New Dark Knight, a few questions..

[Anakijeri]

I'm new to the DRK, and so far, i love th job. I just have a couple of questions to increase my effectiveness...

1) How are all of your macro bars set up? i'm tlaking mid to high level play so i can start getting used to the new setup.

2) Is great sword viable all the way through? I know Guillotine is all powerful and super cool, but the delay on Scythes is really long and Great Swords look cooler to me. ^^

3) how important is it for me to have ALL the spells? i know the Absorb spells and the drain and aspir spells are required, but what about the rest?

thanks for answering!

[Tonkz]

macro setup depends on what you want

you'll probably want a macro for Stun/Drain/WS/and your buffs for sure, it is also very handy to keep provoke macro'd (especially at low levels).
Some people prefer macro'ing elemental spells, some don't and that's your choice.

Scythes don't have THAT bad of a delay ... especially compared to Great Swords, they're almost the same. And even though it is a bit more delay, they're usually a bit stronger too.

It's good to have Bio and elemental spells. Bio can help you level up dark magic skills easy since it never misses, along with drain. Elemental spells are, umm I guess "fun". Being able to magic burst AND chain skill is fun at least =P even though your spells are often resisted but still fun. Elemental spells are also good vs elementals (use their weakness). I know people say how good absorb spells are, but I feel it's sort of a waste of mana if you don't have a rdm in the party (lvl 41+) or at least a bard. They also take quite long to cast. You'll end up having to rest and losing tp. Drain, is just a life saver =P. At higher levels, when it drain's 100+ (for only 21 mana), is like better then a cure 2 that does damage and you can control when to use (if you have slow healers). That's basicly all the spells they get ...

[elias]

A good idea would be to both your GS and your Scythe, Guillotine is very powerful, but at later levels, the GS gets powerful WS also. You never know when a group may need you to use a GS to complete a renkei, so it's best to have both leveled.

Elemental spells are for you, chances are that you will not be required to us it in a pt, unless you wanted to try to MB, but the dmg wont be spectacular. Absorb spell's can be useful. Absorb-Agi can help you and your party to hit the mob alittle easier, so they can be great when you have mp to spare.

[DarkomeN]

Keep both your scythe and your GS levelled. Scythe alone has pretty much shitty weapon skills up until guillotine, with the GS its not so. However, Scythe weapon skills are more skillchain friendly.

Absorb spells are great to me. I am a tarutaru so its not that much of an mp waste considering we have a decent mana pool. Drain/aspir are a MUST. Drain is a lifesaver. As a taru i have yet to get my elemental magic resisted and they do as much DMG as a RDM. INT is my highest stat if i dont include the bonuses i get from my armour. (My +8 dex overweighs it)

Since you are low level though i suggest you have Bio macroed because its a god for levelling your dark skill, trust me. Get drain/aspir as soon as you can use them. Its not hard.

When you get unto higher levels you'll be more respected and get more people to wanna pt with you again if you SC AND MB after that. You are a damage dealer, so deal as much damage as possible.

Good luck!

[gix]

I have 2 sets of macros. One for Scythe and one for GS. Switching between them is simple and they're identical in all ways except the WS's. I have my CTRL row macros set to TP and WS.
ALT row macros have my misc abilities(provoke, berserk, last resort, souleater, weapon bash, arcane circle, and eventually sneak+trick). I also have a stun macro on that row, conveniently located so I can easily hit it if PT is in a jam.

Greatsword is not viable all the way through. They're weaker than Scythe, lower delay means lower TP return. Keep scythe and gs leveled. Scythe > GS. Before lv49, GS in skillchain is useful for Power Slash -> Viper Bite. After 49, you'll get Vorpal Scythe and it by all means replaces Power Slash, but keep GS leveled you'll see why @ 66. With spin slash, you'll see it shine as it finishes Light skillchains. Of course, with scythe you also get Cross Reaper, which closes off Dark skillchains pretty well.

It's not important to have all of the spells. I'd say keep some elemental for MB's, but they're not all that important. As for Abs-X, I only usually use VIT and AGI, as it helps the others in your PT and not just yourself. Drain and Aspir are of course your most useful. Later on you'll want to MB Drain off Dark skillchains for some nice damage.

[Zafron]

Ive played both DRK and BLM through the lower levels. And as DRK generally i find that using my mp for Elemental spells is a waste of mp. However, most groups level on crabs at the lower levels(snippers clippers etc), and if the BLM is out of mp and the mob uses metalic body, your elemental spells can save the day. This happened to me twice today in Qufim. I recomend getting all the low level elementals. They are cheap, and well worth it imo.

[gix]

Unless you happen to be... Galka. Having a 80 MP is cool!:sweat: