DRG Fun Times

Do you have a favourite combo on DRG, or noticed something doing exceptionally high damage for fun times?

Try this:

1. Blood for Blood (20s: 30% Damage increase)
2. Heavy Thrust to enemy flank (20s: 10% Damage increase)
3. Life Surge (10s: Ensure critical hit for next non-magic attack +HP absorb)
4. Power Surge (10s: 50% Damage increase to single Jump/Spineshatter dive)
5. Jump (200 Atk Potency)

I messed about with this and also tried an alternative (Full Thrust combo with Internal Release) but found this to deal the most damage.
Note: I didn't do any formal testing. Just eyeballing it for fun.

I didn't get chance to add in one extra thing I will do the next time I try it:
Impulse Drive > Disembowel (-10% piercing resistance on enemy)
It's something I'll try adding to the mix while beating up on training dummies when I next get in the game!

Got anything to add? Found something else awesome? Post!

This is better

1. Blood for Blood
2. Internal Release
3. Heavy Thrust
4. Jump
5. Power Surge
6. Life Surge
7. Spineshatter drive

If you crit anywhere here, you'll deal massive damage.

Or if you have a Dragonfire Dive, switch 6. & 7., then add Dragonfire Dive at the end.

This should potentially work as all of the jumps are instant casts on their own CD. If you're "fast" enough, you could do this all within the Internal Release/Heavy Thrust timer (15s). Only time will tell how effective this is tbh, or if it is even possible.

Nice combo run.

However, can I ask why do you do Jump before Spineshatter?
Wouldn't it make more sense to use Jump in place of Spineshatter, after Power/Life surge.
Jump = 200potency
Spineshatter = 170potency.

Wouldn't you get more bang for your buck out of the Jump in the long run (assuming you fit the timings correctly to try and get it off on the end of B4Bs duration)

Quick question in regards to DRG (I can't create a thread yet so I figured this would be the best spot to post this), lets assume for a second that DRG isnt #1 or even #2 in dps, does it offer any utility or anything that would make it desirable in a group setting other than just dps?

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Originally Posted by Gilthaen

Quick question in regards to DRG (I can't create a thread yet so I figured this would be the best spot to post this), lets assume for a second that DRG isnt #1 or even #2 in dps, does it offer any utility or anything that would make it desirable in a group setting other than just dps?

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Hey there, hoping this helps. Drg has the added ability to slow mobs, and stun.
Stun is a GREAT ability for a simple DD to come into possession of, and after you
get the trait up for the slow, the duration is great. Some of the attacks are AoE
also so that is good for trash mobs. One last thing I can think of is the elusive
jump. Shedding hate allows you to go all out at certain periods and then shed
aggro so that WHM doesnt have too look at you and facepalm at how much damage
you're taking.

Hope that helps :D

Editing in one more thing. Piercing Talon is a ranged attack, incase there is ever
a mob that you can't get close to.

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Originally Posted by Narctiss

Nice combo run.

However, can I ask why do you do Jump before Spineshatter?
Wouldn't it make more sense to use Jump in place of Spineshatter, after Power/Life surge.
Jump = 200potency
Spineshatter = 170potency.

Wouldn't you get more bang for your buck out of the Jump in the long run (assuming you fit the timings correctly to try and get it off on the end of B4Bs duration)

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Spineshatter stun. Its so you can go back to the beginning of the rotation again easily whilst the mob is... stunned. Also makes sure that you're not getting knockbacked before you use your Dragonfire Dive (as mob is stunned).

But yeah, if you want optimal DPS, then Jump would be best after Power/Life Surge, like in your example :P

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Originally Posted by Volsung

Hey there, hoping this helps. Drg has the added ability to slow mobs, and stun.
Stun is a GREAT ability for a simple DD to come into possession of, and after you
get the trait up for the slow, the duration is great. Some of the attacks are AoE
also so that is good for trash mobs. One last thing I can think of is the elusive
jump. Shedding hate allows you to go all out at certain periods and then shed
aggro so that WHM doesnt have too look at you and facepalm at how much damage
you're taking.

Hope that helps :D

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Thanks for the response, I appreciate it. I was under the impression that DRG isn't the only class that has stuns, if that's the case then we really wouldn't be unique and thus not needed if other dps classes out dps us. And what about the slow? Do other classes have slow or is that something exclusive to DRG? Also, does the slow only affect the mob's movement speed or also its casting time on certain abilities or perhaps other things as well?

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Originally Posted by Dervy

Spineshatter stun. Its so you can go back to the beginning of the rotation again easily whilst the mob is... stunned. Also makes sure that you're not getting knockbacked before you use your Dragonfire Dive (as mob is stunned).

But yeah, if you want optimal DPS, then Jump would be best after Power/Life Surge, like in your example :P

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Cool, I figured as much. :P
I go for max dps. I'm thinking this with the assumption that the Tank has all the hate and while a stun is nice, it's okay to not prioritize it and instead work on putting out high numbers. :D

In solo play, I can see your angle, however! Thanks for clearing that up.

well for an optimal DPS i think this and tell me if something is wrong:
1-Impulse>Disembowel>Chaos thrust (for the -10% resistance and DoT from Chaos)
2-Heavy Thrust flank > True thrust > Blood for Blood > Internal Release > Vorpal thrust > Life Surge > Full Thrust > Power Surge > Jump > Spineshutter > Dragonfire Dive

and of course throwing Mercy Stroke when the mob is dying since its an ability :P

Quick question, is it confirmed Lancer 20+Pug 15= Dragoon?

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Originally Posted by Kalam

Quick question, is it confirmed Lancer 20+Pug 15= Dragoon?

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I've struggled with this information as well. Various "updated" sources contradict one another on this topic. Consensus seems to be at launch our abilities will be drawn from PUG and MAR but there seems to be no definitive answer on which one we need to level 15. More sources seem to claim PUG is the answer, but any sort of confirmation would be lovely.

As an example:
http://ffxivrealm.com/wiki/dragoon/ (this page claims PUG is the lvl 15 req for Dragoon)
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Dragoon (this page claims MAR is the lvl 15 req for Dragoon)

Are our ARC cross abilities getting taken away with launch? I noticed during phase 4 I still had access to most of their moves.

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Originally Posted by Doublestep

Are our ARC cross abilities getting taken away with launch? I noticed during phase 4 I still had access to most of their moves.

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As the DRG class (I'm assuming you're not DRG yet, just LCN like myself) we have access to only 2 other classes abilities (both determined by the game devs). As a LCN you will still have access to the same ARC abilities. If you look at them though, they have LCN in their list but not DRG.

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Originally Posted by Layenem

As the DRG class (I'm assuming you're not DRG yet, just LCN like myself) we have access to only 2 other classes abilities (both determined by the game devs). As a LCN you will still have access to the same ARC abilities. If you look at them though, they have LCN in their list but not DRG.

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In phase 3 supposedly dragoon abilities derived from ARC and PUG, so I believe that's what Doublestep is referring to. Though, you may be right regarding their remark on phase 4.

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Originally Posted by Kalvarien

In phase 3 supposedly dragoon abilities derived from ARC and PUG, so I believe that's what Doublestep is referring to. Though, you may be right regarding their remark on phase 4.

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During P4 I was able to use my Conjurer and Pugilist abilities with my Lancer. Because of my level I could only use 6 slots worth or something. I know I had protect, raise, cure, second wind, featherfoot, and some other pug ability which lets you attack if they missed you (or they parried your attack?)

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Originally Posted by Rias_Hellscythe

During P4 I was able to use my Conjurer and Pugilist abilities with my Lancer. Because of my level I could only use 6 slots worth or something. I know I had protect, raise, cure, second wind, featherfoot, and some other pug ability which lets you attack if they missed you (or they parried your attack?)

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This will always be true. Cross-classing is unrestricted until you advance into your job. While you're a lancer, you can cross class off any other class. When you become a Dragoon you will only have 5 cross-class slots (at level 50) and those abilities can only be taken from MAR and PUG.

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Originally Posted by Kalvarien

In phase 3 supposedly dragoon abilities derived from ARC and PUG, so I believe that's what Doublestep is referring to. Though, you may be right regarding their remark on phase 4.

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This explains some mixed up information I found online lol... I only did P2 and P4

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Originally Posted by Kalvarien

This will always be true. Cross-classing is unrestricted until you advance into your job. While you're a lancer, you can cross class off any other class. When you become a Dragoon you will only have 5 cross-class slots (at level 50) and those abilities can only be taken from MAR and PUG.

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Really? That disappoints me. I never knew that though since I didn't unlock DRG.

It's a shame that they took PUG away and gave us MAR. Internal Release is so much better than the attacks that we get from MAR. We'll be spending too much time spamming our other attacks to bother with most of what MAR has to offer

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Originally Posted by Zenmaku

It's a shame that they took PUG away and gave us MAR. Internal Release is so much better than the attacks that we get from MAR. We'll be spending too much time spamming our other attacks to bother with most of what MAR has to offer

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They took Archer away, not Pugilist. We now draw from Marauder and Pugilist as a Dragoon.

I believe it was changed

Anyone else try using every buff available for Jump? Not sure where this ranks but I was getting 550-600~ damage on Lv48~ mobs.

This is the info I'm seeing now, not sure how legit it is.

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Dragoon

I still have no idea what's going on. I leveled Pug during the Open Beta assuming that was it, until I saw this haha. It's all from this thread:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=657017

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Originally Posted by Raubahn

well for an optimal DPS i think this and tell me if something is wrong:
1-Impulse>Disembowel>Chaos thrust (for the -10% resistance and DoT from Chaos)
2-Heavy Thrust flank > True thrust > Blood for Blood > Internal Release > Vorpal thrust > Life Surge > Full Thrust > Power Surge > Jump > Spineshutter > Dragonfire Dive

and of course throwing Mercy Stroke when the mob is dying since its an ability :P

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Why not something like:

Heavy Thrust (flank) > Impulse Drive (behind) > Disembowel > Chaos Thrust > Power Surge, Jump > True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Life Surge, Full Thrust?

Then you could perhaps follow (the piercing debuff and DoT is still active from the Chaos Thrust combo, so I don't think there's any need to use the combo again) with:

Heavy Thrust (refresh the buff) > Blood for Blood, Dragonfire Dive > True Thrust > Vorpal Thrust > Full Thrust. Rather than blowing all your damaging jumps in a chain, why not space them out a bit and sync them with damage buffs? Just to avoid the "shit I have no cooldowns now" moments. I would throw Raging Strikes and another chain in there, but I heard RS was taken from us. :/

It's not a good idea to wait for a full rotation before popping your cooldowns, unless they're being saved a specific phase of a specific encounter. Lining up all your cooldowns at the start of the fight will be far better than keeping them on hand.

In my honest opinion, there can be no set rotation for any class as the encounters in this game call for adaptation. There are, however, things you should be doing in each fight, granted it lasts long enough.

Ideally you'll open with Fracture and Phlebotomize followed by your Chaos Thrust combo to apply all your DoTs. Then you can start opening up the Can 'o Whoop-Ass while weaving in Feint, Jumps, stuns, and buffs to your hardest hitting attacks until you need to reapply your DoTs.

This is really all you need to know as a Dragoon in order to maximize your party effectiveness. It isn't exactly rocket science. Trying to stick to a set rotation in this game will always hurt more than help.

This is what I plan on doing, though I haven't tested it yet, and obviously throwing in whatever when the situation calls for it.

1. Power Surge - Spineshatter is only 170, so PS is better used here.
2. Jump
3. Feint
4. Phlebotomize
5. Heavy Thrust
6. Combo 2 (Chaos Thrust Combo) - I prefer this combo first because Disembowel's piercing reduction and Chaos Thrust's DoT. By the time these run out you'll be at this combo again.
7. HT
8. Combo 3 (Full Thrust Combo)
Repeat steps 5-7, feel free to throw in a PS->Jump.

Life Surge before a Full Thrust, use Blood for Blood right before your Impulse Drive combo if you feel safe; it should last through Full Thrust. Otherwise, save it for right before your Full Thrust combo.

The average damage output of the Full Thrust combo is 216.67 Potency before apply buffs/debuffs, so I figure it best to use LS/B4B here. I use Spine/Leg Sweep for stuns on boss as a save.

Does the piercing debuff apply to all Dragoons in the party? Because knowing this it might make it better to just have 1 Dragoon in the party keep up that buff and your other Dragoons just do the Full Thrust combo the entire time.

The damage over time from Chaos Thrust is utter crap. I've been debating even using it in my rotations just to get to the Full Thrust combo faster. I would think that it is definitely not worth using either unless you get the full 30s out of it, meaning you have to manage it very well. Never got around to testing it but does blood for blood etc work on the DoT, and does it have to be applied before putting on the DoT or will it increase the DoT whenever they come up? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

The only CD that should be blown on jump specifically is the jump buff, everything else should be used on Full Thrust, that is our most powerful ability making its damage potential even higher. I was criting for 800 using my CDs on 46-48 mobs.

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Originally Posted by Eliseus

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Is it? 20 POT every tick for 30s is 200POT total, making Chaos Thrust a 160 POT attack with a 30s DoT that will do damage equivalent to a Jump.

Not sure about the Piercing resist, but I would assume not; Virus on ACN doesn't stack so I doubt this will. But again, I still think the Chaos Thrust combo is worth it even if your Piercing debuff just refreshes the timer by 2s.

Not sure about B4B on DoT, but I don't think so, the description makes it seem like per hit, not for duration effects. Though, Raging Strikes worked on BLM since it says damage dealt, not physical damage dealt. Once all the new content is out of the way I can test it ;). I will say confidently that if you Chaos Thrusted and then B4B, it won't effect the DoT.

1 reason i prefer Lancer to PUG / Marauder and other dps classes, is i found that our Stun is much quicker than other classes, we have higher survive-ability
than other dps classes, i leveled a Lancer to 20 and a Pug to 20 in phase 4, and found pug was much faster and had more options ability wise available
but i still prefer Lancer, not needing to mess around with stances or moving as much, once your get Full Thrust it really comes together also.

Cant wait to try out Dragoon, the jumps look to add alot of interesting aspects to the class. Also i think Lancer has more HP and Defence than other DPS
classes, during phase 3 our little group did not have a tank, so i tanked as lancer, all dungeons up to 35, we not much difficulty, i know we're a DPS class but
being able to take some hits, helps.

How you guys think the full rotation will be in long encounters? taking in mind Marauder and Puguilist skills

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Originally Posted by HellKrasher

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Really, without actually writing it out skill for skill, your rotation involves keeping up Heavy Thrust and the entire Chaost Thrust combos up and spamming the Full Thrust combo during this time. Use Blood For Blood and Life Surge on Full Thrust (combod obviously) and just Jump only when Power Surge is up.

Now when it comes to other abilities, atm the only one worth it to maximize dmg is from pug and it is Internal Release. I would recommend using this when spamming your Full Thrust combos to maximize your dmg. Other abilities though are pretty much garbage, I picked up things like second wind to help me out when soloing or just being dumb and standing in fire and mantra etc. Other then Internal Release though, there isn't anything else you can choose atm to help you with your dps.

Make sure to use invigorate whenever you hit 500tp, not just sit on it until you need tp, it will become a waste doing it that way and will also put invig on CD sooner to get more potential out of it since it only restores 500tp

If it helps at all I put a macro with B4B and Life Surge to be used first before Full Thrust, though B4B and Life Surge have a 20s CD difference, you will lose DPS in the long run if you wait 20s to pop B4B instead of just using it whenever it is up. It actually goes /ac "Life Surge" /ac "Blood For Blood" though to get max potential time out of B4B

nice to know i have enough info now to set up what i need with my future dragoon.

Isnt there a statement now that no JOB may borrow abilities from another class that isnt its home class. Lnc can borrow abilities from another class but drg cannot. Leading to the suspition that a sub is no longer required at all, which sorta makes me happy. I dont wanna have to level a sub and not have access to any of the abilities.

Not sure where you read that but it's completely incorrect. Jobs may borrow skills from the sub class and a supporting class (up to 5) while retaining all skills from it's main class and gaining 5 job specific skills.

Anyone know what the best stats to allocate points to are yet? I remember in 1.0 it was pretty much mostly Piety with some Strength (could be remembering wrong though).

Yeah, it did use to be PIE for some strange reason. It's all STR now, however. They've made all the stats make sense since then.

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Originally Posted by treuhavik

Not sure where you read that but it's completely incorrect. Jobs may borrow skills from the sub class and a supporting class (up to 5) while retaining all skills from it's main class and gaining 5 job specific skills.

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5 job specific skills... acn please explain. Way more than five. I got my info from eorzeapedia.com

Each Job has these skills:

All skills from it's own CLASS e.g. DRG takes ALL skills from LNC
5 JOB specific skills, learned through Job Quests e.g. Jump, Spineshatter Dive
5 SLOTS to be used for taking available skills from it's secondary CLASS and support CLASS, e.g. Skills that allow the class LNC to use it on MRD, can be used on DRG as MRD is a sub-class of the DRG job. However, we cannot use ALL abilities from MRD and PUG, just 5 of our own selection.

I hope that helps clear it up a little?

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Originally Posted by HellKrasher

How you guys think the full rotation will be in long encounters? taking in mind Marauder and Puguilist skills

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I could theorycraft this all day, but until I get in game and start doing some real testing, I don't want to make so many guesses.
I played DRG heavily in 1.0, so my mind is still set in that 'Put all your buffs onto a particular ability' mode, and where everything had it's own individual cooldown and I learned how to line the timing of everything up.
My original post here was just pointing out how to maximize the damage of a single Jump, because it's a lot of fun to do that. I wouldn't take it as something that must be used as a rotation or to challenge with 'better rotations'. It's just fun high-damage. :D

I like the ideas for some rotations thrown around here though. I'll try some in game, but again I won't be settled on something until I've had a chance to actually try it in L50 content.

I don't know which one is needed. Already get level cap at P4 for Lancer, Archer, Pugilist, and Marauder. lol