Dragoons: A Rotation Reborn

[Lucael_Shikaree]

Hi guys. Just got my Animus last night and am about to start the Novus grind. Is there a specific build that you would recommend?

Hi there, your best choice about Novus would be Determination 31 and Critical Hit Rate 44.

If you want you can try to replace on your equipment:

Head: pentameld Wolfram Mask HQ. In stats weight with the correct materias it's better than High Allagan.
Chest: Astrum Mail. It's better than Wyrm Mail.
Belt: Wolfram Belt HQ pentameld. It's the best piece you can get until T9.
Neck: Gloam Choker (ILVL110). I would have put first sand on this over the Wristlets.
Ring 2: Judgment Ring of Slaying (Ramuh Extreme)

[Itseotle]

Hi there, your best choice about Novus would be Determination 31 and Critical Hit Rate 44.

If you want you can try to replace on your equipment:

Head: pentameld Wolfram Mask HQ. In stats weight with the correct materias it's better than High Allagan.
Chest: Astrum Mail. It's better than Wyrm Mail.
Belt: Wolfram Belt HQ pentameld. It's the best piece you can get until T9.
Neck: Gloam Choker (ILVL110). I would have put first sand on this over the Wristlets.
Ring 2: Judgment Ring of Slaying (Ramuh Extreme)

You may want to take this with a grain of salt, but pentamelded gear may not be cost effective atm, especially if you don't have your Novus finished. Patch 2.4 is coming fairly soon(ish) and with it an item level increase. Materia prices are sky-high, so if your not loaded with cash, going for your Astrum gear might be a better investment.

[Butcherboy]

If u have the Gil I'd say go for and Max det/crit set up.

[whiskeybravo]

Been working on some sets to compare going with 41 acc/31 det as opposed to 41 crit/31 det on novus.

The sets I've come up with are extremely close, total weight of sets 826.321 (499 acc) vs 826.661 (496 acc), slightly in favor of the crit build.

However, the accuracy build carries about 20 more Det. This is all assuming access to every piece avail. Even though the crit build slightly outweighs the acc build, it's reliant more on crit, which begs the question is it really better vs the consistent damage increase from Det?

I don't know, just doing this all on good old fashioned pen & paper, and not sure how the ~826 total weight compares to the weight of the established BiS (excluding HA weapon). And there may be some slight variation on the actual pieces, though I've tried to spec as best I can figure.

I guess the one advantage of spec'ing for crit on weapon is since the Liberator/HA weapon don't have any accuracy, most people's gear is already set up to plug in another weapon with no acc. Mine is the total opposite, I've been building around acc on Animus so to switch to a weapon with no acc would mean replacing almost every piece of gear I have.

Edit/conclusions: Based on the OP pre/post-T9 calculations I guess I'm not that far off. Didn't account for food in the above. It really doesn't seem like there is that much difference whether you go 44 crit or 44 acc, it just changes how you gotta gear up otherwise. It's probably easier to go ahead and go crit build, considering gear progression, but for anyone like myself that's been reliant on weapon accuracy, there isn't that much difference between the 2 choices. The biggest challenge is attainability of Astum vs HA body piece so you aren't overloaded on accuracy.

[BishopGabbiani]

Ok, this is my current gear, my static currently has T6 and T7 on farm, and we are working on T8, still haven't beaten Ramuh EX. I'm just trying to figure out what to upgrade next:

Weapon: Liberator
Head: Guardian's Helm of Maiming
Chest: Astrum Mail
Belt: Guardians Tasset's of Maiming
Legs: Astrum Hose
Feet: Wyrm's Greaves (This is the one I am currently planning to upgrade next)

Necklace: Ribbon of Slaying
Earrings: High Allagan Earrings of Slaying
Wrist: Hero's Ring of Slaying
Ring 1: Allagan of Maiming
Ring 2: Hero's Ring of Slaying

Also, are there any good macros that DRGs can use? I was thinking about one that kicked in LS just before TT, so it would always be used when up with a little less maintenance.

[whiskeybravo]

Ok, this is my current gear, my static currently has T6 and T7 on farm, and we are working on T8, still haven't beaten Ramuh EX. I'm just trying to figure out what to upgrade next:

Should definitely upgrade the boots. T7 boots are best if you can afford the accuracy loss, otherwise Astrum is fine. Also a gloam ring, and maybe even try to get the maiming wrist from T5 to drop some acc after you replace boots w/ Astrum. That's about all I can suggest

Only macros I use on drg are defensive CDs.. Second Wind, Blood bath, Keen Flurry, etc. all wrapped into one. Some people have messed around with other macros but I can't recommend any of those personally.

[SpecialKK]

Also, are there any good macros that DRGs can use? I was thinking about one that kicked in LS just before TT, so it would always be used when up with a little less maintenance.

I have a macro sticking LS after Vorpal Thrust. After awhile, I just decided to hit it separately so it doesn't go off when I don't really want it to go off.

[Crxssroad]

I've got a quick question. My main class is MNK, but I'm trying to get my lancer to level 34 for the cross skill. However, I'm having trouble on which rotation I should use? I would peruse through the whole thread, but I'm not entirely interested in perfecting the class and I'm more interested in figuring out what the best rotations are with my limited abilities.

[BishopGabbiani]

I've got a quick question. My main class is MNK, but I'm trying to get my lancer to level 34 for the cross skill. However, I'm having trouble on which rotation I should use? I would peruse through the whole thread, but I'm not entirely interested in perfecting the class and I'm more interested in figuring out what the best rotations are with my limited abilities.

You shouldn't have to worry too much about your rotations, the main thing is going to be the HT>TT combo. Now early on your combo will only be TT>VT, once you get FT add that in. THe thing is HT will only last for 12 seconds until 40, that lasts for roughly 4 GCDs, so once you get FT, add in an ID in to keep the combo constantly buffed. So at that point you should be doing

HT>TT>VT>FT>ID and repeat. Pop any GCDs you have whenever you get a chance.

Earlier on just keep doing the HT>TT>VT>TT>VT rotation, dropping in Leg Sweep and IR whenever you can.

Edit:
I forgot you get Phlebotimize at 30, so after that your rotation should be:

HT>Ph>TT>VT>FT>HT>TT>VT>FT>ID then repeat.