Dragoon pretty amazing now with 1.21a hotfix.

[Tango]

my friend does 60+dps on BLM ifrit, MNK is still the strongest single target mele dps. DRG got a big boost though and since DRG gets the aoe ws's I feel the playing field is even now and both DRG and MNK have their purposes.

[Frein]

it has nothing to do with DPS today i was with a BLM his dps was 40 on ifrit mine was 32 but i did more Damage than him

That's not how math works. If his average DPS was higher, he by definition dealt more total damage during the fight.

I feel that at Ifrit DRG is rather handicapped by its long combos. Especially post HF there are very few safe times to intiate a combo, so you can't do much else than fire off 3k TP Doomspikes.

[Frein]

They have their purposes but it's not even. That would be fine if DRG and MNK had the same defensive capabilities, but they don't. A DRG giving up defense for offense should always beat a MNK, single target and multiple target. DRG is incapable of tanking whereas MNK has some way to facilitate doing that if the need arises, that gives MNK a dual role in the same vein as WAR, even if it's less effective than WAR at doing it.

It doesn't really matter that MNK tanks better than DRG because the situation never comes up unless the players involved are specifically attempting to handicap themselves. In a party setting both MNK and DRG always perform strictly one role: damage dealing. I assume DRG outperforms MNK against multiple targets (and it has better enmity mitigation). MNK can theoretically help at enemy control and damage mitigation by combining Taunt and Featherfoot (this comes up a lot in exp parties), but it's not very relevant in end game situations because positioning tends to be key and Featherfoot does not guarantee an evade.

In the end so much depends on content design, you can't really compare the classes in the abstract unless there is an extreme and obvious power difference.

[Zdenka]

Was able to do roughly 20-25% more damage than I did on Princess prepatch as DRG.

Some of it is equiping less ACC for more STR/PIE, less Power Surge uses, and some is WAR does less damage.

The problem is it takes forever for Power Surge to stack to II and III. I think I saw II at about 45s into fight and III at about 1m30s or so (when Princess is at 5% life... <,<).

It says when its refreshed enough so I am not sure if its a specific # or has an internal timer of when it can stack up. Either way its a boost but it still sucks it takes DRG longer than the other classes to attain its ATK buff.

[InfiniDragon]

I might be worried about MNK outdamaging DRG on single target without the loss in defense if this game wasn't an AOE fest...which it is. DRG is preferable in most situations to MNK even with the "glass cannon" mentality because DRGs bring a ton of AOE damage that only a THM/BLM (another glass cannon) can match, and because that's the way the game is designed right now AOE > single target.

That doesn't mean MNK isn't useful (because they are, they're awesome) but saying they don't have a downside isn't true. Aura Pulse and Leg Sweep being their only AOE options means that DRG does very much still have its place in the DPS world of FFXIV right now.

[Silvano]

It's situational, and depends on who your MNK is and who your DRG is. For example, I outdamage the MNKs I go with (usually) on Ifrit, and come out #1 DPS on Mog. After the hotfix, I outdamaged a BLM on Ifrit once but only once ;;.

Honestly, I think DRG has a higher damage potential, but in certain situations the MNK fists give it an edge.

[HoolieWho]

Was able to do roughly 20-25% more damage than I did on Princess prepatch as DRG.

Some of it is equiping less ACC for more STR/PIE, less Power Surge uses, and some is WAR does less damage.

The problem is it takes forever for Power Surge to stack to II and III. I think I saw II at about 45s into fight and III at about 1m30s or so (when Princess is at 5% life... <,<).

It says when its refreshed enough so I am not sure if its a specific # or has an internal timer of when it can stack up. Either way its a boost but it still sucks it takes DRG longer than the other classes to attain its ATK buff.

Power Surge is refreshed (duration reset to 60s) when you use Jump or a weaponskill, including reactive abilities like Feint, Disembowel and Full Thrust. Power Surge is refreshed even if the ability misses. I haven't tested Leg Sweep or Ring of Talons with no target in range. After ten refreshes, Power Surge goes up a level, to a max of three.

Power Surge I --> Use ten weaponskills/jumps --> Power Surge II --> Ten more weaponskills/jumps --> Power Surge III.

It may seem like it takes a while to get all the way to PSIII, but the buff is much more potent. The new PSI is almost as potent as the old PSIII. Plus no TP spent.

[Nieshua]

Fixed everything i asked for....Now gimme some hp like 3k base
would be nice.

[MariyaShidou]

Life Surge should absorb HP only on WS, then it's fixed.

[Krausus]

Life Surge should absorb HP only on WS, then it's fixed.

it would probably be a bit to powerful then since its based on damage done