DNC's Role/usefulness In Endgame...

I just beat Laila down the other day (much easier fight then I thought it was gonna be, tbh, but I digress)...so after years of playing I'm finally starting to get somewhere. That being said, I'm just curious how DNC fits in to the whole endgame scene...

What brings all this on is the discussions I've had with some people both in my LS and out that make me feel somewhat that DNC just isn't a very popular endgame job. Just through my own somewhat limited observation, it seems to me that DNC is pretty much considered, as a whole, to be an awesome subjob, but that's pretty much it. I don't care about that so much; I love the job, it's easily my favorite, and I'm gonna keep on playing it regardless...but I'm worried that only having "lolDNC" at the endgame level is going to impair my abilities to participate in stuff along side my ls-mates who are working their way up with me (RNG, THF, and NIN), who have a more clear-cut role.

I have to admit, I noticed the limited usefulness of the job attempting to do some promy's a while back (which admittedly could have just been because of poor party setup), and I'm just worried that the trend will continue...as my next highest level job is 58 WHM, if DNC doesn't fit in well, I've got a LOT more work to do >.<

So, any first hand observations? I'm not worried about it at the moment, and I still have a bit of a long road ahead of me meriting, unlocking Sea and Sky, etc...but I'm getting up there, and it's bound to come up. Do you endgamers like having DNC's around? Am I gonna get laughed out of endgame?

Tbh... I love Dancers in end-game stuff. With my semi-limited knowledge of Dancer abilities...

One of the things about their abilities I like most is they're based on melee accuracy and as far as I know can't be resisted.

They have pretty great enfeebles as far as eva, def, m. def. down as well as Gravity. And can heal the party as well as doing decent DoT. Sure, they're damage dealt isn't as great as a hardcore DD... But their enfeebles make up for that imo. =) That being said... You should join my Dyna LS. >.> lol

Whm/Dnc? lawl

From what I understand the problem lies in a DNC's low Attack rating versus the higher Defense in Jailers and Gods.

There are a couple threads on the Wiki that talk about gear selections (IF you can look past, ignore, or relish the HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE crowing of people talking about their dancers *** size) for Merit pts, one of them being here. The information for gearing up for Merits I'd imagine would also be beneficial for Endgame DNC.

This thread talks about DNC's roll in Endgame, the later posts have some better information than the early "idk" posts.

Hopefully those help you.

In the endgame shell I run, I try pretty hard to let people come as whatever job they enjoy, and in some cases that means dancer. But try as I might, I have a hard time fitting them into the typical events that we do.

The places I've seen them be most useful is as a "backup" job, in the sense that they can DD/enfeeble if things are going ok, but can switch to healing if things go awry. I had a 75dnc save us during a FL assault mission that went bad when I ran out of mp on white.

If they can be, I haven't ever seen it. Either I miss (which with accuracy gear/food/latent accuracy bonus/AF bonus to step accuracy isn't very often) or they're getting a step to the face.

As far as joining your dyna LS...all in good time, my good man, all in good time. I wanna bang out some merits and such before I start working on that (No Foot Rise/Haste Samba effect, etc, I'm so excited lol)...as a point of pride, I just wanna bring as much to the table as I possibly can ^^

When I'm ready to jump into that stuff, hopefully you'll have room for me; I'll definitely be interested, and may have a THF, RNG, and possibly NIN to bring along as well, provided everything works out and there's room for us...we've been staticing together for about 40 levels now, so we've pretty much got our ***down cold ^^



They did, thank you. I gotta make some serious bank before I can afford most of that gear, but it's definitely something I'm working towards. Leveling WHM and DNC somewhat concurrently is costing me a fortune in gear/scrolls >.<



{Ummm}{I'll have to pass.} lol

Hehe. No worries. Take your time. =) And no worries, I'll get ya the spots for all four of you. ^.^

I don't do much Endgame, and when I do I'm usually on PLD or DRG, but I was able to pull off decent damage on Omega the last time my group did, as well as lowering Magic Resistance by keeping Stutter Step at lvl5 as much as possible. I've been going to Limbus as DNC a lot, nice to be able to switch between DD, Healer, and on rare occasion, tanking, I have I think +30 Enmity on my tanking set for DNC as well as 276 Evasion Skill and around +30 Evasion.

One thing I think a lot of people forget is that Wild Flourish doesn't just work with DNC's WS, but anyone's can get a lot of added damage out of that as well.

As for HNM stuff... I have no clue about DNC, I do mostly Dynamis and Limbus, looking into Salvage and Einherjar sometime soon hopefully though.

Nice thing about DNC/NIN is that the combination can handle many monster's attacks part-time, half-time, or even full-time without problem, unlike, say, a cure dumping RDM/WHM.

If the monster can be melee'ed, I see two possible roles for a DNC:

1. Co-tank or back-up tank; enmity gain primarily from curing tanking partner, or use HP adjustment gear to cure self.

Really impressed with how DNC did on Vulpangue (ZNM, tier I) when paired with with PLD/NIN, and the setup can be easily used on many fights where people usually use PLD/NIN x2 or PLD/NIN + NIN/DRK, IMO.

Even when the DNC doesn't actually tank, having the fastest cure in the game to save the PLD in emergencies really increases safety. And, in case when the PLD does go down, DNC can hang in there quite a while, too.

2. As primary healer for melee DD party.

I've witness a DNC main cure (90%+) a merit party with two insane SAM/WAR's, and the DNC was just in full AF + Joyeuse off hand. There's no doubt in my mind that DNC can do the same in Dynamis melee DD party or most of activities which people have melee DD parties in alliance.

Other than zerg fights, any situation where it's OK to have bunch of melees whacking the critter, it should be OK to use a DNC as main healer. (Also would want someone else for Haste, Protect, back-up curing, etc., of course.)

* * *

I know some people are more interested in DNC as possible DD (at least part time), but I haven't been in situations where I can properly gauge that. >_>;

It makes a wonderful co-tank and main healer in many fights, though. Of course, that pretty much excludes kited fights, monsters which DNC hit for 0's, or (most) fights where TP control is essential.

Pros:
1)Stutter Step.
2)Healing ability.

Cons:
1)Everything DNC does is ACC-based, and DNC has low base ACC, which is even more apparent in endgame.
2)Low damage, low delay, no natural Subtle Blow, and multiple hits = LOTS of TP for the target. It's something you have to worry about for 90% of HNMs. DNC ends up causing more havoc than they help fix.
3)Low damage. Hitting for 0 doesn't give you TP.
4)Long recast on cures.

THF75:
Dagger: 269 skill

DNC75:
Dagger: 256 skill
Accuracy Bonus II: Accuracy+22

Accuracy is less of a problem for DNC than THF.


If endgame means more than the land kings and such, there would be plenty of critters DNC's can freely melee on. Kirin and shijins, Proto Ultima/Omega, and some of the Jailers are just a few I've fought in the last few months and don't think DNC would cause excessive problem with. (Heck, I certainly would welcome another healer on Kirin fight given the way we half-zerg it...)


But, also has the fastest to activate big cure in the game, since it's JA.