Frontline PvP: Tips for Dragoons

[Gryzz]

MRD, NIN, and DRG are the classes I'm most experienced with, so this will be catered to that type of play style. I'll direct all these tips for Dragoon, but hopefully something can be taken out of this for all classes. Other experienced players may do things differently, so take all this as preference. Everything here may not necessarily be the best way, just an idea of where to start.

If you're serious about winning and playing effectively, then you should definitely find others on your server and party up. I have an amazing group and an LS filled with skilled players I party with, so I would encourage everyone to do the same. Finding other players to improve with, and as you become more skilled, know you can rely on, makes the experience much better. I know it's frustrating starting out, there's a lot to get adjusted to compared to the PvE content, but don't let it discourage you. Check to see who else is playing from your server and see if they're interested in running matches sometime.

Equipment: Gearing up effectively
For Dragoon it's simple. Level 80+ gear with secondary stats in CRIT and DET. You can also pull off wearing i70 PvP gear w/morale bonus which bumps it up to i80. If you're unsure which gear is better just test it out in a match and see which gives more. If I had to choose between CRIT or DET, it would be CRIT.

Judgement: Knowing who to target
This is very important, and can be a factor in determining whether your team wins or loses. To keep it simple, going into a battle fresh (with all cd's up) your goal should be to kill a healer ASAP. Notice your enemy's party setup, and who on your team is targeting who. If the opposing party has 3 healers, and everyone in your party has been attacking the same one for the past 2 minutes with no sign of killing it, that ain't right. Keep pressure on all the healers then maybe eventually you can take them out. If you notice a BLM casting freely, then you might want to target it instead. Know what your party is capable of. Go for the kills. If you've been pressuring the same healer for a while, and you notice a Ninja at 30% health, it might be worth it to switch targets and take him out. For me it's: Healer > Ranged > Melee > Tank. However, an opponents health trumps all of that if I can get away with a kill. Dragoons have great gap closers so use them to your advantage.

Dragoon actions
Make full use of sprint! Pop Enliven, Invigorate or an Icarus Wing afterwards to replenish your TP. Keeping up with your target is a must if you want to get off a full rotation.
If you can afford to, use Feint on spellcasters! The 20s slow makes a huge difference on them. When I started out on DRG I didn't even know it affected their spellcasting, I thought it was just a small reduction to movement speed.
Be cautious of your stuns! It may be worth the extra damage, or may not be if the target becomes immune.
Weave Keen Flurry, Featherfoot, and Bloodbath in between your actions during fights. The recasts aren't that long and it will help during engagements.

Striking Dummies: Practicing your rotation
In between ques head to the Wolve's Den and strike those dummies. Come up with an effective rotation to use when you go into a fight, fresh. Keep in mind when in your rotation the stuns hit, and try do the most damage ASAP. Perfect your burst. Practice on the dummies while moving and switching targets. You gotta switch to a low HP target fast in order to get that kill, before the healer gets to them first.

Know when to push, hide, or retreat
Sometimes I get this wrong and make bad choices. I feel for my healers when I push too far into enemy territory. But a lot of times I make it out alright because I have great heals. Keep in mind if they are around or not. If they all die on the flag, your team might want to retreat rather than feeding the enemy points for the rest of the kills. If you capture a point solo and choose to stay around, you should probably hide behind a wall or something in case a party comes. That way you can call for backup, or wait until they leave to recapture.

EDIT: I'll go over some rotations in depth later and add more to this. If you want to check out a full frontline match as Dragoon here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIHib6tpGYQ

[Rin23]

Dragoons don't need tips anymore just hit, they are just so overpowered ^^'

[Silverharp]

Hmm, I've been seeing you charge into battle as a DRG as of late, any particular reason why? Change of pace from MRD, maybe?

[Blubbers]

This guy knows what he's talking about. He's got the best frontlines team my group has run into and I've personally seen Gryzz down one of our healers solo in mid once. Great guide man!

Also I like the cameo in the video

[Atreus]

Gryzz always going rogue.

[Cidolfas86]

Do you have any advice for dealing with Ninja's/Bards? Seems to be my biggest problem at the moment. I can't find a decent away to deal with Ninjutsu and if my Stuns are down I'm basically boned.

I'm having a similar problem with Bards. If I don't have Weapon Throw up I'm screwed half the time. Piercing Talon doesn't feel like enough to deal with them.

[PotatoTree]

Out of all our wins you pick one where we lose ;-;

[Gryzz]

Since they changed Damage Dealt/Physical Vulnerabilities in 2.4, I started running as NIN and DRG. All jobs got a 10% increase in damage (Marauder didn't), and they decreased physical/magical vulnerabilities. So compared to WAR, MRD does 10% less damage, and is 10% more vulnerable to both physical and magical attacks. With the CC available its still pretty good, but the way I played it, DRG and NIN does it better. MRD's changes to vulnerability is what it did it for me.

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I always look forward to running into you guys in there Blubbers, always a good fight.

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lol seems like it


In solo fights Fetter Ward and Bloodbath are invaluable. If you don't have all your CD's up/Cross Class skills you just have to make the best of it, but assuming you do this is how I would handle it.
Sprint > Invigorate/Icarus Wing/Enliven
..as you're running to the enemy pop some of your CD's
Fetter Ward > Bloodbath > Other CD's if you want (Featherfoot, Keen Flurry, B4B)
..Fetter ward will stop you from being heavied/stunned/etc.. so this is the one that gives us a huge advantage.
Then you can just do a full thrust combo and weave your off GCD actions in between.
If you get slowed you have Elusive Jump and Purify, and you can also use Weapon Throw on an escaping target to slow them down. Even if Weapon throw isn't up you have 2 jumps to close in. If those aren't up either, then its gonna be tough.

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it was almost a nice comeback though lol

[Atreus]

it was almost a nice comeback though lol

Doing A, B, and C's work, sound familiar?

[Gryzz]

Yeah, that one was especially tough. Had premades on all sides so there was a lot of slack to pick up.