Tips for a new 50?

[Hyrist]

Just recently hit 50 Dragoon and I'm looking for some goals to shoot for, and some ways I can creep up my performance. I figure instead of clouding my head trying to wrap my mind around raw stats and math my way through, I'd differ to those who have already done so and see what builds they have and are working their way towards.

Some things to be aware of, my Guild is great and friendly, but have yet to beat a Primal Fight - so some purchase-able alternatives while we get our stuff together will be most welcome. I realize Primal Weapons are likely the best things out there right now so I might have to look for an alternative source for them. However in the meanwhile I'd like to be able to build myself as best I can outside of Raid gear.

I looked over some of the stat demands made on threads here and am wondering how some of it is achieved.

Additionally I've questions for those who use macros. Wondering what sort of action bar/macro combos they might have. Note that I play on a Game Pad. (Xbox360 controller just feels more natural to me for this game, I'm not sure why.) So advice from those who use controllers as well.

I went looking for a general guide but much of what I've found is incomplete or vastly outdated.

I'm already set to work on gathering and crafting, but I want my Dragoon/Lancer to be my primary focus and work to improve it as best I can within my own limits. As my time available to raid is limited, it may mean me focus on the things I can do myself first, so I can be at my best working on group activities.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

stack more str and accuracy rofl.

[Daemion]

Get your other jobs to 50 :/

[carraway]

For starter gear, the AF isn't bad for the applicable slots. You'll want Electrum Rings ASAP and preferably an Explorer's Choker as well, depending on how costly that particular item is on your server. You will likely also need both ACC and ATK food; Tuna Mi'qabobs or Stuffed Cabbage, and Aldgoat Steaks or Smoked Raptor (depending on what you're fighting and how much gil you're willing to spend).

To which GC do you belong? If you're Ul'dahn, right now the Flame Sergeant's Sash is an unbeatable source of ACC.

For weapons, start with a Hart Guisarme. Move up to a GC weapon or Primal weapon when you can -- although, if you can get a friend to make you a Hart Guisarme +1, that should last you until you can get a Primal weapon. Recent discoveries seem to indicate that weapon DPS is the most important factor for melee physical DD jobs, so keep that in mind.

Your subs (ARC and PGL) are pretty important. I personally use Second Wind and Blindside from PGL, and Chameleon, Quelling Strike, and Hawk's Eye from ARC, but my focus is entirely on endgame content.

I personally do not use a controller. I use keyboard and mouse, relying entirely on my action bars. I only use macros for things like Mega-potions of Strength and changing jobs/gear. I change action bars with shift+Q and shift+E, target next engaged enemy with T, and target previous engaged enemy with shift+T. My weaponskills reside on numbers 1-6 on my first and second action bars, with buffs and other offensive cooldowns on 7-0, and utility actions on my third bar.

If you want to participate in Aurum Vale and Cutter's Cry with pick-up groups, you are probably going to have to finish your other jobs and learn how to play them well. Those two dungeons are the source of some extremely substantial gear upgrades for DRG.

[Silvano]

Only thing I'll disagree with is the electrum rings; not necessary, imo. Especially if you don't have a primal; the +7 on the Hart Guisarme put me over 95% for most all content (usually 97~98).

I don't use macros, also on a gamepad. Put your most important skills on the ends of you bar; i.e., I have my Doomspike combo as 1,2,3 on bar 1 and my CT combo as 0,9,8 (with the 2step combos on the second bar right below their starting skill). I can put the whole setup on xivpads if you would like.

Gear: just stick with AF until you get some double-melds or Darklight; you'll still be a perfectly capable DD.

The most important thing about 50DRG, especially for Primals, is to get your rhythm down. That will make or break you, especially on Ifrit (where animation lock is the name of the game). Just do stuff, you'll grow over time ^^.

Lastly, don't let people discourage you because of your abilities (or lack thereof). Yeah, level pgl and arc to get those skill ASAP, especially Second Wind, but you are still capable without them (coming from a LNC w/o Sentinel for Ifrit back in the day). Melee DD is good to have for AV, not so much Cutter's Cry unless you have it on lock. So go out, young Dragoon, and conquer Eorzea, one beastman at a time!

/cheesyending

[Hyrist]

For starter gear, the AF isn't bad for the applicable slots. You'll want Electrum Rings ASAP and preferably an Explorer's Choker as well, depending on how costly that particular item is on your server. You will likely also need both ACC and ATK food; Tuna Mi'qabobs or Stuffed Cabbage, and Aldgoat Steaks or Smoked Raptor (depending on what you're fighting and how much gil you're willing to spend).

4/5 on AF, using an Explorer's Tabbard in the meantime to cover Body needs.

I'm already in possession of Electrum Rings (Gift by a long running friend and in-guild crafter.) I'll look into working my way up for the Explorer's Choker but as you say, it's not cheap.

Food should not be too much of an issue in the long term. I'll stick to affordable purchases for it for now, but Culinary is one of the crafting jobs I am going to take up for myself and my Guild, as well as Alchemy. Consumables are a good market to get into in the long term anyways.

To which GC do you belong? If you're Ul'dahn, right now the Flame Sergeant's Sash is an unbeatable source of ACC.

For weapons, start with a Hart Guisarme. Move up to a GC weapon or Primal weapon when you can -- although, if you can get a friend to make you a Hart Guisarme +1, that should last you until you can get a Primal weapon. Recent discoveries seem to indicate that weapon DPS is the most important factor for melee physical DD jobs, so keep that in mind.

If that's the case even a HQ Heart Guisarme(Currently have the NQ as a hold me over, what should I throw into it as a meld - knowing that this is a temporary weapon?) would fall short of even the GC weapons until double melded. (Or even Tripple Melded.)

I'm of the Order of Twin Adder by the way, which rules out the belt. I'll have to stick to Veteran's Field belt unless Explorer's proves to be better.

For GC Weapons my choices are between Gridanian Harpoon and Serpent Sergeant's spear. The latter of which superior in dps, but is reliant on Sanction (And given my Guild's penchant for multiple deaths, I might just err on the side of caution and go with the Harpoon.)

Your subs (ARC and PGL) are pretty important. I personally use Second Wind and Blindside from PGL, and Chameleon, Quelling Strike, and Hawk's Eye from ARC, but my focus is entirely on endgame content.

We're similar. Second Wind and Blindside from Pugilist, Hawky's Eye from Archer. The other two will be slotted in as Archer levels go up.

I personally do not use a controller. I use keyboard and mouse, relying entirely on my action bars. I only use macros for things like Mega-potions of Strength and changing jobs/gear. I change action bars with shift+Q and shift+E, target next engaged enemy with T, and target previous engaged enemy with shift+T. My weaponskills reside on numbers 1-6 on my first and second action bars, with buffs and other offensive cooldowns on 7-0, and utility actions on my third bar.

I'll play around, but placing items on the macro bars sounds good. That can actually be quite helpful in the long run with reaction times and actually remembering to use items on hand. Alchemy is still a ways off though.

If you want to participate in Aurum Vale and Cutter's Cry with pick-up groups, you are probably going to have to finish your other jobs and learn how to play them well. Those two dungeons are the source of some extremely substantial gear upgrades for DRG.

My game time is limited, but stable, so I'll probably be better off with a static in the long run. (Gathering and organization is a lot quicker when everyone is present and on the same page at a set time.) This puts the pressure off me to level other jobs, though Archer/Bard is likely going to be the next class/job leveled. As I said before, as time is limited I'd prefer to narrow my focus into improving a small number of DoW/Ms as possible for now so they can be learned and geared properly.

[Elexia]

Stuffed Cabbage+1 (or Salt Cod Balls), Accuracy (you can cap off Piety very easily/quickly), and when you can reliably hit end-game bosses and connect combos, then start getting attack/str set going. But the general idea of DRG is being able to actually landing your combos then trying to boost the power of it. Explorer's tabbard is definitely a good choice to have since the only benefit your AF body has is a slightly boosted TP regain on invigorate (which is good, but a melded cobalt hauby or explorer's tabard is still honestly the best choice.)

If you can't get a the Garuda Spear or Ifrit's, yeah your GC choice is probably a good choice, otherwise you'd want to get your hands on Garuda's.

(Currently have the NQ as a hold me over, what should I throw into it as a meld - knowing that this is a temporary weapon?)

I personally melded 2 heaven's eye IV and a heaven's fist IV materia on my +1 Guisarmes which is probably one of the best non U/U lances you can make. This is purely based around whatever your full setup is since you can have multiple weapons for different situations.

[Hyrist]

Accuracy wise, thus far I've had little problem even with attack food, granted, this is on Moggles so it's probably not a good reference.

I'm not at high enough woodworking to be attempting multi-melds so I'll start off with one Heaven's Eye IV.

I will admit that I'm a newb keeping my buff rotations going, which I need to work on. Most of all I'm having difficulty prioritizing which buffs for which attacks, given that I've 3 level 3 finishers to rotate from that, at my current build, all seem to be hitting for similar damage.

[carraway]

A Hart Guisarme +1 is, in my opinion, good enough to warrant not dumping seals on GC weapons. Meld accuracy or strength to it.

Accessory-wise, yes, it is a good idea to have a full set of Tourmaline, Rubelite, and Electrum Rings in order to be able to gear accordingly. On fights in which my linkshell has used DRG recently, i.e. Myrmidon Princess and Garuda, we've needed to gear for around 460 or more base accuracy to not miss Impulse Drive. On most other fights, you won't need as much.

[Dufer]

While we're on it, what should a DRG's rotation be on ifrit? I tried doing Vorpal Thrust impulse drive one, felt like I was doing fine but my friend had a parser going and I was pulling horrible DPS. I have seen some DRG's only doing Doom Spike in vids, but when I tried that the parser would mess up and couldnt tell if I improved DPS or not. lol

So question is: Whats our proper rotation?