Animator Guide

[m1stGUN]

An excellent guide, not mine - reposted from DFOsource:

For people who are animators or planning to be one here's a quick guide
on how to be an Animator with a few quick tips that I found out with a
little trial and error.

1. Requirements to enter the job: 2 Red Cubes, 2 White Cubes, 2 Black
Cubes, 2 Blue Cubes, 100 Omens of Calamity, 2 Radiant Demon Eye, and 100
Superior Cloth

2. You can buy recipes up to two levels higher than your current Animator level, do this.

3. Always make recipes that are one level higher than your current. They
will be yellow instead of green. (You can make recipes that are two
levels higher, but you'll fail more often, and unless your rich I do not
suggest throwing away materials like that) You will get the best
average experience this way. Also note that Dolls two levels lower than
your current level will yield no experience.

4. You can only make 10 dolls at a time, therefore sadly you can't attempt any shenanigans with mass doll creation.

5. Recipes for Tiers 1-7 can be bought from Iris. Recipes for Tiers 8-9 are obtained via drops.

6. My opinion on the best dolls by tier:

Tier 1: None (never make this tier unless for fun)
Tier 2: Krug, Julio
Tier 3: Gulahax, Volcaria
Tier 4: Hugo, Shonan
Tier 5: Nightna, Bautista (Delilah too, but she's a special case as she functions as a repair shop)
Tier 6: All are equally decent
Tier 7: Faris, Aganzo (not a big fan of the GSD doll)
Tier 8: Number 28, Hannie, Rina
Tier 9: Each is good for their respective dungeon

7. Tier 9 dolls each correspond to an individual Ancient Dungeon where
their abilities are enhanced. Due to their high cost try to only use
them where appropriate. They are powerful enough to carry a player
through their respective dungeons. (Getting annoyed at the spotty
performance of some random person selling Ancient Dungeon runs? Hire
your local Animator instead! A bit pricier but you get to keep all the
drops.)

King's Relic: Relic Girl
Vilmark: Vilmark's Vixen
Screaming Caverns: Screaming Eneone
Noire Ferra: Noir Leben

8. Having an alchemist helping you with the materials can be useful. The
Essences you make at Tier 1 can be used by Enchanters. If you can get a
good rapport with other character's with different jobs you can
effectively trade material that only they can make. This is especially
useful for Protein which is over priced in the Auction House.

9. Animators will only begin truly profiting on their profession when
they are able to make Tier 8 and 9 Dolls as they are the ones most
sought after.

10. For a full list of every doll at every level consult the Animator wiki:
http://wiki.dfo-world.com/index.php?title=Animator