FFXIV - The Dark Knight experience

as a tank main in final fantasy 14, specifically a warrior main, dungeon tanking is easy, you just pop bloodwetting and the rest takes care of itself
but when you go dark knight, you better pray you healer trusts you enough to not die so your abilities actually proc
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[@galanothi]

It's more a "when your support is actually putting effort into screwing you up" than anything.

[@Spas176]

We’re just allowing Dark knights to become the strugglers they strive to be.

[@Zedrinbot]

Don't forget Arm's Length! If your healer sees you use that there's a +28% chance of them treating you with basic respect!

[@Grimnoire]

Fuck holy

[@KenanVonKaiser]

Why Arm Length Is Useless!

[@lebron7071]

this is arm's length propaganda

[@GameMa5Ter2O01]

@@KenanVonKaiser sides bosses it makes enemies attack 20% slower (including auto attacks!!!)

[@KenanVonKaiser]

@@GameMa5Ter2O01 Meh!

[@retzerbil867]

Can't forget the holy stuns when you're trying to make TBN break

[@robotom6595]

When I get those WHMs who wait about 1-2 gcds before Holy spam it makes me feel again

[@ElZamo92]

Well,then just not mitigate at all when you just pulled a massive wave, since there’s a 95% chance the WHM will spam Holly. Also look for when they literally dive in the middle of the death ball of enemies as a que for Holly spamming. OR…. Turn off grit and pop TBN on the healer when they do preemptively bast regen on you and get targeted by a massive ball of death, then pop your stance back on an pull the enemies before the healer dies. (I’ll let you know I’m being slightly hyperbolic and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk)

[@ShermTank7272]

@@ElZamo92No, no, keep going with that stance dance... those WHMs had it coming

[@StriderHoang]

When they gave Living Dead self-heal on gcds last year I nearly cried.

[@satanasluciferi7278]

Of joy?

[@nanachimakenshi2512]

Sad thing as both a DRK/WAR main this is so true at times. If you're WAR sometimes the healer just fucks off and you don't even notice. But when you're DRK and the healer decides to go away, you feel it and it sucks.

[@Zoly633]

I actually had a DRK thank me for properly healing them once. I told them the job I use when tanking is DRK and we had that brother sister bonding moment with head nods. Like I gotchu buu!

[@Arkansym]

To this day, and I think I speak for us all: when healers go into autopilot, we all play like this.

[@jy.creator]

Why. Why must we suffer.

[@MyVanir]

release your hands, for your will drags us under

[@nicpelkey]

My legs grow tired, tell us where must we wander

[@dannysok3648]

If a tank buster appears on me im taking them with me

[@SamTheLemonBoy]

Absolute painful experience in roulettes as a DRK

[@robotom6595]

I am a DRK main. I want to thank you for perfectly capturing my frustrations when i hear ppl "DrK iS tHe WoRst tANk, It sO Bad in DungEonS"

[@reachinghigher4259]

DRK is a raid tank. WAR is the roulette tank. Played well either is good, but most people don't know how to work with each other so it ends up being a WAR-is-best thing cuz unga bunga is easier to figure out.

[@otarooyama8409]

​@@reachinghigher4259what about pld and gnb?

[@micahlindley7515]

​@@otarooyama8409Fish Tanks.

[@otarooyama8409]

@@micahlindley7515 what is a fish tank.

[@robotom6595]

@@otarooyama8409 all tanks are fine in all content. There was a time where you could argue that certain tanks were exclusively MT or OT tanks, but really all of them can do either role, just with varying levels of comfort and ease at the role they're filling. PLD and GNB don't have WAR levels of frequent self sustain, but they still have decent self healing tools.

[@BonePapi]

The amount of self-heals WAR is boasting has broken me into wishing every Tank had that much self-sustain. p l e a s e

[@yaluckyboy]

this is why even though I love Dark Knight, I still rarely use them in Dungeons

[@absollum]

God I feel this in my soul. Playing dark knight is the reason I'm a better healer. I'm honestly glad dark knight isn't just a self healing bot like the other tanks. Keeps me on my toes as both a DK and a healer.

[@legacymse7095]

Yeah, being a healer when there’s a warrior is a boring experience in dungeons. Strangely enough, I don’t have any problem with Drk as long as they use their cooldowns correctly. If there’s a good tank and a good healer, you don’t need to use gcds. But if there’s a mediocre tank just pressing buttons in any order, you don’t need to heal at all

[@xXluluchanelXx]

if you play with an intermediate SCH like me there's actually a small chance we'll ACCIDENTALLY do a good job with each other, since I have very little burst damage mop-up and if I panic and blow my cooldowns, it's just you and my faerie anyway, babyyyy! I have a feeling I am going to enjoy DRK tanks once I have practiced playing with one. I have luckily so far not screwed any over by accident. when I found out that was a possibility you should have seen me, life flashed before my eyes

[@Slamdunx]

having been on both ends of the situation it always just feels bad when you and the healer/tank aren't on the same wavelength

[@Corrderio]

It's worse when you have a DRK that doesn't use TBN

[@Slamdunx]

@@Corrderio it's worse when any tank forgets to use all their mits, as great as the class specific ones are I have had to remind my friends a few times that Arms length and reprisal are both mitigations and good ones at that

[@fushisaruhiko]

This actually HURTS - A DRK main

[@bocatt9202]

Raids as DRK be like: "So you want me to put reprisal and TB mits WHERE in my 19 oGCD opener?"

[@saintpres4ge533]

As a support main, I can confirm we know enough to mess you up. And we will. Consider it revenge for the content represented in FFXIV - The Healer experience.

[@Max58183]

Leave us Dark Knights be. The game already hates us more than enough. Don't kick the job that is already knocked down by SE... If you still crave revenge, better go and teach them Warriors a lesson to respect healers again :(

[@saintpres4ge533]

@@Max58183 Honestly most of the time, this kind of stuff is just us paying enough attention to try to keep everyone alive, but also not enough attention to 1 specific person. If you say nothing, I will heal you if you get low, etc. Such is the life of the healer main, frantically trying to keep idiots alive while not knowing what they were thinking. So if you have something specific, make sure to let your local healer know, only the greatest of us will know what you can do, the rest will just hope you know what you can do.

[@ghostgrims5838]

​@@Max58183nah we can heal ourselves better than healers can heal 😂 go teach pallys a lesson 😂

[@IBeJaMz]

That’s why I always turn off stance n shirk half way just to spice things up then Living Dead stay Toxic Kings !

[@SamFagundes]

@@IBeJaMz🍷🗿

[@Nyx685]

Realistic green hand got me wheezing

[@LordEverlost]

"Healers like you belong on a cross!" Seriously though this is why I took up playing healer, too many glare mages and broil scholars back in 3.0

[@pragmat1k]

As a DRK main I legit hate being in a party with Sages. It feels like their kit is specifically designed to hard counter what I'm trying to do.

[@legacymse7095]

How so? Stop you from breaking TBN? TBN will always break first, shield healer can’t sabotage you

[@Stone_Stronghold]

Maybe you meant whm TBN rake priority over other shields

[@barneybetsington7501]

@@legacymse7095bad at game so will blame healer. the usual

[@sweetdiseases]

I just want to say I seriously love your animations. I've watched the SMN like 12 times now. Thank you for making these.

[@BirdCyclops]

im really glad you like em, they are a pleasure to make

[@lucasmoore3907]

I watch all of your videos and still haven't played FF14 LOL, love your stuff!

[@ovum]

Just do it

[@fauxwolf]

Succumb, play the game

[@Efnatsu2001]

One of us..

[@ZurichiVonVorst]

I leveled Dark Knight just for the story. Now that it's maxed leveled and Glam to perfection. I just use it to stand in random places and look cool. I just like Warrior too much!

[@JeweledRoseStudios]

I mean, it’s a GREAT story

[@krodmandoon3479]

You like Warrior because they gave them Dark Knight's HW identity.

[@smugron1101]

Unironically my experience with DRK. The number of times my healer didn't realise I just used living dead and healed me just enough for it to run out is staggering.

[@BaghNakh1]

tbh if you're going to invuln, you're kinda expected to let the healer know and i'm not a healer main. when i do rouls i always let the party know that im going to invuln the first pack so the healer doesnt panic and waste big cds. sure as a pld its whatever cuz i just do a big pull and inmediately invuln but when i play one of the other three tanks i always let the healer know that im going to invuln so they dont panic and act accordingly depending which tank and their respective invuln im going to use. assuming the healer has to "adapt" to your invuln usage is when most problems come, like when i play gnb and i use superbolide and 1 sec later im back to full and the invuln gets completely wasted cuz i was too lazy to start the roul with "hi, im going to invuln the first pull", if i do this and still the healer panics and heals me back to full when i activate the invuln then its absolutely 100% healers fault for not reading party chat otherwise is kinda shared resposability, healer for not realizing my invuln is active but also me for not letting them know what i was planning to do.

[@smugron1101]

@@BaghNakh1 Healers should always keep an eye on the status effects/debuffs/buffs that a party member has incase they need to use Esuna or maybe they used an ability that makes heals stronger on them so you don't need to cast as many to get them back to a good amount. I agree that you should notify your healer but it is very easy to see a tank use their invuln because of the flashy effects that they all have.

[@UnstoppableSmooze]

this hurt with how accurate this is

[@AshnSilvercorp]

*_I've, become so numb, I can't feel you there!_*

[@DevilSeiji]

The healer. it me

[@heritage6587]

As a drk main yes

[@JohnDavid-zv8in]

OMG!!!! This one is freaking excellent. As a DRK can testify to this.

[@pumpkingamebox]

To be called out like this, fuck.

[@zoruasnivy]

Playing DRK with WHM friends is just constant anxiety trying desperately to mind read each other like some kind of strategy game

[@VashimuXIV]

I have excepted my lot in life as a dark knight main, and I do it with a smile on my face. Or maybe that’s the Stockholm syndrome talking I don’t know.

[@sonicroze]

Am I the DRK? Yes. Is my healer a WHM? Yes. Do they use Holy spam? No Open mitigation with TBN Do they use Holy Spam? Yes Wait on TBN for 7-10 seconds Am I the healer? Yes Am I a WHM? Yes. Is the DRK using TBN? No. Holy spam Is the DRK using TBN? Yes Toss a regen on him and go back to DPS. Use Holy when it inevitably breaks I literally any other healer? Yes Panic.

[@BirdCyclops]

LMAO i heal with SCH and its SO REAL doesnt help that i main WAR so my perception of what is considered an "oh no" moment has been completely destroyed

[@NotTheWheel]

Dark Knights are much better than they used to be... Used to be a nightmare to heal back in the ol' HW for me. Since Shadowburgers they haven't been so bad.

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

That or you just got better at healing. If a DRK has to pop LD, you have failed at healing.

[@sesamechicken1000]

everytime i see a healer panic-gcd through my living dead and end up killing me i often wonder why i dont get healers like that since shb + stb(?)

[@luxgracetail4599]

.. ow. Ow. Waaaaay too real pffff - I don't usually use text macros (makes it more likely that the ability doesn't go off) but the amount of times I've been healed out of Living Dead is. Way, way Way too many You're horrible for forcing me to relive this trauma (your content is excellent, I've turned your Esuna video into a text-macro (I don't think I'll ever use it but boy, some healers really make me want to never queue a non-healer role again))

[@Midare13]

Sounds more like "scholars in a nutshell".

[@BirdCyclops]

Nooohohooo if I had to make a vid about all the issues with scholar it'd be my first 30 minute video in a while

[@luphone2781]

He obviously didn't mitigate enough. Skill issue.

[@That1Smug]

As a Dark Knight Player i always get in a dungeon with my baseball outfit on.

[@user-fz2vq9rp2t]

new to ff14 and i main AST im supposed to let DRK get low hp? or no? this has me confused now, i dont really know the DRK kit ;-;

[@BirdCyclops]

dark knight does three things: puts up a shield that once broken gives them more DPS, and has 1 single aoe heal, beyond that they only have mitigation to keep themselves alive! what you want to do is after their shield is broken keep them alive with heals, OGCD (off global cooldown) if they know what they are doing the heals and their mit should be enough in case they are dying, a DRK that knows how their invuln work will pop "living dead" this ability makes it so once they drop to 1 hp, they become invulnerable to all damage and heal themselves massively! the idea being that if they are about to die let them use their invulnerability, and once they start healing up help them with shields, regens or a big heal hope this helps, if not id recommend looking up a guide on youtube!

[@zirilan3398]

keep your Swiftcast-Rezz up just in case the tank is a moron

[@Kazeryuun]

I love how WHM and DRK were a couple pair back with old Living Dead, but as time went on and Blackest Night got added that doesn’t mesh well with Holy, they slowly became incompatible

[@kohlicoide2258]

And after the Living Dead Rework DRK dont need a WHM anymore :D

[@GimmeTOKYO]

Hasta la madre everytime I have a healer not trusting to process when I decide to be DRK

[@MrGamerCaptain]

ty for video :)

[@BirdCyclops]

a pleasure

[@eivarden]

Explaining how to maintain tank mitigation CDs isnt too hard, but explaining healer CDs tends to be much harder. (not saying healer is hard. just explaining "timing" in words is hard) There was a video made in Shadowbringers for SCH healing in Lv70 dungeons I try to have ppl watch, as it explains the concept so extremely well. But its a bit longer than it should be, so many wont watch it. But typing it all out, doesnt quite work w/o the visual references, along with how MUCH you have to type out. Ppl tend to tune out info when it gets too long. In concept, its simple, but theres no way to say it in just a few words like u can with tank CDs. The best is "Just dont cast heals, just use oGCDs" but theres more to it than that, and when u say just that, and they try, they will fail miserably.

[@GimmeTOKYO]

Oh my fucking god this is so accurate

[@Daddo-Penguin]

Jfc this is accurate i use tbn for mitigation so it breaks and i can do dps but you know benediction cancels it most times

[@PC-Doodle]

Me as a healer sweating profusely when a DRK enters my game because it's going to be a coinflip if I can trust them or not.

[@zirilan3398]

Never. Trust. Anyone!

[@sniperstg2]

this is why I shirk healers to give them the motivation to heal me then super- sorry wrong tank. then not living dead.

[@Nibi534]

this gets funnier every time I watch this

[@lucalycan]

I literally had this experience tanking the other night. I thought it was just me. 😅

[@haleynaga5671]

thank god i got the 700 duty as drk achivement so i dont have to use it anymore

[@bendonatier]

I hate healing dark knights, if only because so many of them have no idea what theyre doing. I cant tell you the number of times ive heard "dont heal me imma living dead" only for them to pop it at full hp and have it run out before they hit the threash hold.

[@greatazuredragon]

Oh the pain! xD

[@brother-tico4363]

Broh, are we a team? or what?! XD lols

[@ninjaone1]

As someone that plays both healers and tanks... I blame the devs for this interaction more than anyone involved. As a healer, I dread having to adjust because of DRK (not their fault), and as a DRK, I dread having inexperienced healers (also not their fault). Like who thought it was a good idea to have HALF the DRK mitigation set be magic damage specifically? can we just not? Ever? Please?

[@haleynaga5671]

yoshi p said you get magic defense at best, oh and the fkin unmend buff lmao

[@YolStrun]

I miss Dark Arts Abyssal drain Spam. It was the Bloodwhetting of 3.X

[@anthonypietra3410]

I think I’ve only ever successfully pulled off Living Dead once, cause *every* other time I try to use it, the healer tops me off, wasting the move

[@arielshuffield4188]

I don’t know why people talk about warrior being amazing XD it is the last i olayed but paladin definitely seems the best for healt, ginblade as a general middle, and dark knight as dps. Warrior is the one that always feels beige to me. Like what are people getting that I’m missing.

[@BirdCyclops]

Warrior can clear every 90 level dungeon without a healer with no issues it has the best self sustain with its 25 sec cooldown shield mit 100% lifesteal ability bloodwetting and has the best AOE for dungeons with inner release and guaranteed crits and DR hits War if anything is slightly lacking in comparison to other tanks when it comes to hard content raids and bossfights since although its damage is good its not as good as DRK or GNB and altough its self heals are good its AOE mit and self mit isnt as good as any of the other tanks TL;DR: warrior is the ultimate, easiest dungeon tank, if you know what you are doing you arent gonna die. but for harder content with experienced teams it falls slightly short (but by like 1 to 2 % in all regards)

[@lokithesnake6266]

I'd say "me" but I always heal the warriors (and have gotten yelled at for it after wiping a trial with my overzealous healing... twice) so opposite issues

[@Tenchinu]

why are we here? just to suffer? :(

[@IvyrKazegami]

Hey at least by the time you get to that specific dungeon you have proper mitigation tools ......... before lvl82 its just "Oh cool I have a single shield" ... hope Drk gets a rework ...

[@teoakio1902]

Same, it really needs its

[@robotom6595]

DRK gets Shadow Wall at lvl 38 Living Dead at 50 Abyssal Drain at 56 The only thing that is rough is TBN being at lvl 70. The job is fine.

[@UnholyGB]

Yo Adan it’s Ghostt lmao, your channel just popped into my recommended out of nowhere I had no idea you had this much of a following!! Hope you are doing alright man. UwU experience when?

[@BirdCyclops]

Ghostt!! I'm scripting the vid right now actually! Hope you like my videos jaja

[@Corrderio]

Dark Knights, the usual bane of my existence as a healer.

[@doinyourdad_6969]

I did not understand a word in this vid. I just press all the pretty buttons

[@BirdCyclops]

hehe shadowbringer goes brrrr

[@cleotasberkley9048]

I feel like the vast majority of problems anyone has ever had playing any class would be significantly mitigated by the presence of a voice chat feature. Basic communication and being able to shout out to your healer "Hey, so, I just popped Living Dead, plz no heal thx." or "Hey I fucked up my mitigation and I'm about to get my booty blasted please send help." would pretty much solve the problem in my humble opinion. Like even a braindead newbie can understand the concept of NOT pressing a button because your tank asked you nicely. "But what if they're the dumbest Healer in Eorzea?" Well now you know you need to treat them like a child and do small pulls, problem still solved in a way.

[@kyzorend.tirrem4457]

As a DRK & RPR main, Scholar gives me anxiety... As a tank, most I encounter either heal too slow, or they're the ones that end up dead somehow (mostly during the boss fights)... And as a RPR, if the tank dies, that means I'm next!

[@zirilan3398]

healing on SCH is pretty easy tbh. For casual content it`s simply throw Excoc on the tank on cd, maybe Lustrate if you`re feeling fancy and your fairy-buttons on cd the rest is Art of War all the way

[@kohlicoide2258]

I'm PLD/DRK Main but play almost never DRK in Dungeons because of this, PLD is for me after WAR the best Dungeon Tank, even if my healer is "not good" i can mitigate a shitton of Damage or can start spamming Clemency in worst case. (Everytime when i have to start using Clemency i know the Healer is not good) DRK is literally in Dungeons "I Trust the Healer!" PLD "I DONT trust the healer."

[@zerothree9126]

When I see someone pop living dead i cannot stop myself from healing it, it's like an insatiable urge I always fall victim to, I cannot resist it. I also use mits/shields despite tbn because it seems every drk overestimates it...i may also just be a professional hater.

[@arolimarcellinus8541]

As a DRK main, I will gona use Shirk to you as my answer to your transgressions, and turn off my tank stance

[@zerothree9126]

@@arolimarcellinus8541 I'm doing my job, what's your excuse imperial?

[@legacymse7095]

TBN breaks after a few seconds it’s insane (in wall to wall pulls). After that you’re left with 12 seconds of cooldown until it’s ready again. The longest 12 seconds of your life and the only thing you can do is mitigation and your abyssal drain.

[@xitrum1902]

I play DRK but I don't feel edgy. Is that weird?

[@vineveer4358]

Hey you know the one tank class that's all edgy and uses shadows and blood magic and stuff? Yea let's give every tank a load of self healing tools EXCEPT that one. Yea, why would Dark Knight have life steal mechanics, pffft.

[@conan2490]

This video just kinda makes the DRK look bad tho since they d be better off if they just started mitigating and then throwing tbn on that instead of waiting endlessly until getting to mitigate, kind of like your average roulette DRK

[@legacymse7095]

True. With massive dungeons pulls your TBN will break no matter what, even with a 40% mitigation. it’s always smart to use mitigation from the start, it will help you survive more than 30 seconds

[@KenanVonKaiser]

I Do Not Get It!

[@Reverse_Hood]

Not really the Dark Knight experience, where's the sanctimonious edginess

[@waffleswafflson3076]

Sorry, only warrior and paladin daddies are tanks. Get to the back of the line with the Gunbreakers. Anway, I gotta go rescue the BLM out of his magic circle now for no reason

[@WolfAmaril]

As both a BLM and DRK: this is way too real

[@johnermactavish1162]

“No reason” Riiiiiiiiiiight

[@rickydargence5948]

Thy is why I go PLD in dungeons when playing with randos lmao.

[@maallos334mi8]

The more I learn about experiences like this, the more I start to realize how great of a healer I am that mob pulls are normally boring.

[@cesargarcia5490]

To be fair, you should be pairing TBN with mitigation at all times to get the most out of your shield. Only bad DRKs use TBN alone (during dungeon pulls).

[@aShadowWizard69]

this. this is why i don't play DK

[@NemesisUmbral]

It’s pretty rough being a Dark Knight main, regardless of the changes they finally made to Blood Weapon and Living Dead. I eventually decided to play with WAR and GNB, getting them both to 90, and I am so jealous of how much sustain they have, as well as an upgraded shield (Bloodwhetting/Heart of Corundum) while DRK just gets “Oblation,” which is a stack mitigation. While undergoing this process I have come to realize just how bad TBN actually is, especially by the fact that it costs resource and that if it doesn’t break, the game just says “f**k you for playing” and it makes me feel stupid for even playing DRK in the first place. Here’s h(coping) that DRK gets some more changes in Dawntrail, like an actual self sustain ability.

[@KhionePheonix]

In the defense of oblation, since it's a 10% with two charges that can target anyone, you can stick it in a lot of places where you (or someone else) just needs that extra bit to get by. It's very flexible in that regard, especially since you can cover two targets at once.

[@robotom6595]

GNB has better sustain over time, but DRK has 2 full heal buttons for aoe pulls, depending on dungeon pace you can get 3 LDs in if slower 2 if faster, DRK can space out things and be perfectly fine

[@trystanreadman1764]

5th!: 0/

[@DiannaGold]

DRK Knight is the worst tank by far as far as how well it does the job roll. Every late game dungeon they are nearly impossible to keep alive during big pulls. Every class at 90 . I hate DRK.

[@zirilan3398]

ain`t gonna lie that sounds like a skill-issue

[@GayLPer]

​@@zirilan3398agreed

[@thornangel16]

If you're gonna be an edgy DRK, you better be nice to your healers at all times! Make them the exception to your constant brooding for you never know when they might do this! Some people might mock you for kissing up to them, but those people will soon be dead anyway and won't even get the help to outlast Living Dead.

[@Grimnoire]

I'd just turn my stance off

[@jwithextrajj]

Wait, we're supposed to be brooding?