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

For refresh/regen idle sets, in the interest of inventory space I prefer prioritizing slots+inventory for refresh over regen.

A hybrid set that is basically the refresh set, with wiglen gorget and pagurdoidea ring for alittle regen tossed in is what I go for.

A DRK that doesnt have mp to drain/aspir/absorb is a sad dark.

I'd rather get back mp faster so I can spend 37mp and pull off a Drain II for 700 outside of abyssea when running around killing trashmobs/questing/magian trials/etc. For this reason an overboard regen set isnt really needed because MP is your lifeblood.

If people don't have a twilight body yet, Plastron isn't too rare an option if you need an AH buyable refresh body option.

Looks like I need to hunt down a few more pieces.
I was thinking of making a stronger +mdt version when I can anticipate getting nuked and use Jelly ring+wiglen gorget, but I need more inventory space.

added Regen and Refresh sets

You never know, they might release more major regen and refresh pieces in the future. Even if someone doesn't go extreme with these regen/refresh sets, they can mix up the ones they do get if they want too.

Edit: Sapphire said it better then I could lol. I hate having no MP and not being able to Aspir something. :(

It is simple enough to set up Spellcast and Autoexec to swap for regen/refresh idle sets when needed. I could understand not carrying a lot of gear for it seeing as almost all of us are struggling for inventory, but pieces like twilight mail/helm are carried around by everyone.

This is when I enjoy keeping my Entropy merits and having 2-4 Scythe :3 Almost instant refill.

I have super aggressive idle/vanity set switching in my DRK spellcast that keeps me in Spectacles/Plastron/Crimson/Crimson/Crimson, and if I'm dying for MP (<20%) it also puts Stearc legs on and would put Twilight and Hairpin on if I had them, but just Plastron and Bale neck is enough to top me off between most any fights I might use some MP. A Regen set is definitely appealing though.

High-end refresh set is technically missing Valkyrie's Helm, which can be augmented with 2/tic refresh.

+DT sets for Scarlet Delirium are tricky for a couple of reasons. One, they can obviously get you killed. The other is that you're sacrificing a lot of offensive power while you have them equipped. Apoc arguably gets the best mileage out of such a set since belt + aftermath caps delay reduction with LR and buffs up, but regardless of weapon the longer you have the set equipped the less you're actually benefitting from it. It's not a set I'd prioritize, but if you can reasonably make good use of it then it certainly doesn't hurt to have some +DT gear on hand.

I've read that in most situations, Armada Hauberk is a better option than Valkyrie's breastplate, yet I have seen Valk in several TP sets. Is Valk only better in low acc/fodder mob situations? What situations would you use Valk over Armada?

Nice catch, shall fix

Too broad of a question.

Valk >>> Armada. If you have both Armada is only used in high ACC sets. Legion Mul is rare places Armada > Valk and even that is dependant on buffs. The only other reason to use Armada is to achieve an Xhit.

For the Entropy set wouldnt drachenhorn be better since it has 2 more int/str and more attack?

Not exactly.

The Attack+% on Drachenhorn only multiplies the base attack by a percentage, whereas with Twilight you're adding more base attack. As nice as an attack+% might look for an Entropy build, Drachen only puts it marginally behind Twilight once Last Resort's attack multipliers kick in. (Attack+% on Phorcys Body is different since Body has WS Damage increase and set bonus)

Byrthnoth on BG tested this: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/110506-What-s-Better?p=5328697&viewfull=1#post5328697

But supposedly in the event that you cap out SV Minuet, Drachen marginally beats out Twilight: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/110506-What-s-Better?p=5329027&viewfull=1#post5329027

I might have gotten the context wrong, so feel free to correct me if I did.

Added Austar's 5-Hit Apoc AM set, tweaked some stuff around.

I was about to post the same thing, with a genuine question asking if the DT+ stacks on those two, although in a more sarcastic manner. I never tested it but I'm sure they do because SE are kinda *** like that.

Many props for fun, educating read and especially for the great steady updating. Great guide you wrote there. And thanks to everyone contributing, too. I love the civil tone that's been kept throughout all of this thread and how no questiion seems to have been overlooked.

The only thing I could think of being worthy to be added as further details might be a line about STP requirements for certain x-hit builds. Which I realize would be quite some extra work, was just thinking it might give people without access to all, but some of the high tier items some guide lines about what kind of items they could use to substitue another etc.

Another thing I was wondering about is how the Dark Knight community is handle the incoming Embrava nerf. Will you guys add a smidge more Haste to Embrava sets or will ppl just assume the presense of Marches to pick up the slack?

Embrava nerf is pretty much destroying SCH. SCH will probably just be used for Stun whoring now and BRDs will be more important.

The nerfed version of embrava is only going to be in neo salvage and the new meebles floor for now. There was a dev post saying they were not going to nerf it for some of the other content ill try and find a link to it.

Edit: phone doesnt like to copy stuff so its in the Matsui: embrava and perfect defense adjustments. Embrava nerf is cancelled for ADL thats going to stay how it is for the rest they are undecided.

Yeah, the loss of Regain and the shorter duration (they never specified if they'd take it off the Perpetuance list, right?) will certainly kill it for NNI, never done Legion beyond a PUG so I'm not sure how vital Embrava really was there.
But I did have Meeble in mind when I was asking about Embrava sets earlier. At least for the boss floors I can still Embrava being used. But to clarify: Once the final version of the nerf arrives, will you just let your Embrava sets die out all together or is it worth adjusting sets for when you won't have brds to reflect the 9% Haste that Embrava will have lost for SCHs at 500 Enhancing Magic?

Also, damn, I wasn't too worried about the nerf but Taint just totally put that into perspective. SCH's short post-Abyssea reign is coming to an end.

Pretty sure you've got that wrong; they said they'd be nerfing Embrava everywhere after reviewing what adjustments they wanted to make to existing content and that ADL was currently not on the list to receive any adjustments.

Anyway ADL shouldn't be the content to worry about. I'm more concerned for contents like Provenance watcher or Legion (even though I didn't do a lot of Legion).

Forums > general > matsui: embrava and pd adjustments thread > page 6 theres a post from the official jp forum that slycer translated. Idk if im just reading it wrong but it does sorta sound like they are keeping it the same for some stuff.

I think the semi-nerf stuff is temporary, and eventually they'll nerf it for everything. And by then we'll probably be looking at Adoulin stuff more than current content if the new expansion is promising.

On the flip side of that I always prioritize regen over refresh because casting Drain/Aspir/Absorb will actually make you a sad dark in most situations by taking away valuable swinging time. Sure there are times like you mentioned that casting can be useful, but how many magian trials are you exactly doing on Drk, and how many times do you really need to Drain on EP mobs that won't hit you anyways? I choose Regen > DT > Refresh for idle and using a Plastrom like you mentioned would completely trash my DT for a miniscule and unimportant refresh tic.

What are you doing where someone can't toss you a Cure II or equivalent between fights, and is a regen set actually doing more for you than a refresh set in these situations?

What are you doing that someone can toss you a Cure II that a refresh set is doing anything for you at all?

I've been working out how to show STP targets for a while now, but it gets tricky when you have an aftermath WS to work with too. There are tons of ways to reach a given normal hitbuild now, and even a few variants on the top-end hitbuilds, that just giving a target value for TP/WS is most useful.

OAT GS makes for a good example, but these numbers apply to all 480 delay weapons with Resolution.

480 delay, Resolution, one-miss-tolerant.
6-hit - 30/0, 27/10, 25/20
5-hit - 59/10, 58/14, 57/17, 56/20, 55/25

Notice how several variants are given, specifically for changes in the WS set target for the 6-hits. This is mostly because getting the extra tenth on secondaries can be highly valuable and lower the TP phase need, but might be prohibitive when you change to /WAR for example. I've even given the theoretical 59/10 for a Ker's Flanchard inclusive capped haste build I've been tooling with. The 57/17 is more of a 'found' setup based on a very common TP phase total once you have Phorcys and Ogier hands and some granular variations on it are given too (Kokou/Attila's, Wrathwing instead of Ace's Leggings, stuff like that). 56/20 often comes up as the /SAM 5-hit also.

Maybe just add a third number in parenthesis for alternate/aftermath WS. The idea is a quick reference to a pair of values rather than detailing whole sets.

Hitbuilding with Resolution is definitely more centric on your WS return. Something I like about Liberator is that it always has a four hit WS, so seeing the mystical 4-hit plus Mythic AM3 might be possible in the near future.

Do you actually have an answer or do you just enjoy being contrary? I'm looking for your rationale, not a pointless argument.

For NNI i can say a hybrid regen/refresh set helped(with my group at least). It also is handy for Meeble Burrows.

I wasn't casting tier3's or absosrbAGI etc.. but endark and stun mainly.

Also for the Idle Refresh set you listed on the first page Balrahn's Ring is handy when the latent is active- not sure if anyone else mentioned that.

forgot about that- adding to the set.

I'm stumped on what could be considered a "low accuracy" set btw, anyone care to clarify?