Dragoons Max Status?

[Riv]

I like drama.

[Squiggles]

Quit trying to change your story, its saddening. Now that you know you are wrong in that situation its all about the average guy now? Also, any "average" guy the has the means and time to meld gear also has access to get darklight, it is puggable dungeons. I'm just saying, so the AVERAGE JOE can get that gear. "Blah blah blah I know you are right but you are a troll and apparently mislead people with accurate information."

im not changing anything jackass. the topic has been changed, get with the times.

not only that, you arent going to PUG garuda or a speed run with random people, it just doesnt work that way.

[Eliseus]

im not changing anything jackass. the topic has been changed, get with the times.

not only that, you arent going to PUG garuda or a speed run with random people, it just doesnt work that way.

Pug people all the time. Find better pugs.

[Hyrist]

^ no normal, everyday drg is going to achieve this over night. to set it as the standard is just plain dumb.
people should be giving OP realistic advice, not I HAVE A GIGANTIC EPEEN LOOK AT MY 1337 GEAR advice.

average gear the OP can get could include:
hart guisarme/gc spear
cobalt haubergeon/tortoiseshell scale mail +2x pie
cobalt mitt/felt bracers 2x str
veteran's field belt
AFpants/GC hose (if your from limsa these are decent)
af shoes
af helmet
2x str or 1xstr 1x acc ring
electrum gorget
explorers or GC earring (again, limsa's is great)

capping stats isnt as important as capping acc, because it harms your damage a lot more than missing some str would.

I'm going to say go for a Hart +1 if at all possible as a first priority, given how DPS is a major factor in damage output of our Weapon Skills. Keep in mind that you can socket at least one good meteria on it to offset any losses in your base stats (Including Accuracy) of your build. It won't make up for the whole of the damage output, but it will help offset the loss a little.

When the consumable Sanction item comes out, the Sergeant's spear becomes an obvious superior to Heart, and cheap to purchase. For those who do not have continual successes in runs currently, however, Sanction itself isn't a dependable mechanic. That changes depending on the cost effectiveness of the Sanction Consumable.


If you're shopping on Excalibur, you're likely going to find more double Piety Melds for tortoiseshell than Colbalt. Provided you have an Armorer in your LS, however, I'd recommend you go to them. To do Melds for you. Gathering or buying the meterials for the armor and taking the chance on getting a lucky early meld often works out cheaper than blowing several million on a body piece. In those situations you're paying for someone else's bad luck.

The same goes worth Cobalt/Felt mitts.

I consider Belts an Accessory, and will explain why in a minute.

No comment on Limsa Hose, Gridanian flatly isn't worth it.

Boots are flexible. Cobalt comes with some accuracy and STR attached so keep that in mind.


Now a lot of my build is fluid through inexpensive means. Just gathering together some of the cheaper accessories, belts, and legs can let you change an aspect of your build depending on what you are fighting on the fly.

Here's an example: For accuracy. I've Veterans Belt, Explorer's Choker, Electrum Rings, and Cobalt Sollerets.

For Enmity: I use DRG AF boots and a Melded Belt. Usually I wear this when split groups are concerned or I'm worried about ripping hate off the Tank.

If I'm solo or not in any real concern for either of the above, I've Got explorer's Belt and Boots for Crit hit rate. Speeds things up significantly for hunting and farming.

A note for Gridanians, our Choker beats Electrum +1 so get that instead of the Attack Necklace, especially if you're working for enough GC set items for your Spear, or you're just looking to get some extra stats without spending extra gil. Possibly the best accessory to come out of our GC set, sadly.

Most of this is inexpesnive and I've got the full of it. You won't cap STR without a meld on your weapon in this set up, but if you get decent melds (Double Fours on both) You'll get within food range of capping either in your optimum stat builds.

Be sure to parse your accuracy when making gear adjustments, however. The accuracy requirements for events can vary wildly and you will hurt yourself with an over-emphasis on accuracy when your stats are not capped otherwise, and vice versa when you're undershooting accuracy on high evasion targets.

[Silvano]

What I use:

Paragon's Helm
Tortoiseshell Scale Mail with +36PIE (xx + yy, yy is the base piety stat on the piece, its a III IV double meld lol)
Felt Bracers +36 STR (STR IV, STR IV)
Veteran's Field Belt
Drachen Trousers
Drachen Feet
Tourmaline Bracelets
Rubellite Ring +1 x2

Puts me at 351 STR, 305 PIE. Right now I have Militia Caligae instead so 348 STR 305 PIE. One piece of DL (Caligae) would cap me, swapping the tourmaline bracelet for a rubellite.

[Thanos]

I use the following:
Darklight Helm +15 STR
Darklight Corselet +20 STR
Scarlet Sash +3 PTY
Militia Subligar +20 PTY
Darklight Caligae +15 PTY
Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves of Slaying 3x meld +43 STR
Explorer's Earrings
Electrum Gorget +1
Tourmaline Bracelets +1 +4 PTY
Tourmaline Ring +1 +18 PTY
Rubellite Ring +1 +18 STR

This gives me 351 STR, 305 PTY (312 after Jerked Beef)

This is just one way to hit cap, no matter how you do it you are going to need rare gear or a few 3x meld crafted.

Almost exactly what I use only difference is

Felt Trousers with +17 STR
Felt Bracers with +46 STR
Cobalt Hauby +1 with +32 PIE
Flame Sergeants Sash with the +10 ACC

Puts me at 354STR/318PIE with no food. Not sure what it is with food yet if were to use Smoked Raptor

[Velhart]

I haven't heard anyone say how gear should be set up with Garuda's spear in hand. I have both a stat builder set and a Crit set. Does anyone have hardcore data on which one succeeds?

[Hyrist]

It's always going to be your base stats as first priority, then after that point it's more of a preference. Difficulty is, reaching your stats cap without Darklight is either going to require triple melds or and/or meld on your weapon. Having things like +1 Darksteel body takes the heat off of that requirement a bit, but building Crit is usually secondary, if not tertiary.

[Velhart]

It's always going to be your base stats as first priority, then after that point it's more of a preference. Difficulty is, reaching your stats cap without Darklight is either going to require triple melds or and/or meld on your weapon. Having things like +1 Darksteel body takes the heat off of that requirement a bit, but building Crit is usually secondary, if not tertiary.

Would like hard data however, because people have told me otherwise also.

[Hyrist]

The only data that's not already been gathered. Is the full effect of crit testing on full on damage on set up.

The issue, however, is that Critical damage's gear pool conflicts directly with our strongest Piety slot. So the debate here is the differing values on your total damage between Critical Attack Potency and Piety. At this point, Garuda's should be irrelevant to the topic unless you're beneath the crit floor.

If you'd like to do a comparison yourself, I can help you there.

BG Parser is the common tool used with level 52 Sphere Doblins as the target refrence.

Do keep in mind that higher than level 52 will be subject to a critical hit rate level correction so that will play against your researched numbers.

Here's a link to the old data we have on it. It's pretty thorough.

The exact difference on stats, so far by my research, hasn't been fully extrapolated. I'll be doing testing once I manage to get LT status (sanction gear for Gridania has a nice Crit attack body I can just swap out for damage testing.) But until that point my hands are tied. It's just cost prohibitive for me to grab a melded Crit Body.