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Thread: DRK tier 2 merits     submit to reddit submit to twitter

  1. #1

    DRK tier 2 merits

    I'd like to get some feedback as to what tier 2 merit choices would be ideal for DRK for non-HNM related activities (soloing mobs in Campaign, BCNMs, Limbus, and other events along these lines).

    I'm planning on going 5/5 Desperate Blows (I don't often have a BRD for march), 3/5 Muted Soul, 1/5 Diabolic Eye and 1/5 Dark Seal, but I'd like some feedback before I invest the merits.

  2. #2
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    Personally I'd love to do 5/5 diabolic eye and 5/5 desperate blows.
    They will have a huge affect on your damage.
    But because I do zerg, I need some kind of muted soul and dark seal combination.
    I'm still at a loss on how I'm going to work that out.

  3. #3

    isnt capped desperate blows fail because of attack reduction?

  4. #4

    Attack reduction? What are you talking about.

  5. #5

    i meant attack speed reduction from the patch. It caps out at I think 75% increase attack speed or something? Making merc kris 2nd best zerg weapon i believe.

  6. #6
    Official THE Alpha and Omega
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    It's a 80% attack speed bonus cap. It still gives you a 30 second orgasm every 4m10-5m for non-zerg situations and also allows you to sub NIN and get capped haste for 2h weapons for zerg situations.

    Anyways, the way I feel about DRK t2 merits is that it depends completely on how you use DRK. For Kraken/MKris/Ridill zerg only, you want Dark Seal/Muted Soul. For general melee purposes you might want 5/5 Diabolic Eye, 4/5 DB, 1/5 DS or 4/5 Diab Eye, 5/5 DB, 1/5 DS.

    It really depends what you're doing. None of them are spectacular... even DB isn't exactly spectacular since haste was capped and it still is only a 30s duration.

    For zergs, that 1/5 Dark Seal is great to open with a full Drain II, but isn't very practical otherwise.

  7. #7
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    Personally, I am going to go 5 Desperate Blows 5 Diabolic Eye.

    Diabolic Eye, obviously, 3min of +20accuracy every 5min is hard to pass up.

    Desperate Blows, 25% Haste during Berserk-like Attack Up, makes things explode. I also have Last Resort recast/effect merited so this is a no-brainer for me.

    Muted Soul, I hardly use as mages and mamool ja rip off my testicles if I dare hit my Souleater macro. Nine times out of ten on DRK, I'm trying to pull hate to make use of Dread Spikes every other minute anyways, so Muted Soul seems kind of counterproductive.

    Dark Seal, pretty much only good for extra HP on zergs. Meriting it further seems needless.

    But, I use my DRK more for everyday melee stuff rather than zerging.

    (And to my knowledge the new Haste cap is at 80%)

  8. #8

    With the 80% haste cap, how much +haste gears does one actually need in a 2H zergs situation? (Assuming one has capped desperate blows , /sam, SV marches + haste)

  9. #9
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    25 from Desperate Blows merited 5 times.
    10 from Hasso.
    43.33 from SV marches + Haste.


    35+43.33=78.33. You need ~2% Haste in gear now with SV'd marches and about ~10% Haste in gear with NQ marches.

  10. #10
    CoP Dynamis
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    It's somewhat situational based on what you do. I have an Apocalypse and I still did 5/5 Desperate Blows, because most of the time, I don't have a BRD, and I like wrecking things for the gimp 30 seconds that LR lasts (5/5 LR Effect 5/5 LR Recast in cat 1), I have 1/5 Dark Seal & 1/5 Muted Soul which I'm going to ditch to make Diabolic Eye 4/5. I recommend keeping the 1/5 Dark Seal just for zerg fights for the extra HP from Drain 2. Muted soul imo is trash, anytime I use souleater I'm going to do so much damage that it wouldn't matter how much -Enmity I have I'd still pull hate due to damage, I only put 1 merit into it to cap cat 2 cuz it was cheaper at the time (before they added more merits to the category). So overall, it depends, but I personally think the best options are :
    5/5 DB + 1/5 DS + 4/5 DE or
    5/5 DB + 5/5 DE
    depending on if you do Zerging or not.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Velecic View Post
    I personally think the best options are :
    5/5 DB + 1/5 DS + 4/5 DE or
    5/5 DB + 5/5 DE
    depending on if you do Zerging or not.
    I agree.

  12. #12
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    1x Dark Seal
    4x Desperate Blows
    5x Diabolic Eye

    Unless the only thing you ever do with your DRK is zerg, Muted Soul is probably the last C2 option you would ever want to spend points on. It really isn't that great for a zerg and it's not going to accomplish anything in EXP.

    Having Dark Seal available is a good idea for any DRK configuration, although I wouldn't put more than one point in to it. There have been countless times where a DS Drain II has helped me stay alive(Dynamis etc.), not to mention the DS Drain II you can do to boost Souleater zerg damage.

    You're basically left with 9 points to spend in Desperate Blows and Diabolic Eye. This boils down to which you will make 5/5. Neither choice will affect zerging as anyone with decent gear will easily cap off Haste with 4 DB merits and using Diabolic Eye for zerging is just plain stupid. It's now just a comparison for merit/HNM/random events. 5% additional Haste every 30 seconds or reduce Diabolic Eye recast from 7:30 to 5:00. It should be pretty obvious why 5/5 Diabolic Eye is better.

  13. #13
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    DRK Tier 2 merits are the absolute last thing I'm planning to merit, cause I am not terribly impressed with them in relation to things available for other jobs.

    If you've got the itch to do them though, then 1 Dark Seal, and 4 or 5 each in Diabolic Eye & Desperate Blows, as other people have said in this thread.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vedder View Post
    DRK Tier 2 merits are the absolute last thing I'm planning to merit, cause I am not terribly impressed with them in relation to things available for other jobs.

    What he said. I love DRK, it's one of my more-used jobs, but it's really low on my list of things to merit. I love COR's merits, I wish I could take the merit slots from DRK and give them to COR so I could do twice as many merits on COR. Nothing in DRK merits feel like a "must have" to me, but I'd feel useless as a COR if I didn't have my merits.

    Snake Eye, Fold, Loaded Deck, it makes me hot just thinking about them.

  15. #15

    Quote Originally Posted by Velecic View Post
    I personally think the best options are :
    5/5 DB + 1/5 DS + 4/5 DE or
    5/5 DB + 5/5 DE
    depending on if you do Zerging or not.
    I agree.
    Seconded, almost... I actually think that it should be 5/5 DE, and 5/4 DB.

    5/5 DE is basically your own meritable form of Aggressor, which is an amazing ability to have regardless of what you use DRK for.

    4/5 DB is perfectly fine as it is too. It's not hard to get the extra haste to bring you to the cap, and with it only active for 30 seconds every 5 minutes (or at best, every 4:10), it pails in comparison to having the acc boost up for 20% more of the time. Regardless of what you use DRK for.
    Quote Originally Posted by Fryte View Post
    25 from Desperate Blows merited 5 times.
    10 from Hasso.
    43.33 from SV marches + Haste.


    35+43.33=78.33. You need ~2% Haste in gear now with SV'd marches and about ~10% Haste in gear with NQ marches.
    It's actually 4% needed, don't forget about the 1024 scale.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by RKenshin View Post
    it pails in comparison
    ?
    http://leerburg.com/Photos/stainless-steel-pails737.gif

    Sorry Ruke, much love, but I had to do it.

  17. #17
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    I am glad this thread is here, been having issues on how to merit my DRK (and, have been kinda putting it off, though SE helped with allowing me to get 2 minute Feint for my THF...) As it stands right now, I am thinking of going with 1 Dark Seal, 5 Diabolic Eye, and 4 Desperate Blows. Gear wise, here is I am standing at this for my TP gain:

    Tred Scythe or Algol (Yes, I know I should have Perdu, I need 25k more IS though...)
    Pole Strap
    Bomb Core
    Ace's Helm (or Turban if I want even more Haste)
    Justice Torque (or lolChiv Chain for GS, I know gimpomatic)
    Merman's Earing (I think that's it, the Attack +6 one)
    Brutal Earing
    Adaburk (or Homam for no real particular reason)
    Homam Hands
    Rajas (though, in a pinch I can go to a NQ Sniper's)
    Ulthalam's
    Amemet+1 (staying with this cause A) I have RNG leveled and B) I am cheap)
    Swift Belt
    Homam Legs
    Homam Booties

    Now, if I am correct, 4 DB merits might even be a bit of a waste for me, maybe I should just do 3 since I have an overabundance of Haste gear, and I think hitting Haste cap with marches, Haste spell, and 3 DB merits with my gear should be relatively easy. So, should I look into Muted Soul or just stay with more DB merits?

  18. #18

    Quote Originally Posted by RKenshin View Post
    it pails in comparison to having the acc boost up for 20% more of the time. Regardless of what you use DRK for.


    I thought the Acc boost from DE was plain 20 Acc, not 20%, if that was the case, it would be the most broken ability in the game, especially after full merited. The other day I was checking some numbers and if I remember correctly, a full decked DRK with meritted Scythe should sit at 400 Acc, a little more or a little less, can't remember the exact number (for myself as Elvaan tho).

    So 20% of 400 would be 80 Acc, more than what Sushi gives you, that's just a crazy boost. But I believe that is not the case.

    In my case I have:
    - 5/5 DB, because I do many things as /nin (Salvage boss runs, Nyzul, low manning NMs when I'm not BLM for them, and solo/duo random crap), so the short but very big haste is awesome.

    - 1/5 for DS Drain II for zergs or hnms.

    - 4/5 Muted Soul, because I like to use Souleater.

    So why MS and no DE? I'm someone that likes to be at 1.5-1.7k HP, I use Carbonara +1 as my att food for Salvage, Nyzul, and many more random stuff, I would totally use Arrabiatta instead, but that one is a bit pricer and I'm working on stuff right now, so have to save up.

    DE gives 20 Acc at the cost of 225 HP (1.5k - 15%), unfortunately in my ls I'm one of the top DDs, I'm usually a very good source of hate for our PLDs (Cure IVing me). Parsing 75-85% Acc with Sole +1 on HNMs from a very wing happy NH (Eye Drops always in my bag) to KB and Cerb, Having near 1.5k HP has saved me so many times before, getting double attacked with criticals, or AOE and hit, or being TPed on, I end up with 1-200 HP or so, good enough to put Seigan/TE up and to be healed.

    Just 2 days ago we had a very fun FF, another ls claimed, but their plds were some noob new guys, they got breathed right away, a BLM ES Sleep II, it woke up 10s~ later killing the BLM and going white, our ls claimed, somehow we or the other LS made FF Flail a bit after we had started killing, but yet I was alive with 46 HP, with DE I would have hit the floor like all the BLMs and some Mithras did.

    I recognize the fact that DE will help a DRK put better numbers, maybe for those w/o Adaberk, Ace, Homam or 7 acc rings, but I don't find myself in a situation where having 2-4% (might be less from 20acc?) is better than having those 225+ HP.

    Even for normal meritting, Mamools north camp, I'm usually sitting in yellow HP there after a Firespit or a ws I didn't have the chance to TE or w/e. I just don't like it.

  19. #19
    Subduer of the Squenix
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    Quote Originally Posted by Max™ View Post
    ?
    http://leerburg.com/Photos/stainless-steel-pails737.gif

    Sorry Ruke, much love, but I had to do it.
    Those of us in the know, know that Ruke is a Ferry. He also travels on roots when he drives places.

  20. #20

    Quote Originally Posted by Max™ View Post
    ?
    Sorry Ruke, much love, but I had to do it.
    Oops lol..

    Quote Originally Posted by Khrno View Post
    I thought the Acc boost from DE was plain 20 Acc, not 20%, if that was the case, it would be the most broken ability in the game, especially after full merited. The other day I was checking some numbers and if I remember correctly, a full decked DRK with meritted Scythe should sit at 400 Acc, a little more or a little less, can't remember the exact number (for myself as Elvaan tho).

    So 20% of 400 would be 80 Acc, more than what Sushi gives you, that's just a crazy boost. But I believe that is not the case.

    In my case I have:
    - 5/5 DB, because I do many things as /nin (Salvage boss runs, Nyzul, low manning NMs when I'm not BLM for them, and solo/duo random crap), so the short but very big haste is awesome.

    - 1/5 for DS Drain II for zergs or hnms.

    - 4/5 Muted Soul, because I like to use Souleater.

    So why MS and no DE? I'm someone that likes to be at 1.5-1.7k HP, I use Carbonara +1 as my att food for Salvage, Nyzul, and many more random stuff, I would totally use Arrabiatta instead, but that one is a bit pricer and I'm working on stuff right now, so have to save up.

    DE gives 20 Acc at the cost of 225 HP (1.5k - 15%), unfortunately in my ls I'm one of the top DDs, I'm usually a very good source of hate for our PLDs (Cure IVing me). Parsing 75-85% Acc with Sole +1 on HNMs from a very wing happy NH (Eye Drops always in my bag) to KB and Cerb, Having near 1.5k HP has saved me so many times before, getting double attacked with criticals, or AOE and hit, or being TPed on, I end up with 1-200 HP or so, good enough to put Seigan/TE up and to be healed.

    Just 2 days ago we had a very fun FF, another ls claimed, but their plds were some noob new guys, they got breathed right away, a BLM ES Sleep II, it woke up 10s~ later killing the BLM and going white, our ls claimed, somehow we or the other LS made FF Flail a bit after we had started killing, but yet I was alive with 46 HP, with DE I would have hit the floor like all the BLMs and some Mithras did.

    I recognize the fact that DE will help a DRK put better numbers, maybe for those w/o Adaberk, Ace, Homam or 7 acc rings, but I don't find myself in a situation where having 2-4% (might be less from 20acc?) is better than having those 225+ HP.

    Even for normal meritting, Mamools north camp, I'm usually sitting in yellow HP there after a Firespit or a ws I didn't have the chance to TE or w/e. I just don't like it.
    wut?

    I said: "it pails in comparison to having the acc boost up for 20% more of the time"

    As in, going from a 7:30 recast to a 5:00 recast, will increase the amount of time the ability is up from 40% of the time to 60% of the time. Or, a 20% increase in the time it can be up.

    Not a 20% boost in total accuracy. <.< How would merits that change the duration even effect the accuracy it provides? lol

    And as a minor correction, 20 acc up for 60% of the time would add about 3-5% accuracy to your hit-rate.

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