiful......... <3

If you feel courageous and play it intelligently, you can actually Souleater/Last Resort your Sturmwinds while playing DRK/NIN. You've go to time the mob's health right so that you can effectively blink tank long enough. But be wary of multi-hit mobs (Mandy's for instance.)

Playing DRK/NIN intelligently and with dashing reserve really makes your DRK show the rest of the world that not all DRKs are just mindless cure sinks of omgwtfbbqDAMAJ-whores. But if there's anything that makes me sad, it would have to be playing DRK/WAR. I really could not stand that set-ups paperthin defense. Though, I wonder if one is playing Taru, if that playing DRK/WAR might fare better than DRK/NIN.... [Hmmm.]

When you get to 74 and DRK/NIN, well, its really just cheating the system by then, because it's a freeforall in doing damage at that point. Very beautiful thing.

Make sure you stick with GreatAxe until 60 and don't forget Shield Break, it's helpful. Of course, you'll need to find a way to level your scythe in the meantime. I never found GreatSword to be that interesting, except when playing DRK/THF. If you play DRK/THF, GSwd shines since GSwd WS's are one-hit and SATA completely takes advantage of this fact. But I've compared my playing style as DRK/NIN to a DRK/THF before, same race, very similar gear, and we both did roughly equal damage, though mine was higher, but not much that it made a big difference.

[DakAttack]

Drk/War > Drk/Nin in terms of damage output. I've had the pleasure of attempting to hold hate off of a few Drk/War, and they could blow me completely out of the water if they wanted to, though it would result in their own death. It's pretty much why Drk/Thf became so popular, and perhaps why Drk/Nin is popular now, because you can't put up the big numbers if you're lying face down. A good Drk/War and a good tank could probably work something out to keep the damage up without the Drk getting knocked around too often.

[Armando]

A capable Paladin can hold hate off Souleater by using Sentinel, and the DRK doesn't have to gimp its damage output just for that 1 minute of damage.

Sent is on a 5 minute timer and Souleater is on a 6 minute timer so the Paladin will always be ready. All it takes is a little bit of communication before the party starts.

There's also Cover.

[ShadowHolyFlyingDragon]

If you're lucky enough to communicate with people on something like this, it's really a great thing. But trying to set up a way to do a specific event in XP party is similar to trying to get people to skill chain for a BLM's magic burst.

Which is why I threw the conventional use of DRK/WAR out the window and played DRK/NIN instead, because most of the time, I can't rely on other people's support in that kind of aspect.

And they key factor here is "a good PLD." lul

[Armando]

Even a chimp can do Sentinel -> Provoke -> Flash (this generates the enmity of about 4.6 Provokes) in response to Souleater. Doesn't have to be a good PLD. If he doesn't cooperate, harass him. I don't want anyone hitting Lv.75 with such a high degree of incompetence.

[hexx]

Coming from another WAR, yeah Great Axe will be your best friend (and DD tool) till you hit 60ish and get Guillotine dude. And all of what Armando has said is true, so use it!

[ShadowHolyFlyingDragon]

Seriously... if you can do all that, that makes you a good PLD in this game.

Funny isn't it? How simply doing your job makes you appear to be a hero?

[Evion]

Please don't ever /WAR for any reason, ever. There will never be a time where /WAR will be anything close to as good as /SAM, for any reason, ever.

Edit: From 60+...

[Celeal]

Unlike years ago, with all this changes in the game, DRK is a lot more flexible in terms of weapons, sub-jobs, play-style, etc. However, the basic remains the same: Stay alive while melee, and keep improving your "tools" (skill, gear, sub-jobs, etc)

[DakAttack]

Originally Posted by Evion

Please don't ever /WAR for any reason, ever. There will never be a time where /WAR will be anything close to as good as /SAM, for any reason, ever.

Edit: From 60+...

My experience was long before that update, so I suppose things have changed.

Subbing War would also give the Drk Berserk and Double Attack.

[Armando]

Seriously... if you can do all that, that makes you a good PLD in this game.

Do all of what? Pop two JAs and a spell?

Upon inspection, /SAM does beat /WAR in terms of max damage potential.

/WAR offers
*Double Attack full time (10% DoT and TP gain speed)
*Berserk 3/5ths of the time (+25% Attack)
*Defender for when things get ugly.

/SAM offers
*Hasso full time (+10% Haste = +11-13% DPS and TP gain speed | +10 Accuracy = +5% DPS and TP gain speed | +5 STR = +1 DMG and +4 Attack)
*Store TP II - this ensures you shave off a hit needed to 100 TP. With a 528 delay Scythe, this means going from 6 hits to 5 hits for 100 TP if your WS lands. That's a 20% increase in WS frequency.
*Meditate every 3 minutes.

I'm doubting that a DRK/SAM could use its max potential with a NIN tank though. The NIN would have to be whipping out a lot of damage, and that's not something you can rely on any more than you can expect your PLDs not to be retards and carry Haubergeons and Sushi.