The Last Dance: Gearing Paradigms For A New Age

Maxixi +1 hands were cheap, prices for B.ingot on Sylph are really low now.

My jobs for groups are samurai and white mage. Almost any time I would use dancer, samurai will do better damage. I can put out a 5-15k Fudo every couple of seconds on SAM when fully buffed, plus skillchain damage. Dancer doesn't have anything to match that. I can even do more piercing damage on samurai, with Apex Arrow (soon Namas). Hell, if I can get enough buffs, I could use Eminent Polearm with Stardiver spam and probably outdo dancer.

I'm not knocking dancer, I think it's a fun job, but it's just my farming job. I use it for Dynamis and Salvage, reive/WKR, Skirmish1/2, etc. Thief would be better in Dyna, but thief is also a garbage job which I don't find fun to play.

You don't have to work to convince me that DNC isn't going to get much mileage for current difficult content. I'm just wondering what's the point of even having this discussion if we're going to stick with this premise that we're only using DNC for laughs.

Again: if you're seriously saying there's no reason to consider the possibility of using DNC on any non-fodder content (even if someone blessed with the time and resources to level and kit a job for pure utility might not have one), why not just tell everybody to get spark gear and spend the time they've saved doing the Dynamis farming they were just going to end up doing anyway?


If you're using regular Wailing Stones, you're looking at at most 6 accuracy and 2 PDT, so you're trading 11 attack for 3 accuracy over Horos +1 AT BEST if you're going to go cheap like that. Also, your 500k figure ignores simulacra costs for getting the base piece/a translurry you could use on something else.



You could make this argument for using reforged AF vs. Relic for any job but you wouldn't see any of the other forum guides claiming this made AF better, and beyond that surely you must at least concede that a dude with a mythic sweating the price of a bzat stinger is so weird.

Having a decent set of (mostly) 119 gear really helps for reives and Salvage farming. Last night I just did my first Salvage in a while, using my upgraded dancer for the first time, and it was faster as well as easier. For Dyna, I'm not sure sparks gear can net you the 400-500 currency that a properly-geared dancer can bang out (others can probably answer that). So I don't feel like I wasted my time and chapters.

edit: if I had a dancer mythic I guess I'd have relic hands too, and every goody for dancer, but you can't really argue that artifact hands are equal or better on fodder.

Also, stinger is about the most expensive mat for any relic piece, probably because of thief and monk hands? Relic hands are over 12 times as expensive!

One weapon skill with an eminent dagger kills a DC in dynamis; the limiting factor is procs, not kill speed.

In my experience, breaking 400 involves going after NMs in cities, for which I have found my defense to be way more relevant than my damage. Honestly, I don't even use Charis Body anymore; it's just not worth the defensive loss.

I agree soloing 99 Salvage definitely gets easier with better gear, though.


I'm not saying otherwise! I'm just wondering why anybody cares!


They are IIRC the "best" way to get Goldsmithing to 110 (Sharur), which has probably led to a spike since the last patch. Also, nobody wants to do bee, like, ever.

I averaged over 400 currency a run in dreamland Dynamis last fall, with inferior gear to what I use now (also minus 1 tier of Treasure Hunter), as long as I had no more than one other person as competition, and as long as that other person was not a geared beastmaster hogging all of the mobs. I'd be surprised if a sparks-geared dancer could sustain that kind of kill speed. Maybe a combination of sparks gear and Wildskeeper stuff, you could probably put together an effective set like that, Eminent/OAT dagger and so on. I agree that there's diminishing returns with gearing dancer for farming, though.

In fairness, a thrown-together DNC probably couldn't have done that last fall, because he'd be capping out at 2k or so for his WSes. In spark/top-shelf bayld gear, though, the same guy is now pushing 4k. He's boxed in by procs.

EDIT: at some point I'm going to break off from cities and start sealing my SJ in Dreamlands and see how that goes.

DNC is my only 99 atm and I absolutely love the job. I'm a casual player and haven't really started in SoA and endgame, but I do realize DNC is not a sought after job.

I'm currently doing dynamis and limbus, and all of that easier content. I've just started looking at soloing/duoing some Delve field NM's and also some AA fights (MR for Felistris Mask). I don't have an REM weapon or anything and don't think I ever will but I still want to be the best I can be on the job that I love to play and have a lot of fun on.

I'll be unlocking COR very shortly (so much to do, so little time ><) and gearing that up to be more useful at endgame but DNC will always be my go-to job for solo/duo stuff.

Anyway, thanks for your comments, I've changed my mind again! Gonna skip Maxixi and shoot for Horos for the slightly better stats (and to match my awesome toe shoes!). :)

I was wondering if there is anyone that has recently updated gear sets for static and weaponskills. With all the new gear out there and fancy macro updates I figure there has to be some new equiptment I may have missed. Oh and what path is best for sabebus? I am guessing path A but double attack on path 3 seems kinda nice too.

A new ability, Contradance, will be added.
Contradance (Dancer Lv.50, Recast time: 5 minutes, Effect duration: 60 sec.)
The next waltz used while under the effects of Contradance will restore an increased amount of HP. If Healing Waltz was used, the effect will extend to an area centered on the target player.

The maximum Step level will be increased, @ 99 10steps

So we can now do:
23% Defense Down from Lv10 Box Step
-44 Evasion from Lv10 Quickstep
-12% Critical hit evasion from Feather Step
?? from Stutter Step (probably something like -44 MEva)

And Divine Waltz complete with Divine Veil.



We can build 3 levels of Step every 30 seconds, so it should take us about 1:30 to cap a step potency to level 10. We also won't hit the annoyingly low "you don't get FMs anymore" point after 3 steps, which is kind of nice.

Unfortunately, this fails to address the major weakness of Steps (JA Delay). It's an improvement to the job, but I wish they would have just scaled potency up at higher levels instead of making us use more steps (more JA delay + takes longer) for the greater effect.

I know this is a bit of a necro-reply, but since I just dusted off the ol' DNC the other day and was looking at gear I had to add to the hand gear discussion on the previous page, in which Qaaxo A was surprisingly not mentioned.

Qaaxo A hands (R15) beat everything else for TP in basically every situation.

Qaaxo A: STR+8 DEX+30 Acc+10 Atk+15 Eva+39 DA+2%

Maxixi+1: STR+11 DEX+35 Atk+15 Eva+24

Horos+1: STR+11 DEX+35 Acc+11 Atk+11 Eva+35

Iuitl+1: STR+9 DEX+33 Acc+8 Eva+24 (plus augments... Acc, DA, Crit, etc.)

So Qaaxo are slightly behind in STR/DEX, but have the huge benefit of DA+2% plus a good amount of both Acc and Atk, and best EVA is a nice little bonus.

Weak stuff? The DA on Qaaxo is fantastic, and maybe some benefit from atk if you're not capping it already.

Hard stuff? Supposing you're actually bringing DNC, the modest Acc loss from using Qaaxo A versus the max Acc choices is likely easily outweighed by Qaaxo's combination of DA/Acc/Atk. If you need the Acc/PDT combo, Umuthi does the job just fine (STR+11 DEX+35 Acc+13 PDT-4%)... pretty similar to an Acc/DT Iuitl+1 hands, without having to dump stones into random augments in hopes of good Acc/DT augments.

Maxixi+1 do retain a place for Step macros though to make sure you hit your steps, arguably now becoming more important as we get additional levels of steps soon.

For whatever it's worth, I've been having a blast using DNC in Incursion since the update.

On the way to NMs, I act mostly as puller with a little DD mixed in as the run allows.

On the NMs, you can hold the NM and work on getting steps up while group kills adds. Fan Dance and a DT set is pretty handy for that! Box Step to 10 really helps speed up NM kills, Haste Samba is always nice (when you're not in Fan Dance), and I've even found Divine/Healing Waltzes pretty helpful (I'm usually not running with a Yagrush WHM). And of course, a moderate DD contribution too. It's the most useful I've felt on DNC in an event in a loooooooong time.

In addition to my normal DD/TP sets, I do bring a pretty heavy DT- set for holding NMs:
ItemSet 328642

My inventoryyyyyy:

Seems....pretty strong.

Dynamis procs going to be sweet

Hell yeah! check out the dnc buffs!

Also notable that, while you'll be in JA-delay hell, you can get level 10 steps up in as little as 30 seconds now. That makes DNC VERY helpful as a utility/debuff job. I've actually found that pretty useful since the level 10 step update on stuff like Incursion NMs.

Single step:
0:00: Presto+Step (level 2)
0:05: Step (level 3)
0:10: Step (level 4)
0:15: Presto+Step (level 6)
0:20: Step (level 7)
0:25: Step (level 8)
0:30: Presto+Step (level 10)

Realistically, makes it exceptionally easy to keep two level 10 steps active on anything that matters. As long as Amnesia doesn't get ya (hi Incursion NMs).

i hope that 5 sec steps will be DNC main only .

The DNC spreadsheet from 2014-10-10 does not account for Boost-DEX, no matter what you say. Reason for this being Data.B27:Data.E27 still checking for 'Boost-Str' instead of 'Boost-Dex'.

@Motenten It also does not reflect the CHR bonus to Flourishes III, does it?

Does the CHR buff to Flourishes III make Striking/Ternary potentially useful? I'm overflowing in FMs these days, to the point where I often have TP and FMs with Reverse Flourish not yet ready for recast. And I will always like to keep No Foot Rise around for instant FMs or pre-fight FMs, so that's even more FMs that I often have available for use.

(1) Ever worth bothering with the extra JA/delay/annoyance of Striking or Ternary + WS, for the shorter recast than Climactic? I'm guessing the answer is still no, am I wrong?

(2) If the answer to (1) is yes, is the Flourishes buff strong enough to make it worth considering CHR gear equipped during WS at all? I understand the boost is not for CHR equipped when using the JA, but when actually landing the Flourish-modified hit - so does it outweigh the traditional WS mods/stats, or just gear for WS as you would have before and consider any statvomit CHR as a little bonus?

Anyone who has looked into this more, would be interesting to see!

I'm pretty sure you are right. I'll try to come up with numbers to back up that claim during the day, but right now I have to work. ;-(


Since the CHR bonus only applies to the first hit, I'd consider it a nice bonus, but nothing to gear for in particular. Especially since you're most likely using Evisceration, which means that out of the 6+ hits you're going to deliver, only one of them is affected by the additional CHR mod.

When the changes were announced, my impression was that it might be worth using Striking when moving between monsters for one strong attack round / DA.

I have capped JPs and >190 banked, so until DNC is desired for some event I'm afraid I'm done playing the job. Let me know how it works for you.

Here is a spreadsheet that calculates Climactic/Striking/Ternary WS damage with the appropriate boost from CHR:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayejryvsfpzxfi5/DPS%20Calculator%20-%20Dnc.xlsx?dl=0

Think of them as ghetto-SATA.
Yes they add damage. But like Skudo said, it's only for the first hit. (Gogo Rudra's)
As for JAdelay problems.... THFs can SATA and WS without hurting, so too can DNC flourish and WS.

And the best news is that all the "light" armor DNC gets access to (not to mention RFs) have stupid high values of CHR anyways... So chances are, you're not gonna have to sacrifice any DEX or STR in a WS to get the boost of damage.
So I guess just think of it as an extra bonus. (And iirc I think Byrth tested them and SF and TF have 100%CHR mod? CF has 50%. I might have those backwards.)

Totally not backwards.

Anyone has updated sets for a returning DNC? Looking for TP/Rudra or any WS you can provide? Have full Iuitl+1, 109 AF/relic doable pretty quickly and Iziikioh/Sabebus R15A if it matters, for Dynamis/Slavage needs ;) Open to all gear suggestions!

While they may not be perfect, the sets below are at least pretty good as of October 2014. Please suggest edits if you see something!

Dual Wield/solo:
If you're purely solo without Marches/Haste (including from Trusts) - like for Dyna/Salvage - you'll want to gear heavily for DW.
ItemSet 329333
*Hands are something like Nom+1 > Qaaxo C > Iuitl+1 (with DA or Crit+1 augs) > Qaaxo A > the rest
*Augmented Toetapper Mantle from Incursion can be augmented with DW +2%~5% (I think that's the range), DW+3% or more will beat Vell.+1.
*Qaaxo path A feet are best, and are quite similar to Iuitl+1 (DA+2 augment) with Skirmish augments obviously being highly random.

With buffs:
2 sets shown, one with no concern for Acc and one high Acc. Obviously you'll want to balance as appropriate for what you're fighting. When buffed with Marches/Haste (and hitting delay reduction cap of 80% reduction), you'll want to avoid excess Dual Wield that (a) isn't helping you and (b) actually hurts you a bit by slightly reducing TP/hit.

Note that "buffs" does include Trusts, you can cap delay reduction easily on DNC with Trust Bards (2x Trust Marches and Haste 1 = needs either DW+6 or Haste Samba to cap delay reduction, Samba actually exceeds cap and slightly reduces TP/hit). If I'm solo with Trusts I generally just go with Brutal+Suppa and no other DW gear and don't bother with Haste Samba, use a BRD and Haste 1 mage, and am satisfied with 79.69% reduction - just under the 80% cap.

(a) TP - buffs, low acc:
ItemSet 329909
*Qaaxo feet are path A. Iuitl+1 and good ol' Manibozho Boots are also good.

(b) TP - buffs, high acc:
(obviously overkill for a lot of content, especially with DNC's native Accuracy Bonus III trait and the likelihood of using Acc+/mob eva- buffs/debuffs - including DNC Quickstep - in such a situation):
ItemSet 329910
* Sabebus R15 path B, Qaaxo pieces path B (STR/Acc/PDT-)

*For legs, Qaaxo B/Ighwa/Maxixi+1 are all close. I err on the side of PDT-3% for situations where I really need heavy Acc since those mobs are typically dangerous enough that defense becomes a significant consideration.

*Ramuh Ring +1 is very expensive, and I generally just use Patricius for the nice combo of Acc/PDT- as noted above. Enlivened is a pretty good cheap choice.

*Olseni Belt is listed and has the most Acc, but there's a pretty hefty tradeoff of Atk+20/DA+1 versus my typical preference of Anguinus (either one supposing Acc is really needed enough to justify swapping out Windbuffet+1, which I'm usually reluctant to do).

Evisceration/Rudra
ItemSet 329913
*Uk'uxkaj cap DEX aug is best, but STR is still 2nd place option (and you may have STR augment as the best choice for other jobs)

Evisceration shown, but it and Rudra are basically the same. Only change I have from above is Kayapa Cape winning for Rudra.

Curing Waltz
Worth noting that Waltz Potency caps at 50%, which is not hard to do now (especially self-targeted). Stacking CHR is best after capped. Here's one way to hit 50% - actually 51% (56% on self-targeted):
ItemSet 329918
* Anwig Salade for recast -2sec or Desultor Tassets for TP cost-5 are also good options. Also the only two pieces that make a difference on Healing Waltz.


Most useful tip is to get an Atoyac ASAP and augment it with OAT/crit rate or OAT/WSdmg (I prefer crit rate). As an offhand, it destroys everything else when you don't need heavy accuracy. When you do need heavy accuracy, Sabebus B is good. Unfortunately for anyone who made them, Atoyac augments basically made Sabebus A/C completely outdated.

Small things that crossed my minds when I went over your post:


* Possible downgrades for Felistris Mask are Iuitl +1 (preferably with DA augment) and Uk'uxkaj Cap; mine has STR+/Haste+ on it.

* I think Qaaxo C (Store TP) for fodder is trying too hard. Also, somewhere between Nom +1 and Iuitl +1, you can put nilas gloves. Probably between Nom +1 and Qaaxo.

* Horos Toe Shoes +1 and 5/5 Closed Position are superior to any other option.


* Why Horos Tights +1? I'd just stick with Quiahuiz Trousers.

* Same thing applies for Horos Toe Shoes +1 here.


* You almost certainly won't ever need that much accuracy, unless you end up in Incursion CL 9001+. If you end up there, congratulations and please let me tell you that I'm damn mad jelly of you.

* Oh, and Horos Toe Shoes +1 blabla.


* I'm pretty certain it works like Cure received potency, as in it's 1.5 * 1.06 = 1.59. So +59% for self-targeted Waltzes.


Being so damn accurate now, hell would have to freeze over before I swap out my off-hand Atoyac. On anything solo-esque, up to Woh Gates, I don't have any trouble with Atoyac off-hand. That's lacking accuracy from Izhiikoh, too, both from literal accuracy+ and DEX+.

I take issue with this set because it tries too hard for max waltzing while ignoring a few things.

Flume+Ethereal earring, DT rings and neckpiece are more balanced and useful things to have in those appropriate lots.
Flume+Ethereal is highly recommended for hybrid sets/cure waltz sets and especially useful for self sustaining mp needs when using /RUN. A fantastic case to test your dnc/run skills and waltz set is to go solo tchakka to see the value in balancing dt/conversion to mp gear and waltz potency.

If you tank/pull hate in DM or D battlefields (Ouryu II, puppet in peril)you will regularly be the one tanking *and* possibly be swapping into your waltz set, so you cannot and should not ever ignore your -dt pieces. Also Iuitl legs with -dt augs are recommended as well.

Something like this is far more well rounded and useful and safer to swap to when you are tanking:

ItemSet 329922
I have fandance merits and for tanking the horos hands work for me, but you can substitute other -dt hands like umuthi/iuitl depending on your gear options

Thank you for the responses!

Good call on Nilas, one I overlooked.

I was actually referring to Qaaxo A feet, not C. And I have them anyway so why not use them? It's anyone's own call on whether anything is overkill on "fodder", but gear sets aren't usually based on "good enough". Personally, I like clearing Salvage faster or killing more mobs in Dyna, so I do make pretty decent solo/fodder sets.


I disagree, but to each his own. I think Closed Position is more a matter of taste anyway, I don't like it and don't have it merited. I'm at 1/5 Fan 4/5 Saber 5/5 NFR (and yes I get that some people don't like NFR, I love a free 1250 TP and 5 FMs in between mobs, or mid-fight for quick TP for a self SC)

Even if you DO want the Acc/Eva from CP merits, I don't like Horos shoes because I simply don't think Store TP is as valuable in practice to a fast-attacking DW job as it is on a spreadsheet. If you're not WSing instantly at 1000+ TP, you're wasting Store TP. If you get a DA/TA/QA/OAT proc that results in an extra hit above 1000tp, you're also wasting Store TP. I'm constantly going over 1000 on DNC, either from being busy doing other stuff and attacking at mega-fast capped delay reduction DW speed, or sometimes intentionally to hold TP for Waltzes.

So, I prefer Qaaxo feet. I have path A for solo/fodder/low acc required, and path B for Acc/PDT for hard stuff. I also have all 9 Qaaxo jobs, so I do get a bit more mileage out of the set than some people might.


Depending on your Saber Dance merits and use of the ability, Horos can win. They do on a variety of spreadsheet tests for me. Though yeah, Quiahuiz are still quite good.


Absolutely agreed, and I thought I made clear that the high Acc set was very likely heavy overkill. It's just showing Acc options, but you should certainly scale back to only use what you need. I really hate removing Atoyac, Windbuffet+1, and DA ear set.

Even more so for DNC than most jobs, super crazy Acc is very rarely needed due to native Acc Bonus trait, plus the fact that on content that evasive (where everyone else is hurt too) you're gonna be doing your best to keep up lv10 Quickstep. And you're gonna have other buffs/debuffs (BRD COR RDM GEO etc.), but that's not unique to DNC.


That Waltz set was indeed just for max potency, NOT for balancing tanking and DT. I don't really tend to use my DNC to tank hard stuff and keep hate with Waltzes, but if you do, yeah Sapphire has some good comments.

One issue though, Ethereal earring doesn't reduce damage taken. It just gives MP based on damage taken - not very important on DNC. If you're really trying for DT- in ear slots, better to use Colossus's, augmented Darkness Earrings, etc. Or maybe something like Trux for the Enmity+ for tanking (and if a DA proc slips in, great)

Honestly, if I was doing it for tanking I'd just hit 50% potency for self-Waltzes and fill other slots with DT- gear. Say: Maxixi+1 body (21%) and feet (10%), Horos+1 head (11%), Toetapper Mantle (5%), and maybe Roundel Earring (5%). Leaves room for the heavy hitter DT- pieces: Defending/Dark Rings, Flume Belt, Twilight Torque, etc. Hands you could go Horos+1 for Enmity, or a DT- option like Umuthi or Iuitl+1.

FWIW, my usual tanking set below (PDT-45%). I use this a bit recently for Incursion, holding NMs and starting steps to prep them for the group while they kill adds. Iuitl+1 stuff is all pretty good here too, I use the Qaaxo B legs/feet because I have em anyway and also use them on other non-Iuitl jobs (MNK NIN PUP etc.), and I hate the feeling of wasting money on Skirmish gear augments.
ItemSet 329937

Someone explain to me why stacking DEX on CF+Rudras is beating CHR stacked for CF+Rudras(when DEX and CHR are held the same)?

Would think 80% DEX mod ws, with say +100DEX would be a +80 base dmg increase. But CF is like Sneak Attack but for CHR, so has a 100% CHR mod, so 100 CHR would be +100 base damage?