Warrior postmodern dark knight guide

Introduction
Recently, there's been a lot of complaints about how Dark Knight as a class has been rendered obsolete by hp washing. This has never been the case, as the class still vigorously competitive with AP resets and any DK player can save their class with 3.1m NX - a luxury other classes don't have. This guide is also just the reverse of my previous guide, Beginner Magician Guide, and a lot of the ideas from there are transferable.

Beginner DK strategies benefit from stance, drop rates, and little to no pot usage. Without aura, we now rely on getting hit to pot up after roar.

Theory

Spoiler: hp and mp

Beginners gain an average of 14 HP and 11 MP upon each level up.
Beginners gain 6 + bINT/10 MP on fresh MP wash
Beginners lose 12 hp and gains 6 mp per stale wash via AP reset.
Beginners have a min HP of 12*level+50

Warriors gain an average of 26 HP and 5 MP upon each level up
Warriors lose 4 mp per AP point stuck in MP
Warriors gain 200-250 HP upon 1st job
Spearmen gain 0 MP upon 2nd job

General build
Given the section above, let's use an example build where 1st job advance is level 103. This is the earliest level you can job advance to minimize levels (therefore HP) as a warrior. Note the sum of skills from 1st to 3rd job is 54 (51 without SP from job advance). These 17 levels' worth of SP is the reason for job advancing at 103 (120-17).

Also note 4th job skills add up to 91 - everything needed maxed at 150, skills listed in order of importance.


HP numbers below given job advancement at 103

Spoiler: beginner to 1st job HP table

Note before job advancement with an average and minimum of 1478 and 1286 HP respectively, a few AP resets are necessary to correct the difference. 16 (192/12) AP resets are thus used at a cost of 49.6k NX.

Spoiler: 1st job onwards

The build above is only for job advance at 103, there are other builds that minimize level (therefore cost) by staying in 3rd job and utilizing safe spots or adding a healthy dose of LUK for avoidability.

from February Balance Post:

Spoiler: feb balance thread

Something to note for the few beginner DK players on the server is SP in aura can be switched immediately to Berserk for 87.5% of its full potential. The changes are a sign from the stars that the mysterious Balance Team wishes us to place our faith instead into Berserk.

Our workaround requires spending some pot money (i know times are tough) for Controlled Berserk. Just like how our counterparts target 30k HP, we target 3k HP. 30% of 3k HP is 900 HP - and we're in luck as there is a certain Italian dish that heals precisely the amount. The pot still needs to be added to auto HP since roar requires so little MP it will not consistently trigger auto pots. Added to auto MP and the problem goes away.

An additional 10 levels' worth of SP opens (and closes) a few maps. If aura doesn't heal above 50% HP given presence of Berserk, there can only be 1 cast per cycle rather than 1-2 casts. Farming spots dependent on the skill are noted with asterisks.


Washing
100% dead content
Following the august patch notes, potions have become prohibitively expensive - to the extent where mp pots become unaffordable for laymen like us. This should motivate us to wash (ludicrously) further to achieve greater efficiencies.

For this section, we drop the simplified MP wash formula of (base INT/10 -2) for separate formulae for beginners and warriors. Beginners gain (6 + base INT/10) by adding fresh AP points into MP and warriors lose 4 MP per point taken out. The new consolidated formula for beginner DK by adding the two formula together: base INT/10 +2. The advantage is 40 INT if we delay taking points out from MP until after job advancement.

There should be no problem adding a few points into INT to wash and negate MP costs. 80-130 int is recommended but not necessary.

Gear & damage

I would like to say the most important stat is DEF. Mobs should hit 1 (0 with achilles). Without DEF or HP gear (or GM buffs) it's possible to get 1 shot by 3rd job instructor.

Beginner DK utilizes some of the same items as their normal counterparts such as spear and polearms. At the time of writing, polearms are vastly cheaper, thus preferred. Speed also doesn't matter as one should cast only 1-2* times per cycle.

Given the recent balance changes, this section has become more important. The key is a Controlled Berserk. Under Controlled Berserk, HP is controlled in order to deal consistent damage. Every time roar casts, the pet uses a potion that allows HP to revert back to its initial stage. If i have 3k max HP with Achilles and I keep my HP at 1,501, I can now cast roar, triggering my auto MP pot to heal the exact amount of HP expenditure. This method can only be consistently used up to homunculus as many of the later mobs hit too hard.

From Ayumilove:
Dragon Roar (credit to Stereo):
MIN = (STR * 4.0 * Skill Mastery * 0.9 + DEX) * Weapon Attack / 100
Example:


MIN: 2.4*((851*4*0.8*0.9+58)*145/100-0.6*DEF) = 8730.9 when DEF = 0.

MIN w/ new controlled Berserk: x*2.4*((851*4*0.8*0.9+58)*145/100-0.6*DEF) = 8730.9 when DEF = 0
when x = 1.91 at 55% HP
Our new min lines are 16676 with just hex, beholder, and controlled Berserk.
when x = 1.77 at 70% HP
Our min lines are now 15453.7 - almost enough for homunculus.
Pictures

Spoiler: pics or didnt happen!!

had some hp gear but should work otherwise


no more AP resets in HP/MP


First DK at 150


fully geared


general damage at 150 (no zerk)

Spoiler: trash skills

below skills are a trap

Farming spots (non cumulative list but please leave some maps for me, thanks)
All drop NX and gach, but some are notable.
Platoon Chronos 1 DK(NX, gach)
Ghost Ship 5 1 DK (NX, gach) - use safe spot
Voodoo 1 DK (Heartstoppers)
Drakes 1 DK (helm int 60)- can hit 7-8 on first platform above ground
Snake Area 2 DK(crystal ores, NX, gach)
Entrance to Sky Forest 1-2 DK (NX, gach)
Peach Farm 1 4 DK (Bow30, NX, gach)
Peach Farm 2 4 DK (Bow30, NX, gach)
Nightghosts 4 DK (BWG, CFA30, oa int 70)
Master Chronos 3 DK (helm dex 60)
Master Chronos 4 DK (helm dex 60)
Tree that grew 2 4 DK (NX, gach) - can be combined with tree that grew 1-4 with 2 mystic doors
Henesys Hunting Ground 2 4 DK (NX, gach)
Purple Plains 1 5-6 DK (NX, gach)
Jonin/Chunin/Kunoichi* 1 DK (sfma60, sfwa60, sfwa30)
Jonin/Chunin/Kunoichi* 3 DK 1(sfma60, sfwa60)
Jonin/Chunin/Kunoichi* 3 DK 2 (sfma60, sfwa60, sfwa30)
Homunuculus* 5 DK (oa dex30, thief top/bot, NPC table)

Unexplored but possibly good:
Luster Pixie 1
Luster Pixie 2
Dark Drakes (shield ma 70)
Copper Drakes (helm acc 60)
Valley of the Snowman* (various scrolls)

Spoiler: some numbers

voodoos (heartstopper = 125k, common gach = 1.5m, rare gach = 2.5m)


Damp Forest from here with only single target skills


platoon chronos



If we look only at common and rare gach across single and multi target, common+rare = 0.001 for all skills excluding mage ults.


drakes (helm int 60)
*can't find replacement image, will just have to trust lol
that's to say drakes have about 1/4000 chance to drop helm int 60s.

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i wonder what we can do with shadowers

Credits
Vowels on initial DK farming idea, forum suggestions
akashsky on early math & reverse HP washing

and here's akashsky's post recruiting for Pasta and Copy, our sister guild.
Changelog
2/19 edited & updated to reflect recent balance changes
2/20 added leaks to credits
2/20 minor edits to pizza strat
5/17 deletion of broken pictures
9/11 changes to reflect balance changes

 

addendum: time for pizzas and waffles

 

where's waldo

 

Guide updated to reflect new balance changes.

 

First off, here's the answers for "where's waldo" from top to bottom:

Spoiler: answer key

I think it would also be helpful to repurpose this as a journal, since all my guides seem to get nuked. When the server comes up, we will resume our shenanigans. It's time for the new CONTROLLED BERSERK meta

Until then, here is some data from 12/10 to 2/19 to chew on.


Day 0 Preparatory work
Nominating my 2 DKs to weather these changes:



Typic needs 280 HP (5 30s and 3 60s for pet eq) and Innate needs 270 HP (5 30s and 2 60s) for our new controlled berserk meta.

First DK done - thanks to Harlez with the clutch pet hp 100%

2nd DK done

& finishing touches


Now I can set my MP at maximum, HP will only go down to 2100 and 1200. Slightly more tedious if we want to adjust to other HP numbers but we'll make do with 70% HP.
If I were to get Berserk, I can get up to 77% bonus damage by simply existing. Not bad!

Maybe a little overboard, but will keep these 3k HP DK for another day, I'll just use my other 2 to farm tomorrow.

 

Day 1 back to usual

7051 barbs expended, 151 gach total:

 

A bit of porky and pure gach hunt for now. Drop rates for gach (rare+common) is 1/1000 for all skills excluding mage ults.

 

Day 2 back to usual

7835 barbs expended, 155 gach total:


Cumulative: 306 gach