Overview - Character Creation - Sub-job Selection - Vital Spells - Combat Tactics - Closing

By walking the path of the Dark Knight you have chosen to embrace chaos and harness it into sheer melee force as well as potent black magic.  They serve one main purpose in a party, and that is to do as much damage as possible.  They excel with two-handed weapons, and are one of the physically strongest jobs in the game in terms of sheer damage capability. Their exclusive dark spells and abilities only help to augment their natural strength.  It is through using these abilities wisely that you can truly become the big damage dealer of any party.

"Similar to to warriors, dark knights can wield a wide variety of weapons. However, these outcast knights have taken the path of black magic to turn battles to their favor."

The Dark Knight is a hybrid job (both melee and mage) and as such, it makes each race a viable option for the potential Dark Knight. Every statistic, save MND and CHR, is important to the job.

Elvaan: The Elvaan’s strength lies in…their strength. They have the highest STR of all the races, and will hit the hardest out of any Dark Knight. Their high MND helps for magic defense, but besides that is negligible. Their weaknesses, however, lie in both a small MP pool, and low DEX. Of all the races, Elvaan will miss the most, and when you are swinging a two-handed weapon with high delay, this issue becomes very noticeable. They also have low INT, which means your black magic will be slightly less potent, but it is not so significant as to say it is handicapped.

Tarutaru: The Taru may be the worst suited race on paper, but they certainly have their advantages. Specifically, their high INT and MP helps with magic casting, which, if used correctly, can offset their lack of weapon damage. While nowhere near as potent as a Black Mage’s magic, the extra damage is certainly notable – especially with magic bursts.

Mithra: Mithra have only one true fault as a Dark Knight, they lack in STR. However, their high DEX offsets the Dark Knight’s naturally poor accuracy, and while they will do less damage per hit, they will hit more often. Other then that, their HP, MP, and INT are all average, and the other stats are negligible. Mithra make very good Dark Knights.

Galka: The Galka excel in HP and VIT, and while these are nice for a Dark Knight to have, they are certainly not the most important stats. Galka have better then average STR, but pretty much average DEX. Unfortunately, due to their extremely low MP, they won’t be casting often. While it can be done, there are better suited races for a Dark Knight.

Hume: The Hume are well suited for becoming Dark Knights. Being average all around, they can attack for a decent amount of damage, and can cast well with their average MP pool and average INT. They won’t excel at any one thing, but they can do everything well. Being a job that requires both casting and close combat, the Hume do well as Dark Knights.
 

Warrior: Being standard Dark Knight sub-job, it offers several benefits, most of which are incredibly useful. Between Berserk, Double Attack, and eventually Warcry, you will be able to do obscene amounts of damage when you feel the need to, and since that’s what a Dark Knight is made for, this becomes one of the more versatile sub job. Also worth mentioning are Provoke and Defender. While they are not intrinsically helpful to your job, they can help the party out in a pinch if necessary.

Monk: Monk is not often considered as a sub for Dark Knight, but it has its fair share of advantages. Firstly, the extra HP is always a help, and any additional damage (though it may not be much) to your Souleater is always a good thing. Boost, while not incredibly useful at lower levels, can truly do some serious damage later on, especially when stacked. Focus is really where the Monk sub shines. Dark Knights are horrendous when it comes to accuracy, and this ability is a godsend for that reason. Eventually you’ll also get Chakra, and while not the greatest ability, it never hurts to be able to heal yourself, even for a little bit. You’ll also get Counter, which is mildly useful, and several Marital Arts bonuses, which will go to waste.

Thief: Another standard Dark Knight sub, a Thief sub shines for two reasons: Sneak Attack and Trick Attack. These give the Dark Knight two essential things:

     1. More damage, and as we all know by now, more damage is always a good thing.
     2. A way to control hate. Monsters will despise you when you’re doing so much damage and this gives you a way to make sure they stay away.

Besides these, you have Steal and Treasure Hunter, which are always good for farming, but don’t serve any real purpose in a party.

Paladin: Another less popular sub that has its advantages is the Paladin. A Paladin sub will help your defense immensely, great for when you draw hate with Souleater. You also get access to a variety of white magic, and while you won’t be the greatest caster, you can certainly help your party out in a tight spot, or help reduce down time just a little, by throwing a few heals around after the fight.

Samurai: The last of the standard 3 sub jobs, Samurai serves one purpose: more TP. More TP means more Weapon Skills, and more Weapon Skills means more damage. And as we all know, more damage is good. Though you won’t see a great increase in TP gain until higher levels (which is, coincidentally, when the Dark Knight gets his/her first multi-hit Weapon Skill) once you have guillotine your sub will grant you a significant TP bonus. With Samurai subbed, you’ll be pulling off Guillotines more often then not, and that can do some serious damage. Just be careful to not secure the hate off your tank, because your defense will be sub-par.

Ninja: Ninja doesn’t offer as much as the other jobs do to the Dark Knight, but it’s far from a weak combination. Ninja have two main uses as a sub job, first is dual wield, more on this later. Second is Ninjitsu, and while this can help your team out a little, chances are that you’d be better off attacking instead.

As far as dual wielding, the problem is that Dark Knights excel in two-handed weapons, so wielding two one-hand weapons doesn’t seem like a very good idea. However there is one exception, and that is Souleater. Souleater does its extra damage regardless of your weapon type. A DRK/NIN using Souleater and Blood Weapon may very well be the most damaging 30 seconds a melee can dish out without using a Weapon Skill.

That said, basing your job around using your 2-hour ability is not advised, but feel free to give it a try if you have the chance. (Note: using Souleater without Blood Weapon would drain your HP too fast to be extremely useful)

Dragoon: A Dragoon sub has only a two advantages to it over other subs, besides having the extra bonuses to melee stats, and both of these are not obtained until a much higher level. As a Dragoon, you will eventually get Jump/High Jump, which help to reduce the hate you may have accumulated from doing too much damage. Besides those, the only other advantage of note is the Accuracy Bonus passive ability. As has been mentioned, the more accuracy you have, the better. Unfortunately, besides these, there isn’t much reason to sub Dragoon.

*Note: You do not gain access to a wyvern pet unless Dragoon is your main job since it is tied directly to the Dragoon 2-hour ability.

Black Mage: Surprisingly enough, a Black Mage sub really does not add much to the Dark Knight’s arsenal. You’ll get some more MP, Clear Mind, Elemental Seal, Conserve MP, and a couple Magic Attack Bonuses. A lot of your spells will overlap, however, and while you will do more damage with your magic, you will ultimately do less with your weapon. If you were to choose a mage sub job, I would not recommend this one, unless you are a Tarutaru.

White Mage: The White Mage sub job is great for soloing, and surprisingly, is also useful in a party. Being able to throw Cures around when needed (though not recommended during battle) as well as heal any status effects that your White Mage may have missed. You’ll also get Auto-Regen, Clear Mind, and Divine Seal. As with the Black Mage sub, you’ll do less damage with your attacks, but sometimes that can be overlooked when you can cast Curaga with Divine Seal, either post-battle, or in the middle of a tough fight if absolutely necessary.

Red Mage: With the Red Mage sub, you get a little from the Black Mage side, with a little from the White Mage side. You’ll get less extra MP then you would from either of the other two mage jobs, but you’ll also get bonuses to your attacking stats to make up for it. You can cure, enfeeble, or nuke your enemy as you see fit, and Fast Cast helps you get your spells (like the high cast-time Absorb spells) off a little faster. You’ll also get the En- spells, which, while useful, unfortunately are not much of a help with a high delay weapon. Eventually you’ll also get Dispel, Phalanx, and Stoneskin, which are bound to help out when you’ve got Souleater going. Unfortunately, this sub doesn’t get all too good until later on.

Summoner: This is FAR from the best sub job you could choose. You’ll get more MP, and half-level summons, which can certainly help out, given the right situation. However, there really is only one reason I am listing this sub here, and that is the coolness factor of summoning Ifrit to fight alongside you as a Dark Knight. Awesome to look at, use it to impress your friends!

Overall, your best choices for maximum damage output are Warrior or Samurai (at higher levels). In a perfect party, these two will be the most potent sub jobs for the Dark Knight. I stress a perfect party, because, for example, if you’re in a party with absolutely no healer (which is NOT advised) a Dark Knight/White Mage would probably be slightly better suited.
 

There are very few spells that are vital for the Dark Knight, but the absolute must-haves are Drain and Aspir. Between these two, you will very RARELY need to rest up (as long as you’re fighting enemies with MP to Aspir). They have a 1 minute timer each, and should both be recast if you need either HP or MP as soon as your timer is up.

Second to these are the Absorb-??? Spells. While you certainly should not go down the line casting these spells, it never hurts to absorb the one stat your enemy excels in at least once during the fight. This will help you (how much depends on the stat) and more importantly, help your party. Take Absorb-VIT for example, it acts as an extra Dia spell vs. the enemy, and an extra Protect buff for you.
Generally, VIT and AGI are your two best Absorbs, since they help the entire party (as supposed to say, STR, which only helps the tank, and yourself). If your enemy has high defense, then you should use Absorb-VIT. Likewise, high evasion monsters should be met with Absorb-AGI.
With that said, it doesn’t hurt to use another Absorb later on in the battle if you need the boosted DEX or STR to help yourself out, IF you have the MP, and the time to do it.

You should also invest in Stun. This helps when you’re either waiting for the Weapon Bash timer, or if you’re hunting NMs and need a quick spell to pull the monster.

Last but not least, it certainly couldn’t hurt to buy at least some of the elemental spells, so that you can burst during Skillchains. These aren’t vital, but it’s free damage for you. If you have the MP handy, you should always burst when possible.
 

By now you may have noticed a trend throughout this guide, and that is the “more damage” mentality. Dealing heaps of damage is the primary function of the Dark Knight, and as such, they have several abilities which help with this task.

Passive Abilities: The big one here is the Attack Bonus passive. You’ll get three iterations of it, and it’s fairly straightforward. Again, more damage is better. Besides this, you get a couple counts of Resist Paralyze, which are self-explanatory. Then there’s Arcana Killer, which helps against “Arcane” creatures. From what I can determine so far, this includes weapons, elementals, and bombs at least

Active Abilities: Blood Weapon – The Dark Knight’s 2 hour ability drains any damage done to the enemy, as long as it isn’t undead. (Yes, your 2-hour is absolutely useless vs. undead) It only lasts for about 30 seconds or so, enough for you to get in about 3-4 hits with a decent two-handed weapon. Not incredibly useful, yet.

Arcane Circle – Helps your party against Arcane creatures. Use it when fighting said creatures, that’s all there is to it.

Last Resort – Lowers defense and raises attack for a VERY short time. It’s a variation on Berserk, but it doesn’t last as long, and really makes you take hits like your grandma. On top of that, it also acts as a provoke, and more often then not I use it as such (and cancel it immediately) when no one else has Provoke ready. Use it sparingly, but don’t forget it’s there either. If you have a good tank, Last Resort can only help.

Weapon Bash – Stuns the enemy. Use it to interrupt powerful spells, gob bombs, or anything else you don’t want to get hit by. Make note of the timer on it so you don’t get caught trying to use it before you can. If you’re waiting for it to recharge, use Stun in the meantime.

Souleater – The reason you became a Dark Knight is right here. This ability will take 10% from your current HP, and add it to your damage. With it, you’ll deal some serious pain to the enemy, but not without a cost. Not only are you lowering your own HP, but this will draw some serious hate. Use it with discretion, or with a Paladin who has Cover, if possible. Make ABSOLUTELY sure that you have a macro for this, so the White Mage knows to pay special attention to your HP for the next minute.
Don’t be afraid to cancel it if things get hairy, and you should never use it before the enemy is below 50% HP. Often times you’ll draw enough hate that it won’t get off you for a while, and since you don’t shine in the defense department, that can be extremely dangerous.

Souleater + Blood Weapon + Last Resort – Yes, I’m listing this separately. This is your true 2-hour ability. Once you get Souleater, you should never, EVER use Blood Weapon without it. The HP you drain more then makes up for the HP loss from Souleater, and with Last Resort, you will become a damage dealing machine (though Last Resort is really not necessary, it helps).

Combat: First off is the standard melee fare. Set macros for your HP, TP, and Weapon Skills so your party knows your condition.

If you have the MP for it, you should lead off each fight with an Absorb spell. Try to make it the stat in which the enemy excels, so as to balance things out. After this, you should wail on the enemy, using Absorbs and Drains when appropriate. Don’t overdo the Absorbs, however. They take a long time to cast, and that time is often better spent swinging your weapon around.

Weapon Bash and Stun when appropriate. Unlike Weapon Skill stuns, you can do these over and over again without taking a hit to your TP. Once you get stun, no one should have to use Flat Blade or some other stunning Weapon Skill to stop an attack.

Don’t hold back on Souleater. You can use it every 6 minutes, and it lasts for a minute each time, don’t let it go to waste. In your standard fight, you should use it when the enemy hits somewhere around 20% HP. Obviously, conditions may vary, and while your White Mage may not be thrilled about it, the faster it dies, the less they have to heal in general, they’re just healing you instead of the tank. As always, warn your party, and make sure they are okay with this before you go using it. It goes a lot more smoothly if your White Mage knows he has to heal you during that last 20%.

This guide is far from complete, and far from being a strict guideline. As always, your experience may lead you to something entirely different from what has been stated here, but don’t be afraid to be your own Dark Knight. As with all FFO Warcry guides constructive feedback and criticism is always. Feel free to email them here.

See you in Vana’diel....

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