FFXIV: Dawntrail Lancer/Dragoon 1 to 100 Leveling Skills Guide

[@outsiderXIII]

The dragoon player base was dying thanks for being a true gooner

[@pseudonymmcfakename7548]

The opening joke alone deserves a hearty like from me

[@shard4155]

A note on Battle Litany/Life Surge The two buff does have a synergy, Life Surge's tooltip mention that damage is also increased while under any effect that raise critical hit rate, like Battle Litany

[@WeskAlber]

Honestly I somehow forgot about that.

[@ode-blu]

so it works with any buff that increase crit, like brotherhood? does it stack?

[@shard4155]

@@ode-blu yup, it's work for any buff that affect crit rate (so wanderer's minuets, battle voice, devilement and any other I may have missed) and stacks with other damage buffs

[@WeskAlber]

@@ode-blu correct

[@azuma9047]

Brotherhood doesn't increase crit rate though. Battle voice is also only a 20% direct hit rate boost which also does not affect life surge.

[@AtiorasLunaris]

“… threatened with a job rework but not have it happen-“ “What if we just yoink 2 Nastrond ready stacks?”

[@TheRismint]

I can hear the passion you have for this job through your voice. Neat video, will definitely revisit when I finally unlock Dragoon! You're invaluable to all my job leveling experiences

[@ChicoScience97]

Hi Kyle!! Thanks for this awesome guide. I can continue leveling DRG now.

[@thesunthrone]

Thank you for the detailed breakdown! I was a bit surprised to get back to leveling an alt dragoon in the 60s range along with some of the finer changes to the abilities, so this was great help!

[@Subtended]

A couple notes about the jumps that might clarify things for newbies: Jump/High Jump do say in their tooltips that they return you to your original location, functionally, this means your hitbox does not move, and you cannot use it to dodge AoEs by hitting a distant enemy. Because your hitbox doesn't move, using Jump/High Jump *into* an AoE *should* be safe, but probably not worth the risk (Jump/High Jump used to have weird hitbox shenanigans until relatively recently, uncertain if any of it remains despite claims). Dragonfire Dive and Stardiver will both move you to the target (not explicitly in the tooltips, but mentioned by Wesk at 13:12 and 26:51 respectively). Man, losing Eye of the Dragon buffs on Mirage Dive really tanked its value. (insert Chie Satonaka "T r I a L o F t H e D r A g O n")

[@axis1247]

God reading that description hurt. RIP my fellow Gooners

[@TheFrantic5]

Awesome work, sir. Thank you for keeping up with the series and in order of most changes.

[@phexsten]

I have a buddy named Kyle who mains DRG. I bought pissed myself laughing at the opening. Thank you sir, this video was a gift, and I will never stop screaming YOUR NAME IS KYLE at him while we are playing.

[@sirlenemodesto2665]

Oh shit it's Dragooners time

[@TheSkewedReality]

I'm glad I watched this. I didn't have winged glide on my bar because I only got to 56 before dt started and haven't gotten back to leaving it. Thanks for another amazing video wesk!

[@steveaustin4118]

I love your guides they are so in depth and you show the rotation so it's easier to follow

[@aggonee150]

Thank you for another great guide! I have been debating on DRG or RPR to push High End content and your guides just make it so easy for me to practice and see if I would be good at DRG.

[@ode-blu]

I'll always remember that DRG that elusive jump into the ghost circle right after his limit break in a really tight window before the ghost wiping attack on deadwalk. instant commendation.

[@tanukiwi]

thank you for the dragoon guide! i was waiting for it as a fellow dragoon main and hmmm i may have been using the buffs a bit earlier than i should...😅 time to hit the dummy for practice...!

[@WeskAlber]

@@tanukiwi As i mention there are a few openers

[@zyphreiumv4529]

'Hmm, I wonder what Wesk's opinion on the DRG update is-' *sees the description when searching for the guide* 'ah'

[@Xorua]

Jobs that were promised a rework: - Astrologian - Dragoon Jobs that got a rework: - Astrologian - Black Mage - Monk - Ninja - Samurai - Viper - Black Mage - Monk Also this might come across as whiney but is anyone else not a fan of the current Balance opener? I only looked it up recently and apparently I’ve technically been doing it wrong, but I honestly just prefer the flow of the “anti-triple weave” opener right now Another great video as always, Wesk

[@lemontonk]

i mean dragoon DEF had more changes than sam but yeah

[@mafuran8840]

We've been told long ago that the rework would be minor. I don't know why people were expecting such a huge damn change after being told not to expect a full blown rework, but I guess that's the average ff14 player base for you...

[@WeskAlber]

I mean, don't cast stones in glass houses. We were told the Dragoon rework was due to it being "too busy." To make DRG less busy, you would need to remove a bunch of stuff. Meanwhile the changes are on the end of being the same level, or outright busier than in EW. EW DRG itself is down a bunch of oGCDs for the 2m window, but at 100 the rotation has hit a new level. Further, in no way do I say what Dragoon, Ninja, and Samurai got as reworks. Rotationally you still handle GCDs and Mirage Dive the same way, but put less care on it. Ninja, Huton was a dead skill since like, ShB, it took a minute of downtime for you to ever lose Huton, and in EW they gave us Huraijin which completely negated the existence of Huton beyond something you "had" to do pre-pull. There was no opportunity cost, or something to manage. Even something like RPR's Soul Sow which is also just "obligatory to hit" has an opportunity cost associated. And SAM, as huge as Tsubame's change is, it doesn't make a difference to what I would call a "Rework." So yeah, before you start throwing shade there mafuran, look into a mirror and actually pay attention to the context of what we were given.

[@WhnNinjasAttack]

"Also this might come across as whiney " Yes

[@cranodl3344]

This is the most underrated channel on YT.

[@TheKarishi]

Thanks as always. You continue to be a class act.

[@m-zero3146]

Wow Double weave for the whole opener (except Stardiver, of course). And some people still complain the job isn't busy. To me, this is called busy especially jobs with many weird cooldown abilities (non 60x sec cooldown) because mostly they need manual tracking, and most of the time, I missed when to hit.

[@zordiark9673]

I would say its feels as busy as Nin is in the Opener. Funny thing is.. the more Busy a Class gets, the less effective it is in the long Run. Viper is as easy as it could be and is a Monster compared to Dragoon and Nin which are way harder to play good.

[@BitterBlack]

Thought I wouldn't need this as a Dragoon main since Heavensward but that move of Battle Litany and such one GCD forward from how it was in Endwalker was unexpected! I also didn't catch that we have one less positional to worry about during a combo, I was still zigzaging between rear and flank haha. Thanks for the guide.

[@FoxyzinnFFXIV]

By the way, if you jump as you use High Jump you keep moving forward without the animation lock.

[@Bonzi77]

i was super nervous about the dragoon rework going into dawntrail, but between the upgraded 2nd combo attacks (GOD i love spiral blow's animation) and the new extra ogcd buttons to mash, along with the geirskogul/nastrond rework, dragoon's burst phase has honestly never felt more satisfying to me. i'll always be disappointed by the more utility and jank team-based skills going away, but the emphasized vibes of having a nice smooth filler phase attached to such an insanely active burst phase is still satisfying after all these years.

[@kinda_random335]

Excited to actually work on this class. If you play other ff games. You have to admit dragoon characters have always been badass. Looking at you ff9

[@LeoHiranoo]

Great guide, as always! What's your recommendation on pre Lvl 90 Life Surge after the opener? Use on cooldown, even on not optimal GCDs to fit 3 every 120s rotation, or use only on Drakesbane/Full Trust?

[@WeskAlber]

you will always be able to use on Drake/Full, just make sure to use them before the CD rolls over and overcaps you

[@Noelle-M4]

Only 1 month later, and this is already inaccurate, why did they get rid of 3 nastrond

[@Wanderingsage7]

Life Surge: literally better than a sharp stick in the eye. In my experience, piercing talon is the only attack likely to go off while running a pull until you get your aoe The gap closer: ...eh, it's neat. I was waiting for the 'rework' to start leveling Dragoon so this is very appreciated.

[@renivaldodasilva1374]

Olá estava mesmo precisando de um guia de dragoon, obrigado pelo ótimo vídeo.

[@Takanuva9807]

Ah, the dragoon guide. While I trust most of these guides, this one is definitely this most loved. Hopefully, this brings more dragoons into the....... what do you call a group of dragoons? A clutch, heard, cornucopia?

[@trevaughnmorris7487]

For the wyrmwind thrust love how you said “ But with a pointless 10s cd”😂

[@NibelungJ]

Thanks for the guide. I love watching a good Dragoon. Such a shame it's a job that I'll forever bench on my inability to double weave without clipping (live a continent away from the servers).

[@antinotice]

Wait - since when Fang and Claw -> Wheeling Thrust (and the opposite) is gone? I remember getting to that part and it annoyed me to no end - 2 different positionals next to each other when you also have double-weaves and jump animation locks was too much. True North helped but it wasn't always available (I kept one charge for emergencies). So instead linking those two skills there's non-positional combo finisher that's also be life surge spender? And there's less animation locking on jumps? What a fantastic QoL changes.

[@WeskAlber]

Yeah, it's gone. One of the worst changes they made to the job tbh. Drakesbane looks cool but I hate that it exists.

[@johnathanbutler8241]

Hey Wesk...LETS GOOOOO!

[@Redfield253]

I was crying at the bar laat night over losing Dragon Sight. Its been months and i still feel heaftbroken

[@Seth6097]

🙌new upload 🎉

[@mackiebermudez4790]

I didnt read the description, im wondering why im not getting another 2 more nostrond wtf thats why they removed it. T_T

[@Songfulfire]

I know that dragoons were a little worried about job changes, but ultimately it was tweaked more than it was reworked. It's still really fun and really busy. They could have adjusted some of those aoe level skills though imo.

[@chipslight738]

I'm curious but in this video as well as the previous one, you seemed to be using Stone, Sky, Sea at different level caps. Is it a new feature in Dawntrail or something else entirely ? I thought SSS didn't have level sync.

[@WeskAlber]

The first option of SSS has level sync! This was a fairly new thing I discovered and I honestly forget how. But the first SSS option at each cap is a basic, ilvl and level synced dummy.

[@chipslight738]

@@WeskAlber Oh that's neat, now that I know the feature, I'll probably use it from time to time to refresh myself on lower level roation. Speaking of rotation and opener, wouldn't it be better to put Life Charge before Chaotic Spring so that the DoT also gets buffed ? Or putting it this early might create a dealignment down the line ?

[@WeskAlber]

You missed that when I discussed in Chaos Thrust. DoTs can crit, but Life does not make DoTs crit.

[@chipslight738]

@@WeskAlber Oh my bad, I meant Lance Charge.

[@WeskAlber]

As mentioned, we're focusing on how much we're being buffed by party buffs, and how much we're buffing them. There are multiple ways of doing DRG openers, each with different given contexts such as selfish and party buffs. I went with Party Buffing for a couple reasons, mostly just assuming you might get decent players.

[@petrusspinelli6661]

I really like the changes they made Because of lag and ping, i could never fit all the nastronds and gcd's under Life windows, but now all i lose is the final Wyrmwind that goes off just 1 or 2 secods after Life ends , so now i feel less bad while playing Dragoon! Heaven's Thrust is the best animation in this game and no one can convince me otherwhise

[@Leivve]

Literally just finished a different class, and decided to start leveling Dragoon.

[@TheLunarLegend]

Blood of the dragon with the F4 is a great little joke lol

[@sunrise_flare]

man I wish there wasn't so much more weaving now than in shadowbringers, I can't even play it in high lag anymore, it used to be my saving grace for melee dps :(

[@Narlaw1199]

Finally, the one true job.

[@sirlenemodesto2665]

Unfortunate turn of events with 7.1 but I'm sure it will be reverted by the next x.1 update...prabably? I'm more interesting in the buffing of the eanged attacks, what's up with that?

[@WeskAlber]

It makes sense since DRG had the 0 ranged options. NIN is built around them, Tornado Kick is actually good and gives sprint, SAM has Enhanced Enpi, RPR has Enhanced Harp and Soul Sow, and Viper is just busted. Now it's a decent ranged option now that we're getting fights with forced disconnects.

[@JNexTV]

Are you redoing the Viper guide since it got reworked after you did it?

[@WeskAlber]

see the viper guide

[@raarasunai4896]

I’m surprised this wasn’t saved for last as his main

[@hockey1973]

Hello Kyle

[@stupidname15]

I miss karaoke openers from earlier levels :c

[@NotGuy64]

wish starcross had a bit more range :/

[@xCaLLMeGHeTTo]

Going from picto to this is gonna kill me srs

[@sctorus]

"I am named Kyle" XD

[@ode-blu]

i thought his name was nidhogg

[@LawHeartfillia]

Im playing a game where I guess the next levelling video. I got it wrong this time. (Thought it'd be GNB)

[@iyoub6931]

You have to start including the potion in the opener, yeah I know it's not necessary in normal content but neither is a perfect opener necessary either. Make your guides complete with the inclusion of potions in the opener.

[@WeskAlber]

@@iyoub6931 but I did

[@lushdontu4015]

Dragoon is so boring. How can anyone play it?

[@WeskAlber]

By the fact that not everyone is as joyless as you?

[@lushdontu4015]

@WeskAlber so because I said dragoon is boring, I'm joyless?

[@WeskAlber]

@@lushdontu4015 Because you're going onto a video to teach players how to play Dragoon and potentially even enjoy it for their own personal reasons and judging them for enjoying it even though you don't, you're joyless.

[@lushdontu4015]

@WeskAlber but I am only 16. You are a grown person calling a kid joyless. I am a fan of you don't do that to your followers

[@WeskAlber]

@@lushdontu4015 Supposed age and follow status don't make you immune to being called out. Acting like people are stupid for liking something you don't isn't something age allows you to do. I will go up and down about how much I hate scholar and how expedient is objectively terrible but I never discount the power or play style of the job. That some people like the jank and toolkit despite my hate. Your dislike of dragoon doesn't make everyone else fools playing something boring

[@VainEldritch]

Wunderbar!