Dear Jeseok Jang

I've been only playing Dark Knight only for PvP and PvE since the release of the class. After playing Arena of Solare I realized how outdated Dark Knight is compared to almost 90% of the classes in Black Desert. the question we have to ask ourselves before discussing her state in PvP is what is the role of a Dark Knight and what she excels at or used to excel at.

1. She used to be the best anti-evasion class in the game (highest accuracy).

2. She was one of the hardest classes to chase if the player is proficient in the class and her mobility was considered very high.

3. She used to hard counter and destroy classes like Ninja and Kunoichi because her pre-awakening stationary protected crowd control skills and counter their evasion build.

4. She used to beat Musa, Maehwa, Wizard, and Witch because she was one of the best classes to punish Super armor trading and killing the target without any cc.

5. She was hard countered by Mystic and Striker with the introduction of class modifier to balance her out vs her good matchups I assume like rock paper and scissors.
6. She was one of the best classes to punish unprotected Gaps in class skills making her one of the best 1vs1 classes on the right hands or in small-scale fights.

so let's review all these points are they still true in today's black desert regarding Dark Knight?

1. Until the reboot patch came out and since every class had a passive rework some of them got nerfed for example dark knight lost 7% accuracy which is a lot. One might wonder if is it really a big loss Well actually it is because due to the Dark Knight class modifier handicap Damage reduction counters us a lot but with our old 12% accuracy passive we could destroy evasion but after losing that now we aren't really good at killing anything as we could kill evasion targets better before the nerf.

2. This is true even tho the class was known to have a lot of skill gaps or skill linkage gaps you could be untouchable but after reboot, there are a few things that destroyed that for her first every class got more movement speed or skill buffs, and skill AOE while she didn't get anything meaning that as a Dark Knight, you are unable to play like we used to before reboot also the changes that you guys made for the Q block debuff actually destroyed Dark Knight way to defend herself from taking damage and making it even harder to fight in a big group of people since you can never ever Q block like we used to unlike Super Armor Q block the Dark Knights Q block is very weak and easy to break.

3. To explain this point more in-depth the reason why Dark Knight used to do really well or you could say was the bane of Ninja and Kunoichi was that those 2 classes had a lot of mobility and fast crowd control but they were mostly unprotected and due to this nature the pre awakening kit of Dark Knight has a lot of protected crowd control AOE skills that allowed her to counter their engages crowd controlling them but nowadays especially after the recent changes on Ninja now it's basically almost impossible to crowd control a good awakening Ninja as a Dark Knight regardless of spec because almost all of their skills got faster better and got more Super armor, so a matchup that once favored us is not in our favor anymore so what classes are we even good at PvP anymore if we cannot even fight a Ninja anymore as a Dark Knight?

4. Dark Knights's biggest strength is to perform Super Armor or Forward Guard trading that is how you guys designed her kit Especially the Awakening Dark Knight. Due to the Dark Knight class modifier, there are 40% of the classes where we do not win Super armor trading because of stat handicap against Damage Reduction but even tho we had that issue we could Super armor trade very well against evasion classes but after the 7% accuracy removal we lost that strength making the class be good at fighting none of the defense types.

5. Thinking about this point really hurts me and a lot of other fellow Dark Knight players nowadays because originally the class modifier system was introduced to balance certain classes for being too good and the Dark Knight was one of them because of how well she does against the majority of classes at the old times Striker and Mystic were added with those strong modifiers against Dark Knight but it was a bit understandable if we could beat destroy classes like Musa or Maehwa instantly then lose to Striker Mystic instantly. But as of today besides Musa and Maehwa we don't have any strong matchups anymore so the big question here there is no more purpose for the Dark Knight class modifier then why does it still exist when we are already at a disadvantage? even at large-scale fights like node war and siege war the class is beyond terrible, useless, and serves no real purpose compared to other classes in the current black desert.

6. This one is a real irony for a lot of Dark Knight players if you were an old player of black desert you will always hear Dark Knight being very upset about their class having more than 20 gaps in their skill protection but after reboot, we don't have many unprotected gaps anymore but what happened was that it indirectly made Dark Knight weaker because that was our strength which was to punish unprotected skill gaps with skills such as F, W+F, Awakening Shift E, etc. For example before if we had to fight Striker despite the Class modifier disadvantage that Dark Knight has if you understand the Unprotected Skill gaps of Striker you can Crowd Control the Striker a lot but after reboot, every class has almost no more unprotected Skill Gaps meaning that the value of Crowd Control got very low and less compared to other options like Super Armor trading or grappling which we don't have to option for it. this is why I didn't understand why the Succession Dark Knight got the Twilight dash+Kamaslyvia Slash combo nerf (C+RMB) when you made Succession Sage almost Fully Super armor it doesn't matter nowadays nobody has Forward guards anymore almost everything is Super Armor this ruins the Gameplay of black desert as a whole making the skill-less about thinking what decision you have to make and what skill you have to use at the right time and what crowd control you need to use but instead we just spam Super Armor without making any real decision.

In conclusion, Dark Knight is Below Average in the PvP scene now and as the Only Dark Knight BDO player that doesn't like to play other classes, it just makes me want to quit the game day by day. I have almost perfected Dark Knight in 1vs1 but sadly due to how weak she currently is it feels very sad and my time got wasted learning this once upon a time a great class.

what would I recommend or do if I was a head game designer in charge of the black desert game trying to make Dark Knight a better class?

1.  Add 9% accuracy for 10 seconds on Dusk (Shift A or D).

2.  Increase the dash Range of Smokey Haze (Shift W).

3.  Increase the dash range of Dusk(Shift A or D) and allow it to get affected by attack speed or movement speed.
4.  Increase the dash range of Absolute Airstrike and Prime Air Strike(W+F).
5.  Increase the dash range and the AOE of Spirit Hunt(W+RMB).

6.  Make the class Dark Knight class modifier dealing and taking damage positive instead of negative.
7.  Revert the Prime Twilight dash+Prime Kamasylvia Slash combo nerf (C+RMB).
8.  Revert the Prime Slanted Balance(S+LMB) Range to the max like on the release succession patch.

9.  Give Prime Lunacy of Vedir a STUN crowd control.
10. Revert the Stamina cost to mana cost on Prime Air Strike(W+F).

11. Make Absolute Pervasive Darkness and Prime Pervasive Darkness(Spacebar) do -9% evasion instead of -10 dp.

12. Reduce the cooldown of Absolute Corrupt Ground from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.
13. Remove the Unprotected skill gap of Prime Spirit Legacy.
14. Remove the -20% gaurd gauge from Succession Shadow bullet to Prime Slanted Balance(S+LMB).
15. Increase the Hitbox of Absolute Split Second(Q+LMB).

15. Increase the DP of Dark Shadow from +12DP to +30DP.

16. Change Prime Wind of the Spirit Succession passive from +5% movement speed to +5% accuracy.
17. Increase the AOE of 100% Black Spirit Rage Prime Lunacy of Vedir, increase the PvP and PvE damage, and remove the BOUND crowd control.

18. Increase the hit range of Hullicanation Gap and allow us to instantly cast it.

19. Increase the hitbox and AOE of Spirit Blaze(S+RMB) and add STIFF crowd control on the first hit.
20. Increase the hitbox and AOE of the Spirit Blaze Flow, remove the Down smash make it super armor and add the KNOCKDOWN crowd control.

21. Remove the -2 phantom blade on Shattering Darkness and Flow Bombardment.
22. Allow us to use Flow Darkness Outpouring independent of any skill at will and increase the dash range of the skill.

23. Increase the speed of Seed of Catastrophe(Shift E) and change the crowd control from FLOAT to STIFF.

24. Increase the speed of Flow Root of Catastrophe, add the FLOAT crowd control, add air attack modifier, and increase the PvP damage.
25. Increase the hitbox of Trap of Vedir(S+F), change the forward guard to Super armor without any skill gap, and add a STIFF crowd control.

26. Reduce the Cooldown of Cluster of Despair from 13 seconds to 8 seconds.

27. Reduce the Cooldown of Dark Nebula from 9 to 8 seconds.

28. Add a 50% critical hit rate to Grip of Grudge (shift+F) and increase the PvP damage.
29. Reduce the cooldown of Prime Obisidian Ashes from 13 seconds to 12 seconds.

30. Increase the PvP damage of Bloom Black Rose by a lot.

31. Fix the bug of Prime Air Strike(W+F) not having BOUND crowd control.

32. Fix the bug where if you use Prime Kamaslyvia Slash(Shift+RMB) with chain dusk it will not use it and be unprotected.

These are all my ideas and things that I can think of that would make Dark Knight much more enjoyable to play I hope these options I have shared will be highly considered.

Sincerely Yours
Deathscy

no thx.

Surely not all the changes here should be applied, only took into consideration. Another thing is that some classes gets buffed twice or trice from 2023 March till now, while dk only got changes recently and those changes are in numbers, not new skills and not bug fixes to current ones. Don't even remember if they fixed her cluster of despair(awak) bc that shit sometimes forgets to register hits on monsters. 

My first ever Class in BDO before i chose Warrior and before i stopped playing in 2020 was Dark Knight.

During 2023 Spring Season i started with Sorceress. I dropped her after the Season. Not my thing really especially not how the game is now.

What i enjoyed about Dark Knight is how it felt like a True Melee, Heavy Combat yet Light Armored Class compared to Awakening Warrior.

Compare the ''Witcher'' to a ''Dark Souls Knight'' well she is like the Witcher.

Unique Design in BDO though a Spellsword i would call her and Gothic. Easy to fall in love with.

Recently made one again and plan to invest on her. So overall you can see the playstyle i like. An abandoned Playstyle in the current Meta.

However its one of the Traditional Classes that have been forgotten.

And to catch up to current Meta of SA Trading, CC Chaining, AoE Chaos, Teleporting Pixels, High Speed Protected Movement Creep,

she needs the Buffs otherwise she will stay behind.

Even Awakened Sorceress remained behind and the only thing that keeps her going are her I-Frames for as much as they can help.

I would personaly like the Older Traditional Combat of BDO without SAs but smarter abilities for defensive purposes and protection, tactical actions that btw. could also benefit from Evasion and DR modifiers making those permanent stats and passives actually apply on action done. Better Stat Balance between classes and gs that way. Tactical Action Combat.

Then CC Dice Roll fest itself wouldn't be necessary to cover up the problems. This works also with Caster classes even block/ shielding mechanics but all of that would require ''Development Time and Investment''

So i don't know if we can ever get a Black Desert Re-Remaster because thats what it technically is.

But then again bringing forgotten Classes on par with modern changes is nothing. It can be done.

So why not?

I agree with alot of the suggestions and yes DK needs a rebalancing re-work.

The hard part is making her balanced...

In the current state of the game i am not very positive of wether this will be possible at all without going in circles.

Maybe there's still time for PA to touch SA, CCs, how Evasion and DR apply on action rather then RNG or Fixed stats and movement.

Its possible. That would be the best.

I never liked the concept of ''X'' Combo turns you invulnerable during Cast. Have me actually dodge/ block/ sidestep and benefit from dr/ eva while doing so and make it actually do something and have my close combat skills such as kicks, hilt strikes, actually work so i can parry and time my next step without being useless.

Because all of that is currently useless if you are not on SA and your recieve X attack or CC while the other is on SA. Action Combat without being able to Parry or anything? So where's the timing or attacks of opportunity? Ah yes. Spam SA or CC at ''Whenever the Dice falls''

Can't PA see the Traditional Classes such as DK have propper Kits for better combat? Why throw them away...

People still hate when DK gets buffed because of twilight+kama and how op it was on release. That being said it is due for a few buffs especially the class modifiers. I agree with the accuracy buff as well. What really needs to be reworked/buffed is awakening dk...

succ dk seems pretty fine to me.

This is an example of good and Tactical Combat Kits being forgotten or turned useless.

Darkness Burst:

(Lock and use via Keybind)

It requires 2nd Hit to Knockback.

This actually ruins it because its not a well timed Attack anymore due to 2nd hit requirement. Defeats the purpose.

If you dash right behind your target (DK Assasin Killer Class) and use it to get a smart Tactical Advantage and follow up with your hits, your are punished for trying to be ''Skilled'' and that can be a few reasons:

1. You deal with an Evasion Meme Target. (Answer is more Accuracy Gear).

2. Your Accuracy is not enough against the Evasion Target because its over 1200 or so. (Answer is more Accuracy Gear).

3. Your Accuracy is still not enough. (Maybe bring back the Accuracy Modifiers of DK post nerf or tune it for current Evasion state)?

4. Multiple other reasons such as classes being on Superarmor while they can throw huge damage at you etc. etc.

On top of that the class has been forgotten and your ''Targets'' got so much in terms of Speed/ Protection/ I-Frames.

It means your Targets would require 0 IQ to turn your ''Smart Thinking'' useless. And thats just a very very simple example.

On top of that requiring 2 hits also gives your target a warning ''Hey i am going to knock you back right now dummy''

Sometimes they dont even need the warning though but still.

So my suggestion:

Bring back the Accuracy Modifiers and make it a 1 Hit Knockback.

Counterargument:

Wouldn't that turn this game into a more Crazy CC = Death fest?

Not if CCs are avoidable with abilities (requiring action) not if CC doesn't last 5 seconds.

But to have just a few select classes everytime be the ''Broken ones'' while other playstyles completely abandoned isn't fair at all.

So either nerf everything into Oblivion or make everything completely Braindead without exceptions.

Or focus on the Cause ;)

Yeah thats the important question.

Disclaimer: I am and probably always will be Awakening Dark Knight, so consider that my statemets are made from that perspective, since my experience with succession is somewhat limited.

What Dark Knight is or was for me:

For me Dark Knight always was a high risk high reward class.

Meaning, Dark Knight is very squishy but with good gameplay you could overcome that against many other classes. But being cced almost certianly means death, this was always like that as far I can think back.

However in the past you could that was the tradeoff for being one of the hardest hitting classes ingame. While from time to time Dark Knights damage was super strong to sometimes being at least quite good, depending on the current meta. However recently it feels like she lost her damage potential while her survivability and utility, e.g.: debuffs, buffs, CCs etc. did not improve.

So what does Awakening Dark Knight bring to the table right now?

- Mediocre damage output, both against evasion and dr, while eva memes are generally broken right now (but we dont talk about that)

- Good survivability through gameplay not through stats

- Instant death if she is cced

- Mostly bad CCs, she doesn't have too many and a lot of them are very hard to follow up properly, mainly because Awakening skills have so long CDs and you may have to follow up with mainhand skills than back to Awa if possible, which feels very awkward, but managable. Wich leads to not so great combo dmg.

- No Grab

- No support for your teammates, aside from BSR feeding, since our 100% is dogshit anyways, since we die in the one hour long animation and if not, the dmg is laughable

So overall our only role in PvP is to do tons of dmg, thats what Dark Knight is supposed to do. If thats what we are made for, then so be it, i dont need super awesome CC chains big support skills or insane survivability, i can deal with being oneshot in cc.

But then at least let us do our job well and give us the tools to deal the dmg, because right now we don't have them.

Just watch at the AOS stats right now (29.07.2023 17:28):

There is 2 Succession Dark Knights in top 100 EU, Rank 17 and 32.

In top 20 EU of Dark Knight, there is 10 Succession and 1 Awakening (9 only did their Placement matches + a hand full, so I don't count these, because its hard to tell it thats only matchup luck)

This might change while the AoS season is going on, but the last season endresults showed similar tendencies.

So overall I cant say much about Succession, it seems like she at least fare better than awakening right now, probably because as of my knowing deals more dmg, especially burst. And for that fits her only role of a dd better. But i dont want to make a big statement how good she is overall, i leave that to the succession players.

However Awakening seems to be in a significantly tougher spot, especially in AoS where everybody gains quite some tankyness due to gear restrictions. Since Awakening Dark Knight just can't provide much outside of pure dmg, and she is not better than most other classes in that regard, she falls behind.

I agree with most of the changes suggested by Deathscy. But want to add my thought about Spirit Blaze and Flow: Spirit Blaze.

Starting from Deathscy's suggestion, I would like to see a FG on Spirit Blaze since its an initial CC, and agree to both changes to the CCs, it just makes more sens. Also i consider Flow: Spirit Blaze to be a finnisher skill, thus it should have gratly increased damage compared to now. Generally Spirit Blaze into Flow: Spirit Blaze should be way smoother and faster, everybody who did that knows why.

And please PA, remove the Class modifiers, it so outdated. Also its the same for awakening and succession while for Dark Knight and a lot of other classes both specs are completely different classes with completely different good and bad matchups.