What is the point of playing a dragonknight dps in pve? The whole archetype of dragonknight being the one to charge in and withstand just doesn't live up to expectations. With the arcanist, you can easily run ahead of the tank, healer, and other dps and take on a trash mob easily in the easier vet dungeons. Flail with the built-in heal stuns everything and then pragmatic absolutely melts through all of them while remaining tanky. I can more or less solo a dungeon on a pure dps arcanist build without even building strictly for solo with items like pale order. No other class built for pure dps can even come close to the arcanist in soloing a dungeon. I tried out dragonknight knowing nightblade is naturally squishy and it was only slightly less squishy. Unlike on the arcanist, I felt much more at the mercy of the healer and tank which I'm not used to. The arcanist has the built-in range, the built-in shield, the built-in stun, and the built-in heal. On any other class you would have to start slotting other skills like vigor. Inspired scholarship gives major brutality and major sorcery just for being slotted whereas for dk you have to cast igneous weapons to get the same buff.

Arcanist just feels like it's head and shoulders above all other classes for pve dps. It's in a class entirely of its own