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So you want to level Dark Knight? Well, I will tell you my experience
leveling it from 1-75, some do's and don'ts, and the smart way to gear up.
Basic Gear Strategy:
We all know about Dark Knight accuracy. They couldn't hit water if they
fell out of a boat in the middle of an ocean. So whats a good way to make
up for this? Duh, accuracy gear. STR gear is good an all... But at lower
levels its not going to make much a difference, so build on your accuracy.
About the time your character learns Guillotine or Spinning Slash, thats
when you should start building on STR.
Basic Food Use:
DO NOT USE SUSHI lv 1-30/40 lol. That adds accuracy by %, and will
end up doing almost nothing at lower levels. Stick with Meat Mithkabobs
or Jerky or something, until lv30-40 or so, then pick up any sushi. (I used
Squid a lot because its much cheaper then Sole, but in later levels, I did
use Sole almost all the time.)
Basic Spell Use:
Lol, drk spells... DRK only has a handful of useful spells. They are Drain,
Aspir, Bio I & II, Stun, Sleep I & II, and Absorb spells. Do not bother with
the elementals. But be sure to have these magic skills leveled!:
Dark Magic
Enfeeble Magic
Do not fall behind on leveling these, even if your drains or aspirs suck, just
level them. They will save you, and your parties later on. Theyll also
make your WS's much stronger, and the enemy a bit weaker so fights will
go faster. Make use of Absorb spells!
Basic Armor Strategy:
Do not get defense armor. Thats useless for DRK's. Instead, get armor
that will boost your stats. Do not bother with Evasion, AGI, and like stats,
though. Focus on Attack, Accuracy, and then some other things. Post
Guillotine and Spinning Slash, start gearing towards STR, attack, and
some possible modifiers for your WS's. (Guilloting is STR + MND,
Spinning Slash is STR + INT, Spiral Hell is STR + INT)
Basic Weapon Strategy:
Lol. Ive seen some people leveling DRK that didnt touch scythe. Instead
they leveled GS all the way. Big mistake. The smart thing to do with DRK
is to level both Scythe and GS at the same time, because if you only level
one, its going to be a BITCH to level it once youre in the high levels. Trust
me. But make sure Scythe is leveled first, it will be your most useful
weapon.
Do not get swords, axes, or any of that crap. Get either GS or Scythe
ONLY, and when getting a GS or Scythe, make sure to get the highest
DMG one. Do not get a lower delay. Youre out to make big hits, not a lot
of little ones.
Basic Subjob Use:
1-30/60 - Take WAR as your Subjob. It will give you the most benefits
with Attack.
30/60-74/75 - Take THF as your subjob. Sneak Attack + WS's will be
very useful, but MAY give you a LOT of hate. This is why you might want
to stick with WAR sub until 60 (so you can have Trick Attack.) THF
makes a very good end-game sub for drk.
74-75 - NIN as subjob, if you have Uts: Ichi (Ni is also good, but not really
needed). This isnt very effective at all... But sometimes people call for it.
With NIN as your SJ, you will almost NEVER pull hate, but when you do
you have your shadows to fall back on. With NIN SJ you can also use
Souleater much more often without having to worry about dying, or
overworking the healers. NIN sub is also VERY good for soloing
(obviously.) It is also rumored that Serket was easily solo'd by a drk/nin.
Do's and Don'ts:
Dont make everyones job harder. Dont cast Elemental Spells, or Poison
or Bind, wasting all your mp. Use the mp you have on the stuff that helps
you and your party, and will give you less downtime.
When you get absorb spells, use them, but dont bother with casting
useless absorb spells... An example of this is using Absorb-CHR on a
Goblin Butcher... Absorb its STR, DEX, AGI, VIT and TP. These four
Absorb spells will be most useful for making mobs weaker to your party.
Do not only cast absorb spells before your WS's. Cast them throughout
your battles. When the time is right, and youre able to WS at THAT
moment, then cast your absorb spell to strengthen your WS modifier.
Do not spam Souleater. Sure, it does pretty damage, but unless you have
Muted Soul merited, dont spam it. It will just get you killed very very fast.
A useful technique is to use it when the mob is at 75-50% HP, when the
tank has plenty of hate. After the mob is around 30-20% HP, do your WS
(if souleater is still active) and finish off the mob.
DO! make a macro for souleater, and let the healers know whats going on.
Put a call on the macro so they can act accordingly.
(more to come, I think? Im not good at making guides lol)
leveling it from 1-75, some do's and don'ts, and the smart way to gear up.
Basic Gear Strategy:
We all know about Dark Knight accuracy. They couldn't hit water if they
fell out of a boat in the middle of an ocean. So whats a good way to make
up for this? Duh, accuracy gear. STR gear is good an all... But at lower
levels its not going to make much a difference, so build on your accuracy.
About the time your character learns Guillotine or Spinning Slash, thats
when you should start building on STR.
Basic Food Use:
DO NOT USE SUSHI lv 1-30/40 lol. That adds accuracy by %, and will
end up doing almost nothing at lower levels. Stick with Meat Mithkabobs
or Jerky or something, until lv30-40 or so, then pick up any sushi. (I used
Squid a lot because its much cheaper then Sole, but in later levels, I did
use Sole almost all the time.)
Basic Spell Use:
Lol, drk spells... DRK only has a handful of useful spells. They are Drain,
Aspir, Bio I & II, Stun, Sleep I & II, and Absorb spells. Do not bother with
the elementals. But be sure to have these magic skills leveled!:
Dark Magic
Enfeeble Magic
Do not fall behind on leveling these, even if your drains or aspirs suck, just
level them. They will save you, and your parties later on. Theyll also
make your WS's much stronger, and the enemy a bit weaker so fights will
go faster. Make use of Absorb spells!
Basic Armor Strategy:
Do not get defense armor. Thats useless for DRK's. Instead, get armor
that will boost your stats. Do not bother with Evasion, AGI, and like stats,
though. Focus on Attack, Accuracy, and then some other things. Post
Guillotine and Spinning Slash, start gearing towards STR, attack, and
some possible modifiers for your WS's. (Guilloting is STR + MND,
Spinning Slash is STR + INT, Spiral Hell is STR + INT)
Basic Weapon Strategy:
Lol. Ive seen some people leveling DRK that didnt touch scythe. Instead
they leveled GS all the way. Big mistake. The smart thing to do with DRK
is to level both Scythe and GS at the same time, because if you only level
one, its going to be a BITCH to level it once youre in the high levels. Trust
me. But make sure Scythe is leveled first, it will be your most useful
weapon.
Do not get swords, axes, or any of that crap. Get either GS or Scythe
ONLY, and when getting a GS or Scythe, make sure to get the highest
DMG one. Do not get a lower delay. Youre out to make big hits, not a lot
of little ones.
Basic Subjob Use:
1-30/60 - Take WAR as your Subjob. It will give you the most benefits
with Attack.
30/60-74/75 - Take THF as your subjob. Sneak Attack + WS's will be
very useful, but MAY give you a LOT of hate. This is why you might want
to stick with WAR sub until 60 (so you can have Trick Attack.) THF
makes a very good end-game sub for drk.
74-75 - NIN as subjob, if you have Uts: Ichi (Ni is also good, but not really
needed). This isnt very effective at all... But sometimes people call for it.
With NIN as your SJ, you will almost NEVER pull hate, but when you do
you have your shadows to fall back on. With NIN SJ you can also use
Souleater much more often without having to worry about dying, or
overworking the healers. NIN sub is also VERY good for soloing
(obviously.) It is also rumored that Serket was easily solo'd by a drk/nin.
Do's and Don'ts:
Dont make everyones job harder. Dont cast Elemental Spells, or Poison
or Bind, wasting all your mp. Use the mp you have on the stuff that helps
you and your party, and will give you less downtime.
When you get absorb spells, use them, but dont bother with casting
useless absorb spells... An example of this is using Absorb-CHR on a
Goblin Butcher... Absorb its STR, DEX, AGI, VIT and TP. These four
Absorb spells will be most useful for making mobs weaker to your party.
Do not only cast absorb spells before your WS's. Cast them throughout
your battles. When the time is right, and youre able to WS at THAT
moment, then cast your absorb spell to strengthen your WS modifier.
Do not spam Souleater. Sure, it does pretty damage, but unless you have
Muted Soul merited, dont spam it. It will just get you killed very very fast.
A useful technique is to use it when the mob is at 75-50% HP, when the
tank has plenty of hate. After the mob is around 30-20% HP, do your WS
(if souleater is still active) and finish off the mob.
DO! make a macro for souleater, and let the healers know whats going on.
Put a call on the macro so they can act accordingly.
(more to come, I think? Im not good at making guides lol)
