Dragoon (Tactics)

Dragoon, also known as Lancer, is a job from Final Fantasy Tactics. A physically-based job, Dragoons fear no heights since their Jump command lets them reach nearly anywhere on the map, provided they have learned enough Horizontal Jump abilities.
==Gameplay==
===Job requirements===
In order to unlock the Dragoon job for a character, the player must first have that character at job level 3 for the Thief class in the original PSX version. The War of the Lions versions increases the requirement to job level 4.
Additionally, the Dragoon's job levels are required to unlock several jobs:
* Leveling Dragoon to level 2 along with a level 4 Knight and level 5 Monk unlocks Samurai.
* Leveling the Dragoon up to level 5 along with separate level requirements for Squire, Chemist, Geomancer, Summoner, and Orator unlocks Mime.
* Leveling up Dragoon to level 5 with Geomancer unlocks Dancer for female units.
* Mastering both Knight and Black Mage with level 8 requirements for Dragoon along with Geomancer, Knight, Black Mage, Samurai, and Ninja, as well as having 20 kills with the party (the defeated units must turn into crystals or chests to count as kills, listed in Chronicles (Tactics)), will unlock Dark Knight (not in PlayStation version).
===Stats===
Prerequisite 	Weapons 	Helmet 	Armor 	Equip Shields?
: Lv. 4 ThiefPlayStation: Lv. 3 Thief	Polearms	Helmets	Armor, Robes	Yes
Move Rate	Jump Rate	Speed	Physical Evasion Rate	Base Attack	Base Magic	Base HP	Base MP
3 	4 	8 	15% 	High 	Very Low 	High 	Low
==Abilities==
It costs 7,060 JP to master Dragoon in the original version, and 9,150 JP in the War of the Lions version.
===Jump===
The damage formula for Jump is as follows:
:\text{Physical Attack} \times \text{Weapon Strength} (+50% if a polearm is equipped).
The charge time for Jump is as follows:
:(50 / \text{Speed}) \text{ ticks}
Name	Range 	Effect 	Speed 	JP Needed
 	2 	1 	— 	150
 	Jump 2 tiles horizontally.	Jump 2 tiles horizontally.	Jump 2 tiles horizontally.	Jump 2 tiles horizontally.
 	3 	1 	— 	300/350
 	Jump 3 tiles horizontally.	Jump 3 tiles horizontally.	Jump 3 tiles horizontally.	Jump 3 tiles horizontally.
 	4 	1 	— 	450/550
 	Jump 4 tiles horizontally.	Jump 4 tiles horizontally.	Jump 4 tiles horizontally.	Jump 4 tiles horizontally.
 	5 	1 	— 	600/800
 	Jump 5 tiles horizontally.	Jump 5 tiles horizontally.	Jump 5 tiles horizontally.	Jump 5 tiles horizontally.
 	8 	1 	— 	900/1100
 	Jump 8 tiles horizontally.	Jump 8 tiles horizontally.	Jump 8 tiles horizontally.	Jump 8 tiles horizontally.
 	0 	1 	— 	100
 	Jump 2 tiles vertically. 	Jump 2 tiles vertically. 	Jump 2 tiles vertically. 	Jump 2 tiles vertically.
 	0 	1 	— 	200/250
 	Jump 3 tiles vertically. 	Jump 3 tiles vertically. 	Jump 3 tiles vertically. 	Jump 3 tiles vertically.
 	0 	1 	— 	300/400
 	Jump 4 tiles vertically. 	Jump 4 tiles vertically. 	Jump 4 tiles vertically. 	Jump 4 tiles vertically.
 	0 	1 	— 	400/550
 	Jump 5 tiles vertically. 	Jump 5 tiles vertically. 	Jump 5 tiles vertically. 	Jump 5 tiles vertically.
 	0 	1 	— 	500/700
 	Jump 6 tiles vertically. 	Jump 6 tiles vertically. 	Jump 6 tiles vertically. 	Jump 6 tiles vertically.
 	0 	1 	— 	600/1000
 	Jump 7 tiles vertically. 	Jump 7 tiles vertically. 	Jump 7 tiles vertically. 	Jump 7 tiles vertically.
 	0 	1 	— 	900/1500
 	Jump 8 tiles vertically. 	Jump 8 tiles vertically. 	Jump 8 tiles vertically. 	Jump 8 tiles vertically.
===Reaction abilities===
Name	Description 	Trigger 	JP Needed
() 	Recover from KO status.Effect: Reraise.	Physical Attack	560/600
===Support abilities===
Name	Description 	JP Needed
() 	Equip polearms, regardless of job.	400
===Movement abilities===
Ignore Elevation is like Bard/Dancer's Fly ability, except it offers no protection from traps and will still be hindered by water/sand.
Name	Description 	JP Needed
() 	Move to tiles of any height, regardless of Jump attribute.	700
== Gameplay ==
The Dragoon is a hybrid melee and ranged class that deals physical damage. Unlike the Knight, the Dragoon's magick and MP attributes are pitiful, with its magick attack being the lowest in the game. This is not an issue, however, since the Dragoon focuses on dealing as much damage as possible with Jump or a physical attack up to two panels; two panel range usually avoids Counter and First Strike.
Dragoons are complicated in terms of game mechanics and expensive abilities:
* They have access to the 700 JP Ignore Elevation ability, which allows them to move to any tile regardless of elevation, though mounting a Chocobo will also have this ability and a Time Mage has Teleport that ignores height/obstacles and increases movement range (it tends to fail if going well past the unit's movement range, however) for 100 less JP.
* Dragonheart needs the Dragoon to survive, and then react to cast Reraise on themselves to automatically revive themselves at critical condition on their next turn. The player can get a Game Over if their last unit was defeated even with Reraise, and a successful revival will not work a second time as their HP would be too low to survive to recast it. The Time Mage's Critical: Quick or the Archer's Adrenaline Rush with a means to reliably heal will give a Dragoon more turns.
* Their 8-tile Jump abilities are a maximum range, allowing the Dragoon to Jump up to 8 tiles any way, without needing to learn previous abilities. Most of the time, Horizontal Jump 5 and Vertical Jump 3 will be in range of the enemy (up to 5 tiles away and 3 tiles high), with movement accessories or abilities giving more horizontal range without needing to waste JP.
* The main drawback of Jump is that it functions similarly to the Archer's Aim: it will not lock on the target. If the target moves away from the tile before Jump lands, it will miss. Increasing the Dragoon's speed with abilities or equipment is the best way to circumvent this. 
* A Dragoon under the effects of Haste will not land faster from a Jump; the status will, however, increase the amount of CT they acquire upon landing. Alternatively, their target can be slowed down or immobilized by a Time Mage to make Jump more effective, or give the Dragoon an extra turn with Quick while on the ground.
* A Mime can attempt to do both Quick (easier with a self-cast by another ally) and landing for Jump, but cannot mimic staying airborne.
* Jump can dodge attacks that require charge times, such as magick. It is effective to move the Dragoon next to an enemy to use Jump when targeted by an enemy spell, and have that finished charging spell only hit the enemy (Summon does not have friendly fire) while the Dragoon is safely airborne, and will likely land on their target if they have under 50 CT (preview time is not visible before doing Jump). 
* Dragoon is one of the jobs that greatly benefits from the Samurai's Doublehand support ability, allowing it to wield polearms with both hands to boost its attack power. Although the user cannot equip a shield when two-handed, the Dragoon can easily deal maximum damage with normal attacks with the Gungnir or Javelin II equipped while using Doublehand. The Dragoon is the perfect candidate for Doublehand because only one support ability can be used (making Equip Polearms weaker on any other class and polearms cannot be used with Dual Wield) and the Samurai will be using Iaido most of the time. This ability does not affect Jump's damage.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Record Keeper===
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Dragoons appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Lightning-elemental forward cards.
DragoonMale TCG.png|Dragoon [1-122C] Chapter series card.
DragoonFemale TCG.png|Dragoon [1-123C] Chapter series card.
Dragoon 1-147C from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Dragoon [1-147C] Opus series card.
Dragoon 1-148C from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Dragoon [1-148C] Opus series card.
==Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances==
===Knights of the Crystals===
Dragoon appears as a card in the Ivalice Special Arena has a limited-time special arena with eighteen floors.
KotC Dragoon Male.png|Male card.
KotC Dragoon Female.png|Female card.
==Gallery==
FFTDragoonMale.png|Male Dragoon.
FFTDragoonFemale.png|Female Dragoon.
Final Fantasy Tactics Character Card Book Volume 1-B - Card Front 004.jpg|Male Dragoon Character Card.
Final Fantasy Tactics Character Card Book Volume 2-A - Card Front 014.jpg|Female Dragoon Character Card.
Dragoon-FFT-Artwork.png|Male Dragoon.
FFT Dragon Spirit.png|Dragonheart.
FFT Ignore Height.png|Ignore Elevation.
==Etymology==
==Notes==
==Citations==
Category:Jobs in Final Fantasy Tactics