Question for all Dragoons

[Chaoskitten21]

My dragoon is currently at lvl 34,and i was thinking of making it my main while my dark knight is retired.My question is:what would be the best gear set up for dragoon?should i focus on str and attack?or str and dex?and what kind of fods would be best for lvling dragoon?any info and advice is welcomed

[Nobodyreal]

DRG gear is mostly similar to DRK gear at that level. STR, ATT, some ACC, that sort of thing. DRG doesn't quite have the accuracy problems that DRK does, but it's still a good idea to make sure you've got it.

Of course, no two people's play styles are exactly the same, so mess around and see what works for you.

(And just a note, could you cut that sig down please? Your one post is filling up my entire screen.)

[Sugami]

Your priorities are pretty much the same as DRK:
Acc -> DEX -> Att -> STR.
Unlike DRK your gear sucks till 62ish; battle gloves till AF, bastokian/republic subligar till tiger/feral hose (62). Think I used RSE feet and body for the STR, feet last till AF and body till that ugly Brigadine I'm sure you've loved so much from DRK
Life belt when you get it, pretty much a must, being mithra that spiked necklace will last till 60ish I think. Guessing you have a couple of snipers from DRK, use them when you can and if you like get some STR rings to swap in for WS, the cheap ones

[Kailea]

I do fine with this as DRG........

Sushi
ACC+ Lance
Lifebelt
mermaid gorget
2x STR rings
ATT+ earrings
ATT+ back
ATT+ Helem (AF for WS)
all other AF


I know you cant wear most of this, but it is what I wear :p

[Papillon]

{Dragoon} {Accuracy Bonus} + {Mithra} DEX = {Impossible to gauge!}

Seriously, at 45, I still haven't hit any accuracy problems so I don't personally worry about it yet (I hear that might change soon tho). I would focus more on STR and Attack than on DEX or accuracy. Of course more accuracy never hurt anyone, except the mob of course. Try to maintain a good balance of these things and not overload on any one thing.

The Spike Necklace (+3STR +3DEX) is great and will take you far.
Bastokan/Republic Cuissas and Greaves have some nice bonuses to acc and att for when you are in a zone that is under your nation's control.
Our RSE gaiters +3 STR is nothing to sneeze at either.
A pair of Volan's Greaves if you can get them (I luv mine ^^)
And don't forget your rings ^^

For food, I was recently introduced to rice dumplings and I luv them
+20% attack +17 HP +3 STR +2 VIT +1 AGI HP/MP regen while healing 2
They go for about 30k a stack on my server, which is far cheaper than any sushi.

Check my alla profile in my sig to see what I got on now, and it suits me just fine.
=^_^=

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Rice Dumpling
Stacks: 12
Duration: 30 mins

* HP +17
* Strength +3
* Vitality +2
* Agility +1
* Attack +20% (Cap: 45@225 Base Attack)
* Ranged Attack +30% (Cap: 45@150 Base Ranged Attack)
* HP Regeneration While Healing +2
* MP Regeneration While Healing +2
* Accuracy +5
* Resist Paralyze

My SAM kitty's favorite food, also a great RDM melee skill up food.

[MittensValefor]

Compilation of Useful DRG Topics From Alla

I've never played DRG, but those I've partied with were predominately DD... Major DD. In one party so much DD, the DRG did more tanking than the ninja... (me) >.> Embarrassing.

I'd say DRG/WAR a very good way to get a feel for what you're in for... Much like WAR you'll be expected to DD *and* be a SATA partner. DRG is great for starting a distortion SC at low lvls and even better at later levels when they can finish a SC with their dragon bursting.

[Sugami]

I'll say this once, any DRG in full AF is a noob Never wear the pants unless soloing, they really suck for party play. Helm is only good for macroing in for WS and Feet for Jump but I'd leave them on until you get the Feral booties since the DEF is much higher than RSE and you'll probably be first voke a fair bit. They only work for Jump, not High Jump (I'm pretty sure) the AF2 legs enhance High Jump.

As for as accuracy goes you'll probably be fine with STR rings, spiked necklace, life belt and sushi until around 60. If you get R.K. Lance that'll cover you till about 65. It's around then I noticed I started missing more even with one Woodsman Ring and I swapped my Necklace for the Gorget. Still bit further down the line around 67-68 I noticed my accuracy drop a bit, might be 'cause I was fighting stuff too hard for me but nonetheless I got another Woodsman ring and STR rings to swap in for WS.
Of course if you can afford a SH at 57 you shouldn't need the gorget or rings for a bit. Basically just need to keep a good balance of everything

Before I struck it lucky at a BCNM run I'd get Tuna Sushi (DEX, CHR, acc+), I heard CHR makes the wyvern better not sure if it's true but it kinda makes sense at the time tuna was 17-20K a stack where sole was 45-50K a stack.

DRG are pretty much the SC starters through the whole game, which is a shame since their wyverns can MB Double Thrust or Raiden Thrust till you get Skewer at 60 still opening Distortion. Wheeling Thrust at 65 usually open Light for a THF or DRK/THF to close and if you can't pull hate (PLD) they can also SATA you and you just Jump the hate away

The fun starts at 60 <3 Skewer

[Kintrra]

Off-topic: Papillion your sig piccie makes no sense!!! DRG AF2 body, RDM hat, PLD AF2 gloves... I'm a confused kitty!!!! ><;

/end off-topicness

[Papillon]

It represents my main (DRG) and my main subs (RDM, WAR, + PLD). No WAR equip really fit in with my composition, so i didn't include anything there.

Besides, I've loved the RDM hat since the original FF, and I would love to be able to wear one without actually being a high lvl RDM. So I made of pic of me with one. So there hehe.

=^_^=

Here's my old sig if that makes you happier:

[Sugami]

Hehe well your logos are very pretty bit too much pink for my liking though

[Papillon]

{Thank you}

And you can never have too much pink.

[angelstar107]

I wonder if I should comment on this thread >.> I'm a 65 Drg now, so I might as well.

In terms of gear, you really do wanna focus on Acc. You may not realize it, but Drg, even with the bonus, after level 50-55... Well, it's just good to have Acc+.

I'm not really sure what everyone else believes, but I think Str/Atk should be toward the latter end of the importance.

Acc -> Dex -> Atk -> Str (in that order) is the best list of priorities (And I think someone else said that too...) you could use. As for gear, since Drg don't get a whole lot of Enmity (unless they are the SATA Partner) until you start spamming SA (or SATA) Wheeling Thrust (@65), so Def isn't a biggie. If you don't need to, save your money on stat enhancing armor. Your Def isn't going to be a major issue unless you are a SATA partner, so there's a money saving tip.

If you have to pull, bring a friend >.> Jump range isn't all that great, and you'll take a ton of damage getting back to camp unless you know the trick to using jump. Run into the Jump range a bit, turn around, and start running. If you time it right, you can actually glitch the system to get a slightly extended Jump Range, which keeps you from taking a horde of damage.

Subjobs to use... War until 60, Thf as an option after 60, and Whm ALWAYS! I say Whm because there will be a lot of times where you'll have a ton of downtime. Drg/Whm can solo really well (or so I'm told), but until I try it and give more feedback on that, just play with it. Being a flexable party member increases your chance for getting party invites (and that's a biggie for Drg).

I know you said you wanted armor information, so I'll say this. Your lvl 34. A combination of Merc Captain, Centurion, and RSE will give you some huge stat bonuses and other super good effects. I used that armor til 42-44 when I got my AF lance, and upgraded to armor with higher Def.

Merc Capt Doublet (Def 30, Dex and Agi +1)
Merc Capt Headgear (Def 10, Str and Dex +1)
Savage Gaiters (Def 5, HP +16, Str +3, Chr +2)
Centurion's Finger Gauntlets (Def 8, Dex +1)
Centurion's Cuisses (Def 16, Agi +2)

That's Def 69, Str +4, Dex +3, Agi +3, Chr +2. Damage, Acc, Evasion, and Wyvern Breath(That's right, Chr and Mnd affects Wyvern Breath) enhancement... Sounds good to me! It got me through 42 without a problem. o.o

[Sugami]

I'd say parties don't care about mage subs, I've never been asked to sub mage and it is rather pointless for party play. For soloing, skilling and sometimes farming it's the way to go

Dunno why people want /THF at 60, SA(TA) does nothing for Skewer which is a 3-hit WS and you'll always start the SC so no tricking hate onto someone else. Between 30-50 /THF is good since no Double Attack from /WAR and SA apparently works wonders with Double Thrust.
Don't fall into the trap most people do and think hitting that one large-ish number makes you better. SA(TA) Wheeling Thrust gets upward to about 600, compared to SAMs and DRKs getting just over 1000 with SA(TA) it's nothing to really boast about and your DoT is quite a bit lower then what it would be with /WAR. Also with a good NIN tank you may not be able to pull hate with SA + Wheeling Thrust, where Provoke + Wheeling Thrust works pretty much all the time. Therefore I believe the only reason to sub THF is when your SC partner can't SATA (e.g. MNK/WAR).

</rant>

[angelstar107]

Don't fall into the trap most people do and think hitting that one large-ish number makes you better. SA(TA) Wheeling Thrust gets upward to about 600, compared to SAMs and DRKs getting just over 1000 with SA(TA) it's nothing to really boast about and your DoT is quite a bit lower then what it would be with /WAR.

</rant>

Pardon me for openning my mouth and potentially starting something I don't want to deal with, but for the record, Thf as a subjob is about Hate Management. on a Drg, yeah, you don't want it for Skewer, but for Wheeling Thrust, yeah, you do want it. Wheeling Thrust has reletively poor accuracy, and Sneak Attack guarentees 100% Acc. Plus! Wheeling Thrust, for me, deals about 300 damage normally. That's ok for a Light SC Closer, but when you use SA, that amount jumps to nearly 500, with makes the SC stronger.

Trick Attack is about putting hate on the tank. If you got a Ninja or a Pld who needs a little extra UMPH in hate, use SATA. That's all there is to it. Drg/War, while it may be the normal damage style, it doesn't provide the overall versility that /thf can, if used properly. >.>

[Sugami]

Pardon me for openning my mouth and potentially starting something I don't want to deal with, but for the record, Thf as a subjob is about Hate Management. on a Drg, yeah, you don't want it for Skewer, but for Wheeling Thrust, yeah, you do want it. Wheeling Thrust has reletively poor accuracy, and Sneak Attack guarentees 100% Acc. Plus! Wheeling Thrust, for me, deals about 300 damage normally. That's ok for a Light SC Closer, but when you use SA, that amount jumps to nearly 500, with makes the SC stronger.

Trick Attack is about putting hate on the tank. If you got a Ninja or a Pld who needs a little extra UMPH in hate, use SATA. That's all there is to it. Drg/War, while it may be the normal damage style, it doesn't provide the overall versility that /thf can, if used properly. >.>

Riiight well okay who will you be SCing with; DRK, THF and MNK (SAM when you get Impulse Drive). Who does the most damage from WS? Everyone but you. What effects the damage of the SC? The last WS. So you want the weaker WS first (i.e. you) and the stronger second (i.e. not you).

Yes Wheeling Thrust tends to miss a couple of times but in a pretty long party I'd only usually miss it 3 times tops (I know RNG have bigger issues hitting theirs ).

So with you opening the SC you can't SATA the tank, which by your own confession, makes subbing THF pointless. Athankyouverymuch damn I should be a lawyer

THF always has SATA (and Assassin) obviously, DRK and SAM always sub THF and MNKs are kinda 50/50 whether they have THF to sub or not and I think they mostly prefer to sub WAR. Therefore the only place a THF sub is useful is with a MNK SC partner.

When I played I could push Wheeling Thrust up to 300-500 without SATA on a regular basis. Sometimes it'd go over 500 and if I'm lucky over 600.

[angelstar107]

If you say so. Everyone knows that TA is useless aside from hate transfer when using Thf as a Subjob anyway XD Using TA when you have Thf as a sub only allows for Hate Transfer. It doesn't yeild any additional damage.

And yes, I agree. Drg are underrated, underpowered, and often unwanted members of the DD community. On that note, we're a realitively useless job all together, but we still level it, don't we?

[Eviticus]

And yes, I agree. Drg are underrated, underpowered, and often unwanted members of the DD community. On that note, we're a realitively useless job all together, but we still level it, don't we?

{What?}

I've not had my flag up and gotten a pt invite. I've out damaged a Monk in the 5-1 fight. On non bone/bird mobs, where we should be relatively equal, I've out WS'ed a Monk in a lvl 50 pt, where he had millions in gear, and I didn't.

I think, except for some not terribly stellar WS stat mods at end game, we're not under powered. Those who do not want us, it is there loss. I've been thanked by tanks for Super Jumping away a 600 point ws and it's 300 point Gravitation SC damage so they could keep hate. The monk later on in the pt did a similar move and couldn't shed hate, even though he had the Crow pants for that. -5 Emnity. He tanked the rest of the fight.

We're not a useless job. We're not perfect, and we're not the best in any feild. But in my opinion, we're the Rdm's of Melee. Slap a /Mage on me and I'm a damn good escort for a mission. Need hate off a party memeber? Voke. Need it back on? Jump. Need an opening or closing for that Light/Dark SC at end game? Get a Drg. (Ok, Rng can do it too. But there's not always a Rng around.)

I use a good mix of sushi, acc gear, str gear, and atk gear. Only dex stuff I have is Deft ring, which I have a Puissance macroed in for Ws's, putting the Dex back on when done. I may only be 52, not in my 60's like you, but I'm having alot of fun with this job. I've waited 7 hours straight for a party, and I've gotten a party 5 minutes after logging in. I don't see this as being unwanted, I see it as chance.

[Losfuin]

I'd say parties don't care about mage subs, I've never been asked to sub mage and it is rather pointless for party play. For soloing, skilling and sometimes farming it's the way to go

At low lvls, when I've been unable to find more than one healer (especially if that healer isn't a WHM, but something like a RDM or SMN), I've seen parties be saved by a DRG going /whm. If your party contains maybe two or three people able to voke, then I like my DRGs to have a mage job available as a sub.

The phrase that DRGs are the melee RDMs sums up how I think of the job when I invite them. I invite DRGs to fill in any holes in my party, be that in DD, or in a /mage capacity. Difference is, RDMs get refresh XD

[angelstar107]

I've not had my flag up and gotten a pt invite. I've out damaged a Monk in the 5-1 fight. On non bone/bird mobs, where we should be relatively equal, I've out WS'ed a Monk in a lvl 50 pt, where he had millions in gear, and I didn't.

To be honest, that's not saying a whole lot. I've outdamaged Samurais and Monks and a lot of other DD jobs, but that doesn't change how people will continue to view Drg. Most parties will not accept a Drg into it, and even fewer feel that we have any actual purpose in a party. Unlike a Rdm which actually has a practical use (Debuff and Refresh), Drg doesn't have anything.

My comment wasn't without a purpose. I like being a Drg. I can't level any other job because Drg is MY job. It's the only thing I'm good at. But that doesn't change the fact that we are viewed as an, overall, useless job that is easily replaced with something better. All we got is the ability to open and close a Lvl 3 Light SC at 65.

[Eviticus]

If that's the case for you, Angelstar, then my condolences. The only time I've ever heard anyone say {Dragoon} {No thanks.} {Too weak} or anything similar was once when I asked to join a Promy. I've never been dissed before by party members or by party leaders when I asked {Dragoon} {Do you need it?} Maybe your server is just full of more assholes then mine? Or maybe I'm lucky.

Edit: Which for some reason reminds me of the boards on Allakhazam. The largest volume of people complaining about the Drg job is on the Drg forums. Self depreciating is the term, I think...

[Sugami]

If you say so. Everyone knows that TA is useless aside from hate transfer when using Thf as a Subjob anyway XD Using TA when you have Thf as a sub only allows for Hate Transfer. It doesn't yeild any additional damage.

And yes, I agree. Drg are underrated, underpowered, and often unwanted members of the DD community. On that note, we're a realitively useless job all together, but we still level it, don't we?

Yes we all know that subbed TA does not add to damage only transfer hate, hence making it all the more useless for DRG since no other DD has as good hate control as we do (by control I mean "shedding").

I disagree with some of what you said. Yes we are underrated by quite a few but we're not underpowered and we're wanted quite often due to being able to open decent skillchains throughout the whole game (10-75). There is no other melee class that brings the level of diversity to the fight as much as we do.

I generally believe that people have gotten past the penta-spam gimp and see DRG for the awesomeness they bring to the party even though people still joke about DRGs occasionally. Generally THFs will always love us and DRKs 66+ love us too.

At low lvls, when I've been unable to find more than one healer (especially if that healer isn't a WHM, but something like a RDM or SMN), I've seen parties be saved by a DRG going /whm. If your party contains maybe two or three people able to voke, then I like my DRGs to have a mage job available as a sub.

The thing about low-level parties is quite often people have gimped subs etc. etc. so a DRG/mage can help out a fair bit but since you're without the AF helm healing breaths at 33% (and under) mean you're pretty much dead already and you can't rely on healing breaths to keep someone alive. It takes ages for a healing breath to trigger, an IT can knock out 33% of your HP quite quickly and a good healer really should keep everyone above 50% anyway

[angelstar107]

I'm gonna conceed the argument, for the sake of leaving this topic alone.

[Losfuin]

Yes we all know that subbed TA does not add to damage only transfer hate, hence making it all the more useless for DRG since no other DD has as good hate control as we do (by control I mean "shedding").

IMO, the purposr of TA isn't to shift hate away from yourself - it's to put it on someone else. As I understand it, Jump moves make hate vanish, whereas TA moves hate onto someone else. And most of the time, it's best for your main tank to have every bit of hate they can.

[Sugami]

Yes we all know that subbed TA does not add to damage only transfer hate, hence making it all the more useless for DRG since no other DD has as good hate control as we do (by control I mean "shedding").

IMO, the purposr of TA isn't to shift hate away from yourself - it's to put it on someone else. As I understand it, Jump moves make hate vanish, whereas TA moves hate onto someone else. And most of the time, it's best for your main tank to have every bit of hate they can.

Yes but as I've stated earlier the DRG is more often then not starting the SC which means he/she can't use TA on the tank hence nullifying the usefullness of THF sub

[Kintrra]

Just to be an ass I could put in the comment that a good tank shouldn't need TA'd anyway. It's not that hard to pull hate back even after a DRG/WAR > DRK/WAR SC. Takes me like one Cure IV maybe, lol. ^^

I do have to agree though that for the most part, DRGs are better off using WAR in pt setups. Unless it's a really odd party or you're stuck with a MNK or WAR/NIN opening the chain and having a NIN tank, the chances of you needing to close the SC on the tank are slim to nil.

Just my view from the PLD side of things. ^^;

[Chaoskitten21]

i only use war as a sub for melee jobs.nothing else.its hte only job i got that can be used as a sub,well war and drk but drk sucks as subjob

[Eviticus]

That's fairly irresponsible. >.> I thought 60+ Thf became a good sub for Drk?

[Shirai]

That's fairly irresponsible. >.> I thought 60+ Thf became a good sub for Drk?

People ask a lot of melee to sub thf 60+
Especially partying with ninja they need someone to set hate. (SATA)
Plus that a lot of people go in awe about the dmg a melee/thf can do in a weapon skill with SA added. (TA only adds damage with thf main but still sets hate on the person in front of you when subbed. Hopefully the tank.)
It just saddens me people tend to forget a lot about the imprtance of DoT as well.

As DRK/WAR I hope you get to party with paladins a lot or party with a thief or /thf all the time because ninjas will not be able to keep hate from you no matter how good they are.
Because later on you will be closing SC's a lot.

[Sylphine]

i only use war as a sub for melee jobs.nothing else.its hte only job i got that can be used as a sub,well war and drk but drk sucks as subjob

The only reason I see /DRK is becuase of "Stun"...