How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[JackFross]

I'm of the opinion that either method works pretty well. It's all a matter of how comfortable your tanks are with the certain mechanics. Some tanks don't like the RNG inherent in hand > fist. I ran with a group yesterday who were just winging it - WAR Holmgangs, PLD Tempered Wills - PLD pulls his to the edge with TW and WAR stays mid until the mechanic is decided, then they adjust. Even after I suggested baiting hand, the PLD wanted to TW it and move accordingly, letting the WAR do RNG sliding and then he just pulls opposite. Worked well, cut out some of the RNG, saw it hand every time.

The problem with baiting hand is that the timing and positioning on the high five is REALLY REALLY tight. It'll take a few tries to get it down. If your group already smoothly clears that part doing fist > fist, keep doing fist > fist. Clearing is more important than maximum dps. No one should argue that. You really don't want to set your static back a phase because you're worried about ideal strategies when the one you're doing is already working just fine. My static tried that back in T9 - they wanted to swap to 2 tanks when we made it to final phase to ease up on healing. We subsequently regressed back to Golem phase for the three attempts before they admitted we who said it was dumb were right and just swapped back to 1 tank.


Also, man, Scholar is the most vital thing in A3S for me. The group I ran with had WHM/AST, my static is WHM/SCH. I felt the lack of Selene. Really really hard. The way I do first phase is:

HT>[B4B]>ID>[IR]>Dis>[BotD]>CT>[Leg+PS]>4th>{stack for Protean Wave if FaC}[Jump]>Phleb>[DfD]{move to PW position}>TT>[SSD]>VT>[Life+GSK]>FT>4th
HT>ID>Dis>[Leg]>CT>4th>[GSK]>Phleb>{Move to flank}TT>VT>[Jump]{dodge sluice puddle}>FT>4th>HT>ID>[GSK+Leg]>ID>ID> {phase}

That only works with Selene. When I ran without Selene, my second Jump came a fraction of a second too late so I had to hold it for a GCD to not get killed by sluice puddles if one spawned under me. That said, I'm likely going to start ending it with ID>[GSK+Leg]>Dis and leading hands with CT, since I do consistently get that third ID before phase when running with my static.

Basically, Selene is bae. I once said someone else was too slow because their second Jump wasn't coming back in time to use it just before puddles. Then I ran without Selene. Now I understand. I since apologized for being a jerk.


Also, absolutely nothing in the world feels better than canceling the second Wash Away with Jump. I hit it once yesterday just as the knockback started; I didn't even move from beside the boss. Usually I jump the gun. It skips the animation but applies the damage as I get washed away.