Twin Adder Dragoon

By the title, I'm from Twin Adder and thinking about gearing up Dragoon next. I'd like to know first of all:
Which body piece do I use? Tabard, Overcoat, or Darksteel Haubergon (however you spell it).
If I use option #3, what do I meld into the armor?
What about my other armor pieces?

At the moment I use Mogfork, trying desperatly to get Ifrit's Harpoon and no interest in GC spear


Also as a side thing, I'd like to ask if the increased Jump damage from the Gae Bolg makes jump actually worth it to use during actual combat rather then pulling mobs (or gaining an easy little bit of TP)?

I would say Darksteel Haubergeon with atleast one pie materia melded to it, this is ofcourse when you do not have sanction on yourself, overwise I would be very inclined to use the overcoat for its 120 critical attack power.


On another note:
Jump is always worthwhile to use.
You can stack it with Quelling strike and get ~820 TP with it (varies on your weapon delay). It can also be used to avoid any kind of Physical attack used against you when timed correctly.

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Originally Posted by Leoheart

I would say Darksteel Haubergeon with atleast one pie materia melded to it, this is ofcourse when you do not have sanction on yourself, overwise I would be very inclined to use the overcoat for its 120 critical attack power.


On another note:
Jump is always worthwhile to use.
You can stack it with Quelling strike and get ~820 TP with it (varies on your weapon delay). It can also be used to avoid any kind of Physical attack used against you when timed correctly.

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What about an HQ Darksteel Haubergeon? According to Mooglebox it adds +7 Piety with HQ. As for my other equipment, I'm currently using STR melded Felt Bracers that I also use on Monk, and the rest is AF (Gonna get the Paragon Crown eventually to replace the helm since I have no hope of getting Imperial Operative Tricorne)

The Grid Overcoat is one of the best melee bodies in game at the moment. It's competitive with DL if you keep sanction up. I use it on drg and mnk myself, and I know some people use it on bard when they aren't on ballad duty.

NQ Darksteel haub isn't worth the cost in my opinion, especially when you have the grid overcoat as an option. I probably wouldn't replace my overcoat with less than an HQ pie > crit atk double meld, but that's getting into prohibitively expensive territory for most players (myself included). If you aren't going with the overcoat or HQ darksteel haub, double melded cobalt haub is the next best option.

Regarding Jump, use it as often as you can. It's more damage and more tp. You can also start your next WS while still in the animation as well, so you aren't really losing anything. It will also let you evade some attacks as Leoheart said.

As for your head slot, I'd recommend considering the Grid Officer's Cap, especially if you go with the overcoat since you'll be maintaining sanction anyway. Both overcoat and cap also count toward the set bonus if you're planning to use the lieutenant's spear as well. Paragon's Crown is a popular choice, but I've never been a fan personally (and have been too lazy to finish leveling warrior lol). The crown is also free, so there's that too.

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Originally Posted by Perin

The Grid Overcoat is one of the best melee bodies in game at the moment. It's competitive with DL if you keep sanction up. I use it on drg and mnk myself, and I know some people use it on bard when they aren't on ballad duty.

NQ Darksteel haub isn't worth the cost in my opinion, especially when you have the grid overcoat as an option. I probably wouldn't replace my overcoat with less than an HQ pie > crit atk double meld, but that's getting into prohibitively expensive territory for most players (myself included). If you aren't going with the overcoat or HQ darksteel haub, double melded cobalt haub is the next best option.

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All this is going to change (well, could change) in the near future and that is always an important consideration. However, from what little review I have done it appears that your primary and secondary stats are far and away the most important thing to gear for, prior to your stat cap (determined by weapon DPS). So, from that understanding, the Grid body would only be better if you were still able to reach stat caps associated with your weapon. If not, then the Darksteel Hauby or whatever else (cobalt, rainmaker, turtoiseshell) with appropriate secondary stats melded (i.e., piety) should be better.

Correct me if I am wrong.

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

All this is going to change (well, could change) in the near future and that is always an important consideration. However, from what little review I have done it appears that your primary and secondary stats are far and away the most important thing to gear for, prior to your stat cap (determined by weapon DPS). So, from that understanding, the Grid body would only be better if you were still able to reach stat caps associated with your weapon. If not, then the Darksteel Hauby or whatever else (cobalt, rainmaker, turtoiseshell) with appropriate secondary stats melded (i.e., piety) should be better.

Correct me if I am wrong.

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Generally speaking that's correct. But don't forget you're getting 10str and 10pie on the overcoat, and the 120 crit atk is roughly a III > IV > IV savage might meld (that's a lot lol). Added to that, the better atk/acc food gives 7 more piety. Piety caps around 310-315, so hitting that cap is a lot less of an issue, especially if you pick up 15 more piety with the grid officer's cap.

It obviously is going to boil down to what the rest of your gear looks like when it comes to deciding on what to upgrade to. But for me, I could cap piety without rings (and needed gc set bonus), so missing out on a piety melded body was a non-issue. And for twin adder dragoons looking to complete the lieutenant spear's set bonus, there aren't a ton of options (I had to use the +int/m.atk earring on drg until I got garuda's beak even with overcoat and cap).

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Originally Posted by Perin

Generally speaking that's correct. But don't forget you're getting 10str and 10pie on the overcoat, and the 120 crit atk is roughly a III > IV > IV savage might meld (that's a lot lol). Added to that, the better atk/acc food gives 7 more piety. Piety caps around 310-315, so hitting that cap is a lot less of an issue, especially if you pick up 15 more piety with the grid officer's cap.

It obviously is going to boil down to what the rest of your gear looks like when it comes to deciding on what to upgrade to. But for me, I could cap piety without rings (and needed gc set bonus), so missing out on a piety melded body was a non-issue. And for twin adder dragoons looking to complete the lieutenant spear's set bonus, there aren't a ton of options (I had to use the +int/m.atk earring on drg until I got garuda's beak even with overcoat and cap).

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Pre food, what is your STR and PIE?

what's skirmish fork compared to gc lance? @ least skirmish weps can be melded. ^^

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

Pre food, what is your STR and PIE?

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337 Str and 309 Piety

I usually eat smoked raptor/tuna miq'abobs since my str is well below cap.

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Originally Posted by BobbinT

what's skirmish fork compared to gc lance? @ least skirmish weps can be melded. ^^

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As far as caps, it's around ifrit I think (330 or so strength cap). I haven't really tested it, but I believe the consensus came to needing a double tier IV atk meld on skirmish lance to catch up with ifrit's (or use skirimish to cap stats and go double/triple atk bracers). Maybe someone who's actually done the work to parse both can chime in.

Thanks for all the replys. I guess I'll take a second look at that (godawful looking) Officer's cap at the moment.

Ok so I have the hat. As of right now my gear is:
Mogfork
Grid officer's overcoat
Serpent sergeant belt (because nothing else)
Felt Bracers (Single meld STR +11, trying to double meld this)
Grid Officer's cap
AF pants
AF boots
Serpent Sergeant's Earrings (filler)
Serpent Sergeant's Bracelets (filler)
Serpent Sergeant's Choker
Rubellite Ring +1 x2

I come out with 326 STR, 279 PIE 529 Attack power
Any suggestions on what I should do to earn more PIE?

You won't need the bracelets at all (lt. weapon counts toward its own set bonus). Definitely replace that with rubellite, even if it's just NQ.

Serpent belt isn't necessary either, so whatever you can get with relevant stats would be better. Veteran's Field Belt for str/acc, Scarlet Sash for piety, Explorer's Belt for crit, raptorskin melded with -enmity, etc.

When I used the lieutenant spear, the earring was my filler for set bonus. No better options for that sadly, but at least it's only compromising 5 atk.

As far as piety, you can go with double melded int/pie pants (which could also be useful for blm and maybe mnk) or double str/vit (also good for war, mnk, maybe pld). If you go with double str pants, you can probably swap out at least one str ring for piety. AF pants are better than any single meld though.

You'll be at roughly the str cap for mogfork (330str/290pie roughly) if you swap in a rubellite bracelet. To further augment piety you can eat Jerked Beef for attak power or Stuffed Cabbage for accuracy. You'll get 7 more piety in addition to the atk/acc, which will put you pretty close to piety cap as well.

When you upgrade to either serpent lieutenant or garuda's spear, the caps will go up to about 350/310, so double melded pants and bracers will help a lot there.

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Originally Posted by Perin

You won't need the bracelets at all (lt. weapon counts toward its own set bonus). Definitely replace that with rubellite, even if it's just NQ.

Serpent belt isn't necessary either, so whatever you can get with relevant stats would be better. Veteran's Field Belt for str/acc, Scarlet Sash for piety, Explorer's Belt for crit, raptorskin melded with -enmity, etc.

When I used the lieutenant spear, the earring was my filler for set bonus. No better options for that sadly, but at least it's only compromising 5 atk.

As far as piety, you can go with double melded int/pie pants (which could also be useful for blm and maybe mnk) or double str/vit (also good for war, mnk, maybe pld). If you go with double str pants, you can probably swap out at least one str ring for piety. AF pants are better than any single meld though.

You'll be at roughly the str cap for mogfork (330str/290pie roughly) if you swap in a rubellite bracelet. To further augment piety you can eat Jerked Beef for attak power or Stuffed Cabbage for accuracy. You'll get 7 more piety in addition to the atk/acc, which will put you pretty close to piety cap as well.

When you upgrade to either serpent lieutenant or garuda's spear, the caps will go up to about 350/310, so double melded pants and bracers will help a lot there.

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I was considering Felt Gaskins (which have natural Piety on them) and double melding with INT/PIE (The sad thing is I'd have to replace my melded Colliseum Loincloth at that point. Not a huge loss I guess)

I do really want the Ifrit lance more then my lieutenant lance (Will attempt for Garuda's sometime later) but it seems I'm running low on options for that. I guess I'll also pick up a Scarlet Sash in the mean time also.

Also I heard that the Officer pieces count toward set bonus, is this true?

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Originally Posted by NintenPyjak64

I was considering Felt Gaskins (which have natural Piety on them) and double melding with INT/PIE (The sad thing is I'd have to replace my melded Colliseum Loincloth at that point. Not a huge loss I guess)

I do really want the Ifrit lance more then my lieutenant lance (Will attempt for Garuda's sometime later) but it seems I'm running low on options for that. I guess I'll also pick up a Scarlet Sash in the mean time also.

Also I heard that the Officer pieces count toward set bonus, is this true?

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Ifrit's lance, if you can get it, is definitely better than mogfork unless you really need the extra acc even after eating food (you probably don't in a full party situation), but the higher dps on the lieutenant spear (not to mention acc and almost as much atk) trumps ifrit's harpoon. In general it's relic > garuda > lieutenant > ifrit > mog, with skirmish fitting in there at various points depending on how many and which melds you put on it.

As far as set bonus completion, any green item you buy with seals from your gc will count toward the set including the weapon itself. This includes officer gear as well as things like the lvl40 m.acc shield (great for blm).

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Originally Posted by Perin

Ifrit's lance, if you can get it, is definitely better than mogfork unless you really need the extra acc even after eating food (you probably don't in a full party situation), but the higher dps on the lieutenant spear (not to mention acc and almost as much atk) trumps ifrit's harpoon. In general it's relic > garuda > lieutenant > ifrit > mog, with skirmish fitting in there at various points depending on how many and which melds you put on it.

As far as set bonus completion, any green item you buy with seals from your gc will count toward the set including the weapon itself. This includes officer gear as well as things like the lvl40 m.acc shield (great for blm).

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That shield is amazing isn't it, lol. I pair it up with my Lightning Brand +1, though I'm still lacking m acc

I just don't like the GC lances for some reason (mainly spite of the Storm trident I guess). I'd prefer a Primal lance over a GC one, but that's personal preference