Dancer Equipment Sets & Merit Points. Help Needed.

Hello everyone,

So first of all, i don't have the LS to make any +2 item or Empyrean Weapon happen, I'm doing my best with what i can get solo or without too many people. Also i don't have access to SEA, so Brutal earring & Rajas Ring are not an option for me. If you can find ways i can improve my sets knowing that i would appreciate it.

Now considering my merit points, i'm placing them for solo or low man situation purposes. But i am not sure i am doing it right.


So here is my Dancers equipment.

Weapons :

Main - Twilight knife
Sub - Auric Dagger

My evasion gear :

- Still need to finish my Kila+2 daggers.
My Weapon Skill gear :
- I'm working on having a Aia's Bonnet, Also i've put Atheling mantle & Epona's ring in this set because i've been told that DA, TA could proc during Evisceration. Is that correct?
My TP/DoT gear :[/u]

- 27%haste set (i know i caps@26) Also what could i use instead of Kemas earring? I can't get Aesir pendant. And can't get a Brutal. Any ideas?

And here is how i placed my merit points.

Group 1 Merits

Steps Accuracy (+3 per upgrade) 0/5
Haste Samba Effect (+1 per upgrade) 5/5
Reverse Flourish Effect (+3 TP per upgrade) 5/5
Building Flourish Effect (+2 accuracy, +1% attack, and +1% critical hit rate (with 1 / 2 / 3 finishing moves) per upgrade) 0/5


Group 2 Merits

Saber Dance (-30 seconds per upgrade) 0/5
Fan Dance (-30 seconds per upgrade) 1/5
No Foot Rise (+1 Finishing Move per upgrade) 5/5
Closed Position (+3 Accuracy and +3 Evasion per upgrade) 4/5

Step 1.) Go do CoP missions now
Step 2.) Talk to us when you're done.

Drop 3 from NFR, anything over 2 is really kind of pointless thanks to presto. Put at least one in Saber Dance, and cap off closed position. Leaves you with 1 more, personally I put mine in Saber Dance.

You have all this stuff (loki's, epona's etc) but no LS?

I have all that and then some and haven't had a LS in two years.

And that one I only wore for salvage.

Agreed, get Sea. Just way too many nice things needed from it if you plan on doing anything serious.

also Auric is ***, at the very least dedicate some time to doing a Kila +2 (since you mention doing mostly solo/small man, do an Evasion kila. Plus, it can be done in a short period)

Finally: http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/15518/ninians-dnc-guide

As said in my topic i'm currently working on two Kila +2 i'm currently on trial #27 for both of em.

Earrings/Rings need to be:

Brutal/Suppanomimi
Epona's/Rajas.

Only way they work.

SEA.
NOW.
GROUILLE-TOI.

I'm on The Road Forks mission at the moment, i've just logged in to go further in CoP missions. So from now on lets assume i have both Raja's & Brutal Earring, and that i'm wielding two Kila+2 daggers so we can get passed this.

@Austar : Good idea for NFR, i'll just put 2points in it and place the rest in Saber dance.

Well with that assumption, (note the earring/ring slot locations):

TP:



Evisceration:

could farm an Angr Harpe easily enough, serves as a solid Main Hand dagger if you lack Twashtar. drops from Awahondo in Aby Ulegurand

I've seen this a few times and I don't understand the logic behind it. When exactly do you use NFR? just to get 5 finishing moves when followed/preceded by a presto->step?

I mostly use NFR in these situations:
1. The step misses in "Presto->CF->Step->Rudra->Reverse->Rudra" (needs at least 3 NFR)
2. I somehow have 110+ tp but no finishing moves. "Presto->Step->CF->NFR->Rudra->Reverse->Rudra" (needs at least 3 NFR)
3. I'm building TP before a fight with no mobs around or while running somewhere. (The more NFR the merrier)

I recently changed back to 1 Saber / 1 Fan / 3 NFR / 5 Closed Position since I have a healer around more often these days. I would gladly toss 3-4 of the Closed Position back into Saber for the lower recast if I didn't have a healer/box.

Not trying to bash your setup, just curious.

Change your 1 to:
Presto -> CF -> Step -> Rudra's -> Reverse -> Rudra's

That way you get the benefit of Box Step on your first and second Rudra's, and if it misses you can just turn around if you're solo. It's also one fewer JA to use before the second Rudra's, so it lets you self-skillchain more often with that combo.

That's a combo that you do once every 1.5~3 minutes (minimum) though, and it consumes 8 Finishing Moves the way you have it set up. There's also a 95% chance you'll hit the Presto'd Step. If that's all you're using NFR for, you'd expect to use NFR about once per hour.

On the other hand, you'd expect to use about 6 other Steps per combo like that, which means you're much more likely to miss one of those. It's better to use NFR so that you can keep your self-skillchains going than to save it for times when you're using Climactic and miss.

Sorry, you should learn to read what I mean instead of what I type. At least I put the NFR in the right place in #2. editing. (thanks)

What

Learn to read what I mean instead of what I type.

I know exactly what you mean.

You learn well, young Padawan.

I typed my #1 in the wrong order and byrth corrected me. I fixed it.

somewhat unrelated but STR kila's are now rank 5 weapons right? :D

O ***are they?

45/190 str 10 att 20

:x

edit: i think mandau is almost rank 6

good stuff, harpe's are completely useless now

i think i can finally connect the dots forward this time

by the level 99 increase mythics/empyrean/relics will have rank 6 damage which would put them above normal rank 5 weapons at 99

Missing another step is possibly how I get into the Situation 2 I listed. If I missed a step that was intended to be followed by a reverse flourish then I would use NFR here as well, so I suppose I could have simplified my situations;
1: "when a step misses"
2: "when I need finishing moves but the step timer is down"
3: "build tp when no mobs are around or while moving"
But these simplified situations don't stress that often they require 3 NFR merits.

I don't think my original question has been answered. What's the logic behind this statement?:
Once again, not trying to bash your setup or attack you (other knowledgeable people have said this same thing), just curious as to how others use NFR. I personally don't see a reason to not have at least 3.

What Austar means is:
Presto -> Step (Miss) -> NFR (2 FMs) -> Step (5 FMs)

That's also what I meant when I said that the other 6 steps are more likely to miss. If you miss a Step during your regular FM cycle, Presto makes it so you're wasting one FM if you have 3 NFR.

personally i kept my NFR at 5/5, i have to afk alot so whenever i gotta go i just NFR-reverse then leave, do my thing, come back and NRF again

personal preference i guess, id rather take the extra tp than closed position merits, i can deal with a few less evasion, and my accuracy in abyssea is pretty spot on

and i actually dont use dancer for voidwatch... soooooo it works for me

aside from these people fighting and talking about rudras, since that could probably belong in a different forum..

is this ideal? i use brutal/moonshade, epona/rajas..suppa yea its good but regain on moonshade is nice and noticeable

this, albeit a little rude way of saying it, is pretty mandatory, considering most of cop can be solod, and im sure you can find 1-2 ppl help you with the last fight(s)

angr is nice for dnc, hell i see lots of dncs using azoths still..but i dont really recommend an azoth. not sure how angr could compare to a str kila tho, pretty sure kila would beat it, espcially at 95. what is quite an easy thing to do, and probably youre best bet for DPS, just very(very very very..) time consuming is work on the tp/da/stp daggers. alternatives to an upgraded twashtar/elemental daggers are the TP+100 dagger (i offhand this), the DA+15 dagger (friend uses/recommends this) or the store tp dagger.
BUT..for solo purposes, yea i guess 2 kila+3 (eva) would be nice..personally i hate camping weather, and find a way to miss every windsday ;_;

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in regards to your gear:
your evasion set looks pretty solid for where you say you are at in the game. see if you can find a novia earring (+7 eva) or see if anyone needs apoc nigh and consider an ethereal earring (+5) to swap out your orichalcum earrings. ballerines are nice with the added haste, i use dance shoes+1 however (+7 eva). alcides are nice too, if you happen to come across some +2 items for your legs, those will be your tp and eva legs. see how expensive scouter's rope is (not sure if theyve added any better eva waists). fugacity beret is nice too to replace hairpin. once you hit sea, get some ABC and get a boxer's mantle. all things aside, your eva set is pretty good.

ws gear looks pretty solid as well. if youre still reading this and looking for opinions, however, i really only have a few. invest in some tumbler's trunks, they are a nice piece for legs for ws. you said you were working on aias, that's good. your back/belt/body/neck/legs are great. ocelot maybe you can swap out for +2 hands when you can get a hold of them. also, some dex earrings/rings would be nice but get them only if you need/when you can.

tp also looks great for what you explained. obvious upgrades are obvious tho, +2 head/body/legs/feet when possible, and you can drop(store) your rap harness. tbelt=yes, mantle=yes, eponas=yes, necklace=yes, ocelots=yes(or try to find a dusk+1 for the 26% cap). rajas is an upgrade to get as well, and brutal(or moonshade? idk, i use moonshade)

finally, these are my merits:
group 1 (i think this is pretty universal)
5/5 haste samba
5/5 reverse flourish

group 2 (debatable)
5/5 nfr
5/5 closed position
*i was using 3/5 nfr and 1/5 in saber/fan dance for awhile, but in every situation, be it soloing, partying, small groups, i never found myself using them. that being said, there is a lot of room for the style of play you like doing the most

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ummmm yeaa so i think thats about it, any questions feel free to PM. gl on your upgrades and just know that despite your situation you still have most of the hardest pieces to get. your sets look great and the only other things mainly suggested would be to finish up cop, work what you can on +2, and work on some new weps. theyll all come in time :)

Thanks, that clears things up. Has it been proven that building to 5 during that cycle is the most efficient way to go? (assuming you're fighting a brick wall that never dies). I tend to reverse with just 3 lately when I'm >= 43 tp.

I'll possibly swap back to this after trying 3/5 for another month or so. For now I'm not missing it as much as I expected, but my ls is pretty fast paced when doing events.