FFXIV JOB SHOWCASE

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

INTRO

1/17/2023 UPDATE: Updated to reflect Patch 6.3! Check out the new Paladin stuff under the "Tanks" tabs and the "Job Accessibility" tab!
1/9/2023 UPDATE: With Patch 6.3, Paladin changes are upon us! The relevant Paladin sections will have temporary WIP signs on them until I learn how the new Paladin works.1/3/2023 UPDATE: Happy New Year! Check out the shiny new Job Accessibility tab up top! This tab is for helping folks figure out which Jobs are more approachable or challenging to pick up. If you want to pick a Job that's comfy to play, or a Job that will test your FF14 skills, or a Job that falls somewhere in between, check out the new tab!**Now that I’ve finally managed to reach level 90 in every combat Job in Final Fantasy 14, I wanted to share with you my thoughts on what they're like and how it felt to play them from start to finish. It’s been one heck of a ride, and I’ve found that the learning experience for every Job has felt completely different from one another. Some jobs feel buttery smooth to play; others feel a bit clunky at times. Some jobs steadily unlock their abilities as they level in a consistent and logical manner; others feel bizarrely incomplete for long stretches. But every single one of them has been a lot of fun to play and learn.If you’ve recently started FF14 yourself and have no idea what playing these jobs are like, or you’ve been playing for a while but there’s some jobs you’re thinking about trying, I hope my opinions might help you pick your next Job...or maybe help you avoid ones that might not be to your tastes.If you're new to the game, or you just want a very brief overview of how each Job works, feel free to read up to the "What's It Like To Level?" section for each Job. If you want a more detailed look into how a Job operates at higher levels, press on into the "A Deeper Dive Into The Job" sections. Each "Deeper Dive" section will also contain a link to a more detailed guide video on how to play the Job, expertly made by Wesk Alber!For the sake of newer players, I’ll also talk about each of the Roles. Every Job in the game is divided into one of several Roles: Tank; Melee DPS; Ranged DPS; Caster DPS; and Healer. Feel free to take a peek at each Role to get a feel for what they entail and what they expect from you.-Serengeral AlaanFYI: I won't be talking about Blue Mage for this article! While I enjoy Blue Mage quite a lot, it is entirely its own beast that can't play "normal" content the usual way with other, more regular Jobs, so I'll save discussion about it for another time.Now that I’ve finally managed to reach level 90 in every combat Job in Final Fantasy 14, I wanted to share with you my thoughts on what they're like and how it felt to play them from start to finish. It’s been one heck of a ride, and I’ve found that the learning experience for every Job has felt completely different from one another. Some jobs feel buttery smooth to play; others feel a bit clunky at times. Some jobs steadily unlock their abilities as they level in a consistent and logical manner; others feel bizarrely incomplete for long stretches. But every single one of them has been a lot of fun to play and learn.If you’ve recently started FF14 yourself and have no idea what playing these jobs are like, or you’ve been playing for a while but there’s some jobs you’re thinking about trying, I hope my opinions might help you pick your next Job...or maybe help you avoid ones that might not be to your tastes.If you're new to the game, or you just want a very brief overview of how each Job works, feel free to read up to the "What's It Like To Level?" section for each Job. If you want a more detailed look into how a Job operates at higher levels, press on into the "A Deeper Dive Into The Job" sections. Each "Deeper Dive" section will also contain a link to a more detailed guide video on how to play the Job, expertly made by Wesk Alber!For the sake of newer players, I’ll also talk about each of the Roles. Every Job in the game is divided into one of several Roles: Tank; Melee DPS; Ranged DPS; Caster DPS; and Healer. Feel free to take a peek at each Role to get a feel for what they entail and what they expect from you.-Serengeral AlaanFYI: I won't be talking about Blue Mage for this article! While I enjoy Blue Mage quite a lot, it is entirely its own beast that can't play "normal" content the usual way with other, more regular Jobs, so I'll save discussion about it for another time.

DISCLAIMER

Before we start, allow me to qualify a few things.First and foremost: this preview is not intended to be a guide to teach you how to play the Jobs in detail. For that, check out some of the links on the Guides tab! Instead, I'm hoping to talk about how each Job generally plays, what it felt like to level them to max level, delve a bit into the technical details of how they function, and what I enjoyed about them.Second: I’m going to be talking about what it felt like to level these jobs from start to finish, primarily doing content that shows up on the Duty Roulette. For people new to this game, "Duty Roulette" content is content you'll mostly encounter while playing through the main story. You can think of it as "Normal mode" gameplay, rather than the "Hard" and "Very Hard" modes that exist elsewhere in this game.Third: when I talk about how difficult a job is to play, I’m generally referring to how hard it is to play the job without making too many serious mistakes. That means I’m not going to be talking about how hard it is to play the job perfectly optimally, but rather the difficulty in playing a job while making use of all its abilities in a reasonably consistent manner.Fourth: a lot of the things I’m about to say here are just personal preference. I’m sure many people with a lot more experience and skill than I do will strongly disagree with me on a lot of things, and you might find that I have issues with certain Job aspects that you don’t, or vice versa. Try these Jobs out for yourself and see if they suit your tastes! Your experience might not be the same as mine.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

LINKS TO GUIDE VIDEOS

If you want to have a more in-depth guide on how to play the Jobs, check out these links to videos made by other folks on Youtube! I've relied heavily on the first two in particular for figuring out how all the Jobs work.

• A series of videos going in-depth into how to play each Job, by Wesk Alber

• Videos going in-depth on how each Role works (Tanks, DPS, Healers), by Wesk Alber

• Other basics of the game that are a bit more obscure, by Joonbob

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

JOB ACCESSIBILITY

Throughout the length of this website, I’ve talked a lot about what each Job does, how they play, and what it was like to level them. I hope it’s been useful for helping you decide what Job in FF14 you’d like to try next, but perhaps you’re still not sure about what new Job to pick, or maybe there’s just so many cool Jobs that you’re having trouble deciding which one to pick.One factor that might help you make your decision is knowing whether the Job is accessible or challenging. Can someone expect a slow, comfy experience when playing the Job? Or should they expect a test of their FF14 skills every time they get behind the wheel? Something in the middle?This article explains how accessible or challenging each Job is, according to my personal opinion. My other articles discussed how each Job works and what it's like to level them; this one will take a step back and look at all the Jobs as a collective whole, to see how demanding or comfy they are.

IMPORTANT CAVEATS!

This article does not look at how easy or hard it is to perfectly optimize a Job. I’m here to talk about what it’s like to get your head around the basics of the Job while playing Normal ("main story quest") content.Second, and almost as important: most of this article is subjective, because whether something has a gentle or steep learning curve depends a lot on the person. Maybe you’ll find the Jobs in the “Challenging” list to be a cakewalk to learn, or maybe you’re having trouble figuring out some of the Jobs on the “Accessible” lists. Whatever the case, please don’t take what I say here as the objective truth. I might have had an easier time understanding certain things than you did, and likewise, there’s almost certainly someone out there who thinks I’m a colossal doofus for finding Bards tricky to play.Also, to add to the above: don’t feel bad if you’re struggling with learning a Job in the “Accessible” list. It’s absolutely not my intent to make anyone feel dumb just because they're having trouble figuring out a certain Job. Remember, everyone learns different things at a different pace.

DEFINITIONS

When I say that a Job is Accessible, I mean that it will provide a more comfortable, less demanding experience to perform your role at higher levels, relatively speaking. Accessible Jobs will tend to be easier to understand, less punishing if you make a mistake, and have fewer things to keep track of. Jobs I've labeled as Accessible are perfect for learning the basics of the game while making your way through the game's story, but players who want a stiff challenge to their FF14 skills might find these Jobs lacking.When I say that a Job is Challenging, I mean that playing the Job at higher levels will demand a more attention, care, and skill to play without making lots of mistakes. Challenging Jobs will likely require some extra practice before you can master their basics and/or demand you to split your attention between multiple aspects of the Job. Veteran players and newer players alike can get very rewarding experiences out of any Challenging Job, though if you're inexperienced with game basics, you may find yourself overwhelmed at times by what these Jobs demand from you.And Moderate Jobs are simply Jobs that fall somewhere in the middle.As I go down this list of Jobs, I will order them from most Accessible to most Challenging, from top to bottom, as well as putting them within the above three categories. You can think of this list as a spectrum, with comfier, lower-difficulty-curve Jobs at the top of each list, and higher-difficulty-curve Jobs at the bottom.

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

ACCESSIBLE JOBS

The Acessible Jobs, in order of most accessible to most challenging, are as follows:White Mage
Warrior
Summoner
Machinist
Dancer
Reaper

WHITE MAGE

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

White Mage, especially early on, is arguably the simplest, most straightforward Job in the entire game. On the offense, you have no combo sequences to perform or complicated maneuvers to pull off: you have one attack spell for single targets, one attack spell for multiple targets, and a damage-over-time spell. Until you unlock its Lily Gauge later in the game, that’s basically it.With this extremely simple offensive arsenal, you can focus on keeping your party members alive, and the White Mage's arsenal--consisting mostly of straightforward HP-restorative effects--gives you an uncomplicated toolkit perfect for just that. This allows you to focus on other things, like learning the game's basic controls or carefully watching the enemy to see what they're doing next, or even enjoying the game’s story and music. If one of your allies gets injured, just dump one of your potent heals on them and move on, no other gimmicks necessary.While the Healing role overall can become challenging at times towards the end of the game, the path to get there isn't necessarily as difficult, and White Mage offers the easiest way down that road. Any noticeable challenge with the Job comes towards later in the game, when you unlock the ability to generate and expend Lillies to charge up your Afflatus Misery attack, and here the most difficult part is remembering to not expend more Lillies while Afflatus Misery is ready to be used.I started my FF14 journey as White Mage, and--with the benefit of hindsight--I'm very glad I did. The White Mage's simple gameplan, simple toolkit, and simple execution of its myriad healing tools gives it a very easy learning curve, and it was perfect for my very first MMORPG experience.Unfortunately, this uncomplicated nature can make the Job so easy to learn that veteran players may be put off by the sedateness of the experience. If you’re already mastered the earlygame challenges FF14 has to offer, Astrologian or Scholar might be more your speed. If you haven’t mastered those basics, however, then White Mage is a great place to start your journey in Eorzea.

PALADIN

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

Representing arguably the easiest Tank in the game to learn, the Paladin's earlygame is undoubtedly the simplest among all non-Healer Jobs, and it remains quite simple even at max level. While its overall gameplan might seem a little convoluted at first glance, in practice it is extremely straightforward, fairly forgiving, and involves a lot of ranged attacks and self-healing that makes Paladin more flexible than its almost-as-approachable Warrior cousin. If you're completely new to FF14 and you want to try your hand at a Tank, Paladin is a fantastic place to start. If you're a seasoned veteran of the game, however, Paladin's sedate gameplay might be a turnoff.The most complicated parts of Paladin are how its Sword Oath buff and Requiescat buff work, but they're both remarkably simple to understand and use--in effect, both Sword Oath and Requiescat simply unlock a number of uses of certain powerful attacks, each of which are extremely straightforward to use and don't really require precise execution or keeping an eye on a Job Gauge.At max level, the Paladin’s gameplan really just boils down to activating Fight or Flight and Requiescat buffs, slamming the enemy with its most powerful ranged magic attacks while those buffs are active, then using its simple 3-hit melee combo (with additional Sword Oath attacks) until Fight or Flight and Requiescat buffs are available again. Since completing the 3-hit melee combo also lets you cast your next ranged magic spell instantly, you can throw out those magic spells now and then to keep up your offense at range.And that's it. No Job Gauge to carefully manage, no self-buff you have to work to maintain, no punishing or esoteric mechanics to master. Meanwhile, the Paladin's magical spell attacks are cast instantly while Requiescat is activated, and are also ranged attacks even without Requiescat, giving Paladin supreme mobility among the Tanks. On top of all this, these magical spells eventually also heal the Paladin as they're being used on enemies, giving Paladin lots of self-sustainability over long periods of time. In dire emergencies, you also have access to a potent healing spell that can save allies. This entire package comes together to make Paladin a highly approachable and very forgiving Job for newer players to try.If you want a smidgen more challenge in your Tank gameplay, or just prefer the Warrior's emphasis on big numbers and big effects, you can skip over to the next entry to read about them. On the other hand, if you want a stiffer challenge than what Paladin offers, try Gunbreaker for breakneck speed, or Dark Knight for a flexible and chaotic gameplan.

WARRIOR

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

An incredibly simple Tank to play, the Warrior offers awesome survivability in an easy-to-understand package. Against single targets, all you really need to do is keep up your Storm's Eye buff, build up your Beast Gauge through your simple 3-hit combo, and wail on your enemy with Beast Gauge attacks. It helps that said Beast Gauge attacks are simple 1-button abilities that don't require too much practice or careful attention to use.In the latter half of the leveling experience, Warriors also have powerful self-healing abilities on top of their natural durability as a Tank. This is especially notable once the Warrior gets the Raw Intuition ability (later upgrading to the Bloodwhetting ability) and must face large groups of lesser enemies--a single area-of-effect attack under the effects of Raw Intuition/Bloodwhetting can almost put you back at full health, and Warriors typically can fit in three such blows before the ability wears off.With its toughness, simplicity, and ability to recover from mistakes through its remarkable self-healing abilities, Warrior is a great place for a newer player to learn the basics of Tanking, or for veterans who want a more comfy Tanking experience. If you want a Tank that's even more comfy, try Paladin! Those seeking a stiff Tanking challenge, however, may wish to look to Gunbreaker or Dark Knight, or otherwise try bringing Warrior to some hardcore content.

SUMMONER

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

With a fairly straightforward gameplan and so many instantly-cast spells that it rivals the Ranged DPS Jobs in terms of mobility, Summoner is easily the Caster DPS Job with the lowest difficulty curve. It helps that said gameplan is largely set in place by level 26, giving you ample time to learn and understand it on your way to Level 90. However, this gameplan–while ultimately pretty simple–takes place across two minutes and involves turning some of your basic attack spells into upgraded versions, asking the player to keep track of what they’re doing in the present and what’s coming up in the near future. Once you wrap your head around this two-minute plan of attack, though, everything about the Summoner falls into place easily. You’ll have lots of time to obtain this understanding, as well, since the Summoner begins at level 1 (as an Arcanist).Like I said earlier, Summoner is able to get around one of the main challenges to playing a Caster DPS Job: the vast majority of its attack spells are cast instantly, meaning unlike the Black Mage and even the relatively-mobile Red Mage, the Summoner can run around almost freely. This allows you to reposition yourself to avoid enemy attacks far more easily than other Casters, who are often forced to choose between attacking and avoiding an untimely end.The one challenge to Summoners appears near Level 90. With each of the Summoner’s gems (Ruby, Topaz, and Emerald) being suited for different purposes and having different attributes, it behooves the wise summoner to plan ahead a little. If you know you’ll have to run around a lot in the near future, then maybe you should use the relatively-immobile Ruby immediately so you can use the more mobile Topaz when you need to run around; if you know the boss will sit still for the time being, maybe now’s a good time to leave a damaging puddle on the floor with Emerald. It’s possible to waste one of Summoner’s gems with poor timing, so a bit of awareness and foresight is always useful with Summoner. Given how approachable the rest of Summoner gameplay is, however, you’ll have ample space to make these considerations when you need to.Ultimately, Summoner is a Job whose concepts are initially a bit obtuse on paper, but the execution of those concepts is easy. If you’d like to ease your way into the Caster DPS Role, Summoner is a great choice.If you want to push yourself as a Caster DPS or want a more dynamic leveling experience, however, Summoner largely locking its gameplan in place by Level 26 might be a turn off. Instead, give Red Mage a look, or Black Mage if you want to push your Caster DPS skills to the absolute limit.

MACHINIST

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

Machinist may appear to look like it must juggle a lot of different balls, but it's far simpler than what its appearance suggests. This, combined with its mobility inherent to all Ranged DPS Jobs, gives it one of the lower difficulty curves in the game.Machinist really only needs to pay careful attention to its Heat Gauge, making sure to not generate more of it once you get the gauge to full. Its other primary resource--Battery Gauge--doesn't demand as much attention, since you're incentivized to almost always let it get to around 80% to 100% full before using it anyway, and the game helpfully alerts you with a loud ping whenever it does get full. The rest of the Job is simply remembering to use its other, standalone offensive abilities, which, too, are simple to use, as they are almost all 1-button fire-and-forget affairs.One sticking point is that the Job does ask you to know how to interweave certain attacks between your regular attacks, especially during Heat Blast attacks. Luckily, the Job provides ample time for you to get comfortable with the concept. Optimizing exactly when to use your Heat Blast attacks and summon pets with the Battery Gauge is a greater challenge, but that isn't something terribly relevant before you start doing hardcore content.Machinist's simplicity, with the built-in accessibility that most Ranged DPS Jobs have, makes it a great Job to try for newer players. Unfortunately, the one downside is that newer players must first complete the A Realm Reborn content before they can unlock access to Machinist, so it's not a Job available from the very start.If, instead, you want a Job that's similarly sedate but with a bit of randomness to it, give Dancer a look. There's also Bard if you'd prefer a Ranged DPS Job that offers more of a challenge.

DANCER

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

Dancer is a Job that spends most of its time in a fairly relaxed state, performing its very basic combo attacks and doing a jig every so often to keep up its important attack-up buffs, in addition to arguably being the Job who has the easiest time in the game for getting out of the way of enemy attacks. However, the randomness involved in its mechanics and its bursts of activity every two minutes means it does not, in my opinion, take the #1 spot for the gentlest-learning-curve Job in the game.The Dancer’s core mechanic–Dancing–is quite simple to perform, about as demanding as a very easy rhythm game or a generous quick-time event. You’re not punished for pressing the wrong button for these prompts, aside from wasting a little bit of time: so long as you finish pressing all the prompts in the correct order in the (generous) allotted time, you can execute a fully-charged Dance. Meanwhile, your basic combo attack is only 2 hits long, with each hit having a random chance to let you use a 3rd and 4th hit of the sequence.As a result, there’s a certain sedateness to playing Dancer at a basic level; do your Dances, then do your extremely simple combo attacks while you wait for your Dances to come off of cooldown. Repeat.However, the fact that you can randomly have a chance to use extra combo attacks means you’ll have to keep a weather eye out for those random triggers. Furthermore, as you do these 3rd and 4th attacks, you’ll steadily gain Feather pips to use, which you’ll want to store up.It’s when you execute your once-every-two-minutes Technical Step Dance that Dancer switches from being sedate to frenetic. During the window of opportunity granted by Technical Step’s extremely powerful damage-up buff, you’ll want to cram in as many combo attacks, attacks using your Espirit gauge, miscellaneous damage-up buffs, and Feather attacks as possible. Being able to fit all this into this relatively short window could take a little bit of practice.Dancer also starts at level 60, but the fast-paced burst window I mentioned above doesn’t really start until level 70, so you have a little bit of time to get used to the Job before things get hectic. Between this, the slower pace of the Job outside those Technical-Step windows, and the natural mobility of the Job, Dancer is a very solid choice for a newer player wanting to ease into the DPS Role, or for those wanting a comfier, overall less-demanding Job to play.If you want to try a comfy Ranged DPS Job with less randomness built into it, there's always Machinist. If, on the other hand, you want a challenging Ranged DPS experience, try Bard instead.

REAPER

Quick Summary

How Accessible Is It?

Reaper may seem like a more complex Job to play at first, compared to the more straightforward-seeming Dragoon, but its primary gameplay is actually quite simple–mostly a matter of juggling two Job gauges using simplistic combo sequences, not terribly unlike the Machinst. Between this, its teleports, natural sturdiness as a Maiming Melee DPS Job, and frequently-usable shield that also regenerates HP, Reaper is an excellent way for newer players to ease into the Melee DPS role. There are a few elements that prevent the Reaper from being a total walk in the park, but Reaper is by no means one of the harder Jobs to play in the game.The Reaper’s gameplan is straightforward. It wants to maintain the Death’s Design debuff on enemies at all times, then launch into using its simple combo attacks to build its Souls Gauge. It can then spend that Souls Gauge to make additional quick attacks interspersed between its normal combo, which activates Shroud attacks. Using Shroud attacks fills the Shroud Gauge, which in turn can be used to activate Enshroud mode. During Enshroud mode, the Reaper can launch into a blazingly quick offense, exit Enshroud mode with the Communio finisher, then go back to building Souls and Shroud again.While all this might sound complicated on paper, the whole system is surprisingly linear in practice. Also, since the Reaper gets these abilities one at a time, players leveling Reaper have plenty of time to get used to these disparate elements before they have to deal with the next.There are some elements that newer players will want to keep in mind. It's easy to forget to keep up the Death’s Design debuff on enemies, as is remembering to immediately use a Shroud attack as soon as you’ve used a Souls attack, lest that Shroud attack is lost. However, these mistakes are easy to rectify and are not super punishing if you make them. Perhaps the only truly punishing element of Reaper is if you accidentally activate Enshroud mode while there are no targetable enemies around, but Reaper is hardly the only Job that has that problem.Lastly, Reaper starts the game at an uncomfortably-high Level 70. While the Job is overall one of the easier ones to play, it’s not quite so easy that a new player can immediately jump into Level 70 content with it and expect to master the Job in an instant. Newer players may wish to go back to older, lower-level content to get a feel for the Reaper before jumping head-first into harder content, or else try Dragoon for their very first Melee DPS Job.Alternatively: if you want to step up your Melee DPS skills, you can try leveling Samurai for a moderate challenge, or Monk and Ninja if you really want to push yourself.

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

MODERATE JOBS

The Moderate Jobs, in order of most accessible to most challenging, are as follows:Red Mage
Dragoon
Paladin
Astrologian
Gunbreaker
Samurai
Sage

RED MAGE

Quick Summary

How Accessible Or Challenging Is It?

Compared to the two other Caster DPS Jobs, Red Mages sits at a comfortable middle-ish ground between the accessibility of Summoner and the challenge of Black Mage. It retains a lot of the natural mobility of Summoners and its gameplan is easy to get your head around, without requiring you to keep as many balls in the air as Black Mages. That said, there is a degree of unpredictability and risk in playing Red Mage, asking players to keep track of random events, their Job Gauge, and good opportunities to close in and perform their signature melee combo attack.The Red Mage’s signature White Mana and Black Mana Job Gauges generally aren’t too difficult to manage. So long as you do your best to alternate between spells that generate White Mana and spells that generate Black Mana, your White and Black Mana levels should remain even enough to not cause problems. Fail to do this, however, and you’re punished by being forced to generate less of the color of mana you have less of–this, in turn, delays how fast you can pull out your melee combo and your finishing spells.Meanwhile, there is a degree of randomness inherent to Red Mage that asks you to pay attention to your hotbars. Against single targets, Red Mages are expected to cast Verthunder and Veraero; each of these spells, in turn, have a random chance to allow you to cast Verfire and Verstone, respectively, and you’re encouraged to cast those spells instead of Jolt whenever they’re available. While it isn’t the end of the world if you mess up on a chance to cast Verfire or Verstone, it’s an easy mistake to make in the heat of battle.Red Mage’s signature melee combo attack with its sword, as you might expect, also forces it to close into melee range on a somewhat frequent basis; woe unto the inexperienced player who dives into melee range at a bad time! Luckily, it’s usually fine for you to hold off on entering melee right away in favor of using spells and building up your White and Black Mana a bit more if you know it’s not safe to start meleeing, but a bit of mindfulness goes a long way with Red Mage.Fortunately, Red Mage also has plenty of tools to let you avoid or recover from mistakes. By Level 90, you have two uses of backflips to create distance between yourself and the enemy, and two uses of a charging rush to close that distance, giving you lots of mobility on top of your ability to cast every other spell instantly. On top of all this, you have abilities like Swiftcast and Accelerate to let you cast even more spells instantly, and you can heal yourself up with Vercure if you need to.In all, Red Mage exposes you to more danger and asks you to be more mindful than the highly approachable Summoner, but it’s not punishing or as demanding of foresight as Black Mage. If you want a Caster DPS Job that’s a moderate challenge, look no further than Red Mage.

DRAGOON

Quick Summary

How Accessible Or Challenging Is It?

One of the more straightforward of the Melee DPS Jobs, Dragoon starts off with a low learning curve but develops complexities later on. It effectively operates on two layers of mechanics; the first foundational layer is its 10-hit combo attack that the Job steadily assembles across roughly 70 levels, while the second layer is its Jump attacks that evolve into unlocking the special Life of the Dragon mode.The Dragoon spends most of its levels focusing on that first foundational layer, the 10-hit combo. The combo itself is not too complicated, and the Job’s design naturally guides you towards performing it in the proper order: a 5-hit combo applying a damage-over-time effect on the enemy and a damage-up buff to yourself, then another 5-hit combo simply dealing a lot of damage. Then repeat. Newer players may end up losing track of where they were in the 10-hit combo if they get distracted, however, so a bit of practice is helpful in getting comfortable with the Dragoon’s combo system.The second layer–the Jump attacks–is more roundabout and fully comes in after you’ve gotten used to the 10-hit combo. For newer players, the challenge to implementing Jump attacks into your 10-hit combo comes from having to learn how to interweave them between combo hits.In addition, the somewhat involved way the Dragoon collects Dragon Eyes and enters Life of the Dragon mode means it will require a bit more practice to get used to. However the game does excellent work introducing the two foundational layers of Dragoon at a good, steady pace. Between this and the fact that it begins at level 1 as a Lancer, Dragoon is, in my opinion, one of the smoother ways to ease yourself into the Melee DPS role.If you're comfortable with the Melee DPS role and you want another comfy Job to level, give Reaper a look. If you want a step up from the challenge that Dragoon offers, try Samurai instead. On the other hand, if you want to push your FF14 skills to the limit, try leveling Monk and/or Ninja.

ASTROLOGIAN

Quick Summary

How Accessible Or Challenging Is It?

At first glance, Astrologian seems like a pretty simple Job: attack enemies, heal up party members, draw and play cards on allies to power them up. Indeed, most of its abilities are pretty straightforward, other than its unique healing abilities that can work on a time delay. The main challenge to mastering Astrologian, though, is the manual dexterity it asks for to get the most out of the Job. A good Astrologian can target the right party member to apply a buff, then target the enemy for an offensive spell, then target another party member for another buff, then switch back to the enemy for another offensive spell, then use a partywide ability. All without dropping a beat. Doing all this requires some time and practice.Tarot Cards are the Astrologian’s signature ability, being drawn and played between the casts of its normal offensive spells. You must target a party member to play a card on them; on keyboard & mouse, this typically involves either clicking on their player model or their name on the party list, while playing on controller has its own methods. Either way, Astrologian involves a lot switching quickly between targets pretty constantly, so coming up with your own way to do so smoothly and consistently is something to consider for Astrologian. Complicating this is the fact that certain Cards want to be played on certain people, so you not only have to be able to switch between targeting enemies and party members quickly, you have to be able to target specific party members as well.Astrologian’s other healing abilities aren’t terribly complicated, preventing the Job from being the most challenging Job to master. That said, several of its abilities work on a time delay: you activate them, then either after a certain amount of time, or when you activate the ability again, they go off. This means you can play around with when you activate them the first time, giving you more time and space to draw and play your cards and letting your healing abilities go off on their own without further input. One of these abilities–Earthly Star–actually benefits from such foresight, since it becomes more powerful if it’s allowed to sit out on the field for at least ten seconds before going off.Lastly, one of Astrologian’s most powerful healing abilities–Essential Dignity–involves a bit of risk to get the most out of it, since it grows more powerful the more HP the target is missing. Figuring out when to use it to get the most out of it could take a bit of practice.Overall, Astrologian is a moderately straightforward healing job with complications mostly coming from manual-dexterity issues. While it rewards foresight through its time-delayed healing abilities, its signature abilities are generally not terribly difficult to understand once you get a feel for them. Astrologian is a great pick if you want a more active Healing experience with a moderate learning curve.If Astrologian's target-switching demands seem excessive, you can try White Mage for a much more sedate and approachable Healing Job. Alternatively, if you want to give the more challenging Shield Healers a try, there's always Sage and Scholar.

GUNBREAKER

Quick Summary

How Accessible Or Challenging Is It?

Featuring a gameplan that’s almost as fast and involved as a Melee DPS, Gunbreaker is a more demanding Tank that offers a rewarding challenge to players who want a bit of bite to their Tanking experience. Despite its speed and ferocity, however, the Gunbreaker has streamlined Job Gauge and its most important self-buffs cleanly align with one another, making the Job surprisingly straightforward for how involved it may seem at first glance.The main challenge for new Gunbreakers is managing its signature Gnashing Fang-Jugular Rip melee combo attack, especially if you’re also trying to fit the Gunbreaker’s miscellaneous offensive abilities into the Gnashing Fang combo–at max level, a Gunbreaker can sometimes expect to make nine attacks in the same space where other Tanks might only have to make three. Furthermore, Tanks are expected to move enemies around the arena as necessary by moving themselves into position and hoping the enemy follows; meanwhile, enemies move sluggishly, often forcing Tanks to momentarily move out of range of melee attacks while the enemy moseys along. As a result, trying to move an enemy into position, while also unleashing your nine-hit fusilade, can result in either the enemy not being moved quickly, or the Gnashing Fang combo missing a hit. Juggling all of this, while also performing other Tank duties, is a lot to ask of a new player; all this, on top of the Gunbreaker starting at level 60.Fortunately, the dev team understood that the Gnashing Fang combo was demanding enough on the Gunbreaker, so the rest of the Job is far easier to handle. The Job Gauge is extremely simple to understand: whenever you finish a combo sequence, you gain one Cartridge, to a maximum of two (later upgrading to a maximum of three). Expend one Cartridge to start your Gnashing Fang combo, or otherwise use a Cartridge on certain other attacks.Likewise, the Gunbreaker’s other important offensive abilities and self-buffs run on very predictable, cleanly-fitting timers, and everything fits together like clockwork.Because of its speed combined with its straightforward Job Gauge and perfectly interlocking offensive abilities, Gunbreaker is an excellent Job to play if you find Tanking with Paladin or Warrior too sedate for your tastes, but want something different from the less predictable Dark Knight.If you're interested in the Gunbreaker but feel intimidated by its speed, you can always test its waters on lower-level content first, or get yourself comfortable with Tanking basics with Warrior or Paladin.

SAMURAI

Quick Summary

How Accessible Or Challenging Is It?

Samurai represents a middle ground in terms of difficulty compared to its other Melee DPS fellows. Compared to Dragoon and Reaper, its attack pattern is more involved, and its Job Gauges are a bit more complex; however, it’s not as blindingly fast as Monk, or as brutally punishing of mistakes as Ninja. Nevertheless, Samurai is a Job that’s armed with a huge number of different abilities and asks the player to keep track of several different things at once.Managing one of Samurai’s signature Job Gauges–Sen–makes up a significant chunk of Samurai’s learning curve. Sen works differently from every other Job Gauge in the game: instead of each Sen representing 3 charges of a use of an ability, or having each Sen simply grant more power to the same ability, the number of Sen completely changes what the signature Iaijutsu ability does.As a result, a Samurai who accidentally gets the wrong number of Sen will end up using the entirely wrong tool for the task. While there are tools to quickly regain Sen, most Samurai players are encouraged to use these tools to jump-start their offense instead of covering for Sen-related errors, so you won’t always have something handy to quickly recover from a mistake over Sen.What prevents Samurai from being one of the most challenging Jobs in the game, however, is the straightforwardness of its gameplan outside of managing Sen. Against single targets, you simply apply a damage-over-time effect on the enemy by using your 1-Sen Iaijutsu attack, then use your 3-Sen Iaijutsu attack on the enemy until it’s time to refresh the damage-over-time effect.Meanwhile, the accessibility of the Kenkji resource is a bit of a mixed bag. Using Kenki is quite straightforward, since all the Kenki-using abilities boil down to pressing a button to spend some of it on a quick attack; on the other hand, newer players might struggle with the torrent of Kenki the Job can generate.With a clear gameplan and involved toolset, Samurai is an excellent Melee DPS Job for those seeking a moderate challenge with a reasonable learning curve. Although it starts at Level 50, most content in the game around that level generally is not harshly challenging; because of this, an experienced player trying Samurai for the first time can handle jumping into Level 50 content as Samurai.If you're completely new to the game, however, you may wish to use Samurai in lower-level content to get a feel for its moveset first. Alternatively, you can try out Dragoon for an easier introduction to Melee DPS, or look at Monk and Ninja for more challenging Melee DPS Jobs.

SAGE

Quick Summary

How Accessible Or Challenging Is It?

Of the two Shield Healers in the game, Sage is arguably the more approachable of the two, but it’s not necessarily an easy Job to play. You have access to a huge array of tools that can solve many problems, and you’ll be an expert at preventing incoming damage from hurting you or your party too much; in exchange, your ability to restore people from low health to full is more limited compared to the Regen Healers (White Mage and Astrologian); plus, your large number of tools can be overwhelming at first, and making the most of your damage-preventing abilities requires foreknowledge.The main challenge to new Shield Healers, including Sage, is the fact that you must use your damage-prevention abilities before the enemy launches its attack to get the most out of them. This means that you have to know an attack is coming in order for you to try and “block” it with your abilities. Recognizing which enemy you can block with your abilities requires knowledge and experience; a lot of inexperienced Shield Healers often scramble and try and heal up damage that they didn’t know would hit them.Meanwhile, Sage has a huge plethora of abilities at its disposal, including a single-target instant heal, partywide heal-over-times, single-target and partywide defense-up buffs, the ability to automatically heal itself or a chosen party member every time it attacks, and a boost to the power of your next healing spell. While this large and varied toolkit may seem overwhelming at first, they each do relatively simple things and are individually easy to understand. Nonetheless, the Job starts at Level 70, so it can help for a new Sage player to go back to lower-level content and practice Sage fundamentals there first.One other element that makes Sage a challenge to new players is how proactive the Job is designed to be. One of Sage’s signature abilities is to designate a certain party member, then heal them for a small amount of HP every time the Sage attacks. Ergo, a Sage--even more so than any other Healer--wants to constantly be on the offensive. Furthermore, Sage’s unique way of recovering MP is to actively use healing abilities that consume its Job Gauge–Addersgall pips. Playing Sage asks for a certain degree of initiative and aggressiveness, tempered with awareness and foresight.With its wide arsenal of healing and defense-up abilities, plus its built-in aggression, Sage is the perfect Job if you want a more active healing experience and want a fair challenge to go along with it. If Sage's arsenal seems a bit much for your tastes, however, you can always try playing it at lower levels to get a feel for it at first, or else try White Mage or Astrologian to get a grasp on Healing basics. There's also Scholar if you want a truly complicated and challenging Healing experience.

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

CHALLENGING JOBS

The Challenging Jobs, in order of most accessible to most challenging, are as follows:Dark Knight
Monk
Scholar
Bard
Ninja
Black Mage

DARK KNIGHT

Quick Summary

How Challenging Is It?

Dark Knight offers an offensive toolkit nearly as fast and furious as its Tanking cousin, the Gunbreaker. However, the Dark Knight’s gameplan is less straightforward, its abilities are more flexible and less tightly interlocking, and its plan of attack is less obvious at first glance compared to other Tanks. This means the Dark Knight has a high skill ceiling, allowing true masters of the Job to shrug off devastating hits and put out damage approaching that of DPS Jobs; on the other hand, the Job’s fewer training wheels means the Dark Knight might not be as intuitive to newer players.One major part of the Dark Knight’s challenge is having to manage effectively two Job Gauges at once, each of which work somewhat independently. First is the Blood Gauge, gained by completing regular melee combo sequences and used to fuel powerful attacks. Second is the MP bar, which regenerates on its own, can be regenerated faster with certain abilities, and is consumed to power faster attacks designed to fit between regular melee combo hits and Blood Gauge attacks. While Dark Knight isn’t the only Job that has to juggle two different Job Gauges at once (Machinist and Reaper come to mind), those other Jobs typically can afford to pay closer attention to those Job Gauges, whereas the Dark Knight still has to deal with their Tanking duties.Another challenging element of playing Dark Knight is its weaker ability to recover missing HP compared to other Tanks. Dark Knight’s abilities are arguably unparalleled at stopping incoming damage from hurting you in the first place, thanks to its signature The Blackest Night defensive shield, but this shield functions more like a timed parry that must be performed before the incoming hit actually lands. If you miss the window to “parry” the enemy’s attack, or otherwise find yourself at low HP, you have a harder time than most in healing yourself back up to full. This means Dark Knight is, in some ways, less forgiving to play than other Tanks.The final part that makes Dark Knight a challenging Tank is how its various offensive abilities are more loosely organized, almost like a hodge-podge of different attacks with no clear theme tying them together. Dark Knight does not have the benefit enjoyed by Paladins and Gunbreakers of having a transparent gameplan.While the Dark Knight’s resource juggling act, weaker HP recovery, and busy offense might seem daunting to inexperienced players, its flexibility, its potential for powerful defense, and its high skill ceiling gives a lot to chew on to those seeking a true Tanking challenge.The fact that Dark Knight starts off at Level 30 will take the edge off of its seemingly-daunting arsenal. If you're still not confident you can handle Dark Knight immediately, you can try Paladin or Warrior first to get a handle on Tanking basics, or Gunbreaker if you want another fast-paced Tank with a more streamlined moveset.

MONK

Quick Summary

How Challenging Is It?

Armed with a fast and uniquely modular combo sequence, Monk asks for thought and awareness while giving little time to do either. It’s one of the more challenging Melee DPSs to play despite being available at the start of the game, and new players will appreciate the opportunity to have 90 whole levels to get used to its intricacies.The primary challenge to Monk is mastering its unique combo system. All other Melee DPS Jobs in the game have fairly linear combo sequences–press 1, then 2, then 3, maybe 4 if it’s feeling fancy. Or maybe press 1, then 5, then 6, then 7. Repeat.Monk’s combo system, on the other hand, is far more freeform, letting you use any of its attacks in any order, so long as the sequence follows Opo-opo, then Raptor, then Coeurl. Each attack also has a different function, from applying a damage-over-time effect, to giving yourself a damage-up buff, to simply doing damage. So a combo sequence might look like 1-2-3, then 4-5-6. Or 4-5-3, then 1-2-6. Or 4-2-3, then 1-5-6. And so forth. Although this system is ultimately less complicated than what it looks like at first, it’s unusual compared to the combo systems employed by other Melee DPS Jobs, and getting used to it will require some practice.Said combo also goes by quickly. Compared to other Melee DPS Jobs, a Monk’s combo attacks have a shorter cooldown period, leaving less time to think and act between each combo hit.Once you wrap your head around the Monk’s combo system, and understand that it boils down into the Opo-Opo→Raptor→Coeurl sequence, the rest of Monk more or less falls into place naturally. Gaining Lunar Nadi and Solar Nadi might seem a bit complex at first, but it’s ultimately a matter of activating a certain buff, then either performing three attacks all in the same category (such as Opo-Opo, then Opo-Opo, then Opo-Opo), or three attacks all in different categories (such as Opo-Opo, then Raptor, then Coeurl), and then performing a finishing attack to gain the appropriate Nadi. Monk’s other Job Gauge is also simple to understand; Chakra works by simply letting you gain Chakra pips upon landing a critical hit, then as soon as you collect five of these pits, you can consume them to perform a quick and simple attack.Although the above may sound daunting, the game fortunately gives you plenty of time to get used to the Monk’s intricacies. Monks start the game as Pugilists at Level 1, and Monk’s combo system gets fully set by level 50. 40 levels is plenty of time to practice the Monk’s eccentricities, and the combo system doesn’t change all that much from level 50 onwards.If Monk still seems overwhelming to you, you can try out Dragoon or Reaper instead for a gentler learning curve, or Samurai if you want to tone down the intensity a bit but still want something challenging..

SCHOLAR

Quick Summary

How Challenging Is It?

Scholar is one of the two Shield Healers in the game, and arguably the single most flexible Healer in the entire game, capable of performing healing tricks and party buffs that no other Healer can do. The price of this flexibility, however, is having to deal with what’s probably the most complicated Healer toolkit in the game, along with a resource system that can harshly punish unwise spending.Scholar’s main resource is its pips of Aetherflow, and it consumes these pips to fuel some of its most powerful healing abilities. Unlike White Mage and Sage, which slowly and automatically regenerate their resource pips one at a time, Scholars must proactively use the Aetherflow ability on enemies to gain all three pips of Aetherflow, and Aetherflow is only available once a minute. This means a careless Scholar, who fritters away their Aetherflow pips too early, can be left running on empty for most of a minute. The only other way to gain Aetherflow pips is to temporarily sacrifice your pet Faerie, but that comes with its own cost, as the Faerie is a powerful healing ally. On top of all this, Aetherflow is Scholar’s main way to regain MP outside the Lucid Dreaming ability that’s common to all Healers, so a large part of Scholar’s gameplay revolves around carefully budgeting your resources over the course of 60 seconds.The reward for this potentially punishing resource system is Scholar’s incredibly flexible toolkit. If you really need to, or want to, you can frontload all your Aetherflow pips if the situation calls for it.Other than its demanding resource management, the other element that gives Scholar such a high skill ceiling is how the Scholar has to jump through several hoops to pull off some of its tricks. For example, Scholar can place some of the strongest protective shields in the game on nearby party members; in exchange, the process to do so is a bit convoluted, since you have to first place a single-target protective shield on a party member, then use another, separate ability to spread that shield onto everyone else. Likewise, making the most out of Scholar’s Aetherflow pips requires a few extra steps. A Scholar might wish to use a contingent heal on a party member, while also making it not cost an Aetherflow pip; to do this, the Scholar will have to activate one ability to make sure the contingent heal costs nothing, then use the contingent healing ability itself on the target.There's also Scholar’s miscellaneous abilities. Scholar is the only Healer in the game that can natively boost the parties’ movement speed, and is the only Job in the game alongside Warrior who can temporarily boost a party member's maximum HP. This adds to the Scholar's theme of combining flexibility with a high skill ceiling; to make full use of these miscellaneous abilities, you'll want to know your party as well as your enemy.All this, without even mentioning the inherent difficulty of Shield Healers! Like its cousin the Sage, a lot of Scholar’s toolkit is best used before an incoming hit lands, meaning you’ll have to learn the enemy’s attacks to know what’s coming so you can prepare for it.The recurring theme for Scholar is foresight, knowledge, and flexibility; while these are the Scholar’s biggest strengths, they also put a high skill ceiling over the Scholar, asking its players to put in time and effort to master its myriad tools. The reward for such mastery, however, is a truly unique and powerful Healer.If you're feeling a little intimidated by Scholar, you fortunately have plenty of time to master it, since the Job starts at Level 30. Alternatively, you can try White Mage if you're looking for a much simpler Healing Job, an Astrologian if you want something a little more challenging than White Mage, or Sage if you want to try a more approachable Shield Healer.

BARD

Quick Summary

How Challenging Is It?

Ranged DPS Jobs sometimes have a reputation for having lower difficulty curves than others, thanks to being able to attack from range, be highly mobile, have less demanding gameplans, and having none of the responsibilities that Tanks and Healers have. Bard bucks this trend, offering a stiff challenge to those who crave a Job more demanding than Machinist or Dancer.There isn’t any single element to Bard that gives it a steeper learning curve than most; in fact, each part of the Bard’s toolkit in isolation is rather simple. Rather, it’s how the Job forces you to keep many different plates spinning at once that makes it a challenge. You have to keep track of:-Which song you’re playing and when it’s about to end-Your two damage-over-time effects-The cooldown periods of various disparate offensive abilities, some of which are affected by the song you’re playing-The cooldown periods of various buffs you can apply to yourself and others-When your ability to make a more powerful basic attack gets triggeredLosing track of the damage-over-time effects can be especially punishing, since, instead of pressing one button to be able to refresh the timers on both effects at once, you must reapply each effect one after another, wasting a good bit of time.Furthermore, the Bard's signature Songs are easy to activate, but harshly punishing if you activate another one too early. It's possible to flub a button press and activate two songs, one right after another; this will result in your Bard being unable to maintain another Song for up to 45 seconds. Since Bard gameplay revolves heavily around keeping party members buffed with your Songs, it's important to be mindful when activating your Songs.The one upside is this: most of these plates you’ll want to keep spinning are available by the time you hit Level 70, which gives you a bit of time to get used to the Bard’s juggling routine. Time that you’ll likely need, since it takes practice to be able to keep a lid on everything a Bard wants to do in the heat of battle.If you want to try out a Ranged DPS Job with some real bite to its difficulty curve, look no further than the Bard. If Bard's juggling act seems a bit much for your tastes, Dancer and Machinist are great alternatives for Ranged DPS Jobs. Alternatively, if you're willing to look outside of Ranged DPS Jobs, Samurai can have a surprisingly similar feel to Bard in some ways--both Jobs like to pay attention to damage-over-time effects and ask you to pay attention to several different things at once.Sadly, there are no other Ranged DPS Jobs that you can start the game with, so if you want to begin your journey into Eorzea as a Ranged DPS Job, you'll unfortunately have to start with Bard (starting as the Archer Class). That said, by the time Bard really starts becoming demanding, you will likely have unlocked the more approachable Machinist and Dancer.

NINJA

Quick Summary

How Challenging Is It?

Ninja has the honor of being arguably the most punishing Job in the game. It’s intended to unleash a blisteringly-fast flurry of attacks once every minute or so, relying on a unique Ninjutsu system that’s easy to mess up and unforgiving of mistakes. The general parts of its overall gameplan is simple to remember, but its execution requires practice, manual dexterity, and a bit of foreknowledge.For players new to the Ninja, this Ninjutsu system will likely be the first obstacle on the road to learning the Job, and it’s not an easy one to overcome. Unlike every other Job-related ability in the game, Ninja is able to “program” certain Ninjutsu attacks by pressing specific Mudra sequences in a specific order. Messing up this Mudra sequence means being forced to use the wrong Ninjutsu for the task at hand, or worse, you end up losing a use of Ninjutsu completely. Meanwhile, there’s up to seven different Ninjutsus, each of which does something very different and has a different Mudra sequence. You’ll likely make a lot of mistakes when you’re learning how to do Ninjutsu, which is perfectly fine–it’s a tricky system to master, and even the pros trip up on Ninjutsus from time to time. Just be forewarned that the game will be blunt about reminding you of your Ninjutsu mistakes. You know the game is laughing at you when you try to summon a bolt of lightning on the enemy, but summon a goofy bunny rabbit on your head instead.If Ninjutsu were the only thing about Ninja’s difficulty curve, I wouldn’t be placing here as the 2nd most challenging Job in the game to learn. However, Ninja’s Job design encourages you to try and use as many Ninjutsu, Ninjutsu-related abilities, and other offensive abilities as possible within a short window of time every 60 seconds. As a result, on top of being able to remember your Mudra sequences to activate your Ninjutsu, you need to be able to perform the sequences fast and one after another. Committing Mudra sequences to muscle memory is vital to mastering the Ninja.Lastly, Ninja benefits a lot from having a bit of foresight, in large part thanks to one specific ability: Ten Chi Jin. By activating Ten Chi Jin, you can quickly cast three Ninjutsu one after another, then activate another special ability to give yourself a huge dose of Ninki; however, if you move at all while Ten Chi Jin is activated, it immediately ends. Woe unto the Ninja who activates Ten Chi Jin at a bad time and is forced to move, wasting the ability completely!If you're looking forward to Ninja but don't feel confident about its blistering once-a-minute attack sequence, you can ease into the Melee DPS role as Dragoon or Reaper, or try Samurai if you want an intermediate challenge. There's also Monk if you want test your Melee DPS skills with a Job that's fast but not quite as unforgiving.

BLACK MAGE

For new players, Black Mage is the bogeyman under the bed, the monster in the closet that keeps you up at night. I’m sure many of you have heard horror stories from other players about how difficult and brutally punishing the Job is, with its low mobility, an attack sequence that’s on a constant countdown timer, and its heavy emphasis on planning and knowledge of the enemy.The bad news is that some of the horror stories are true; playing Black Mage requires a different mindset from the other Jobs, one that asks you to observe enemies carefully, learn their attack patterns, think several steps ahead, and place yourself in the right place ahead of time to minimize the need to move. The good news is that the Black Mage has a surprising number of tools to help it move around, despite its reputation for immobility, and it has one of the easiest attack sequences in the game if it doesn’t have to move. By Level 90, you have multiple uses of an ability that lets you cast your next three spells instantly, the ability to teleport to a party member, and the ability to teleport to your Ley Lines.While other Jobs are challenging because you have to develop muscle memory, practice how to use certain tools, get punished harshly for a mistake, or understand an esoteric Job mechanic, Black Mage is challenging because of how the Job stresses you out. The Astral Fire/Umbral Ice timer on your Job Gauge hangs above your head like a sword of Damocles, its ticking seconds a constant reminder that you need to refresh your Astral Fire/Umbral Ice or else lose it. While said Job Gauge is leering at you, you still need to put out damage and stay out of the way of enemy attacks…a task made harder by how Black Mage’s spellcasting times are longer than average, making it harder to simply walk out of the way without sacrificing spell casts that refresh Astral Fire/Umbral Ice.Another major challenge for Black Mage players is its heavy emphasis on knowledge and planning. While some other Jobs can get away with simply knowing the respective Job itself, Black Mage asks you to know the game–the more of the game you know, the better the Black Mage you will be. You’ll want to use this knowledge to set yourself up in advantageous positions ahead of time, in order to minimize the amount of movement you’ll need to dodge enemy attacks and take calculated risks to keep up your offense. The ideal situation for a Black Mage is being able to sit somewhere on the arena where the enemy will never attack, leaving the Black Mage free to execute its otherwise simple attack sequence. This, in turn, requires you to know the enemy well.The Black Mage’s Ley Lines ability is a great example of this focus on foreknowledge. When you activate Ley Lines, you drop a magical circle at your feet that lasts for 30 seconds; so long as you stay within this circle, you cast spells faster, which increases your damage output. Once you place the circle, it can’t be moved, so you’ll want to place it somewhere you can stand in it without being in the way of enemy attacks. Indeed, pity the Black Mage who places their Ley Lines somewhere they can’t access! Placing the Ley Lines in the right spot, however, requires knowing what the enemy will do next so that you can place the circle somewhere safe.If what I've described about Black Mage has you licking your chops, the good news is that you can start the game right away as its predecessor Class, the Thaumaturge! That said, the true Black Mage experience doesn't really start until Level 60.If what I've said about Black Mage has you feeling concerned, however, you can try out Red Mage or Summoner first to get comfortable with playing a Caster DPS. Even playing Healer Jobs can indirectly help you practice Black Mage, since Healers also have to deal with spellcasting times that restrict their mobility; plus, a lot of Healer Jobs benefit from foreknowledge and planning.

• ACCESSIBLE
• MODERATE
• CHALLENGING

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Paladin
• Warrior
• Dark Knight
• Gunbreaker

TANKS

Tanks are the guardians of the party, charged with drawing enemy attention away from their allies so that they have the breathing room to do their own jobs. Tanks are durable and typically have simpler attack sequences than most, but in exchange they must keep a weather eye out on the enemy, ensuring enemy attention is on them and placing the enemy correctly so that others can wail on the foe freely. As of the Endwalker expansion, Paladins (starting as Gladiators), Warriors (starting as Marauders), Dark Knights, and Gunbreakers are the Jobs belonging to the Tank role.In my opinion, Tanking is the role that demands the most out of players at the very start. This isn’t to say that Tanking in FF14 is difficult from the get-go; even if FF14’s tutorial systems are a bit lacking sometimes, someone completely new to the game can get through most of it as a Tank with no trouble. That said, playing a Tank does still want even new players to keep a few more things in mind compared to Healers and DPSs. Things like...1: Making sure your Tank stance is on
2: Keeping an eye out for enemies and hitting all of them to keep their attention on you, and only you
3: Remembering to use defensive cooldowns, like Rampart and RepriseThis means Tanks have a couple more balls to juggle from the get go compared to the other roles.That said, I don’t mean to discourage you from trying out a Tank Job if you think it looks cool--if you want to play a Tank for your very first foray into Eorzea, go for it! And again, playing a Tank as your very first Job in FF14 still isn’t terribly difficult. Just keep in mind a few things and you’ll ensure a smooth experience for yourself and your party. It helps that Tanks are naturally sturdy and tend to have simpler attack sequences, letting you focus on your duty to protect everyone else.For a quick rundown on each Tank:Paladin: A sword-and-board Holy Knight sworn to protect their charge. Features a plethora of abilities that can give defensive buffs to party members and heal themselves or others.Warrior: A barbarian fighter wielding axes and their inner fury. A very simple, straightforward Job that's all about building yourself into a rage and smashing the enemy, with lots of self-heals to patch yourself up in case you get hurt.Dark Knight: A grim harbinger of swift, brutal justice, wielding dark magics against those who would harm the innocent. Features a potent and busy offense compared to other Tanks.Gunbreaker: A sleek and stylish wielder of exploding blades. Relies on a complicated and involved attack sequence and a variety of defensive or healing support abilities.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Paladin
• Warrior
• Dark Knight
• Gunbreaker

PALADIN
(WIP FOR PATCH 6.3 CHANGES)

Paladins are the classic sword-and-board holy knight. Gladiators, who later evolve into Paladins, are one of the two Tanks with which you can start the game, armed with a varied toolkit for melee-ranged physical attacks, ranged holy-magic attacks, healing, and defensive abilities to support the party. Aesthetically speaking, Paladins come well-equipped with more swords, boards, and shining armor than you could ever want.Recent changes have made Paladin extremely straightforward to play. Against lone targets, all it asks you to do is perform a simple 3-part melee combo, use the extra melee attacks that the combo lets you use, and activate a special mode that lets you cast powerful magic attacks instantly. Meanwhile, you have a huge plethora of defense-up buffs for yourself and your party, as well as steady healing effects out the wazoo.As of the time of this writing (Endwalker, Patch 6.3), Paladin is in a bit of a half-finished state, with the developers having heavily reworked it in preparation for the next Expansion Pack after Endwalker. It's still more than a functional Job, and its not-quite-finished status means it doesn't have as many moving parts for it going on--as a result, Paladin right now is very approachable and simple.If you love having a simple gameplan, being able to attack from range a lot of the time, gorgeous armor sets, beautiful swords, and the classic knightly aesthetic, the Paladin is the Job for you!

What's The Basic Gameplan?
(WIP FOR PATCH 6.3 CHANGES)

Paladins begin the game as Gladiators, starting in Ul'Dah. At level 30, they upgrade to Paladin after completing the "Paladin's Pledge" quest, also in Ul'Dah.Paladins use an extremely simple melee combo system, which they assemble over the course of 60 levels. Later on, you'll be able to use ranged holy-magic attacks that you'll incorporate into your gameplan, and later still, you gain the ability to cast these spells instantly, plus these spells will also heal you every time you cast them. This gives you a powerful, safe offensive tool that can help make up for any mistakes you make. If needed, you can also use a healing spell on yourself or your allies.As your character performs auto-attacks on an enemy (simple melee attacks that your character will perform on their own, without your input), you'll charge up a gauge that you can expend on certain defensive abilities. This doesn't include various other defensive tools at your disposal that can protect the rest of your party and heal them for a decent amount.Overall, the Paladin offers you a healthy mix of simple melee and ranged attacks, with a large variety of defensive or healing support abilities to protect and help out your party.

What's It Like To Level?
(WIP FOR PATCH 6.3 CHANGES)

As arguably the simplest Tank to play, Paladin is easy to level and adds some mild complexities at a gentle pace. This makes Paladin a very approachable Job for newer players seeking to try their first Tank, though hardened veterans of this game might find the Paladin to be overly simplified.Paladin spends the first 60 or so levels assembling a Tank's basic toolkit--a 3-hit melee combo for use against single targets, an alternate 2-hit melee combo for use on swarms of enemies, a smattering of defense-up buffs, and a single-target healing spell for use in emergencies. While Paladin does have a Job Gauge like every other Tank, this Job Gauge is solely there to fuel defensive abilities, so careful management of the Job Gauge for your offensive gameplan is not something you'll have to worry about as Paladin (outside of the hardcorest-of-hardcore content, anyway). This means that Paladin effectively has 60 whole levels with which you can get comfortable with Tanking basics, making it a fantastic way to start your Tanking career.When you've become comfortable with its fundamentals, Paladin starts incorporating ranged magic attacks into its gameplan, starting with the ability to cast them normally, plus the ability to cast them instantly after you finish a melee combo. Towards max level, you gain further upgrades to your magic attacks at a reasonable pace.Overall, this makes the Paladin learning curve extremely smooth, surpassing even the famously-straightforward Warrior in terms of approachability.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job
(WIP FOR PATCH 6.3 CHANGES)

Paladins start off very simply; until level 60, you simply perform your 3-hit melee combo against lone enemies. Against multiple enemies, you'll use a 2-hit area-of-effect combo instead.Between levels 60 to 75, you start learning how to cast your signature magic attack spells. These magic attack spells offer a powerful ranged combat option, and this makes Paladin very approachable--you won't have to risk being in melee combat as much as other Tanks if you have the option to stay out of your enemies' reach while still attacking them. That said, your melee attacks are usually stronger overall, so using them when you can is recommended.Later on, these ranged magic attacks gain upgrades, including the special Requiescat mode that lets you cast the spells instantly and boosts their damage. Towards max level, this special mode lets you instead use the powerful Confiteor combo, a series of even more powerful ranged magic attacks.These magic attacks eventually also heal a good chunk of your health every time you cast them, giving you a significant amount of self-sustainability and allowing you to recover from mistakes more easily than many other Jobs.While this overall gameplan might sound a little convoluted, at max level it all basically boils down to...-Activating Requiescat to buff your magic spells
-Casting your most powerful magic spells at the enemy while Requiescat is activated
-Swap to melee combos when you run out of Requiescat
-Throw out some magic spells now and then until Requiescat is available again
-RepeatRounding out the Paladin's offensive toolkit is a smattering of miscellaneous abilities, including the important Fight or Flight attack-up buff, plus Goring Blade, a powerful one-off offensive melee attack.Last but not least, your Shield Oath gauge is an important source of some of your best defensive abilities. As your character performs their auto-attacks (attacks that they perform automatically on a nearby targeted enemy, rather than by you pressing a button to command them to attack), you’ll charge up this gauge.

Shield Oath gauge.

You can expend your Shield Oath Gauge to activate these defensive abilities. Abilities like Intervention and Cover allow Paladins to excel at supporting their allies by boosting their defense, while Sheltron places a short-lasting but powerful defensive buff on yourself--later on, Sheltron upgrades to heal you on top of that.Paladin has a wide array of additional defensive and support abilities, as well. Divine Veil applies a moderate heal to nearby party members and gives them some extra protection, and Passage of Arms lessen the amount of damage that party members standing behind you will take for a short while. If the party Healers are in a pinch, you can also use the Clemency spell to heal people up! Granted, Clemency is something that you should only use when things go catastrophic rather than something you use on the regular, but having that option in your back pocket will literally save a boss run sometimes.

• If you'd like to know more about the Paladin in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Take Up The Sword!

As one of the two Tank Jobs in the game that you can start at level 1, getting into Paladin is easy! Although the Job might take a little practice towards the end to master, it's got a lot of options to handle a variety of problems, and it looks great while doing it. Play a Paladin if you want to be a Tank who excels at supporting others, or if you just want to be the knight in shining armor you've always dreamed of.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Paladin
• Warrior
• Dark Knight
• Gunbreaker

WARRIORS

Wield the fury of your inner beast, and let slip the dogs of war! No time for questions, we've got a Warrior to play!Warriors are all about simplicity: hit big with big weapon, rinse and repeat. All you really need to do is build up a gauge with your normal attacks, spend your gauge on big hits, and activate a berserk mode every now and then to supercharge your offense.Because of this simplicity, Warriors are a very easy Job to pick up. This, in turn, gives you lots of breathing room for learning how to be a proper Tank. And if you make a mistake and get hit by something you didn't mean to, you have several options to get all that missing HP back even if your Healer is out of commission. No Job in the game eases you into being a Tank like Warrior.Of course, if you also just want to be a barbarian fighter who's ready to unleash your rage, give Warrior a try!

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Starting as the Marauder at level 1 in Limsa Lominsa, you upgrade into a Warrior at level 30 by completing the “Pride and Duty (Will Bring you Down the Mountain)” quest, also in Limsa Lominsa.So what's the gameplan here? Against single targets, it's simple:Do a 3-hit combo to put an attack buff on yourself.Do a different 3-hit combo to heal yourself a little and to build up your Beast Gauge.Spend Beast Gauge for big hits!Then activate your Berserk ability (later upgrading into Inner Release) for even more big hits!And that's it!If you get too distracted from your big hits and take damage, just press a button or two to heal back up. Be warned, though: your self-heals are huge, but you can only heal yourself up every so often. You're tough, but you're not invincible.

What's It Like To Level?

Because its toolkit is so straightforward, I found leveling Warrior to be a very smooth process.As you level up, you steadily unlock the bits and pieces to put the gameplan described above together. There generally aren’t any long periods where you feel like the class is desperately missing a part of its toolkit.Warrior is also a very forgiving Job. The fact that Warriors are so good at healing themselves, plus their general toughness from being a Tank, means you can afford to make more mistakes than most other Jobs (though most of these self-healing abilities only get unlocked in the later stages of the game). If your Healer kicked the bucket, or you got hit by something you shouldn’t have, you’re just one or two button-press away from refilling a huge chunk of your HP bar. You also generally don’t have very many balls to juggle even compared to other Tanks--just build up your Beast Gauge, maintain your self-buff, and whack the enemy 'til it's dead.One minor hiccup is that, at level 50, your Beast Gauge abilities are still fledgling and don’t feel as satisfying to use as they will later. This is important because chances are that you’ll end up playing a lot of level 50 content, especially if you rely on the Main Story Quest Roulette a lot.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

To start, Warrior has two different 3-hit melee combos for use against lone enemies. First is the Storm's Eye combo that will give you an attack buff called Surging Tempest. Second is the Storm's Path combo, which deals more damage and heals you a little bit. The core of Warrior gameplay is doing a Storm's Eye combo for the buff, then using the Storm's Path combo over and over again to keep up your offense. If your Surging Tempest buff is about to run out of duration, use its respective combo to put it back on again, then go back to using the Storm's Path attacks.Against multiple enemies, you instead can use a simple 2-hit area-of-effect combo attack that automatically gives you the Storm's Eye buff.Whichever combo you use, you'll build up your Beast Gauge as you perform them. The Beast Gauge is your main source of big hits, letting you expend it to perform powerful single-target or area-of-effect attacks. If you need even more Beast Gauge, you can activate the Infuriate ability to instantly give yourself more and upgrade your next Beast-Gauge spending attack into a more powerful version.Towards max level, you gain access to the Inner Release self-buff. This lets you make 3 Beast-Gauge spending attacks for free, get a massive increase to your damage, and, at level 90, gives you your Primal Rend finisher move.

Beast gauge. You can expend this gauge to use certain powerful attacks.

Overall, against single targets: Warrior gameplay comes down to putting on the Surging Tempest buff, activating Inner Release for your biggest hits, activating Infuriate for even more big hits, then using the Storm's Eye combo until you need Surging Tempest again.Warriors also get access to some self-heal abilities alongside the usual trove of Tank defensive buffs, as well as the ability to deploy a defensive barrier on allies.At later levels, you'll especially want to pay attention to Raw Intuition (which turns into Bloodwhetting at level 82) and Nascent Flash. The former ensures that your each of your melee attacks will restore a big wad of your HP; the latter ensures that each of your melee attacks will restore a big wad of a targeted party member's HP. Raw Intuition/Bloodwhetting is especially potent when you strike multiple enemies at once--since each enemy you damage heals you, you can easily heal yourself from near-empty to full health in a single blow. This makes Warrior very adept at healing itself, and very difficult to kill when facing multiple lesser enemies.

Unleash The Beast!

If you just want to smash big things with big weapons, Warrior is the Job for you! It’s one of the easiest Jobs in the game to pick up and play as well as one of the most forgiving. It’s low stress, gives you plenty of room to learn the game, and nothing blows off steam like a good axe to the face.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Paladin
• Warrior
• Dark Knight
• Gunbreaker

DARK KNIGHT

You cannot start the game as a Dark Knight. You must first enter the city of Ishgard after completing the 'A Realm Reborn' base game, then obtain the "Our End" quest in Ishgard. You can obtain this quest near the Tribunal area.

Defenders of the innocent and punishers of the guilty, Dark Knights provide a blistering offense while still providing a level of sturdiness. With a wide variety of different, disparate attacks you must interweave between your normal melee combos, mastering Dark Knight demands quick fingers and quicker minds.If you like dark, edgy, brutal visuals and animations, the Dark Knight is the Job for you. Its dark-magic flavored attacks look vicious and its sword swings have real weight to them. Fans of the Berserk manga series, by the late and great Kentaro Miura, will also quickly spot the Dark Knight's homages to the manga's infamous protagonist, Guts.And, of course, you can’t forget about the Job’s unique story. Even newer players will likely have heard about the legendary quality of the Dark Knight’s storyline, and it rightly deserves its reputation as some of the finest writing in a game that's already bursting with masterwork literature.If you want to play a busy Tank with excellent damage, an amazing storyline, and edgy looks, play a Dark Knight!

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Dark Knight's gameplan is simple in theory, though perhaps less so in execution.Dark Knight gameplay revolves around using your basic combo attacks, while also using a large variety of fast offensive abilities and MP-using abilities between the hits of those combo attacks. Meanwhile, the combos fill up the Blood Gauge, which you can expend on more powerful melee attacks and, eventually, use to temporarily summon your Inner Darkness as an ally in combat.However, with its large arsenal of said faster attacks interspersed between its combo hits and the necessity of managing MP and the Blood Gauge, the Job can feel hectic and messy without some practice.

What's It Like To Level?

In my opinion, Dark Knight starts off with a noticeably steeper learning curve compared to most other Tanks.As a Dark Knight, you start off at level 30, meaning you’re immediately handed 30 levels’ worth of abilities to juggle. A great many of these abilities are intended to be used between pressing the buttons for your melee combo attacks--as a result, you may find yourself pressing a lot of different buttons in a short period of time compared to some other Tanks. Additionally, you’ll want to manage your MP, your Blood Gauge, and the enemy. This can be a lot of balls to juggle, especially if it’s your first time playing a Tank!That said, Dark Knight does a good job of steadily trickling in all these abilities so that you have time to practice them as you level. And while starting at level 30 obviously doesn't give you quite as much time to get comfortable with the Job as starting at level 1, it's still a lot of time to master its basics.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

The bread and butter of the Dark Knight gameplan are its melee combos. You have a 3-hit melee combo attack for use against lone enemies and a 2-hit area-of-effect combo attack for use against groups. The former will restore some of your HP and MP, while the latter will only restore your MP.Regenerating MP is quite important for Dark Knights, because they have certain attacks that make use of it. Using these MP-consuming attacks at least every once in a while is important, because not only do they deal a good bit of damage, they also provide you with a somewhat long-lasting damage-up buff (Darkside) and also eventually the source of one of your most powerful defensive tools. Thus, you'll want to keep an eye out on your MP as much as you can; use it when it’s available, but try to keep some in reserve as well.Another use for MP is the Dark Knight's most powerful defensive skill: The Blackest Night (TBN for short). TBN places a "shield" on yourself or a target party member. Any damage taken depletes the shield first, and the shield is quite sturdy. The fact that you can place it on anyone makes it flexible--place it on yourself if you expect to get slammed by a powerful enemy attack, or on an ally if they're about to get slammed instead.Dark Knight's unique Job Gauge is the Blood Gauge. As you perform your melee combos, you steadily fill up your Blood Gauge that you can use to unleash certain powerful attacks. At level 68, you unlock the an ability that lets you use all your Blood Gauge abilities for free for the next three attacks, allowing you a brief window of furious offense.

The Dark Knight Job gauge.
-The glowing helmet indicates you have the Dark Arts self-buff activated. The number overlayed on top tells you how long you have left before the buff expires.
-The partially-filled gauge at the bottom is your Blood gauge. The number to the left tells you how much of the blood gauge is filled.

The rest of the Job is activating your faster abilities between your combo attacks or between your Blood Gauge attacks when they become available. This includes defense buffs, an ability that lets you quickly close the distance between yourself and the enemy, and an ability that lets you place a dark puddle on the ground that deals steady damage to all enemies within it.The fact that you're heavily encouraged to use these abilities between your combo hits--during the cooldown period when you must wait for the next hit of your combo becomes available to use--means Dark Knight's offense demands activating more abilities per second than most other Tanks. Paladins and Warriors have a slow, ponderous offense since they have relatively few such attacks to fit between their combo hits, but the same can't be said for Dark Knights.This all means that playing Dark Knight at higher levels is a hectic, almost chaotic experience. While you're performing your melee combos, you must interweave your MP-using attacks, defensive abilities, and miscellaneous offensive abilities, while remembering to expend your Blood Gauge from time to time. As a result, the Dark Knight is somewhat simple on paper, but trickier on execution.

Punish The Guilty!

If a busy, powerful Tank with a dark, edgy visual style sounds appealing to you, definitely give Dark Knight a try! There's a lot to sink your teeth into, whether it's the more complicated playstyle, the look of its unique armor sets, or a rich storyline delving into the meaning of justice and what it is to be a hero. Its offensive toolkit is a bit all over the place, but some practice can turn the Dark Knight into an involved Tank with a meaty offense.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Paladin
• Warrior
• Dark Knight
• Gunbreaker

GUNBREAKER

You cannot start the game with Gunbreaker. You must first purchase the latest expansion pack for the game, reach level 60 with a Disciple of War/Disciple of Magic Job, then start the "The Makes of a Gunbreaker" quest in New Gridania, near the giant aetheryte crystal.

People often say that Gunbreaker plays a lot like a melee DPS Job, with its involved attacks where you have to weave lots of abilities between your combo attacks. And they’d be right! Gunbreaker is a fantastic job to play if you want a Tank that’s fast, furious, and a bit more involved. It's also arguably the hardest Tank Job to master, but the rewards for its mastery are great. For those who find other Tank Jobs to be a bit too slow and simple, the Gunbreaker’s breakneck speed and overall busyness is a welcome break.Fans of Final Fantasy 8 and the Final Fantasy games set in more “modern” settings (FF7, FF15, etc.) will also appreciate Gunbreaker’s aesthetics as well, since the Job is heavily inspired by FF8's protagonist, Squall. Where other Tanks often wear cumbersome-looking armor, Gunbreaker-exclusive armor sets give you sleek coats and modern-looking gunblades.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Gunbreakers are simple to explain on paper, but their execution at higher-level gameplay encourages a good sense of timing, awareness, and the ability to handle speed.The core of Gunbreaker gameplay is performing a basic combo to generate Cartridge pips. You can then spend these Cartridges to perform powerful attacks.Against lone enemies, its signature ability is to spend a Cartridge to start the 3-part Gnashing Fang combo, which later upgrades into a fast 6-part combo. Accompanying this signature attack is a damage-increasing self-buff that's designed to coincide with Gnashing Fang's activation.The rest of Gunbreaker's toolkit is various defensive abilities, such as a heal-over-time effect you can apply on yourself or others, or a defensive buff you can apply on all nearby party members.

What's It Like To Level?

Getting to level 90 with Gunbreaker is both easy and hard. Easy, because you start at level 60 and thus only have 30 levels to go, instead of the usual 90! Hard, because the fact that the game lets you start the job off at such a high level is its hint that it expects you to hit the ground running. If you go into level 60 dungeons and bosses as a level 60 Gunbreaker, people will expect you to play as well as any other level 60 Tank.Because of this and how involved the Gnashing Fang combo is, Gunbreaker arguably has the steepest learning curve among all the Tanks. Mastering its myriad abilities while also learning Tanking fundamentals for the first time will be a challenge indeed.That said, if your heart is set on giving Gunbreaker a try, you can always go back to older dungeons as a fresh Gunbreaker and steadily build up your skills. If you’re not confident about learning how to play Gunbreaker while also having to learn how to Tank, try queuing up for a level 30ish dungeon, and work your way up from there.If you can overcome the steep initial curve, though, the actual process of leveling Gunbreaker is quite smooth. It starts you off at level 60 with the ability to gain Cartridges and then expend them on either Gnashing Fang or on another ability called Burst Strike, plus access to its important self-buffs. If you go back to earlier content for some reason, you still retain the ability to gain Cartridges for the most part and spend them on Burst Strike.As you gain levels, you unlock the ability to make Gnashing Fang more powerful and complicated. The rest of the ride is smoothly boosting what Gunbreaker already does......with one exception. For some reason, Gunbreaker only gets its ability to spend Cartridges for area-of-effect attacks at level 72, which is well, WELL after it would have come in handy. As a result, Gunbreakers before level 72, who are dutifully spamming area-of-effect attacks in a dungeon on swarms of lesser enemies, get to awkwardly stare at their overabundance of Cartridges with no good way to spend them.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

On paper, Gunbreaker’s gameplan seems simple: perform a basic or combo to gain Cartridges, expend Cartridges on sword-explosions. Easy enough at a first glance.

Cartridge gauge, showing two out of a maximum of three cartridge pips.
Expend cartridges to initiate powerful attack combos and other offensive abilities.

The difficulty with Gunbreakers lies in the execution. Gnashing Fang is the start of Gunbreaker's signature 3-hit combo for use against lone enemies. Eventually, you also gain the Continuation combo, which you're expected to use in between each hit of your Gnashing Fang combo. Furthermore, you have various other abilities to fit between each hit of Gnashing Fang-Continuation. At later levels, you can expect to make up to nine attacks in the same time that other Jobs might make three.On top of that, you'll want to try and keep mental track of when Gnashing Fang has finished its 30-second cooldown and is ready to be used again, making sure to keep at least 1 Cartridge in your back pocket so you can whip out Gnashing Fang as needed. You also need to keep track of No Mercy, a major self-buff that boosts your damage, and apply it right before you start Gnashing Fang.This gameplan approaches the speed, ferocity, and complexity of DPS classes...and while you’re doing all this, you need to be performing your other duties as a Tank, as well. There’s a reason why FF14 players often joke that Gunbreaker is secretly three DPSs inside a large coat.For all the complexity, however, Gunbreaker is a Job that plays very smoothly and logically--build up cartridges, spend cartridges, weave in extra abilities during your Gnashing Fang combo. This all means that, while picking Gunbreaker as your first Tank can be a real challenge, you end up with a Job that’s truly fun and exhilarating to play.Of course, the Gunbreaker also gets several supplemental abilities, such as the usual Tank loadout of defensive buffs, a heal-over-time ability you can apply either on yourself or on a party member, and a quick attack that lets you swiftly close the distance with an enemy.

Shatter Their Guns!

A swift, unrelenting storm of blades and explosions. Being a Gunbreaker is all about putting up a devastating offense while still providing Tank levels of sturdiness. If you enjoy a great combination of damage, speed, and sturdiness with a more contemporary aesthetic, look no further than the Gunbreaker!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Dragoon
• Reaper
• Samurai
• Monk
• Ninja

MELEE DPS

Hit hard, hit fast. The Melee DPS role, as of the Endwalker expansion, encompasses Dragoon (starting as Lancer), Reaper, Samurai, Monk (starting as Pugilist), and Ninja (starting as Rogue).At first glance, the Melee DPS Jobs seem fundamentally simple--stay close to the enemy, give ‘em a good smack, and dodge out of their attacks. In some ways, however, they have a harder time doing their job compared to Ranged DPS and Caster DPS Jobs. Melee DPS, as the name suggests, generally cannot stray too far from the foe in order to deal damage. If the enemy is sending out an area-of-effect attack making it dangerous to stick close, you must disengage or risk getting unnecessarily hurt...whereas Ranged and Casters can sit back and keep shooting the enemy. Melee DPS also have to keep in mind positionals--that is, Melee DPS players have to deal with the fact that some of their attacks deal more damage when done to the enemy’s side or the rear.All this, while generally having the most complicated and fastest attack sequences in the game. Every Melee DPS has involved and intricate combos to perform by the time they hit max level, and most Melee DPS Jobs have some sort of boost to their attack speed that demands faster responses from the player.Don’t let me scare you off of giving Melee DPS a try, though! Most of these jobs start off at a low level and give you plenty of time to learn them. Plus, many of their more challenging aspects--like making sure to mind your positionals--aren’t really necessary to master early on. If you find yourself getting information overload at the start, you can leave things like that for later when you’re more comfortable with the Job.And there is nothing quite like in this game like landing all your melee attacks perfectly and absolutely smashing your enemy's face in.For a quick rundown on each Melee DPS:Dragoons wield the lance and the blessing of dragons to deliver slow but steady death from above.Reapers scythe down their foes with slow but powerful sledgehammer blows, kicking up their speed every so often to assail their enemies with the eldritch void.Samurai use masterful bladework, building up to earth-shattering draw-cuts and some of the highest damage output in the game.Monks are a never-ending hurricane of fists and feet, blisteringly quick on the attack with fluid and customizable combos.Ninjas wield ninjutsu-magic, tricks, and knives to obliterate the enemy in twenty seconds of nonstop fury.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Dragoon
• Reaper
• Samurai
• Monk
• Ninja

DRAGOON

Blessed with the might of dragons, the Dragoon is a slower, more methodical Job compared to the other Melee DPS Jobs. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a no-brainer to play--what starts off as a simple and fairly straightforward Job ramps up to involved gameplay that wants you to take risks and pay close attention to what you're doing. Combined with the ability to jump around the arena and some powerful buffs you can give to party members, Dragoon is a powerful and mobile Job that’s easy to learn but hard to master.If you enjoyed Dragoon's incarnations in the other Final Fantasy games, here it is again in its full glory, with jumping attacks and all! If this is your first time seeing a Dragoon, feast your eyes on its amazing, dragon-themed armor sets and flashy animations.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Dragoons start off as a Lancer at level 1 in Gridania. At level 30, they upgrade to Dragoon after completing the quest “Eye of the Dragon,” also in Gridania.The core of Dragoon gameplay is extremely straightforward: you repeat a single 10-hit combo that you eventually assemble over time, while interweaving your signature jumping attacks between your combo hits. Do it right, and you'll be able to temporarily enter a special mode that unlocks even more powerful attacks.

What's It Like To Level?

Overall, leveling Dragoon is a pretty smooth experience. If you're very new to the game and want an easier entry into the Melee DPS Jobs, you could do a lot worse than Dragoon.As mentioned previously, Dragoon is heavily defined by its 10-hit combo attack that you steadily unlock from level 1 to level 64. In the meantime, you also gain access to your signature jumping attacks and various buffs. Everything is introduced to you at an easy pace, giving you plenty of time to get used to pressing your combo attacks in the correct order and fitting jumping attacks between them.The one hiccup is that you don’t get your first area-of-effect attack until level 40, so for the first chunk of the game you’re awkwardly stuck whacking things one at a time. You also don't unlock the second hit of your 3-hit area-of-effect attack combo until level 62--which, again, will make situations where you need to hit multiple targets at once feel strangely incomplete for an oddly long period of time.I also found at first that Dragoon’s 10-hit combo went on for long enough that I sometimes lost track of which part of the combo I was in, forcing me to stare at my hotbar and see which part of the sequence was next. It wasn’t anything some practice couldn’t fix, but it was a stumbling block for me on the way to level 90.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

Against lone enemies, Dragoon gameplay revolves heavily around its 10-hit combo, made up of two 5-hit combos that are strung back to back. The first 5-hit combo applies a damage buff to yourself and a Damage over Time (DoT) effect on the enemy; the second simply deals a large chunk of damage.As you progress, you'll want to learn how to activate your jumping attacks in between the hits of your combo attacks.

Two versions of the Blood of the Dragon gauge.-At the top, the half-filled eye icon tells you that you have 1 Dragon Eye out of a possible 2, as well as 1 Dragon Scale out of a possible 2.
-At the bottom, the red eye icon tells you that you have 2 Dragon Eyes. You also have two Dragon Scales.

The Jump ability, in particular, is central to your gameplan. When you perform Jump (again, ideally between the hits of your 10-hit combo attack), you'll temporarily unlock the Mirage Dive attack. Using Mirage Dive gives you a Dragon Eye.When you get two Dragon Eyes, you can use the Geirskogul attack to enter Life of the Dragon mode. Life of the Dragon mode, in turn, unlocks your most powerful attacks.At max level, successfully finishing your 10-hit combo also grants you a Dragon Scale. When you have exactly two Dragon Scales, you can perform the Wyrmwind Thrust attack.Lastly, Dragoon has a couple of extra abilities that help out allies. Dragon Sight boosts the damage of a nearby party member for a short while; Battle Litany, on the other hand, applies a similar boost to all nearby party members.In short: Dragoon is all about being able to steadily keep up your melee combo attacks while interweaving your jumping attacks, gaining Dragon Eyes, using Dragon Eyes to activate Life of the Dragon mode, and using your party-wide buffs.

Life of the Dragon gauge.
-The partly-filled red gauge at the bottom and the number on the left tells you how long you have left before Life of the Dragon mode ends.
-The icons for Dragon Eyes and Dragon Scales remain unchanged in Life of the Dragon mode.

Rock The Dragon!

A friend of mine describes playing Dragoon like piloting a train--it’s not necessarily the fastest Job, but it’s steady, it’s smooth, and nothing in the Job feels awkward or out of place. The Job's slower speed helps give weight to each of its attacks, while its jumps give you excellent mobility to put yourself where you need to be. And since it starts at level 1, you can dive right in as soon as you start the game! If all this sounds appealing to you, go give Dragoon a shot!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Dragoon
• Reaper
• Samurai
• Monk
• Ninja

REAPER

You cannot start the game with Reaper. You must first purchase the latest expansion pack, reach level 70 with a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic character, then start the "The Killer Instinct" quest in Ul'Dah.

Do you feel the darkness within? Can you hear the whispers of oblivion laying bare your darkest secrets, while your eyes drink in the infinite void?One of the two Maiming Melee DPS Jobs alongside Dragoon, the Reaper is much like a bear: powerful and seemingly slow at first, but it can shock you with sudden bursts of speed and lethal ferocity. Its gameplay consists of a slower, steadier offense compared to other Melee DPS, it's surprisingly durable for a non-Tank Job, and it's got lots of mobility, making the Reaper one of the more accessible Jobs; however, this hides a roundabout gameplan that is deceptively sophisticated and complex, stopping it from being trivial to master.Aesthetically speaking, Reapers also seek to dethrone the Dark Knight as king of edgy visuals. Wielding sinister scythes and eldritch energies, Reapers cloak themselves in the horrors of the abyss to destroy even more terrible monsters.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Reaper is fueled by two different resources: Souls, and Shroud.Performing your basic combo attacks, plus certain other abilities, fills up your Soul gauge. You can use Souls to perform quick attacks that you should try and fit between the hits of your regular combo attacks.These Soul attacks, in turn, allow you to use Shroud attacks. Using Shroud attacks fills up your Shroud gauge.When your Shroud gauge is at least half full, you can expend some of it to cloak yourself with a daemon of the Void to temporarily enter Enshroud mode. During Enshroud mode, your attacks become much faster and you gain access to the Communio finisher.While you're doing all this, you'll want to keep up a certain debuff on your enemies that increases their vulnerability to your attacks.

What's It Like To Level?

I generally found Reaper to be an accessible Job that plays very smoothly from beginning to end, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind if you wish to level it.First, the Job begins at level 70. If Reaper is your first Melee DPS Job, jumping straight into level 70 content without preparation could be a rude awakening for you. Level 70 is around where the game really starts to take off the training wheels, and most other players expect someone at level 70--newbie Reaper or not--to at least know the basics of the game. As a result, it's not a bad idea to take Reaper to lower-level content first to get comfortable with it before diving into higher-level content.Second, it can be tricky to remember to always follow up a Soul attack with a Shroud attack. If you fail to do so, you completely lose the opportunity to make that Shroud attack, losing out on a good chunk of damage and an opportunity to fill up the Shroud gauge. It will probably take some practice for you to always remember to follow up a Soul attack with a Shroud attack whenever possible, even in the heat of battle.These two things aside: Reaper, alongside Dragoon, is a wonderful place to start your Melee DPS career. Thanks to certain abilities in its arsenal, the Job is one of the sturdiest in the game outside of Tanks, and its generally slower attack speed outside of Enshroud mode means you have lots of time to consider what you're doing next. The overall leveling process is also very smooth, starting you off with a solid toolkit and building on it at a good, steady pace.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

As mentioned previously, core Reaper gameplay revolves around the Soul gauge and the Shroud gauge. You gain Souls by using your basic single-target or area-of-effect combo attacks, as well when your enemies die while they have your Death's Design debuff on them. The Soul Scythe and Soul Slice attacks also instantly grant you a large portion of Souls. You can spend Souls on quicker Soul attacks that you can fit between the hits of your basic combo attacks.Using Soul attacks unlocks the ability to use one of three Shroud attacks: Gibbet, Gallows, and Guillotine. You must take care to use a Shroud attack immediately after using a Soul attack--using something else after a Soul attack means you lose out on that Shroud attack, at least until you perform another Soul attack and regain the ability to make a Shroud attack.Using Shroud attacks fills up your Shroud gauge--when the Shroud gauge is sufficiently full, you can expend it to activate Enshroud mode.

The red Souls gauge at the top, and the blue Shroud gauge at the bottom.
-The highlighted Souls gauge indicates you have enough Souls to start at least 1 Souls attack.
-The highlighted Shroud gauge indicates you have enough Shroud to enter Enshroud mode.

During Enshroud mode, your single-target combo instead becomes a rapid 2-hit combo attack. Using this 2-hit combo allows you to use another, faster attack you can fit between your new rapid 2-hit combo. After using this 3-hit sequence twice, you can exit Enshroud mode by using the Communio finisher.

The Death gauge. Top picture is how it looks like when Enshroud mode is not activated, while the bottom picture is how it looks like when it is.
-The blue pips are consumed each time you use one of your rapid 2-hit combo attacks. Using these attacks leaves behind a purple pip.
-The purple pips are consumed to use a faster attack that you can interweave between your 2-hit combo attacks.
-The number at the bottom left tells you how much time you have left in Enshroud mode.At any time you're in Enshroud mode, you can use the Communio ability to end Enshroud mode with a bang.

In short: fill up your Soul gauge, use Soul gauge to use Shroud attacks. Use Shroud attacks to fill up the Shroud gauge, then activate Enshroud mode.Throughout all this, you'll want to make sure to apply the Death's Design debuff on the enemy, which causes it to take extra damage from you.Aside from this offensive package, Reaper also comes with a surprising amount of support and utility abilities. Arcane Crest is a small defensive barrier you can place on yourself, and it can slowly regenerate your and nearby party members' HP if it is destroyed by an enemy attack. Arcane Circle, meanwhile, is a partywide damage-up buff that charges up a special attack for you, which in turn fills up your Shroud gauge. Last but not least, Reapers also have a dash forward ability and a dash backwards ability that leaves behind a portal marker; pressing another button allows you to teleport back to the portal if you're close enough to it.

• If you're interested in learning more about Reaper in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Fear The Reaper!

With its strong combination of power, simplicity, sturdiness, and mobility, Reaper offers more than enough to veterans and newer players alike. Its overall gameplay is quite straightforward, but optimizing the Reaper's positionals and knowing when to activate Enshroud mode gives more experienced players plenty to sink their teeth into.So, if you like edgy, abyss-themed visuals and hitting like a freight train, embrace your inner darkness and give Reaper a try!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Dragoon
• Reaper
• Samurai
• Monk
• Ninja

SAMURAI

You cannot start the game with Samurai. You must first purchase the latest expansion pack, reach level 50 with a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic character, then start the "Way of the Samurai" quest in Ul'Dah. You can find the questgiver near the Gladiator's Guild, down the stairs in the guild.

While they were busy taking pretty screenshots, you studied the blade. The Samurai is a blisteringly fast Job that wants you to juggle several different balls at once, steadily building different resources with its regular attacks in order to unleash punishing blows on the enemy. Starting off with a simple arsenal, the Job is easy to access at first, but rapidly grows into a demanding and challenging experience.One of the Job's main attractions is the big hits. Between the feeling of building up your resources and the excellent visuals, sounds, and animations, landing powerful attacks as a Samurai feels phenomenal, and you'll get plenty of them as you level the Job.Beyond that, Samurai--as you'd expect given the name--leans heavily into Japanese pop culture surrounding katana-wielding warriors. If words like "Iaijutsu" and "Tsubame Gaeshi" make sense to you, then you've come to the right place as Samurai.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

In essence, Samurai gameplay revolves around building resources with its combos, then expending those resources on powerful sword attacks.The first of these resources is Sen, which take the form of 3 different kinds of stickers. You can expend 1, 2, or 3 of these stickers for Iaijutsu attacks, with the number of stickers used changing what the Iaijutsu does.Later on, you unlock further resources: Kenki and Meditation. You generate Kenki by performing your combo attacks, and Kenki can be used for a variety of different things. Meditation is generated by using certain attacks. When you get exactly 3 pips of Meditation, you can expend them to unleash a devastating Shoha attack.

What's It Like To Level?

I’ve found the entire leveling journey for Samurai to be buttery smooth, except towards the very beginning and the very end.You start off with your entire 8-part combo at level 50, and from the get-go the Job feels like a satisfyingly complete package...unless you do content that’s lower than level 50. You only have the ability to generate your entire 3 Sen at level 50--as a result, before level 50, your skillset will feel oddly incomplete. You may find yourself getting ready for your big 3-Sen Iaijutsu, only to find out that you’re level 47 so you can’t get your third Sen, leaving you high and dry with just two.You start to gain access to Kenki by the time you get comfortable with your melee combo. You only generate a very small amount of Kenki at first, just enough for you to get used to the concept of having it and using it from time to time, then at level 62 you generate much more.It’s when you unlock the ability to gain Meditation stacks at level 80 that Samurai can get a bit overwhelming for newer players. By then, you’re juggling several balls at once; you're keeping your positionals in mind, you're trying to gain Sen stickers, you’re trying to gain as much Kenki as possible while making sure to spend it as much as possible, and you have to keep track of when you hit three stacks of Meditation so that you can use Shoha as soon as possible. All while trying to make sure you’re using your other, miscellaneous abilities.Overall, it’s a fast, furious, and busy job to play: easy to pick up, but challenging to master.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

Samurai is a Job almost entirely focused on pouring out raw damage instead of boosting party members. As mentioned previously, it's primarily focused on generating and making use of three different resources: Sen, Kenki, and Meditation.

Sen:
Like all Melee DPS Jobs, Samurai has a set of combo attacks for use against single targets, and a set of combo attacks for use against multiple targets. Successfully performing any of these combo attacks gives you the first of Samurai's resources in the form of stickers: Sen.When you store up anywhere from one to three stickers, you can expend them to perform powerful Iaijutsu moves:-A 1-Sen Iaijutsu places a damage-over-time effect on a single enemy-A 2-Sen Iaijutsu deals damage in a large, circular area-A 3-Sen Iaijutsu unleashes a singular, devastating attack on a single target

Sen stickers, with the Flower and Moon stickers filled. Note that the 3rd sticker slot (Snow) is empty.
Ergo, right now you have 2 Sen stickers.

Kenki:
Later on, you will unlock a gauge that fills up bit by bit whenever you land hits with any of your melee combos. You can use up Kenki to launch hard-hitting attacks in between hits of your combo attacks, or to perform your forward dash/backdash maneuvers to get in or out of danger.Meditation:
Towards max level, you’ll also gain a Meditation pip each time you successfully land an Iaijutsu attack. When you gain exactly three of these pips, you can use them up to perform your Shoha attacks in between the hits of your basic combo attacks.

The amount of Kenki you have is represented by the partially-filled sword and the number on the top left.
Meditation pips are below the hilt of the sword, on the bottom left.

Lastly, towards the end of your Samurai leveling journey, you'll unlock the Ikishouten ability. This jump-starts your offense by instantly granting you 50 Kenki to use, and, at level 90, it also unlocks your ability to perform your most lethal finisher: Ougi Namikiri.Against singular targets, the core of Samurai play against bosses is keeping up the damage-over-time effect from your 1-Sen Iaijutsu ability on the enemy, then smacking them with your 3-Sen Iaijutsu. Continue performing a 3-Sen Iaijutsu on the enemy until you have to reapply the damage-over-time Iaijutsu again.Against multiple targets, you simply alternate between your two, 2-hit area-of-effect combo attacks to gain two Sen stickers, then using your 2-Sen Iaijutsu on the enemies.While you're doing all this, you can activate your Kenki and Shoha attacks in between the hits of these Sen-generating combo attacks.As you gain higher levels, you'll have to keep a weather eye out on your Kenki and Meditation resources, making sure to use them as they come up. As a result, playing Samurai can feel like having to juggle several balls at once, demanding that you pay attention multiple different Job resources and maintaining your damage-over-time effect against bosses.

• If you're interested in learning more about Samurai, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Jinjou Ni Shobu!

To quote a friend of mine: have you ever wanted to blast your enemies into the shadow realm with your sword? If so, Samurai is your Job. Successful Samurai play rewards you with attacks that feel like throwing a lightning storm at your enemies--swift, deadly, and unrelenting.If you appreciate the aesthetics of katanas, you'll find plenty to enjoy about Samurai as well. Every one of its weapons in the game is gorgeous, ranging from the austere beauty of the more conventional-looking swords, to the over-the-top blades straight out of your favorite pop fiction.Unsheathe your blades and give Samurai a try!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Dragoon
• Reaper
• Samurai
• Monk
• Ninja

MONK

Who needs a sword when your whole body is a weapon? The Monk is a Melee DPS Job that starts fast and stays fast, asking you to rapidly input button combinations to keep up an unrelenting storm of fists. Other Melee DPS Jobs might have periods where you have a sudden burst of activity, but Monks naturally have very short cooldown times between all of their attacks. As a result, a Monk in combat is a never-ending storm of punches and kicks.The price of this speed is a Job that's on the more challenging end of the spectrum. Going fast means less time to think, yet the free-flowing nature of its combo sequences demand attention. A skilled Monk can see through their own blur of rapid fisticuffs to know what combo to perform next, while also managing several other key aspects of the Job.If you like fisticuffs and pushing your limits, give Monk a try!

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Monks start at level 1 as a Pugilist in Ul'Dah and upgrade to Monk at level 30 after completing the quest “Brother from Another Mother,” also in Ul'Dah.The core of Monk gameplay revolves around its fast, fluid, and customizable 3-hit combo system. You have several options for each attack in that 3-hit sequence, with each option doing something different; this allows you to throw together whatever attacks you feel are needed based on the situation. However, because Monks have a shorter cooldown period between attacks compared to other Jobs, it gives you little time to sit and think about what you're going to do next.In later levels, landing critical hits fills up 1 pip of the Chakra Gauge. Upon reaching exactly 5 pips of Chakra, you can expend all those pips for a powerful attack.Lastly, the Monk can temporarily enter a special mode where it can customize its regular 3-hit combo even further, allowing you to select any option you want for your next three hits. Depending on which options you picked, you gain a different kind of finishing move, and performing a finishing move typically gives you one of two Nadi pips. If you enter this special mode again after after you have both Nadi pips, then you can end your next 3-hit combo with a singularly punishing finisher.

What's It Like To Level?

Monk isn't the easiest Job to pick up. The large variety of different combos you can theoretically perform, as well as the freedom to use different ones as the situation changes, can be overwhelming to new players...and this is without discussing the Monk's other special abilities that lie on top of its combo system. Getting the most out of Monk definitely wants you to sit down and practice.Monk’s combo system also means that it’s designed to work as one seamless whole. However, you don’t get the entire set until level 50. While you’re making your way up to level 50 it might not feel like much of a detriment, since you won’t know what you’re missing and you’ll be busy trying to figure out the Job’s basic functions, but if you ever end up going back down to pre-level 50 content, your muscle memory will betray you as you’ll attempt to use combos that are no longer complete.But, if you're willing to put in the work and master the Job's unique combo system, you're rewarded with an incredibly smooth-feeling Job that's exhilarating to pilot. Everything about the Monk is fast, fast, fast, and if you can get a handle on its inherent speed, playing Monk is like driving a car down the highway at twice the speed limit. Once you get over the initial hurdle of the combo system and the Nadi system, the Monk's mechanics are intuitive and less complicated than what it might seem at first, while still giving you a lot of freedom to customize your attacks according to the situation.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

I've said again and again that Monk's combo system is unusual compared to the more linear combo sequences that other Melee DPS Jobs get, so let's take a moment to talk about it.You can think of Monk’s combos as having three “slots”, and you can fill those slots with different attacks. The Monk’s three “slots” are, in order:>Opo-opo form attacks>Raptor form attacks>Coeurl form attacksSo your typical 3-hit Monk combo will start with an Opo-opo form attack, followed by a Raptor form attack, then finished with a Coeurl form attack. Your next combo will repeat the same pattern: Opo-opo → Raptor → Coeurl, then Opo-opo → Raptor → Coeurl, etc.Every single one of Monk’s combo attacks will be one of these three types: an Opo-opo attack, a Raptor attack, or a Coeurl attack.

One extra layer to this intricate combo system is Perfect Balance mode.When you activate Perfect Balance, you get a special buff: for your next three combo attacks, you can pick and choose any of your attacks in any order, instead of being forced to follow the normal pattern. So, you can go Couerl --> Raptor --> Opo-opo, or even Opo-opo --> Opo-opo --> Opo-opo, whatever you wish.Which types of attacks you pick while Perfect Balance is active will determine which finisher you receive. Different finishers will give you a Lunar Nadi pip, or a Solar Nadi pip.When you have both Solar Nadi and Lunar Nadi pips, you can activate Perfect Balance one more time to perform one last 3-hit combo of your choosing, and unlock your deadliest finisher: Tornado Kick.

One version of the Nadi gauge.-The white pip on the right tells you that you have a Solar Nadi available.
-The empty pip on the left tells you that you don't have a Lunar Nadi yet.
-The 3 purple pips in the middle tell you that you've activated Perfect Balance mode and performed 3x Opo-opo attacks. This means you're ready to perform the Elixir Field finisher, one of the 3 different kinds of finishers you can perform.
-The number at the top tells you how long you have left to use Elixir Field before it goes away.

Monk also has the ability to generate and use Chakra. When out of combat, you can press the Chakra button to gain 5 pips of Chakra; while in combat, doing this only gives you 1 pip. You will eventually be able to gain Chakra in combat by landing critical hits on the enemy. Once you acquire 5 points of Chakra, you can spend them to hit the enemy with a powerful attack.

The Monk's Chakra gauge.
As you can see, it can hold up to five pips. Get five pips to unleash a devastating attack!

Monk also has a few other tricks up its sleeve, such as a temporary defense buff to itself, a party-wide buff that improves healing effects, and damage-boosting buffs for itself and others.Ultimately: Monk's overall flow of combat typically is about doing your regular 3-hit combo attacks, then activating Perfect Balance mode every so often to get Lunar Nadi and Solar Nadi pips. When you're full up on pips, activate Perfect Balance again, do one more 3-hit combo, then perform your final finisher.

• If you'd like to know more about the Monk in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

Everything I've said so far about the Monk has been a real mouthful, but if you've been able to follow along--or want to be able to follow along--give Monk a try! While you'll probably want to get in some practice to truly hit the high ceiling the Job offers, the game gives you ample room to learn it at your own pace, and the learning process is fun thanks to the intense speed of the Monk's attacks. There's hardly a dull moment when you're playing Monk.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Dragoon
• Reaper
• Samurai
• Monk
• Ninja

NINJA

You cannot start the game as a Ninja. You must first complete a certain level 10 story quest for any Disciple of War/Disciple of Magic Job to unlock the Armoury System (aka the ability to change Jobs). Then go to Limsa Lominsa, Lower Decks, and enter the Rogue's Guild.

Armed with blades and magics, Ninjas are quick on their feet and even quicker on the attack. Beginning life as a Rogue at level 1 in Limsa Lominsa and upgrading to Ninja at level 30, it’s one of the most demanding Jobs to play in the game, asking you to be able to cram many different button presses in an ideal order in a very short window of time. If you can learn its intricacies, though, you’re rewarded with a Job that’s flexible, can attack from just about anywhere, teleport to wherever you need, and help the rest of the party bring the hammer down on your foes.It also admirably lives up to its pop-culture shinobi aesthetic. With its distinct running animation, awesome Job-exclusive outfits, and unique combat animations, this Job will surely satisfy anyone who loves pop-culture ninjas.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Against single targets, Ninja's gameplay revolves around a 60 second cycle. For about the first 20 or so seconds, you're attempting to place powerful debuffs on the enemy that lowers their resistance to your attacks, then cramming in a blistering assault for the duration of that debuff. For the other 40 seconds, you'll be using its very simple 3-hit combos to keep up your offense.Ninja's signature ability is the Ninjutsu system, where you can "program" a magical attack by pressing certain combinations of up to three buttons. You have a wide variety of different Ninjutsus, each with a different purpose. You have two sets of uses of Ninjutsus, with each set recharging every 20 seconds.Later on, you will unlock the Ninki Gauge, which fills up whenever you perform your basic combo. You can expend Ninki to perform powerful attacks.The end result is a Job that flips back and forth between hot-cold, hot-cold. Hot, when it's the start of your 60 second cycle and you're furiously mashing buttons during your special window; cold, when that window has closed and you ease back, performing sedate 3-hit combos until you re-center yourself for the next 20 second window.

What's It Like To Level?

Leveling Ninja unfortunately isn’t the smoothest experience, but once you get over the first couple of hurdles, the Job introduces new concepts at a good and steady pace. This is ultimately a good thing for the Ninja, because it's got a lot on its plate.It starts off as Rogue before upgrading to Ninja at level 30...and until you do upgrade to Ninja, you're very limited in what you can do. If you’re completely new to the game, this might work out to your advantage since you don’t have very many balls to juggle...but if you’re already familiar with the game, the first 30 levels can be miserable for the sheer lack of things to do. All you can do before level 30 is use a 3-hit combo, put a small defensive shield on yourself, and use a single special ability that places a debuff on the target, causing them to take extra damage from your party for a while.Somewhat awkwardly, you also don’t unlock your first area-of-effect attack until level 38. Much like the Dragoon, you’re uncomfortably stuck with having to whack things one at a time for the first 38 levels.Once you unlock Ninja, you immediately start to unlock the Ninjutsu system. This greatly expands what you can do with the Job; however, remembering which combination of buttons to press in order to cast which Ninjutsu will take a bit of practice.One last hiccup for Ninja is the fact that you can apply a certain self-buff called Huton that increases your attack speed, which is extremely useful...but you have no way of properly refreshing it until level 54. Until then, you’re forced to use up a precious Mudra charge to cast it again. This makes the Huton Ninjutsu feel awkward to use during combat for a long time.Fortunately, the rest of the way is smooth sailing, though the learning curve remains pretty steep. The game does a good job, though, of getting you used to focusing your attack sequence around your once-a-minute signature attack. 90 levels is ample time for you to get used to the feeling of cramming as much as you can into the 20 second window.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

As mentioned previously, Ninja gameplay is centered around an important debuff you place on the enemy: Trick Attack. Trick attack boosts the damage you deal to the debuffed enemy by a hefty 10%. The general plan for Ninjas is to apply Trick Attack, then to try and cram in as many Ninjutsu and other special attacks into that Trick Attack period. Afterwards, they perform their basic 3-hit combos until Trick Attack becomes available again in about 60 seconds.Mudras and Ninjutsu:
Ninjutsus are the aforementioned magics available to Ninjas. To perform a Ninjutsu, you must press the correct Mudra buttons in sequence, then hit the Ninjutsu button to cast it. Each sequence of Mudras consumes 1 set, and you can store up to 2 sets. Each set regenerates every 20 seconds after being used.The three Mudras are Ten, Chi, and Jin.For example: pressing Ten, then Chi, then Ninjutsu will consume 1 Mudra set and perform Raiton, which strikes the target with a bolt of lightning.

Your mudras. From left to right:
-Ten
-Chi
-Jin
-The Ninjutsu buttonRather than being a gauge, these are actually buttons you can place on your hotbar and press.The red numbers at the bottom tells you how many mudra sets you have remaining.

Meanwhile, pressing Jin, then Chi, then Ten, then Ninjutsu will consume 1 Mudra set and perform Huton, which is a self-buff that makes you attack faster. Keeping your Huton self-buff active at all times is an important part of Ninja gameplay.You have up to seven unique Ninjutsus (9 if you include special upgraded versions you can get later), each having a different function. The wide variety of Ninjutsus you have access to is a large part of why Ninja is such a flexible job that’s useful just about anywhere.

Huton gauge. The number represents its remaining duration in seconds.

Ninki:
As you perform your basic combos, you’ll steadily fill up a Ninki gauge. Luckily, the Ninki gauge is very straightforward: you simply build it up, then spend it on certain one-button powerful attacks that you should try and fit between the hits of your basic combo attacks.Rounding out the rest of Ninja's toolkit is a defensive ability placing a small shield on yourself, the ability to enter stealth mode outside of combat which automatically refreshes all your Mudra sets, and a quick teleport.

Ninki gauge

• If you'd like to know more about the Ninja in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Strike From The Shadows!

Everything I’ve talked about for Ninja might make it sound like it’s a punishing Job to play with a ton of inconveniences throughout its leveling process...but I found the whole experience to be worth it, because it’s such a rewarding Job.Once you practice your Ninjutsu and develop muscle memory for which Mudra combination does what, everything else starts to click into place, and the Trick Attack window feels like a rapid-fire storm of offense that feels satisfying to pull off. Then you have the rest of the minute to cool down and center yourself again before it’s time for another Trick Attack blitz. This cycle of hot-cold-hot-cold feels unique and strikes a good balance between the job being satisfyingly demanding but not exhausting. And like any good challenge, mastering the complexities of Ninja is its own reward.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Black Mage
• Red Mage
• Summoner

CASTER DPS

FYI: I won't be talking about Blue Mage for this article! While Blue Mage is technically a Caster DPS Job and I enjoy Blue Mage quite a lot, it is entirely its own thing that can't play "regular" content the usual way with other, more typical Jobs. I'll save discussion about it for another time.As of the Endwalker expansion, the Caster DPS role encompasses Black Mage (starting as Thaumaturge), Red Mage, and Summoner (starting as Arcanist).Playing a Caster DPS is a different beast from the others. Compared to Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, and Tanks, you don’t have the luxury of being able to move freely while still attacking the enemy (though there's a certain exception to this). This is because of how spellcasting works in FF14: whenever you activate a spell, you begin casting it. If you move in the middle of a spellcast, you cancel it--thus, if you move around unnecessarily as a Caster DPS, you won’t be able to cast the spells you need to keep up your offense. Moreover, most of your attacks also consume MP, so you have to keep an eye out for how much MP you have left.On the other hand, being able to cast magic also opens up a lot of options for you. As a Caster DPS, you’re the only other role in the game other than Healers who can resurrect fallen party members (unless you’re Black Mage). You can attack from range, meaning you can still pour on the damage even if the boss isn’t available to whack at melee range. And despite your apparent inability to move, all Caster DPS Jobs have various options to retain some mobility. You might not be able to run around as freely as a Ranged DPS, but you’re not always rooted in one spot!Because of these limitations on movement, Caster DPS Jobs in particular benefit greatly from foreknowledge and planning. Knowing where to stand, when and how to move, and keeping your MP up might feel overwhelming at first, but if you can get the hang of it, you’ll be the master of some of the most unique and rewarding Jobs in the game.For a brief rundown on each Caster DPS Job...Black Mages rain apocalyptic blasts of magic on the enemy, in exchange for being difficult to move and demanding more knowledge of the enemy than most other Jobs.Red Mages mix swordplay and spellslinging for a flexible, mobile, and swift playstyle.Summoners command the might of defeated gods. A very simple and straightforward spellcaster that offers mobility nearly on par with a Ranged DPS Job.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Black Mage
• Red Mage
• Summoner

BLACK MAGE

Masters of fire, ice, and lighting, Black Mages are quintessential Caster DPSs and one of the first available in the game, in the form of the Thaumaturge Class.Playing a Black Mage is a constant battle to put up a steady offense forcing you to sit still, contrasted against enemy attacks that force you to constantly be on the move. If you can pull it off, though, you're rewarded with a steady stream of massive explosions and get to see some of the biggest damage numbers out of all the Jobs. You might be slow, but you hit like a truck and your absurd MP regeneration means you can keep the hits coming.Aesthetically speaking, Black Mages are also perfect if you love the classic fantasy "witch"/"wizard" look. Pointy, wide brimmed hats, arcane staffs, and a unique emote that's basically a wicked witch's cackle gives you plenty of opportunities to play the egomaniacal sorcerer you've always wanted to be.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Black Mages start off as Thaumaturges at level 1 in Ul'Dah, upgrading to a Black Mage at level 30 after completing the quest "Taking the Black,” also in Ul'Dah.The Black Mage primarily wields fire spells, ice spells, and lightning spells. Its gameplay revolves around constantly keeping up a crucial self-buff, which has two modes. In Astral Fire mode, your fire spells do much more damage. In Umbral Ice mode, your MP regenerates extremely quickly. Lightning spells place a damage-over-time effect on the target. Basic Black Mage gameplay, therefore, is about using fire spells in Astral Fire mode until you run out of MP, switching to Umbral Ice mode to regenerate your MP, then switching back to Fire mode to resume your offense, while maintaining Lightning damage-over-time effects on the enemy.Two things complicate this gameplan. First, to maintain Astral Fire/Umbral Ice, you must keep casting spells, and casting spells generally force you to sit still. Second, enemy attacks generally want you to move around as much as you can to avoid them. While it's possible to eventually cast spells and move at the same time, you can't always afford to do so: as a result, the real trick behind playing Black Mage is knowing when to move and when to sit still in order to cast. This, in turn, requires good knowledge of what the enemy will be doing.

What's It Like To Level?

Let me be blunt: leveling Black Mage is wonky and a difficult road to travel.You start off with the most basic fire, ice, and lightning spells, where your basic attack spells also happen to refresh Astral Fire/Umbral Ice every time you cast them--as a result, keeping Astral Fire/Umbral Ice up and running is pretty simple early on. Just shoot fire and ice at the enemy, and you’re golden.When you unlock the ability to cast Fire IV at Level 60, however, everything changes. Enochian grants you access to your most powerful spells...but those spells don’t refresh Astral Fire/Umbral Ice. Because of that, you have to figure out when to use your most powerful spells, and when to use weaker spells that refresh Enochian and Astral Fire/Umbral Ice. If you can’t cast spells (because you’re moving around) or you use too many special fire/ice spells, you lose the Astral Fire/Umbral Ice buff and everything falls apart...but if you play it safe and only use your weaker spells that refresh Astral Fire/Umbral Ice, you won't be contributing much to the fight at all. Figuring out this fine balance between when to bring out your most powerful offense and when to cut back on the offense a little is a major part of Black Mage gameplay, and it's a challenge that the game rather suddenly dumps on you at level 60.This is on top of the other challenges Black Mage must face--the aforementioned tension between the Job's desire to sit still in order to cast spells, vs the game's tendency to make you move around to avoid enemy attacks.As a result, leveling a Black Mage is one of the greater challenges in the game. Rather than having a straightforward combo system like Melee DPS and Ranged DPS Jobs, Black Mage pulls you between opposing extremes, with each extreme ending in a major mistake. Walking the road between them--between standing still versus moving around, between casting your most powerful spells versus casting your weakest--defines your journey to level 90 as Black Mage.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

As mentioned previously, the Black Mage relies on constantly casting certain spells to keep up Astral Fire and Umbral Ice. To enter into Astral Fire mode, you typically have to cast certain fire spells; likewise, to enter into Umbral Ice mode, you generally have to cast certain ice spells. Astral Fire boosts the damage of your fire spells (your primary means of dealing damage) and increases their MP cost, while Umbral Ice massively increases your MP regeneration.Meanwhile, both Astral Fire and Umbral Ice modes can eventually get up to 3 levels. Each level progressively increases the effect of the respective mode.Astral Fire/Umbral Ice only lasts 15 seconds, but most fire/ice spells reset the timer--this means that you have to try and keep up a steady offense as a Black Mage, because falling out of Astral Fire/Umbral Ice greatly impedes your ability to cast powerful spells.Later on, you'll unlock the Enochian trait. This allows you to cast your most powerful spells so long as you have Astral Fire/Umbral Ice active. However, these spells do not refresh Astral Fire/Umbral Ice.One more component to your offense is Polyglot: when you are in Astral Fire/Umbral Ice mode, you will constantly charge the Polyglot gauge. When it's full, you gain 1 Polyglot pip, eventually being able to store 2 pips. You can spend these pips on instant-cast offensive spells.

The Black Mage's completed Job gauge. There's a few things going on here:
1) The three blue lines on the upper left indicates which mode you're in, and at what level. Right now, this says you're at the 3rd level of Umbral Ice mode.
2) The timer on the upper right shows you how long you have left for Astral Fire or Umbral Ice mode before it automatically dissipates.
3) The purple bar on the bottom right shows you that Polyglot is charging up. When this bar gets full, you get a Polygot pip.
4) The purple diamond at the bottom shows you how many Polyglot pips you have.
5) The thin blue lines on the bottom left shows you how many pips of a buff you have that lets you cast fire spells at a reduced MP cost.
6) The blue-red pip tells you that the powerful Paradox attack is ready. You gain this pip by switching back and forth from Ice mode to Fire mode.

And, of course, you can't forget your Lightning spells that place a damage-over-time effect on the enemy. While this effect is on the enemy, it has a random chance of giving you a special buff--this buff allows you to instantly recast one of your Lightning spells and place the damage-over-time effect on the enemy again.This all comes together in a gameplan that's simple on its face but complicated to execute. You go into Astral Fire mode to bring out your most powerful offense, then switch to Umbral Ice mode when you're low on MP, then switch back to Astral Fire when you're full up on MP again. While you're doing all this, you'll want to maintain the damage-over-time effects from your Lightning spells. You can throw in some Polyglot-using attacks every now and then to supplement your offense and/or to keep attacking while still on the move.What complicates this seemingly-straightforward attack plan, however, is how enemy attacks force you to move. Perhaps the enemy has just telegraphed a large area-of-effect attack at your location, but you only have 2 or 3 seconds left before Astral Fire falls away. What do you do? Do you stand still and try to refresh your Astral Fire, at the risk of getting hit by the enemy attack and dying? Or do you move out of the way, at the risk of allowing Astral Fire to fall away and force you to restart your offense? There isn't always a right answer to dilemmas like this, yet you'll come across similar situations very frequently when you start your journey as Black Mage.For all the challenges you face when it comes to moving your character, however, you have some handy tools to help you. Aetherial Manipulation lets you teleport to a party member’s location, while Swiftcast and Triplecast let you instantly cast spells, removing the need to stand still to cast them.Lastly, you have access to a handful of other spells and abilities. Leylines places a large magical circle on the ground that boosts your spellcasting speed so long as you stand within it. Manaward gives you a magical shield that can help you take a hit.

• If you'd like to know more about the Black Mage in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Bring Forth The Apocalypse!

Everything I’ve said up until now makes it sound like Black Mage is a real chore to play, but that isn’t my intention. It’s true that Black Mage has a steeper learning curve than most other Jobs, but when Black Mage works, it works. There’s few things as satisfying in FF14 as picking the perfect spot to stand in, watching the enemy’s attacks completely miss you, and dropping magical nuke after magical nuke on his head. You feel like an absolute genius and the game rewards you for your hard work.Some things in life are enjoyable because they’re fulfilling challenges to overcome. Mastering Black Mage is one of those challenges.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Black Mage
• Red Mage
• Summoner

RED MAGE

You cannot start the game with Red Mage. You must first purchase the latest expansion, reach level 50 with a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic character, then start the "Taking the Red" quest in Ul'Dah. You can find the questgiver south of the Sapphire Avenue Exchange market area, near the Gate of Thal.

Wielding spell and sword in accord, Red Mages are something of a hybrid Caster-Melee Job. You're flexible, mobile, easy to pick up, and stylish, while still presenting a satisfying challenge. You can heal in a pinch, and you’re better than even Healers when it comes to resurrecting fallen party members. Plus, your finisher spells are bedazzling to see; magical sledgehammers like Scorch and Resolution have awesome animations that really convey the power of your magic. Red Mages--much like their counterparts in the classic Final Fantasy games--truly offer a bit of everything.Red Mages' aesthetic is also sure to please the eye. While they're ostensibly spellcasters, their visual style is heavily inspired by the musketeers of European history and fiction. Wielding their rapier-like magical staffs with flair, no Job can outdo the Red Mage in panache.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Playing Red Mage is all about casting spells to generate White Mana and Black Mana. When your White/Black Mana levels reach a certain point, you're able to use a powerful melee combo attack. At later levels, finishing your melee combo lets you cast powerful finisher spells, one after another. As a result, Red Mage gameplay is a cycle of building up White and Black Mana, performing your melee combo, casting your finisher spells, and going back to generating White/Black Mana.Red Mage also have a unique trait: whenever you cast a spell normally, the next spell you cast is cast instantly--that is, those spells don't have a casting timer, allowing you to move freely while you're casting them.This ability to cast practically half its spells without mobility restrictions is a large part of the reason why Red Mages have great freedom of movement compared to other casting Jobs, which in turn makes Red Mages fun and accessible. However, having to keep track of your White and Black Mana levels and your sizable collection of other abilities also creates a skill ceiling that's higher than what you might initially expect.

What's It Like To Level?

Like the Samurai, Red Mages start the game at level 50 as a mostly complete package, since level 50 is when you have your full melee combo unlocked. Also like the Samurai, this means that doing dungeons and bosses that are below level 50 can feel a bit awkward, since you’ll be missing important pieces of how your Job plays.Aside from that hurdle, however, the Red Mage leveling experience is buttery smooth. From levels 50 to 60, the Job gives you room to get used to Red Mage basics while letting you play with new abilities to use between casting spells. Levels 60 to 70 unlocks your ability to resurrect fallen allies, lets you jumpstart your offense with a special ability that boosts your current White/Black Mana levels, and gives you access to the start of your finisher spells. Level 70 to 90 lets you practice everything you’ve learned previously, and reward you with your Scorch and Resolution finishers.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

The core concept behind Red Mage is pretty simple. Most of your regular spells give you White Mana, Black Mana, or both. White Mana and Black Mana are not the same thing as your MP; your spells cost MP to cast, and they also give you White/Black Mana. You’re encouraged to try and keep your White and Black Mana levels about equalish, since you get a penalty to how much White/Black mana you generate if your White/Black Mana levels are too far apart from one another.

Red Mage Job gauge.
-The white half shows you how much White Mana you have.
-The dark blue half shows you how much Black Mana you have.
-The 3 red pips at the bottom indicate that you've finished your melee combo and are ready to cast your finisher spells.

When you hit at least 50 of both White Mana and Black Mana, you can start your melee combo attack. Later on, finishing your melee combo will let you cast powerful follow-up spells. At level 80, those follow-up spells will unlock an even more powerful finisher, Scorch; at level 90, you get the Resolution finisher to cap things off. These finishing spells also grant you White and Black Mana, kickstarting the next phase of your offense.As mentioned previously, Red Mages also have a signature ability: Dualcast. Whenever you finish casting one spell, your next spell is cast instantly. The basic rhythm of Red Mage is casting a spell that has a shorter cast time, then instantly casting another spell that would normally take longer to cast, then repeat.Yes, this includes being able to cast a resurrection spell instantly!I should note: there’s a bit of randomness to playing Red Mage. Some of your basic spells have a chance to let you cast a slightly more powerful spell--so instead of casting the basic Jolt spell for your next attack, you have a chance to cast the more powerful Verfire or Verstone spell instead. Keeping an eye out for for the opportunity to cast Verfire/Verstone is a key part of higher level Red Mage gameplay.Lastly, Red Mage has a variety of miscellaneous abilities to round out its toolkit. On top of its mobility brought upon by Dualcast, Red Mage also has a dash-forward attack to quickly close the distance between you and the enemy, as well as a backflip attack that creates distance instead. You also have access to a buff that boosts the damage of yourself and all nearby party members, and a different ability that gives you a shot of White and Black Mana to get your melee combo started quickly. The Vercure spell provides a modest heal to an injured party member, in case the Healers are busy, and Verraise lets you resurrect fallen party members. Finally, Magick Barrier provides a defensive buff to nearby party members.In all, Red Mage boils down to building White and Black Mana, expending them on its melee attacks, following those up with its string of finisher spells, and supporting the party with its other abilities.

• If you'd like to know more about the Red Mage in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

En garde! Prêts! Allez!

Red Mage, in many ways, is a Job about balance; a balance between White and Black magic, a balance between melee attacks and spell attacks, a balance between solid offense and flexible utility, a balance between being easy to pick up and being a satisfying endeavor to master.And even if the above doesn't interest you, Red Mage still feels wonderful to play. Red Mage's finisher spells are incredibly satisfying to pull off, thanks to the visual and audio design of the attack animations. You can see your weapon trembling with barely-contained power as you’re casting Scorch, and your character being just able to direct it towards the enemy at the last second.If you love elegant swordplay and want a fair balance between accessibility and challenge, Red Mage is the perfect place to start.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Black Mage
• Red Mage
• Summoner

SUMMONER

Being a Summoner means wielding the powers of primordial gods. As you play through the game, you’ll encounter bosses whose visual design and attack animations will take your breath away...and then you can turn around and use those attacks on your own enemies.If you’re interested in the Job beyond just the (amazing) aesthetics, though, Summoner is also one of the easiest Jobs in the game to master and offers mobility unparalleled among the Caster DPS Jobs. Despite its ease of play, however, it still rewards a level foresight and planning.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

In a nutshell, higher-level Summoner gameplay works on a repeating cycle:At the beginning, you'll want to summon Demi-Bahamut, who will temporarily upgrade your basic attack spell and let you perform two devastating magical nukes.When Demi-Bahamut goes away, you are given a Ruby gem, a Topaz gem, and an Emerald gem. You can use any one of these gems to enter their respective mode, which temporarily provide a stronger, alternate version of your basic attack spell and also unlocks the use of a special attack.By the time you're finished using up all three of these gems, you should be ready to summon Demi-Phoenix, who, much like Bahamut, temporarily upgrades your attacks and lets you use a magical nuke, plus a heal-over-time effect on your party.Once Demi-Phoenix retreats, you get a Ruby gem, a Topaz gem, and an Emerald gem again. Use them as you did before, and by the time you're finished with them you'll be able to summon Demi-Bahamut once more.

What's It Like To Level?

If you wish to level either Summoner or Scholar, you must begin the game as an Arcanist in Limsa Lominsa. At level 30 with Arcanist, you can unlock either Summoner or Scholar, or both, through certain quests in Limsa Lominsa, and any experience points you gain for one Job applies to the other as well. As a result, if you level Summoner all the way to 90, you will automatically level Scholar to 90, too, and vice versa.The leveling experience for Summoner is very smooth...in fact, so smooth that some veteran players might find it a bit boring. You effectively assemble most of your toolkit by level 22, with most of the changes in the Job up to level 90 largely being cosmetic; otherwise, Summoner at level 22 feels an awful lot like playing Summoner at level 90.For newer players, this can be a great boon, since this lets you focus on learning general gameplay basics while slowly developing your mastery over the Job over the course of 90 levels. Indeed, I especially recommend Summoner for new players for whom Final Fantasy 14 is their first MMORPG. For veteran players, though, the lack of substantive development over said 90 levels can leave them feeling like they fully mastered the Job 50 levels ago.One thing that anyone will appreciate is how Summoner breaks the rule tying down most other casting Jobs in the game. You see, the vast majority of the spells you'll be casting as Summoner are cast instantly, which means you can move freely without having to worry about canceling your spellcasts. As a result, you're nearly as mobile as the non-casting Jobs while still being able to attack from range and resurrect fallen party members.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

On a more detailed level, the Summoner operates on a two-minute cycle. There's a few parts to the Summoner's toolkit that results in such a system.First, you have your basic attack spells: Ruin (for single targets, eventually upgrading into Ruin 3), and Outburst (for multiple targets, eventually upgrading into Tri-Disaster). You actually won't be using the base, unupgraded forms of these spells very often once you unlock the bulk of your toolkit, but they're always there to be used in a pinch.Second, you have your Demi-Summons: Bahamut and Phoenix. When you summon either Bahamut or Phoenix, you temporarily gain a powerful upgrade to your basic Ruin and Outburst spells. Each Demi-Summon also provides two powerful special abilities; Bahamut provides two magical nukes, while Phoenix gives you a magical nuke plus the ability to heal a targeted party member.

Demi-Summon gauge.
The blue dragon indicates that you have summoned Bahamut.
The number on the right tells you how long your summoned Bahamut has left before it must leave the field.
The chained-up red, yellow, and green gems at the bottom tells you that summoning Bahamut has granted you the gems,
but you can't use them while Bahamut is out,

Third, you have your Gem summons: Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan. Summoning a Demi-Summon gives you a Ruby, an Emerald, and a Topaz. You can consume these gems to summon Ifrit, Garuda, or Titan, respectively. When you summon any of these three Primal gods, you temporarily enter their respective mode, which gives you an alternate, upgraded version of your basic Ruin spell, plus some special abilities:-Ifrit provides slow, powerful attacks, as well as a leaping flaming punch to close the distance with the enemy.
-Garuda lets you leave a damaging whirlwind on the ground while giving you fast, instantly-cast attacks.
-Titan lets you pummel the enemy with a nonstop avalanche of instant-cast stone spells and abilities you can activate between each those spells.

Gem gauge.
The red Ruby on the left has just been used, summoning Ifrit.
The number on the right tells you how long you have left to use Ifrit's abilities.
The number at the bottom tells you how many uses of Ifrit's special abilities you have left.

Fourth, you have your Aetherflow attacks. Use Energy Drain (for single targets) or Energy siphon (against multiple targets) to deal a bit of damage to the enemy and gain two pips of Aetherflow. You can use Aetherflow pips on other special abilities to damage your opponents.

Aetherflow gauge, showing how many pips of Aetherflow you have ready.

To round out the rest of toolkit, Summoners get a party-wide buff that boosts your party's damage for a good while, as well as the ability to place a small shield on yourself.So how does this all come together?First: You summon Bahamut, during which you'll use your upgraded basic attack alongside your magical nukes. Summoning Bahamut also gives you your three Gems.Second: Use up your Gems, including their alternate, upgraded version of your basic attack spells and your special abilities.Third: By the time you've finished using up your Gems, Phoenix should be available to summon. Like with Bahamut, use Phoenix's magical nukes and your upgraded basic attack. Summoning Phoenix also grants you three Gems.Fourth: Use up your Gems again, just like in Part 2. By the time you're finished with your Gems, Bahamut should be available to summon again...at which point, we go back to to the beginning and repeat the process all over.This all might sound a lot to take in at once, but if you've been able to follow along...congrats! You now have a solid understanding of how the Summoner plays at max level. And as I said before, the Summoner has access to the lion's share of the above 2-minute cycle by level 22, giving you lots of time to get comfortable with how the Job plays.

• If you'd like to know more about the Summoner in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Wield The Power Of Gods!

With a simple yet effective toolkit, awe-striking summoning animations, and the near-complete freedom to move around as you wish, no other Job eases you into playing a spellcaster like Summoner. Newer players will appreciate its accessibility and its visuals, while veterans will enjoy seeing beloved Primal gods in their full glory. Whether you want to play a comfy Caster Job or want to feel the power of deities at your fingertips, give Summoner a shot!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Machinist
• Bard
• Dancer

RANGED DPS

Ah, the Ranged DPS. Consisting of Machinist, Bard (starting as Archer), and Dancer, these jobs tend to have simpler, slower combos, and give you the freedom to move around wherever you please as you attack the enemy. As a result, Ranged DPS--Machinist and Dancer, especially--are some of the least demanding Jobs in the game.Melee DPS have to worry about complicated combos, being in range to hit the enemy, and the fact that their faster attacking speed gives them less time to think. Caster DPS have to worry about having to choose between moving or attacking. Tanks have to worry about positioning the boss and keeping up their defenses. Healers have to worry about keeping everyone alive.Ranged DPS, though? For the most part--and at lower-level content, especially--you can just sit back and shoot.You can stay far away from the enemy if you need to, unlike a Melee DPS. You can run around to your heart’s content, unlike a Caster DPS. Your combos tend to be on the simpler side compared to everyone else, and you don’t have to worry about what everyone else is doing as much, unlike Tanks and Healers.Some hardcore veterans of the game find Ranged DPS a bit boring because of this, but others--such as myself--like the role because it’s pretty comfy. I’ve always found them to be a great way to relax after a long day of work, giving me plenty of space to enjoy the wonderful music and visuals of the dungeons and boss fights.For a brief rundown of each Ranged DPS Job...Machinists use a fast but simple attack sequence, supplementing their gunplay with a workshop's worth of gadgets and tools to pour raw damage on the enemy.Bards offer of a mix of support and damage, buffing party members with songs while keeping damage-over-time effects constantly gnawing away at the enemy.Dancer focuses heavily on support and buffing other party members, alternating between a furious window of offense every two minutes and a relaxing, extremely simple attack sequence the rest of the time.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Machinist
• Bard
• Dancer

MACHINIST

You cannot start the game as a Machinist. You must first enter the city of Ishgard after completing the A Realm Reborn content, then obtain the "So You Want To Be A Machinist" quest in Ishgard. You can find this quest in the Skysteel Manufactory in Ishgard.

Machinist is all about the three G’s: guns, gadgets, and Gundams. You not only get to shoot your foes with cool guns, but you also get a flamethrower, a poison sprayer, a cannon that shoots drill heads, a different cannon that fires superheated buzzsaws, electric bullets, and a flying turret that upgrades into a robot with a pile bunker. Despite having a myriad of different tools, however, the Job's overall gameplan is rather simple: perform a 3-part combo, whip out your big guns when they become available, and switch to a special mode for faster attacks every so often.As a result, Machinist is streamlined compared to the other Ranged DPS Jobs, lacking the randomness of Dancers and having fewer things to keep track of than Bards. Machinist is fast, but it’s not overwhelming; it’s engaging, without forcing you to juggle an overwhelming number of balls. Machinist is perfect if you want something stress free, speedy, or if you enjoy techno-gadget gunplay.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

The Machinist's toolkit is quite straightforward. Out of the three Ranged DPS Jobs, it’s the most self-centered, meaning it focuses more on dumping bullets, giant drills, and explosions on the enemy over buffing your teammates.Your basic bread-and-butter against single targets is a 3-hit combo that generates two resources: Heat, and Battery. Against multiple targets, you instead have a single area-of-effect attack that only generates Heat.Heat is used to activate a short window of blisteringly-fast offense, while Battery is used to summon a robot turret to blast your enemies (which later upgrades into a bipedal android that punches your enemies instead).The rest of your abilities includes a massive, extremely powerful Drill attack, a cannon that shoots spiked chains at your enemy that generates a lot of Battery, a buzzsaw cannon that also generates Battery, and a buff that makes your next attack do even more damage.Machinist gameplay ends up being about launching your strongest attacks one after another, using Heat, and deploying your 3-hit combo when there's nothing better to do.

What's It Like To Level?

Very smooth. Machinist starts off at level 30 once you get to the Heavensward expansion, and you begin with your basic combo and an attack that also fills up your Heat Gauge. Once you start to get comfortable with your basics, you unlock the Reassemble self-buff and the Battery Gauge, receiving the skeleton of your entire kit by level 50. The entire journey from there onwards steadily fleshes this skeleton out, giving you lots of time to get used to the general flow of the Job.The one sticking point might be that Machinists’ basic area-of-effect attack does not change across the entire leveling process: from level 30 to 90, you just spam the same button over and over again until you’re ready to use your Heat Gauge attacks. As a result, engaging multiple opponents as a Machinist can feel a little repetitive until later on, when you gain access to more of the area-of-effect tools in your arsenal.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

As mentioned previously, you have a basic 3-hit combo against single targets that generates Heat and Battery, or a 1-hit area-of-effect attack against multiple targets that generates Heat.You can expend Heat Gauge to activate Hypercharge mode, which is a 10-second window that lets you use either Heat Blast or Auto Crossbow. Heat Blast, on top of having a very short waiting period between attacks which lets you use it in rapid succession, also lets you more frequently use two other abilities--Ricochet and Gauss Round. The proper way to utilize Hypercharge mode, therefore, is to spam Heat Blast while activating either Ricochet or Gauss Round between each Heat Blast.(Auto Crossbow does not recharge Ricochet and Gauss Round, but you should still try to interweave those two abilities between uses of Auto Crossbow anyway.)Your Battery Gauge is quite straightforward. You gain Battery from doing your 3-hit combo, and from using the Air Anchor and Chain Saw special attacks. When your Battery Gauge is half full, you can summon a robot turret; at level 80, this robot turret becomes an android robot instead. The fuller your Battery Gauge is when you summon your robot, the longer it'll stick around and thus the more damage it will deal.

Orange Heat Gauge at the top, which you can use to activate Hypercharge mode.
Blue Battery Gauge at the bottom, which you can spend to summon a robot.

Last is your Reassemble ability, which greatly boosts the power of your next attack. You’ll generally be using this every minute or so on the Drill attack for massive damage. Later on, you'll be able to store up to two charges of Reassemble to use.The rest of your toolkit is rounded out by a handful of other abilities. Barrel Stabilizer instantly gives you 50 Heat. Wildfire places a ticking time bomb on your enemy, which you can charge up by attacking that enemy while they have Wildfire on them (with, say, your Heat Blasts), resulting in more damage when said bomb finally goes off. Tactician reduces the damage everyone nearby takes by a bit.The flow of Machinist play is using a Reassemble-Drill combo on the enemy, summoning your robot when your Battery is full, blasting your opponents with your Heat Gauge attacks when Drill and Air Anchor are unavailable, and using your 3-hit combo when you don’t have anything better to use.

Stick 'Em Up!

Machinist plays smooth like butter. Fittingly enough, all the different parts of your Job’s toolkit fit together like a well-oiled machine that makes it easy to transition from using your Heat Gauge, to summoning your robot, to using your basic combo, and back based on whatever is available at any given moment.If you like fast, flashy gameplay that isn’t super stressful, give Machinist a try!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Machinist
• Bard
• Dancer

BARD

While Ranged DPS jobs are generally lower stress than most, Bard deviates from that pattern. If other Jobs are akin to a singular machine of varying degrees of complexity, playing Bard is more like handling several different gadgets at once. Straddling a middle ground between Dancer’s emphasis on party support and Machinist’s focus on raw damage, Bard offers a lot of utility and flexibility for the party while still putting out its own share of pain.Much of Bard gameplay is cycling through each of your three songs, with each song providing you and your party with a different buff. Meanwhile, you must use a variety of different arrow skills to turn your enemies into pincushions, with each song offering different arrow skills to use.Many of the Job's aspects are random and there is a lot to manage. Some, however, may find this to be a boon. Many other Jobs have very predictable gameplay, wanting you to do exactly X at Y times all the time. Bard, on the other hand, relies on random events happening at unpredictable times. Bard gameplay, as a result, is in some ways more reactive than proactive, asking you to quickly adapt to new circumstances than executing a carefully-laid plan. No two battles will ever feel quite the same as a Bard.Last, but not least, FF14's take on Bards is unique. It preserves much of the classic "wandering minstrel" look you get for Bards in other fantasy setting, but it takes the standard-issue lyre and turns it into a set of bow and arrows. That's right, many bows in this game are also giant harps!

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Bards begin as Archers at level 1 in Gridania, upgrading to Bard at level 30 after completing the quest "A Song of Bards and Bowmen" also in Gridania.Bard gameplay heavily revolves around its songs, supplemented by its two different damage-over-time effects (DoTs) and various attack skills.There are 3 different songs for Bard, and you're expected to be constantly playing a song whenever possible, one song at a time. Each song provides different a buff to all party members within range for up to 45 seconds. While each song is playing, it also has a random chance to "proc". Each proc for each song does something different, but suffice it to say that you'll want to keep eye out for each time you get one of these procs.When you're not either activating a song, applying DoTs, or using special abilities related to either of those things, you'll be spamming a basic attack.

What's It Like To Level?

The leveling process for Bard is, unfortunately, not the smoothest. You begin your Bard career as an Archer, and until you hit level 30, the game doesn't give you very many abilities to play with. If you’re new to the game and still working out the basics, this may be to your advantage; more seasoned players, however, might find early Archer gameplay to be a little dull.You unlock your first song at level 30, and oddly enough your third and final song does not unlock until level 52. This ends up making the Job feel oddly incomplete if you end up playing a lot of content set at level 50. Afterwards, you steadily unlock more special attacks that you have to fit in between your basic attacks, and you also acquire upgrades to things you’ve already unlocked. All this comes at a fairly comfortable pace.Fair warning, though: Bard is a Job that wants you to juggle lots of different balls, and it’s very easy at first to drop those balls. A large part of learning Bard is keeping a bunch of little timers in your head: how long until my DoTs run out? How long until this current song runs out? When do my special abilities become available again? Trying to keep track of all this can feel overwhelming at first, so a little practice can go a long way with Bard.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

As mentioned previously, Bard gameplay revolves around rotating through your three different songs and keeping up your damage-over-time attacks (DoTs).Your three songs are: Wanderer's Minuet, Mage's Ballad, and Army's Paean.To sing a song, you simply press its respective button while targeting an enemy--you will launch a small ranged attack and then automatically sing the song for the next 45 seconds. Each song applies a different buff on nearby party members, and you can only play one song at a time. Making sure you’re constantly singing is an important part of playing a Bard.While you’re singing a song, each song has a random chance to proc a special effect. Each of the three songs has a different special effect that gets triggered each time there's a proc:Wanderer's Minuet builds up to 3 arrow pips. When those 3 pips are full, or if you're just about to switch to a new song, you can consume the pips for a magical arrow blast.Mage's Ballad resets the cooldown timer on a swift attack you can use between your basic attacks, letting you use it more frequently.Army's Paean gives you up to five music pips, with each pip passively letting you attack faster and faster with your basic attack.Later on, you'll unlock your Soul Voice gauge. Every time your songs proc, you'll also fill up the Soul Voice gauge, which you can spend on a powerful finisher.Towards max level, activating a song gives you a Coda pip for that song, to a maximum of three total. Collect these Codas pip to power up your Radiant Finale partywide buff, with more Coda pips making your Radiant Finale more powerful.

The Bard's Job gauge. There's a few things going on here:
-The text at the top ("Army's Paeon") tells you what song you're currently playing.
-The musical bar and the upper number tells you how long you have left before your current song runs out.
-The yellow notes in the center show you pips you've gained from Army's Paeon proccing. Right now, we've gained 1 note pip out of a maximum 5.
-The bar at the bottom is your Soul Voice gauge.
-The 3 circular icons on the far right contain your Coda pips. The purple, orange, and green pips indicate that we've collected all 3 Coda pips.

Various abilities other abilities tie into your songs and DoTs. For example: you have special attacks that resets the timer on your DoTs, and you have another special attack that automatically procs your current song.Finally, there's also your basic ranged attack. Bard is unique among DPS Jobs in that it doesn’t have any combo attacks at all--you simply use your basic ranged attack over and over again, with each shot having a random chance to proc a stronger basic attack.In all, playing Bard is a bit like playing whack-a-mole. Press these buttons to apply your DoTs, then press this button to start playing a song. Press this other button to activate your song’s special ability, and these for your special attacks. Then press this next button to refresh your DoTs and another one to play your next song, then this button to perform your basic attack. After a while, press this other button to play your next song, etc.

• If you'd like to know more about the Bard in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Let Sound The Horns Of Battle!

Bard is great if you enjoy playing support roles that still demand a certain level of skill. Dancers and Red Mages provide lots of utility, but they’re also some of the easier Jobs to play in the game; Bard, on the other hand, lets you buff your party members while still requiring a lot of attention and practice. If you want a Job that's mobile and helps out your party members, but still offers a complex challenge, give the Bard a listen!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• Machinist
• Bard
• Dancer

DANCER

You cannot start the game with Dancer. You must first purchase the latest expansion, reach level 60 with a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic character, then start the "Shall We Dance" quest in Limsa Lominsa. You can find the questgiver near the large aetheryte crystal in Limsa.

The support-oriented Job of all support-oriented Jobs, Dancer isn’t so much about you: it’s about everyone else. Dancers let you pick a partner and provide them a steady, powerful buff by performing Dances. Every so often, you can send out a similarly powerful buff to the rest of the party as well.Dancers won’t do the most damage to the enemy--especially compared to Jobs that actually focus on raw damage output like Samurai and Black Mage--but what you lack in personal damage, you’ll easily make up for by helping a friend, whether by boosting their own offense or deploying your healing and defensive tools to supplement the party's Healers.Dancers are also highly mobile--at max level, you get three charges of a dash you can make in any direction, letting you escape out of trouble easily or very quickly get across the arena. Between this, the Job's natural mobility as a Ranged DPS, the usefulness of your Dances, and the Job's fairly straightforward gameplan, Dancers are one of the most accessible Jobs in the game.Aesthetically speaking, Dancer also has some of the best animations in the game. Every twirl your character performs, every pirouette they make have fantastic motion-capture performances behind them. If you like taking pictures in-game (like me), Dancer will give you plenty of material to work with.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

As their name suggests, the Dancer's main ability is dancing. Executing a Dance will both perform an area-of-effect attack for a lot of damage, and also provide a damage-increasing buff for yourself and at least one other person.Meanwhile, each of Dancer's basic attacks have a random chance to let you perform a more powerful attack. Each of these attacks, in turn, have a random chance to provide you with a Feather pip. You can spend Feather pips on swift attacks you can activate between your basic attacks.Finally, Dancers can choose another party member to be their Dance Partner. Whenever you or the Dance Partner perform any kind of attack while being buffed by a Dance, you will generate Espirit. You can expend Espirit on a powerful attack.The upshot of all this is that you'll want to start a battle with its Dances to boost the party's offense, then perform basic attacks until the Dances become available again. When they're ready to use once more, you can follow them up with your Feather attacks to throw in some extra offense, then top it off with your powerful finisher moves, before repeating the cycle again.This middle period--when your Dances become available again and you're using up your Feather pips--is faster paced compared to the more sedate pace of the Job outside that period. Because of this, Dancer spends most of every two minutes being fairly laid back, then suddenly switches to a blistering offense before switching back again.

What's It Like To Level?

Like Samurai, Red Mage and Gunbreaker, Dancer starts off at a higher level--level 60, to be exact. Even if you end up at levels lower than 60, though, Dancer still feels like it has something to work with, since you unlock the ability to dance at a very low level (level 15). From there on, the leveling experience is perfectly smooth, giving you your second dance at level 70, and giving you the ability to use Espirit at level 76 once you’ve gotten comfortable with the fundamentals of the Job. There’s nothing in your toolkit that feels like a “must have” that the game keeps away from you before you hit higher levels, so the Job never feels weirdly incomplete or hampered.In many ways, Dancer is arguably one of the easier Jobs to play in the game. Your basic attacks are extremely simple, and your dances aren’t terribly hard to execute, either: all this, on top of the other Ranged DPS boons of having the easiest time attacking the enemy. So long as you dance whenever the opportunity comes up and keep up your basic attacks, you’ll be doing at least a passable job of helping your party out--the same level of basic playability can’t be said for many other Jobs in the game.As a result, Dancer is a fantastic Job if you’re doing a dungeon or a boss fight for the very first time, or you just want something comfy and relaxing to play.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

You can think of Dancer’s toolkit as being divided into 2 parts: things it does for others, and things it does for itself.The thing Dancer does for others are its Dances, of which you have two: Standard Step, and Technical Step. Activating Standard Step gives you a 2-button prompt; activating Technical Step gives you a 4-button prompt.For both Dances, successfully completing more of the prompts charges up the Dance, which increases the damage the Dance does and the power of the buff the Dance provides upon execution. Standard Step is available frequently, providing a buff to the Dancer and the chosen Dance Partner; Technical Step is available only once every two minutes, providing a buff to the Dancer and all nearby party members.Your dances are some of your strongest attacks as well as your signature support ability, so it’s important to always be Dancing whenever you can.

This icon shows up whenever you start a dance.
The icons from left to right show you the sequence of buttons to press to charge up your dance.

Beyond that, Dancer has two other resources: Feathers, and Espirit.Whenever you perform your basic attacks, you have a 50% chance to be able to use a more powerful attack. Whenever you perform one of these more powerful attacks, you have a 50% chance to gain a Feather pip.Feather pips can be spent on quick attacks you can activate between your basic attacks. Every time you use a Feather pip, you have a 50% chance of being able to use Fan Dance 3, a more powerful version of the other Feather-pip attacks. As a result, using Feather pips often means a blisteringly-quick attack sequence, where you're making up to 3 attacks in the space of 1.Esprit, meanwhile, is a gauge that steadily builds up as you and your Dance Partner perform basic attacks or cast basic attack spells. You can spend Espirit to perform the powerful Saber Dance attack.Later on, you start to unlock special finishers that become available upon activating certain abilities. The Devilment buff, for example, will eventually allow you to perform the Starfall Dance attack, while the Flourish ability will let you use Fan Dance 4.

The green pointed shapes show you how many Feather pips you have.
The number and the curved bar below the Feather pips show you how much Espirit you have.

Tying all this together: Dancer's general plan of attack revolves around the aforementioned Technical Step. You will spend most of your time as Dancer either performing the Standard Step or accumulating Feather pips and Espirit. When Technical Step becomes available, you'll want to activate it and any other buffs you have available, then try and dump your Espirit and Feather attacks on the enemy as quickly as possible within the Technical Step window. Since, as mentioned previously, Feather attacks force you to attack quickly within a short space of time, these Technical Step periods can be a furious storm of offense in a Job that's otherwise rather sedate.Beyond that, Dancer has a few other special abilities, like a small heal for yourself and everyone around you, a temporary buff to your party’s chance to land a critical hit, and a quick dash. The latter makes Dancer arguably the single most mobile Job in the game, since at max level you get up to 3 charges of the dash and you can make them in any direction.

• If you'd like to know more about the Dancer in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Bailamos!

With buffs and utility out the wazoo, few Jobs help your party out as much as the Dancer, and it looks great while doing it, too. If you like supporting your party, being quick on your feet, and being useful just about anywhere, take the Dancer out for a spin!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• White Mage
• Astrologian
• Scholar
• Sage

HEALERS

As of the Endwalker expansion, the Healer role encompasses White Mage (starting as the Conjurer), Astrologian, Scholar (starting as Arcanist), and Sage.Healing is, in a lot of ways, a very straightforward Role to play: keep people healed up (including yourself), don’t get killed, and throw out some attack spells if you don’t have any healing to do.This will change as you get better at the game and move away from being a beginner, but until then, don’t let the idea of being a Healer scare you away! It might seem intimidating at first, what with being responsible for the lives of your party members, but it’s easier than you think. It helps that attacking as a Healer is extremely simple--most of the time, you’re either spamming the same basic attack spell or applying a damage-over-time effect (DoT) on an enemy.You’ll find that Healer Jobs are sort of split down the middle between Jobs that mostly apply regenerative effects, and Jobs that mostly apply shields. Regenerative effects (“Regens”) slowly heal you over time, and in the long run restore the most HP compared to most other healing abilities. Shields, meanwhile, apply a barrier on yourself and/or your party members--whenever someone with a shield takes a hit, the shield absorbs the hit instead until it takes too much damage and disappears. Regens are great for recovering from heavy hits, while shields are perfect for surviving the heavy hit in the first place.Keep in mind that Healers, much like Caster DPS Jobs, have to cast spells for many of their abilities. This means you can’t move while you’re casting a spell, or else you’ll cancel it. Knowing when to move and where is a large part of playing Healers at higher levels.For a brief rundown of each Healer Job...White Mages focus on straightforward healing and damage, using holy and nature magics to pummel the enemy or dump enormous amounts of healing power on allies.Astrologians wield the power of time and the stars, using tarot cards to place damage-increasing buffs on allies and deploying delayed-action abilities to put down healing ahead of time.Scholars employ a pet faerie to supplement their healing, while focusing on preventing damage from harming allies and providing flexible support.Sages combine healing with offense, drip-feeding healing to a party member every time they attack. They have access to a large toolkit full of shields and defense-up effects, making them experts at preventing damage.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• White Mage
• Astrologian
• Scholar
• Sage

WHITE MAGE

The simplest of the Healers to play, White Mages are all about using nature and holy magic for the big heals. The majority of the White Mage toolkit is straightforward and no frills: restore missing HP, either by providing a large up-front instantaneous healing effect, or placing a regeneration effect on a person. No other Job in the game gets you from low HP to full HP faster and more easily than a White Mage.While some veterans might find White Mage's simplicity to be uninteresting, its raw healing power can let you brute-force past difficult battles or recover from mistakes that other Healers might struggle to handle. Other Healers excel at preventing disasters from happening in the first place, but the White Mage is unparalleled at salvaging catastrophes.This all makes White Mage a very accessible Job for newer players, or players who want to ease themselves into healing. The Healing role might seem like a scary role to fulfill, but White Mage's many and powerful tools provide a very easy learning curve to overcome.White Mage is also home to FF14's nature-flavored and holy-flavored spellcasting, drawing heavily on classic Final Fantasy "priest/priestess" aesthetics. White Mage is the Job of choice if you like flowing robes and clerical aesthetics.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

White Mages start the game at level 1 as Conjurers in Gridania, upgrading to White Mage at level 30 after completing the quest “Seer Folly,” also in Gridania.Playing White Mage generally involves spamming your basic attack spell, keeping a damage-over-time effect (DoT) applied on the enemy, and using your many healing tools to keep the party’s health up. These various, disparate tools typically boil down to either "heal this one person for a lot" or "heal anyone near you for a lot". Later on, your tools will start to become a little more complicated and sophisticated, such as the ability to place a shield on a target party member, a defense-up buff on a target party member, or a large flower that heals everyone nearby every time you take damage.You also have a special gauge that automatically charges up whenever you're in combat. Every 20 seconds, this gauge gives you a pip that you can use on even more healing and, near max level, a powerful offensive spell.

What's It Like To Level?

I personally started playing FF14 as a White Mage. Since FF14 was my very first serious attempt at an MMORPG, I'm very glad I made that choice, because it meant I could take my time learning the basic controls and flow of battle while working with an extremely simple set of tools.Over the course of the first 50 levels, you spend most of your time putting together a basic Healer’s toolkit--single-target heals, party-wide heals, Regens, a damage-over-time spell, and your basic attack spells. It’s from Level 50 onwards that White Mage really starts to assemble its unique abilities, and it's only towards the end that you can use your Lily Gauge to attack as well as heal.This makes the White Mage a very simple Job outside of the most hardcore, highest levels of play. If you’re new to the game, White Mage lets you contribute to the party while still learning how to move, how to interact with things, and how to dodge enemy attacks. Seasoned veterans of the game may, however, find this friendliness to newer players come across as being a bit unengaging, especially at the beginning of the White Mage's journey. For better worse, White Mage is just an extremely simple Job.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

White Mage has a lot of somewhat disparate but similar tools, most of which straightforwardly heal lots of HP either immediately or over a period of time.White Mage’s signature ability is the Lily Gauge. Every 20 seconds you’re in combat, your Lily Gauge automatically fills up. Each time it fills, you get a Lily, up to three maximum. You can use a Lily for powerful single-target or party-wide heals.Eventually, you’ll unlock an ability where you charge up a Blood Lily every time you use a regular Lily. When the Blood Lily is charged three times, you can smash an enemy with the Afflatus Misery attack for huge damage.A few other abilities round out the White Mage package. Thin Air lets you cast your next spell for no MP--very useful if you want to cast the MP-hungry Raise spell to resurrect a fallen ally. Plenary Indulgence boosts the effect of your next party-wide heal. Temperance, meanwhile, temporarily reduces damage dealt to yourself and nearby party members while increasing the power of your healing spells. Last but not least, Liturgy of the Bell places a large flower anywhere you wish: afterwards, the flower spits out heals to anyone nearby whenever you take damage, until it runs out of magic.One final note, White Mage is unique among Healers in that your basic area-of-effect attack spell--Holy--also Stuns! If you want to be proactive, you can use Holy against lesser enemies to stop them from attacking your party members temporarily. Alas, this does not work on bosses.

The White Mage Job gauge.
-The blue glow on the silver vine shows you how long until your next Lily is charged up.
-The blue flowers shows you how many Lilies you have available.
-The red bloomed flower shows you that your Blood Lily is fully charged.

Cleanse The Unholy!

Sometimes, simplicity is best. Other Healers might play with buffs or try and mitigate incoming damage, but sometimes, all you really need is a nice full HP bar. Where another Healer might struggle to get everyone else’s health up quickly after things go south, a fully prepared White Mage has no such issues.Whether it's the straightforward toolkit and forgiving mechanics, the unmatched healing output, or the clerical aesthetics, White Mage offers plenty of things to love!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• White Mage
• Astrologian
• Scholar
• Sage

ASTROLOGIAN

You cannot start the game as an Astrologian. You must first enter the city of Ishgard after completing the A Realm Reborn content, then obtain the "Stairway to the Heavens" quest in Ishgard. This quest can be found at the Athenaeum Astrologicum building.

If our fates are written in the stars, Astrologians are the masters of reading them.One of the busiest Healers in the game, Astrologians use tarot cards to provide buffs to individual allies, alongside a potent powerful party-wide buff. Astrologians might not have the steady hands-off healing and damage output of Scholars, the plethora of healing like White Mages, or the damage-prevention of Sages, but they're unmatched in providing flexible healing, support, and helping your party kill things much faster. Still, reading fate means having to know what's coming next--all Healers benefit greatly from knowing the enemy well, but Astrologians particularly thrive from having keen foresight.Many people also love Astrologian’s fortune-teller themed aesthetics--you’re a soothsayer, a diviner, a weaver of fate who reads the heavens to find the best path to victory. The Job's unique outfits all fit the theme, and the spinning star-globe weapons you get to use with this Job are some of the most eye-catching in the game.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

On top of handling the usual task of healing up party members, being an Astrologian revolves heavily around drawing and playing tarot cards. Each card provides a buff when played either on yourself or a party member, though some cards are better played on certain Jobs than others.Playing these cards while in combat charges up a certain gauge, which you can expend to temporarily place a buff on yourself--the more different kinds of cards you used to charge up this gauge, the more powerful this buff.Meanwhile, most of the rest of your toolkit revolves around providing other buffs to your party, or healing abilities that typically become stronger if you don't activate them immediately. Between this and your tarot cards, Astrologians are especially powerful if you know what's coming next and plan accordingly.

What's It Like To Level?

Leveling Astrologian is definitely a learning process. There’s a lot going on with it and getting the most out of the Job involves knowing your toolkit as well as the enemy, inside out.Starting at level 30, Astrologian starts you off with some basic healing spells and the ability to draw and play cards (though you don’t have to worry much about exactly which cards you draw until level 50). The game does its best to ease you into juggling healing and playing cards, but if you’re new to healing, it can be a real challenge to try and do both things at once. So, early on, don’t feel too bad about just throwing cards on whichever DPS party member you want--just try and get used to drawing cards first before worrying about exactly who to play them on.Later, when you get more comfortable with dealing with cards, you can try to get more out of them playing the right kind of card on the right person. Unfortunately, this means you now have to pay attention to which card you get instead of throwing them around willy-nilly...and, unfortunately, there's a bit of randomness involved. Because not all cards are the same, and because you draw them randomly from a deck like you would with real cards, you won't always get the card you want all the time. You can bend fortune in your favor to a limited extent, but there will be times you'll have to deal with the hand you're dealt.Lastly: as mentioned previously, many of your healing abilities benefit from being activated well ahead of time. For example, you can put down a circle-shaped area of healing that will become extra powerful after 10 seconds. If you mistime its use, you may end up using this more powerful version of the ability well after everyone has been restored to full HP, or the ability automatically went off right before someone gets badly injured. Because of this, it takes some practice and knowledge of the enemy to know when to put activate your healing abilities to get the most out of them.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

The primary gimmick for Astrologians is its Arcana system, aka its tarot cards.Each card has 2 parts to it: its color (red vs blue), and its Seal (full moon, crescent moon, or star). All cards, when played on yourself or a party member, provide a buff that temporarily boosts the target’s damage output.Putting Red cards on Ranged DPS, Caster DPS, and Healers provides a bigger buff than putting them on other Jobs; on the flip side, putting Blue cards on Tanks and Melee DPS provides a bigger buff than putting them on other Jobs.From level 50 onwards: every time you play a card during combat, you get its Seal. For example, if you play a red Star card and then a red Full Moon card, you get a Star Seal and a Full Moon Seal. When you fill up exactly three Seals, you can activate the Astrodyne buff on yourself--the more different Seals you have when you activate Astrodyne, the more powerful the buff will be.You unfortunately have limited control over which cards you draw, and this can complicate things if, say, you want Full Moon card but you keep getting Crescent Moon and Stars instead. Fortunately, it's not the end of the world if you don't get three different types of seals--your Astrodyne buff will be a little weaker but it won't make a huge difference.

The Astrologian Job gauge.
-The three diamonds at the top is where your Seals go. Right now, you have a Crescent Moon seal and a Full Moon seal.
-The rectangle in the middle is your Major Arcana card. The blue border indicates it's a Blue card, best suited to be used on a Melee DPS or a Tank. The star symbol at the top of the card indicates you'll get a Star seal if you play this card in combat.
-The icon to the right labeled "Lord of Crowns" tells you which Minor Arcana card you have drawn and is ready to activate. Minor Arcana cards operate completely separately from your Major Arcana cards and have different effects.

Beyond that, Astrologians get a variety of other healing tools. They’re not quite as potent as what a White Mage gets, but they’re still enough to keep your party healed up for any battle.As you approach level 90, you unlock certain healing tools that basically work on a timer: you activate them, then you can choose to either wait up to 20-30 seconds and then activate them again. Or, you can let the timer expire by itself. This gives you several options: you can activate the effect early, you can activate it later, or you can let the effect activate by itself. This gives such abilities a lot of flexibility based on when you use them, but you must be careful to use them at the right time to avoid wasting them.Other special healing abilities include temporarily putting up a barrier that diminishes incoming damage to yourself and nearby party members, or a buff on your party that absorbs incoming damage and turns half of it into a powerful heal.This encourages you to know your enemies and time the proper use of your tools--if you try to absorb incoming damage too late, or you activate a healing ability too early, you run the risk of wasting your abilities. Ultimately, an Astrologian who plans will do better than an Astrologian who simply reacts.

• If you'd like to know more about the Astrologian in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Choose Your Fate!

Astrologian offers potent healing alongside some of the best damage-boosting buffs in the game and very unique ways to heal your party. The price of this power, however, is complexity: Astrologian gameplay can get real frenetic and can offer a higher skill ceiling compared to other Healer Jobs.While this can be challenging at first, it also means you have lots of room to improve, and you can feel it when you get better. It truly rewards you for mastering yourself, your party members, and the enemy in a way that many other Jobs don’t. If you like astrological aesthetics, supporting your party, and want a meatier challenge to your Healer game, look no further than the Astrologian!

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• White Mage
• Astrologian
• Scholar
• Sage

SCHOLAR

You cannot start the game with Scholar. You must first reach level 30 with the Arcanist Class, finish all the Arcanist Class quests, then start the "Forgotten but Not Gone" quest at the Arcanist's Guild at Limsa Lominsa.

A common adage among FF14 veterans is this: every bit of damage you do to an enemy now is less Healing you’ll have to do later. After all, if the enemy dies faster, it won’t be alive to hurt your party members. Scholars embody this principle admirably, letting their pet Faeries handle a lot of the healing work so that the Scholars themselves can focus on dealing damage.The Scholar’s toolkit is one part restoring health, and one part preventing enemies from hurting your party in the first place. Scholar can easily put shields on party members that can turn a lethal blow into a merely painful one, or even prevent a party member from losing any health at all. This comes at a price, however--you can't prevent damage if it's already happened, so good Scholars will want to study the enemy and know what's coming next, in order to place shields and defense-up buffs at the right time.And, of course, Scholars are unmatched if you ever want to go for an academic look. In terms of fashion, no Healer can beat the Scholar in terms of sophistication and class.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Scholar's toolkit emphasizes looking ahead to know what's coming, then preventing oncoming damage from harming the party. It has easy access to shields that are best used before the enemy lands a blow on you or your party members. In exchange, Scholars have a harder time than Astrologians and White Mages to heal someone who is critically injured back to full.Scholar's signature ability is its minion (also known as a Pet), the Faerie. The Faerie will automatically heal anyone nearby who is injured, and is also the source of several of Scholar's healing abilities.Additionally, Scholars have access to Aetherflow pips, gained by using the Aetherflow attack on an enemy once a minute. You can consume a pip for a variety of useful healing or defensive effects. Using these pips also charges up your Faerie Gauge, which in turn gives you access to certain powerful healing abilities that your Faerie can use.

What's It Like To Level?

Leveling Scholar is a bit unusual compared to other Jobs, because it basically shares experience points with the Summoner Job. Scholars and Summoners both start off as the Arcanist Class, and at level 30 you can unlock either Scholar, Summoner, or both freely after completing certain quests in Limsa Lominsa. Whenever you gain experience points as a Scholar, you get the same amount for Summoner and vice versa. In short, you’re basically leveling two Jobs at once whenever you play either Summoner or Scholar.Early on, healing as a Scholar might feel very easy; your Faerie's healing will usually be enough to keep party members up and running unless very large packs of enemies are wailing on them, so sometimes you might even forget you’re a Healer and end up just casting attack spells all day. Later, though, your Faerie's healing power alone won’t be enough, so you’ll have to do at least some of the healing yourself.From level 50 onwards, healing as a Scholar will keep you on your toes, and level 70 onwards will really test your skills. Scholar’s toolkit is complex and, while it gives you exactly the right healing tools when you need them, you also can’t brute force your way past mistakes as easily as other Healing Jobs.Scholar also has to go through some roundabout methods to deploy its flexible tools, which further steepens their difficulty curve. I'll explain this in the next section, but suffice it to say: the straightforwardness of White Mage is not to be found in Scholar.All this means that Scholar, perhaps more so than any other Healer, benefits tremendously from practice and observation. The Job has great potential and can handle almost any situation, but it's a complex machine whose mastery poses a challenge even to veteran players.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

Aside from a collection of basic healing spells, a major part of Scholar’s toolkit is its Aetherflow gauge. Whenever you use the Aetherflow ability on an enemy during battle, you recover MP and gain three pips of Aetherflow.You can use these pips on a variety of healing, defensive, or offensive abilities. For example, the Lustrate ability puts a simple but potent heal on a single party member; Sacred Soil places a large dome of energy that reduces damage dealt to anyone inside it; and Excogitation places a buff on a party member, automatically providing a potent heal if its duration naturally expires or when the target's HP gets too low. Energy Drain, meanwhile, does a bit of damage to an enemy and restores some of your MP.Since you can only use Aetherflow once every minute, and since Aetherflow is such a major source of your healing, it’s a good idea to try and know what’s coming next and ration out your Aetherflow pips accordingly. If you know that the enemy will soon be sending out an unavoidable attack that will damage the entire party, you can mentally assign an Aetherflow pip to be used for Sacred Soil. On the other hand, if the enemy is about to rip the Tank into pieces, you can keep an Aetherflow pip in your back pocket for a spare Lustrate or Excogitation. If your next Aetherflow is coming up soon and you have nothing to heal at the moment, you can dump your spare pips into Energy Drain to get back some MP.

The Scholar's Aetherflow pips.

To assist with the healing, Scholars have access to a Pet, the Faerie, which automatically heals anyone in your party who’s hurt and is within range. You also get several abilities where a healing spell originates not from you, but instead from your Faerie. For example, the Whispering Dawn ability provides a heal-over-time effect to any party member near your Faerie.At level 80, you can temporarily cause your Faerie to upgrade to a more powerful version equipped with appropriately more powerful healing abilities.Later on, using Aetherflow abilities charges up a Faerie Gauge. You can spend your Faerie Gauge on certain powerful healing abilities.

The Scholar's Faerie gauge.

The rest of your Scholar arsenal includes a debuff you can place on an enemy to increase the damage they take, a partywide defense-up buff that also boosts your party's movement speed, and an ability that lets you use certain spells and Aetherflow abilities for free. You also get basic attack spells and and a damage-over-time effect (DoT).As mentioned previously, Scholar sometimes needs to jump through extra hoops to make good use of its unique toolkit. For example: the Dissipation ability sacrifices your Faerie in exchange for 3 new pips of Aetherflow...but you have to be sure that you won't need said Faerie for a while, or else you've deprived yourself of a powerful healing ally. Meanwhile, Scholar can place an extra potent shield on all nearby party members...but you'll need to place a single-target shield on a party member first, then use the Deployment Tactics ability to spread that shield to others. Getting used to these roundabout methods in the heat of battle will pay dividends, but it'll take practice to pull off.Ultimately, there's a lot that goes into playing a skillful Scholar. You'll want to put your Faerie in a strategic location, deploy your Aetherflow-using abilities and other abilities, and put out attack spells and DoTs when you’re not healing. Keeping track of when you can refresh your Aetherflow pips, knowing what you can use them for, planning for when you’ll be using them, and strategically placing shields onto the right party members are the hallmarks of a good Scholar.

• If you'd like to know more about the Scholar in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

Master The Art of War!

Scholar might take a bit of practice to get used to, but I’ve found it to be a very fulfilling Job to play. Your toolkit is flexible, letting you restore health, put up shields, reduce incoming damage, pop off a big heal in emergencies, or make everyone move faster. With planning, foresight, and deploying the right tools at the right time, this flexibility translates into a Job that can deal with all sorts of situations with precision and speed. There’s few things in the game as satisfying as completely blunting an enemy attack because you put up a shield at just the right time, or trivializing a boss's attack by making it easier to move out of the way.Give Scholar a try if you like Jobs that reward strategy, finesse, and clever use of your abilities! Also, your Faeries are very cute.

• Intro & Disclaimer
• Guides
• Job Accessibility

• Tanks
• Healers
• Melee DPS
• Caster DPS
• Ranged DPS

• White Mage
• Astrologian
• Scholar
• Sage

SAGE

**You cannot start the game with Sage. You must first purchase the latest expansion pack, reach level 70 with a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic character, then start the "The Sage's Path" quest in Limsa Lominsa. **

As the saying goes: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the Sage exemplifies this philosophy perfectly. As one of the game's two Shield Healers, Sage relies heavily on applying the right tools to the right task, excelling at preventing damage from happening in the first place but struggling to pull disasters out of the fire if they do occur. Luckily, you have a giant arsenal of heals, shields, defense-up buffs, and HP regeneration at your disposal to prevent things from going south, as well as the only dash ability among all the Healers to get yourself out of trouble. Much like the doctors of medicine that Sages are themed after, expansive knowledge and precise execution are the keys to success when playing Sage.Sage gameplay also demands aggression. All Healers will want to attack the enemy whenever possible, but Sage relies on doing so the most--its signature ability to automatically heal a party member cannot be activated if it does not go on the offensive.Beyond this, Sage's aesthetic stands out for its reliance of science-fiction flavored visuals and attack animations, in contrast to the largely fantasy-themed styles of almost all the other Jobs. Machinists might get a robot, but Sages have access to lasers, jetpacks, and energy fields out the wazoo.

What's The Basic Gameplan?

Sage gameplay relies heavily on applying shields and defense-up buffs before an enemy attack strikes you or the party: such tools are best used before the attack lands, which demands a certain level of knowledge of the enemy and their attack patterns. Much like its fellow Shield-Healer Scholar, Sage excels at preventing damage from happening compared to Astrologians and White Mages, but has a harder time restoring HP bars from near-empty to full.Sages have two main resources: Addersgall, and Kardia. Addersgall are a set of three pips you can consume to use a variety of different healing or defense-up effects, with each pip automatically regenerating over time. Kardia is a buff you can place on yourself or a target party member; afterwards, each time you perform an attack, you heal the person with that buff for a small amount. This, in effect, drip-feeds healing to that party member over the course of the battle.You can also activate a special stance, Eukrasia, which converts some of your basic healing spells into spells that apply shields instead.Sage gameplay generally revolves around constantly attacking the enemy to keep up your party member's health (typically the Tank who's under attack by the boss, or yourself if it's just you alone) while using Addersgall abilities, Eukrasia-stance spells, and miscellaneous abilities to prevent too much damage from piling up on the party.

What's It Like To Level?

Sage, admittedly, has one of the steeper learning curves among all the Jobs in the game. Its toolkit encourages you to prepare defenses in advance instead of reacting spontaneously to damage as it occurs, and Sage lacks many of the massive restorative abilities that, say, White Mage has available to quickly get someone back on their feet. Instead, you'll want to examine and get to know your large pool of different tools in your arsenal, each of which has a specific purpose and is best used in specific circumstances.You also start with Sage at level 70, which is right when the difficulty spikes for Healers, particularly in dungeons. Many players expect Healers to be on the ball from level 70 onwards in particular, and the Sage's demanding gameplay can make meeting those expectations pretty tricky.If you can master the Sage, though, you're rewarded with a truly well-oiled and sophisticated Job. Every piece of the Job's mechanics and abilities feel tremendously well put together, and your abilities have a certain responsiveness to them that makes controlling a Sage feel like gliding on air. The Job is simply a joy to play once you get used to it.

A Deeper Dive Into The Job

Sage has three core aspects to its gameplay: Kardia, Addersgall, and Eukrasia.First and foremost is Kardia. As mentioned previously, Kardia is a buff you can place on yourself or a party member; afterwards, any of your attack spells also automatically heals that buffed person for a small amount. This is similar to the regenerative spells of White Mage and Astrologian, or the automatically-healing Faerie available to the Scholar, except it's both hands-free and precise; you control exactly who gets healed by your attacks, and your mini-heals come pre-packaged with said attacks. In exchange, however, you'll want to constantly keep up your offense as a Sage whenever you can--perhaps more so than any other Healer, a Sage cannot afford to idle about.Second is the Eukrasia ability. You can think of Eukrasia as activating a special "stance". While in this Eukrasia stance, some of your basic spell swap to an alternate function. Your basic single-target attack spell turns into a damage-over-time effect; your basic single-target healing spell instead applies a sturdy shield on a target party member; and your basic partywide heal becomes a partywide shield instead. You can move around freely while you activate Eukrasia stance, and any spells you cast in that stance are cast instantly, meaning you won't have to stand still to cast it. This provides you with a good bit of mobility compared to most other Healers.

This is the Eukrasia icon. When it's not glowing, it means your Eukrasia stance is off.

And this is what it looks like when Eukrasia stance is on.

Third is Addersgall. Every 20 seconds, you automatically generate 1 pip of Addersgall, which you can spend on a wide variety of healing-related abilities. This includes a single-target quick heal, a partywide defense-up that later also slowly replenishes HP, a large partywide heal, and a single-target quick heal that also applies a defense-up buff on the target.

This is your Addersgall and Addersting gauges.-At the top are your Addersgall pips. Here, you have 2 out of your maximum 3 pips available.
-In the middle is a bar that automatically recharges whenever you have fewer than 3 Addersgall pips. When this bar is fully charged, you gain 1 Addersgall pip.
-At the bottom are your Addersting pips. You gain Addersting pips whenever a shield you put on someone through one particular spell is destroyed by an enemy attack. You can spend Addersting pips on a moderately powerful, instant-cast attack spell, handy when you need to be on the move while sustaining your offense. You can have up to 3 Addersting pips.

These three core aspects form the foundation of the Sage's multitude of healing tools, each serving a different function and best used in different situations. If the enemy is about to damage the entire party, apply the partywide defense buff to mitigate the damage; if, instead, a lone party member is about to receive a walloping, switch to Eukrasia stance and put a shield on them. Party already took a bunch of damage? Partywide heal, here's your prescription. You can think of enemy attacks as various diseases, and each of your abilities as specific medicines you apply with targeted precision.Rounding out the rest of your toolkit are additional standalone abilities, most of which apply yet more shields, provide a defense-up buff, and/or slowly replenish HP. Haima applies a mini shield on a single party member, immediately applies another one if it is destroyed by an enemy attack, and repeats this process a total of five times. Pneuma heals nearby party members and damages nearby enemies at the same time. Zoe, meanwhile, increases the healing power of your next healing spell, and Icarus lets you quickly dash towards a targeted enemy or party member.In all, Sage provides you with widely varied and numerous tools at your disposal. Any one of these tools might only be useful in specific circumstances, but in totality, they cover a huge range of situations and, with some practice and experience, let you handle just about any situation.

• If you'd like to know more about the Sage in detail, check out this guide by Wesk Alber!

The Cure For What Ails You!

Although it can seem overwhelming at first, Sage is a wonderfully smooth, mobile Job to play. Once you get over its initial challenge and have a handle on its gameplan, there are few things in the game as satisfying as anticipating what the enemy will do next, deploying the perfect countermeasure, and watching your party's HP bars barely move an inch thanks to your foresight.If you like having lots of abilities at your disposal, find other Healers too sedate for your tastes, or just enjoy blasting your enemies with lasers, give Sage a look! Doctor's orders.