Dragoon

Final Fantasy XI artwork

Dragoon (竜騎士, Dragon Knight), also known as Lancer and Dragon Knight, is a recurring class in the Final Fantasy series. It first appears in Final Fantasy II, in which Ricard Highwind is a member of the class. Dragoon has also been the class for Kain Highwind of Final Fantasy IV (who also bears Highwind as a last name) and Freya Crescent of Final Fantasy IX.

Dragoons are a skilled warrior class that specialize in the use of spears and lances. Dragoons wear armor meant to resemble a dragon, although they usually cannot wear heavy armor. A Dragoon's signature skill is a leaping attack called Jump. By using it, the Dragoon launches skyward off-screen, usually to remain in the air for the equivalent of one combat round or so. During this time the Dragoon cannot be harmed or even targeted by friend or foe, and is effectively out of the battle. From above, some Dragoons thrust downward with their spears, falling upon and skewering their foes. In some incarnations, these warriors choose instead to toss the weapon down from on high, adding the momentum of their fall to that imparted by their throw. Either way, the attack causes approximately twice as much damage as an attack launched from the ground. In addition, the Dragoon's speed and skill at handling such potentially unwieldy weaponry allows an experienced Dragoon to strike multiple times during one combat round. Dragoons are also occasionally connected to the Wyvern, a winged dragon capable of flight. In rare cases they can inherit powers of dragon and maybe change into one.

Cid Highwind of Final Fantasy VII and Ward Zabac of Final Fantasy VIII are similar to Dragoons in that they both fight using a harpoon-style weapons and that both characters' Limit Breaks are aerial attacks similar to Jump. Kimahri Ronso of Final Fantasy X has abilities from both the Dragoon class and the Blue Mage class.

History

Final Fantasy series

Final Fantasy V

In Final Fantasy V, Alexander Highwind Tycoon, though not specifically stated to be a Dragoon, shares the common Highwind surname and wears armor resembling the traditional Dragoon garb.

Final Fantasy VI

In Final Fantasy VI the Jump skill made an appearance as a special ability conferred by the Dragoon Boots relic. Any character capable of equipping the relic found their standard Fight command replaced with Jump, which allowed them a traditional Dragoon-style Jump attack. Unique to this incarnation of the skill was the ability of the Dragon Horn relic to, when paired with the Dragoon Boots, allow any Jumping character two to four successive Jumps. Alternatively, by summoning the Esper called Palidor, all the player characters in a given battle could Jump simultaneously.

Final Fantasy IX

Freya Crescent is a dragoon, she wields a spear and can use the ability "Jump" where she leaps in the air for a turn and then comes crashing down on the next turn.

Final Fantasy XI

In Final Fantasy XI, Dragoons (DRG) are also able call upon a Wyvern to fight by their side through the DRG ability "Call Wyvern". The ability was originally only available once every 2 hours, in the December 2005 update it was changed to a 20-minute timer, and a new two hour ability called "Spirit Surge" was made available. Spirit Surge greatly enhances all of the Dragoon's stats, as well as giving large amounts of extra HP, MP, and TP. The wyvern cannot be called until Spirit Surge wears off. Depending on the Dragoon's subjob, his Wyvern uses one of three sets of skills: Offensive, Defensive, (healing) or Multipurpose. Dragoons with Defensive-type Wyverns can effectively solo from level 60-75 by equipping the Drachen Armet, which enhances the Wyvern's healing ability. Dragoons have the traditional "Jump" attack along with an improved "High Jump" which does some damage and removes some enmity, and a "Super Jump" which does no damage but removes any current monster enmity from the Dragoon. They can also heal their wyverns by transferring their own HP (Wyverns cannot be targeted by spells like Cure), and have bonuses when fighting dragon-type monsters. In party situations, Dragoons generally fill the role of melee damage dealers.

Final Fantasy XVI

Dion Lesage, Crown Prince of Sanbreque and Dominant of Bahamut is a Dragoon, who leads the Holy Order of the Knights Dragoon. Additionally Sanbreque employs Dragoons as foot soldiers.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, only Bangaa can become Dragoons.

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts Wiki article: Dragoon

In Kingdom Hearts II, one of the Nobody breeds who are commanded by Xaldin, a member of Organization XIII, are the Dragoons, whose spears are even reminiscent of those in the Final Fantasy games. They typically float with one leg bent so that their foot rests near their knee, reminiscent of Kain Highwind's stance, their artwork render doing likewise. When fighting against Dragoons, Sora can even "learn" the Jump attack through a Reaction Command.
Xaldin himself could also be considered a Dragoon, as he wields (six) lances, performs the "Jump" technique, and when he combines his lances together they form a large dragon (similar to the ones from Chinese folk tales), which releases a large slicing whirlwind from its mouth.

External links

• Dragoon on BG FFXI Wiki
• Dragoon on FFXIclopedia

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