FFXI Job Overview: Dragoon

The Dragoon, every ones favorite Lance wielding, super jumping, and pet Wyvern using Job. Today I will go the basics of the job in depth as well as it's strengths, weakness, and various other aspects of the job. Please note, this is based of mostly off my personal experiences with the job, as well as general info.

Dragoon Overview: At it's core the Dragoon is one of the many damage dealers (DD's) in the game specializing in Polearms and aided in battle by a small pet Dragon know as a Wyvern with some solo capabilities with White Mage or another mage job as your sub job.

Party Role: In a party Dragoon fulfils one of two roles, DD and in Dragoon burn merit parties, can heal the party via the Wyvern and healing breath. In terms of DD potential Dragoon really stands out when fighting flying monsters i.e bats (trio, and large), Crane flies, and other flying mobs.

Pros:
1. Does extra damage when fighting monsters that fly.
2. Very effective at T.P building, sometimes even surpassing Samurai.
3. High Jump and Super Jump shed hate built up while attacking. HJ is around 33%, and SJ is full hate.
4. Can solo very well with a mage sub job.
5. Jump attacks are a steady stream of extra damage and T.P (Tactical Points).
6. Excellent Dot (damage over time) thanks to the faithful pet.
7. Very beginner friendly. New players wanting to play a DD often pick Dragoon because of it's relatively inexpensive gear choices.

Cons:
1. Has to compete against other DD's.
2. Can only solo certain types of monster, i.e nothing with a damaging area of effect attack or a powerful single target attack move.
3. Outside of flying monsters, Dragoon might seem underwhelming.
4. Somewhat lower stats compared to other DD's such as Samurai or Dark Knight.
5. Lacks a viable secondary weapon. With it's next highest capping weapon being Staff, and a C- ins Swords, Dragoon must rely on one weapon type almost exclusively.

Job Abilities and Support Job Section:

Support Jobs:

Warrior: You really can't go wrong with this SJ. It offers many attack boosting job abilities that further add to a Dragoon's DD potential. This SJ offers the Double Attack, Attack Bonus, and Defense Bonus job traits, which are all very nice to have. If you don't have Samurai as a sub job, then use Warrior.

Provoke: For getting the hate of your Wyvern or a mage.
Berserk: Sacrifices defense to add a nice boost to your attack power.
Defender: Sacrifices attack for defense and can be useful if you have to much hate and your jumps are still recharging.
Warcry: Provides a small area of effect attack boost.

Samurai: Thanks to an update did a few years back, Samurai is now an amazing SJ for any user of two-handed weapons. In terms of stats, using Warrior as your sub will offer your more strength and attack, but it does leave you open to damage if you pull a lot of hate, this is why Samurai is often chosen as a high level or 50+ sub job. It also offers two passive Store TP job traits, which help you store extra TP and Zanshin, which allows you to get another attack if you missed your initial one.

Third Eye: A handy ability that lets you fully avoid one physical attack. It's saved my butt numerous times.
Hasso: An EXCELLENT ability that grants you an attack speed bonus, accuracy bonus, and strength bonus when using two-handed weapons, but it does increase you casting time and JA cool downs, but well worth it.
Meditate: Grants you an extra 60% TP bonus. It's not the 100% like a Samurai gets but it's an amazing JA none the less.
Seigan: When used together with Third Eye, you will have the chance to avoid the attack but keep Third Eye up and avoid another attack. It's a bit hit-or-miss but very nice to have.

Thief: Not a sub I use, but it's great when farming. You get the Gil Finder and Treasure Hunter job traits as well as a few evasion ones. Not a bad sub, but not a personal favorite.

Sneak Attack: Lets you score a 100% critical rate when attacking from behind and enemy.
Flee: Lets you move at double speed for about 30 seconds.
Trick Attack: Lets you set hate on a target when attacking the enemy from behind, while behind say your parties tank.

White Mage: This sub is excellent for soloing as well as Dragoon burn parties. You also get Auto Regen and Clear Mind (increase the amount of MP you recover while resting).

Ninja: Ummmm no. I hate seeing Dragoon's use this sub for a few reasons. 1. It's a waste of a sub as Utsusemi: Ichi casts much to slowly to be worth it. You also waste valuable DD time casting a spell you really don't need. When you hit level 74 and get Utsusemi: Ni, it get's a little better but again, you waste time casting shadows you don't need. 2. I fucking hate /nin for most jobs. I'm dead serious, don't use /nin in exp parties. Much like Sam/Nin your take a huge hit to attack power. Also people who sub ninja are generally lazy fucks.


Dragoon's job Abilities:

Spirit Surge: Dragoon's new two hour ability they added a few years ago and it's a good one at that. This JA was added on 12/13/05 replacing Call Wyvern as Dragoon's two hour ability. When used the Wyvern grants the Dragoon H.P, the T.P it has accumulated, all jumps are enhanced, and added strength and haste. Level gained: Level 1

Call Wyvern: Using this J.A calls your pet Wyvern to fight by your side. Just keep an eye on your buddies health, cause if he goes down and the timer is still close to full, then doing good DD is tricky. Has a 20:00 recharge timer. Level gained: Level 1

Ancient Circle: Grants you a resistance, defense, and attack against Dragon. Party members also gain this if they are in range. Grants a 15% attack bonus against Dragon family mobs similar to other circle protections. Has 10 minute recharge timer and last 1 minute, however if you use the Drachen Brais, it's 1:30. Level gained: 5

Jump: The first of the three jump attacks. Delivers an instant jump attack that does damage, and generates a small amount of enmity. Numerous items can enhance Jumps, namely your artifact boots. Has a 1:30 recharge. Level gained: 10

Spirit Link: This JA sacrifices some of your HP to heal your Wyverns. Uses around 25-35% of your HP. The amount healed is random. Has a 3:00 recharge timer. Level gained 25

High Jump: The second of Three jump attacks. Delivers an instant jump attack and sheds some enmity. Like Jump, it can be boosted threw gear. 3:00 recharge timer. Level gained 35

Super Jump: The third and final jump attack. Unlike the other two, this one deals no damage, but sheds 99% of your hate. Handy when you have lots of hate or about to be nailed with a powerful spell. 3:00 recharge timer. Level gained 50

Deep Breathing: First of two merit JA's. This one boosts your Wyverns next breath attack and it boosts both healing and elemental breaths. 15:00 recast, but can be merited down to 5:00. Level gained 75

Angon: A very useful JA that lets the Dragoon use a throwing spear know and an Angon to reduce the enemies defense by about 20%. 3:00 recast, but can be merited down to 1:50. Level gained 75

Empathy: First of two merit job traits. Empathy transfers the Dragoon's buff to the wyvern. As you level it up, the more buffs can be transferred. Level gained 75

Strafe: Increases the accuracy of your Wyvern's breath attacks. Level gained 75

Weapons, Armor, and Artifact Armor:

Weapons: The first thing you will want to do as Dragoon is grab a decent Polearm. Polearms come in two variations, Spear and Lance. Spears are weaker than Lances, but often have nice stat bonuses to make up for this. Lances are much stronger but have higher delay. At high levels Lances also have numerous stat buffs, such as accuracy. Dragoon's second most proficient weapon are Staves, however these have little use outside of skill up parties. Dragoon's can also wield Rapier styled and Short Swords, however with a C-in this weapon it's solely a skill up weapon, and no, subbing /nin does not help. Once you hit 30, grab a strap for added stats and faster attack speed for two handed weapons.

Armor: Once you have you weapon, it's time to suit up and get some armor. Armor wise Dragoon can use some nice stuff of mainly the leather, doublet, and scale variety. Try and grab some battle gloves for the +3 accuracy, and at 30, the Centurion Scale Mail and Merc. Captain Doublet are excellent. At 57 grab a Scorpion Harness or the +1 version as they added accuracy and evasion. At higher levels, Dragoon use some heavy plate armors and some nice, but hard to get rare/exclusive gear.

Artifact Armor:

Peregine: Your level 41 Artifact lance. It's pretty good actually compared to most AF weapons.

Damage: 61, Delay: 492: Dex and Vit +1

Drachen Brais: Your first piece of artifact armor and it's not that great honestly. To get it, you have to accept the Chasing Quotas quest, and fight a tiger notorious monster called Sturmtiger. It's easily soloable by most 75 jobs, as I soloed it as my 75 WHM/BLM. I wouldn't recommend using these as there are better options available.

Def: 27, H.P+`15, Earth Resistance +10, Enhances Ancient Circle, Wyvern: HP+10%

Drachen Greaves: Your second piece of artifact armor which is obtained from opening a coffer in the Quicksand Caves while on Dragoon. To get these, you first have to start the artifact gloves quest, then farm a key from Antica mobs around level 52-59. Just find a level 75 friends and you should have no problem killing the mobs. Stat wise the boots are pretty good stuff, and if you don't have something like Leaping or Bounding Boots, then use these.

Def: 10, H.P+12, AGI +3, Evasion Skill +10, Enhances Jump Attacks (10% attack bonus to jumps)

Drachen Finger Gauntlets: Your third piece of artifact armor obtained from the Borghertz's gloves quest. You need to accept the quest and head to The Boyahda Tree and pop a coffer to obtain the key item, Old Gauntlets. Head back to jeuno and talk to a few NPC's and head for Castle Zvahl Baileys, and find a ??? to pop the bomb NM, Dark Spark. Dark Spark can be soloed by just about any level 75 job. Once he's dead, touch the SAME torch you touched when you spawned him and head back to Port Jeuno and touch the ??? on a box for a short cut scene and your gloves. Like the boots, these are good, and if you prefer these over say your Race Specific Gloves (I'm a hume) then you can't go wrong with them.

Def: 15, H.P+11, DEX +3, Parrying Skill +15, Enhances Wyvern accuracy (+5 accuracy)

Drachen Mail: Your fourth piece of artifact armor obtained from popping a coffer in the dread Ifrits Cauldron. It's a cool looking piece of armor, but I wouldn't use it as the Scorpion Harness is vastly superior. It's pretty decent for soloing though.

Def: 38, H.P: 15, VIT + 4, Ice Resistance +10, Adds Regen to Wyvern

Drachen Armet: The fifth and final piece of Dragoon's artifact armor. It's obtained from the quest, Knight Stalker. You need to talk to Rahal in Chateau D'Oraguille to start the quest. Now run around San D'Oria talking to various NPC. After that is done, go farm a Kuftal Tunnel coffer key, and open a coffer for a key item, Challenge to the Royal Knights. Once again, head back to Sandy and talk to several NPC's. Rahal will tell you to head to The Temple of Uggalepih, the home of the dread Tonberries. Now make your way to the Death from Above NM spawn point, and make sure your on Dragoon with your Wyvern out, and click on the ??? with sneak up. Two NM's will pop, Rompaulion S. Citalle and Cleuvarion M. Resoaix. You only need to kill Citalle, so you can let Resoaix despawn but if you have lots of DD like I did, you can kill both is no time at all. Once they are defeated, click the ??? again for a nice cut scene and your Drachen Armet. You can also head back to sandy for two optional cut scenes. Overall, the helmet is decent to use in a party, but is excellent solo as it makes a Defensive Wyvern use it's healing breath at 50% H.P instead of 33%. Offensive Wyvern's will also exploit the mobs elemental weakness. Multipurpose Wyvern's will heal you at 33% or less.

Def: 16, H.P: + 16, MND + 5, Lighting Resistance +15, Wyvern uses Breaths more effectively

Overall: The Dragoon's artifact, while not bad, is not amazing either. You can surely get some use out of the gloves and feet, but the legs, body, and helmet are situational at best. It's in my honest opinion that any Dragoon should shop around for better DD gear and while I'm the last person to tell people what to do in FF11, I will put my foot down here. For the love of God, don't use full Dragoon AF in a party. The DD gear Dragoon can use it often very cheap. The cool thing about the Dragoon AF though, is it's an obvious homage to Kain the Dragoon from FF4 as the armor look almost identical. Overall, I'd give it a 6/10

I'll add stuff like Relic Armor to this later, but tell me what you think, I've worked on this for about 3 days.