Dancer

Dancer
Job Base(s):	Archer
Job Type:	2-2
Race:	Human
Changes At:	Comodo
Number of Skills:	18
Total Skill Points:	91
Total Quest Skills:	1
Job Bonuses
STR AGI VIT INT DEX LUK +2 +7 +3 +5 +5 +8

Overview

Rhythm and balance are qualities cultivated by all Archers, however, only the truly talented are allowed to learn the secret steps of the Dancers. These scantily clad seductresses gain the power to influence the minds of allies and enemies alike.

It is said that time slows down when a Dancer starts to move her hips to the sound of some mysterious tune; that those watching may lose control of their bodies and find their magic reserves either greatly improved or gone altogether. Where their male counterparts, the Bards, are more bent on support, Dancers specialize at disruptive maneuvers, which make them an invaluable asset in the War of Emperium.

Supporting with a Bard or Dancer requires a different approach than other classes. Music-based buffs are mostly percentual values, as opposed to the absolute values of Priest buffs, and require careful strategy and positioning, but playing as an Archer should already provide some experience in this respect. Despite their supportive role, one should not forget that Dancers are also capable of dealing good quantities of damage, one of their main advantages over Huntresses is their immense SP pool which allows them to continually use Double Strafe instead of normal attacks, ensuring decent damage output.

To understand how to build a Bard or Dancer, knowledge of all their skills is needed. Dancer and Bard skills are, in comparison to other classes, very stat dependent. In general, there are 2 types of skills for both a Dancer and a Bard; skills which can be sung or danced without a partner of the opposite gender and those where the player needs another Bard or Dancer respectively.

As a Dancer, only whips, daggers and bows are available for weapons, whereas Bards can use instruments instead of whips.

• When armed with a Whip:
  • Bow skills (Double Strafe, Arrow Shower, Arrow Repel) cannot be used
  • Performance Skills, as well as Amp and Encore are available
  • Whip skills (Slinging Arrow, Arrow Vulcan) can be used
  • Whip damage depends on the Dancer's dex, NOT str. Just like it does for bows

Unbarring Octave, Dazzler, Pang Voice and Charming Wink are usable regardless of weapons.

Job Change Guide

See Dancer Job Change Guide for detailed information.

Changing into a Dancer from an Archer requires the player to complete a number of tasks:

• Item Collection
• Written Test
• Dance Test

After completing these tests, the player will be transformed into a Dancer. This takes place in Comodo.

Builds

Dancers are an interesting class due to having two "modes", support and battle. Support mode uses an Whip to play songs with (and usually a Shield with Racial Reduction Cards for defense, while battle usually involves using a Bow. Because of this, it is generally recommended to put the primary Whip, a Dagger (for song flashing), the primary Shield (equipping the Bow will remove the Shield), and a Bow all into easily accessible hotkeys.

Gypsy's Kiss / Support Build

• STR: 1
• AGI: 1+
• VIT: 60-80
• INT: 60-80
• DEX: 80-99
• LUK: 20-40

Gypsy's Kiss is the most popular Dancer song for PVM purposes, as it lowers the SP cost of the party. DEX has some bonuses with certain Dancer songs, and also improves damage for any offensive skills a Bard may use. INT has bonuses with Gypsy's Kiss and is helpful for upkeeping SP. VIT is necessary for survivability / HP pool. AGI is optional, but does provide some song bonuses as well. Some Dancers may also already have AGI from leveling as an Archer for the ASPD / FLEE.

Arrow Shower Build

• STR: 1
• AGI: 1+
• VIT: 60-80
• INT: 40-60
• DEX: 80-99
• LUK: 20-40

The Archer skill Arrow Shower is only AoE accessible to a Dancer, but still offers good damage even up to level 99. With HP Healing Items, this build can AoE level very effectively and quickly. This build can actually have similar or identical stats with a support oriented build, and it is simply the equipment that differs. Double Strafe still offers very high single target damage output.

AGI Build

• STR: 1
• AGI: 80-99
• VIT: 40-60
• INT: 30-50
• DEX: 80-99
• LUK: 20-40

This build is generally recommended for newer players with less funds. This Bard build is specialized on single target ctrl-click killing, which uses minimal HP / SP Healing Items. Note that Double Strafe can be spammed quicker with higher AGI (and ASPD as a result) as well.

Tactics

Dagger switching, or Dagger Amping is a popular technique used among Dancers to stop a song. By switching to a dagger while performing a song, the song is immediately interrupted. While is has the same effect as Amp, switching weapons can be done at any time, where as Amp requires both SP and can only be used 5 seconds after the song has started. Although it is also possible of to cancel a song by equipping a Bow, changing to a Dagger has the advantage that the Bard's shield does not become unequipped in the process.

Flashing is a tactic used to make full use of the Dancer. The Dancer casts a song for an instant, then dagger or bow switches to a damage or status dealing configuration to participate in combat. This works because a song's effect stays on players for about 20 sec after a person leaves the song's AoE. One can also flash by moving around a large formation of players with a single song up.

Song flashing is somewhat complicated and can be confusing however. If a song is replayed before the 20 seconds is over, the buff does not restart. If another person receives a song buff, then the Dancer cancels it at 19 seconds, the effect will only last for one more second, instead of an additional 20 seconds (to total 39 seconds). The effect will only be refreshed 20 seconds after the other person initially touches the song area of effect. So if the Dancer plays the song with the person being buffed within it, then immediately cancels it, the other person will stay buffed for 20 seconds. After 20 seconds or more (21+ seconds to be safe), the Dancer can play the song again to give the buff to the other person again. This is extremely hard to keep track of without external timers / resources, so sometimes Dancers just permanently keep the song on. If the Dancer does wish to use offensive skills while not playing the song, they can do it by feel and play the song for a couple seconds each time, and replay it when it feels about 20 seconds or more since the last time the song was played.

Skill Build Recommendations and Breakdowns

This is the standard build of all Dancers:

• Encore 1/1
• Amp 1/1
• Gypsy's Kiss (the main party support spell)
• Sling Arrow 5/5 (optional)
• Dance Lessons 10/10
• Dazzler 5/5
• Mental Sensing 5/5 (optional. once in a blue moon you might find a bard to cast this with. most skip it though)
• Lady Luck 10/10

Ensemble skills are generally useless as a Dancer and the chances of another performer being in party is very slim. Any abilities not listed are probably not worth learning as a Dancer. However, when you rebirth and job change to Gypsy, you will want to learn some of the Ensembles and most likely max Slow Grace for WoE usage

Slinging Arrow

- Slinging Arrow is the ONLY attack that Dancers and Gypsy's can cast while performing songs. As a leveling spell, it underperforms compared to Double Strafe and has bugs that can cause the performer to become 'bugged' or appear to be frozen. It is still a viable leveling spell though for those wishing to level with a whip and shield for the full 'Performer' experience. It is counted as a ranged attack, so using Archer Skeleton cards WILL boost the damage.

Queen's Whip

For maximum damage with this spell a Queen's whip can be slot enchanted AND Malangdo enchanted with expert archer. This will increase Slinging Arrow's damage by 50%!!!!(with archer skeleton cards)

Equipment

Eden Group Equipments Quests

Main article: Eden Group Equipments Quests

Eden Group Equipment is free and a great place to start for gear to use. The Bow is a good weapon and generally a good choice for a Dancer due to the high ATK. A Dancer does require a Whip to play songs, but any regular Whip will work for this.

General Equipment Recommendations

Main article: Equipment

The Equipment article lists some general all purpose equipment that is useful through the PVM phase and also for endgame use as well.

Third Class Compatible Equipment

Main article: Wanderer Equipment

It is recommended to look at the Equipment recommendations for the Third Class job to see what equipment to strive for, rather than to spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment that will not be used in the future as a third class. However, some equipment may have a high level requirement, or are transcendent only.

Weapons

After considering what requirement skills have (some skills can only be used with certain weapon types), the Weapon Search tool within the iRO Wiki DB site is very helpful. Generally, for physical classes (both melee and ranged), something with high ATK is best. For magic classes, something with high MATK is best.

Link to the iRO Wiki DB Weapon Search: http://db.irowiki.org/db/weapon-search/

Dancers are allowed to use shields with Whips. However they are not allowed to used shields with Bows as bows take up both the right and left hand slots.

Bow

Orc Archer Bow

Steel Arrow

This combination will give you a 50% ranged damage increase, which greatly increases Double Strafe and Arrow Shower damage output

Gakkung Bow [2] - Is a cheaper alternative to the Composite Bow that can be good for making more general-purpose bows, as it only requires two cards, but has the drawback of dealing less damage then a specialized Composite Bow.

Whip

Queen's Whip

Archer Skeleton Card x2

This is the best weapon to use for Dancer's that plan on learning the Slinging Arrow skill. With slotting certificates, 2 slots can be added to a Queens Whip to allow room for Archer Skeleton cards (additional 10% damage for each card). This weapon can also be enchanted with Expert Archer enchants from Malangdo (for a total of +40% extra ranged damage in addition to the 10% extra damage that the weapon already gives) making it a formidable weapon for casting Slinging Arrow.

Rope [4] - The basic 4-slotted whip for Dancers.

Upper Headgear

Besides the "kawaii" headgear you have taking up almost all of your storage, these are some of the basics that are suggested to have for a Dancer.

• Airship Captains Hat - 7% increased range damage
• Ramen Hat (+4 Dex) (Kafra Shop item)
• Apple of Archer (+3 Dex)
• Wise Headgear [1] (+80 SP) (Willow Card) - More SP to use skills and increase overall SP regeneration.
• Erudite Headgear [1] (+2 Int) - More Int for SP regeneration or to increase effect of Gypsy's Kiss.

Middle Headgear

Some of these headgear take up both the middle and lower slots.

• Binoculars (+1 Dex)
• Robo Eyes (+1 Dex, +2% damage) - The Kafra Shop replacement for Binoculars.

Lower Headgear

• Evolved Pipe (+1 Vit and reduces damage from Brute class monsters by 5%)

Armor

The primary armor for Dancers is Tights [1] because of their +1 Dex, but can be replaced with other armors that Dancers can wear if needed. A Pantie can also be used as a cheap armor that can be used in combination with the Undershirt garment as a PvM gear. Panties can be slotted using the Socket Enchant System.

Useful armor cards for a Dancer include:

• Pupa Card - +700 HP, an ideal card for Agi/Dex Dancers who need the extra HP to survive longer.
• Peco Peco Card - +10% HP, a more effective card then the Pupa for characters with over 7,000 HP.
• Marc Card - Grants immunity to the Frozen status

There are other specific armor cards out there that are beneficial (or sometimes not beneficial depending on the situation) such as those that change the element of the player (Swordfish Card, Dokebi Card, Pasana Card, etc) and those that cause status effects to your enemies under certain conditions (Dark Frame Card, Demon Fungus Card, Brilight Card, etc.)

Garment

• Vali's Manteau - A cheaper but slightly less effective alternative to a Raydric Card.

Useful garment cards for a Dancer include:

• Raydric Card - The 20% neutral property resistance makes this card a great general purpose card, especially in PvM. It can also be useful in PvP/WoE, but not without its pros and cons.
• Whisper Card - This card gives +20 Flee, making it a useful leveling card for AGI / DEX Dancers.
• Dragon Tail Card - This card gives +10 Flee and +5% damage with Double Strafe and Arrow Shower. This card can be useful for trying to reach the amount of damage needed to one or two-shot monsters using Double Strafe.
• Noxious Card - A specialized PvP/WoE card that gives 10% neutral property resistance and 10% long range damage resistance, though it may be worth considering holding off on this card until becoming a Gypsy and using a Valkyrian Manteau for it. Noxious is strong because it can help against attacks that aren't neutral element, including magic.

There are other specific garments out there that are beneficial such as those that give resistance to certain elements (Jakk Card, Marse Card, etc).

Class Data

Skills

See Archer Skills for first class skills.

Solo Skills

Skill	Description	Levels	Type
Amp	Cancels active Performance Skill the caster is performing.	1	Active
Dance Lessons	Increases the damage inflicted with Whip class weapons, and enhance the quality of Dance and Ensemble skills.	10	Passive
Dazzler	Inflicts Stun effect on monsters and party members within caster's view by chance.	5	Active
Encore	Recast the last Performance Skill that was cast at half of the SP cost.	1	Active
Focus Ballet	Improves HIT of all players within the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active
Gypsy's Kiss	Increase max SP and SP regeneration while reducing the SP consumption of all players within the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active
Hip Shaker	Deplete SP of all targets within the 7x7 area of effect.	5	Active
Lady Luck	Improves CRIT rate of all players within the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active
Slinging Arrow	Slings an arrow at an enemy with a whip.	5	Offensive
Slow Grace	Decrease attack and movement speed of all enemies within the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active

Ensemble Skills

Ensemble skills need the two performers to be within 9x9 range of each other. After casting an ensemble skill, both performers suffer from Ensemble Fatigue for 30 seconds, slowing down their movement speed and attack speed, as well as blocking them from using other skills. When an Ensemble skill is performed by a Bard and Dancer, the lower level of Acoustic Rhythm is performed. (i.e. when a Bard that has learned Acoustic Rhythm Lv.5 performs the skill with a Dancer that has only learned Acoustic Rhythm Lv.3, the Bard and Dancer will perform Acoutic Rhythm Lv.3)

Skill	Description	Levels	Type
Acoustic Rhythm	Create a 9x9 area that gives Fire, Water, and status effect resistance to Party Members within range.	5	Active
Battle Theme	Party members within this skill's 9x9 area will have increased ATK and DEF for the skill's duration.	5	Active
Classical Pluck	Create a 9x9 area where all players and non-boss monsters cannot use skills.	1	Active
Down Tempo	Reduces all DEF derived from the VIT stat to 0 for all enemies within the 9x9 area of effect.	1	Active
Harmonic Lick	Provides a bonus of DEF-ignoring damage to all players within the 9x9 area of effect, as long as they're wielding level 4 weapons.	5	Supportive
Lullaby	Sing a dreamy song to put enemies in a 9x9 area to sleep.	1	Active
Mental Sensing	Increases the EXP earned from monsters killed in the 9x9 area of effect.	5	Active
Power Cord	Cast a 9x9 cell area around the casters that nullifies item costs for most skills.	1	Active

Quest Skills

Skill	Description	Levels	Type	Job Level Requirement	Quest
Charming Wink	Wink at a specific target, charming them for 10 seconds.	1	Active	40	Charming Wink Quest

Soul Link

See Bard and Dancer Spirits.

Skill	Description	Levels	Type
Impressive Riff	(If level 10 Slow Grace is learned) Increases ASPD of all players in the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active
Magic Strings	(If level 10 Lady Luck is learned) Reduces Cast Time and Cast Delay of skills used inside the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active
Perfect Tablature	(If level 10 Focus Ballet is learned) Raises Flee Rate and Perfect Dodge of all players in the 7x7 area of effect.	10	Active
Song of Lutie	(If level 10 Gypsy's Kiss is learned) Increases the the Max HP of all players in the area of effect.	10	Active

Job Bonuses

Stat\Amount	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8
STR	3	28
AGI	2	10	11	24	30	35	48
VIT	17	33	43
INT	5	13	21	40	47
DEX	6	9	16	20	41
LUK	1	7	15	19	32	38	46	50

ASPD

Equip Attack Speed From Archer Bare Handed 156 0 Shield -7 +2 Dagger -13 +2 Bow -8 +2 Whip -5 N/A

ASPD Potions Usable Concentration ✔ Awakening ✘ Berserk ✘

External Links

• Skill Simulator
• General Stat Calculator