Introduction

This guide contains suggestions on how to use your cooldowns effectively, and tips and tricks to play each phase as effectively as possible.

Dark Knight is a very strong tank in DSR at both main and off-tank, though common convention is to run as off-tank. Its ability to move gauge usage (and therefore damage) around for whichever phase you need the most damage is invaluable during progression.

Gear

Dark Knight BiS for DSR can be found at the following link: https://xivgear.app/#/bis/drk/ultimate/dsr, which will always be kept up to date and have a variety of options.

2.50 GCD speed is comfortable as always, and 2.45 lines up well with several uptime phases. We recommend choosing whichever speed you feel most comfortable on.

Phase One: Vault Knights

Opener

This opener assumes the common convention of tanking Ser Grinneaux, but either knight is fine for Dark Knight to take:

The early Rampart helps keep you alive until the invulned tankbuster, and comes back for another period of heavy damage later in the phase.

If you are tanking Adelphel, save Living Dead for the dive after the Hyperdimensional Slashes.

Note the last Bloodspiller instead of Unleash at the end; while both knights are still present at that point, and you should use your AoE GCD combo in two-target phases at level 90, Adelphel will leave before you can finish with a Stalwart Soul.

Both Dark Missionary and Reprisal can cover both sets of Hyperdimensional Slashes, but Reprisal must be used late in the castbar.

Use Shadow Wall for auto-attacks after Faith Unmoving, and then Rampart again when it comes back up near the end of the phase. Don’t forget to add Oblation and TBN on top as necessary.

Phase Two: Thordan

First Uptime Phase

We recommend the following opener for Phase Two:

This assumes you are not taking the cleaves. Pre-pull TBN is optional, but mitigation or even a parry or block from your co-tank can cause it not to break.

With a 2.45 GCD, it is possible to start with Unmend, but it makes the final Souleater quite tight. Intentionally clipping your first Hard Slash as shown here is a minor gain that doesn’t make the final GCD overly strict, but you can opt to open with Hard Slash if it is more comfortable.

The early Salted Earth allows you to get as many ticks as possible in the second uptime phase; otherwise, you would end up holding the skill and losing a use entirely.

During Strength of the Ward, you can use 15/20s duration cooldowns, including Dark Missionary, after the Ascalon’s Mercy cast. Your shorter-duration cooldowns should be used as or after the tethers go out.

When progging the phase, you can save pulls by using Living Dead in a tower. You can also plan a usage during Strength in return for using your full kitchen sink instead of invuln for the Soul Tether in Phase Three; this will keep you alive if a non-tank clips you with their defamation, but requires aid from your healers to cleanse Walking Dead afterward.

Second Uptime Phase

For the second uptime phase, we recommend the following:

The first two Edge of Shadow casts can be moved around freely. The third must be late to keep Darkside running through Sanctity of the Ward. If your group has three or more raidbuffs, you can hold the last Edge of Shadow instead.

Depending on your ping, Salted Earth may come up slightly later in your GCD roll; do not clip to use it, or you will likely lose a GCD in the phase. The last Syphon Strike needs either a 2.45 GCD speed or for your co-tank to pull the boss off-center, slightly lengthening the phase as it takes time to move back mid.

With fast killtimes, desyncing your Shadowbringer with 120s buffs stops being worth it from a party DPS perspective; it does not line back up in Phase Five. You can still gain a use overall by sending one charge here, but that comes at the cost of hitting buffs in every following burst.

Third Uptime Phase

For the third uptime phase, we recommend the following:

This is the minimum expenditure required to avoid overcap, while also putting as much potency as possible into the Discomposed debuff. If you held an Edge of Shadow earlier, you must insert one during buffs but before Discomposed. Delaying Living Shadow can put more potency into Discomposed, but will very likely cut your next use off as Phase Three ends.

The off-tank is usually not expected to use Dark Missionary or Reprisal for Ultimate End. Reprisal needs to be a late weave after the second GCD to catch the Ultimate End if you are using it.

You can use Dark Missionary any time after Thordan dies to cover the transition raidwide.

Phase Three: Nidstinien/Kyle

Your opener should consist of a full resource dump, including a charge of Shadowbringer if you happen to have any, and a TBN on the main tank. The length of the phase and timing of mechanics means dropping mitigation on one of the hardest-hitting busters in the game to set up a 5x Edge of Shadow burst window, so simply use MP as needed to avoid overcap.

Use Reprisal on the first Gnash/Lash stack if you did not use it on Ultimate End, or on the second one if you did.

In most cases, you will use Living Dead on the Soul Tether, though some mit plans schedule a full kitchen sink for it. You can survive the hit with a complete kitchen sink with no outside help, but even a missing Oblation puts you at risk of a highroll. If you are not invulning it, use Rampart + Sprint as the Drachenlance ends, then Shadow Wall -> Dark Mind + Oblation -> TBN on consecutive GCDs. This should put Shadow Wall right as towers appear and Dark Mind + Oblation just before they go off. Co-tank Oblation and TBN are vital if they are using conventional cooldowns instead. The off-tank is generally expected to take the tether from the add rather than the boss regardless of the mitigation plan.

If possible, you should still try to pool what resources you can to carry into the next phase. The exact thresholds will vary by group, but you should think about dumping resources if the boss is above ~13% at the final Drachenlance cast and ~7% at the start of the enrage cast. It is likely with modern consumables/gear and potency creep that you will barely finish your burst before it dies.

Phase Four: Eyes of Nidhogg

This phase is similar to the previous in terms of DPS check in that a smooth run should be no issue but weaknesses going in can make enrage a real concern. As always, try to enter the phase with as much pooled resource as you can and try to save as much for the one following once the DPS check is clearly being met. However, the DPS checks in the next portion of the fight are quite lenient, so carrying resources forward is of lesser importance here.

Opening with Provoke -> Unmend will secure aggro on your eye. Pressing TBN after your first melee combo hit covers some significant damage while allowing it to be used again just before taking your orb, and personal defensives can be freely used throughout the phase. Dark Mind and Oblation can be used during the Hatebound cast to last through your own orb. Dark Missionary should be used as the cast finishes to hit everyone before they spread and come off cooldown in good time for the intermission. Damage taken by the red eye is fixed based on the mechanic and not the actual damage taken by the tethered players, so don’t worry about the effects of your mitigation here.

Because there should be no raidbuffs going out in this phase, you are free to spend your blood and MP when and where you please. Offensive cooldowns still need to be used promptly. Unfortunately, the eyes are slightly too far apart to hit both with Shadowbringer, even with clever angling.

Tanks and healers are usually assigned to the east (red) eye. Because the red eye takes massive damage from mechanics during the phase, it is easy to accidentally overcommit on it. Save what resources you can for the blue eye and let the ranged players take care of any required HP balancing.

Intermission: Save Haurchefant

You can pre-cast Living Shadow when the knights jump down into the arena. Delirium can be used after the stun without fear of misalignment, and may come up that late naturally. You must use a combo GCD before the LB to keep your combo rolling; otherwise it will drop during your animation lock.

Tank LB can be used as soon as Haurchefant appears, or after 3 GCDs on Charibert. You cannot use TBN on Haurchefant, as he is not a member of your party.

You have good tools for both personal and party mitigation here. TBN on the second melee is a common convention for the off-tank, Oblation can be used on both ranged players, and Reprisal and Dark Missionary are typically used here as well. Dark Missionary will last through the Pure of Heart cast if used after the second set of targeted cleaves.

DPS check for Charibert is very lenient, and all damage past what’s needed to drop him to 29% makes zero difference. Bank what resources you can once that threshold is obviously being met.

DRK has a huge amount of on-demand burst damage which does not adversely affect your rotation to dump out. You should be first in line to ramp up your damage against the Spear of the Fury if meeting the DPS check is in question. As always, you should look to save anything not strictly needed to beat enrage for the next phase.

Phase Five: Dark Thordan

Thordan’s Light of Ascalon buff is not merely cosmetic; everything he does in this phase will do ~10% more damage. This makes any aggro mishaps more than likely lethal.

Raidbuffs will be available for the second uptime phase. You can bank MP in the first phase for this burst window by using TBN for the auto-attacks after Thordan casts The Dragon’s Eye. In order to avoid overcap, you should have less than about 6k MP when you do this.

Dark Missionary can cover both Ancient Quagas in the phase if pre-cast somewhat during Wrath of the Heavens. With quick killtimes, this essentially means using it off cooldown. You should reprisal one Quaga (usually the second) and your co-tank the other.

In the second uptime phase, you can save one charge of Shadowbringer for the orbs to help meet that check. You can hit two orbs with decent aim. The same is true for Salted Earth/Salt and Darkness.

Mitigation plans differ starting here; invulning both busters in the phase, with DRK usually taking the second, means taking Cauterize in Phase Six with conventional cooldowns and leads into the 6-1-1 Akh Morn strat for Phase Seven.

Phase Six: Double Dragons

When both dragons are present, their hitboxes extend close enough to each other to cleave both with most AoE actions including Stalwart Soul combos, Salted Earth/Salt and Darkness, and Shadowbringer. Remember your two-target priority of Stalwart Soul GCD combos, Edge of Shadow to spend MP, and Bloodspiller to spend blood. It’s worthwhile to break an AoE combo to start using single-target, but not worthwhile to break a single-target combo to start using AoE. Don’t start an AoE combo if you know you will have to break it after Unleash.

This is another phase where Tincture usage is an option. While the DPS check is lenient when executed well, it is quite easy for suboptimal play to occur with the constant repositioning, cleave opportunities, and randomness in party or and positioning. 

The single-target components of your burst opening burst ideally go on whichever dragon has targeted raidbuffs applied to it. Make sure to save 3,000 MP for the solo/share buster shortly after the beginning of the phase.

If looking to do 6-1-1 Akh Morns in Phase Seven, mitigation for this phase becomes quite tight. The standard plan for this case is: 

• Shadow Wall + Oblation + TBN on the first solo/share (Wyrmsbreath) buster
• Rampart + Dark Mind + Oblation + TBN on the first Hallowed Plume
• Dark Mind + Oblation + TBN on the second Hallowed Plume
• Rampart + Shadow Wall for the second solo/share buster
• Add Oblation and TBN on the Cauterize.

Because of the timings involved, there is no benefit to holding mitigation on the first Wyrmsbreath in order to use later if you are not targeted.

You must use Shadow Wall late into the castbar for the second solo/share buster (after the “B” in “Wyrmsbreath”) to last through Cauterize. It is vital to have all mitigation active for Cauterize. You obviously want to cover both instances of heavy damage at the end, but err on the side of pressing Shadow Wall late rather than early.

Similarly, the timing to TBN both busters at the end of the phase is quite tight, and the requirement to use it slightly early during Wyrmsbreath makes it tricky to confirm the target and use it in time. There are several options for dealing with this: The most optimal is to properly TBN the solo/share target and yourself for Cauterize. However, this also presents the biggest risk, as missing the TBN on Cauterize is fairly likely to result in your death. You can cut out the thinking by using TBN on yourself regardless, which is much safer but comes at the cost of a 25% chance of losing an Edge of Shadow. The third option is to simply omit the TBN on the solo/share buster and take slightly more damage in return for guaranteed coverage on the Cauterize. This is the most foolproof approach, but increases your total damage taken in 75% of cases, but again, it is much better to have TBN on Cauterize instead if you must pick one or the other.

Akh Afahs, Wyrmsbreath, Wroth Flames, and Cauterize are the major instances of raid damage during the phase. It’s common for the off-tank to use Dark Missionary on Wroth Flames and Reprisal on Wroth Flames and Cauterize.

Dark Missionary can be used in the transition after the second bleed falls off, and personal mits can be added shortly after.

Phase Seven: Dragon-king Thordan

Offensively, this phase is fairly straightforward. Your burst windows will be a resource dump in the opener and two raidbuff windows, usually as the first Gigaflare’s Edge ends and then just before enrage. You can use your Tincture for either of these.

You must be very mindful of your tank stance during this phase; the required swaps are too frequent to employ Shirk, and must be managed by stance-dancing instead. Additionally, you need to be at least second on aggro before the first auto-attacks happen; this means some usage of tank stance, but as you will usually be expected to be second rather than first in threat at that point, you can’t simply start with it on and leave it on until that point.

When taking autos, both tanks should be outside the hitbox, with the highest aggro true north and the second to the side. These hit hard enough that TBN is helpful, but timing is quite tight for the instances preceding Akh Morn’s Edge casts. Positioning the boss precisely is important because Exaflare’s Edge is boss-relative but the universal strategy for dodging the explosions relies on the pattern on the floor.

Reprisal can use used for both Gigaflare’s Edge casts, but must be used quite late (Around the first “E” in “Edge”) to last through all hits. Dark Missionary can be used about a third of the way into the castbar. One tank (usually the off-tank) should Reprisal both Gigaflares and the other all three Akh Morns. Dark Missionary should be free for the second Gigaflare’s Edge if used during transition.

Your defensive cooldowns will be focused on surviving the Akh Morn’s Edge towers. How exactly these towers are handled varies by region and by preference within statics; some employ the so-called 6-1-1 strategy, referring to the number of players in each tower after the first, while some prefer the intended 3-3-2 split, with the non-tanks split between the northern towers and the tanks sharing the south tower with heavy cooldowns. This guide will touch on both.

6-1-1 Towers

For the 6-1-1 strat, the first towers are taken as a 3-3-2 split, and the second and third sets have all six non-tanks in the northwest tower, one tank soloing the northeast tower with all available cooldowns, and one tank invulning the south tower. The north towers are interchangeable, but the south tower hits significantly harder; sharing it with your co-tank deals about the same damage as soloing a north tower intended to be split between three players.

For PLD/GNB comps you will typically be expected to use all cooldowns but Shadow Wall on the first shared tower, a full kitchen sink on the second northeast tower, and Living Dead on the third south tower. WAR can Holmgang both Cauterize and an Akh Morn tower, but must invuln the third set of towers to do so. In this case, you will invuln the second set instead and do not need to save Shadow Wall for the first.

In all cases, you should use Rampart after the third explosion of the first Exaflare’s Edge, or shortly before the first Trinity hit of the phase. This covers the Trinity damage, lasts through the first Akh Morn’s Edge, and puts Rampart on cooldown in time to use for the second set of towers. The timing here is quite tight; more than two seconds before the first Trinity and it will fall off for the last hit of the first Akh Morn, and more than two seconds after will miss the first hit of the second. Remember to use TBN and Oblation on yourself or on the tank soloing the party tower.

3-2-2 Towers

The 3-3-2 strat is more straightforward, though there are a couple ways to ration your cooldowns:

The better, but riskier timing-wise, plan is to use Shadow Wall for Akh Morn’s Edge 1+3 and Rampart for 2+3, in which case Rampart must be used between Trinity hits after the second Exaflare’s Edge.

Alternatively, Rampart for 1+3 and Shadow Wall for 2 results in more damage taken but requires no special timing. Use Dark Mind, Oblation, and TBN for all sets.

Best of luck on your clear!