Job Guide: Dark Knight | Final Fantasy XIV

All descriptions are based on action attributes and bonuses attained by level 90.
For further details on changes to actions and traits, please refer to the patch notes.

Actions & Traits

Job Actions

Action Name	Acquired	Type	Cast	Recast	MP Cost	Range Radius	Effect


Hard Slash	Lv. 1	Weaponskill	Instant	2.5s	-	3y 0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 170.


Syphon Strike	Lv. 2	Weaponskill	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	Spell	Instant	2.5s	-	0y 5y	Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 120 to all nearby enemies.


Grit	Lv. 10	Ability	Instant	2s	-	0y 0y	Significantly increases enmity generation. Effect ends upon reuse.


Release Grit	Lv. 10	Ability	Instant	1s	-	0y 0y	Cancels the effect of Grit.


Unmend	Lv. 15	Spell	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	Weaponskill	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 Job Quest	Lv. 30	Ability	Instant	1s	3000 MP	10y 10y	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 Job Quest	Lv. 35	Ability	Instant	60s	-	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	Ability	Instant	120s	-	0y 0y	Reduces damage taken by 30%. Duration: 15s


Stalwart Soul	Lv. 40	Spell	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


Edge of Darkness Job Quest	Lv. 40	Ability	Instant	1s	3000 MP	3y 0y	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.


Dark Mind	Lv. 45	Ability	Instant	60s	-	0y 0y	Reduces magic vulnerability by 20%. Duration: 10s


Living Dead Job Quest	Lv. 50	Ability	Instant	300s	-	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 Job Quest	Lv. 52	Ability	Instant	90s	-	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 Job Quest	Lv. 54	Ability	Instant	30s	-	20y 0y	Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 150. Maximum Charges: 2 Cannot be executed while bound.


Abyssal Drain Job Quest	Lv. 56	Ability	Instant	60s	-	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 Job Quest	Lv. 60	Ability	Instant	60s	-	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	Weaponskill	Instant	2.5s	-	3y 0y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 500. Blood Gauge Cost: 50


Quietus	Lv. 64	Weaponskill	Instant	2.5s	-	0y 5y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 to all nearby enemies. Blood Gauge Cost: 50


Delirium	Lv. 68	Ability	Instant	60s	-	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 Job Quest	Lv. 70	Ability	Instant	15s	3000 MP	30y 0y	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


Flood of Shadow	Lv. 74	Ability	Instant	1s	3000 MP	10y 10y	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.


Edge of Shadow	Lv. 74	Ability	Instant	1s	3000 MP	3y 0y	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.


Dark Missionary	Lv. 76	Ability	Instant	90s	-	0y 30y	Reduces magic damage taken by self and nearby party members by 10%. Duration: 15s


Living Shadow	Lv. 80	Ability	Instant	120s	-	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	Ability	Instant	60s	-	30y 0y	Reduces damage taken by target party member or self by 10%. Duration: 10s Maximum Charges: 2


Salt and Darkness	Lv. 86	Ability	Instant	20s	-	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	Ability	Instant	60s	-	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.

Role Actions

Role actions are abilities common to classes and jobs with the same role.

Action Name	Acquired	Type	Cast	Recast	MP Cost	Range Radius	Effect


Rampart	Lv. 8	Ability	Instant	90s	-	0y 0y	Reduces damage taken by 20%. Duration: 20s


Low Blow	Lv. 12	Ability	Instant	25s	-	3y 0y	Stuns target. Duration: 5s


Provoke	Lv. 15	Ability	Instant	30s	-	25y 0y	Gesture threateningly, placing yourself at the top of a target's enmity list while gaining additional enmity.


Interject	Lv. 18	Ability	Instant	30s	-	3y 0y	Interrupts the use of a target's action.


Reprisal	Lv. 22	Ability	Instant	60s	-	0y 5y	Reduces damage dealt by nearby enemies by 10%. Duration: 10s


Arm's Length	Lv. 32	Ability	Instant	120s	-	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	Ability	Instant	120s	-	25y 0y	Diverts 25% of enmity to target party member.

Trait

Traits	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.

Combos

Performing actions in a certain order increases potency and applies combo bonuses.

Combo Sequence

Effect

Hard Slash

Syphon Strike

Souleater

Recovers HP and MP while increasing the Blood Gauge.

Unleash

Stalwart Soul

Hits multiple enemies while also restoring MP and increasing the Blood Gauge.

Job Gauge

Blood Gauge

Upon learning the action Grit, a symbol will appear on the screen indicating when it is in effect. Grit increases enmity gained from using other actions.

Upon learning the trait Blackblood, the symbol which indicates the use of Grit will change to also display the Blood Gauge.

The Blood Gauge displays the amount of Blackblood a dark knight has accumulated, which can be used to execute several actions such as Bloodspiller (acquired at level 62) and Quietus (acquired at level 64).

Darkside Gauge

Upon learning the action Flood of Darkness, an additional gauge will be displayed, indicating the remaining duration of Darkside.

Darkside increases damage dealt, and its duration can be extended by using actions such as Flood of Darkness and Edge of Darkness (acquired at level 40).

Upon learning the action The Blackest Night, an icon indicating the effect of Dark Arts will be displayed on the Darkside Gauge. Dark Arts is granted when the barrier created by the Blackest Night is completely absorbed. It can then be used to execute Flood of Darkness or Edge of Darkness without MP cost.

Upon learning the action Living Shadow, you can conjure a simulacrum to fight alongside you. Its duration will be displayed alongside the Darkside Gauge.

Simple Mode

Blood Gauge
Grit (Active)
The gauge cannot be displayed in simple mode until learning the trait Blackblood at level 62.
Darkside Gauge
Darkside	Dark Arts	Living Shadow

All descriptions are based on action attributes and bonuses attained by level 90.
For further details on changes to actions and traits, please refer to the patch notes.

Job Actions

Role Actions

Trait

Combos

Job Gauge

Job Actions

Limit Break

Common Actions

Tank

Actions & Traits

Job Actions

Role Actions

Trait

Combos

Combo Sequence

Effect

Job Gauge

Blood Gauge

Darkside Gauge

Simple Mode

Actions

Job Actions

Limit Break

Common Actions

Action Name	Cast	Recast	MP Cost	Range Radius	Effect


Eventide	Instant	10s	-	0y 30y	Delivers an attack with a potency of 6,000 to all enemies in a straight line before and behind you. Potency increases up to 24,000 as HP nears maximum. HP is reduced to 1 upon execution. Additional Effect: Grants Undead Redemption Undead Redemption Effect: Most attacks cannot reduce your HP to less than 1, and you absorb 100% of weaponskill damage dealt as HP Duration: 10s Additional Effect: Grants Blackblood Duration: 10s Can only be executed when the limit gauge is full. Gauge Charge Time: 105s ※Souleater Combo changes to Bloodspiller while under the effect of Blackblood.

Action Name	Type	Cast	Recast	MP Cost	Range Radius	Effect


Standard-issue Elixir	Ability	4.5s	5s	-	0y 0y	Restores your HP and MP to maximum. Casting will be interrupted when damage is taken.


Recuperate	Ability	Instant	1s	2500 MP	0y 0y	Restores own HP. Cure Potency: 15,000


Purify	Ability	Instant	30s	-	0y 0y	Removes Stun, Heavy, Bind, Silence, Half-asleep, Sleep, and Deep Freeze. Additional Effect: Grants Resilience Resilience Effect: Nullifies status afflictions that can be removed by Purify Duration: 5s Can be used even when under the effect of certain status afflictions.


Guard	Ability	Instant	30s	-	0y 0y	Reduces damage taken by 90% and grants immunity to Stun, Heavy, Bind, Silence, Half-asleep, Sleep, Deep Freeze, and knockback and draw-in effects. Duration: 5s Movement speed is reduced by 50% for the duration of this effect. Effect ends upon reuse, using another action, or when the effect duration expires.


Sprint	Ability	Instant	1.5s	-	0y 0y	Increases movement speed by 50%. Effect ends upon reuse or execution of another action.