The Last Dance II: The Show Must Go On

Now if i may change subjects a little bit... why Highwing Helm over Felistris mask for TP? I'm comparing some scenarios on the spreadsheet and Felistris have coming ahead in all of them.

I believe Skudo has Highwing winning in non attack capped scenarios.

which is always ever

Because SAM is totally the only other "solid DD". Nobody could possibly be using THF these days. Except for almost every DD in a pickup I've seen in the past month...


Not sure how keeping multiple steps up at lv10 for the benefit of the whole party, tossing in sambas, and still doing great damage is just "hitting ctrl 1", but OK. Sure, I'm just concerned with bragging about my big WS...

Are you complaining about SAMs who 'just want to WS and do damage' too? Because, you know, they could just fulltime Seigan, TP in full DT sets, and /DNC to do some waltzes if there's a bad WHM. To help that WHM out. That's better than being some showoff who wants to do damage just because the job *can* be a great DD, right?

Apparently you're violently opposed to just accepting that DNC is also a pretty damn amazing DD at the moment. That's too bad for you!


Main heal on DNC if you want, pick up the slack for a WHM who can't find their curaga macros! I will not be joining your terrible parties.

I have been in lousy parties too, I understand that sometimes I'm forced to use waltzes because people are terrible. I find my way out of those parties right away, and I damn sure don't go begging the leaders to get into them by justifying myself as a half-assed backup mage when I'm playing a job that just requires a delve weapon and half a clue to out-damage the vast majority of RME DDs.

It's idiotic crap like this "I can cure too, guys!" (and playing in that style) that makes non-DNC reluctant to invite you as a DD. How do you not see that?

For that matter, Iuitl+1 with DA+2 is tops in most scenarios I run into. I think Skudo was ignoring the admittedly obnoxious Skirmish aug system though in those recommendations.

One other piece of gear I think should show up is Haverton Ring for low haste situations. Blows Rajas away when you actually need the DW. Which for DNC is not very often considering party buffs or trusts, but it happens in true solo situations.

I wouldn't suggest any DNC get Haverton specifically for DNC, but depending on your mix of jobs it might fit. I'm really happy with mine, but it works for lots of my jobs. Best Racc/snapshot ring for my RNG COR, DW is at least useful in low buff situations for all DW jobs (I play NIN THF DNC BLU).

You're throwing a hissy fit because you're afraid other players might think that Dancer is a versatile job which can put out top tier damage?

Who cares what someone needs to say to get into a pick up group? As long as it works, you play well, and show the rest of the party how well you do as a DD.

No one is advocating the replacement of WHM with a DNC; but if ***happens and you come through with heals or stuns or whatever, aren't you helping your's and DNC's reputation among the naive?

You are right. I should switch them around, even though it's an increase of like ~1 dps only (over Highwing Helm). I did silently assume that any Iuitl piece I've posted is augmented with DA+2. I'll add some text for that.

For me, Highwing Helm won over Felistris Mask (on paper), because of both its ATK+ and fSTR+. In the end, like with Iuitl +1, it is a very small difference and it's always possible to find setups where one is better than the other; swap one piece of gear and suddenly, the other might pull ahead by ~1 dps.

Which is negligible in practice.


Adding some text.

Agreed, all three options are basically sidegrades. I personally stick to Iuitl+1 because of the defensive augments (mine's DA+2 PDT-4%), which come in pretty handy when you inevitably have mobs on you. But I also know I got super lucky to get the augment, and it's not all that reasonable to expect people to go after it if they also have one of the extremely similar alternatives.

BTW Skudo, the newly updated gear sets on the front page look really nice! Great job!

Just curious on the recent HQ3 Pyrrhic WS set. You used to have Horos Tiara +1 as max, but now have Ux hat. Is that only for attack cap situations now?

Yes. There are different sets for capped and uncapped attack now.

Looking over the guide, it seems like Ejekamal Mask is being sold short a little bit. I use it in Dynamis and Salvage farming still. Charis Body +2 has no haste, so that extra bit from the head slot is nice.

And people are arguing about whether dancer healing is a bonus or not? That's silly. Waltzes are obviously situational. Sometimes they can be awesome, as they have no cast time and there are fights where white mages will be very busy. Other times they are not going to be used at all, and that's ok too.

Much much much better to use Quiahuiz Trousers with a haste augment. You'll still hit haste cap while getting extra attack and DA damage bonus.

This is what I'd use for fodder-esque mobs, i. e. pretty much capped ATK, pretty much capped fSTR, and lack of iLevel body does not hurt too much.

ItemSet 332583

If you have DA+2 augments on iuitl headgear +1 or iuitl tights +1, then these combinations can be slightly better. Very slightly, even.

* iuitl headgear +1 + quiahuiz trousers
* ejekamal mask (augmented with something and Haste) + iuitl gaiters +1

In that order.

/edit: Derp, I have not looked into using sombra tights +1. I'll do that rq after dinner.

As you can see above, I've split 0% magic Haste and 15% magic Haste into two sets. This is the 0% set:

ItemSet 332588

An augmented Ejekamal Mask maintains capped gear Haste with Sombra Tights +1. It's the only viable use case for Ejekamal Mask though. If you don't (can't) use Sombra Tights (+1), Ejekamal Mask is "useless".

I threw Haste+FastCast augments on it, 11% haste +3FC in 1 slot is pretty nice for utsu casting for all those jobs that can wear it when they go /nin.

Avatar BC's, shadowlord, ouryu, and gessho with melee setup are all common scenarios I occasionally throw out some waltzes (usually divine IIs to recover the group from severe aoe).

I've been doing more battlefields with party size of just 3-5, with only people I know instead of adding random people (less lotting competition) so the value of situational waltzes is much higher because we roll with less backline support.
Its creating some artificial difficulty lowmanning and forcing oneself into a hybrid role but it sure spices things up.

underrated dancer things:
-swapping in Frenzy sallet for getting myself and a group out of random sleep(ga) (incursion, AA TT) 'cause i cant perpetually drink poison pots.
-Contradance Healing Waltz when you don't have a yagrush whm and everyone get bindga'd in a bad place (incursion) , atk/def debuffed etc. They really need to lower the recast on the JA tho...

Everytime I see nomkah. mittens +1 I cringe alittle cause I already own like 7 other pairs of gloves (Nilas gloves are my excuse for never burning gil on nomkah+1).

Aiming for best in slot for a set is cool, but my own advice I give to people when they ask me about gear is they should just get something rare/ex thats good for each slot like nilas(for gloves) and divert gil to another RME. Those +1 Su1 pieces are a price crash waiting to happen, I just can't ever see them being worth it.

Yep, FC and a large amount of haste for Utsu casting/recast is exactly what I use it for.


Does need a shorter recast. Maybe something like 3min default, but only 1min in Fan Dance...

Would also be kinda cool if Contradance while in Saber Dance allowed you to bypass the normal Waltz restriction.

Thanks for posting those sets. I'm going to rework mine a bit.


Good point.

so i was just looking at the tp sets on the front page and was wondering if anyone could offer some things to change for mine?
http://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/327086

im working towards a toetapper with augments but not a single one has dropped in incursion D: and my iutl has no DA so was wondering if there was a better hat? dont have felistris, might get the highwing thing though if i can. qaaxo gloves are a fine alternative instead of trying to get those shiva ones right?

Well, provided it's high buffs, i'd take out patentia sash for windy +1. Apart from that, we're pretty similar. Idk much about qaaxo hands, i used to wear horos before i grew some balls and bought Nomkahpa +1

well with 200k to my name that would be a big purchase :P i usually switch patentia to my windbuffet NQ though when i dont need DW. would it be better to have horos body over qaaxo, or thaumas in high buff? i have all 3

I guess that depends more on the taget than on the haste situation. Since acc-wise Thaumas < Qaaxo < Horos. I guess the change that would depend on the haste would be Charis +2 to any of these three.

When it's late at night, I get brave and post things

One thing on this guide i'm bringing to question is the lack of mention of /DRG as a support job

I personally am not a huge number cruncher but, in a DD sense, I've used /DRG for quite a few things:

. Comes with ATK Bonus
. Jumps for shedding Enmity (in party situations)
. Wyvern Earring

Here's a set utilizing the earring:
D:
It's a set mainly for fodder, and could make ACC adjustments pretty easily

I'm no revolutionist xD just wondering if this is/isn't valid, and why not if it isn't- Thank You!

can anybody post best pdt set I can work on for dnc I no they working on it but I want too see what I need work on :).

Video released today says they're going to increase the finishing move cap (via Gifts). The obvious next question is "What effect will this have on Climactic and Reverse Flourish?"

Their wording indicates they will likely continue to consume all FMs. With Charis Bangles +2 and a RF+30 cape, we'd be looking to get back:
5 FMs - 1150 TP
6 FMs - 1440 TP
7 FMs - 1760 TP
...
10 FMs - 2900 TP

It'd be nice for them to adjust climactic to only consume up to 5...
If only for double Rudra purposes... (Or 3 really.)
But if it continues to eat them all...
And if the JT doubles the current cap of 5....
Even if it only added 3....
That would make every possible hit in a round crit.
(Now if only there was a way to *regularly* TA AND climactic flourish Kleos!)

Woo terpaderp extra FM bonus becomes more useful now.
Ipetam with another augment slot coming could be pretty beastly, dunno if it could ever make a good offhand, i'm hopelessly addicted to offhand OaT+Stp atoyac.

The biggest mistake people make when evaluating subjob choices for any job is doing so in a vacuum. It's not about what /DRG gets you; it's about what /DRG gets you compared to a different choice.


/DRG gets Attack Bonus I. That's 10 Attack.

That would be crummy on its own, but as far as raw stat bonuses via subjob it has to compete with /WAR, which gets the same trait, AND Berserk, Warcry, and Aggressor; /SAM, with Store TP; and /RUN, which is a more defensive sub but still gets a pretty good accuracy cooldown in Swordplay.


This is the main draw for /DRG in 2015, but it's not something DNC, arguably the most durable DD in the game, is going to need or even want.

I have super-high evasion, good PDT options, and Fan Dance. Why would I want to shed aggro just to dump it on a SAM with 300 less evasion and no FD?

Even if you could name such a situation and identify it ahead of time to /DRG, this is still the only thing the sub's giving you. Compare that to the aforementioned stat JT/JAs, offensive stuff like Meditate/Sekkanoki, or general defensive abilities like /RUN's entire kit.


This is literally the only set I can think of where Wyvern Earring makes sense, and Charis body has dramatically outlived its usefulness.

Only way i'd ever entertain /drg is if they ever introduce enough body/head/legs/feet gear with super low haste values (and alot of multiattack).
When capping gear haste becomes hard to do in a buffed scenario on hard things *and* that 5% /drg earring makes some cool builds maybe that do very good damage, then call me.

DNC pull hate easy enough I just embrace its usefulness (always standing opposite of a thf and being the skillchain opener for them).

I do all battle content with a pld+thf, I stand opposite of pld, with thf behind them.
The cornerstone of this setup is that the dancer has to /war and reliably pull hate and solo darkness so the thf can close +double darkness with it TA'd onto the paladin.
Its so damn good i'd never dream of /DRG as a sub. I even do stuff like Gessho this way instead of lolrngs+pld strat.

There's no way this ends up being an on-demand AM3.

Well, that is just the math thus far. I think 10 is the highest they will ever go, and I bet we just get 6 this update.