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

Looks like SE just added a Scythe with MAB and MDMG.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Deacon_Scythe

STR/INT +20 MAB +25 MDMG +170
Endark +20

Might be interesting for Infernal Scythe setups with Malaise.

Absorb duration is now 90 + (Dark Magic Skill-50)/5 + Enhance Absorb gear. Dark Magic Skill has no effect on duration when /drk.

Well at least NV + DS Absorb-Acc/ect is more useful now. That's the only time when it's worthwhile to cast Absorbs anyway.

so what's the current aim for sets using rag, and apoc?

What do you guys think about the Argosy and Lustratio gear? Notably both the HQ and NQ pieces as I'm not sure I'm going to be dropping that kind of money to get the +1. My personal thinking is the Argosy seems much more balanced between STR / DEX / Atk / Acc on a per-piece level for min-maxing while the Lustratio really seemed kinda lopsided. Asking the same question in the WAR forums since I play both jobs and see how it pans out.

I have Argosy +1 but body.
It's really a ws machine once haste is capped but you dont get enough acc to reach 1200 easily.
Bring a tank or a solid whm, no VIT at all ( which benefits scarlet delirium).

Yeah I was thinking along the lines of WS set for STR based WS's. Since no VIT or INT any ws that relies on those as partial mods would be hurt, well except for Insurgency which has a practically non-existent INT mod. Lots of attack and acc using Path A. Comparatively the Triton set really seemed hit or miss with pieces lacking one stat or another such that you'd risk hamstringing yourself with it.

Bump. Anyone have updates sets for Apoc/Rag/Liberator?

This guide helped me allot with my Dark Knight, all I need to do is skill up >_> Since my skills are pretty low haha

*Bump* still looking for apoc/rag sets

I'm really interested in this too. Not been on the job for months, almost finished my mythic so I'll have fun with that. I could provide some sets for Lib and Rag when I finished the scythe to 119, but that might be some time.

I'd wait until after the February update for anything serious as that could radically change how we treat those two weapons. Right now both are very bleh weapons, but if they receive another +20 accuracy, 269 skill, MDMG / MAB and larger DMG values then they become some of the best weapons of their class. Liberator would still be the best WS spam weapon, but 60 accuracy is extremely hard to argue with and Rag is the only GS that can do multi-part light / double light SC's.

For myself I'm using a Deathbane with the STR / Attack / DMG path and lots of valour gear with Odyssean legs. It's a similar set to what I use on WAR because DRK is really hurting for accuracy compared to the other 2H jobs and is far behind the DW jobs. Any WS sets you make will have to include all that accuracy, which severely limits your ability to maximize stat mods.

One thing DRK has going for it is that Scyth is absolutely amazing for skill chaining. Insurgency, Entropy and Cross Reaper are all very well positioned and because they are multi-hit there is less chance of a complete "whiff". If you need Frag then Resolution on GS serves the same purpose. Those WS's also scale very well with additional TP so having to hold or wait on a partner isn't a big deal. Not to mention you can MB a NV DS Drain III for some really silly HP numbers that lasts a long *** time and increase your survivability.

To be honest I think some players would like some sets, even if it doesn't include all the recent Escha/Reisenjima stuff. It starts getting complicated after you start adding all the random augment gear.

Well the set you'd use would highly depend on what content your doing. Are you just killing stuff around level 119 or trying to kill a 130 crab for CP? Accuracy dominates everything these days and because there is so much variability on gear, what is optimal on the 119 mobs won't be anywhere near optimal on the 130 mobs.

To give an example, right now I'm having to use Valouros Head / Hands / Feet with Odyssean legs in my WS set to maintain accuracy with sushi and appropriate accessories. I've posted my augments over on the WAR forums since it's the same gear for both, I can repost them here if people want. DRK really struggles to break 1080-1100 accuracy, before food or buffs, without resorting to Rag or Apoc and those are only worth 40 each and substandard for damage.

I think what players are looking for when they check this thread is something entry level. They are not looking to do the hardest possible content on DRK, that's for sure. While there will be the odd person who would love up-to-date sets with all the variables (suited for the toughest, most evasive content available), most who come here don't. So when I finish my mythic I can give my own gear sets, as I've been far too busy to mess around with equipment post Escha-Zitah; but they're still reasonable.

At this point it's about posting what people have .. and explaining what they use it for. I don't think anyone who plays DRK cares how far behind it is with accuracy compared to other jobs; all they want is something to aim for.

Kylos said it pretty well. Currently i'm mostly using drk to mess around with and get capacity points. I just feel outdated using acro gear still. I'm by no means looking to dump hundreds of millions in +1 escha gear but would love a good baseline of the new sets from each zone of what scales well. Should I be using duplus grip or bloodrain strap? etc

I'm trying hard to get my Mythic done, but it's looking most likely it will be finished in January. I could have a look at what I have before then, get it sorted out and add my gear sets.

I wish someone would post potential Escha/Reisenjima stuff for those who ain't done all that yet. I know it's tough because of the random augments, but some idea would be nice.

the randomness of augments doesn't bother me. I just want a baseline of what to go for between those three zones for sets

The baseline is Valorous and Odyssean gear from Reisenjima. Augments will be similar to Acro (acc/atk/stp/multihit) where your x-hit is priority #1, multi-attack will be factored in later. Duplus Grip/Bloodrain Strap really depends what gear you have and augments you can achieve, but in most situations just look at the WAR guide since the builds are roughly the same.

I use Liberator and argosy +1 body and legs. They're absolutely amazing. I got to do reisenjima nms on drk and problem with my set up is I can have 9000 tp waiting on the other person to start the sc. So we just spammed ws's and still killed most nms in under 2mins.

I actually found Emicho body / hands to be amazing as TP pieces since the stat update. Technically you can get more from Valor augments but it's random as *** and very hard to get something like Acc +35 Store TP +5~6 / ect. Not to mention the body comes from the most annoying of the Reisen T3's which many might not have a group that can take it down as farming status.

For me it's Valorous head, Emicho body / hands, Odyssean Legs and Valorous feet. I got super lucky on the feet though, 35 Acc and 7 Store TP, not so much lucky on the others though Acc +39 on the Odyssean legs is amazing.

I wish SE would of released an augmentable Scythe instead of a GS. Deathbane is good but I was really hoping for a way to get a ton of accuracy on a non-RME Scythe for making darkness.

I don't have any reisenjima gear for drk yet. But with argosy+1 body and legs I haven't had too much missing. So I'd imagine your drk is pretty set for endgame with that kind of accuracy. Mind telling me what your acc sits at when just head, body,hands, legs and feet? No acc accessories. Would be interesting to know.

I'd have to check it later but I would immediately caution you from ever TPing in Argosy, it will get you killed by anything remotely dangerous. Argosy is completely lacking in Magic Evasion, Magic Defense Bonus, Evasion, INT, MND and VIT. Those are now critical defensive stats that allow you to survive the overpowered moves that NM's now use. The lack of magic evasion alone will ensure that every single status ailment hits you for full duration and every magic spell / TP move hits you for full damage, which is made worse by not having MDB or INT to reduce it.

The only thing you can really TP in with Argosy is CP / fodder mobs, and even then I can imagine you will be taking significant damage.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Obschine

Extremely great point. I did however TP in argosy lol. On the two heavy magic casting nms in reisenjima. It really didn't go that bad. Granted I needed a cure each time magic was casted. But we killed fast enough and the RUN held amazingly well. I spammed ws's for 6-11k every second and couldn't get hate. I was trying just so I could say DRK can be utilized in endgame. However, I'd much prefer to use your set up. Just don't have any reisenjima gear yet for drk :(

You can make a good use of full argosy -> Scarlet Delirium

Well I've also proved Drk can be utilized in reisenjima situations. Just need a great tank. I don't CP, already 2100 Drk. So only options are to put it to the test. I've only tested tier 1 nms. You should use it in higher tiers. Tell Lord to not be a betch and that you want to Drk for events lol.

The tp set looks great and doesn't seem to terrible to obtain. What about ws sets and accessories to use these days?

Thanks I completely overlooked that. If it's anything like my GAXE then I can easily see 40+ accuracy and it tearing apart my deathbane. Going to start working on getting that soon.


Haha I never thought of that with it.


Well the T1's drop all the normal stuff, the chest can be a PITA to get the feet from. I found the Emicho body / hands Path B to be great TP pieces in place of Argosy so that's what I'm using for now. I really wish SE wouldn't of stripped the gear of it's stat vommit. Severely limits it when some of DRK's more powerful WS's have WSC's that include VIT, INT or MND.

And honestly it's the magic evasion that means the most. Magic evasion allows you to get reduced status effects or outright evade them entirely. We use GEO's Vex + Attunment precisely for this reason, to avoid the shitty AoE Amnesia, Charm, Bind, Plague, Paralyze, Slow, Petrify, Stun and so forth. Your iLevel magic evasion stacks with those buffs and by lowering your magic evasion your nullifying any effect Vex / Attunment will have. Sometimes you can get away with this as the status ailments aren't harshe or are ST and there is no hate reset, other times they are AoE and will effect you regardless or the NM has a hate reset move where it'll turn on you and then hit you with them.

I figure expert players might be able to get away with using it if they are really careful.

Anyone have a basic GS? I'm trying to get back into DRK