From Final Fantasy Wiki

See also: Dark Knight (Job).

In Final Fantasy XI, the Dark Knight is one of the advanced jobs available for players to unlock upon obtaining level 30. The quest for Dark Knight involves traveling to Bastok and then walking to Palborough Mines. Inside the mines, which are controlled by Quadavs, the player must find a boat and take an underground river to see Zeid, the most notable and famous Galka Dark Knight and champion of Bastok.

Zeid grants the player a Great Sword with which he must slay 100 creatures, it is only after performing this time consuming and tedious quest that a character earns the right to play as a Dark Knight. In Final Fantasy XI, Dark Knights hold the best weapon rating in scythe, are excellent wielders of great swords and formidable users of Great Axes and single handed axes.

Dark Knights are granted access to a unique line of Absorb spells. They temporarily siphon, or take away an ability from an enemy and add it to their own. These absorbed abilities consist of all the 7 major stats present in the game; Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Agility, Mind, Intelligence and Charisma. Recently, they also gained the ability to Absorb an enemies TP. Although limited to only 1st and 2nd tier Black Mage spells, Dark Knights are given access to vital spells like drain and aspir.

Dark Knights excel at heavy physical damage, although by no means the best in the game at this, when combined with debilitating magical attacks to hamper and weaken an enemy, Dark Knights make formidable damage dealers within a party. Though they can wear heavy armor, Dark Knights are generally quick to die if attacked while utilizing Job Abilities such as Last Resort or Soul Eater which sacrifices defense for a greater boost to attack.

Becoming a Dark Knight

Go to Zeid and take his quest. Slay 100 enemies with the Chaosbringer sword. After doing so, return to Zeid and he will grant you the Dark Knight job and by killing 100 more enemies you can obtain the Greatsword Deathbringer.

Dark Knight Abilities

Spell List

Dark Knights in Final Fantasy XI

Strengths

• Dark Knights bring unique set of status ailments they can inflict on enemies with "Absorb" spells.
• Dark Knights can potentially gain TP very quickly while depriving enemies of their own.
• Dark Knights make great use of their early access to the spell Stun and are used often times in Burning Circle battles.

Weaknesses

• Dark Knight abilities generate a large amount of enmity, therefore the player has to refrain from going all out.
• Dark Knights, despite wearing heavier armor, tend to end up with low defense through use of abilities and are KOed easily.
• Due to Scythe's having a very high delay a Dark Knight needs to stack a lot of accuracy boosting equipment to make every hit count.

Subjobs

Thief

Thief is a very popular subjob for Dark Knights to assist in increasing spike damage. Using sneak attack and trick attack allows a Dark Knight to drastically increase weapon skill damage. It is often used in combination with Last Resort and on occasion, though typically not successfully, with Soul Eater.

Warrior

Warrior is the most popular and widely accepted subjob for Dark Knights for increasing damage over time. Berserk allows them to increase damage with each hit. Physical statistics from warrior also provides a slight advantage particularly in terms of Strength.

Samurai

Samurai has recently been given a boost due to a version update that added the ability Hasso and Seigan. In particular, Hasso provides a faster attack speed, strength, and Accuracy bonus while using two handed weapons. Since most Dark Knights use either a Great Sword or a Scythe, this is an attractive feature for Samurai as a subjob.

Ninja

In many high level events such as Dynamis or Einherjar, Dark Knights gain protection from many devastating or crippling enemy TP attacks with use of utsusemi. Due to a version update, many more Dark Knights sub Samurai.