Soloing as Dragoon part 2: Gear

Cutting right to the chase today after my long and confusing post yesterday...

Gear

There are a number of absolutely essential pieces to get before even considering taking on the tougher monsters in this game. I'm not saying you can't, but these piece of gear significantly increase your chances for success. They are in order of importance:

There isn't a piece of gear more critical than this. When soloing, you must have the ability to get healing breath off as soon as possible. A lot of monsters have TP moves or spells they can cast that will remove more than half of your HP in a heartbeat. While it isn't the most potent piece of gear in terms of healing breath, it is the most potent in terms of survivability. The HQ version of this is a nice piece for raising the Spirit Link cap slightly or if you want to build a VIT set for your jumps (if you believe in it...it's more of a why not thing), but it makes no difference in the potency of healing breath or how soon you can use it.

This is the second most critical piece of gear. If Dynamis isn't your cup o' tea, then pick up a Saurian Helm as it's nearly as effective. Just straight up using this helm w/o a Drachen Armet will trigger healing breath at 33% HP. This is fine for those of you that like living on the edge, but at that point, it's really just a matter of one interrupted spell cast before you're KO'd. You could argue it's the most important piece as I view this piece separating the pretender soloing DRGs from the real ones. What puts the Drachen Armet over the top is simply how much HP you have after healing breath fires. Since the Drachen Armet can trigger it so much sooner, your HP ends up higher than if you wore the Wyrm Armet full time and only triggered at 33%. In the long run, Drachen Armet alone will be better for soloing than the Wyrm Armet, but when both are used in tandem with each other, it doesn't get more efficient than that for healing.

(And does anyone else find the image of switching hats in the middle of a fight extremely funny? "Hold on one sec there Mr. Mamool, I need to change my hat everytime I cast a spell.")

This piece should only be used when soloing. After the long post yesterday, the one line on here that states "Wyvern: HP+10%" should be enough of a reason to get these. As a matter of fact, go to limbus, get the upgrade pieces and make this the first piece of gear you turn into AF1+1. Accuracy +9 on a pair of pants and Wyvern: HP+15% can turn these into an arguably full time solo piece. Depending on what I'm soloing, if I feel like I don't need the HP boost from the pants, I'll switch back over to Homam Cosciales, but the vast majority of the time, I'm wearing these while I'm soloing. (I'll get into the whole "macro these in for healing breath" part in a different post.)

This is arguably the best earring in the game. When soloing, this is basically like having refresh built in as a Job Trait due to the fact Dragoons aren't exactly built like brick shithouses. On top of that, Dragoons usually need all the help they can get from an MP standpoint as they don't have a super huge pool to work with. This becomes even more apparent as you move up the race-size scale. You even get an HP, Attack and Evasion bonus. This earring is good enough to wear full time as the options for Dragoon are rather limited over all. There are options like the Fowling Earring, Coral Earring, Assault Earring, etc, but this earring basically combines all of those earrings into one with the exception of an accuracy bonus. If you have the Drachen Brais +1 though, you don't need anymore accuracy.

One important thing to note here with all the gear I've listed so far is that it's all rare/ex. You just simply have to put time and a little bit of gil in. You don't have to go farm up money for weeks on end and whatnot, you just simply have to go to your limbus or dynamis runs and you just have to finish a relatively simple BC (Apocalypse Nigh). The rest of the gear is something anyone can debate. My preferences slot by slot are:

Weapon

Love Halberd, Mezraq, Valkyrie's Fork. I'm not going to assume people upgraded Gungnir. I'm also going to assume that a lot of people are owners of a Thalassocrat. Any of these are fine, but prior to getting Gungnir, I generally preferred to use my Love Halberd over my Mezraq. Why? I usually would solo things that liked to cast a lot of magic. Love Halberd gave me a large number of hits thanks to it's "Occasionally attacks twice with virtue stones equipped" feature and low delay.

Mezraq/Thalassocrat are essentially the same weapon that end up parsing close to the same, but I don't believe for a second that over a long marathon fight that Thalassocrat is actually better than Mezraq. This is due to the fact Mezraq's STR+2 effects nearly every one of a Dragoon's weapon skill library and Thalassocrat's DEX+2 only modifies one (Penta Thrust).

If you have a V.Fork, then you pretty much have the best thing available short of Gungnir and can ignore everything else I said in this paragraph.

Sub

Pole Grip or Sword Strap. Take your pick.

Hat

Discussed above. If you have an Askar Zucchetto, Walahra Turban, or Ace's Helm, then you have yourself a full time head piece for TP gain and your Drachen/Wyrm Armets become macro pieces.

Body

This is a piece that I'm probably going to get some disagreements on. I'm not going to assume that people have an Ares's Cuirass, but if you do, good for you and ignore everything else I'm about to say.

Homam Corazza, Askar Korazin, Assault Jerkin, or Zahak's Mail are generally popular pieces. I'd only use Homam if I didn't have Askar or if I was having some serious accuracy issues or MP issues even though Triple Attack kicking in is funny to watch. I'd only use the Assault Jerkin if I didn't have Homam or Askar. Every time I see a Dragoon wearing Zahak's Mail full time though makes me cry. Askar body is easy to get with a solid Nyzul group, a little luck and some time and has a far greater benefit than wearing what amounts to a super Penta Thrust piece. Even then, Drakesbane is far better and if you're after an Askar hat or body, you're going to pick up the Radiant Lance along the way. Also, if you're willing to spend 6+ mil on Zahak's Mail, get your ass into Salvage, save up another 5 mil and get Ares's Cuirass instead.


Hands

Homam Manopolas, Dusk Gloves, Wyrm Finger Gauntlets or Tarasque Mitts/+1. I go Homam all the way while soloing. I need the MP from them and the haste is nice too. If Homam isn't an option, pick up some Dusk Gloves or Tarasque Mitts. Use Wyrm Finger Gauntlets if you're only concerned about accuracy and don't have Homam hands to cover it.

Earrings/Rings

Brutal Earring and Ethereal Earring are only options here. I detailed a few other earrings above if those aren't available to you, but you should at least make getting the Ethereal Earring a priority. Brutal Earring is super cheap now and virtually requires no work to get it, so there really is no excuse. Rings are a bit of a different beast as someone might already have different rings for finishing ToAU or CoP. I personally use a Rajas Ring and Ulthalam's Ring. I'll replace Ulthalam's Ring with an Ether Ring from time to time if I'm fighting stuff that likes to Aspir.

Back

Amemit Mantle/+1, Cerberus Mantle/+1, Forager's Manger, or Cuchulain's Mantle. Dragoon doesn't really have much for back pieces that lend itself to balancing itself out decently. Most of the options we have are pretty much geared towards generating offense. NQ Amemit Mantle is cheapest thing available and I certainly wouldn't expect someone to spring for a Cerb Mantle or a Cuchulain's Mantle. Sticking with an HQ Amemet Mantle or a Forager's Mantle is best option here.

Waist

Swift Belt, Wyrm Belt, or Warwolf Belt. If you're MP challenged like me, I use a Forest Rope and it certainly doesn't hurt having a little bit more MP up to a point. This piece allows me to minimize the number of MP+ pieces I wear and allows me to focus a little more on offense when it's needed. I know this is an Elvaan only piece, but there are other MP+ waist for the various races too. For the most part though, it's Swift Belt all the way. Warwolf Belt is generally a WS macro piece and Wyrm Belt is used primarily for a little boost in accuracy if it's needed.

Legs

Went over this already above while discussing Drachen Brais and Homam Cosciales. There really are no other options for soloing unless you have Ares's Flanchard. Barone Cosciales or Conte Cosciales are generally nice if Homam is not available, but put in the effort to get the Drachen Brais +1. An honorable mention goes out to Barbarossa's Zerehs as Homam-1, but again your soloing set should include a balance of everything and these tend to focus too much on offense

Feet

Homam Gambieras should be another high priority to pick up. I didn't list it as a critical piece because it's definitely not going to make or break your ability to solo, but the HP/MP+, Wyvern HP+ and Haste+ all in one piece isn't present anywhere else. Askar Gambieras make baby jesus cry, but are definitely better than wearing Rutter Sabatons full time. Buy Dusk Ledelsens if you're too lazy to Limbus or Nyzul. Wear Drachen Greaves or Wyrm Greaves if you're cheap and lazy.


Conclusion

I generally try to strike up a decent balance of gear when I'm soloing. I don't try to overload on HP+, Wyvern HP+, MP+ or Attack+. Haste is generally a priority, so you can never really go wrong with 4 of the homam pieces as full time pieces unless an Askar piece is better (in the hat's case). When I go out soloing, I try to make sure I have between 250-300MP minimum and try to make sure my HP's 50% mark is around 700.

There are lots of other pieces of gear for increasing healing breath, but again, loading up on Wyvern HP+ just prolongs a battle. Most fights are about simply outlasting your opponent, not smashing them into iddy biddy pieces or making sure you take take a little damage as possible.

Tomorrow I'll go over Merit Party/XP/Weapon Skill gear if time permits. :)