How to Dragoon Per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[Dervy]

Advanced Opener, Cooldown Alignment and tips for more Experienced Raiding Dragoons

You may of noticed a few things odd about the two posts above if you've been playing Dragoon at level 60 for a while now and gotten used to how the job plays out.

1) You can fit a maximum of 3 Geirskoguls a minute
2) Your PPS is not affected by the placement of Geirskoguls, meaning you can place it anywhere and delay Geirskogul usage, as long as you hit 3 per min
3) Geirskogul has such a short animation lock, allowing you to double-weave it with every single oCD, with the exclusion of your Potion.
4) The opener is 1 GCD from your potion being able to hit a Wheeling Thrust for additional Damage
5) Blood for Blood and Geirskoguls cooldowns are pretty closely tied together
6) There are moments after a Geirskogul usage, there's only 1 second to spare between BotD dropping and applying your 4th combo

Advanced Opener

The issue with the basic Dragoon Opener is that

a) Your Potion, depending on your skillspeed, won't buff up your Wheeling Thrust
b) Your GK placement, being used right after the first combo, makes it rather risky for next "4th" to keep BotD up, with only 1 second to spare
c) Internal release is buffing an ability which is already affecting Life Surge

And so, here's an even better opener:

H -> [BL+BFB] -> ID -> [IR+BOTD] -> DI -> [DRAC-POT] -> CT -> [PS+ LEGS] -> 4TH -> [JUMP] -> P -> [SSD] -> TT -> [DFD] -> VP -> [LIFES + GK] -> FT -> 4TH -> Repeat

A few changes.

Firstly, IR + BOTD and your Potion Placement has been switched around. This will allow, with enough Skillspeed, for you to buff your Wheeling Thrust by your Potion and Internal Release to buff your Disembowel, for a very big Potency Increase.

Geirskogul has been moved to the end of the rotation and weaved with Life Surge. Yes, Life Surge will still buff your Full Thrust, but moving Geirskogul away allows you to fit Spineshatter Dive into main bulk of the rotation and makes it generally safer.

The burst capabilities of this Opener is a lot stronger than the basic opener. That is for certain.

Geirskogul Safety Net

Using Geirskogul each time your BotD timer when using a 4th combo reaches 21s, gives you very little wiggle room when handling mechanics. That 21s rule was a very simple way to explain the Geirskogul + BotD relationship with your Global Cooldowns. I now want you to forget everything you know about Geirskogul, as we're now going to delve into more complex ways to use Geirskogul for additional safety and how to time it perfectly with Blood for Blood.

The only difference? In your first Blood of the Dragon cycle, do not use Geirskogul after Combo 3. Each "Combo" is one of your 4-stage combos. So Combo 1 = your first IDC4. Combo 2 your first TTT4. Combo 3 = your second IDC4. Combo 4 = your second TTT4.


HT - ID - [BOTD] - DI - CT - 4TH - PH - TT - VP - FT - [GK] - 4TH

--- DO NOT USE GEIRSKOGUL HERE
HT - ||| ID - DI - CT - 4TH - PH ||| - TT - VP - FT - 4TH - [GK]

HT - ID - DI - CT - 4TH - [GK] - PH - TT - VP - [BOTD] - FT - 4TH

So let's do the maths.

15 - (2.4*2) = 10.2s
10.2s + 15 = 25.2s on BotD after the first combo.
25.2 - (4*2.4) - 10 = 5.6s wiggle room, approximately, to land your 4th.
5.6 - 2.4 + 15 = 18.2s + 1-1.5s after your opener. The reason why we have +1, is we're not casting BotD right at the beginning of the GCD when we use Impulse Drive. As we double weave this skill, add an additional 1s to make up for the actual cast duration.

So after the first line, we have 18.2s on BotD. Let's continue to the second line.

18.2 - (4*2.4) = 8.6s - 2.4 = 6.2 + 15 = 21.2 + 1-1.5s = 22.2 - 22.7s

Now here's the deal. You could technically use a Geirskogul after the 4th combo, but doing so will leave you with 12.2s - 12.7s to get to your next combo. 5*2.4 = 12, so depending on when you exactly casted BotD, you'll have between 0.2 and 0.7s left to land your 4th combo. This, is very, very risky in deed and is the reason why many people are failing to use Geirskogul properly. So, let's skip this combo, AKA combo 3, and move onto our next combo.

21.2 - (4*2.4) = 11.6 + 1-1.5 = 12.6 - 13.2s - 10 = 2.6 - 3.2s to land your next 4th combo.

So delaying your Geirskogul usage and not using it during Combo 3 in the first cycle of your BotD will give you approximately 3 additional seconds to use your 4th ability, granting ample time for it not to drop off whilst handling mechanics.

This is why the 21s rule is very lackluster compared to this method of skipping your 3rd combo after BotD usage.

Geirskogul and Blood for Blood relationship

However, let's get stuck into Geirskogul and how it works with Blood for Blood.


Credits to Outfoxed for this image.

HT - ID - [BOTD] - DI - CT - 4TH - PH - TT - VP - FT - [GK] - 4TH

--- DO NOT USE GEIRSKOGUL HERE
HT - ||| ID - DI - CT - 4TH - PH ||| - TT - VP - FT - 4TH - [GK]


HT - ID - DI - CT - 4TH - [GK] - PH - TT - VP - [BOTD] - FT - 4TH

------- DO NOT USE GEIRSKOGUL HERE
HT - ||| ID - DI - CT - [BFB] - 4TH - PH ||| - [GK] - TT - VP - FT - 4TH
Explanations and mathematics are under construction