Dark Knight Guide by Falaras

= Why Dark Knight? =
When you imagine a 2007 era Dark Knight, it may evoke images of Linkin Park playing in the background while Kraken Clubs are swingin and beating down an innocent Absolute Virtue. It could also evoke memories of that one Dark Knight you partied with that just couldn’t control his Souleater usage and constantly killed himself. Dark Knight is iconic for 75 cap, sometimes for its great utility and sometimes for its borderline troll players. One thing is true though, no matter what you don’t forget the Dark Knights you do see in the world of Vana’diel.
On Eden, Dark Knight finds a home as a heavy DPS job that brings moderate amounts of support to the party with things like stun and enhancing the effect of chaos roll. It can also be played as a tank at end game levels, relying on spells to generate aggro and mitigating damage with dread spikes, drains, and utsusemi. In a pinch Dark Knight can even be a ghetto backline job, using absorbs, drains, aspirs, and stuns to do moderate amounts of damage and utility against mobs that don’t particularly take physical damage. Flexibility is the key to Dark Knight’s usefulness, in general the job struggles to keep up with the best DD jobs like Samurai or Warrior, but people still love to have them around just for the mixture of support and damage. This also means that compared to my previous guides, Warrior and Samurai, there is much less black and white to Dark Knight's play style. This job is a "learn by doing" job for sure, you yourself need to figure out how to fit in a dread spikes between pulls without losing any DPS uptime, or when is appropriate to stun vs just allow things to go off so you can squeeze out more damage. No one likes a Dark Knight that sacrifices all damage in order to support, but no one likes a Dark Knight that never supports either, balance is the key to this job. 
= Abilities =
Blood Weapon (1) 2:00:00 Recast - When activated Blood Weapon drains HP equal to amount of damage done to the enemy for every swing connected. 
This is a strange 2-hour ability to be honest, it's pretty weak for normal play just allowing you some cheeky healing every time you hit that is very unlikely to save you from death. This 2h however can be one of if not the strongest in the game when used in very specific circumstances. With Souleater up you would usually lose 12% of your HP with every auto attack, but when paired with Blood Weapon you will heal all of that HP back making it do no damage to you (this does not work on WSes). With fast swinging weapons, many buffs, and against specific mobs, a Dark Knight can achieve unimaginable burst damage with this ability combination in what is commonly called a "zerg". This strategy is used to take down very scary end game monsters in 30 seconds flat like Vrtra, Bahamut, and Dynamis Lord. See the Zerging section for more information on this playstyle.
Arcane Circle (5) 10:00 Recast - Increases resistance to arcana
A pretty weak ability, if you remember to use it while fighting any arcana-type mob you and your party members will have a chance to intimidate the mob. 
Last Resort (15) 5:00 Recast - Increases your attack by 15% and lowers your defense by 15%
This ability is okay, it's a relatively strong temporary attack boost you can slip in before a big WS. Usually you will want to use this on cooldown just for more stats. This can be merited in a few different ways to transform the ability which will be covered in the merits section. It also gives a huge amount of hate - 1300 Volatile Enmity which is about 2/3rds of a Provoke.
Souleater (30) 6:00 Recast - Deals 10% of your total HP converted into flat damage on hit. 
This is probably the Dark Knight "signature" ability, it allows you to add massive amounts of damage to every swing at the cost of your own HP. Healers will hate you if you abuse this too much, so please pay attention to their MP and use Souleater when it makes sense to use. With weaponskills this will trigger on every hit of a WS, so if you use a 6 hit WS you will drain 60% of your entire HP pool, so be careful. As mentioned in the Blood Weapon paragraph, this can be combined with that ability for some crazy shit. You can increase the HP convert from 10% to 12% with one of the three Souleater enhancing items (AF Head, Gloom Breastplate, or Sable Cuisses). Souleater also adds +25 accuracy while its up, which can help offset accuracy loss from Souleater enhancing items. 
= Spells =
Drain (10): Dark magic spell that drains HP from the enemy, this is actually a pretty strong nuke and you will use this a lot. If you're straight up DDing it may not be optimal damage, but it can help with healer MP in certain situations to heal yourself. Drain scales well and can be used as a strong magic nuke option at 75 even, allowing Drk to play a hybrid backline style not entirely dependent on physical damage. This spells damage scales with Dark Magic Skill up until a cap of 300 and then stops, after that just gear for magic accuracy via INT, skill, and raw magic accuracy items. 
Bind (20) & Sleep (30): If you have Enfeebling skilled up this can be useful to cast in weird situations, like a mob link or over pull. 
Stun (37): Probably the most useful spell that Drk has, it has a .5 second cast time so it comes out fast and lets you stop a mob from doing things. This is the #1 utility ability that Drk has access to, you can stun giant -aga spells, pecking flurries, lock a mob down so it doesn't Mijin Gakure or Astral Flow, or just stun to let someone get shadows up. This is such a strong spell and learning to use it correctly is integral to being a useful Dark Knight. This spell also generates very high amounts of Enmity and can be used as a way to get snap hate.
Absorb-STR (Or any stat) (31-43): These are very situational spells that allow you to steal a mob's stats and apply them to yourself. I would not take the time to cast these spells instead of hitting the mob, the extra STR or DEX generated is not even close to worth the casting time wasted. The true use for these spells is on things you can't melee, you can enfeeble a really powerful enemies INT so your Blms can have more accurate nukes, or VIT so your Rngs can hit harder, and so on. Support basically. 
Absorb-TP (45): This is a a fun spell, it allows you to steal TP from the enemy and give it to yourself. This spell has a high level of skill expression, as the more TP the mob has the more TP you can take from it, so if you learn to read battle pacing and mob TP generation you can get some really nice Absorb TPs off. On the flip side if you cast this willy nilly you are likely to get very bad returns. In actuality you are better off not casting this spell in most situations because the damage gained from just hitting the mob and generating TP the old fashioned way is just straight up better damage, but in some situations it is worth using.
Drain II (62): Drain II acts like drain, but with a twist! For every HP drain II returns over your max HP, it will temporarily increase your max HP for 1 minute. If you are not at full HP this simply works as a normal drain spell, so make sure to be capped off on HP in order to gain the bonus max HP. This is exceptionally useful for boosting the damage of Souleater, in party play you could Drain II the mob before popping souleater for extra bonus HP% damage. It also has a higher damage cap than drain, so you can hit for 400+ damage in max sets. Like Drain, the damage on this spell scales with dark magic skill up until a cap of 300 skill then stops.
Dread Spikes (71): The coolest and most fun "spikes" ability in FFXI, Dread Spikes once cast causes you to drain HP from the enemy every time you're hit equal to the damage the mob does to you. Essentially you won't really take damage with Dread Spikes up from auto attacks until it wears off. The potency of Dread Spikes is based purely on total HP, which means you can macro in as much HP as possible before casting it for maximum total damage absorbed. The spell only lasts 1 minute, so it can be frustrating to use, but when timed correctly is exceptionally rewarding. 
= Merits =
Category 1
I should preface this by saying that category 1 is a mess of a category, and is still highly debated by Dark Knights in discord channels and forums everywhere. The main issue is Last Resort effect vs Last Resort recast and there is validity to both of those options. Even Souleater recast can be situational. Follow your heart and merit what works best for you in category 1 because lord knows there's no right answer. 
Souleater Recast - Lowers the recast of Souleater by a minute, putting it at 5:00 with full merits. I personally think this is a good choice for a category 1 merit, allowing you to get to your next big souleater WS a minute earlier, or if your lucky enough with enough backline you can ride the whole souleater duration. That said if you find yourself unable to use souleater on cooldown because of MP constraints, maybe it's not the right merit for you.
Last Resort Recast - This lowers Last Resort's recast down to 4:10 with max merits, which sounds great, more Last Resort who could be mad at that. The problem is that if you are stacking Last Resort and Souleater togethor, this staggers the timers and can lead to waste. Is it better to use them seperately and take the lower recast? Maybe. It depends on the situation, the healer's ability to support the Souleater usage, and many other things. 
Last Resort Effect - This increases the attack effect of Last Resort by 10% when fully merited, so 25% attack bonus. This is good, but you also have to remember that attack does cap at some point, and in many situations the +15% attack alone on Last Resort is enough to hit that point. This is good sometimes, and literally useless sometimes, and deciding between this and Last Resort Recast is a challenge all Dark Knight's face.
Arcane Circle Recast/Weapon Bash Recast - Worthless.
Category 2
Dark Seal - Pretty good one point wonder, this works much like Elemental Seal where it gives you massive magic accuracy bonuses when casting 1 dark magic spell. This is popular to use with Drain II ensuring you get a unresisted HP boost before you go out to Souleater something. 
Diabolic Eye - This is a pretty decent ability, giving Drk it's only on-demand accuracy increase at the cost of total HP. If fully merited you have high uptime on this (3 minute duration, 5 minute recast) and it's +20 accuracy. This can be used either as an on-demand accuracy boost against mobs with higher evasion (Like a Thief mob in Dynamis) or you can swap out accuracy gear for more offensive options when its up (Like Toreadors Ring into Blitz Ring) either way is good. Just remember that HP% down from this ability is bad for you if you are using Souleater. 
Muted Soul - This merit gives you -10 enmity when Souleater is up per level. I don't recommend this, as when you are using Souleater your damage output should be so insanely high that you will likely pull hate anyways. Also most of the time Souleater is either deleting the mob or the mob is unable to act when being attacked via stuns so it doesn't matter if it's facing you. 
Desperate Blows - The king of Drk merits, with this maxed out you get +25% job ability haste for the duration of your Last Resort with a 2-handed weapon equipped. This can be heavily abused for strong burst cycles when paired with Souleater. It's hard to overstate just how important this merit is, and it should always be your first capped job merit. One cool thing most people don't know about this ability is that with 5/5 you don't need to use Hasso while it's up (because job ability haste caps at 25%) so you can use Seigan+Third Eye for defense.
Recomended: 5 Desperate Blows, 1 Dark Seal, 4 Diabolic Eye. 
People typically ask for a recommended meriting order so I try to add one into these, personally I think its super subjective as your needs vary based on what you do, but here's my take: 
Desperate Blows 5 > Scythe Skill 8 > Critical Hit 4 > Dark Seal 1 > Diabolic Eye 4 > Souleater Recast 5 > Last Resort Effect 5 > HP 8 > STR 5 
= Sub Jobs =
Core Sub Jobs:
Samurai is Drk's highest DPS sub job for normal play as a melee DPS. The biggest reason for this is the ability Hasso, which is a 100% uptime +10% Haste, +10 Accuracy, and +5 Strength. Haste is by far the most important stat in the game, especially if you are stacking it on top of other haste gear and buffs, so the DPS increase from +10% alone is absurd. The second reason is the passive Store TP you gain off traits, which allows a scythe Drk to gain TP in 6 hits instead of 7, and a great sword Drk to gain TP in 7 hits instead of 8. Samurai sub also offers defensively utility in Seigan, which allows you to mitigate most incoming single target attacks. Other perks include Meditate which grants you free TP and Zanshin which offers a low chance to swing again if you miss. The only "problem" with Samurai sub is that with Hasso or Seigan up you cast 100% slower, but it's easy enough to cancel them before you start a cast. This is the sub you want to have, it may not always be the right choice because Ninja sub offers significantly stronger defenses, but if you can you should sub Samurai. 
Ninja is the other major sub for Drk, it offers basically zero offensive power but has unmatched defensive ability that in 75 cap play is exceptionally necessary at times. This power comes from the spell Utsusemi, both versions of it, which puts a buff on you that absorbs incoming damage. When played correctly you should take almost no damage when subbing Ninja as you can rotate between Utsusemi: Ni and Utsusemi: Ichi for nearly fulltime coverage. The only thing you have to worry about is AoE magic, which will instantly clear your Utsusemi and do full damage, and some AoE weaponskills which can pierce shadows or clear certain amounts of them. This is also the sub job you will use for any tanking.
Niche Sub Jobs:
Warrior is the sub job you will use while leveling before Samurai comes into play. Seeing as you don't get hasso till 50, War is your go to sub from 30-49 if you don't need Ninja for defenses. At 30 you will gain access to Berserk which is a +25% attack buff with a 3 minute duration and 5 minute recast. 
Ranger is the sub job of choice before Warrior! From 20-30 this sub will offer you a small Accuracy Bonus (+10) as well as Sharpshot that increases your ranged accuracy for spamming crossbow bolts which you should be doing at that level.
Dragoon is purely a zerging sub job, it does offer some non zerging benefits like Jump, Attack Bonus, and Accuracy Bonus, but overall none of those will be better than the subs listed above. Where Dragoon shines is Wyvern Earring, which is a +5% haste earring that can only be active when subbing Drg. This is the best sub job for all levels of zerging because the haste only gets better the more you have, and in zerg situations you are at very high haste levels to begin with. 
 
Thief is not a good sub job in my opinion, and I put it here purely to talk about why you shouldn't use this. Many people remember using Thf as a sub in era in order to drop giant single hit WSes like Spinning Slash with Sneak Attack forcing the WS to critical hit. This playstyle has almost entirely vanished on Eden, as with proper gearing and buffing, even on the hardest mobs you will likely have buffs and be able to just sub Sam or Nin to melee the mob down, which results in far more damage than the spike of SAWS. Maybe your LS will have some use for this sub, but I've been playing on Eden for a long time now and have used this playstyle almost never. 
= Leveling Tips =
Dark Knight is a strange job while leveling, Scythe, the signature weapon, is actually really bad until level 60 and even casting spells is largely a waste of time. Dark Knight while leveling is going to use a combination of Great Axe and a Crossbow. The Great Axe gives you access to strong weaponskills; Shield Break, as the first WS you learn, applies -40 evasion to the mob when used (not guaranteed, and based on combat skill level so keep it skilled up) which is one of the largest DPS increases you can possibly have for a party at low levels. Later on Sturmwind is a very powerful 2-hit WS and can really put the hurt on mobs; also because it's multi-hit it synergizes very well with Souleater. Crossbow is exceptionally powerful at lower levels, if you have the proper crossbow and gear you should be able to hit harder and faster than your 2 hander by shooting bolts. Dark Knight has a very low Marksmanship skill (E), but honestly skill levels don't matter too much until the 50s or 60s. 
Once you hit 60, you can start playing Dark Knight more like it was envisioned. With a Scythe out you have access to Guillotine, one of the strongest weaponskills in the game. I would recommend you stop shooting your Crossbow at this point and focus on swinging with your Scythe and dropping massive weaponskills. You can also cast spells like Absorb-TP, which if timed well can give you huge chunks of TP to increase your damage and lower the mob's damage. Don't forget you can Stun/Weapon Bash pesky moves like Pecking Flurry or Cocoon. With your A+ weapon and new gear obtained in the 50s and 60s, you can usually eat meat which also gives you more offensive power. 
Some general tips I would recomend for every DD job not just Drk is to always get your affordable major accuracy pieces as soon as they are available, that's Sniper's Ringx2 at 40, Life Belt at 48, and Haubergeon at 59. Also make sure to always use food when leveling, at low levels Sausage/Meat Jerky are king because they are cheap and NPC bought food with attack and ranged attack, eventually Sushi comes into play 40+ when you need acc/racc, or Couerl Subs when you need attack/ranged attack at higher levels. If you want to know more about food, I'd recommend reading the Food Guide that Falzuma and I put together, and please always use food even against Colibri. . Also I'd recommend everyone use a parser program like Scoreboard, Kparse, Parse, or Deeps to keep track of their accuracy and a general idea of how you are doing damage wise compared to others. 
= Weapons =
Apocalypse - The king of Dark Knight weapons, this is the relic scythe and is probably the single biggest power increase a relic weapon can provide to a job. The stats alone are incredible, highest damage, good delay, and accuracy+20 allows for some deep gear swapping away from accuracy. Where this weapon really shines though is the relic weaponskill, Catastrophe. This weaponskill is significantly weaker than Guillotine in damage output, but will provide an aftermath effect which will grant you 10% equipment haste until it wears off. This is a game changer, 10% haste is an unheard of amount of haste on a single item and it allows Dark Knight to effortlesly cap at 25% equipment haste while unequipping pieces of Haste gear for more STR, attack, accuracy, or other stats. Oh and I didn't even mention that Catastrophe heals you for a percent of damage done which makes you very hard to kill with this weapon and allows for some very aggressive Souleatering. Dark Knight is not even one of the most popular jobs on Eden, but Apocalypse is the most popular relic on the server, and for very good reason. 
Triton's/Orichalcum Scythe - This is the staple Scythe for all Dark Knights on Eden. The NQ is super affordable, and the HQ is a little pricy but is not impossibly expensive. This scythe is just super easy, super good, and not beatable by current Eden scythes not named Apocalypse. This Scythe is only ever replaced by Perdu Sickle, a currently unobtainable weapon from high level assault rank, or if Tredecim Scythe is fixed. I wouldn't count on switching this weapon out anytime soon. Also please do not use a Death Scythe, its just not good. 
Tredecim Scythe - This scythe is bad.....currently. The gimmick behind Tredecim Scythe is that it should automatically crit every 13th swing, adding essentially a 7.69% crit rate ontop of the weapon. When this works, the scythe will be amazing. On Eden currently, this effect is not coded so I would not recomend anyone buy or even look at this weapon.
Ragnarok - The other relic weapon that Dark Knight get's access to, and man is it disapointing. In theory this weapon has a lot going for it with tons of passives like an increased Critical Hit Rate, increased Critical Hit Damage, fast swing speed, bonus accuracy, all sorts of things. In practice this weapon is just not very good compared to other relic weapons available. The damage is abysmal and the exclusive WS Scourge is legitimately one of the worst weaponskills ever made with its CHR/MND mod. Ragnarok suffers from not having a good WS, which is why in later versions of FFXI where it was given a good WS, this relic became the best. In theory this puts out good white damage, but white damage alone doesn't make up for the huge lack of WS damage you will have with this weapon. 
= Gear Sets =
TP - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382803
	Stat Priorities: Store TP (Until 6 Hit ) > Haste > Accuracy > Attack > Strength.
This set has 407 accuracy with Hasso and Hume DEX. 
There's a lot of accuracy gear to play with in this set. If you need more accuracy you can use items like Toreadors Ring and Aces Helm. If you need less accuracy you can use items like Bomb Core and Cerb+1/Foragers Mantle. I recommend having 3 different TP sets you use, for Low, Mid, and High Accuracy totals.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapon 	Orichalcum Scythe 	Death Scythe +1 	Death Scythe
Grip 	Mythril Grip +1 	Mythril Grip 	Claymore Grip
Ammo 	Bomb Core 	RSE Sachet 	
Head 	Aces Helm 	Optical Hat 	
Neck 	Peacock Charm 	Chivalrous Chain 	Wivre Gorget +1
Ear1&2 	Assault Earring 	Hollow Earring 	Fowling Earring
Ear1&2 	Diabolos's Earring	Merman's Earring 	Coral Earring
Body 	Adaman Hauberk 	Haubergeon +1 	Haubergeon
Hands 	Homam Manopolas 	Dusk Gloves 	Thick Mufflers
Ring1&2	Toreador's Ring 	Sniper's Ring +1 	Sniper's Ring
Ring1&2	Woodsman Ring 	Jaeger Ring 	Venerer Ring
Back 	Cerberus Mantle +1	Forager's Mantle 	Amemet +1
Waist 	Swift Belt 	Life Belt 	Potent Belt
Legs 	Armada/Adaman 	Onyx/Black Cuisses	Dusk Trousers
Feet 	Dusk Ledelsens +1 	Dusk Ledelsens 	Amir Boots
Guillotine - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382804
	Stat Priorities: Accuracy (Until capped) > STR > Attack.
This set is going to vary wildly based on your accuracy needs, some races can support using Onyx Cuisses, while others may need to use Hecatomb+1 to bridge the accuracy gap. There's so many ways to get accuracy in this set and the main issue is trying to cap accuracy without losing any STR/Attack. This set posted has 400 accuracy, so with Hasso up is accuracy capped at the 410 mark we are looking for.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3 	Alt 4
Weapon 	 	 	 	
Grip 	Mythril Grip +1 	Mythril Grip 	Claymore Grip 	
Ammo 	Bomb Core 	RSE Sachet 	 	
Head 	Hecatomb Cap 	Maats Cap 	Aces Helm 	Optical Hat
Neck 	Justice Torque 	Peacock Charm 	Chivalrous Chain 	R.K Collar
Ear1&2 	Assault Earring 	Hollow Earring 	Fowling Earring 	Diabolos's Earring
Ear1&2 	Merman's Earring	Triumph Earring 	Coral Earring 	
Body 	Adaman Hauberk 	Haubergeon +1 	Haubergeon 	
Hands 	Black Gadlings 	Chaos Gauntlets +1 	Hecatomb Mittens/+1	Alky Bracelets
Ring1&2	Toreadors Ring 	Sniper's Ring +1 	Sniper's Ring 	Flame Ring
Ring1&2	Ruby Ring 	 	 	
Back 	Forager's Mantle	Amemet +1 	Amemet 	
Waist 	Potent Belt 	Life Belt 	 	
Legs 	Black Cuisses 	Hecatomb Subligar/+1	Dusk Trousers/+1 	R.K. Breeches
Feet 	Black Sollerets 	Hecatomb Leggings +1	Hecatomb Leggings 	Chaos Sollerets +1
Physical Damage Taken - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382852
	Stat Priorities: Damage Taken > Physical Damage Taken > Parry > Evasion.
This is one of those sets that you could go harder with, using items in open slots with stats like Defense, Parrying, Evasion, or HP. Personally I want to keep as much offensive pressure as I can in my PDT set so I just choose to swap in specifically PDT pieces. This has very little alternatives and I wouldn't honestly even bother with this set until you have the HQ Darksteel pieces. It's not a lot of PDT like Sam and Mnk can get, but it might save your life from a 1 shot Eagle Eye Shot or something so I'd recommend having it.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1
Head 	Darksteel Cap
Body 	Darksteel Harness
Hands	Darksteel Mittens
Back 	Boxer's Mantle
Legs 	Darksteel Subligar
Feet 	Darksteel Leggings +1
Magic Damage Taken - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382853
	Stat Priorities: Above 1 in every elemental Resist > Damage Taken -% > Magic Damage Taken -% > Magic Defense Bonus
This set has a lot of personal expression in it. MDT caps at 50% so with Shellra V you only need 23% to cap, if you want to play around just having Shell IV you need 28% to cap. Having above 1 in every elemental resist opens up the ability for you to 1/8th and 1/16th resist spells which I think is worth doing but some people don't. Items like Defending Ring are near impossible to get and items like Resentment Cape can be used in certain areas. I wouldn't use the set pictured as a guide of what exactly to wear, but options to combine into your own set to make one you like.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Head 	Green Ribbon +1 	Coral Visor +1	Coral Visor
Neck 	Jeweled Collar 	 	
Ear1&2 	Coral Earring 	 	
Body 	Coral Scale Mail 	 	
Hands 	Coral Finger Gauntlets	 	
Ring1&2	Merman's Ring 	Coral Ring 	Unfettered Ring
Ring1&2	Gobniu's Ring 	 	
Back 	Resentment Cape 	Lamia Mantle 	
Waist 	 	 	
Legs 	Abyss Flanchard 	Coral Cuisses 	
Feet 	Coral Greaves 	 	
Drain/Drain 2 - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382854
	Stat Priorities: Dark Magic Skill (till 300) > INT OR Dark Magic Skill or Magic Accuracy depending on which gives higher total magic accuracy.
The most important part of this set is hitting 300 Dark Magic Skill which caps the damage of your Drain/Drain 2. Once you go past 300 skill, all you need to worry about is magic accuracy. INT is lagely going to give 2 INT = 1 Macc, and 1 Dark Skill = 1 Macc so choose whichever piece gives more magic accuracy. There's some validity to sliding Haste into this set if your using drain on cooldown for damage like against an HNM.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapon 	Dark Staff 	 	
Grip 	Bugard Strap 	 	
Ammo 	Morion Tathlum 	RSE Sachet 	
Head 	Chaos Burgeonet 	Homam Zuchetto 	Walahra Turban
Neck 	Prudence Torque 	Enlightened Chain 	Mohbwa Scraf +1
Ear1&2 	Phantom Earring +1 	Phantom Earring 	Morion Earring +1
Ear1&2 	Boroka Earring 	Heims Earring 	Magnetic Earring
Body 	Corselet 	Demon's Harness 	Blood Scale Mail
Hands 	Blood Finger Gauntlets	Abyss Gauntlets 	Homam Manapolas
Ring1&2	Omnescient Ring 	Diamond Ring 	Eremite RIng +1
Back 	Merciful Cape 	Federation Army Mantle	
Waist 	R.K Belt +2 	R.K Belt +1 	Mrc. Cpt Belt
Legs 	Abyss Flanchard 	Jet Seraweels 	Chaos Flanchard +1
Feet 	Homam Gambieras 	Dusk Ledelsens +1 	Dusk Ledelsens
Dread Spikes - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382860
	Stat Priorities: HP > Haste
Dread Spikes is 100% based on your total HP so macroing in a ton of HP is the play. If you want to lower the recast you can use items like Homam and Dusk which have combination high HP and haste, plus save you a bit of inventory.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Ammo 	Fenrir's Stone 	 	
Head 	Ares' Mask 	Wyvern Helm +1 	Wyvern Helm
Neck 	Tempered Chain 	Shield Pendant 	
Ear1&2 	Intruder Earring 	Harmonius Earring 	Pigeon Earring +1
Ear1&2 	Crimson Earring 	Pigeon Earring 	
Body 	Crimson Scale Mail	Dusk Jerkin 	Byrnie +1
Hands 	Pallas's Bracelets	Dusk Gloves +1 	Homam Manopolas
Ring1&2	Harmonius Ring 	Crimson Ring 	Bomb Ring
Back 	Marid Mantle +1 	Marid Mantle 	Behemoth Mantle +1
Waist 	RSE Belts 	Silver Moogle Belt	Marid Belt
Legs 	Dusk Trousers 	Prince's Slops 	Homam Cosciales
Feet 	Ares' Sollerets 	Dusk Ledelsens +1 	Dusk Ledelsens
= Zerging =
The general idea behind zerging is to leverage Souleater+Blood Weapon to add massive unresistable damage to fast swinging weapons that you wouldn't usually get much use out of. A zerg usually involves a litany of buffs to your Haste, Accuracy, and Attack to turn your character into a destructive force for about a minute. In general for zerging you want to use a Kraken Club, but you can also get away with a Mercurial Kris or a Ridill if you need to have a zerging weapon but can't afford a Kraken Club. 
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapons	Mercurial Kris 	Ridill 	Bahamut's Zaghnal
Head 	Chaos Burgeonet +1	Chaos Burgeonet 	
Neck 	Tempered Chain 	Shield Pendant 	Bloodbead Amulet
Ear1&2 	Harmonius Earring 	Pidgeon Earring +1	Bloodbead Earring
Body 	Ares' Cuirass 	Blood Scale Mail 	Dusk Jerkin
Hands 	Homam Manopolas 	Dusk Gloves 	Askar Manopolas
Ring1&2	Blitz Ring 	Crimson Ring 	Wivre Ring
Back 	Marid Mantle 	Behemoth Mantle 	
Waist 	Swift Belt 	Quick Belt 	Gold Moogle Belt
Legs 	Dusk Trousers +1 	Dusk Trousers 	Prince's Slops
Feet 	Dusk Ledelsens +1 	Dusk Ledelsens 	Aurum Sabatons
 
= Tanking =
Relatively few people play Dark Knight tank (we call it Slurp Mage in the discord) but it is an exceptionally good end game tank. To be clear, this isn't tanking via hitting the mob with your scythe to keep hate while casting shadows - while that play style is valid, it doesn't perform differently than normal play and isn't as effective on most higher-level mobs. Instead, Dark Knight tank is played in the same way that RDM/NIN or NIN/DRK is played at end game: you spam high hate generation spells to keep the mob's attention on you. Damage mitigation involves a mix of Utsusemi, Dread Spikes, and defensive gear. Some of the upsides to DRK tank are low cooldown stuns, pretty decent offensive output with Drain2/Drain/Dread Spikes, and probably the highest enmity generation capability of any job.
Enmity in era caps at 10,000 CE and 10,000 VE. CE stands for Cumulative Enmity, this is enmity that doesn't degrade over time and you can only lose by taking damage, hate resetting moves, losing shadows, or being enfeebled. VE stands for Volatile Enmity, this enmity decreases at 60 VE per second thus you continually need to build VE in order to stay capped. These are Dark Knight's specific spells and abilities with their era CE/VE values:
Spell 	CE Value	VE Value
Stun 	180 	1280
Sleep II 	480 	480
Sleep 	320 	240
Bind 	1 	640
Absorbs 	1 	640
Poison 	1 	320
Souleater 	1 	1300
Last Resort	1 	1300
Generally speaking your goal is to keep Drain 2 > Drain > Stun > Sleep II on cooldown in that order, then fill the gaps with Sleep, Bind, and Poison between recasts. Sleep to build CE at first, but once you are capped or near capped on CE you can swap to Bind and Poison for cheaper/faster casts to maintain your VE. Try to setup Dread Spikes timings, where you can safely drop your shadows and let the mob hit you for a few rounds to take a bunch of damage, or you can save Dread Spikes for scarier parts of the fight when you think Utsusemi might not be enough damage mitigation. Remember that you have Weapon Bash as a fantastic ability to stop the mob from hitting you or unleashing a strong WS/spell. Souleater and Last Resort are great abilities to spike your hate at the start of a fight, after a hate reset, or when you need to rip the mob off someone - just remember to cancel them. 
Gear-wise you will use a combination of gear already shown in this guide, as well as new sets for enmity generation and defense. 
Casting Enmity Generation (Stun, Bind, Sleep II, Sleep, Poison) - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/384725
	Stat Priorities: Haste/Fast Cast (Until capped recast) > Enmity > Magic Accuracy/Skill/INT. 
Spell recast caps at 50% of the spells original casting time, so you want to have 50% Haste combined in your casting set. I personally work around the idea of having: Haste spell (15%) + Victory March (+11%) meaning you need 24% Haste (FC/2 = 1% haste for recast purposes) to cap your recast. This set would have 23.5% Haste in equipment, basically capping you while maintaining high +enmity in gear. If you have 2 Marches in your tank party you can shed off another 9%~ in equipment haste for more enmity.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapons	 	 	
Head 	Bahamut's Mask 	Aegishjalmr 	Hydra Salade
Neck 	Hateful Collar 	Enfeebling Torque 	Dark Torque
Ear1&2 	Hades Earring 	Loquacious Earring	
Body 	Corselet 	Crimson Scale Mail	Demon's Harness
Hands 	Askar Manopolas 	Dusk Gloves 	Hydra Moufles
Ring1&2	Sattva Ring 	Snow Ring 	
Back 	Cerberus Mantle 	Resentment Cape 	High Breath Mantle
Waist 	Swift Belt 	Trance Belt 	Warwolf Belt
Legs 	Hydra Brayettes 	Black Hose 	
Feet 	Dusk Ledelsens +1	Hydra Sollerets 	Askar Gambieras
Ability Hate (Souleater, Last Resort) - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/384726
	Stat Priorities: Enmity
Enmity from gear caps at +100 but you don't really have to worry about that, it's impossible for Dark Knight in era. Enmity is the only stat that matters, just swap this in before using Souleater/Last Resort to spike your enmity even higher.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapons	 	 	
Head 	Aegishjalmr 	Hydra Salade 	Rival Ribbon
Neck 	Hateful Collar 	 	
Ear1&2 	Hades Earring 	 	
Body 	 	 	
Hands 	Askar Manopolas	Homam Manopolas	Storm Manopolas
Ring1&2	 	 	
Back 	Cerberus Mantle	Resentment Cape	High Breath Mantle
Waist 	Warwolf Belt 	Astral Rope 	
Legs 	Black Hose 	 	
Feet 	Askar Gambieras	Heroic Boots +1	Heroic Boots
Physical Damage Taken (PDT) - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/384727
	Stat Priorities: Damage Taken/Physical Damage Taken > HP/VIT/Parrying Skill. 
This set is going to be the set you sit in when you are going to get hit, or just a standing around set for defensive purposes. Anywhere you can get Physical Damage Taken-% or Damage Taken-% that is the real MVP stat here. Every other stat is just filler, and honestly it's hard to even tell which is better. Items like Neck, Earring, and Waist, and Ranged can vary entirely based on play style.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapon 	Earth Staff 	 	
Sub 	Raptor Strap +1 	Raptor Strap 	
Head 	Darksteel Cap 	 	
Neck 	Fortitude Torque 	Orochi Nodowa 	Tempered Chain
Ear1&2 	Bloodbead Earring 	Pigeon Earring +1 	Crimson Earring
Body 	Darksteel Harness 	 	
Hands 	Darksteel Mittens 	 	
Ring1&2	Bomb Queen Ring 	Bloodbead Ring 	Crimson Ring
Back 	Boxer's Mantle 	Gigant Mantle 	High Breath Mantle
Waist 	RSE Sash 	Marid Belt +1 	Gold Moogle Belt
Legs 	Darksteel Subligar 	 	
Feet 	Darksteel Leggings +1	Darksteel Leggings	
Fire Resist - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/384728
	Stat Priorities: Fire Resist > MDT > MDB > HP > INT.
This set is used against mobs you specifically know will use fire spells/abilities, with this set and some buffs like Barfire/Fire Carol you can reduce the incoming damage to nearly 0. Examples of fights you would use this on are Tiamat, KS99 Wyrm, and Bahamut. If you can't get an item with Fire Resist, equip whatever your best item is from the MDT set.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapon 	Neptune's Staff 	Water Staff 	
Sub 	 	 	
Ranged 	Cerberus Bow 	 	
Head 	Wvyern Helm +1 	Wyvern Helm 	Green Ribbon +1
Neck 	Jeweled Collar 	Buburimu Gorget 	Elemental Charm
Ear1&2 	Communion Earring+1 	Harmonia's Earring 	Triumph Earring
Body 	Scorpion Breastplate +1	Scorpion Breastplate	Republic Harness
Hands 	Tarasque Mitts +1 	Scorpion Gauntlets 	Tarasque Mitts
Ring1&2	Harmonius Ring 	Malflame Ring 	Triumph Ring
Back 	Cerberus Mantle 	Dino Mantle 	Raptor Mantle
Waist 	 	 	
Legs 	Crimson Cuisses 	Dino Trousers 	Raptor Trousers
Feet 	Kingdom Boots 	Sandorian Boots 	Dino Ledelsens
Ice Resist - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/384729
	Stat Priorities: Ice Resist > MDT > MDB > HP > INT.
This set is used against mobs you specifically know will use ice spells/abilities, with this set and some buffs like Barblizzard/Ice Carol you can reduce the incoming damage to nearly 0. Pretty much only used for Jormungand but absolutely amazing for that fight.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapon 	Fire Staff 	 	
Sub 	 	 	
Ranged 	 	 	
Head 	Green Ribbon +1 	Choplix Coif 	Gadzradd's Helm
Neck 	Jeweled Collar 	Elemental Charm 	Sand Charm
Ear1&2 	Triumph Earring +1	Harmonia's Earring	Omniscient Earring
Body 	Tundra Jerkin 	Feral Jerkin 	Tiger Jerkin
Hands 	Tiger Gloves 	Mythril Gauntlets 	
Ring1&2	Omniscient Ring 	Malfrost Ring 	Diamond Ring
Back 	High Breath Mantle	Ram Mantle 	Wolf Mantle +1
Waist 	 	 	
Legs 	Tiger Trousers 	 	
Feet 	Crimson Greaves 	Feral Ledelsens 	Tiger Ledelsens
Earth Resist - https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/382326
	Stat Priorities: Earth Resist > MDT > MDB > HP > INT.
This set is used against mobs you specifically know will use earth spells/abilities, with this set and some buffs like Barstonra/Earth Carol you can reduce the incoming damage to nearly 0. Pretty much only used for Ouryu but absolutely amazing for that fight.
Alternatives
 	Alternative 1 	Alt 2 	Alt 3
Weapon 	Wind Staff 	 	
Sub 	 	 	
Ranged 	 	 	
Head 	Wivre Hairpin +1 	Choplix Coif 	Gadzradd's Helm
Neck 	Jeweled Collar +1	Jeweled Collar 	Elemental Charm
Ear1&2 	Nimble Earring +1	Robust Earring 	Nimble Earring
Body 	Beak Jerkin +1 	Beak Jerkin 	Weaver's Smock
Hands 	Beak Gloves +1 	Beak Gloves 	
Ring1&2	Robust Ring 	Maldust Ring 	Topaz Ring
Back 	Gaia Mantle 	Beak Mantle +1 	Beak Mantle
Waist 	 	 	
Legs 	Beak Trousers 	 	
Feet 	Crimson Greaves 	Beak Ledelsens +1	Beak Ledelsens
= Looking Forward =
Eden is looking pretty feature complete these days, the things we know are coming down the pipeline still are Einherjar and higher tier Assaults. With Einherjar we get access to Valhalla Breastplate/Helm, both which are very powerful defensive pieces and will slide into a Drks kit nicely. Assaults will open up Perdu Scythe, our best non-Apocalypse weapon forever, as well as some other niche items from appraisal. Overall there's not too much left though. 
Hit me up on Eden if you have any questions about the guide!