How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[JackFross]

The first thing you should do, imo, is grind out some Farthings from Void Ark to turn those 200's into 210's - it'll go a long way toward increasing your damage output. Optionally/ideally hit up Gordias savage for Gobtwines and Gobcoats alongside some Gordian drops (like the gloves from 2 and some accessories from 1 - 3 has twines, so maybe focus on twines from Farthings).

The best way to build, imho, is to look to the future. See which pieces are least likely to be replaced for the longest time. For example, the Lore pants, head, ring, and earring are all guaranteed to be on your BiS build, since the alternatives in those slots are just not as good. The above is a pretty good buy order. That takes you through pretty much all of the Lore you can spend before you need to save for the Spear, assuming you now have 2 Midan Gears in your inventory.

You can round out the rest of the missing slots with crafted gear if you want. Only one piece of crafted is necessary, imo - the chest piece. It won't be replaced until a8s is dead since it beats the i240 Lore chest in stat weight before melds.

As far as the Anima is concerned, the Rhongomiant is (marginally) less powerful than the Slipstream Partisan at i230, and we're not sure if the next step will be in 3.3 or 3.35 just yet. However, it's a long grind and will absolutely definitely completely be worth it going forward, so I would recommend at least starting on it, even while getting the Slipstream Partisan for the now.

As far as materia is concerned, meld III's and IV's on anything that's not i240 with normal consideration for stats, favoring ACC to cap.

CRIT V > CRIT IV > DET V > SKS V > CRIT III > SKS IV > DET IV > SKS III > DET III