Atmas For DRK

I'm on the VV/RR/Apoc bandwagon. Could do SS instead of VV.

I use VV/RR/Apoc but i have changed it up depending on the situation. I use GH/Apoc/Lion for better triple attack rate and depending on if im the one taking majority of the hate. Also for Catastrophe it's damage does obviously more with triple attack stacked so i tend to keep Apoc/lion combo. I used to use the alpha/omega but the - hp is kinda a drawback i dont like. Also depending on if im really there just to proc red then i might just do regain atma's like Sea daughter and VV. Again alot of it is situational, and i realize that if your main ws is guillotine then you are probably better off going with higher str and attack vs triple attack since it doesn't benefit you as much as it would someone with relic scythe. BUT for those of you with relic scythe's ive heard alot of you not using triple attack and you are missing out on damage potential and huge cures =D. I hope this helps some of you drk's out there. Also Apoc should pretty much be a Given for a 3rd slot not only for triple attack but also those instant cast stuns and drains. I dont care how you do abyssea with what group, If you are not master of the stun on drk then you need to practice. Also if you are low on hp and do a drain 2, or drain and it instant casts you get 3rd drain possibly 4th drain in there.

That's pretty much the atma I favor as well with cala's AM hitting 3 1k+ hits is awesome to see and with such low delay I rely on dot over ws numbers in most situations. I haven't had torcleaver for too long so I'm still figuring things like that out.

I like VV/AA/A&O. More often than not I'm seeing 2.2k-3.5k guillotines with any scythe over 105 damage. With OAT Magian scythe the TP building is incredible but ultimately weaker weapon skills at DMG:98

For Espafut +2(K-Mart Caladbolg) I use VV/AA/Plaguebringer.

I'd imagine using OAT scythe with that much triple attack would actually hurt your DoT in the long run...

Hi Mat <3 Hi Sabre :D

When using Caladbolg:

I pretty much always have on VV and AoA

If i want to be in 6-hit I use Scorpion Queen.
If i need a small acc boost and DoT I use Razed Ruins.
I used to use Dunes for 6-hit before I got Scorp but the drain potency was a toy at best.
I've used Alpha and Omega when i really needed attack boost.

The other 80% of the time I use Mounted Champion. It's rare I'm struggling for attack now (sandworms and giant turtles I believe are the most frequent problems) with last resort. I was REALLY skeptical of Zicdeh being such a proponent for MC, at first. Vit seemed like such a meh stat to boost and back then VIT didn't seem to be bumping my WS enough. It wasn't until I had some free time to do really look at my numbers, that i realised VIT wasn't the problem. After re-arranging some gear in ws and buying red curry buns, my torcleavers started getting the consistant numbers I wanted. After the last resort buff, I swapped to MC almost full time.

For scythe, I don't really ever set atma for scythe anymore, but when I did I would use VV AoA and AAO or RR.

Im on the SS/RR/Apoc Bandwagon myself.

I hate the lack of defensive options too much, to use /THF on DRK and take advantage of a RR-SS atma build.

I use Minikin/matriarch/ultimate to charge up my nukes

:3

How is RR not a good option on DRK?
With a ODD proc on a crit = easily 1k dmg, no?
Too good to pass up, unless you just meditate/let regain get to you 100tp >_>

I have Scholar, so I never even tried to nuke on lolDRK.


Razed ruins sucks and is overrated, anyone who uses razed ruins is a noob.


Keep thinking inside that old box.

It's nowhere near as useful as it is on a job that spams crit ws (even moreso on Sanguine scythe... I thought people posting SS were trying to be funny, hence the drk nuke joke :x). Aftermath on calad may make you a heck of a lot more of DPS job than it is without but it's still a spike damage ws-job. RR does absolutely nothing for torcleaver unless you have acc issues (and those should be addressed elsewhere imho).
If youre using 1hand axe and ridill on drk while you use RR, then im sorry. Why you havent killed yourself yet idk, but my arguement doesnt apply to you. :x

I don t remember saying i use thf sub.

And i though gearing toward ws dmg on a job that doesn t have a crit ws was a bad idea

I know RR does nothing for torcleaver, but does another atma to boost torcleaver really beat the dot improvement from RR? >_>
RR probably close to "doubles" your dmg during tp phase, and I _really_ doubt another ws-related atma beats out that.

Without being sarcastic (It seems to be hard to tell today), Razed Ruins and Sanguin Scythe DRK/THF is kind of fun. Torcleaver will usually 5k or so, and I've seen up to 8k, though that was a triple attack.


I still don't think it's worth using though.

The point of RR and SS is actually to abuse the aftermath of caladbolg for those 1k+ crit hits, combine it with last resorts last update and a brd and i really don t think it should be called "for Noobs" and "outdated"

Even SAMs use RR inside Abyssea. DRK's TP/WS split has a larger TP component than SAMs do. The benefits are too good to pass up, even without a crit WS.

I wouldn't fault anyone for using SS either tbh. Critdmg+30% is a decent boost to melee damage and you've got HP+ for Souleater as well. I'd lean towards A&O as my third atma, especially with Caladbolg, but if the HP- was an issue then I'd at least consider SS, possibly a regain/STP atma.

I was joking with the Razed Ruins comment(how that wasn't obvious I have no idea), but you can get better use out of the atma slot you're putting Sanguine Scythe in if you're actively melee'ing. Violet and Alpha-Omega come to mind. It's certainly not a bad combo, but I stand by the notion that it's not the optimal for a Full-engagement scenario.

VV/RR/apoc used to be my usual combo, but since last patch ive been liking what i get out of SS a lot, plus the hp boost is kinda nice for souleater.

This is true. The best setup I've used for my OAT scythe is RR/VV/[STP Atma] but there's no reason to set atma specifically for OAT scythe when it's out-shined by so many other combinations. For now Maleficence +2 is a shiny toy used for shaming low end monsters.

I'm hoping my precious pet project won't turn out to be a complete waste come august.

I haven't given souleater a lot of attention since the Stalwart Soul update.


But all this doesn't matter, the best Atma combo is Ascending One, Omnipotent and Winged Enigma so we can TP in Hecatomb with only half the Slow Penalty!

Atma of the untouched, /end thread.

I'm sorry, I'm at work so I tend to type quickly and not always clearly. I was saying why RR wasn't as OP as it is for other jobs, not saying it's not useful at all. I understood what Zicdeh was trying to convey (which is why i answered the post before him and not his) but was just trying to be informative as to why RR isn't as good for drk as it is for other jobs (and to a further extent SS, which is still think is a poor choice for drk ever). If you looke 4-5 posts before the one you're quoting of mine, i advocate RR as one of my choices situationally. Sorry for any confusion.

The fact that your post was one of those that didn't have RR as a staple atma is precisely why I responded to you. The only situation where you shouldn't be using it is a situation where you're focused almost exclusively on DDing via WS damage for whatever reason, in which case you might as well be using Zicdeh's regain/wsdmg build.

Drk/thf inside abyssea is honestly a good option now. Most of us with Caladbolg go with a 7 hit build with alot of room for STP. While it is arguably not worth it to push to a 6 hit build with /sam, it is worth it to go from a 8 hit build to a 7 hit build while /thf. All you are missing from /sam now a day is the 15 stp, which is easily made up by aurum cuirass, rose strap and hoard ring. It will be half a percentage short of 25% haste, but not a whole lot of attack, DA, and critical hit % difference. All that sacrifice might be worth it for the 100% boost on every other WS assuming you WS every 30 sec.

The biggest problem with /thf is obviously no meditate and no hasso during that 28% of the time without LR. So depends on the mob you are fighting, /thf might not the a bad idea. /sam is definitely still the best, but /thf can't be too far behind inside abyssea with the boost in critical hit damage. With /thf, alot of the popular atma that previously only benefit the TP phase will all the sudden benefit both.

I personally go with RR/AoA/Lion when /sam. I find the TA too good to pass in term of WS freqency, and mathamatically RR is also too big of a boost to your tp phase to not have. For /thf you obviously want RR/SS/AoA or RR/SS/GC depending on the situation.

Just my 2 cents.

Edit: the boost with sneak attack on Torcleaver inside abyssea with RR and SS is most likely 100% instead of the 55% that I originally wrote. That includes the approximate 50% increase on cratio and 55% increase on critical hit damage bonus from JT and atma. So it is at least 100% damage increase combined. It gives you a taste on how incredibly powerful torcleaver is IF it could critical like blade Hi....

:)

Also remember for those Stunner - absorb only fights, it really is ok to stack macc / fast cast atma. I have only had to do it a couple of times, but don't feel bad if you're asked to be that.

Also, I would not touch MC unless I need the regen. In pure damage stand point, 50 VIT at its best will add 26 WSC to your WS. Normally inside abyssea, you should have at least 225 WSC. What that means is that at best, the 50 VIT will add 11.5% to your WS. Unless GC (20% boost) is unavailable, you should never have to use MC to try to boost your WS damage. In fact, atma of the lion will give you more bang for your buck with the 10% triple attack. 10% triple attack will increase your WS frequency to close to 20% (you are going to have tp overflow but tp overflow boosts your damage on torcleaver), which offsets the 11.5% boost from MC, and it also boost your tp phase by 20%. This is not mentioning the boost to your per WS damage on the 10% triple attack rate. It isn't alot, but it all adds up.

Edit: fixed from 10% to 20%. Sorry.

I understand. I never implied (or didn't mean to) that RR was inferior. I use mounted champion more often than anything else because if i'm on drk that means we didn't need my war due to some job covering raiden or blues for me (our nin just got a pitchfork so i get to be drk more). I usually am off soloing amber lights and azure after i got claim for my pop-KI's and I am not the best solo'er on drk. It just works out for letting me be lazy and have fun on the job (which is what i do on drk). if we're doing something that doesn't have any fancy ws's to worry about or were not staying long enough to need time/ki's (already farmed KI etc) I will use VV RR AoA and go to town.

We had such an abundance of people for the big fish in mis yesterday that we had a brd. With haste, march, and desp blows on it was like hundred fists caladbolg. It never gets old to "meat grinder" on the blm / whm while charmed :3