Dark Knight is the third Tank introduced in the game through the first major expansion of Final Fantasy XIV, the Heavensward expansion. 

As a Tank, a Dark Knight's job is to take the main lead in the party, or alternatively support his co-Tank with his skills and abilities. They have powerful skills that can deal a lot of damage to the enemies even as a Tank, helping take down the enemies faster. Additionally, Dark Knight also has the ability and skills of mitigation to help reduce damage taken by himself or even a party member.

For this reason, this article will list out ten of the best Dark Knight's skills that can be very useful, often used, and is helpful both to himself and their party members as a whole.

10. Carve and Spit

A video demonstrating the Carve and Spit skill.

Carve and Spit is the first ability skill introduced in this article. It is a powerful offensive spell that is often used off-cooldown.

Why Carve and Spit is Great:

• First, Carve and Spit is an ability that can be weaved in between other GCD executed by the Dark Knight. This makes it easy to execute Carve and Spit as it can be weaved between attacks.
• In accordance to the previous point, because it is an ability that can be weaved between GCDs, executing Carve and Spit will not interrupt the combo that the Dark Knight is currenty doing, and will only contribute extra damage.
• Not to mention, the damage dealt by Carve and Spit is also quite good, sitting at 510 potency attack. It will also restore the Dark Knight's MP upon use, allowing the Dark Knight to be able to use their skills that cost a lot of MP.

Carve and Spit details. 

9. Salted Earth

A video describing how to use Dark Knight in PvP. See Salted Earth in action at 1:32.

Salted Earth is the second ability skill to be introduced in this article. Like Carve and Spit, it is also an offensive ability.

Why Salted Earth is Great:

• Salted Earth will create a patch of earth around the Dark Knight, and this patch will continuously deal damage with a potency of 50 to every enemy that enters the area of the patch.
• It will also be switched to Salt and Darkness upon execution, which will deal an extra 500 damage for the first enemy and 50% less for the remaining enemies.
• As Salted Earth is also an ability that can be weaved in between other GCD attacks, this allows easy use of Salted Earth without interrupting the Dark Knight's original combo rotation.

Salted Earth details. https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Salted_Earth

8. Shadow Wall

A video describing every Dark Knight’s skill for beginners. See Shadow Wall in action at 2:50.

Shadow Wall is the third ability skill to be introduced in this article. Unlike the previous two abilities, however, Shadow Wall is the first mitigation ability introduced in this article.

Why Shadow Wall is Great:

• As a Tank, it is necessary for a Dark Knight to be able to mitigate damage taken by him from the enemies to ensure that his HP won't fall too low too fast that the healer cannot keep up with it. Shadow Wall's role lies solely in this mission.
• Upon using Shadow Wall, the Dark Knight will receive a buff that will reduce all damage taken by them by 30% for 15 seconds, allowing them to be able to receive less damage from a lot of enemies or the boss' Tankbuster.
• Not to mention, Shadow Wall is also an ability that can be weaved in between other GCDs, meaning that the Dark Knight can easily execute this skill while still performing their offensive rotation combo. It is also rather a low-level skill to be learned at level 38, making this skill available for most content in FFXIV.

Shadow Wall details. 

7. Shadowbringer

A video demonstrating Dark Knight’s additional skills added in Endwalker. See Shadowbringer in action at 0:35.

Shadowbringer is the fourth ability skill to be introduced in this article. The name of the skill is relevant to the Dark Knight's pillar skill executed in the Shadowbringers expansion's trailer.

Why Shadowbringer is Great:

• First, the name of the skill itself overwhelms all other skills that the Dark Knight has. What other battle job has the name of an expansion for a skill?
• Shadowbringer is a really powerful AoE skill that will deal a whopping 600  damage potency in a straight line for the firsr enemy,with 50% less for the remaining enemies. 
• On top of that, there are also two Charges of Shadowbringer that the Dark Knight can execute, with each charge refilling every 60 seconds, allowing a Dark Knight to be able to use this skill quite often.

Shadowbringer details. 

6. Blood Weapon

A video describing how to use Blood Weapon properly.

Blood Weapon is the next ability skill introduced in this article. Unlike the previous skills, this ability is not an offensive skill, nor is it a mitigation ability.

Why Blood Weapon is Great:

• Blood weapon is the first support ability skill that can help The Dark Knight to access their abilities that will need the blood gauge to be used, as well as restoring their MP, which will be needed to execute said skills.
• Using blood weapon will grant 5 stacks of blood weapon, with each stack allowing the dark knight to restore their MP as well as increasing the blood gauge by 10 for each weapon skill executed by the Dark Knight for 15 seconds.
• The blood gauge will allow the dark knight to gain access to powerful skills like Flood of Shadow and Edge of Shadow, which in turn will give the Dark Knight damage boost and more access to their other skills.

Blood Weapon details.

5. Living Dead

A video demonstrating the Living Dead skill.

Living Dead is the next ability skill introduced in this article. It is the Dark Knight's invulnerability skill, a skill that every Tank had in their own variation to be able to survive super powerful Tankbusters from the boss.

Why Living Dead is Great:

• Executing Living Dead will grant the Dark Knight 10 seconds of Living Dead. Under this effect, once the Dark Knight's HP hits 0, they will not die, but instead entering the Walking Dead status at 1 HP.
• Entering the Walking Dead effect will allow a Dark Knight to survive most attacks even at 1 HP. However, the Dark Knight has to be healed to full before this effect expires or they will die.
• In order to aid healers to heal the Dark Knight to full in case Benediction is not available, Living Dead also has the additional effect of regenerating the Dark Knight's own HP with a whopping 1500 cure potency for each skill successfully delivered by the Dark Knight.

Living Dead details.

4. Dark Missionary

A video demonstrating all of the Dark Knight’s skills from 1 to 90. See Dark Missionary in action at 35:25.

Dark Missionary is the next ability skill to be featured, and it is also a very important mitigation ability.

Why Dark Missionary is Great:

• Dark Missionary is a mitigation ability skill that is imporyant not only for the Dark Knight themselves, but also for the party as a whole.
• The reason is because Dark Missionary is a party mitigation skill that will give the party member a buff and reduce magic damage taken by 10% for 15 seconds.
• It is very powerful when used in preparation before a Boss will cast a powerful magical raidwide for the party, helping reduce the damage taken by them and protecting them from death.

Dark Missionary details. 

3. Delirium

A video describing how to play Dark Knight properly. See Delirium in action at 6:50.

Delirium is another ability skill that is not quite an offensive skill or mitigation ability, but is a support ability that can help the Dark Knight have access to their powerful combo sets.

Why Delirium is Great:

• Executing Delirium will grant 3 stacks of Delirium, with each stack allowing the Dark Knight to use Quietus or Bloodspiller without Blackblood cost. 
• This is very useful and powerful as Quietus and Bloodspiller usually needs 50 Blood Gauge to execute, and as they deal a lot of damage, it allows Dark Knight to basically have free access to their powerful skills without the prerequisites to use them.
• In addition, Delirium will also grant the Dark Knight a buff that will restore their own MP when landing either Quietus or Bloodspiller for 15 seconds, allowing them to have enough MP to deal their skills that needs a lot of them.

Delirium details.

2. Living Shadow

A video demonstrating the Living Shadow skill.

Living Shadow is a level 80 ability skill that is very powerful and also cool, as it will summon the persona of a precious someone to aid them in battle.

Why Living Shadow is Great:

• Executing Living Shadow will conjure the simulacrum of the Dark Knight’s darkside to fight with them. The Simulacrum has an attack potency of 300, and will stay on the battlefield for 24 seconds. This will allow the Dark Knight to have an extra damage boost when the Simulacrum is on the field.
• Additionally, the Simulacrum will also be able to use the Shadowbringer skill, delivering an attack on a straight line with a 450 damage potency for the first enemy, and 25% less for all remaining enemies.
• Therefore, Living Shadow is definitely a very useful and powerful offensive ability that will let a Dark Knight deal a lot of damage through the Simulacrum, especially since the Simulacrum does not need to care about mechanics or avoiding damage.

Living Shadow details. 

1. The Blackest Night

A video demonstrating why Dark Knight is a good battle job. See The Blackest night in action at 4:55.

The Blackest Night is the last ability to be featured in this article, and for a very good reason. For a long time, The Blackest Night has been dubbed as one of the best mitigation skills.

Why The Blackest Night is Great:

• Executing The Blackest Night will create a magicked barrier around the Dark Knight or a chosen party member, which will absorb damage totaling 25% of the target’s maximum HP for 7 seconds.
• When the target eventually takes damage and the barrier is completely absorbed, it will grant the Dark Arts buff for the Dark Knight, which will allow them to execute Edge of Shadow or Flood of Shadow using it instead of MP.
• Additionally, The Blackest Night also has a very short cooldown of 15 seconds. While it costs a lot of MP to actually use, it is a very good mitigation ability to use before a player takes a lot of damage since the Dark Arts granted will also allow the Dark Knight to execute their usual offensive spells that also cost a lot of MP.

The Blackest Night details. 

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