A staple class in the Final Fantasy series and one of the original jobs of Final Fantasy XIV, the high-flying Dragoon has one sole focus — dealing damage. Dragoon, alongside the Monk, Ninja, Samurai, and Reaper jobs, make up the Melee DPS roles and are responsible for dealing damage for the party within close range.
Dragoon can be considered a "rigid" job, as its rotation follows a strict order of abilities during its long sequence of GCDs. Higher levels can get hectic as you try to weave in the job's many oGCD abilities into its standard combo while trying to frantically dodge mechanics. Even still, there's a reason why many players live and die by the Dragoon, and it's not because they jumped off the map's edge. Dragoon is a flashy job that rewards mastery of its rotation with consistent, hard-hitting damage.
How to unlock the Dragoon job in FFXIV
The life of a Dragoon starts with the Lancer class, either by choosing it as your starting class during character creation or by visiting the Lancer's Guild in Gridania. Speak to Jillian, the Lancer Guild's Receptionist, in Old Gridania (X: 14.1, Y: 5.8) and take their quest "Way of the Lancer" to begin.
After completing the Main Scenario Quest "Sylph-management" and the level 30 Lancer class quest "Proof of Might," players unlock the Soul of the Dragoon job stone during "Eye of the Dragon." By equipping the job stone to your gearset, you'll unlock Dragoon-specific actions.
An introduction to Dragoon in FFXIV
The base of Dragoon's abilities and rotation doesn't stray from its level one Lancer roots but grows far more intricate the higher level you are and the more actions you unlock. At level 90, Dragoon has two single-target combos consisting of five abilities, one applying a damage-over-time (DoT) effect and attack buff, the other dealing raw damage. During most single-target situations, the Dragoon will need to repeatedly perform these combos one after another, making its standard rotation a whopping 10-hit combo.
Like its melee DPS counterparts, Dragoon also benefits from performing specific abilities at particular positions to the boss, like their flank or rear. Worrying about positionals, maintaining their rigid GCD combo and weaving oGCD abilities throughout it means you'll need to become intimately familiar with the job's kit if you aim to be efficient as a Dragoon.
The abilities that make up Dragoon's two combos are:
- True Thrust/Raiden Thrust: The base ability, True Thrust, is a simple attack that will act as the opener to both combos. At level 76, it becomes Raiden Thrust when under the effect of "Draconian Fire," granted by other abilities.
- Vorpal Thrust: When used immediately after True Thrust or its higher-level counterpart, this attack will deal damage with increased potency.
- Disembowel: When following True Thrust, this ability grants the Power Surge buff, increasing the Dragoon's damage dealt for 30 seconds.
- Full Thrust/Heavens' Thrust: This attack deals the most damage when used after Vorpal Thrust in its combo and grants "Fang and Claw Bared" after reaching level 56. It becomes Heavens' Thrust at level 86, dealing even more damage when used as a combo action.
- Chaos Thrust/Chaotic Spring: The level 50 ability Chaos Thrust deals higher potency damage when executed from the enemy's rear position, as well as inflicting a DoT on the target for 24 seconds. At level 58, it also grants the buff "Wheel in Motion." Chaos Thrust becomes Chaotic Spring at level 86, increasing the ability's potency.
- Fang and Claw: When unlocked at level 58, Fang and Claw can only be executed under the "Fang and Claw Bared" effect granted by a successful combo of Full Thrust. This changes at level 64, where the ability can now be used immediately after Wheeling Thrust.
- Wheeling Thrust: Like Fang and Claw, you can initially only execute Wheeling Thrust under the effect of "Wheel in Motion" from Chaos Thrust's combo action. At level 64, this changes so that wheeling Thrust can follow either Chaos Thrust or Fang and Claw.
These seven abilities make up Dragoon's GCD rotation, and since their effects rely heavily on each ability being chained after another, executing them in the proper order is a must. The rotation of GCDs can be broken down into two combos — the Chaotic Spring combo and the Heavens' Thrust combo.
The Chaotic Spring combo is performed as followed:
- True Thrust
- Disembowel
- Chaotic Spring
- Wheeling Thrust
- Fang and Claw
Using Disembowel after True Thrust will grant you its attack buff, and following it up with Chaotic Spring will inflict a DoT effect on the enemy. Since Chaotic Spring grants "Wheel in Motion," you must use Wheeling Thrust or the effect is wasted. Thanks to the level 64 trait "Lance Mastery," Fang and Claw is used immediately after Wheeling Thrust to finish the combo, which grants "Draconian Fire."
The Heavens' Thrust combo then follows, consisting of:
- Raiden Thrust
- Vorpal Thrust
- Heavens' Thrust
- Fang and Claw
- Wheeling Thrust
The level 76 trait "Lance Master II" grants the effect "Draconian Fire" when Fang and Claw is executed after Wheeling Thrust, or vice versa. So by ending the previous Chaotic Spring combo with those two abilities, True Thrust now becomes Raiden Thrust.
This combo focuses purely on damage dealt, empowered by the Power Surge buff granted by the previous combo. Vorpal Thrust gains increased potency when following Raiden Thrust, and the same is said for Heavens' Thrust after Vorpal. Heavens' Thrust grants "Fang and Claw Bared," allowing the execution of Fang and Claw, which is followed up with Wheeling Thrust.
The Heavens' Thrust combo finishes off the main GCD rotation, meaning that once it's over, you start again with the Chaotic Spring combo. A simple way to remember which combo to start is that Chaotic Spring sets up your buff and DoT, and the Heavens' Thrust combo takes advantage of them to deal even more damage.
These GCDs are what make up the core structure of Dragoon's rotation, but Dragoon also has many oGCDs that are weaved regularly in the mix:
- Jump/High Jump: Dragoon's most frequently used oGCD, this should be used off-cooldown every 30 seconds. High Jump grants "Dive Ready," allowing the instant use of Mirage Dive to increase Dragoon's job gauge "gaze" by one.
- Spineshatter Dive: With a decent attack potency, Spineshatter Dive also serves as a gap closer with two charges, making it an effective way to stay within range if the target moves.
- Dragonfire Dive: While this is intended to be a massive AoE ability that deals equal damage to a target and all near it, it should still be used in single-target situations for the damage it provides.
- Geirskogul: This ability damages multiple enemies in a straight line but plays a vital role in activating your job gauge, explained later.
- Wyrmwind Thrust: This level 90 ability requires two charges of the job gauge's Firstminds' Focus and deals massive damage in a straight line.
Dragoon’s job gauges and related skills
Dragoon's job gauge appears much later in its leveling cycle than other jobs. After completing Dragoon's level 70 job quest, you unlock the Dragon Gauge, which will initially track your job resource of the "first brood's gaze." Using the oGCD ability Mirage Jump will earn you one charge of the gaze each use. After hitting the maximum amount of two charges, the Geirskogul ability will activate the "Life of the Dragon" buff, indicated by a 30-second timer that appears on the Dragon Gauge. Within this buff window, Geirskogul becomes Nastrond, a harder-hitting version of the former ability with a cooldown of 10 seconds. It also grants access to Stardiver, the hardest-hitting attack in the Dragoon's arsenal that should take priority during any buffs.
The second resource tracked on the Dragon Gauge, Firstminds' Focus, comes at level 90. The trait "Lance Master IV'' makes it so Raiden Thrust and its multitarget counterpart, Draconian Fury, will add one Firstminds' Focus to the gauge. Once you gain two charges of this resource, you can access another oGCD to incorporate, Wyrmwind Thrust.
Since Raiden Thrust relies on properly using GCD combos, and Life of the Dragon requires specific and frequent use of oGCDs, it will take practice and familiarity to help balance all of the Dragoon's abilities.
Level 90 Dragoon rotation and opener
The opener listed in this guide is considered the standard opener for Dragoon as of Patch 6.5. While other openers exist that make use of a slightly increased skill speed, it’s not recommended for players with high ping or those not yet comfortable with the standard opener.
- Sprint (Two to three seconds before pulling)
- True Thrust
- Grade 8 Tincture of Strength
- Disembowel
- Lance Charge
- Dragon Sight
- Chaotic Spring
- Battle Litany
- Wheeling Thrust
- Geirskogul
- Life Surge
- Fang and Claw
- High Jump
- Raiden Thrust
- Dragonfire Dive
- Vorpal Thrust
- Life Surge
- Mirage Dive
- Heavens’ Thrust
- Spineshatter Dive
- Fang and Claw
- Spineshatter Dive
- Wheeling Thrust
- Raiden Thrust
- Wyrmwind Thrust
- Disembowel
- Chaotic Spring
- Wheeling Thrust
For your GCDs, you'll follow the standard Chaotic Spring combo, followed by the Heavens' Thrust combo, as outlined earlier in the guide. Depending on the encounter, the offensive and support oGCDs can be shifted, but you should only replace an oGCD buff with another buff, not an attack, so as not to ruin any buff windows. It's best to consult an instance-specific guide for more information.
Dragoon food, pots, and gear - current for Patch 6.5
The constant jumping and lunging of the Dragoon is sure to burn some calories, meaning they'll need some high-quality food and tinctures to maximize their efforts. Dragoon is one of the many jobs with Baked Eggplant as its preferred food item, followed up with a Grade 8 Tincture of Strength incorporated into its rotation.
The most significant impact in stats will come from having best-in-slot (BiS) gear. Dragoon's current BiS is a mixture of Augmented Credendum tomestone gear and the Ascension set received from the Pandæmonium: Anabaseios Savage raids. You can find full details, like each piece's BiS melds and final stats, on Etro.
