Dark Knight

Introduction

"The pious Ishgardian clergy guide the flock, and the devout knights protect the weak. Yet even the holiest of men succumb to the darkest of temptations.
None dare to administer justice to these sacrosanct elite residing outside the reach of the law. Who, then, defends the feeble from the transgressions of those meant to guide and protect them?
A valiant few take up arms to defend the downtrodden, and not even the holy priests and knights can escape their judgment. Pariahs in their own land, they are known by many as “dark knights.”
These sentinels bear no shields declaring their allegiance. Instead, their greatswords act as beacons to guide the meek through darkness." — Game Description

General Information

See also: Dark Knight (Seafood)

Dark Knight is a Tank job that wields a Greatsword (2-handed sword) as its weapon. Unlike 2.0 jobs, Dark Knight does not have a base class and starts from level 30. It was released in the first expansion pack, Heavensward, in June 2015.

There is no physical guild building for the Dark Knights. After following the first few quests of the job's storyline, Dark Knights receive their job-advancement quests through an NPC located in the Ishgard Inn, The Forgotten Knight.

Play Style

Screen capture of In-game Tool tip from Media Tour.

As a tank, the Dark Knight focuses mainly on getting aggro and keeping it. The job is especially known for its ability to mitigate magic damage through Dark Mind, and can frequently be seen in higher-level raids where the boss deals a lot of it. They can function as off-tanks relatively well given their potential damage output.

The main mechanic Dark Knights will have to deal with is MP management. While under the effects of Darkside, MP is drained at a constant rate, so the player will have to juggle between using skills that require MP and those that recover it in order to maximize their effectiveness.

Blood Gauge

The Job gauge for Dark Knight in Final Fantasy XIV's 4.0 Stormblood expansion brings a visual indicator to three functions relating to the job. The Dark Knight Soul Crystal will display if Grit is enabled by blue blades around the soul gem. The soul gem itself will show a numerical value relating to the amount of Blackblood the Blood Gauge has. The Great sword representing Blood Gauge will be surrounded by a red/purple glow if Darkside is enabled.

Blackblood is gained by using weapon skills, doing auto-attacks under Blood Weapon's effect and/or taking damage while under the effect of Blood Price. Dark Knight, as of the media tour information, seen to not have a penalty while changing their Grit or Darkside status.

Blackblood is used to execute the three new weapon skills available for Dark Knight.

Requirements

Heavensward
Access to Ishgard, where Dark Knight's quests are located.
Complete the quest Our End (started from NPC in The Pillars at (x12, y8)).

Trainer Locations

NPC	Location	Description
Ishgardian Citizen	The Pillars (x13,y9)	Job Start for ARR
Fray	Foundation (x11,y12)	Job Trainer for 30-50
Unflinching Temple Knight	Coerthas Central Highlands (x13,y16)	Job Start for Heavensward
Sidurgu	Foundation (x13,y12)	Job Trainer for 52-60
Sidurgu	Foundation (x13.3,y12.0)	Job Start for Stormblood

Actions

As of Final Fantasy XIV's 4.0 expansion Stormblood. There are changes in the skill set available for Dark Knight, the list of abilities lost are as follows:

Shadowskin
Scourge
Low Blow is part of the Role Actions.
Reprisal is part of the Role Actions.
Dark Dance
Delirium is no longer a combo weapon skill.

Action	Level	TP Cost	MP Cost	Cast Time	Cooldown	Range	Radius	Description
Hard Slash	1	60	0	Instant	2.5s	3y	0	Delivers an attack with a potency of 150.
Spinning Slash	4	60	0	Instant	2.5s	3y	0	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Combo Action: Hard Slash Combo Potency: 220
Unleash	8	0	795	Instant	2.5s	0	5y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 50 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
Syphon Strike	12	60	0	Instant	2.5s	3y	0	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Dark Arts Potency: 240 Combo Action: Hard Slash Combo Potency: 250 Dark Arts Combo Potency: 390 Combo Bonus: Restores MP Dark Arts fades upon execution
Unmend	15	0	353	Instant	2.5s	15y	0	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Additional Effect: 30% chance that next Unleash will cost no MP. Duration: 15s.
Blood Weapon	18	0	0	Instant	40s	0	0	Reduces weapon skill cast time and recast time, spell cast time and recast time, and auto-attack delay by 10% and converts physical damage dealt into MP, while reducing weapon skill TP cost by 20%. Also increases Blood Gauge by 3 each time an auto-attack or weapon skill lands. Duration: 15s Cannot be used while under the effect of Grit.
Power Slash	26	60	0	Instant	2.5s	3y	0	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Combo Action: Spinning Slash Combo Potency: 300 Dark Arts Combo Effect: Increased enmity. Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Darkside	30	0	442	Instant	5s	0y	0y	Increases damage dealt by 20%. MP regeneration stops during battle and Refresh statuses have no effect. Effect ends upon reuse.
Grit	30	0	1326	Instant	2.5s	0	0	Reduces damage received by 20%, while lowering damage dealt by 20% and increasing enmity. Also increases accuracy by 5%. Effect ends upon reuse.
Blood Price	35	0	0	Instant	40s	0y	0y	Restores partial MP when damage is taken. Duration: 15s Additional Effect: Increases Blood Gauge by 5 Can only be used while under the effect of Grit.
Souleater	38	50	0	Instant	2.5s	3y	0	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Dark Arts Potency: 240 Combo Action: Syphon Strike Combo Potency: 280 Dark Arts Combo Potency: 420 Grit Effect: Absorbs 100% of damage dealt as HP. Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Dark Passenger	40	0	884	Instant	30s	10y	0y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150 to all enemies in a straight line before you. Can only be used when succumbing to the Darkside. Dark Arts Potency: 250 Dark Arts Effect: Blind. Duration: 15s. Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Dark Mind	42	0	0	Instant	60s	0	0	Reduces magic vulnerability by 15%. Can only be used when succumbing to the Darkside. Duration: 10s. Dark Arts Effect: Increase magic vulnerability reduction to 30%. Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Dark Arts	45	0	1768	Instant	3s	0y	0y	Attune with the darkness within you, increasing the potency of several actions. Can only be used when succumbing to the Darkside. Effect fades if Darkside is canceled. Duration: 10s
Shadow Wall	46	0	0	Instant	180s	0	0	Reduces damage taken by 30%. Duration: 10s
Living Dead	50	0	0	Instant	300s	0y	0y	Grants the effect of Living Dead. When HP is reduced to 0 while under the effect of Living Dead, instead of becoming KO'd, your status will change to Walking Dead. Living Dead Duration: 10s While under the effect of Walking Dead, most attacks will not lower your HP below 1. If, before the Walking Dead timer runs out, HP is 100% restored, the effect will fade. If 100% is not restored, you will be KO'd. Walking Dead Duration: 10s
Salted Earth	52	0	0	Instant	45s	15y	5y	Creates a patch of salted earth, dealing unaspected damage with a potency of 75 to any enemies who enter. Duration: 21s Additional Effect: Increases Blood Gauge by 1
Plunge	54	0	0	Instant	30s	15y	0y	Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 200. Cannot be executed while bound.
Abyssal Drain	56	0	972	Instant	2.5s	15y	0y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 120 to target and enemies near it. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Dark Arts Effect: Absorbs 100% of damage dealt as HP. Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Sole Survivor	58	0	0	Instant	120s	25y	0y	Marks the target with the status Another Victim. If that target should be KO'd in battle, 20% of your maximum HP and MP will be restored. Duration: 15s
Carve and Spit	60	0	0	Instant	60s	3y	0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Also restores MP if used while not under the effect of Dark Arts. Dark Arts Potency: 450 Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Quietus	64	0	0	Instant	2.5s	0y	5y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 160 to all nearby enemies. Dark Arts Potency: 210 Blood Gauge Cost: 50 Dark Arts fades upon execution.
Bloodspiller	68	0	0	Instant	2.5s	3y	0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 380. Dark Arts Potency: 520 Grit Potency: 475 Dark Arts + Grit Potency: 650 Blood Gauge Cost: 50 Dark Arts fades upon execution.
The Blackest Night	70	0	2400	Instant	15s	30y	0y	Creates a barrier around self that absorbs damage totaling 20% of your maximum HP, or around a party member that absorbs damage totaling 105 of your maximum HP. Duration: 5s Increases Blood Gauge by 50 when effect expires.

Traits

As part of the changes to the job in Final Fantasy XIV's 4.0 Stormblood expansion. Traits were reduced to a much smaller listing focusing on new abilities. Some of the old effects went directly to their original abilities. Here is a list of the previous traits which are now lost or directly applied to the abilities:

Trait	Level	Description
Enhanced Vitality	20	Increases vitality by 8.
Enhanced Vitality II	40	Increases vitality by 16.
Enhanced Vitality III	60	Increases vitality by 24.
Blackblood	62	Allows for Blood Gauge accumulation upon the execution of certain actions.
Enhanced Blackblood	66	Allows for Blood Gauge accumulation while under the effect of Blood Weapon or Blood Price.

Role Actions

As of patch 4.0, cross-class actions have been removed in favor of role actions shared by all classes performing a given role. Below are the role actions for this job:

Tank
Action	Icon	Level	Description
Rampart		8	Reduces damage taken by 10% for 20s.
Low Blow		12	Attack that stuns the target.
Provoke		16	Increases enmity in target.
Convalescence		20	Increases HP restored by spells or actions by 20%.
Anticipation		24	Increases parry rate by 20% for 20s.
Reprisal		32	Attack that lowers target's damage dealt by 10%.
Awareness		36	Nullifies the chance of suffering critical damage for 15s.
Interject		40	Silences target.
Ultimatum		44	Provokes nearby enemies.
Shirk		48	Diverts 25% of enmity to target party member.

PvP Actions

Action	Icon	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Range	Radius	Description
Hard Slash (PvP)	40px	weaponskill	-	2.3	??	??	Delivers an attack with a potency of 750. ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Spinning Slash (PvP)	40px	weaponskill	-	2.3	??	??	Delivers an attack to target. Combo Action: Hard Slash Combo Potency: 1,000 ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Power Slash (PvP)	40px	weaponskill	-	2.3	??	??	Delivers an attack to target. Combo Action: Spinning Slash Combo Potency: 1,500 Additional Effect: Reduces target's HP recovered by healing magic by 20% Duration: 15s ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Syphon Strike (PvP)	40px	weaponskill	-	2.3	??	??	Delivers an attack to target. Combo Action: Hard Slash Combo Potency: 1,250 Combo Bonus: Restores 1,000 MP ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Souleater (PvP)	40px	weaponskill	-	2.3	??	??	Delivers an attack to target. Combo Action: Syphon Strike Combo Potency: 1,250 Combo Bonus: Absorbs 100% of damage dealt as HP Combo Bonus: Restores 1,000 MP Combo Bonus: Increases Blood Gauge by 20 ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Bloodspiller (PvP)	40px	weaponskill	Blackblood: 50	2.3	??	??	Delivers an attack with a potency of 2,000. Additional Effect: Silence Duration: 2s Blood Gauge Cost: 50
Unmend (PvP)	40px	spell	2500 MP	10	??	??	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 500. Additional Effect: 10-yalm draw-in
The Blackest Night (PvP)	40px	ability	2500 MP	10	??	??	Creates a barrier around self or target party member that absorbs damage totaling 20% of your maximum HP. Duration: 5s Increases Blood Gauge by 20 when full 20% is absorbed.
Low Blow (PvP)	40px	ability	300 TP	5	??	??	Delivers an attack with a potency of 750. Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 2s
Plunge (PvP)	40px	ability	-	30	??	??	Rushes target and delivers an attack with a potency of 500. Recast time is reset if Plunge records a KO or an assist. Cannot be executed while bound.
Sole Survivor (PvP)	40px	ability	-	60	??	??	Increases target's damage taken by 10%. Restores 25% of your maximum HP and MP and increases Blood Gauge by 50 if target is KO'd before effect expires. Duration: 10s
Grit (PvP)	40px	ability	-	5	??	??	Reduces both damage taken and damage dealt by 20%. Effect ends upon reuse.

Quests

Quest	Level	NPC	Zone	Coordinates	EXP	Reward
Our End	50	Ishgardian Citizen	The Pillars	(x13,y8)	24000
Ishgardian Justice	30	Fray	Foundation	(x11,y12)	7410
The Voice in the Abyss	35	Fray	Foundation	(x11,y12)	9020
Heroic Reprise	40	Fray	Foundation	(x11,y12)	11270
Declaration of Blood	45	Fray	Foundation	(x11,y12)	12420
Our Answer	50	Fray	Foundation	(x11,y12)	24000
The Wages of Mercy	50	Unflinching Temple Knight	Coerthas Central Highlands	(x12,y16)	24000	Gil 574
The Knight and the Maiden Fair	52	Sidurgu	Foundation	(x13,y12)	26400
Kindred Spirits	54	Sidurgu	Foundation	(x13,y12)	31200
Original Sins	56	Sidurgu	Foundation	(x13,y12)	36000
The Flame in the Abyss	58	Sidurgu	Foundation	(x13,y12)	40800
Absolution	60	Sidurgu	Foundation	(x13,y12)	0
In Memories We Walked	60	Sidurgu	Foundation	(x13.3,y12.0)	0	-NA-

Job Gauge

Official Lodestone Job Guide (Always up-to-date)

Blood & Darkside Gauge is Dark Knight's Job Gauge.

Blood Gauge

Upon learning the action Grit (tank stance) at level 10, a symbol will appear on the screen indicating when it is in effect. Grit increases enmity gained from using other actions.

Upon learning the trait Blackblood, the symbol which indicates the use of Grit will change to also display the Blood Gauge.

The Blood Gauge displays the amount of Blackblood a dark knight has accumulated, which can be used to execute actions such as Bloodspiller and Quietus.

Simple Mode

Grit (Active)

Darkside Gauge

Upon learning the action Flood of Darkness, an additional gauge will be displayed, indicating the remaining duration of Darkside.

Darkside increases damage dealt, and its duration can be extended by using actions Flood of Darkness and Edge of Darkness.

Upon learning the action The Blackest Night, an icon indicating the effect of Dark Arts will be displayed on the Darkside Gauge.

Dark Arts is granted when the barrier created by The Blackest Night is completely absorbed. It can then be used to execute Flood of Darkness or Edge of Darkness without MP cost.

Upon learning the action Living Shadow, you can conjure a simulacrum to fight alongside you. Its duration will be displayed alongisde the Darkside Gauge.