I'm new, what race do you recommend for Dark Knight?

[jinzuri]

Hey guys! I just got Final Fantasy XI and I'm pretty new, I'm installing it right now.

I'm interested in becoming a Dark Knight later, and was wondering what race do you guys recommend for this job?

I'm looking for the race that has the potential to do the most damage and dish out the best of advantages of the Dark Knight.

~Thanks

[Kuro]

Any of them, race really means sod all compared to skill and equipment.

But if you want to go the race route... each race has its own thing to add to a DRK so it's your choice, too lazy to list what the skills of each race are, thats what the search button is for.

[DakAttack]

Dark Knights take advantage of both melee stats and mage stats, so you can choose any race you like and roll with it well enough.

[jinzuri]

Which can be the most damage dealing?

[Malacite]

1st of all, please don't post the same thing in different forums. One thread is enough.


That said, Elvaan and Galka tend to make the best DRK. Don't forget there's 17 other jobs in this game though (and more on the way in a few months) so pick what race you like best.

[DakAttack]

Which can be the most damage dealing?

If you're looking to deal physical damage you'll go with either Elvaan, Hume, Galka, or Mithra. Taru Taru can make great Dark Knights, but are more well known for their MP. Elvaan and Galka don't have that much MP, and Hume and Mithra are somewhere in the middle. Elvaan are known for their Str, Galka for their HP, Mithra for their Dex, Taru Taru for their MP, and Hume for being well rounded.

It's really up to you. Like Malacite said you'll be playing several other jobs, such as Warrior, Thief, Samurai for starters, and you might want to explore other jobs as well. Currently I have very few jobs still at zero.

Your character isn't something you can easily 'reroll'. Everything you'll ever want to do in this game can be done with one character. It becomes synonymous with your own identity.

[Legal Fish]

Galka. The answer to these race questions is always Galka.

[Murphie]

Damn it. I didn't notice you double posted this question. Don't do that, please.

Play the race you like the best. It's a lot more important than a few extra points of strength, MP, HP or whatever.

[Taskmage]

Please don't post the same question or topic across multiple forums. Most users browse the forums by the New Posts (http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/search.php?do=getnew) function, so we'll see your thread no matter where it's posted and likewise the same people will see it no matter where it is. Also, I'm sure a thread has been created for this question at least once before. It's generally a good idea to do a search to see if your question has already been answered before asking again.

Elvaan and galka are usually favored as dark knights because of their higher natural strength and hit points compared to other races. Mithra got the nod for a while because their higher dexterity gives them slightly higher accuracy, and dark knights have a poor reputation for accuracy. Really though, racial stat differences are extremely minor. The difference between the race with the highest rank in a stat vs the one with the lowest is seven points or less at level 75, an amount that's easy to overcome with gear, especially since many race-specific pieces of equiment give a large boost to whatever the racial weak point is.

Really, the answer to the race question is always to pick the one you think looks best or best represents you. If you get into the game and enjoy it, you're going to be looking at that same character for years and you don't want to be stuck with something you think is too ugly or too cutsey because you picked it for a very minor stat advantage in your starting job, especially since you don't even know when you start whether you're going to like the job you picked or not.

[Necropolis]

While any race does play the job well, Elvaan would most likely make the best DRK in the game. This is mainly due to higher strength stats and higher HP.

Soul eater, a job ability of dark knight, is based off a percent of your current HP, so the more HP you have the more damage you'll do.

Also, strength is usually a main modifier for many weaponskills, thus the higher str will let you hit higher numbers.

But there are draw backs to the race as well, less vitatlity than galka, less MP and int than a taru, less dex than a mithra. Also, while you're fascinated with DRK at the moment, keep in mind you might tire of it one day and decide to level a mage job, another melee or something to that effect.

Remaking you character just to maximize stats for another job will be like throwing away of lot of work put into to getting where you are on your main character.

Most stats can be compensated for with gear or merits. Sometimes that gear to make up what your character can cost a bit, but it's really trivial in the end. An Elvaan drk geared and merited exactly like a taru drk will out damage the taru, but usually not by a significant amount to make it worth choosing elvaan just for more damage.

In fact, it's common to see races that arn't really designed to play a job preform better than other races because they had to take the time to learn all the ins and outs of the job that they made sure to have the best gear setups.

So, like everyone else, I'll say pick the races that you'll enjoy looking at for hundreds of hours, because it's not easy to change it once it's done.

[Malacite]

The racial stat mods actually play a stronger role now thanks to the two handed update (used to be on a 2:1 ratio now it's 1:1 for STR:Attack and DEX:Accuracy), but unless you're comparing Taru to say Elvaan, you're not going to see a massive discrepancy.


And I'm pretty sure the natural skill gap between Elf and Taru @75 is 12. That's a big difference, but high INT can help offset that somewhat for spells (the low HP will also hurt Souleater's performance but only by 20-30 points a swing tops)

Soul Eater is 10% of your current HP (12% with Chaos Burgeonet)

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Dark_Knight

good tips to be found there.

[Taskmage]

According to this stat calculator (http://www.datasync.com/~dsmith/FFXIStats/) the difference at level 75 is actually 11 between taru str and elvaan str. Unsure how accurate it is.

[Malacite]

{That's interesting.}

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Dark_Knight:_Guide_to_Races_and_Subjob_Selection

[Icemage]

While race doesn't matter for many jobs, the presence of Souleater makes Elvaan and Galka the winners for Dark Knight due to their high HP totals.

The other races can be quite good, but there is absolutely no denying that Elvaan and Galka, with appropriately equivalent gear, will be slightly better. Playing skill will always figure more heavily than race, of course, but all other things being equal, I'd rather have a Galka DRK than a Tarutaru DRK in my party as far as effectiveness goes.


Icemage

[Murphie]

Of course, how often are all other things equal?

[Icemage]

Of course, how often are all other things equal?
Not so often in XP levelling, but fairly often at end-game.

Kraken Club + Souleater + Galka DRK > everyone else.


Icemage

[Legal Fish]

If you haven't even made your character yet, you shouldn't be so certain that you'll be a DRK.

[jinzuri]

If you haven't even made your character yet, you shouldn't be so certain that you'll be a DRK.

Hey, well I want a job that utilizes the best Damage Dealing with Melee weapons. Dark Knight seems to fit my liking.

I'm still debating if I want to be a Hume or Elvaan...

[Murphie]

Not so often in XP levelling, but fairly often at end-game.

Kraken Club + Souleater + Galka DRK > everyone else.


IcemageI'll grant you that in that particular instance, yes. But that wasn't really the point I was making. Then again, this thread is about DRK, so I suppose it should have been the point I was making.

OP: If you're going soley by numbers and what you're going to be like at 75 (which isn't going to be for a while), then go with Elvaan. As Icemage and others have pointed out, it's the better choice in that instance.

Otherwise, just go with which ever you prefer. You may find that you prefer Dragoon, or Samurai, or Warrior, or you may find that you actually like a job like Red Mage or Blue Mage, or Bard. You're going to be looking at your character for a long time. Pick one you like to look at.

[Legal Fish]

Hey, well I want a job that utilizes the best Damage Dealing with Melee weapons. Dark Knight seems to fit my liking.

I'm afraid things are not that simple, and it's not impossible for you go get up one day and think "Hmmm, now I want to be a healer".

[jinzuri]

What is the damage dealing difference between a Hume and a Elvaan? (Dark Knight)

Is it a gradual difference? Can someone show me an expample with numbers? Thanks!

[Murphie]

It's not as simple as all that. But an Elvaan DRK has a higher Strength, so two naked Dark Knights of each race holding the same weapon? The Elvaan is going to hit harder.

If that's your only requirement, then go Elvaan.

[Necropolis]

I'll grant you that in that particular instance, yes. But that wasn't really the point I was making. Then again, this thread is about DRK, so I suppose it should have been the point I was making.

Doesn't have to a K club, 72 drk with octave is just as effective.

Though most darks I know that attend endgame events have a k club or access to one for the event. Other darks I know that don't have one that do endgame come to events on a different job.

[Murphie]

Doesn't have to a K club, 72 drk with octave is just as effective.

Though most darks I know that attend endgame events have a k club or access to one for the event. Other darks I know that don't have one that do endgame come to events on a different job.Yes, but I wasn't talking about Dark Knight. Except I should have been, but I pointed it out. I already know this.

[Taskmage]

Is it a gradual difference? Can someone show me an expample with numbers? Thanks!The damage equation is pretty complicated and it takes the stats of the mob you're fighting into account too, so it's pretty hard to just come up with some numbers. To really know, we'd need to find drks of the two different races with the exact same gear and get them to WS mobs of the same type and level a bunch of times and compare the averages.

I'm not an experienced DD, but going off of what I've picked up from other discussions, I'd say the 5 str difference between a level 75 hume and elvaan is probably going to translate into a two digit increase in WS damage. I'd be surprised if it was as much as 50. So as a hume let's say you'd do 1145 damage on a Cross Reaper whereas as an elvaan you might have done 1174. That's at high level. At lower levels the difference would be even smaller.

[jinzuri]

I think I'll stick to elvaan. The thing is Elvaan's very high damage with melee weapons can make them advantageous towards the Dark Knight job.

Dark Knight is More Melee then magic, so elvaan's high atk will help them in this job.

[Murphie]

Well, you would certainly know better than those of us who have been playing the game for years. I hope you enjoy your choice.

[mmodiary]

Yeah I think depends on what you're trying to accomplish, if you just want to have fun, then any race for the job is fine, as long as you enjoy playing the job.

Elvaan, Galka will give you more STR if you want more STR/ATTK.

Mithra, Hume are decent and balanced in stats.

Tarus are decent also, but if you want to use your DRK for zerg fights and want maximum damage (Blood Weapon Souleater, with KC/low delay dagger/bahamut zaghnal or what not), you might have lower damage than other race of DRKs for these particular fights, depending on your equip/HP merits/food etc...but you'll still do good damage on these fights even without maxing out HP or haste, it just won't be as high as it could be. Only if you care, but not like zerging equip is that important since you will probably only get to use it every other week or months depending on your LS :P.

[LilithAngel]

Glad to see the Dark Knights keeping the art of Necromancy alive. :thumbsup: