A guide to performing as a Warrior/DragoonFollow

I still take it seriously. I just dinged 65 and waiting on Full Break now to see if I can do enough to get off Full Break at start, Raging Rush at middle. Should know by the end of the day. Also plan to be parsing AF against the Thick gear when I get to 69(Both sets to be tested with berserker's axe).

You have no way of knowing how well you are doing without a parser. A lot of times things you can assume to be true are actually false. For example did you know that attack has a cap? Generally sushi eaters are told to get as much attack as possible, and for sushi eaters that is good advice. If you eat meat, berserk and get double minuet then can easily hit the cap. Also your spike finger gauntlets are useless in this situation.

Also sushi tends to parse a higher accuracy than +39 in gear. On top of that attack has diminishing returns even before hitting the cap, but you are no where near the cap for STR. With all that attack you have you'd probably be better off with Enky/Pallas bracelets full time.

Really you would be better off with Madrigal + Minuet, although if your accuracy is really as good as you say, then you'd benefit most from Minuet + March. There is no way to really know though, because you don't parse your results. You can come and claim that you'd outdo sushi in everyway possible, but you don't even know how much damage you are doing, let alone everyone else. How can you say things like "that's a fact" when you have zero evidence to back it up?

Wow very well done guide i must say When i take up war agian i'll be subing drg


ps:


STICKY !

On my secondary character(mainly mage jobs and BST[no need to worry about axe skill due to BST:D])I recently started leveling WAR, probably only going to 37, I've been subbing DRG since Lv20(Lv28 currently)...

I can tell you for sure 20-28 at the very least WAR/DRG is a powerhouse, nothing else seems to come close... been hitting Sturmwinds for over 200DMG already(Rice Dumpling/Berzerk[No BRD]) as far as accuracy goes... not as high as high as it could be... but when I'm hitting for often 4x the dmg of other players using 1h weapons(15-20) and crticaling for their WS dmg(100-130), I really don't mind.^^

I do realize that the power of 2H weapons drops off, but that won't be before Lv37(It's a long way off) so I'm content with sticking to WAR/DRG till 37(Possibly beyond that if I actually decide to level NIN... I'll probably stick with /DRG until 54 if I do, then pick it up again @60)

It's incredibly fun to play!

I will be going with /DRG full time as soon as i get my Great Axe and Axe leveled..They are at skill 100 and my WAR is level 46 lol..

Things to note for the future of /DRG:

Barrone Gear
Rune Weapons (Great Axe, and Pole arm are very Sexy)
More Haste Gear.

Just want to keep this on first page if people get curious, not expecting to get sticky or anything. No update just yet.

A few more days til my computer arrives at my new home. Hopefully then I'll have the time to get the next level and parse out the Thick set. One thing I did want to say, the Coral gear is pretty damn good. A little less HP, a lot less enmity, 1 less str and 2 more dex from the NQs. Still need the find the HQ boots to try those vs the AF boots, but so far the NQ stuff has been performing rather nicely.

/Drg has the same inherrent defense as /Nin, as derived from Vitality. The only differences would be in gear.

/Mnk has about 1 more point of defense than /Drg.
/Thf has about 2 points less defense than /Drg.

Mini-guide to Warrior/Dragoon Tanking

1. Find a Good Support Team! Brd/Whm Rdm/Whm Blm/Whm is my preferred tanking support team. A good amount of MP to move around, some big emergency cures from the RDM or BLM to Divine Seal if needed, Bard can keep a regen song and an acc song on you at all times.

2. Save you TP! Build TP as quickly as you can on the first mob. Every mob after that, try to open with a WS followed by a Jump. This will help the mob die faster and also cement some hate onto you right after using Provoke.

3. Avoid Tanking with Axe and Shield in XP. While it is possible, you will usually not generate enough hate to keep the mob on you.

4. Invest in enmity+ gear. Do so carefully. If you can get some enmity on a ring or earring go for it, if its on a belt or other item, be wary as to its defensive and offensive bonuses and defects.

5. Have Fun.
Suggestions

1.Create the following Macro:
/target <bt>
/ja "Jump" <bt>
/wait 2
/ja "Provoke" <bt>
/wait 2
/attack <bt>

Use this macro as soon as the mob is in range. Spam until Jump procs and then wait for the rest to follow.

2.Use Jump when TP is 0-12% or directly after a WS. In the first usage, it allows you to build TP faster while adding some hate as long as it lands. In the second usage, it adds another hit to your WS every 1:30.

Example WS Macro:
/ws "Shield Break" <t>
/wait 2
/ja "Jump" <t>

Replace WS with your WS of choice. Suggested Weapon skills(Use as obtained):
Shield Break
Weapon Break
Full Break

3. Eat for Offense, Gear for Defense. Meat Mith or Chiefkabobs have always netted me good results when tanking, regardless of subjob. Get some good heavy armor, but don't sacrifice defense in excess of 3 points to do so. Use Defender at all times once it is available.

Example of Armor Choices:
Lv. 40 Breastplate is good for Pld Tanking.
Lv. 40 Royal Squire's Chainmail is good for Warrior DD and Tanking.

4. Always use the Great Axe. While you can, in theory, XP tank with an Axe and Shield Combo, at higher levels you just won't be putting up enough damage to keep the hate. Make your life easier by using the Great Axe. It is, after all, your friend.

edit: Spelling and Formatting.

Edited, Wed Mar 8 12:04:16 2006 by blz

This is kinda old, but meh. Hey Yarunk how about you go to and look up Sole sushi. How do you need a parse to do simple math? Take your base Axe skill at lets say level 65, which I happen to know Axe caps at 2 points less then you need for Mistral axe, so 245 (with accuracy gear equipped) x .15 = 36.75 Accuracy. Now lets say your wearing a Haubergeon and a Life Belt and Assault earring also. So 58.75 accuracy total congratulations you just figured out how much accuracy you have. Now lets say your using Hedgehog Pie and your wearing: Haubergeon (+10), Sniper's rings x2 (+10), Life Belt (+10), Peacock Charm (+10), Assault Earring (+2), Minuet Earring (+3), and AF pants (+3), with Hedgehog Pie (+5) = 53 Accuracy. Neither of these take into account DEX bonuses.

Wow your sushi just gave you a whole 5.75 more accuracy and my meat gives me (taking into account attack bonuses added on to skill, just like I did with gear on sushi) 265 x .18 = 47.7 Attack. Added together with my gear to a total of +89 Attack, Meat falls short of Sushi in accuracy by what 5-15 at the most (unless your piling on all accuracy gear + sushi which is diminishing returns), but beats sushi by almost 50 Attack and only gets a larger difference as you level.



I can count and compare.

Also talking about diminishing returns on attack how about you come back when you experience that? Unless your subbing MNK and boosting 12 times inbetween every attack I can guarantee your not experiencing it.


Edited, Wed Mar 8 16:30:07 2006 by Cailee

Why do you have /wait 2 in there? Wouldn't /wait 1 work instead? I would recomment that you do not use the <bt> macro, whenever I do that there have been too many times where I attack the mob that the mage chooses to sleep. /ja "Provoke" <bt> though works nicely when the thf is bringing the mob back to the party if we are camped in a winding tunnel. I typically prefer to use the f8 key to target the mobs as they come in.

I would also recommend that once you hit level 70+, you use High Jump as your opening move since high jump will shed what, 30%-50% or so of your current hate.

I am also curious about the usage of crossbows to try and increase your tp gain. I was in a lvl 56 or so party as dragoon, with two warriors and a thief. All 3 of them were using acid bolts/holy bolts on the crabs, insane activation rate, and insane tp gain. They had... I'd say about at least a 50% accuracy rate with the crossbows, I'd say more about 65%, lots of misses yeah, but more hits than misses. While I understand that bolts are expensive, I'm a little surprised that more warriors don't use them for their potential tp gain.

Self bumping and edited slightly, included the Mini-tanking guide in the main.

I say to save Jump for WS so that the haste is used to the best effect. This way, it is used to make it to 100TP faster since it throws in an extra delay free attack. I believe I said something to that, just not in the direct guide.

I don't like to put up the DPS per weapon, because honestly I don't see the variety of great axes being that great at any level range to require it.

War/Drg specializes in the Great Axe. While you can use the 1 Handed Axe, and the Haste from Earring + Shield is okay, it's still nothing great. When it come's to 1 handed Axe, Pre-Mistral Axe, War/Nin, Mistral Axe+, /Thf has been my favorite.

In ballista as War/Drg, Great Axe still wins. You can take on a fellow war, regardless of his sub, to about the same degree of success as you can take on a Drk. Sam's, it's a race for WS's. So far, I've been dead split vs. Sam's(3/6), Drk's are pretty easy(8/10), Mnk's are a pain if Chakra is ready(3/9), and Thf/Nin's are the worst(0/6)!

I was offering this to the more advanced wars, as it requires having an unlockable job leveled to sub. As that is, I was under the blind hope that people would inherently recognize that Great Axe caps higher than Axe, offering from your numbers at 66 5 more Attack and Accuracy(assuming the just rounding to the 1:1 instead of the 1:0.9 or whatever it was, I forget offhand) than an Axe. That's a free snipers(or at least jaeger's ring) right there just by using a Gaxxx.

re-bump to first page.

You think that's a pain? Try deleveling Nin back to 20 so you have it for 40-caps if needed but wont be asked to use it higher up.

Drg does level pretty quickly though, at least did for me.

Well, this is a bit off the topic of War/Drg, but I find hate keeping is really best with Damage. With your one handed sword and your lorica, the extra enmity per hit would help quite a bit, but heavy damage would've been even better.

Also, check the list of the immunity/doube effect chart, and you can Tank very easily with a Great Axe. Weapon Break will cut the damage you take down to a minimum, Shield Break obviously helps take it out sooner, Armor break for the same.

Now if the War/Nin had decided to equip their Lorica also, you wouldn't have been tanking period. This is pretty much a case where your AF won out the day.

Now if you REALLY want to plaster hate as a solo tanker and are static with that Brd:

Pop Defender. Use Attack Food. Get Dual Minuets. Your Accuracy Gear(Aggressor up whenever possible) should keep hate off of everything but a BLM bursting AM or stronger. And if that happens, and voke isn't ready, Warcry will plaster it back to you easily. This is for tanking with a Great Axe with any sub and a bard.

What the Jumps Do?

Both Jumps are:
Deal Direct Damage
Are Delay Free(They do not take up an attack round)
Capable of Double Attacking
Are an enhanced melee hit(more likely to critical, accuracy same as your melee accuracy)

Jump(Lv. 10):
Has a high Critical Damage rating(hits Crit hits more often than not)

My highest jump to date as /drg: 750 vs. Steelshell

High Jump(Lv. 35):
Has a lower base damage typically
Has a lower Critical Damage rating(Crit hits less often)
When it does not Double Attack, DOES shed 50% hate /drg. Advised for use in a WS Macro such as:

/ws "Raging Rush" <t>
/wait 3
/ja "Jump" <bt>
/wait 2
/ja "High Jump" <bt>

Effect of above macro:
Upgrades Raging Rush into a 5-hit WS without DA attacks and sheds 50% hate after performing it.

Highest Potential of above Macro:
10-hit if DA fires on all swings of Raging Rush and both Jumps


Also, it really is important to note: There are no Bonus Modifiers to enhance Jump damage unless it is Accuracy. This ties in with a theory I had for a long time(and has proven to work on many levels) that Drg damage is calculated with an Acc modifier.

Proof of the Theory: Stacking acc regularly increasing my normal melee hits 10-15 points(tested a long long time ago, while testing Penta Thrust and Skewer with Sushi vs. Meat).

Shield Mastery=Paladin and they gain TP. Warrior still doesn't. Great Axe still seems to be the way.

1) If you read the guide, you'll notice I'm a champion of Acc gear anyway. Thick set FTW!

2) Using Jumps post-WS or 0-16%TP does help it build faster for spamming.

3) 5 hit RR = The WS + Jump + High Jump, but this method sheds hate. Don't use it to gain hate.

4) Jump TP Gain(without items like barone/conte) is same as your regular Melee TP gain. With Barone/Conte that adds Jump TP+ it is 2 points more(16 per jump instead of 14 per with the barone)

5) High Jump CAN Steal TP From the Mob. However, this is not part of the regular job trait. This is when it is used in Conjunction with Spirit Surge.

Spirit Surge does the following:
Jump(10): Lowers the Mob Defense
High Jump(35): Lowers the Mob TP
Super Jump(50): Lowers the Hate of the Person Directly behind the Drg

Since it uses a 2 hour to do this, War/Drg can NOT remove Mob TP via High Jump.

6) Yes, the Jumps will give the same effect. Jump will do damage, High Jump will shed hate, approximately 50% while subbed.


7) The Acc increasing melee damage was something I noted specifically about Drg, and has not yet applied to any other job.

Wow, I'd never even consisdered WAR/DRG before. Rate up for an excellent job. That must've taken forever.

Well, I guess I can be one of the few to post his experience with a war/drg in a meri-deco-po.

Partied a couple weeks back with a galka war75/drg, who had very good gear. He was parsed as the 3rd best out of 4 wars, the other 3 (including myself) subbing nin.

there were two axe/axe combos and an axe/joy combo(me), each very decently equipped. All wars were merited, but I dont know to what degree (maxed merits or near max, etc)

Now, back to the war/drg.

He used rune chopper, and had good attack/acc gear for TP (Ada-celata, haub, af2 gloves,barone legs, etc) and switched to heca hat, gloves, feet, and body for WS (Raging Rush) which was averaging 800-1200 (1700 with MS, but that doesnt count! :D). Jump and High jump kept him very close with me on tp. He had that wyv earring as well, merited MP for the haste effect, and did extremely well. Hate wasnt too much of a problem, as the other wars could voke when it did turn to him after his beastly WSes.

In conclusion, I think its very good sub, even for meriting, due to the raw haste you can have. Although you need a lot of good gear to make it really really good. I'm interested to see your experiences 70+ as well. Keep up on the good work, Blz!

I'm assuming it was because of all the heca gear he was swapping in.

How close did he parse to the top 2?

Did he have enough MP to make rune chopper work? How did he go about refreshing his MP?

Thats a very not smart way of looking at it. Especially when Walahra turban gives you 30 MP to go with that haste.

My point isn't about them being related, but rather about the point usage for the merits if the Gax merit wasn't capped out yet.

The problem with it is the Damage per hit difference really. If he has a Berserker's Axe, ask him to use it and try again and see how he parses with just the Wyvern Earring, and using an appropriate meat. I'll test it myself also once I start running merits, just haven't been interested to get involved with all that yet.