How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[whiskeybravo]

Hell yea, grats Jack! Yea it's been like 2-3 months since I went into A3 so memory is a little fuzzy. My attempt at an example of why the rotation may have been altered a bit lol

[JackFross]

Hell yea, grats Jack! Yea it's been like 2-3 months since I went into A3 so memory is a little fuzzy. My attempt at an example of why the rotation may have been altered a bit lol

Yeah, I finally got my A3 kill with the new static I joined on Monday. I ranked second on my server (off by 10 dps with me forgetting food and not using pots RIP) and in the 86th percentile overall. Felt good for a first kill! I should finally actually be on the leaderboards with a 1-jump A1 and a not-driver A2 this week, as well~ I'm super excited.

And @Zeviand - exactly why I say it's personal preference. The difference is 1 gcd in the long run - it will almost literally never impact how things go. Especially in a fight like A3 - If you're keen on clearing, you hold SSD through add phase, generally, which causes its CD spin to be totally reset when final phase starts. From there, I tend to hold it a bit for magnets when it comes off-cd (not always, but when it comes back just before magnets, I'll hold it the extra 10s or so, just in case). I usually hold DFD for the very first set of magnets, use SSD once when it's back (I use it on the final add set of adds phase) and then hold it for the next magnets, if I'm remembering timings right. My final phase is still a bit sloppy with gsk and other cds, since I pay more attention to mechanics than my botd timer at current.


Oh, another way to look at it:

Jump is 260 or 390 potency - 338 average
DFD is 240 potency
SSD is 221 potency

Generally, you wanna get your highest potency attacks on CD faster so you get more of them in the long run. If, at the very end of the fight, you'll either get +1 DFD OR +1 SSD, getting that DFD is higher net potency gain. Situations where that happens are slim to none, as would be the case of the middle SSD pop, when DFD is halfway done refilling. Happens so rare that one gcd is gonna make or break whether or not you get the extra shot in.

Which is why I say personal preference. :P

[Mendalas]

just got drg to 60 and this right here is so helpful!

H -> [BL+BFB] -> ID -> [IR+BOTD] -> DI -> [DRAC-POT] -> CT -> [PS+ LEGS] -> 4TH -> [JUMP] -> P -> [SSD] -> TT -> [DFD] -> VP -> [LIFES + GK] -> FT -> 4TH -> Repeat

My rotation was very similar but it wouldn't always be as solid as this as far as GK goes. So thanks op!

[CookieMonsta]

Depends on fight, SSD has the least animation lock so whether it is used before or after DFD is dependent on when you expect to reposition for mechanics. I'm of the same opinion as Jack, been using DFD before SSD.

[JackFross]

SSD does have less animation lock, yeah!

I have yet to find a fight where it's prudent to not use DFD first, though. In A3S, my old group placed me at 1:30 and stacked rear to bait the initial Protean Wave burst - every pull, I would hit Phleb>DFD just as the pwave markers appear and still have enough time to dodge that and get to 1:30 (using TT and SSD on the way) to never kill my SMN at 3:00. If that's not a narrow enough window to require shorter animation lock, I dunno what would be.

My group was also seeing through third leg on A4S, and I found no reason to alter it there, either. Everything seems to work out the same either way, so meh? You could potentially get Quarantined at your fourth 4th hit, which isn't enough time for SSD or DFD to be back, anyway, so I dunno? All I really noticed was you def wanna save your second gsk until after 4 (I think you lose one no matter what if you're quarantined?) which doesn't really have anything to do with jump order.

[Talec]

one general question: How's our DPS compared to other DPS-classes? I raid togtether with a Ninja and a Summoner. And I don't get their DPS - I'm more close to the bards dps then theirs and I don't know what I can do to improve! I have almost max equip (ilvl207) and know the rotation ( the one in the opening post is still actual?) yet I don't see the good DPS-numbers.

[Drakolos]

one general question: How's our DPS compared to other DPS-classes? I raid togtether with a Ninja and a Summoner. And I don't get their DPS - I'm more close to the bards dps then theirs and I don't know what I can do to improve! I have almost max equip (ilvl207) and know the rotation ( the one in the opening post is still actual?) yet I don't see the good DPS-numbers.

You should be infront of the NIN and SMN in single target. For encounters with many targets the SMN will be better of course. Generaly only the Monk should deal more DPS than the Dragoon.
It's also good to fit your rotation to the fight. Sometimes it's just better to do an additional TTT combo instead of DoTs when the boss jumps etc.

[MrCookTM]

Maybe a stupid question, but I want to learn this the correct way right from the start. It's about the bolded part from this section of the OP:

So delaying your Geirskogul usage and not using it during Combo 3 in the first cycle of your BotD will give you approximately 3 additional seconds to use your 4th ability, granting ample time for it not to drop off whilst handling mechanics.

Does that mean that after the first cycle, I go back to the 21s rule? Or do I just keep delaying It, skipping Gsk in the 3rd combo in order to keep the leeway on the timer for every BotD duration?

[whiskeybravo]

21 sec is really tight, any delays and there's a good chance to lose BotD. You really want about 23 sec unless BotD is about to come back off CD. As it relates to the opener specifically, if you do not use a potion and use BotD before CT [ Dis > (BotD) > CT], then you have enough time to use GK in the 3rd combo (combos 2, 3, and 5). It's just if you use a potion and shift BotD to before Disembowel [ ID > (BotD) > Dis > (pot) > CT] you won't have enough time to use it on the 3rd combo (combos 2, 4 and 5). BotD comes back after the 5th one, then you'd hold GK until B4B comes back up, so you can hit 2 GK under B4B. That's pretty much it.

[MrCookTM]

Thanks.