PvP Job Series: Dancer

In this Tactics PvP Job Series, we take a closer look at how the Dancer job performs in a competitive PvP environment.

PvP Performance Statcard

Going by their performance ratings, Dancer isn’t a great option overall for PvP modes. We will go over why that is the case below, starting with their abilities.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Dancer

Abilities

Dancers are a female-only job that uses their Dance to debuff the enemy or deal HP or MP damage regardless of distance. Like their male counterpart, Bard, their abilities besides Witch Hunt and Mincing Minuet (deals MP and HP damage respectively) have a 50% chance to miss once they cast their ability. And just like Bardsong, while performing a Dance, your evasion rates are ignored as well. Let’s take a look at the abilities that you would likely come across or use in PvP:

Slow Dance (action) – 50% chance to lower each of your opponent’s Speed by 1. This ability can make the difference in one of your units acting before another when comparing Speed.

Polka/Heathen Frolick (action) – 50% chance to lower each of your opponent’s Phyiscal Attack or Magick Attack by 1 respectively. Though their effectiveness relies on the type of composition your opponent is mostly comprised of, reducing their PA or MA in the early game can slow down the flow of combat in your favor since incoming damage is less.

Forbidden Dance (action) – 50% chance to inflict one of blind, confuse, silence, sleep, toad, stop, slow or poison status. Though even more random since its a randomized selection at which gets applied (making it a 1/8 of a chance for a particular status on top of 50% chance to hit). Stop, slow, and toad are the best ones to get since they are the most disruptive.

Last Waltz (action) – 50% chance to set each opposing unit’s CT to 0. Though it can net a positive reward as long it affects at least half of the opposition, Last Waltz’s biggest drawback is the amount of time (20+ in-game clock ticks) it takes to even cast.

Fury (reaction) – This ability has a Bravery% chance to increase your PA by 1 after taking damage. Mostly only plausible on physical-based builds that can sustain long-term damage to make use of this proc.

Fly (movement) – This ability is a built-in Ignore Elevation, go over characters and obstacles when traversing, and ignores fall damage. While Fly has advantages, Teleport tends to be the better option for traversing height differences since there is no penalty for teleporting height differences.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 60% | MP: 50% | SP: 100% | PA: 110% | MA: 95%
C-EV: 5 | Move: 3 | Jump: 3

Can equip: Knives, Cloths, Bags, Hats, Clothing

Dancers have a bit more stat versatility compared to the male-exclusive Bard, giving them a better variety of skillsets and utilities. Having access to bags, such as Hydrascale Bag for +1 Speed or Croakadile Bag for +1 MA can also build towards Dancer’s diversity by making faster performances or even using Iaido. Cloths are a good option with Parry since they have a 50% parry rate, but you cannot evade while performing so this is going to depend on playstyle. If looking to optimize Dance, Ninja or Thief is your best option as Speed plays an important part in starting performance early.

Conclusion

While they have better overall stats and gear options compared to Bard, Dancer still struggles with viability in faster PvP formats compared to slower ones. Dance does tend to be a bit more effective to Bardsong since debuffing tends to yield better results in the long-term, but Dancer as a primary job is very niche at best and their skillset is likely best suited for other high-Speed jobs if considered.