On DNC endgame roles

I think I'm finally settling into my 3 jobs. I've been figuring out how best to use them and the roles that they best fulfill during endgame events. Here are some of my thoughts from my experiences, and I'm open to comments and suggestions on how to improve or change things.

This post is about Dancer... I was originally going to post everything in one shot, but I realized that it would make for a very long post, so keep your eyes open for opinions on Scholar and Blue mage in the very near future!

Dancer
Probably the hardest to define since very few people have leveled it beyond subjob levels. Also, very few people have done much experimentation with it for endgame events since it was added late in the game, and is probably not someone's first job to 75 which means that people will tend to go with jobs they know rather than experiment.

I think SE defines Dancer as a "front-line healer". It wasn't until last night that I finally realized what that really meant. It doesn't just mean that a DNC goes up and pokes the mob while healing, it also means that the job is designed to be able to survive a mob's attention.

Tools for surviving are:
- High evasion
- Violent Flourish/Desperate Flourish
- Fan Dance
- Subjob choices: /NIN for Utsusemi, or /SAM for Third Eye

Compared to any MP-based, or back-line healer, Dancer has the following advantages:
- Infinite endurance -- Unlike MP-based healers, a properly equipped Dancer can continue to heal forever. This gives Dancers a distinct advantage for fights that go for long periods of time. MP-based jobs need support in order to keep healing over long times. The only job that has a chance of keeping up with a DNC is RDM due to Convert.
- Can continue healing even when pulling hate -- Mage jobs that pull hate need to back off, or log out to shed hate before they can continue their jobs. A DNC that pulls hate just needs to keep at it, survive a few hits with Utsusemi or Fan Dance, then let the tanks continue their job. Since you're already at the front-line, the mob won't even be moving away from the tanks. The only cavert here is that the mob must not be able to do a move that can one-shot the DNC. HP merits & damage reduction gear will greatly help.
- Cures are instant -- No matter how fast a mage job is, casting a spell still takes 1.5-2 second. A tank that just took a 1,000 hit needs a cure instantly. Dancers can restore 800+ of that immediately with Curing Waltz IV.

Compared to MP-based healers, Dancer has the following disadvantages:
- Waltz recast -- The biggest annoyance of a Dancer... all Waltzes being on the same recast timer. A mage can go from Cure IV to Cure III, alternating between spells in order to keep curing a tank. A Dancer has to wait out the timer. That is also the main reason why I generally use only Curing Waltz III and rarely use IV since the timer for III is so much shorter.
- No Stona, cannot erase Bard songs -- The only two things that require WHM, SCH or /WHM.
- Party only -- A Dancer can keep a party very healthy, but she can't help other members of the alliance. This has lead to weird situations when I have a completely party full of DDs which are at near max HP with the rest of my alliance dead or dying.

How to best use a Dancer in endgame situations
Dancers excel in the following situations:
- Long battles where you will be engaged to the same mob, or have a bunch of mobs engaged at the same time. Examples are: any long single-mob battle, large pulls where you have mobs slept around you where a healer will most likely pull hate. Einherjar & Dynamis are two good examples as during a large pull, healers will most likely end up pulling hate from keeping the sleepers alive.
- Put a Dancer in a party where members will take damage -- If a Dancer is put in a DD party that never takes damage, then the Dancer is mostly useless. Put the Dancer in the tank party and have the Dancer do most of the curing.
- Best healer for: Dynamis, Einherjar, Limbus, any NM that takes >10 minutes -- Where you have time limits so you want minimal downtime, and your healer may pull hate from pulling multiple mobs at the same time or from healing tanks against one mob for a long time.

Dancers should not be used in:
- Short battles with significant downtime between waves -- Dancers do best in continous combat... if there is long enough downtime, you may as well bring a traditional healer who can get their MP back. If the battle is too short, the Dancer can't gain TP, and a traditional healer will most likely never get hate.
- Any fight where you can't have melees constantly on the mob -- Heavy spikes damage, mobs where you want to avoid TP moves, or any Bind/Nuke or Sleep/Nuke situation
- Bad for events like: Nyzul Isle (Fights are fast, long downtime during lamp floors, etc.)

My personal opinion on Dancer is... it's the most challenging job to play properly of the 3 jobs I have in an endgame situation. I'm always looking at the recast timers, thinking about which job ability to use next, which step to use, and I have to be on the ball about timing cures, watching hate and being aware on when I need to hit my "panic button" and prepare to tank. Ironically, it also has the least versatility of my 3 jobs and is most focused on doing one thing: curing.