Thoughts on Dancer(CC)

[Valence]

I hear barely anyone talk about DNC at all, outside of just saying it's one of the worse jobs you can play. After playing it I can agree it's weaker than other jobs but I don't know if it's as bad as needing a kind of rework for the job. Curious what other people think about DNC specifically.

People greatly underestimate what they don't understand, and RPR also suffers from it.

PROS
- Dancer is a stellar AoE damage dealer, similar to MCH and only topped by the usual culprits (BLM/SMN).
- Dancer is a ranged job with a melee inclination which makes it extremely survivable for a ranged job, at the cost of having to get closer at times (but most ranged kinda have to at a point anyway, if just to push the cart, but also for some of their skills). It's the most mobile out of all jobs, doesn't have cast times, and hits at range, which makes it extremely slippery and actually good to chase down people and secure kills. The proc mechanics also encourage you to keep dashing all over the place.
- Contradance is an insane LB if used right. Obviously as a support inclined ability, the higher in rank you get, the better results you'll get because disabling a whole team for that much time means people will just drop dead, period. I'm not even talking about synching it with a DRG/SMN LB or whatever.
- Fan Dance IV is extremely good for its defensive mitigation, both for you and your partner.

CONS
- AoE Job so not the best burst, but it's respectable with your big hitters.
- The partner system is atrocious and range limited, and the dps buffs you give to the partner are pitiful compared to BRD's buffing its whole party with the same deal, but DNC shines elsewhere.

[Astralrisk]

People greatly underestimate what they don't understand, and RPR also suffers from it.

PROS
- Dancer is a stellar AoE damage dealer, similar to MCH and only topped by the usual culprits (BLM/SMN).
- Dancer is a ranged job with a melee inclination which makes it extremely survivable for a ranged job, at the cost of having to get closer at times (but most ranged kinda have to at a point anyway, if just to push the cart, but also for some of their skills). It's the most mobile out of all jobs, doesn't have cast times, and hits at range, which makes it extremely slippery and actually good to chase down people and secure kills. The proc mechanics also encourage you to keep dashing all over the place.
- Contradance is an insane LB if used right. Obviously as a support inclined ability, the higher in rank you get, the better results you'll get because disabling a whole team for that much time means people will just drop dead, period. I'm not even talking about synching it with a DRG/SMN LB or whatever.
- Fan Dance IV is extremely good for its defensive mitigation, both for you and your partner.

CONS
- AoE Job so not the best burst, but it's respectable with your big hitters.
- The partner system is atrocious and range limited, and the dps buffs you give to the partner are pitiful compared to BRD's buffing its whole party with the same deal, but DNC shines elsewhere.

After trying it out more, I can basically agree with this. Playing it more like a damage deal and not a support does feel a lot better to play. I feel like people highlight the cons a bit more when talking about DNC, especially when it comes to dance partner management. I haven't tried it in ranked cuz I am a baby whose scared of playing anything that isn't BRD but I do think most of my gripes would be fixed with people who actually follow up on a lot of the support effects there.