Question: What is Dragoon best at ?

[whiskeybravo]

I must confess...I am do not consider myself as a top DPS with my SMN only on ilvl83 and me levelling my BRD to 50 recently (yesterday) with an ilvl62.

In order to increase my damage for BRD I need to level my LNC...and I am nervous about this.

I have come across a lot of DRG in PUG across all types of runs and dungeons (nm and hm) that seem to be exceptionally squishy.
Hydra - dragoon died 3 times, I stopped raising him after the 2nd time, wasting a SC and Raise.
Cutters Cry - dragoon died twice in about 5 minutes at the Chimera boss.
Titan HM - dragoon died about 3 or 4 times to the point where the healers refused to raise her and she was getting flack from the rest of the party.

So...how can I be less squishy without sacrificing STR?

Dodge AoEs... Melee range is actually pretty spacious. If you learn to stay at max melee distance you will have more than enough time to dodge any and every AoE the game throws at you.