Dark Knight Guide — Endwalker 6.3

Dark Knight is a greatsword-swinging tank job with a focus on resource management, burst damage, and proper application of frequent, short-duration defensive cooldowns.

Offensively, Dark Knight gameplay involves building and spending both Mana and Blood while managing a suite of high-value offensive cooldowns. A skilled Dark Knight player can plan ahead to combine their resource dumps for party buffs to bring out unparalleled burst damage from the tank role.

On the defensive side, Dark Knight's strengths are flexibility and support. While The Blackest Night alone doesn't match the strength of the other tanks' new short-cooldown mitigation skills in Endwalker, it can be used nearly twice as often, and Oblation is an entirely new tool for Dark Knight players to throw into the mix for themselves or for other party members. Dark Mind also provides high value against the very frequent magic damage encountered in trials and raids, with a shorter cooldown than any comparable skill.

This flexibility, along with its stylish aesthetic, make Dark Knight a popular pick both for casual play and hardcore progression.

To unlock Dark Knight, you must reach at least level 50 on any Disciple of War or Magic and finish the final story quest of A Realm Reborn, "Before the Dawn." Upon entering Ishgard, accept the quest "Our End" from an NPC called "Ishgardian Citizen" in The Pillars (X: 13.2, Y: 8.8) to start the Dark Knight job questline.

Dark Knight's job gauge is split into two major parts; the sword-shaped Blood Gauge, and the stylized helm of the Darkside Gauge beneath it.

At lower levels, the Blood Gauge consists only of the small icon to the left, which indicates whether Grit is currently active. On reaching level 62 and unlocking the Blackblood trait, the gauge expands to display how much Blood you have accumulated. Blood is gained through combo GCDs Souleater and Stalwart Soul, and by all GCD actions while Blood Weapon is active. Blood can be spent on Bloodspiller for single-target damage, Quietus for AoE, and on Living Shadow whenever it is available.

The Darkside Gauge shows the remaining duration of your Darkside buff, which is gained by using Flood of Darkness and Edge of Darkness or their upgraded forms Flood of Shadow and Edge of Shadow. Using up the entire shield granted by The Blackest Night causes the small, sword-shaped element to light up to indicate a free usage of your next Darkside generator. The final component of the gauge is a red version of the main Darkside Gauge, which appears when Living Shadow is summoned and tracks the remaining duration.

If you would prefer to watch a video that provides an overview of Dark Knight, feel free to give the video below a watch. The video was provided by Julia Care, a member of the community on The Balance Discord server.

Action Name	Cast Recast	Range Radius	Effect
Hard Slash Lv. 1	Instant 2.5s	↔ 3y 0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 170.
Syphon Strike Lv. 2	Instant 2.5s	↔ 3y 0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 120. Combo Action: Hard Slash Combo Potency: 260 Combo Bonus: Restores MP
Unleash Lv. 6	Instant 2.5s	↔ 0y 5y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 120 to all nearby enemies.
Grit Lv. 10	Instant 2.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Significantly increases enmity generation. Effect ends upon reuse.
Unmend Lv. 15	Instant 2.5s	↔ 20y 0y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Increased enmity Additional Effect: Reduces the recast time of Plunge by 5 seconds
Souleater Lv. 26	Instant 2.5s	↔ 3y 0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 120. Combo Action: Syphon Strike Combo Potency: 340 Combo Bonus: Restores own HP Cure Potency: 300 Combo Bonus: Increases Blood Gauge by 20
Flood of Darkness Lv. 30	Instant 1.0s	↔ 10y 10y	MP Cost: 3000.0 Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100 to all enemies in a straight line before you. Additional Effect: Grants Darkside, increasing damage dealt by 10% Duration: 30s Extends Darkside duration by 30s to a maximum of 60s. Shares a recast timer with Edge of Darkness.
Blood Weapon Lv. 35	Instant 60.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Grants 5 stacks of Blood Weapon, each stack increasing Blood Gauge by 10 and restoring MP upon landing weaponskills or spells. Duration: 15s Effect does not stack when hitting multiple targets with a single attack.
Shadow Wall Lv. 38	Instant 120.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Reduces damage taken by 30%. Duration: 15s
Edge of Darkness Lv. 40	Instant 1.0s	↔ 3y 0y	MP Cost: 3000.0 Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 300. Additional Effect: Grants Darkside, increasing damage dealt by 10% Duration: 30s Extends Darkside duration by 30s to a maximum of 60s. Shares a recast timer with Flood of Darkness.
Stalwart Soul Lv. 40	Instant 2.5s	↔ 0y 5y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100 to all nearby enemies. Combo Action: Unleash Combo Potency: 140 Combo Bonus: Restores MP Combo Bonus: Increases Blood Gauge by 20
Dark Mind Lv. 45	Instant 60.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Reduces magic vulnerability by 20%. Duration: 10s
Living Dead Lv. 50	Instant 300.0s	↔ 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 Additional Effect: Restores HP with each weaponskill successfully delivered or spell cast Cure Potency: 1500 While under the effect of Walking Dead, most attacks will not lower your HP below 1. If, before the Walking Dead timer runs out, an amount of HP totaling your maximum HP is restored, the effect will change to Undead Rebirth. If this amount is not restored, you will be KO'd. Walking Dead Duration: 10s While under the effect of Undead Rebirth, most attacks will not lower your HP below 1. Undead Rebirth Duration: Time remaining on Walking Dead
Salted Earth Lv. 52	Instant 90.0s	↔ 0y 5y	Creates a patch of salted earth at your feet, dealing unaspected damage with a potency of 50 to any enemies who enter. Duration: 15s ※Action changes to Salt and Darkness upon execution.
Plunge Lv. 54	Instant 30.0s	↔ 20y 0y	Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 150. Maximum Charges: 2 Cannot be executed while bound.
Abyssal Drain Lv. 56	Instant 60.0s	↔ 20y 5y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 240 to target and all enemies nearby it. Additional Effect: Restores own HP Cure Potency: 200 Additional Effect: Restores MP Shares a recast timer with Carve and Spit.
Carve and Spit Lv. 60	Instant 60.0s	↔ 3y 0y	Delivers a threefold attack with a potency of 510. Additional Effect: Restores MP Shares a recast timer with Abyssal Drain.
Bloodspiller Lv. 62	Instant 2.5s	↔ 3y 0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 500. Blood Gauge Cost: 50
Quietus Lv. 64	Instant 2.5s	↔ 0y 5y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 to all nearby enemies. Blood Gauge Cost: 50
Delirium Lv. 68	Instant 60.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Grants 3 stacks of Delirium, each stack allowing the execution of Quietus or Bloodspiller without Blackblood cost, restoring MP when landing either weaponskill. Duration: 15s
The Blackest Night Lv. 70	Instant 15.0s	↔ 30y 0y	MP Cost: 3000.0 Creates a barrier around self or target party member that absorbs damage totaling 25% of target's maximum HP. Duration: 7s Grants Dark Arts when barrier is completely absorbed. Dark Arts Effect: Consume Dark Arts instead of MP to execute Edge of Shadow or Flood of Shadow
Edge of Shadow Lv. 74	Instant 1.0s	↔ 3y 0y	MP Cost: 3000.0 Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 460. Additional Effect: Grants Darkside, increasing damage dealt by 10% Duration: 30s Extends Darkside duration by 30s to a maximum of 60s. Shares a recast timer with Flood of Shadow.
Flood of Shadow Lv. 74	Instant 1.0s	↔ 10y 10y	MP Cost: 3000.0 Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 160 to all enemies in a straight line before you. Additional Effect: Grants Darkside, increasing damage dealt by 10% Duration: 30s Extends Darkside duration by 30s to a maximum of 60s. Shares a recast timer with Edge of Shadow.
Dark Missionary Lv. 76	Instant 90.0s	↔ 0y 30y	Reduces magic damage taken by self and nearby party members by 10%. Duration: 15s
Living Shadow Lv. 80	Instant 120.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Conjure a simulacrum of your darkside to fight alongside you. Simulacrum Attack Potency: 350 Duration: 20s Blood Gauge Cost: 50 Additional Effect: Simulacrum is able to execute Shadowbringer, delivering an attack to all enemies in a straight line before it with a potency of 500 for the first enemy, and 25% less for all remaining enemies.
Oblation Lv. 82	Instant 60.0s	↔ 30y 0y	Reduces damage taken by target party member or self by 10%. Duration: 10s Maximum Charges: 2
Salt and Darkness Lv. 86	Instant 20.0s	↔ 0y 0y	All enemies standing in the corrupted patch of Salted Earth take additional unaspected damage with a potency of 500 for the first enemy, and 50% less for all remaining enemies. ※This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.
Shadowbringer Lv. 90	Instant 60.0s	↔ 10y 10y	Deals unaspected damage to all enemies in a straight line before you with a potency of 600 for the first enemy, and 50% less for all remaining enemies. Maximum Charges: 2 Can only be executed while under the effect of Darkside.

Action Name	Cast Recast	Range Radius	Effect
Rampart Lv. 8	Instant 90.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Reduces damage taken by 20%. Duration: 20s
Low Blow Lv. 12	Instant 25.0s	↔ 3y 0y	Stuns target. Duration: 5s
Provoke Lv. 15	Instant 30.0s	↔ 25y 0y	Gesture threateningly, placing yourself at the top of a target's enmity list while gaining additional enmity.
Interject Lv. 18	Instant 30.0s	↔ 3y 0y	Interrupts the use of a target's action.
Reprisal Lv. 22	Instant 60.0s	↔ 0y 5y	Reduces damage dealt by nearby enemies by 10%. Duration: 10s
Arm's Length Lv. 32	Instant 120.0s	↔ 0y 0y	Creates a barrier nullifying most knockback and draw-in effects. Duration: 6s Additional Effect: Slow +20% when barrier is struck Duration: 15s
Shirk Lv. 48	Instant 120.0s	↔ 25y 0y	Diverts 25% of enmity to target party member.

Action Name	Acquired	Effect
Tank Mastery	Lv. 1	Reduces damage taken by 20%. Furthermore, grants a bonus to maximum HP based on your vitality attribute, and a bonus to damage dealt based on your strength attribute.
Blackblood	Lv. 62	Allows for Blood Gauge accumulation upon the landing of certain actions.
Enhanced Blackblood	Lv. 66	Allows for Blood Gauge accumulation upon the landing of any weaponskill or spell while under the effect of Blood Weapon.
Darkside Mastery	Lv. 74	Upgrades Flood of Darkness and Edge of Darkness to Flood of Shadow and Edge of Shadow respectively.
Enhanced Plunge	Lv. 78	Allows the accumulation of charges for consecutive uses of Plunge. Maximum Charges: 2
Enhanced Unmend	Lv. 84	Reduces recast time of Plunge by 5 seconds when executing Unmend on most targets.
Melee Mastery	Lv. 84	Increases the potency of Hard Slash to 170, Syphon Strike to 120, and Souleater to 120.
Enhanced Living Shadow	Lv. 88	Increases the potency of attacks dealt by your simulacrum to 350.
Enhanced Living Shadow II	Lv. 90	Upgrades Flood of Shadow executed by your simulacrum to Shadowbringer, which delivers an attack to all enemies in a straight line before it with a potency of 500 for the first enemy, and 25% less for all remaining enemies.

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.”