When it comes to classes in Final Fantasy, the Dragoon has always been one of the coolest and flashy of the bunch, and that remains the case in Final Fantasy 14. There is nothing quite like soaring through the air as a lance-wielding knight and dropping on your target with tremendous, piercing force.
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Out of the five current Melee DPS Jobs in Final Fantasy 14, the Dragoon remains one of the more unique and badass, and that’s even when going up against the likes of Reaper and Ninja. Furthermore, with Endwalker finally giving more screen time to our beloved Dragon Knight, Estinien, who wouldn’t want to become one themselves?
Updated December 18, 2024, by Seth Parmer: The official release of the Dawntrail expansion was the last time we touched this guide, and, as you likely guessed, there have been some changes to the Dragoon Job in Final Fantasy 14 since then. As a result, we have updated this guide to make any adjustments needed for Actions that were changed, add an Advanced Opener, and update the best equipment section to include all the current best gear for the Dragoon and how to obtain it!
Taking Up The Lance
Before becoming a Dragoon, you must first master the arts of being a Lancer. To do this, you can either choose it as your Starting Class or can speak with Jillian in the Lancer’s Guild found in Old Gridania (X:14.1, Y:5.8). Since Lancer is a starting class, you only have to be Level 1 to accept the starting quest “Way of the Lancer.”
From there, you will have to level the Lancer Class up to Level 30, which shouldn’t take all that long with loads of new, fast ways to power level new Jobs in Final Fantasy 14.
Once that has been accomplished, you can then take on the “Eye of the Dragon” quest, which can be accepted by speaking with Ywain in Old Gridania (X:14.3, Y:5.8). Completing this mission will grant you the “Soul of the Dragon” Soul Crystal, allowing you to switch to the Dragoon profession.
Dragoon Rotations
As with any Job in Final Fantasy 14, your rotations are crucial and will allow you to get the most out of your Job in terms of damage and cooldown management, and is essentially the bread and butter of the game’s combat system.
For the Dragoon, the rotations are relatively straightforward but can be challenging for newcomers to the role or class in general, especially if you stack the Job’s many jumps, buffs, and other Off-GCD on top.
Before we cover the breadth of what the Dragoon is capable of, we are going to start off with the Basic Single-Target and AoE rotations of the Job and will cover its Off-GCD Actions and Opener later in the guide.
Basic Single-Target Rotation
- True Thrust > Lance Barrage > Heavens’ Thrust > Fang and Claw > Drakesbane
- Raiden Thrust > Spiral Blow > Chaotic Spring > Wheeling Thrust > Drakesbane
Basic AoE Rotation
- Doom Spike > Sonic Thrust > Coerthan Torment
It’s essential to have a solid Area-of-Effect rotation, and the one seen above is the best one available for the Dragoon Job. As with most AoE rotations in Final Fantasy 14, we recommend using this when there are three or more enemies in a group. This rotation provides a damage buff and also readies Draconian Fire.
Dragoon Positional Attacks
When adequately positioned, landing attacks will reward you with more damage potency and upgraded attacks. Aim to hit the attacks below within their respective positions for optimal damage.
Ignoring an attack’s positional enhancements will leave significant amounts of damage on the table, so it’s best to get the hang of them as soon as possible.
There will be moments where you cannot properly get to the side or rear of an enemy, which is fine, but you should always strive to position yourself properly whenever you can to deal as much damage as possible.
- Flank: Attacks deal +40 more potency when attacking the enemy from the side.
-
Rear: Attacks deal +40 more potency when attacking the enemy from behind.
- Chaos Thrust
- Wheeling Thrust
- Chaotic Spring
All Dragoon Buffs
Applying buffs to milk more damage from your rotation is an essential part of any DPS Role, especially when participating in high-level content such as Trials and Raids. Knowing how to optimize your buffs will have you outputting much more damage than before.
Like every Off-GCD Action, buffs should get sprinkled throughout your rotation while preparing for the following GCD Action. We give some examples of when to use each buff below.
Lance Charge
The Lance Charge skill increases the damage dealt by 10 percent and lasts for 20 seconds, making it the best buff at your disposal. Anytime you have this skill ready, use it.
Life Surge
Due to Life Surge having no effect on damage over time skills, it is best when paired with the Fang and Claw ability, especially if you can land the positional.
Dragon Sight
Dragon Sight is an excellent skill that should always be used to buff your jump-in attacks, such as High Jump, Spineshatter Dive, Dragonfire Dive, and Mirage Dive. Patch 6.4 has also made this action nullify all directional requirements upon use.
Battle Litany
Battle Litany enhances your critical hit rate by 10 percent, along with nearby party members. While there are situations where it may be wise to hold onto it, you will be fine to pop it whenever it’s available to you. The radius of this action has been increased from 15 to 30 yalms in Patch 6.4.
Mastering The Dragoon’s Life Of The Dragon Effect
The Dragoon Job saw some pretty significant changes in Patch 6.0, with “Blood of the Dragon” changing from an Action to a Trait being amongst the biggest. Now, as a result, you won’t gain access to the Dragon Gauge until you reach Level 70 and learn the Trait “Life of the Dragon.“
Much like every Off-GCD Action, these should get interwoven between the GCD attacks present in your rotation for maximum damage output.
Mirage Dive
After performing the Action Jump or High Jump, Mirage Dive will become available to use. Using Mirage Dive will grant you one unit of Gaze of the First Brood. Two units are needed to activate Life of the Dragon.
Life of the Dragon
Life of the Dragon allows you to strengthen the Gaze of the First Brood when landing Mirage Dive successfully. When the Gaze is at two units, the Action Geirskogul will automatically activate the Life of the Dragon status.
Nastrond
When under the effects of Life of the Dragon, Geirskogul becomes Nastrond. Essentially, whenever Nastrond becomes available, use it and try to squeeze it into your rotations as much as possible before the Life of the Dragon status expires.
Stardiver
Stardiver is another Action available only when under the effects of Life of the Dragon. While another potent attack, we recommend only using it once during each Life of the Dragon activation to get the most out of the meter/rotations.
Jumps and Dives
One of the coolest, freeing things about the Dragoon class is their access to several jumps and dives, allowing them to evade incoming danger or quickly deliver absurd amounts of damage.
Jump/High Jump
The Jump and High Jump Action are some of the most crucial actions in the Dragoon’s kit as they grant the “Dive Ready” buff, allowing you to use the Mirage Dive action. In short, you need to weave these into your rotations wherever you see fit to enter Life of the Dragon status. Patch 6.4 now allows you to use Jump and High Jump while bound.
Elusive Jump
The Elusive Jump does what you’d expect, has you jump out of the way of incoming danger. While it does no damage, it helps prevent you from taking it, which is equally important.
Dragonfire Dive
The Dragonfire Dive is the Spineshatter Dive’s AoE counterpart, allowing you to deal 500 damage to your target and 50 percent less to all remaining enemies in the area with a flaming aerial strike.
Stardiver
Stardiver is an incredibly potent jumping attack that is only available with the Life of the Dragon status active. For more information on this Action, look over the Life of the Dragon portion of this guide above!
Dragoon Off-GCD Actions
While we did cover the vast majority of the Dragoon’s Off-GCD Actions in the sections above, we did not tackle all of them, some of which are crucial to understand for mastering the Job. So, before we get into the Dragoon’s Opener, we will include the complete list of Off-GCD Actions of the Job in the table below!
|
Action |
Recast Time |
Information |
|---|---|---|
|
Life Surge |
40s |
Grants Life Surge effect, making your first Weaponskill a guaranteed Critical Hit. Effect lasts for 5s and cannot be applied to Damage Over Time actions. A percentage of damage dealt will be absorbed as HP. You can also store two charges of Life Surge. |
|
Lance Charge |
60s |
Damage output is increased by ten percent for 20s. |
|
Jump |
30s |
Perform a jump-in attack with a potency of 320 before returning to your initial position before the jump. Can now be executed while bound via Patch 6.4 Grants Dive Ready effect for 15s. |
|
Elusive Jump |
30s |
Summersault 15 yalms backward. Grants Enhanced Piercing Talon for 15s. |
|
Spineshatter Dive |
60s |
Perform a diving attack with a potency of 250. You can store two charges of Spineshatter Dive. |
|
Dragonfire Dive |
120s |
Deliver a devastating fire-based dive attack with a potency of 500 to the first target and 50 percent less for all other enemies in the area. Grants Dragon’s Flight for 30s. |
|
Battle Litany |
120s |
Raises Critical Hit Rate by ten percent for yourself and all nearby party members for 20s. |
|
Geirskogul |
30s |
Attack in a straight line, dealing damage to multiple enemies. The first target is hit with a potency of 280, while the rest receive 50 percent less damage. Grants Life of the Dragon, increasing your damage output by 15 percent for 20s. You will also receive three stacks of Nastrond Ready for 20s. |
|
Mirage Dive Only while under the effect of Dive Ready |
1s |
Dive onto your target with a fierce attack that has an attack potency of 380. |
|
Nastrond Only while under the effect of Nastrond Ready |
10s |
Attack in a straight line, dealing a potency of 720 to the first target and 50 percent less to all other enemies. |
|
Dragon Sight |
120s |
Cast Right Eye on yourself, raising your overall damage output by ten percent. Targeting a Party Member will also grant them Left Eye, increasing their damage output by five percent. Both effects last for 20s. |
|
High Jump |
30s |
Perform a jump-in attack with a potency of 400 before returning to your initial position before the jump. Receive the Dive Ready buff for 15s. |
|
Stardiver Only while under the effect of Life of a Dragon |
30s |
Deliver a devastating fire-based dive attack with a potency of 820 on your target and 50 percent less damage to all other enemies in the area. Grants Starcross Ready for 20s. |
|
Wyrmwind Thrust |
10s |
Attack in a straight line with a potency of 440 on your target and 50 percent less damage for all other enemies. Costs two stacks of Firstmind’s Focus. |
|
Winged Glide |
60s |
Swiftly dash to your target’s location. Can hold a maximum of two stacks at a time and cannot be used if bound. |
|
Rise of the Dragon Only while under the effect of Dragon’s Flight |
1s |
Attack with a wide AoE action that has a potency of 550 for your initial target, dealing 50 percent less for all remaining enemies in the area. |
|
Starcross Only while under the effect of Starcross Ready |
1s |
An AoE attack that deals physical damage with a potency of 1,000 to the initial target and 50 percent less for all other enemies in the area. |
Best Dragoon Opener In FFXIV Dawntrail
Due to the Dragoon’s ability to dive onto enemies and enter the Life of the Dragon state, you must incorporate everything at your disposal into your Opener, making things very challenging for newcomers. The Dragoon can deal an astronomical amount of damage and look flashy doing it, so long as they have a solid Opener and stay on top of their rotations and positionals.
The Dragoon’s opener can be long-winded but is all killer, no filler. Below is an Opener for a Level 100 Dragoon that incorporates its jumps and dives in with the many buffs, debuffs, and thrusts to create an onslaught of chaotic Dragoon goodness. All Off-GCD Actions are bolded and placed in parentheses, while the standard Weaponskills are untouched.
Basic Opener
- True Thrust > Spiral Blow (Lance Charge + Grade 1 Gemdraught of Strength) > Chaotic Spring (Battle Litany + Geirskogul) > Wheeling Thrust (High Jump + Life Surge) > Drakesbane (Dragonfire Dive + Nastrond) > Raiden Thrust (Stardiver) > Lance Barrage (Starcross + Life Surge) > Heavens’ Thrust (Rise of the Dragon + Mirage Dive) > Fang and Claw > Drakesbane > Raiden Thrust (Wyrmwind Thrust) > Spiral Blow
Advanced Opener
- Pre-Pull: Elusive Jump > Piercing Talon
- True Thrust (Grade 1 Gemdraught of Strength) > Spiral Blow (Lance Charge + Battle Litany) > Chaotic Sping (Geirskogul) > Wheeling Thrust (High Jump + Life Surge) > Drakesbane (Dragonfire Dive + Nastrond) > Raiden Thrust (Stardiver) > Lance Barrage (Starcross + Life Surge) > Heavens’ Thrust (Rise of the Dragon + Mirage Dive) > Fang and Claw > Drakesbane > Raiden Thrust (Wyrmwind Thrust) > Spiral Blow
Best Gear For Dragoon In FFXIV Dawntrail
Aside from your Opener, the Gear and Materia you equip on your Dragoon is the most important aspect of fully fleshing out your Job and getting the most out of it. If you’re looking for what’s considered the “Best In Slot” for the Dragoon, we have you covered with the table below.
The weapon is iLevel 735, while everything else is iLevel 730. Additionally, if you have yet to reach Level 100 with your Dragoon, you can still reference the table as a way to see which Stats and Materia you should focus on when building out your Dragoon.
|
Equipment |
Materia |
Stats |
How To Obtain |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Weapon |
Dark Horse Champion’s Spear |
|
|
Can drop during AAC Light-heavyweight M4 (Savage) or purchased from Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.7) for x8 AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition IV. |
|
Head |
Augmented Quetzalli Helm of Maiming |
|
|
Upgraded by giving x1 Surgelight Twine and the corresponding Quetzalli Armor to Theone in Solution Nine (X:8.5, Y:13.6). |
|
Body |
Dark Horse Champion’s Coat of Maiming |
|
|
Can drop during AAC Light-heavyweight M3 (Savage) or purchased from Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.7) for x4 AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition II. |
|
Hands |
Augmented Quetzalli Gauntlets of Maiming |
|
|
Upgraded by giving x1 Surgelight Twine and the corresponding Quetzalli Armor to Theone in Solution Nine (X:8.5, Y:13.6). |
|
Legs |
Augmented Quetzalli Brais of Maiming |
|
|
Upgraded by giving x1 Surgelight Twine and the corresponding Quetzalli Armor to Theone in Solution Nine (X:8.5, Y:13.6). |
|
Feet |
Dark Horse Champion’s Greaves of Maiming |
|
|
Can drop during AAC Light-heavyweight M3 (Savage) or purchased from Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.7) for x4 AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition II. |
|
Earrings |
Dark Horse Champion’s Earring of Slaying |
|
|
Can drop during AAC Light-heavyweight M1 (Savage) or purchased from Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.7) for x3 AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition I. |
|
Necklace |
Augmented Quetzalli Necklace of Slaying |
|
|
Upgraded by giving x1 Surgelight Glaze and the corresponding Quetzalli Accessory to Theone in Solution Nine (X:8.5, Y:13.6). |
|
Bracelets |
Dark Horse Champion’s Bangle of Slaying |
|
|
Can drop during AAC Light-heavyweight M1 (Savage) or purchased from Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.7) for x3 AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition I. |
|
Left Ring |
Augmented Quetzalli Ring of Slaying |
|
|
Upgraded by giving x1 Surgelight Glaze and the corresponding Quetzalli Accessory to Theone in Solution Nine (X:8.5, Y:13.6). |
|
Right Ring |
Dark Horse Champion’s Kingdom Ring of Slaying |
|
|
Can drop during AAC Light-heavyweight M1 (Savage) or purchased from Hhihwi in Solution Nine (X:8.7, Y:13.7) for x3 AAC Illustrated: LHW Edition I. |
If you’re looking to tap a bit more damage out of your Dragoon, you can do a couple more things. First is to use a Grade 1 Gemdraught of Strength when carrying out your Opener, which we included the best opportunity to incorporate it above.
The second method is to eat a hearty meal before jumping into an activity. As with most Melee DPS Jobs, Moqueca hits the spot and targets everything you need it to for buffing the Dragoon pre-fight.
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