Dancer (Final Fantasy XI)

Official Artwork, Female Dancer in Artifact Armor.

With their aggressive steps, these thewy terpsichoreans would weave forbidden magicks upon themselves and their enemies, producing results rivaling those of even the most powerful sorcerous cants. The popularity of this profession reached its peak during the Great War, when dancers were common additions to allied army units fighting on the front lines.

Official description

Dancer is one of the jobs introduced in the Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion.

Dancers are capable healers ND. While it may not be wise for them to be the main healer of a group until level 74, two functioning together can, in most cases, eliminate the need for an MP-based healer. Dancer is one of the only jobs offering the Dual Wield trait, which it gains at level 20.

Abilities[]

Job abilities[]

Job Ability	Level	Recast	Duration	Description
Trance	1	1:00:00	0:01:00	While in effect, lowers TP cost of dances and steps to 0.
Sambas	5	0:01:00	Varies	These dances imbue melee attacks with special enhancements.
Waltzes	15	Varies	—	These dances cure and remove ailments from the target.
Flourishes	20	Varies	—	Powerful dance steps that can only be used after earning finishing moves.
Steps	20	0:00:05	Varies	These dance steps enfeeble enemies while granting access to finishing moves.
Jigs	25	Varies	Varies	These dances enhance your own abilities.
Flourishes II	40	Varies	—	Powerful dance steps that can only be used after earning finishing moves.
Contradance	50	0:05:00	0:01:00	The next waltz used while under the effects of Contradance will restore an increased amount of HP. If Healing Waltz was used, the effect will extend to an area centered on the target player.
Fan Dance	75(Only unlocked with Merit Points)	0:03:00	0:05:00	Reduces physical damage taken and increases enmity but renders Samba unusable. Physical damage reduction gradually decreases with each hit taken.
Saber Dance	75(Only unlocked with Merit Points)	0:03:00	0:05:00	Increases Double Attack rate but renders waltzes unusable. Double Attack rate gradually decreases.
No Foot Rise	75(Only unlocked with Merit Points)	0:03:00	—	Instantly grants additional finishing moves.
Presto	77	0:00:15	0:00:30	Enhances the effect of your next step and grants you an additional finishing move.
Flourishes III	80	Varies	—	Powerful dance steps that can only be used after earning finishing moves.
Grand Pas	96	1:00:00	0:00:30	Allows flourishes to be performed without finishing moves.

Sambas[]

Sambas	Level	Duration	TP Cost	Description
Drain Samba	5	02:00	100	Inflicts the next target you strike with Drain daze, allowing all those engaged in battle to drain its HP.
Drain Samba II	35	01:30	250
Drain Samba III	65	01:30	400
Aspir Samba	25	02:00	150	Inflicts the next target you strike with Aspir daze, allowing all those engaged in battle to drain its MP.
Aspir Samba II	60	02:00	250
Haste Samba	45	01:30	350	Inflicts the next target you strike with Haste daze, increasing the attack speed of all those engaged in battle with it.

Waltzes[]

Waltzes	Level	Recast	TP Cost	Description
Curing Waltz	15	00:06	200	Restores a party member's HP.
Curing Waltz II	30	00:08	350
Curing Waltz III	45	00:10	500
Curing Waltz IV	70	00:17	650
Curing Waltz V	87	00:23	800
Divine Waltz	25	00:13	400	Restores the HP of all party members within a small radius.
Divine Waltz II	78	00:20	800
Healing Waltz	35	00:08	200	Removes one magic-induced ailment from a party member.

Steps[]

Steps	Level	Duration	TP Cost	Description
Quickstep	20	Varies	100	Lowers a target's evasion. If successful, will earn you finishing move.
Box Step	30	Varies	100	Lowers a target's defense. If successful, will earn you finishing move.
Stutter Step	40	Varies	100	Lowers a target's magic resistance. If successful, will earn you finishing move.
Feather Step	83	Varies	100	Lowers a target's critical hit evasion. If successful, will earn you a finishing move.

Flourishes[]

Flourishes I	Level	Recast	Finishing Moves	Description
Animated Flourish	20	00:30	1-2	Provokes target. Requires at least one finishing move.
Desperate Flourish	30	00:20	1	Weighs down a target with a low rate of success. Requires one finishing move.
Violent Flourish	45	00:20	1	Stuns target with a low rate of success. Requires one finishing move.

Flourishes II	Level	Recast	Finishing Moves	Description
Reverse Flourish	40	00:30	1-5	Converts remaining finishing moves into TP. Requires at least one finishing move.
Building Flourish	50	00:10	1-3	Enhances potency of next weapon skill. Requires at least one finishing move.
Wild Flourish	60	00:20	2	Readies target for a skillchain. Requires at least two finishing moves.

Flourishes III	Level	Recast	Finishing Moves	Description
Climactic Flourish	80	01:30	1-5	Allows you to deal critical hits. Requires at least one finishing move.
Striking Flourish	89	00:30	2	Allows you to deliver a twofold attack. Requires at least two finishing moves.
Ternary Flourish	93	00:45	3	Allows you to deliver a threefold attack. Requires at least three finishing moves.

Jigs[]

Jigs	Level	Recast	Duration	Description
Spectral Jig	25	00:30	03:00	Allows you to evade enemies by making you undetectable by sight or sound.
Chocobo Jig	55	01:00	02:00	Increases movement speed.
Chocobo Jig II	70	01:00	02:00	Increases movement speed of party members within area of effect.

Job traits[]

Job Trait	Levels	Tier	Description
Evasion Bonus	15 / 45 / 75 / 90	IV	Improves evasion against physical attacks.
Resist Slow	20 / 60 / 81	III	Increases resistance against slow.
Dual Wield	20 / 40 / 60 / 80	IV	Allows you to equip two weapons.
Subtle Blow	25 / 45 / 65 / 86	IV	Reduces amount of TP gained by enemies when striking them.
Accuracy Bonus	30 / 60 / 76	III	Improves accuracy of physical attacks.
Skillchain Bonus	45 / 58 / 71 / 84 / 97	V	Improves skillchain damage.
Closed Position	75(Only unlocked with Merit Points)	Varies	Grants a bonus to accuracy and evasion when face-to-face with an enemy.
Tactical Parry	77 / 84 / 91 / 97	IV	Grants bonus TP when parrying an attack.
Conserve TP	77	I	Occasionally cuts down TP cost of weapon skills.
Crit. Atk. Bonus	80 / 88 / 99	III	Improves power of critical hits.

Skill ratings[]

Combat Skill	Rank	Caps by Level
Combat Skill	Rank	49	99
Hand-to-Hand	D	133	334
Dagger	A+	150	424
Sword	D	133	334
Throwing	C	139	373
Evasion	B+	144	404
Parrying	B	144	398

Gameplay[]

Strengths[]

Dancers have strong curative abilities that are unique to their class.
Instead of using MP to use dances, Dancers use a moderately small amount of TP, which is gained each time they hit or are hit by a monster with a normal attack.
Dancers offer unique debuffs that help all party members.

Weaknesses[]

Dancers are not quite as capable at removing status ailments as White Mages, since they have only one curative ability, with a significant delay.
Dancers create a lot of enmity because of their participation in combat plus curative powers.
Dancer is not a high-damage job, and it is not favored for end-game notorious monsters and events.

Subjobs[]

Dancers are known to be quite efficient healers and support characters. Below are listed some viable subjobs and reasoning at this point.

Ninja[]

Ninja offers the Utsusemi spells, making it a popular subjob choice for many jobs. Utsusemi helps dancers dodge attacks, a great boon because their healing capabilities, combined with their damage dealing necessity, can draw large amounts of enmity at times. As with all situations, however, a Ninja subjob can be demanding to keep up due to a constantly required supply of tools to cast Utsusemi.

Samurai[]

In the June 2010 update, Dancers were given the Dual Wield job ability. Since then, some Dancers have switched from Dancer/Ninja to Dancer/Samurai, to help them gain TP with Samurai abilities like Meditate. However, many Dancers still prefer Ninja as their subjob because of Utsusemi.

Monk[]

Dancers have a decent hand to hand capacity. At least until level 20, a Monk subjob grants the Dancer access to Martial Arts which will greatly lower the weapon delay of hand to hand weapons, and using fist weapons grants them the Combo ability, useful as early on Dancers use minimal TP and dagger abilities aren't very strong early on. On the downside, a Dancer's skill in hand to hand weapons is absolutely dismal, and after a short time daggers become much more useful.