DRK soloable now?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I was walking out of the Leypoint in Wajaom Woodlands last night (forgot to charge my chocobo whistle) and I came upon a little 75 taru DRK/SAM.

I took a moment to see what he was up to, and it was something I hadn't really seen a DRK do before. Solo. Now, granted these were EP colibri and I've see DRK/NINs before, but that was before Drain II and Dread Spikes came along. He seemed to be getting fair HP returns on Dread Spikes, at least enough between whatever Drain II's recast is. Add to the fact he was /SAM and using Seigan a fair bit.

So I'm just curious about exactly what sort of HP returns you's see on EM, for example. Blaze spikes deals in damage reflection, a portion of the damage is reduced to damage the mob, so what would be the HP returned on a higher tier mob. Looks pretty generous on EP and that's great for DRK farming and possibly tanking for lower NMs and such. For these things, at the very least, having to sub /NIN seems to be a thing of the past. Add in the access to Bloody bolts and it looks even better.

I just enjoy solo opportunities, so I'm suddenly curious about DRK pans out in that regard.

[Lambeaus]

Re: DRK soloable now?

If I remember reading right, wasn't there a glitch greatly supporting a DRK/SAM?

[Mhurron]

Re: DRK soloable now?

There's a link somewhere to a youtube video of a DRK doing that and taking no damage. It seems pretty obviously a bug, so I'd expect it to get fixed pretty soon.

[Necropolis]

Re: DRK soloable now?

It's a glitch.

If a drk/sam has Seigan up and cast dread spikes from a macro they can pretty much cast it continuously. Though the hp gains are nice a dread spikes, they only last so long on a time with Seigan that adds 50% recast time, but they can cast it about every 10 seconds due to the glitch. I don't know if this has been patched yet.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: DRK soloable now?

Well, I didn't see him constantly recasting Dread Spikes, what is the original recast?

I'd say he was recasting it at maybe a little over a minute.

[Necropolis]

Re: DRK soloable now?

3 minutes I believe is the recast, so should be 4:30 with Seigan up if I'm correct about it adding 50% recast.

[Eohmer]

Re: DRK soloable now?

Yeah.. here...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIWfbR_mFPQ[/YOUTUBE]

Link

[Omni]

Re: DRK soloable now?

there was an emergency patch. i downloaded some 4-5 files when i logged in late last night. maybe it was to fix this?

[Eohmer]

Re: DRK soloable now?

No. This last update was for something else.

- Thief's job ability, "Aura Steal" may sometimes cause a forced termination on both the ability user and nearby players.

- A program issue that caused "gil" to be displayed as "gils" in auction house-related messages.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: DRK soloable now?

How long does Dread Spikes last per casting?

A friend was solo'ing on DRK/WHM before and after the update, and says he can take on some EM's after update versus only EP's to (low?) DC's before. However, I forgot to ask about the Dread Spikes duration before he logged off...

* * *

While I don't think the last version update dramatically increased DRK's party performance, I hope the spotlight on DRK's help out their party invite rate. My friend is quite skilled, and worked so hard to obtain good gears, but we couldn't get him a party half of the time even when seeking together with my RDM.

The situation is bad enough that I'm seriously considering starting parties even though I have no clue on camp locations in ToAU zones.

[Eohmer]

Re: DRK soloable now?

even though I have no clue on camp locations in ToAU zones.

http://monsters.ffxi-atlas.com/camps.php

Things to Note...

Lesser Collibri (or any other Collibri): Have an ability that reduces one's TP to zero, they eat your food, and they have reflect during the whole fight.

Imps in Caedarva Mire: They have an ability that stops everyone from using any Job Ability, so tanks can't voke.

Crawlers in Mount Zhayolm: Especially stronger during Firesday or Fire weather.

Thats all I can think of for now.

[Necropolis]

Re: DRK soloable now?

Dread Spikes returns all damage dealt until the Drk have recover half of his max MP and you can /recast it every three minutes (or suppose to be able to)

So if a person has 1000 max hp, the spikes will stay up till they have absorbed 500 damage back. If that last for three minutes then they can just cast again.

With this glitch a drk can conceivablely cast every 10 seconds and tank infinitly as long as they don't have more than half thier HP recovered in 10 seconds or get 1 shotted by some move.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: DRK soloable now?

http://monsters.ffxi-atlas.com/camps.php

I use that site a lot; it's listed in two of the stickied post I've made. It isn't quite complete, though, at least for the ToAU area.

For example, the Lv.67-69 party I was in last night went from Dvucca Isle Staging Point to Caedarva Mire, to exp off of Ephramadian Shade (Fomor). I couldn't mark it on the map since I don't have a map, so even after going there, I still don't know where the camp is. /sigh (Doesn't help that I'm directionally challenged to begin with.)

The site is very helpful (thank you Tuufless!), but lacking familiarity with the zones and missing many maps mean I'm rather hesitant about taking pickup groups to these zones with myself as "leader".

Anyway, to Omgwtfbbqkitten: Yes, DRK's can solo some mobs for experience points, even before the update this month. I know a certain DRK/WHM (Gaffy on Ifrit) who's been solo'ing for quite some time now. The new spells made solo play better exp, though he would still rather get party invites instead.

[Eohmer]

Re: DRK soloable now?

I use that site a lot; it's listed in two of the stickied post I've made.
The site is very helpful (thank you Tuufless!), but lacking familiarity with the zones and missing many maps mean I'm rather hesitant about taking pickup groups to these zones with myself as "leader".

Oh, I didn't realize. I'm sorry.

I can see what you mean about the not having maps part. The Caedarva Mire quest is a little tough.

[tdh]

Re: DRK soloable now?

DRK can easily solo now, they just have to keep their MP up and DRK/SAM can basically stand there, with out their weapon drawn, and kill a mob.

When I saw that there was an emergency update to fix something, I figured DRK/SAM glitch would be at the top of the list.

I went and tested this two nights ago, but at Lv.63, I only have access to Drain II. Works just like the Dread Spikes glitch does. As long as I cast Drain II from a macro, I could cast it roughly ever 10 seconds. I also found out that the MAX HP bonuses do NOT stack.

Base HP, with full AF, was 1256.
Drain II - ${BASE} + 298 = 1554
-- 10 seconds later --
Drain II - ${BASE} + 233 = 1489

So my HP actually went "down." I was hoping they stacked and I could buff up to 2k HP and then Souleater Guillotine something for crazy amounts of damage.

So in the YouTube video I posted in another thread, they show a DRK who basically cast Dread Spikes, then pulled a mob with Drain II. He then stood there as the mob would hit him for 50~120dmg, and then Drain back the same HP from the hit. He finally got tired of watching the Colibri beat on him, so he Guillotined it.

With Seigan & 3rd Eye he didn't have to worry about getting interrupted in his casting. So if he has the MP, he could probably have solo'd an EM or T mob with out taking a single point of damage.