An Identity for Dark Knight

I am but a biased noob who mains DK but I honestly think this class is suffering an identity crisis beyond the issues already afflicting all melees on MapleLegends.

The crux of the issue is that DK is more or less deemed a support class because of HB, so it follows that DK should deal less DPS than other cleavers. While this is a fair assessment, HB is becoming increasingly optional for ultra-end-game players and furthermore I don't think an easily mule-able 2nd job skill should be the defining characteristic of the class. Additionally, there's an awkward gap in ML where HB actually is not enough bonus HP to keep un-washed players alive, while fully washed players don't need it at all.

As a result, this class is a messy hodge-podge that's mediocre at support, mediocre at attacking, and has poor risk:reward. It's one of the most popular first character classes, but it's also mediocre at that because HP washing is absolutely required, it isn't a strong 1-man army like Hero/Pally/Shad, and it isn't very useful for helping your future roster like Mages. It's also really expensive in terms of pot costs and the infamous Sky Ski.

IMO DK should pick 1 identity and lean into it, either as a strong supportive character or a high risk DPS powerhouse. Sitting on the fence across pretty much every metric leaves a lot to be desired. Here are my suggestions for possible changes that I don't think make the class OP but could make it way more rewarding to play:

THE SUPPORT TANK:

• Advanced HB: Add a 4th job ability that makes HB add the greater number between 60% or some FLAT amount of HP based on the DK's level (For example: You need a lv.190 DrK to add enough HP to keep an unwashed lv.170 ranged DPS alive in HT). This change will not affect late-game players whatsoever because you're still gunna get the 60% from normal HB if you're heavily washed, you're still not going to bring a DK into sweatlord 5-man HT squads, you're not going to get free efficiency on your multi-mages because it's hard AF to create a lvl 190 mule, and you're still going to wash your characters because you don't want to rely on access to a very high level DK. This change will however make a world of difference to newer players because now DK can actually keep their unwashed friends alive and have a purpose on this server. It lets noobs enter the game without the "range-anxiety" of their unwashed char being literally unplayable end-game and encourages community interaction.

---OR----

THE YOLO ATTACKER:

• Simple enough: Add 1 or 2 more stages to Berserk where you get increasingly more damage amp based on how low your HP is. You should be able to get some amount of benefit from your primary 4th job ability even if you want to sit at a comfortable amount of HP eating chips and watching Netflix. And, should the situation arise, you should be rewarded heavily for hovering at like 5% HP.
  
• On paper, DrK absolutely should edge out the other cleavers considering the rest are practically invincible whereas DrK is one of the squishiest classes in the game. In practice it could be tuned so that most DKs will probably underperform even compared to where they are now in terms of DPS, but the class will be much more satisfying to play because the reward for risk is actually good. Berserk's current implementation and associated ML buff to 55% HP says to me: "you pretty much need this ability on all the time to be relevant, but you should also be at half HP to pay homage to original MS". A more compelling story would be "you can surpass other cleavers but only if you can master treading the line between life and death"

General QoL Suggestions:

• Triangular Sushi should cost way less, I don't really get why they're so expensive - because let's be real: it's a tax specifically targeted at DKs considering nobody else buys these even if they only cost 2k/ea. While it's true HB improves your mileage, other classes have their own ways of increasing pot efficiency that aren't even party buffs.
• Make Sacrifice drop you into Berserk range immediately. Sacrifice is straight up useless currently because it takes like 5 swings to get you into Berserk range, most people use a combination of taking damage + roar which is a ham-fisted and finnicky approach. Sacrifice could work like Stimpack in Starcraft where you press it and your HP drops to Berserk range immediately. While this change leads to a loss of skill expression for experienced DKs, I personally don't feel like Berserk's power fantasy is squinting at your HP bar and jugging 3 different types of pots, it's more about knowing when it's safe to use Berserk.
• DK should be allowed to limit healing from Bishop, it's silly being the odd-man out who has to run away from the rest of your party. IMO "Sacrifice" should be an ability that toggles your max HP, that way DKs don't have to stand in the dunce corner for any party content.
• Make Roar cost flat HP. Assuming Sacrifice can drop you into Berserk range, I don't think it's the end of the world to let DKs get a few more roars per HP bar, similar to how Bishop can ult like 10 times off 1 mana bull. This change is going to let beginners leverage their DKs to make their new characters a little bit easier, die less often, and doesn't really seem abusive side from farming NX/Cards too efficiently.

 

Heroes would still deal more effective DPM because of their consistency. I haven't been on ML long enough to know the whole story, but wasn't Hero deemed a pretty good attacker years ago? What changed? AFAIK from the perspective of a relatively new player, Hero is the strongest attacker you can make with 0 resources especially if you don't want to gimp your first play-though with >100 base INT - they're just rated poorly on tier lists that are based off optimal play where absurd funding is a given. My point is, Hero would still have the same purpose they have now: very durable, amazing cleaver, good single target dps, but overshadowed by other attackers.

I'm not suggesting a straight DPS buff for DrK, but I think Berserk should be more of a deliberate choice based on windows of opportunity, because the way the skill is currently tuned you pretty much need it on all the time to even come close to the other warriors. In situations where the mobs 1shot you, it's usually not worth it to Berserk at all because it's not easy to enter/exit Berserk when the mob damage is so high, and the damage amp from proccing Berserk once in a while is hardly worth the pot cost.

That being said I would rather see HB be better than changes to DrK's damage. HB isn't enough to keep squishies alive, which to me seems like the whole point of HB. But how I actually see it used most the time is just reducing pot burn.

This is cool and I can't wait to see the changes. I think it would make a lot of sense for DrK to not be one of the most fragile classes, and I hope that becomes the case.

I understand that washing is easy, I'm personally at max HP too. But when selling the server to newcomers there's a clear-cut difference between "you need to wash a little" versus "you do not need to wash whatsoever as long as you pick XYZ" because when someone has no commitment to a prospective game, they're not going to read a wall of text to understand the washing mechanic.

 

Well, that's player choice if you want to wash to 30k base HP on Hero/Pally. HP gain per wash is the same for all 3 warriors afaik

DK is only "easier to wash" because you can assume you'll always have HB. But if we're going to include defensive skills, Powerguard will allow Hero to have nearly the same effective HP as a DK with HB in addition to also being able to receive HB. I've also personally died from debuff plenty before especially when it causes pet pot to not trigger in time, so washing to 30k base on DK isn't pointless either.

In a party situation, Hero can effectively sit on bosses to avoid stuns while DrK is much more limited. Not only can you not be healed by your party making your pot costs much higher than the typical attacker, even on easier bosses like Zak/Scar it's not trivial to constantly tank 8k+ damage and maintain Berserk - you will mess up eventually and DPM will suffer. On harder hitting bosses you'll just straight up die as DrK

All of this is to say I really don't think Hero would be invalidated by making DK either a stronger support or more volatile attacker. On the contrary I think it would exaggerate the reasons why you'd pick 1 over the other which is a good thing.

Of course I might be biased, but I am making a Hero myself in addition to my DK because I really think their playstyles are different enough to merit the investment in a 2nd warrior.

Theoretical damage is not the same as effective damage; The concept of Berserk as a high risk skill should absolutely deal more damage in theory because it's much less consistent, although in its current implementation the underlying assumption is you need to have it on all the time to even count as a real person. In practice I think Hero should still have a significant DPM lead for all but the most cracked DrK players, so neither class is invalidated it's just personal choice for difficulty and volatility. It would be a similar tradeoff as NL vs Corsair where generally people agree Corsair has higher potential, but NL is ultimately better at putting damage down.

In a similar vein I think Shadower DPM is also misrepresented by DPS charts, because a lot of bosses don't come down to holding down attack the whole time. Between their i-frames, smokescreen, charging assassinate during downtime, avoidability, mobility, etc. a Shadower's effective DPM is much closer to their theoretical DPM as opposed to say a BM who has high paper DPS but in reality is held back by lack of burst damage (i.e. Snipe+Strafe, 1-tap for 6 hits as NL, etc) and vulnerability to knockback/stuns. This isn't me trying to make a judgement on Shadower's balance, but just to say paper DPS isn't a very good metric when it comes to choosing a class whereas playstyle is a very compelling reason.

Frankly the very discussion we're having where DK and Hero might invalidate each other just with some number tweaks is indicative of poor design because the fundamental argument is that they're so similar. On the other hand, few would argue that Paladin can be conflated with DK/Hero because Pally has such an obvious role - someone picking the class likely wouldn't be swayed by a slight DPS increase/decrease as long as Paladin remained the best single target damage warrior with a very cool ult. Similarly we don't see the same problem with Archers, because even though for 99.99% of players MM will be better in almost every phase of the game, there's no shortage of BMs because it's a different playstyle.