ff14gilhub:Final Fantasy XIV - Are You Satisfied With Dark Knight Tanking?

Final Fantasy XIV’s latest tank Job arrived with the Heavensward expansion and if you were new to the game back then, some heavy leveling had to be done.

The DRK is one of the three latest additions to FFXIV’s Job palette, along with the Astrologian and Machinist. The whole DRK idea looked really badass, especially the skill effects and the armor sets with which Square Enix was presenting the class before the actual release. When your journey as a DRK begins at level 30, you soon come to realize that you are definitely not as tough as a Paladin but, at least, your damage output is pleasing.

The DRK seems to be generally weaker in defenses in the early stages of leveling, but the real issue that arrives later on is the massive MP consumption. Another healer-angering issue about the DRK is that if the player neglected to pay attention to mitigation, the DRK can be noticeably more squishy than the other tanking Jobs.

Awkwardly, when the DK class was released in WoW, there was a quite similar issue, that it was taking too much damage but also having a decent DPS. That issue was sort of solved with the tons of healing abilities introduced that made the DK a very efficient tank and way too overpowered for PvP. Nevertheless, the DRK in FFXIV does not seem like an overpowered tanking class, but the experience of playing with it is perhaps better than with the other tanking classes in the game.

Browsing around for player feedback, it seemed evident that most people are complaining about three major issues: the lack of mitigation, no block but increased parry, and occasional MP issues. However, the DRK also has somewhat better defenses against magical damage due to Dark Mind. This makes the DRK perhaps more suitable for some fights where magical damage is bound to occur. The DRK’s weapon damage is also higher than that of the PLD which is logical since it is using a two-handed greats word.

Overall, it seems that the Dark Knight is loved by those who play it but perhaps disliked to a certain extent by those who are healing it. But as great power comes with some sacrifices it is not a surprise that the increased damage output of the DRK resulted in decreased mitigation. This is usually the case in many MMORPGs when a non-sword ’n’ board tanking class is implemented. I personally loved playing as a DRK, but I did see healers often complaining about suddenly dropping HPs. What do you guys think, should Square Enix provide the DRK with more defensive abilities?