Galka Guru

Back to the basics! This has been a great couple of weeks, and I'm very far behind on updates. Anyway, getting to the juice of this entry, I've finally gotten a chance to test my true DRKness against another top-tier DRK. Back to my straight up DD roots... Being the first NA Dark Knight to reach lv. 75 on Phoenix ages ago and still being revered as the OG DRK, I feel I do have a lot to live up to, especially since I took such a long hiatus where a lot has changed within the bulk of FFXI's lifetime that I've been absent from. I've also grown to love meriting and think it's a great outlet for one to test his overall potential and skills in an easilly controlled environment.

Finally, pitted up against an Apocalypse...
So, finally getting an oppurtunity to test my own DRK strengths against a fully-equipped, Ares' Cuirass-wearing, Apocalypse-wielding meripo machine, I am surprisingly pleased by my performance. I call this DRK a meripo machine because an Apoc DRK spamming Catastrophe under true meripo (March/Hastes) circumstances is technically unstoppable. This person also knows how to compete in a parse during merit parties, as he knows better than to ever be disengaged (although a lot of times, he'd move on the the next nearest Collibri well before the current one being fought is even close to dying-a tad annoying). Even though he makes use of his Catastrophe spam by keeping Hasso up for most of the duration of the party, the ability to drain through the relic's additional effect helps a lot in the non-MP-sponge factor.

Between the two of us, probably only about 5 Souleaters went off through both rounds of the entire party, so yeah, we were quite limited as to how far we could push damage. I really don't think winning a parse is about unleashing as much damage as humanly possible and being in critical-low HP the whole time. But with Apocalypse's Drain effect, he's able to get away with a lot. Although I wouldn't consider this an exact comparison benchmark between two different Dark Knight builds (the presence of only 1 BRD really detracts from the normally powerful 2xBRD or BRD+COR meripo experience where the DDs are able to go "all-out," pushing their limits), the results are still something I'm still very proud of.

First half:

Second half (after short break):

The other 2 DDs were a SAM/WAR and a below-average WAR/SAM, who was ironically the PT leader.

I was very surprised at these results, because for one, Eka -the Apoc DRK- really kept up with the meripo pace, never disengaging and always amongst the first to connect a swing on a pull. This is one of the key's to winning a parse in most circumstances, but I would consider myself a dedicated meriter also, and perform in the same fashion. So with parse results like this, you can see why I am a little befuddled. Though, in all honesty, during the majority of the first half, Eka was up by an average 1.5-2% on the parse, which I am assuming is when the PT members were at their peak performance. As time goes on, especially in a pick-up PT, certain mages like to slow down their Haste rotations, and lag on the song-singing, which is how I guess I caught up and even surpassed the Apoc DRK by a small fraction. Catastrophe-spamming really, really depends on maxing out on weapon delay and Hastes and Marches (in this case, only 1 March and 1 Minuet) are vital to pushing out maximum dmg.

Which brings me to another point-- had there been a second BRD and 2x Marches and 2x Minuets received, I'm sure I would be blown out of the water. But given that this was a pick-up PT with only 1 BRD, I'm glad I was able to hold my own. The second half also seemed a little less fast-paced as well, with the BRD having trouble keeping pulls ready and melees having to run and pick out our own targets.

Our equipment set-ups were pretty similar, except for the absence of Ares' Cuirass and Apocalypse on my part. I didn't check the Ares/Relic DRK, but I do remember a while ago in Whitegate, that person would always wear a Blitz Ring, which has me completely astounded at why a person with this type of gear would even consider this an option. Not surprisingly, just today I noticed that a notable DRG I've merited with recently is in the same LS that this DRK is in, and he sports a Blitz Ring as well. The DRG on the other hand only has an Askar Zucchetto on hand, so I don't understand why he doesn't opt for the Walahra Turban and just put on a Sniper's/+1/Toreador's. I could say the same for the DRK, but since there is an Ace's Helm in that build along with the Apoc, I guess I could see why the Blitz is there. /shrug~ Anyway, this is my normal TP and WS builds, not considering Lurker-type evasive mobs:

TP gain

WS build

I've come a very long way on my road of Dark Knight, and as of now I feel I'm done (at least until the new Nyzul relics are released, then we'll see how ridiculous those upgrades will be). I remember being so amped about outparsing a friend's new Amanomurakumo last year, without even having my SAM SJ available yet! I don't remember if it was after the re-nerf of the outrageous 2-hand buff or before it (I think it was after the toned-down 2-handed weapons modifications), but it looked a lil' sumpin' like this:

top to bottom: DRK/NIN, SAM/WAR, RDM/WHM, COR/???, BRD/NIN, WAR/NIN

It was this PT, bout half a year ago, that I pulled off my highest Guillotine on a regular defense high-level mob (2800~ on G. Collibri, screenshots are gone because I accidently formatted over my external HD -.- ). Also was a nostalgic night, since Ivede made one of his rare come-back appearances. This guy was amongst the first DRK 75s as well, probably a couple months after me. Too bad he ditched his DRK roots for the over-hyped WAR/NIN Ridill/Joy set-ups. I think this old parse included his Ridill/Joy swapping to Maneater/Ridill half-way.

What's Kraken?
Anyway, in keeping with the DRK theme of this journal entry, today I had some fun at Dynamis Lord. Yes, another parse. For this DL, I kept my graphics minimal, effects unshown, AIM/MSN/BitLord/Winamp shut down, in order to keep an accurate parse of the 20-something melees beating the living day-lights out of this overgrown, sunburnt Galka. Another parse I was surprisingly overwhelmed with.



The three Kraken-DRK users are high-lighted within the red border. We received dual-Marches, Hastes, and I think Rogue Roll and some other useless Roll. Jayiiq (Dawn OG) and I ate Carbonara. After my Drain 2 I was sitting at around 2200 (forgot to record this -.- but have gone upwards 2300 @ DL with minimal Dark Magic/M.Accuracy gear that doesn't compromise max HP gear).

One factor that seems to have skewed the average hit dmg is I engaged and swung 3-4 times before activating Souleater/Bloodweapon, which the other 2 set off before drawing their weapons. I was DRK/DRG (lolDRG lv. 34), Jay--DRK/NIN, Vandyr/Therin--DRK/???. I am ecstatic at how well the Wyvern Earring performed, boosting my normal Kraken dmg vs. DL a great deal. Normally, I am only a few % ahead of Jay's DRK zerg, but this time, getting in an entire twenty more swings than the second highest-parsing Kraken-DRK is just too [Incredibly tough].

With Dark Seal and an Anrir Obi, Dynamis Lord seems so damn non-resistant to a Drain 2 by a well-equipped Dark Magic user, I'm pondering on whether I should relieve a little more of the Kraken-HP gears for some more Dark Magic skill+ gear. As it stands, the gear I macro in for a Kraken zerg only offers me substantial max HP along with only +20 Dark Magic skill in gear and +11 M. Accuracy, and whatever effect Full-weather Benefit is (Anrin Obi). This places me at only 307 total Dark Magic skill. In my regular full Dark Magic build, I sit at 322 skill, along with a +18 M. Accuracy. I guess I wouldn't be comprising too much HP by using Abyss Flanchard +1, since's it's only giving up 8 HP for another 7 Dark Magic skill.




And this is the regular Kraken-DRK build I use, complete with the lolShield Torque. [I spent a day time-stamping for the Ajase Beads (+20 HP Necklace) NM, but to no avail. I'll probably head back there again after an update or if I'm overly busy and just want to AFK timestamp the ToD.] Look at that gimp SJ, and an lolSniper's in Ring1 slot. Really could use some Bloodsucker ToDs too! Anyway... Jean-Claude Van DAYUM this entry turned out to be fucking long. And here I was wanting to blog about my crazy PLD aventures these past couple of weeks. Guess I'll save that for another day. ~Peace in the Middle East~