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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.
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
PvM
STR: 1
AGI: 80-99
VIT: 1
INT: 9-53
DEX: 99
LUK: 1
PvM builds of a Dancer echo the DEX/AGIHunter build. However, decreasing Agi in order to increase INT will allow you to Double Strafe more often as well as regenerate SP faster than a Hunter with the same stat build.
WoE
WoE Builds don't need high DEX, but you may want to speed up your path to Gypsy with having the ability to gain levels on your own. The other 2 stats that are needed are INT and VIT. INT allows the skill Dazzler to be used more due to increased total SP of the dancer, while VIT gives more HP allowing the dancer to survive longer as well as less chance to get stunned plus a higher pot efficiency. Both are needed, and should be planned according to a specific skill build selected.
This means if you plan to be the main Dancer for Classical Pluck then get high VIT. If you will use Dazzler and Slow Grace quite often then get more INT or even DEX to increase Slow Grace's effect.
Tactics
Hotkey a dagger and whip or 2 of same whip to stop and change songs fast instead of waiting for Amp.
Equipment
This is no where close to a complete list of equipment that is required or suggested. This list is not based around any mini boss or MvP drops.
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.
Ramen Hat (+4 Dex) (Kafra Shop item) - Suggested for PvM but not WoE/PvP.
Apple of Archer (+3 Dex) - Suggested for PvM but not WoE/PvP.
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.
Peerless Headgear [1] (Immune to Silence) - An option to prevent people from silencing you if you don't want to carry Green Potions, but involves giving up better headgear options.
Poo Poo Hat (10% decrease from demi-human attacks) - Use for WoE.
Beret (10% decrease from demi-human attacks) - Use for WoE/PvP.
Feather Beret (+1 MDEF and 10% decrease from demi-human attacks) - Use for WoE/PvP.
Middle Headgear
Some of these headgear take up both the middle and lower slots.
Opera Masque (+1 Def) - If you're not using a Binocular, you might as well use some DEF to decrease the physical damage you recieve.
Binoculars (+1 Dex) - A headgear that can be used to replace tights if applicable.
Robo Eyes (+1 Dex, +2% damage) - The Kafra Shop replacement for Binoculars.
Masquerade (3% more damage against demi-humans)
Evolved Ribbons (+5 Flee) - Extra flee to help Agi/Dex Dancers flee monsters.
Alarm Mask (+2 Def) - If you're not using a Binocular, you might as well use some DEF to decrease the physical damage you recieve.
Red Glasses (+5 MDEF) - Great to use to add to your MDEF if you're about to rush a precast in WoE.
Lower Headgear
Evolved Pipe (+1 Vit and reduces damage from Brute class monsters by 5%) - More vit to try and gain stun and silence immunity and less damage from Brute class monsters when leveling.
Gangster Mask (15% resistance to Silence) - Helpful if you're not immune to silence using a Marduk Card or having 100 total vit.
Armor
The primary armor for Dancers is Tights [1], but they can also wear general purpose armors such as Mantle [1], Coat [1], or Formal Suit [1]. Tights are suggested 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, but serves little purpose in PvP/WoE asides from gaining extra ASPD. 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, making it a staple card in PvP/WoE.
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
Mufflers are suggested because they are easily obtainable. Other options include:
Heavenly Maiden's Robe [1] - 1 more DEF than Mufflers.
Undershirt - Combined with the Pantie armor, this makes a cheap alternative to expensive +Flee garments for PvM. Undershirts can also be slotted using the Socket Enchant System.
Vali's Manteu - A cheaper but slightly less effective alternative to a Raydric Card.
Useful garment cards for a Dancer include:
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.
Raydric Card - The 20% neutral property resistance makes this card a great general purpose card for non-Flee characters, especially in PvM. It can also be useful in PvP/WoE, but not without its pros and cons.
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).
Footgear
Boots are suggested because they're the footgear with the highest defense that Dancers can wear.
+9 Superior Footgear [1] (Firelock Soldier Card) (+2 Str and, if upgraded to +9, 10% more HP and SP) - More HP to live longer and more SP to use skills and increase overall SP regeneration.
Green Footgear [1] (Martyr Card) (+1 Agi and 10% more HP) - More HP to live longer and +1 Agi for Agi/Dex Dancers.
Soul-Enchanted Footgear [1] (Sohee Card) (15% more SP and increase SP recovery by 3%) - More SP to use skills and increase overall SP regeneration.
The above three footgear can be substituted for other footgear such as those that gives the player more experience for killing a certain race of monsters (Am Mut Card, Mini Demon Card, etc.)
Accessory
Nimble Glove [1] (+4 Dex) (90+ base level) or Nimble Clip [1] (+3 Dex) (no level restriction) (both are Zerom Cards) - Suggested to gain more dex for leveling or even for PvP/WoE.
Earring (+2 Int) - More Int for SP regeneration.
Rosary of Four Leaf Clover - (+3 MDEF, +1 Luk) (5% less damage from long ranged physical attacks) (Alligator Card) - Ideal for WoE/PvP because of the MDEF and the decrease from long ranged physical attacks.
Shield
Unlike Hunters, Dancers can wear bucklers with one-handed weapons.
Guard [1] - A general purpose shield for if you plan to share your shields with Mage-class characters.
Buckler [1] - A shield which is slightly better then a Guard, but not as flexible between classes.
Valkyrja's Shield [1] - This shield has some of the best stats for an all-class shield and is often preferred for WoE because of its elemental resistances and MDEF.
If the player plans to take part in PvP/WoE, they should look into obtaining a Thara Frog Card, as the 30% damage reduction makes a huge difference. There are other specific shield cards that can be beneficial to a Dancer as well, for reducing damage from monters (Penomena Card, Flame Skull Card, Teddy Bear Card, etc.)
Weapon
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.
Rope [4] - The basic 4-slotted whip for Dancers.
Double Bloody Double Boned Rope [4] (2x Hydra Card, 2x Skeleton Worker Card) - Can be used for leveling at Bathories or even used to attack players in PvP/WoE. Note that this weapon has been outdated by the newer Battlegrounds weapons.
Solid Triple Vital Rope [4] (Golem Card, 3x Fabre Card) - Suggested for a Dancer dancing Classical Pluck with a Bard in order to avoid from letting players break your whip and to increase your vit and your HP by 300.
Quadruple Status Effect Rope [4] (any status effect card; Marina Card, Savage Bebe Card, Plankton Card, Magnolia Card, etc.) Sling Arrow can still be used during performance skills, so it's possible to try to inflict status effects on enemies while performing using a weapon like this.
Composite Bow [4] - The bow which is used for maximum damage with Double Strafe for leveling. Double Double card combinations offer the best damage, but suffer the drawback of working on only a select few monsters. They can also be carded with four status effect cards for inflicting status effects from a distance.
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.
Arbalest [2] and Luna Bow [2] can also be used similar to the Gakkung Bow.
Arrows
PvM: Be prepared for any element that may be present on the map you choose to farm/MvP/level on.
PvP/WoE: Obtaining status arrows depends on how much zeny you have, how much zeny you are willing to spend if it comes to that point, what items you have access to, and what you plan to do in PvP/WoE.
Stun and Silence (known in-game as Mute Arrows) Arrows/Bows work well against Casters such as the Wizard Class and the Sage Class (excluding full support build Sages/Scholars) as they do enough VIT to become immune. As a Dancer, these arrows don't serve as much purpose since Dazzler can be used to inflict Stun to more targets at once, and is more reliable then Silence which can be cured with a simple Green Potion.
Cursed Arrows/bows work well against players since it greatly lowers their walking speed. These arrows and bows work well against low-VIT support characters by preventing them from escaping from your allies, and can also hinder mid-VIT characters. Against high-VIT characters, who you're likely to run into a lot of during WoE, Slow Grace is a guaranteed way to slow their speed.
Sleep Arrows/bows work well against low Int and low Luk type characters. These are ideal against full support Scholars, Agi/Dex Hunters, and melee classes such as Assassin Crosses and Knights.
Frozen Arrows/bows may work better using Arrow Shower and Arrow Showering a group of players closely packed, but most of the time, players are wearing Unfrozen armor in WoE and PvP.
Note: The iRO Dancer Skill Section is very outdated. Do not be surprised if some of the skill descriptions differ from the website contents (i.e. Acoustic Rhythm), they have been contrasted with the ingame descriptions and the more up-to-date Korean website.
Decrease attack and movement speed of all enemies within the 7x7 area of effect.
10
Active
Ensemble Skills
Ensemble skills can only be performed when a Bard and Dancer are in the same party and standing beside each other. 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)
