How to Train Your Dragoon: An up-to-date guide to understanding and mastering DRG

[Thendiel]

The following document is a current and comprehensive guide to playing DRG in PVE content:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DljX5YnLPp-42RfBcyMGqJ9XM0DkSpjwbhxkL2IClCQ/edit#

It has been linked to a few times in the Rotation Reborn thread, but I wanted to post it separately here to maximize visibility.

I greatly appreciate the help I have received from theorycrafters and readers within the DRG community, including but not limited to Dervy Yakimi and Sunny Hirose, in refining this work.

Those who are put off by the wordiness of the guide are encouraged to take advantage of the TL;DR section, the companion videos, and the visual companion.

I hope that you will find this useful; it was a pleasure to create. Also, constructive criticism is greatly welcomed. I will edit the document to account for any substantive mistakes or useful observations as they come to my attention.

[Singularity]

Thank you for writing this. I am just starting to learn this class and this guide has been very helpful.

I do have one question though: In the guide, you say that Phlebotomize should be used after the Impulse Drive combo during the opener because it gets buffed by Disembowel, but wouldn't it gain at least two extra ticks if done first?

[seekified]

Excellent read, very nice to brush up on some stuff and learn a couple new bits along the way. Must admit, I very rarely use Doomspike so I should probably change that.

I'm also surprised to once again see a different opener than I'm used to - I usually do HT-IR-ID-BFB-Dis-Sweep-CT-PS-Phle-Jump-TT-SD-VT-LS-FT-DFD-HT and then take it from there (assuming I don't need SD and DFD for gap closing). It works very well (and is firmly ingrained in muscle memory) but if the other opener would be a net boost in DPS, then obviously I'm interested. xD

[Spayd]

I do have one question though: In the guide, you say that Phlebotomize should be used after the Impulse Drive combo during the opener because it gets buffed by Disembowel, but wouldn't it gain at least two extra ticks if done first?

No because in reality, your goal is to buff all your DoTs before applying them. As a dragoon, you want to at least want Internal Release and Blood for Blood up for them in your opener. If you just do HT then Phlebo, it is not them optimal way to go. You want to suck as much damage as you can do. Sure you could pop BFB and IR between HT and Phlebo, but it would still be less potent than with Disembowel, plus you are delaying your CT to be running and buffed. So I think you gain more to do it after CT than after HT. Gives you more maneuver to buff yourself properly without any pressure, the base potency of phlebo is buffed, CT is running earlier too, and it feel so god damn smooth to do.

[Cormy]

This guide has been an invaluable read and one I constantly have open in a tab.

In some of the content I just started doing as a 50 dragoon I find myself competing with the other DPS and often winning. Blows me away when I inspect them to find they are probably average ilvl 120 in gear while i'm pushing only ilvl 80, of course some just demolish me but that isn't very common.

The rotation and openers is still something i'm mastering, but when I do a boss fight with a flawless rotation it's a great feeling and it's a substantial increase over when I mess up and stutter the combo's incorrectly.

[Syfer22]

I haven't finished, but it's been a good read so far, thanks for the knowledge!

What are your thoughts on macros? It seems like they'd really save our fingers.

[Spayd]

I haven't finished, but it's been a good read so far, thanks for the knowledge!

What are your thoughts on macros? It seems like they'd really save our fingers.

If you mean Macroing your rotation, than its sub-obtimal. In the long run, you end up being slower because of the way the game queue GCD when you manually input them. They dont when macroing, and with latency, you lose some millisecond that hurts with accumulation. You are just better doing everything by yourself and not rely on them. Also, more often than not, a fight doesnt go exactly 100% as planned, so you'll have to cut your rotation for adds and stuff, so relying on them will reapply stuff that doesnt need to, and result in a dps loss.

[Syfer22]

If you mean Macroing your rotation, than its sub-obtimal. In the long run, you end up being slower because of the way the game queue GCD when you manually input them. They dont when macroing, and with latency, you lose some millisecond that hurts with accumulation. You are just better doing everything by yourself and not rely on them. Also, more often than not, a fight doesnt go exactly 100% as planned, so you'll have to cut your rotation for adds and stuff, so relying on them will reapply stuff that doesnt need to, and result in a dps loss.

I kind of figured that was the case, which is unfortunate -- The macros save a lot of space on my keyboard, and my fingers a lot of work.

How do you organize your hotbars to make them easily accessible with the number row, given the sheer amount of abilities we have?

[sciondar]

Thanks for this! Was only able to read a little right now but it definitely gave me a lot to consider.

[ShaolinMike]

Has anyone / could anyone do a DPS comparison to this rotation versus the one in the "Rotation Reborn" thread? I'm new to DRG and have seen many variations on using jumps/ oGCDs. Just trying to see the optimal "training dummy" way to weave in the skills between the standard GCD rotation.