How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[JackFross]

I'll chime in that the PLD there can be +100 over what he is, as well. As the MT, you get 9 GCDs before Concussion. With a NIN in the party, you should be getting Shadewalker, which means the pull should be:
Sheltron>FoF>FB>Swipe+CoS>RB>Spirits>GB>FB>SB>RA>FB>RB>GB>Concussion.

Your first GB should (regrettably) hit exactly as the boss' hitbox changes size. If you're even 1s slow on this, you'll fail to get the second GB.

That'll put you up over 550, assuming you don't have dps jump the gun. You need to face-pull to get that Shield Swipe proc before he gets big.
Even if you miss the GB (as I did here, since I stupidly threw a Shield Lob) - you should still be up over 600 with that opener. Which is a significant jump up from the 430 the PLD pulls in that opener. Just also be sure to not be me! Rampart+Awareness on the pull makes those initial punches hit like pillows.

That said, I will make the comment I always make in these situations - any DPS with a 230 weapon should be pulling 1300+ on that opener. If you're not, you need to re-evaluate what you're doing and improve it. BRD and MCH should be the highest there, by the way, not least because they can start their dots off before he gets big and then re-up them fully buffed at the end of the opener.

Those two have the biggest burst in the game, so in any situation where a 30s parse sees any other Job with a lead of 200-400 over the BRD/MCH, that ranged dps needs to look over what it's doing, imho.

There are Bards out there who can still push nearly 2000 DPS on the A5S opener while the boss is big, so yeah.

To compare bards:
Aiurily does (1987 dps)
RS+B4B+HE+Barrage pre-pull
[EA]>BL>WB>[IR]>VB>SS>[Pot]>Feint>[FA+SW]>HS>IJ>[BL>EA>BL]>HS>SS>[RA+BA]>HS>HS>HS

Mana does (1354 dps)
RS+HE+B4B+IE pre-pull
[EA]>SS>[BL]>VB>[BA]>WB>HS>[SW>Bar>EA]>HS>[BL]>IJ>HS>SS

This is both in the first 28s of the fight.
Aiurily is getting 12 GCDs in the same time Mana is getting 8, is the bottom line.

[whythehate]

Curious on what my dps should be like on dummy as i220, currently using full crafted gear seph ex weapon and midas nm pants.

Str: 1145 crit: 1001 det: 552 ss: 662
I average 1650 dps no food, pot, party buff.

Using drg as my alt job for all content outside of savage

[MiniTyra]

That's ever so slightly just below target. That could be attributed to damage/crit rng. For your stats, no buffs, 1671.7 is your target.

[Rayn]

In regards to materia melds is 9 skill speed better than 6 determination taking into account I am already sitting at 666 skill speed. If I were to pull out those det IV's for sks IV's I would have another 63 sks to contend with.

[whythehate]

That's ever so slightly just below target. That could be attributed to damage/crit rng. For your stats, no buffs, 1671.7 is your target.

Thanks I'll keep working at it a vast improvement from when I first started this job last month, it's a real shame I can't get any lore pieces for drg

[RachaelMarie22]

Had time to look through videos, so here's one pull (that obviously went very poorly - MT said he'd pull boss to A, but didn't). Just to help us see how we can skip that prey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8xXWPGiFgI and parse from it http://www.fflogs.com/reports/wT1mMQ...pe=damage-done

Are you finding lock-on on controller difficult? If it's a button press issue I recommend switching the postion from its default l3 to r3, then you can click it on and off much easier while playing

[raela]

So it's a lot of on and off, huh..

Well, I did give lock on a try, but it went terribly awfully stupidly bad, to the point of wanting to go die in a corner from shame. Just having the change of view caused me to add large pauses inbetween GCDs, and I couldn't get a feel of movement, so I was messing up positionals. Of course making mistakes just bothered me more, so yeah, gave up maybe too quickly. Didn't help that I screwed up some boss mechanics and had some IRL stress, so I was feeling pretty down about my performance.

I do already have R3 set to target target's target since my main has been SCH since the start, other than picking up DRG for raiding only a few months back. Maybe putting lock on to R3 would help, but I still run healer in dungeons. I'm sure the answer here is to practice on a dummy to get the feel of it.. but I'm having IRL wrist issues that playing DRG makes worse, so while I don't want to give up playing altogether, I'm trying to minimize the stress from DRG (casters are easier since I'm not constantly pressing/holding buttons).

I am really grateful for all of the advice, and I passed it along (and am trying to improve myself as well), but we still need to work on mechanics. Got further last week, but still haven't seen pigs. Maybe we'll clear this week..

[Raveaj87]

umm not sure how this works but i m a ilvl225 drg i m always looking to improve i feel like i have a intermediate understanding of the class what would be the ideal dps of a drg of that ilvl i parsed a couple times all within the mid 1700s my highest was 1770 after the 3mins is that ideal or should it be more my stats of the top of my head 691 acc 941 crit 555 det 625 ss i haven been luck with a5s drops in weeks and i feel i could be doing bttr in a5s aswell

i should add that was with food and pots

[JackFross]

So it's a lot of on and off, huh..

It takes practice. I personally just tab target in dungeons and the like when I play SCH.
L2 > R1 or L1
R2 > R1 or L1
^ These cycle through enemies - and only enemies. I use up/down on the d-pad (D>D gets to the tank) to target party members. I have L3 set to /facetarget and R3 set to lock-on, and I swear by both. /facetarget is nice when playing BLM or SCH and the boss moves around - it stops your casts from breaking. You could very easily replace /facetarget with the target-of-target thing, though.

I used to have L3 as lock-on, and I find it clunky and nearly impossible to use effectively as a melee dps. You're constantly moving. Moderating the pressure on your left stick to click when you need to is a lot more complicated than clicking the right stick (the one you use for camera motion anyway, which gets modified by lock-on) in my experience. Make each thumb have one job, rather than giving two to your left.

[raela]

I used to have L3 as lock-on, and I find it clunky and nearly impossible to use effectively as a melee dps. You're constantly moving. Moderating the pressure on your left stick to click when you need to is a lot more complicated than clicking the right stick (the one you use for camera motion anyway, which gets modified by lock-on) in my experience. Make each thumb have one job, rather than giving two to your left.

I can give the switch a try. The target of target is very useful for fate healing, 24 man healing, and pets.. Plus at times it just feels faster than up/down on the party list. I do regularly use both tab targeting and target filters for the dpad. Having target of target on L3 shouldn't be much of a difference, so I'll see how it goes tonight. I am used to constantly moving myself and my camera though (so the different camera movement threw me).