With a wide range of weapons at their disposal, in addition to all the great spells they’re capable of casting, it stands to reason that dark knights should be looking for subjobs that’ll help them mow down anything in their path. And I’ve got a few suggestions that might assist you in doing just that.
5. Ninja
Here’s a situationally defensive subjob that’s primarily used for its Utsusemi spell. This serves as a lifeline when dark knights inadvertently gain the ire of enemies after dealing massive amounts of damage. But the ninja sub is also great at retroactively preventing heavy amounts of damage, especially in fights where sudden AoE physical damage might be present. Its Dual Wield III trait can be used by dark knights to dual wield swords, too. This may be useful if you want to repeatedly use Savage Blade, a weapon skill that can pack a serious punch in the right hands! Monomi and Tonko are also useful for moving safely past enemies to avoid agro, if players want to avoid using Silent Oils or Prism Powders. This might also prove useful in low-man content that has you move through dangerous areas to find something, or to simply ensure your survival while weakened and resting.
4. Dragoon
With the addition of the Weapon Skill Damage Bonus trait, this formerly situational subjob is now seeing the light of day once again. On a job intending to deal as much damage in a single attack as possible, the added +7% weapon skill damage increase is too good to pass up. So this is a fantastic subjob when a dark knight might be participating in frequent skillchains. Since most dark knight players will be focusing on dealing damage, the unwarranted increase in enmity might work against you here…. especially if you’re using Soul Eater. But High Jump provides the ability to shed up to 30% of enmity whenever it’s used, so this can save your skin pretty often! Conserve TP is also a useful way to passively retain some TP after frequent weapon skilling. But a dragoon subjob doesn’t offer any other utility at all, so it should be used as a way to bolster damage if the plan is to see a fight over quickly – for example, in a zerg situation.
3. Dancer
Now here’s an incredibly useful support job that’s mostly picked up by newer players, or seasoned FFXI players doing solo and low-man content. A dancer helps out here by giving plenty of support to a dark knight that it would otherwise lack it. While the dancer subjob doesn’t offer much in the way of offense, it’s not too much of a loss considering the massive amounts of damage dark knights can already deal. And for the small loss in damage dealing abilities, you gain access to the valuable Skillchain Bonus trait – which increases damage by quite a lot, and is crazy helpful to players intending to close skillchains with this job. The dancer also provides dark knights with the ability to heal if they don’t happen to be relying on their Apocalypse weapon, in addition to AoE healing to wake up sleeping party members. With access to Steps, you also gain the ability to use Box Step, which lowers enemy physical defenses considerably. With this in mind, Violent Flourish works very well as a reliable backup to a dark knight’s native Weapon Bash ability or Stun spell. This allows you to become a very efficient stunner that can stop an enemy in their tracks. And with this subjob you’ll also gain access to Dual Wield, like a ninja sub, but at a single tier lower. With that being said, you can still put it to good use similar to Savage Blade setups. And lastly, Spectral Jig is a wonderful ability that grants you Sneak and Invisible. This is perfect for traveling across dangerous areas or instances (especially solo).
2. Warrior
The warrior subjob fits great for any dark knight that wants to see red. In other words, you’ll be able to do deal as much damage as possible in a very short timeframe! Using warrior as a support job removes virtually all potential utility, but it does gain some in the form of Warcry. This provides a significant AoE attack buff and it’s great to have. Combine this with Berserk and many of a dark knight’s own techniques to increase their attack, and you’re going to have one of the strongest builds in the game. It’s also important to note that the warrior subjob puts players at greater risk by removing defense; Berserk combined with Last Resort is especially dangerous, as it can often half your defense. Subbing warrior also doesn’t give you any way to heal. And the only way to appropriately defend is with the Defender ability. While Defender is useful, it sacrifices the dark knight’s attack in exchange for defense. But if a dark knight can increase their attack high enough, the penalty to attack may be miniscule. But it’s better to channel this job’s power into attacking, since it’s better to just use a more defensive subjob (like ninja) if you’re really concerned about taking damage. So ultimately, a warrior subjob on a dark knight is only recommended in situations where healing is confidently covered, or if you’re using a zerg strategy.
1. Samurai
And here’s the #1 subjob that most dark knights will be sporting in FFXI. And the samurai is often placed at the top just for its valuable Hasso ability! The hybrid nature of this job allows dark knights to switch to a defensive stance if the need arises, just by using Seigan and Third Eye. And a Samurai’s Store TP trait, in addition to Meditate, means that dark knights will be able to weapon skill more often than ever. Hasso provides major bonuses to 2-handed weapon users as well, by giving them an increase to strength, accuracy, and a large reduction in weapon delay. And Zanshin works very well on a job that doesn’t have much access to accuracy on their own. So if you’re under the accuracy cap, this gives you a second chance at an attack.
