So, I'm starting to merit my DNC and I'm a little unsure on where to start. I heard there are 2 forms of a DNC depending on merits, a solo and a party DNC.
I'm going to mainly be playing solo as I don't know anybody on Bismarck, so I'd like to know what merits to add.
This is what I was going to do:
- 5/5 Reverse Flourish
- 5/5 Haste Samba
- 5/5 No foot rise
- 4/5 Closed Partition
- 1/5 Fan Dance
I think reverse flourish and haste 5/5 are 100% no matter who you talk to. I started doing solo dnc stuff and I went 5/5 on closed position, 3 on no foot rise, and 1 each on fan/saber dance, just to have the ability to adjust party/solo.
Most people will tell you that you don't really need more than 2 merits in No Foot Rise simply because you should only really be using Steps on Presto timer. If you miss a Presto Step, NFR picks up the slack. There also is not a huge number of situations where you cannot get TP on fodder mobs before trying to solo something.
Most people will tell you that you don't really need more than 2 merits in No Foot Rise simply because you should only really be using Steps on Presto timer. If you miss a Presto Step, NFR picks up the slack. There also is not a huge number of situations where you cannot get TP on fodder mobs before trying to solo something.
So what method do you suggest I should take?
Maxing out Closed Partition instead, then adding 3 to Fan Dance and 2 onto NFR?
Have you read Ninnian's dnc-guide topic all about Dancer, such as gear, merits etc.. Really good one you should take a look if you haven't read it yet.
- 5/5 Reverse Flourish
- 5/5 Haste Samba
- 1/5 No Foot Rise
- 3/5 Saber Dance (for when u have a healer in pt, and u can go straight DD)
- 1/5 Fan Dance
Still have some merits to spend, but basic this is the path I'm meriting.
Have you read Ninnian's dnc-guide topic all about Dancer, such as gear, merits etc.. Really good one you should take a look if you haven't read it yet.
- 5/5 Reverse Flourish
- 5/5 Haste Samba
- 1/5 No Foot Rise
- 3/5 Saber Dance (for when u have a healer in pt, and u can go straight DD)
- 1/5 Fan Dance
Still have some merits to spend, but basic this is the path I'm meriting.
I've been taking a look through it, I'm a little confused on certain things since I'm a fairly new player however it will eventually make sense.
May I ask why you didn't put a merit into Closed Partition?
I swap between the following depending on if I have a healer around. I ride saber as much as possible without killing myself or draining the healer.
Have a Healer:
Saber: 1/Fan: 1
NFR: 3 (Still don't agree with the 'you only need two because of presto' argument, but don't feel like explaining again.)
CP: 5
No Healer:
Saber: 5/Fan: 1
NFR: 3
CP: 1
(Higher Saber so I can drop for cures and reapply asap.)
Hi Bruv Have you read Ninnian's dnc-guide topic all about Dancer, such as gear, merits etc.. Really good one you should take a look if you haven't read it yet. But here is the link to the topic. Ninians-Dnc-Guide But I have done so far these merits - 5/5 Reverse Flourish - 5/5 Haste Samba - 1/5 No Foot Rise - 3/5 Saber Dance (for when u have a healer in pt, and u can go straight DD) - 1/5 Fan Dance Still have some merits to spend, but basic this is the path I'm meriting.
I've been taking a look through it, I'm a little confused on certain things since I'm a fairly new player however it will eventually make sense. May I ask why you didn't put a merit into Closed Partition?
I haven't come that far yet, I will merit my Closed Partition too.
But again as you can see in your thread there are few good DNC suggestions on FFXIAH from people who play DNC with heart and soul!
I swap between the following depending on if I have a healer around. I ride saber as much as possible without killing myself or draining the healer.
Have a Healer:
Saber: 1/Fan: 1
NFR: 3 (Still don't agree with the 'you only need two because of presto' argument, but don't feel like explaining again.)
CP: 5
No Healer:
Saber: 5/Fan: 1
NFR: 3
CP: 1
(Higher Saber so I can drop for cures and reapply asap.)
If you didn't have a healer, having 5/5 Saber wouldn't be a good idea due to the fact it renders your cures unusable, I'm a little confused on that.
Between shadows and evasion, you can keep saber dance up for nearly the entire duration on fodder mobs without really needing to cure yourself. The main exception would be against anything with a nasty aoe move or something that ignores shadows. More merits into Saber Dance just let you touch up your HP sooner rather than later before you use the Dance again. Main examples of when you would use this would be killing trial mobs for the many useful weapons that DNC can use.
Pretty much what's already been said. I personally went 5/5 Haste/Reverse, 5 CP, 3 NFR, 1/1 Saber/Fan. I could probably take out one of my NFR merits and put it towards Saber/Fan since non-presto-steps are more likely to be the ones missed but that's neither here nor there. This setup lets me use Fan Dance when I need it and have full CP for solo, while it also lets me use Saber Dance when I need that and still have full CP for a little extra acc and eva if/when I happen to pull hate. That's my view on it though.
Most people will tell you that you don't really need more than 2 merits in No Foot Rise simply because you should only really be using Steps on Presto timer. If you miss a Presto Step, NFR picks up the slack. There also is not a huge number of situations where you cannot get TP on fodder mobs before trying to solo something.
What if you miss both steps? Might as well 5/5 NFR.
i solo a lot these days as dnc.
the setup i like is
5/5 haste (i'm keeping this b/c i expect to use more w/full +2 charis)
5/5 reverse flourish
---
5/5 nfr. i like it b/c i can always start a battle with tp ...and make a sc happen if i miss steps.
3/5 closed position
2/5 fan dance. i just upgraded this and got rid of saber. i loved using saber @ 75 to ensure a darkness sc, but it's no longer necessary. i like to solo very difficult mobs, and i never use saber.
mainly because when abyssea first came out i had a hard time getting Gnarled Horn, so I threw all them merits into fan dance and /nin tanked
eventually i got GH and i love it but i kept the merits the way it was because i loved how short my recast of fan dance was. Sadly now though at level 95 not too many things in abyssea need it, but the extra evasion/acc from closed position doesnt do much for me at this point either, hell i dont even /nin for alot of mobs >.> ALTHOUGH for the certain NM's that hit like a truck, fan dance is a godsend
outside abyssea... i dont really use dnc lmao its pretty much sam or whm
mainly because when abyssea first came out i had a hard time getting Gnarled Horn, so I threw all them merits into fan dance and /nin tanked
eventually i got GH and i love it but i kept the merits the way it was because i loved how short my recast of fan dance was. Sadly now though at level 95 not too many things in abyssea need it, but the extra evasion/acc from closed position doesnt do much for me at this point either, hell i dont even /nin for alot of mobs >.> ALTHOUGH for the certain NM's that hit like a truck, fan dance is a godsend
outside abyssea... i dont really use dnc lmao its pretty much sam or whm
I also have 4/5 in Fan Dance right now and I don't see myself changing that any time soon. It's really impossible to substitute that kind of PDT in gear or atmas. Also, for soloing NMs that cast magic (as well as the ones that hit like a truck), Fan Dance is often needed as well. If they're going to wipe your shadows (especially with ga magic), chances are you're going to take a few more hits than normal on top of being nuked. Right now I only have 2/5 NFR, but I'm probably going to go 5/5 (taking from Closed Position) so I can Climactic + Rudra's + NFR + Reverse + Rudra's.
Taking Fan Dance over 1/5 is a waste of merits. You'd be hardpressed to think of enough cases where it's useful that it's remotely justified.
There's also 0 excuse for not having Saber Dance 1/5, considering it's arguably the fourth best offensive JA in the game (Last Resort fully meritted -> Hasso -> Haste Samba -> Saber Dance).
There are times when I wish I had 5/5 NFR, but not enough to lose my birrion evasion.
Gonna have to agree with Byrth on the Fan Dance. If you're riding Fan Dance recast, it means you're getting hit, and each hit reduces the PDT of Fan Dance until a certain point, so seems kind of dumb to give yourself one extra hit per recast of 50% PDT when you could have probably avoided that hit with the evasion from Closed Position.
No doubts about group1, still confused about group2.
5/5 closed position for sure, but what about the others?
How exactely do you use Saber Dance and Fan Dance?
Saber when you don't need waltzes to kill stuff faster, and Fan when you have no shadows up and lots of damage incoming?
So, I'm starting to merit my DNC and I'm a little unsure on where to start. I heard there are 2 forms of a DNC depending on merits, a solo and a party DNC.
I'm going to mainly be playing solo as I don't know anybody on Bismarck, so I'd like to know what merits to add.
This is what I was going to do:
- 5/5 Reverse Flourish
- 5/5 Haste Samba
- 5/5 No foot rise
- 4/5 Closed Partition
- 1/5 Fan Dance