Dragoon
Lore
"Of all the things that are symbolic of the nation of Ishgard, few are more recognized than the dragoon. Born amidst the timeless conflict between men and dragons, these lance-wielding knights have developed an aerial style of combat, that they might better pierce the scaled hides of their mortal foes.
Taking to the firmament as though it were an extension of the land, they descend upon the enemy with every onze of their bodies behind the blow. It is this penetrative power that characterizes the dragoon." — Game Description
General Information
Dragoon is a polearm-wielding job that specializes in lances, leaps, and a piercing style of combat. They evolve from the class lancer. It is a melee damage dealing class specializing in single target dps. Dragoons have all the abilities and traits of Lancers. They can also use all the cross-class abilities of marauder and pugilist. The most important stat for the dragoon is strength, which increases attack power. The level of your Dragoon is equivalent to that of your Lancer.
Requirements
- Level 30 Lancer
- Level 15 Marauder
- Completion of Eye of the Dragon
Trainer Locations
| NPC | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ywain | Old Gridania (x14,y5) | Job Start for ARR |
| Alberic | Coerthas Central Highlands (x25,y28) | Job Trainer for 30-50 |
| Alberic | Coerthas Central Highlands (x25,y28) | Job Start for Heavensward |
| Alberic | Coerthas Central Highlands (x25,y28) | Job Trainer for 52-60 |
Actions
Dragoons use all the Lancer Actions in addition to having their own unique actions for their Job:
| Action | Icon | Level | TP Cost | Cast Time | Cooldown | Range | Radius | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jump |  |
30 | 0 | Instant | 30s | 20y | 0y | Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 200 (300 Surged). Returns you to your original position after the attack is made. Cannot be executed while bound. |
| Elusive Jump |  |
35 | 0 | Instant | 180s | 15y | 0y | Executes a jump to a location 15y behind you, while removing any Heavy or Bind effects. Additional Effect: Reduces enmity. |
| Spineshatter Dive |  |
40 | 0 | Instant | 60s | 20y | 0y | Delivers a jumping attack with a potency of 170 (255 Surged). Additional Effect: Stun for 2s. Cannot be executed while bound. |
| Power Surge |  |
45 | 0 | Instant | 60s | 0y | 0y | Increases the damage dealt by one Jump or Spineshatter Dive by 50% for 10s. |
| Dragonfire Dive |  |
50 | 0 | Instant | 120s | 20y | 5y | Delivers a jumping fire-based attack with a potency of 250 to all nearby enemies. Cannot be executed while bound. |
| Battle Litany |  |
52 | 0 | Instant | 180s | 0y | 15y | Increases critical hit rate of self and party members by 15%. Duration 20s. |
| Blood of the Dragon |  |
54 | 0 | Instant | 60s | 0y | 0y | Increases potency of Jump and Spineshatter Dive by 30% for 15s. Additional Effect: Grants Sharper Fang and Claw or Enhanced Wheeling Thrust for 10s when completing a combo with Chaos Thrust or Full Thrust. These two effects end upon reuse of Blood of the Dragon or using any skill that is not Fang and Claw or Wheeling Thrust. |
| Fang and Claw |  |
56 | 60 | Instant | 2.5s | 0y | 0y | Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. 290 when executed from a target's flank. Can only be executed while under the effect of both Blood of the Dragon and Sharper Fang and Claw. Additional Effect: Extends Blood of the Dragon duration by 15s to a maximum of 30s. |
| Wheeling Thrust |  |
58 | 60 | Instant | 2.5s | 0y | 0y | Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. 290 when executed from a target's rear. Can only be executed while under the effect of both Blood of the Dragon and Enhanced Wheeling Thrust. Additional Effect: Extends Blood of the Dragon duration by 15s to a maximum of 30s. |
| Geirskogul |  |
60 | 0 | Instant | 10s | 15y | 15y | Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 to all enemies in a straight line before you. Can only be executed when under the effect of Blood of the Dragon. Additional Effect: Reduces the duration of Blood of the Dragon by 10s. |
Cross-Class Actions
| Marauder | Pugilist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action | Icon | Level | Action | Icon | Level |
| Foresight |  |
2 | Featherfoot |  |
4 |
| Skull Sunder |  |
4 | Second Wind |  |
8 |
| Fracture |  |
6 | Haymaker |  |
10 |
| Bloodbath |  |
8 | Internal Release |  |
12 |
| Mercy Stroke |  |
26 | Mantra |  |
42 |
Cross-Discipline Actions
| Botanist | Miner | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action | Icon | Level | Action | Icon | Level |
| Triangulate |  |
1 | Prospect |  |
1 |
| Arbor Call |  |
3 | Lay of the Land |  |
3 |
| Arbor Call II |  |
6 | Lay of the Land II |  |
6 |
| Truth of Forests |  |
46 | Truth of Mountains |  |
46 |
PvP Actions
| Action | Icon | Description | Upgrade 1 | Upgrade 2 | Upgrade 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impulse Rush |  |
Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. Additional Effect: Reduces weaponskill TP cost by 30% and waives directional requirements in combos for 15s. |
Enhanced Impulse Rush: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. | Enhanced Impulse Rush II: Extends duration to 20 seconds. | Enhanced Impulse Rush III: Increases TP reduction to 50%. | |
| Skewer |  |
Delivers an attack with a potency of 180. Additional Effect: Reduces target's INT by 20% for 10s |
Enhanced Skewer: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds. | Enhanced Skewer II: Extends duration to 15 seconds. | Enhanced Skewer III: Increases INT reduction to 40%. | |
| Fetter Ward |  |
Grants immunity to stun, sleep, bind, heavy, and disease for 9 seconds. | Enhanced Fetter Ward: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. | Enhanced Fetter Ward II: Extends duration to 12 seconds. | ||
| Enliven |  |
Instantly restores 50% TP. | Enhanced Enliven: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. | Enhanced Enliven II: Increases TP recovery to 75%. | ||
| Purify |  |
All Classes and Jobs | Removes all detrimental effects. Can be used regardless of status affliction. | Enhanced Purify: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. |
Quests
Dragoon Guide
Basic Tips
Dragoons of all levels will want to keep a few basic tips about their skills in mind to help maximize DPS.
Heavy Thrust: Keep this buff up at all times; it's basically a free Raging Strikes. It should always be the first thing you use. If you can tell that it's going to fall off in the middle of a combo, use it again before starting that combo. Remember to use this from the enemy's flank.
GCDs: Until you get to level 26 and unlock Full Thrust, you should be using Impulse Drive all the time and never True Thrust/Vorpal Thrust, since it does more potency on average. But after level 26, Impulse Drive always does less than your Full Thrust combo. Once you get Disembowel, you can start alternating between combos.
Feint: Feint is, in 99% of PvE cases, not helpful. You can get by perfectly well while ignoring the fact that this weaponskill exists.
Keen Flurry: As Dragoons aren't the ones taking most of the damage, you won't be using this skill too often. At lower levels, if you happen to rip aggro on a boss from a tank, it can help out a bit.
Piercing Talon: Later on, this becomes a pretty big TP hog. However, in boss fights when you find yourself having to get far away from the boss, throwing one or two in usually can't hurt.
Recommended Cross-Class Actions
Internal Release is the most important of the cross-class actions for a Dragoon to take, as it is the biggest increase in damage available. Mercy Stroke will also give you some free extra damage near the end of a boss. These are the two actions you always want to have on your hotbar.
The other three choices are mainly a matter of preference, though Featherfoot and Haymaker aren't worth it, even together, and neither Fracture nor Skull Sunder will never be better than the other tools in your arsenal. Some like taking Foresight or Bloodbath for a little bit of extra defense, while others prefer Second Wind for a quick insta-heal or Mantra for party support. None of these are totally required, though.
Endgame Skill Speed
Skill speed is an important stat for a Dragoon to work around when gearing up for the endgame. Ideally, you want your GCD to be anywhere between 2.38 and 2.41 seconds long. This range has to do with both the timing of Geirskoguls and whether or not you're clipping DoTs vs. letting them fall off. This GCD range equates to anywhere from 590 to 652 skill speed.
Endgame Rotations
Your most basic rotation looks like this:
--> 
--> 
--> 
--> 
or 
--> 
--> 
--> 
--> 
--> or
Essentially, you alternate between Heavy Thrust/Chaos Thrust combo and Phlebotomize/Full Thrust combo, weaving in off-GCDs between. Should Blood of the Dragon ever fall off, you can revert to the old 2.0 rotation (nicknamed by some the "rotation of shame") until it comes back up. Instead of going back and forth, you'll be doing Chaos Thrust combo -> Full Thrust combo x2 -> repeat, while alternating Heavy Thrust and Phlebotomize every combo.
Opener (with potion)
--> 
--> --> 
--> --> 
--> --> 
--> or --> 
--> --> 
--> --> 
--> --> 
--> --> or
Opener (without potion)
--> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> or --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> or
AOE Rotation
--> 
--> 
x many
Only use your AOE rotation when there are 3 or more mobs, otherwise use your single-target rotation. Doom Spike has a larger AOE than you might realize, but it may still be difficult to line up the enemies; Ring of Thorns is good in those cases. Keep Heavy Thrust up throughout, remember to use Invigorate, and weave in off-GCDs as you go.
General Endgame Tips
Dragoons and TP: Another reason for the soft skill speed "cap" is that higher skill speed drains your TP more quickly. Be sure to use Invigorate as soon as you see your TP bar dip below 500 so that you have it up again as soon as possible.
Battle Litany: These buffs don't stack, so if you have another Dragoon in the party, be sure to ask them if they want first or second. That way, you can have this buff up for double its duration by using them back to back.
Geirskogul: A good way to figure out if you have enough uptime left on Blood of the Dragon to use Geirskogul is to find out your threshold--how low the timer can be right after using Fang and Claw/Wheeling Thrust. At 2.38s GCD, that threshold is 21 seconds. It will be higher the less skill speed you have, so be careful. Also, if Blood of the Dragon (the skill) is about to come back up, you can freely spend a Geirskogul one off-GCD before using BotD again. A lot of Geirskogul usage technique has to do with learning fights well enough to know when you may want to save Geirskogul or manipulate the BotD in a certain way.
Blood for Blood and Chaos Thrust: Try to make sure you have the first up for the second, as Chaos Thrust's damage over time effect makes up a large portion of your damage. It's hard for them to miss each other unless you use Blood for Blood literally right after Chaos Thrust, so try not to do that.
Power Surge: Always pair Power Surge with Jump, since it has more potency than Spineshatter Dive. Ideally, every sixty seconds you want to use the two in back-to-back off-GCDs.
Life Surge: You don't need to wait to always use this on Full Thrust. If it's up and you're about to use Fang and Claw or Wheeling Thrust, and you know you'll be able to hit the positional on it, go ahead and use Life Surge--you're actually losing DPS by saving it for later.
See also: Dragoon Glamours
Images
