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

Thanks everyone, appreciate the DRK pro input :)

Seems to validate what I was sort of thinking already, just didn't know if I had any major blind spots of really impactful uses for Anguta. Sounds like no given my other weapons, just rather niche applications and a fun toy for things like Dyna/SoD. Makes sense! I'll still grab it next Aeonic over my other possible choices, if for no other reason than to make a nice lockstyle for it XD

The Anguta-R15? That’s your go-to if you wanna play like you're spamming GS Torcleaver. Cross-Reaper? Hell of a WS for blowin' up those parses. When you're takin’ out minions, drop your WS at 1250 TP. When you're facin' bosses, pump that up to 2250 TP.

Calabolg-R15. Unbeatable, no question. But when you get tired of that same ol’ Torcleaver grind, give the Anguta a spin. Trust me, it won’t let you down.

Now, let’s be real: inflating parses and the "Liberator" don’t exactly go hand in hand, even though it’s DRK’s best scythe. Insurgency, bein' a multi-hit WS, just ain't gonna give you those wild 40k overkills that Torcleaver and Cross-Reaper can dish out in low tp 1000-1250.

If you're only takin’ down bosses in Odyssey, Sortie, Unity—yeah, the Anguta’s not your best bet. But if you're grindin’ for Segments in C on DRK (and yeah, you should really be on WAR for that), or if you're still runnin' Dynamis Divergence, Vagary, or that kinda stuff, Anguta’s the closest you're gonna get to spamming GS Torcleaver with a scythe. Plus, it bloats those parses like a freakin' hippo.

I think the much closer experience would be R15 Redemption, since both weapon have strong white damage and scaling WS. That being said Redemption has slightly higher white damage, but lower WS damage and overall damage is 7-17% higher on Calad, depends on buffs. That obviously ignoring the fact that Torc>Torc is self Light, because then the gap is much larger.

I think the conversation of which is better isn't the entire story. It really depends on what you're doing.
If I'm in a 18 person alliance, I'm probably using Caladbolg.
If i'm in a 6 person Oddysey run(or content where I'm the only DD hitting a mob), Liberator consistantly does more than Caladbolg due to non stop 4 step double dark.
If I'm doing stuff with trusts, Apocalypse usually wins.

Use the weapon that works best in that situation. I haven't finished my Anguta yet, but I have a feeling it's going to collect dust like my Redemption does.

I haven't touched Odyssey for a while, but what are you doing there, that takes any significant damage from skillchains. Definitely nothing from A3 and A4.


Kinda depends. Sometimes killing something faster is safer than trying to stay alive through mechanics. I'm saying that as a person who thinks, that Apocalypse is the coolest weapon in game.

If you're fighting a high level Unity NM solo and cannot rely on a trust tank, then spamming Cata could be the way to go, otherwise you are defaulting to Torc and smash. Liberator is great to multi-step skillchain for a stagger, so for bosses like Kalunga where your TP flow can take a hit from debuffs.


That's pretty much all there is to it. At least Anguta looks nice. I have Lionheart and Sequence and never use 'em, lol. Lionheart would only be good if there was content where you need to DD on Rune but cannot use Dimidiation, so Resolution spam would be the way... but that never happens. The T4 Sandworm in Reisenjima is the only thing I would consider using it on.

There is no need for Liberator on Kalunga at all. Resolution > Herculean > Resolution > Herculean is good enough to stagger. Herculean is magic (can't miss) and Resolution is 5 hits base (chance for miss is practically 0), so both are very reliable to 4 step. Also someone can step in and close scission with Savage instead of your Resolution, if Kalunga decide to throw Stoneskin between your WSs.

The one I mentioned is endless, it's "endless" scission <> detonation

I stand corrected. Always did hard slash > Herculean over and over. Missed the 4 step in your chain and you are correct. Using resolution is better for all but 100 percent chance on landing.

Didn't say it was "needed", I said it was great for it. You don't "need" Liberator for this, but the TP flow is crazy and makes it less likely that things can go wrong. Not saying anyone has to do it that way. Whatever works for you.

Would a max Scarlet Delirium set still activate if you have Dread Spikes up? I'm thinking since you're healed immediately (after resists) , I'm curious how the game calculates the damage bonus. do you get no bonus because you didn't really lose any hp%, or do you still get the bonus based on the hp% lost on the initial hit, ignoring the absorb (if it activates)

Also, does anyone use the non-ilvl Plastron Set as an alternative to Ratri? I'm thinking of making a second macro using Plastron Set for when I'm under the effect of HP boost and i can afford to get hit for 3k health

The damage is factored in 1st, so itll function as normal, you just get healed after the dmg is received for presumably the amount of dmg you took.

It'd be like if a single hit took you to 0, you're gonna die 1st before the heal kicks in

I mentioned this a couple of years ago, purposely trying to be in harm's way to boost Scarlet Delirium, but somebody said it wasn't worth it because it is about the % of damage taken compared to your HP. Although, I remember that this was about the Ratri set, which has a lot of HP on it. Either way, it is risky to use non-ilvl gear to boost SD unless you know for sure you're getting healed afterward by a trust or someone's automated mule.

The idea with the non-ilvl set is I could use it when I have somewhere north of 3500/4k HP via Drain 3 so I could afford to take the hit. I'd still use the Ratri+1 set (which comes naturally with very high HP) for harder hitting ilvl targets where dying would really screw up the run but still wanted to utilize the bonus and survive afterwards. It being risky is exactly the purpose of the ability xD, its a high risk high reward ja, so not sure what that person meant when they said it was not worth it. Obviously shouldn't be using this on Kalunga or anything.

I wanted feedback from someone who has a lot of courage (or stupidity =P) and uses Plastron +1 set before i consider buying one. I'd probably test it out on V25 A1/2 NMs to see how much damage I can expect to take, since those guys have an absurd attack bonus trait

I'd love to know how much damage boost Scarlet Delirium gives, but have never seen anyone share any numbers. This was why I asked before, because if you're not trying to maximize damage potential, then what are we even doing on Dark Knight? Lol.

What do you mean? The damage multiplier is directly proportionate to the HP % lost on the next attack received following SD use, by half.

I.e. have 5k hp , take 2500, you lost 50%, so you gain a 25% damage boost.

It's written out explicitly on the wiki as such

Oh. I have read that before, but I seem to have deleted it from my memory, lol.

it can be a substantial boost, just kind of annoying to time to properly maximize unless there's a set big move like gin's aoe throat stab, a little easier to get an okay return since any decent dmg is at worst a 1% increase and fights love their aoe dmg now, if you arent kiting aita/degeis's stuff is pretty easy to time as well for an early bump.

Would assume its capped at a 49% increase since its lost hp%/2

Yeah, that's the thing. The timing is rough. You could end up eating a big move and dying. Or you could pop it and the enemy decides to go after someone else, lol. It's much easier in a solo fight, but when a party is involved it's difficult to ask your healer to be on high alert every time it gets popped. I usually just stay in my regular TP set (with less Sakpata) with the hope I get hit for a somewhat decent boost.

You could probably just pop SD during Kalunga or any Sortie boss randomly in your glass Cannon TP set and take 50% damage just the same, since that stuff hits hard enough in non DT builds.

That's what I thought. Although, again, it's all about the timing. You could be waiting too long in that set to get the boost and potentially wasting time that could be better spent.

Instead of going for big HP pool and taking a larger hit, you could intentionally lower your HP and increase your damage taken for a smaller, reliable hit.

The bonus is proportionate so it's all %s. Doesn't matter if it's big or small damage so long as the % of total health is bigger.

The only downside is that you'd be at physically lower hp when it's done so it wouldn't be good if you are the main target, but it would be good for something like mobs with AoE autoattacks.

Disclaimer: I put my DRK gear back into storage very quickly and it usually stays there for long periods of time. This is not what I've spent my time on. Only what +2 cases think I want...over and over again...

Never considered lowering HP. Might be a good time to break out Diabolic Eye in conjunction with SD to force a higher percentage cut on the next attack. Great suggestion Iocus!

White mages must hate us with our erratic HP values.

Drain 3 > "Wow, that guy has a lot of... oh, it's just the DRK."

Dread Spikes in HP gear > "Holy crap that guy is dying... oh, it's the DRK casting in their Dread Spikes set."

Scarlet Delirum + Diabolic Eye in non-ilvl gear getting smashed in the face for crazy damage boost > "What the hell is that DRK doing?! Are they trying to give me a heart attack?!"

only the bot whms, once you see the number and not the color you just kinda get used to drk rubberbanding its HP around

I throw Scarlet praise with screenshots in various thread all the time. Most fun ability in the game.

This is probably my favorite one, because it's also best use for Apocalypse I have found so far :)
Keep in mind this is almost 2 years old, probably like Nyame20,empy+2 and no Aria.

Most guaranteed to piss off your healers ability in the game, for sure.

You better bring your own healer if you wanna go all emo-Drk circa 2003.

In fact, why not stack it with Souleater for maximum emo-ness.

You can control this ability to some extension. Predict damage, have few tiers of gear to boost %HP damage taken etc. You can use Dread Spikes on stuff that you know won't resist the effect. You can have TP ready to use Catastrophe or Origin (and miss :D). In current state of the game, everything that brings some emotions and breaks the routine is welcomed.

It’s sad that it has been reduced to a mere gimmick. Hell, I can’t even soul eater anymore unless I’m using it to grab hate on the botulism and then turn it off, primes capping DMG so easily kinda killed SD and SE unless you just want to troll your healers (and my static healers will just let me die lol)