How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[Hakmatic]

Fire off 3 gks before hand. Disembowel right as the change happens. Ct then phle, refresh ht at 6 seconds left, continue normally using botd before fullthurst, fire 1 gk during next b4b, elusive back on double hands ct on primary hand, set up ct on second hand, fire 1 gk, equal happens, dps which ever, fire off 1 more gk pop 3rd botd, fire another when it's up, pop 3rd b4b, fire 1 more gk, dps some more, fire off another gk phase ends. I don't use phle after equal.

[ReliaWylder]

Hey Jack,

It's a better PPS increase to drop HT for the end of Phase 1 and do a TTT instead if I'm doing the math right. Additionally, the double CT opener is only about 750 damage stronger at A4S levels of gear, which means you should be seeing maybe 10 more dps on average by the time he goes invuln for the first time.

For Sluice, you can hit the Disembowel on the flank to bait it away, then right after disembowel move to the rear and you should be able to get there in time.

Actually, I had only suggested doing this for the very first opener of the fight because the idea was that even though you're clipping CT by a massive amount all the buffs you have (Battle Litany, Internal Release, Blood for Blood, STR POT) would make extending the duration of a super-buffed CT a PPS increase over TTT anyway despite the huge clipping. It may not be a potency increase to use it after that; I have to double check the math on that as I have never tested that scenario.

[Estelle9lives]

Since we're talking A3S, what do you guys do during Add phase? I feel like I take too long to move from add to add depending on the spawn RNG.
The biggest problem for our team is wave 3 as we always seem to get overwhelmed by the small adds. We've seen wave 4 a few times but there were always at least one small add reaching the edge. I don't know if I should just go from target to target (like placing CT>Ph in one and moving on, leaving it for our ranged to finish it off) or just try to burst them asap with multiple FT combos.

[JackFross]

Hey Jack

That's what I was doing, I end with 4th > TTT > [ HT on invuln ] to re-up it as he transitions, then HT when the phase starts back up again to re-up it for a full combo following. And the issue is that right after that Disembowel (that used to be a Vorpal Thrust), I hit Jump. I can't re-position and then Jump between Dis>CT without clipping my GCD.


In add phase, I've been basically leading it off with a CT combo on the first Piston, Leg Sweep it when it gets there and BotD to start my blood cycles. I hold my GSK all through that phase, just re-upping blood until I need a GSK to finish a burn on a tiny add; it has range, 200 potency, costs 0 TP, and lets you snipe one from a good distance if it's about to hit the water all without interrupting the flow of your combos.

Aside from that, I tend to FT combo the gears, CT combo the pistons, weaving Jump/PS Jump on cooldown and using DFD to close gaps in dire circumstances, especially when multiple adds are grouped up for it. I generally try to bite off more than I can chew, since last night our dps through wipes in add phase was generally 1100/1000/900/900 me/mnk/smn/mch. That said, my group hasn't cleared add phase yet, so any strats I have aren't necessarily ideal.

[Hakmatic]

I never use CT or Phle in add phase.

[whiskeybravo]

That's what I've been doing too, might follow Hak's lead tonight and try without. Our issue has been getting all the small adds down before the last wave of pistons spawn. We've only got it once and subsequently died to cascade. So that was fun xD

Typically the monk and I handle Pistons while MCH and SMN handle small ones. Then we run around and help with gears in between piston waves. Not sure if this is ideal or not, any suggestions for changing that up or keep it as is?

[Bloodborn8]

In add phase, I pretty much just spam TTT4, refreshing HT as necessary. Don't use Spineshatter to DPS, use it in case a mob is far away from you as a transportation skill.

[SunnyHirose]

I mostly don't use cooldowns if they won't be back up for the last phase. AFAICT only pre-tornado DPS, the last four adds, and final phase DPS will end the fight sooner.

I do use a lot of Chaos Thrust combos but this is a relic from progression and the ranged are probably more than capable of finishing things off cleanly now.

[Sleigh]

I mostly don't use cooldowns if they won't be back up for the last phase. AFAICT only pre-tornado DPS, the last four adds, and final phase DPS will end the fight sooner.

I do use a lot of Chaos Thrust combos but this is a relic from progression and the ranged are probably more than capable of finishing things off cleanly now.

Last 4 adds of tornado phase don't do anything for clear time. Source: sitting there every week for an annoying amount of time waiting for Pepsiman to come back to the dismay of all of our DPS/combos/stacks. Pepsiman comes back when he wants to come back.

It's true what you say, don't use CDs that won't otherwise be back in time for Pepsiman in that phase (this applies to the party for the most part) unless you're looking to jack up your numbers. If you're failing it's because the Heavies/stuns aren't flowing properly or people die/are slacking.

[SunnyHirose]

In that case, we're just bad \o/

Even if the last four adds did anything you wouldn't want to use significant CDs because of all the downtime while the guy prepares to go targetable (silly bosses, that's how players beat them!).