Dragon Knight (character class)

is a character class (or job) featured in Square Enix's Final Fantasy series of computer role-playing games. In English language localizations, it has been frequently referred to as either Dragoon or Lancer.

The Dragon Knight is portrayed as a skilled warrior class, though usually unable to wear heavy armor. This Knight's weapons of choice are spears and lances. Meshing well with this choice of weapon is the Dragon Knight's signature skill: a leaping attack. The traditional Dragoon "Jump" command (and its kin) causes the Dragon Knight to launch skyward, 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 Dragon Knights 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 Dragon Knight's speed and skill at handling such potentially unwieldy weaponry allows an experienced Dragon Knight to strike multiple times during one combat round.

The Dragon Knight class has appeared as a playable job class in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:
* Final Fantasy II (Ricard Highwind)
* Final Fantasy III
* Final Fantasy IV (Kain Highwind)
* Final Fantasy V
* Final Fantasy IX (Freya Crescent)
* Final Fantasy X (Kimahri Ronso)
* Final Fantasy XI
* Final Fantasy Tactics
* Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Kain Highwind, Dragon Knight (Final Fantasy IV)

In addition, the characters Ricard Highwind (Final Fantasy II), Kain Highwind (Final Fantasy IV), and Freya Crescent (Final Fantasy IX) are identified as Dragon Knights. Among them Kain Highwind is especially notable for being featured on the logo of Final Fantasy IV. Cid Highwind (Final Fantasy VII) and Ward Zabac (Final Fantasy VIII) are similar to Dragon Knights in that they both fight using a harpoon-style weapons and both characters' limit breaks are aerial attacks ("Jump"-like attacks). Kimahri Ronso (Final Fantasy X) has abilities from both the Dragon Knight class and the Blue Mage class.

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.

The Dragoon Nobody.

In Final Fantasy XI Dragoons (DRG) originally could call upon a wyvern to fight by their side once every 2 hours. In the December, 2005 update, the DRG ability "Call Wyvern" was changed to a 20 minute timer, and a new two hour ability called "Spirit Surge" was made available. Spirit Surge increases the effects of Jump attacks by combining the wyvern's strength with the Dragoon. The wyvern cannot be called until Spirit Surge wears off. The wyvern uses some skills dependent on the Dragoon's sub-job. 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 (wyvern 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.

In Kingdom Hearts II, one of the Nobody breeds who are commanded by Xaldin, a member of Organization XIII are the Dragoons. They wield spears, reminiscent of the Dragoon class in the Final Fantasy series of games. They also typically float with one leg bent so that their foot rests near their knee, reminiscent of Kain Highwind's stance. When fighting against Dragoons, Sora can even "learn" the Jump attack through a Reaction Command.