How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[JackFross]

I wouldn't necessarily call the anima "bad" outright. It definitely comes down to personal preference. The thing packs 102 skill speed - there's literally no way to drop that stat below ~640 without significant luck in Diadem (assuming you wish to maintain accuracy to use it in A4 Savage). In my minor tinkering (because I personally don't intend to get the relic before 3.25, since I wouldn't use it), the best set I could scrape together using it was only ~7 points of stat weight higher than my current set using the Thordan spear, including the +1 weapon damage.

It'll likely end up looking something like the DRK weapons. The i200 Deathbringer Awoken is approximately even with the i205 Thordan sword, due to an impressive stat spread on the former. In testing, my dps was nearly indistinguishable (did it through multiple Thordan clears using both swords in the same party). That is what I assume you'll encounter in practical tests comparing Rhongomiant to the Halberd of the Heavens. They'll end up parsing essentially equivalently in any practical setting, so it'll mostly come down to your own personal tastes regarding the Skill Speed threshold.


And to add on to the AoE response, something important to note is you need to adjust your AoE to the size of the group and the strength of your partner DPS in dungeon runs. Smaller pulls benefit quite a lot from using normal ST rotation (minus Phlebotomize) and 4 gsk per minute. It sustains far longer and ends up pumping out relatively equivalent dps. Even in larger pulls, this approach can be beneficial to utilize if your partner dps is NOT a summoner cresting 2.4k per pull. The Doom Spike spam works REALLY WELL if the pull lasts less time than it takes for your TP to bottom out (prime example: first pull after the second boss in Fractal Continuum, you can spike 2.5k-3k when the pull ends if you pop b4b and DS spam with HT to open).

In extended encounters, after your TP bottoms out, you'll be sorely lacking in AoE (especially if you use BotD>gsk during your aoe, like you should) due to simply spreading CT combos as your primary dps, so your overall for the encounter will drop off rapidly. Conversely, if you focus on ST rotation with BotD flowing, spreading CT while churning out 4 gsk/minute, you'll find your dps far more consistently over 1.2-1.4k even without B4B active for the pull.

[Ninjah2r]

@Jack,

alright ST without plheb and with 4 GK's a minute it is then, thankss D

[dark494]

I wouldn't necessarily call the anima "bad" outright. It definitely comes down to personal preference. The thing packs 102 skill speed - there's literally no way to drop that stat below ~640 without significant luck in Diadem (assuming you wish to maintain accuracy to use it in A4 Savage). In my minor tinkering (because I personally don't intend to get the relic before 3.25, since I wouldn't use it), the best set I could scrape together using it was only ~7 points of stat weight higher than my current set using the Thordan spear, including the +1 weapon damage.

This is my current set for anima. It's technically ~4 str "worse" than the anima BiS, but that BiS has 709 SS, mine's 637, which ends up much better in the long run anyway. And it's only ~8 str worse than gordian BiS, and ~6 str better than Thordan BiS.

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/S9N3