For soloing, duoing and low-manning in the future, it looks like Dancer may be the most important job to have leveled. Even if you are thinking about doing events with more people, Dancer may still be an option because of all the self- and party-wide buffs that are going to become available. The one major thing to note first is that even with the increase in the level cap, those that want to sub DNC will still not be able to get to the next major heal, Curing Waltz III. It probably should be noted that if people were able to sub DNC and get Curing Waltz III it might have really bad balance issues. Curing Waltz II already is a pretty big cure, about equal to a Cure III, and it has a pretty low recast time with a decent TP cost. If Curing Waltz III was added to this some jobs like PLD or SAM it might make them just too survivable.
On with the show.
Reverse Flourish @ 40.
This ability is very nice for main-job Dancers as it lets you convert Finishing Moves that you get from using Steps into TP. Dancers often need this for situations where they can't build TP on the mobs they are fighting, or just for a nice TP boost. I don't know how great this will be for those that are subbing DNC though because most people use /DNC while soloing or low-manning and are actually fighting mobs and getting a decent store of TP anyway. The one place it might be quite useful (and Dancer mains may do this too but I don't know that much about Dancer) is to boost your TP back up after you do a WS and are left with very little. Since /DNC doesn't have many uses for their Finishing Moves right now, I can see this being a nice little boost and a better reason to use some of the Steps that currently might be ignored or at least marginalized. Just remember that the amount of TP you get back from Reverse Flourish is based on the number of Finishing Moves you have stored up, and the more you have the better the TP return so you want to make sure you save up those Finishers as long as you can until you get 5 of them.
Stutter Step @ 40.
At first glance this appears to be nothing of interest to most people that would sub DNC, but a deeper look makes it a bit more intriguing. The magic resistance reduction provided by Stutter Step effects other "magical" effects that /DNC can use. The problem is that up until now there hasn't been much of anything that was so great as to demand a reduction in magic resistance to make sure it lands but just wait a moment until we get to...
Violent Flourish @45.
Now that decreased magic resistance is going to make a difference. Violent Flourish by itself is basically a weapon swing with additional effect: stun, but there is a little bit more to it than that. The stun effect of Violent Flourish can miss even if the weapon swing lands, because it has a separate calculation for the stun effect and that is based on magic resistance. So if you want to make sure that your stun is going to land you are going to want to make sure the mob's magic resistance is as low as you can get it. That means you should be building up your Finishing Moves by using Stutter Step. Unlike Reverse Flourish, Violent Flourish only takes one Finishing Move to pull off so you can use it as soon as you get your first Stutter Step on the mob.
Haste Samba @45.
Ahh, the sexiness that Dancer brings to subjobs. Well, it's definitely a little bit of sexiness at 5% weapon delay reduction, but it's not game breaking that is for sure. Any decrease in weapon delay especially without losing TP per swing is a nice bonus, but 5% is still small when you consider that other buffs like Haste and BRD songs give you a much larger bonus. The neat thing about it is that while it does stack with all other forms of Haste it doesn't count toward the Haste cap like almost every other form of Haste. Normally, your "Job Abilty" haste would be capped at 25%, but with Haste Samba you can actually go above this. The problem is that you can't go that much higher if you aren't a DRK with Desperate Blows. Once Haste Samba is available through /DNC it will almost definitely be better to use it than Drain Samba if you don't need all the healing you can get.
Evasion Bonus II and Subtle Blow II @45.
Another nice boost to evasion and a little less TP spam. These traits are never going to be the reason you choose to sub DNC, but they are a bit of an added benefit that you don't get from many other jobs.
Dancer is going to be a strong subjob as the level cap increases even if it is just for the same roles that it is used for now. This is another one of those "must level" jobs, even though leveling it isn't going to be anywhere near as fun as using it as a subjob.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sub-Routine: Dancer
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Morning In Vana'diel: Mandatory Subs.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! What are the best subjobs; the ones designed to be the best sub jobs or the old reliable ones?
In the plethora of potential subjobs (and I am not counting those subjobs that you shouldn't be using but are always funny to listen to FFXI noobs profess because of their potential awesometude, one day I will tell you about the value of a Galka BLM/MNK that my co-worker insisted was the way he was going to play FFXI) there are two recent additions that have become near mandatory for at least some jobs. The weird thing is that those subjobs were added to actually be subjobs, at least that is what SE has said in an interview. Those subjobs are Dancer and Scholar. Are these jobs now mandatory for us all? Should they be? Are they really a new option at all?
Dancer - Dancer was added to allow melee to solo, and solo they can do now. They still can't overcome some of the more difficult things they couldn't do before and there are certain melee mixes that more favor subbing Dancer, but for Campaign it makes many jobs not so much of a death sentence. WAR, DRK and at least partially MNK are still kind of boned when it comes to subbing Dancer because they even with the self-healing they can still take a lot of damage and there is a point at which /DNC can't keep up with damage. WAR can use Defender of course, and MNK can use Counterstance, but they both have their obvious drawbacks. DRK is screwed even with /DNC because they don't really have much to help themselves out even with /DNC. The jobs that can best use /DNC are SAM and NIN because they have a way to block damage providing them the time to cure themselves up and regain some precious TP for those cures. SAM even has a built-in generator to supply cures in the form of Meditate.
Scholar - This is a little more controversial for some mages, but there are a variety of ways that Scholar is a beneficial subjob. WHM is the first job I think should consider using /SCH. /SCH provides a big boost to everything that WHM does poorly and also importantly, it artificial boosts some of the stats that are very hard to level for a new WHM like Healing and Divine. The additional benefit of 10% off of casting time and recast (a boon for WHM everywhere) and cuts the MP cost of those spells by 10% too. The stratagems are not as immediately useful for White Mage but situationally can be great for a fast and cheap raise or reraise. For other jobs, /SCH doesn't stand out quite a much, but can still have it's uses. For BLM, I think it is even unappreciated in that the stratagems are much more valuable and it can boost some very important skills if needed. It's real problem is that it lacks some of the defensive capabilities for soloing, but in group play I believe that /SCH is competitive if not better than /RDM or /WHM.
Why consider new sub jobs? Well, I finally finished my /RDM and now I need to do /SCH. :)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Math of Sword and Spell: Kabuki Dancer
Every Thursday Araelus is bringing the science to FFXI.
The Math of Sword and Spell is dedicated not only to the hardcore calculations and statistics of FFXI, but more importantly to helping you use that math without confusing you. You may not know why you are playing better, but rest assured you will be playing better.
This week's edition is part of a series called "Occasionally Replies Two to Eight Times" focusing on reader questions and more in-depth analysis of previous concepts or interesting game features.
[Due to assorted issues, especially the sources of data involved, this post has been removed by the author. -2012]
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Math of Sword and Spell: Party Multipliers part two
Every Thursday Araelus is bringing the science to FFXI.
The Math of Sword and Spell will be a column dedicated not only to the hardcore calculations and statistics of FFXI, but more importantly he will help you use that math without confusing you. You may not know why you are playing better, but rest assured you will be playing better. This week's edition focuses on how White Mage and Scholar can enhance your party's effectiveness, and mentions the abandoned Dancer and Summoner jobs.
This week's article contained a few mistakes that have thankfully been fixed due to reader support and commentary. Thank you to Evilpaul for pointing out that Double Weather is +25%, which I should have remembered from Enspell math, hmm hmm, and I like pie too, by the way. Thank you to Yoteo for pointing out an error regarding Erase. I suppose I meant that Erase cannot be cast outside the party. -Araelus, 25 June 11:33pm
Last week, we discussed some of the ways Red Mages and Bards can benefit a party, but those are only the most stressed-out of the backline. What about some of the other support roles FFXI has to offer? This week we consider the dedicated White Mage healer, the bookworm Scholar, even two forgotten jobs: Dancer and Summoner.
White Mages have had their ups and downs, but are currently the best healers in Vana’diel. Powerhouse instant HP restoration abilities don’t stop them from casting certain enfeebles, top-tier protective magic, and even reducing the enemy’s TP gain.
Cure – the amount of HP restored first depends on MND, then Healing Magic skill, then VIT. But since multipliers do more than expected, it becomes clear Cure Potency +% is the best available stat. It increases the amount of HP cured after all other statistics are taken into account. Divine Seal doubles a Cure, or +100%, and equipment can boost this factor all the time.
Under normal circumstances, for the average White Mage, this would mean a Templar Mace and Noble’s Tunic for a +20% bonus. The use of a mace instead of a staff allows for the Muse Tariqah (MND+7, interrupt down 10%) or Legion Scutum (Enmity -2) as desired.
Going beyond the standard equipment, a Roundel Earring (Potency +5%) is from the Plucking Wings Yagudo Op, and the BCNM50 reward Medicine Ring (Potency +10%) works when HP is at or below 75% and TP is below 100. In Temenos, a Korin Obi means Potency +25%. In Salvage, the Lambda Sash provides Potency +3%, but this is a rare reward from Assault.
The solo ENM “Pulling the Strings” might produce a Healing Feather, which gives twenty charges of Potency +15%, each for three minutes. Wealthy White Mages can get another Potency +2% from the HQ Aristocrat’s Coat, and if they are subbing NIN for Dual Wield should sub an Asklepios for Potency +5%.
This means the maximum Cure Potency +% values for everyday use with the best possible gear is +57%. In Salvage, 60%, and in Temenos, +82%. Just remember that the more HP restored, the more Enmity gained. Don’t forget to have Afflatus Solace active, which further increases each Cure’s HP return through a 25-second duration Stoneskin buffer effect.
Haste – no less powerful than when cast by a Red Mage, although no better, either. If both mages are present in one party, courtesy dictates they settle on a Haste pattern. For example, if the tank is getting Refresh and Phalanx II, usually the White Mage will pick up that Haste.
Bar-spells – in addition to having access to every Bar-ra spell, White Mages can cast more powerful elemental bar-spells than any other job. While Red Mages have an 11.3% higher base Enhancing skill cap, and cap out 18.3% higher sans merits, White Mages can directly boost their Bar-spells’ effect and add in a Magic Defense Bonus.
The number next to the elemental icon in the equipment screen after a Bar-spell is cast is equal to Enhancing Magic skill times 0.2, plus 40, rounded down. A capped RDM gets 100, a capped WHM gets 91. But then the WHM should be wearing Cleric's Pantaloons (Bar+20, HQ is Bar+22) and that immediately surpasses RDM’s best. Add in a Blessed Briault and Afflatus Solace and Red Mage can no longer compete. This doesn’t even take into account a possible bonus from White Mage Bar-spell Effect merits.
Regen – White Mages have the option of Regen’s 8.33 HP/MP (125HP in 75 seconds), Regen II’s 6.67 HP/MP (240HP in 60 seconds), or Regen III’s 6.25 HP/MP (400HP in 60 seconds) and that is without any effort on their part. Bothering to equip a Cleric’s Briault when casting adds one, two, or three more HP per three seconds to each spell respectively, and maxed Regen Merits adds 5HP/tick to each spell.
At most, Regen gives 18.3 HP/MP (275HP in 75 seconds), Regen II gives 10.56 HP/MP (380HP in 60 seconds), and Regen III gives 8.75 HP/MP (560HP in 60 seconds). It should be easy to see why Regen Merits are the second most popular merits for White Mages, after Cure Cast Time.
Auspice – a recent addition to the arsenal, this spell grants Subtle Blow to all party members for 48 MP and lasts three minutes.
Devotion – this ranged Convert JA transforms 25% of a White Mage’s HP to another party member’s MP. It cannot be used solo. Meriting Devotion takes away from possible Protectra and Shellra V tiers, but around 22% of White Mages have at least unlocked the ability, making it twice as popular as Martyr, the HP to 2xHP equivalent. The secret to Devotion (and Martyr) is using Stoneskin, which reduces HP loss but does not lower the MP or HP restored.
Divine Veil – unless Yagrush is available, this can only be used by spending Divine Seal on a status removal spell such as Poisona or Paralyna. Interestingly, Divine Veil does not change who can be targeted by these spells (although Erase remains party-only) so if diligent White Mages keep track of other parties’ status effects, Divine Veil can come in handy for anyone in range.
Erase, Esuna, Sacrifice – Erase removes one negative magical effect from one party member, Esuna removes at least the same, and Sacrifice basically enables the use of Esuna. These spells are necessary for the healing of effects that otherwise cannot be fixed, such as Bio and Evasion Down. While Erase can remove any such debilitating status, Esuna will only heal an effect the caster is also afflicted by. Thus Sacrifice transferring effects from other party members to the White Mage allows for Esuna to then remove that from the rest of the party.
Casting Erase six times would take 108MP. Casting Sacrifice and Esuna would take 42MP. If Afflatus Solace is active, Sacrifice will siphon more than one effect, up to seven, and if Afflatus Misery is active then Esuna can remove up to two effects at once, making that MP go even further. The only weakness of Esuna is that it will not remove most status effects without Afflatus Misery, the stance which is not usually active.
Scholars started out as a relatively broken job, outshined by the other mages. Arguably they are still broken, but in a powerful way. With too many Job Abilities to handle and an accompanying slew of spells, these casters are called upon to apply spells to the party no-one else can dish out, in addition to their crowd-control duties.
Past level 70, Scholars can store up to four Stratagem charges, and get one back every minute. This allows for the continual use of powerful effects, especially the White Grimore’s Accession, which boosts the range of one healing or enhancing spell to the entire party.
Phalanx – a generally agreeable subjob for Scholar is RDM, which provides access to this powerful damage reduction spell in addition to native Sleep and Dispel. Because Scholar will be casting Phalanx while in Light Arts, their Enhancing Skill should be at least 285, resulting in 26 damage reduction, only two below a Red Mage’s cap for Phalanx II. And Scholar’s skill cap without merits is 293, providing 27 dmg down, or only one point less than a Red Mage’s party-targeted spell, and this affects the whole party at once for only 21MP.
Enspells – damage is currently calculated based on the caster’s Enhancing Skill, plus if the attacker has any relevant Enspell+ gear. This damage can be resisted, and usually is to some extent. It should not be cast if Stratagem charges are in short supply, or if another additional effect is more powerful, such as if players prefer to have a Samba active or if Soul Weapon is being used.
Stoneskin – much better than Summoner’s paltry 200HP, 92MP Earthen Ward, this should provide a 350HP buffer to the whole party for only 29MP. If any party members are wearing a Stone Gorget or Mufflers, they will get an additional 30 or 60 HP buffer, but these items only benefit the wearer. Even in the usual case of no-one wearing these items, one party-wide Stoneskin provides a bonus 2100HP, which equates to 72.4 HP/MP, the highest such ratio available in the game.
Storm Spells – this unique line provides the appropriate single weather effect to party members regardless of the current area weather. However, if the area weather is the same element as the Storm, then a double effect will be gained. This works best when party members have an appropriate Elemental Obi, increasing the weather spell boost change to 100%. Meriting Stormsurge means party members also gain a stat bonus corresponding to the element: Fire is STR, Ice is INT, etc. This starts at +3 and goes up to +7, which is considerable.
All the scrolls for Storm spells can be acquired from Professor Layton in the Eldieme Necropolis [S], where he is taking a break from his famous puzzle-solving adventures.
Dancers are not often included in FFXI activities for a number of reasons, most importantly their dependence on TP generation. While a boon in solo work, as a support job ability, and in lower level parties, having to hit a monster continually generally means the Dancer ends up damaging their friends more than helping them. Nevertheless, this job has three powerful abilities to consider having on your side, even if a main-job Dancer isn’t included. And it’s absolutely invaluable for Campaign parties, if those even exist.
Sambas – the third-tier makes fighting through WotG missions a breeze, since undead aren’t involved. During more relaxed events, a Soboro Samurai can throw on DNC as a sub, and keep up either tier-one Samba.
Waltzes – Converting TP into HP is another unique Dancer ability, and just like Sambas it can benefit only party members. While this limitation is one of Dancer’s serious flaws in high risk events, considering that in order to gain TP to cure, the enemy monsters have to be given TP which they use to damage the party, lower level players fighting for experience points usually attack monsters with weak TP moves. If those same monsters are weak to piercing attacks, including a Dancer could be the right decision, especially during off-peak hours when the familiar party jobs are not available.
Spectral Jig – with a recast of 30 seconds and a maximum duration of 90 seconds, this allows a Dancer to gain Sneak and Invisible without using items, without casting magic, and without dropping Invisible. Simply click off Sneak and re-apply. And it works well from a DNC subjob, at or above main job level 50.
How can a self-only ability benefit the whole party? Am I reaching too far here for the inclusion of Dancer? In any situation where the party is split up and moving around in a dangerous environment, the ability to self-sufficiently avoid aggro is crucial. Lamp floors in Nyzul Isle especially come to mind, or certain parts of Salvage, but the same is true for mission runs and getting to distant camps such as the far areas of Castle Oztroja [S].
Sometimes the little benefits go a long way, and Dancer is a job made up of small benefits.
Summoners may be more populous than Rangers (strange yet true) but they remain the red-headed stepchildren of FFXI.
With Summoner at 72, leveled the old fashioned way over a long, long time, I may or may not be qualified to write this job off as a loss for general party endeavors, but that’s my verdict based on experience and feedback. Six-Summoner parties can be a lot of fun for some NM fights, or messing around by the Moongate, if you enjoy that kind of thing, but for standard events the job is sadly lacking.
While Summoners can still do consistent damage to any mob for zero Enmity, gone are the days of requiring that tactic on Wyrms to succeed, not to mention ye olde Aerial Armor rotations. (Interesting how those zero Enmity blood pacts still work well on Odin, huh?) Even the separation of Rage and Ward was not really enough, because all casters are limited by MP and time to begin with. Restricted more than any other caster, SMN simply could not do any single task efficiently, and thus their role could be bettered by a combination of other jobs. Then Scholar took a nail gun to Summoner's coffin.
At least Summoner is the namesake of a great Final Fantasy cocktail invented by the folks at the IT University of Copenhagen.
This week's...
Most Valuable: Afflatus Solace adding Stoneskin to all Cures, for everyone, means it probably should have been included in the article on universal force multipliers. But then it wouldn’t have won this category over Dia III and Angon. Then again, Bar-ra spells and Sacrifice are party-only targeted.
Ignored Ability: If they can keep up initial TP generation and land Steps, Dancer’s No Foot Rise combined with Reverse Flourish can maintain quite a bit of TP and keep them running with less mob attacks generated.
Hazard Symbol: When Scholars run out of Stratagem charges, access to all those special powers goes away until the next minute mark. Watch out for which Addendum is needed when, so necessary spells aren’t removed from the casting list.
Overworked and Underpaid Job: Scholar has a lot to do, and just as many JAs as tasks. Without a lot of planning and practice at it can be too much to handle. Decide whether or not you want to use equipment swaps to skip animations, amongst other tricks.
Stupid Square Moment: Summoner’s Hastega still doesn’t overwrite Spider Web! But more seriously, capped melee skill levels are much lower than magic skills to begin with, and this lack of accuracy compounded with Dancer’s base Dagger ranking of B+ hinders the job. This severely hurts their ability to build TP and land Steps on high level enemies, not to mention problems with TP feeding when maintaining a Samba. Even a Corsair’s Loaded Deck won’t help Dancers recover from that bad deal.
Notes: Job population and merit popularity is sourced from the 9th Vana’diel Census at
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/guide/development/census/09/4.html
We’ve taken a look at how many jobs can help everyone in the battle and also their own parties. But are you wondering about the percentage effects of Slow vs. Hojo? Interested in why Blind and Flash stack? Tired of not hearing about whether you should merit Sentinel or Rampart? Think all those guys are Paladrones and Ninjerks and they should let your SAM/DRG or RDM/BLU be in charge? Next week, we'll take a look at force multiplication for the tanks.
Until then, keep your graphing calculators handy!
Questions? Concerns? Did I take a logarithm when I should have used the antiderivative? Please leave a comment.
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
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