Dark Apostate is mediocre. Here are some ideas.

[Knightrose]

I played DA for my last Drow life 1-20. (I am in fact replaying it to try a different setup).

Dark Apostate suffers from the same drawbacks as Vanguard. In terms of AP requirement hog to be effective. It is also similar to Eldritch Knight in that to truly benefit from the archetype it must be a pure class dedication. As all the cores for DA are essential to making it perform. If even in my humble opinion it performs in mediocre fashion.

Some ideas:

Allow DA to synergize with Warpriest while also improving Warpriest. Vistani Knife Fighter core 4 has a competence bonus to Dagger Threat and Multiplier. I would mirror this in Warpriest for the same level of progression: Core 4. Allowing the Clerics Favored Weapon to gain Competence bonus of +1 threat/crit mult for 12 seconds after any Cure or Inflict spell is cast. This will encourage the Cleric player to heal more often. Which is a nice bonus to the party.

I would also replace one of Warpriest T4s with a toggle to choose between WIS or CHA for ToHIt/Damage. Silence the Wicked for example is terrible. Even as a situational skill it did not perform well when I tested it on a Vol Warpriest VKF build.

Prayer For Mercy is simply too weak. I would make it a 1d6/1d8 or a 1d4+4/1d6+4

In addition to DA Core 4: A critical with any Necromantic spell applies Bestow Curse without a save.

In addition to DA Core 6: Add a 5% chance that Obscuring Mist will be cast automatically on the Cleric when the Cleric is hit in combat. While Shadow Shrouding is active.

In addition to DA core 3: Add Improved Turning feat for free.

[Somebody87]

DA is fine. The damage is outstanding since they made Mass Inflict Wounds hit harder than delayed blast fireball. The only thing they are missing is some kind of necrotic meteor swarm equivalent and they would put every other DPS class to shame.

You can try arguing their damage is lower due to caster levels and stuff, but at the end of the day, it's just not true. They hit like trucks.

I fully expect a nerf once people have finally stopped clapping for the release of archetypes. I don't think they need a nerf, but they certainly don't need a buff.