The incredible Shadowbringers expansion for Final Fantasy 14 is an amazing supplement to the original game.
Shadowbringers brought a great number of enhancements to existing jobs, making many of them more effective, user-friendly, and enjoyable to play.
A large number of roles have received minor potency and skill speed adjustments, a few have undergone more extensive reworks, and a few still feel unbalanced.
In light of this, let’s rank the primary DPS classes in Final Fantasy 14 5.0 according to their playability, damage output, and party utility.
Final Fantasy 14 continues to be an enormous success, with tens of thousands of players logging in every day.
The beloved Final Fantasy MMO produces content that satisfies its user base with each expansion.
The Endwalker expansion is the fourth one for the game, and it introduces numerous new upgrades, modifications, and content.
11. Blue Mage
In Final Fantasy 11, Blue Mage was a fully-fledged career, but in Final Fantasy 14, it is the first in a new series of occupations known as “limited jobs.”
As a limited job, its maximum level is 50, and it cannot perform chores with other players unless the party is pre-formed or small, and even then there are constraints.
Additionally, the Blue Mage cannot be utilized to advance the main narrative, nor may retainers assume this function, although it does yield more experience points than other jobs for fighting in the open world.
Similar to Blue Mage from Final Fantasy 11, players must battle specific enemies to master their attacks.
10. Monk
While the other classes have been refined in 5.0, the Monk still feels overly complicated.
Instead of a straightforward 1-2-3 combination, the Monk employs a variety of skills that can be chained together in various orders.
In addition, to maximize its DPS, certain talents must be executed from behind the victim, while others must be executed from the side.
To remember all of these combos and directional requirements while maintaining the Monk’s damage buff and the damage-over-time debuff is a huge pain in the neck.
It may have a high damage output and great utility, but Monk has always been a bit bland, and in its current state, it’s simply not very enjoyable to play.
First Stances will be removed from the Monk class with the release of Endwalker.
Meditation may now be learned at level 15, rather than level 54, and a number of its strikes have been transformed into AOE moves with increased damage output.
9. Ninja
Ninja was the golden child of the 4.0 meta because of the Trick Attack and its ability to dent defenses despite its relatively modest damage.
However, for the ability to be effective, it must be utilized appropriately, which is something that eludes the majority of players.
In addition, Mudra methods involve a number of inputs that are very easy to botch during combat.
Thankfully, the devs just indicated in a live letter that Ninja will receive some adjustments in an upcoming version.
Uncertainty surrounds the nature of these modifications, but we know they will alter the operation of Trick Attack and Mudra.
Shadowfang will be removed from Ninjas with the release of the Endwalker expansion, but many other skills have been streamlined to make the class easier to use and understand.
Additionally, they now have more choices for hurting opponents.
8. Samurai
There’s something amiss with the Samurai.
Previously, it was the Black Mage’s melee equivalent, the so-called “selfish DPS.”
Samurai has little utility, yet its damage potential is so great that nobody cares.
Since Shadowbringers, Samurai feels peculiarly frail.
Some of the new finishing moves are great improvements, especially against single opponents, and it is now simpler to fill the Kenki gauge.
Despite this, the new Shoha ability is tied to the Meditation mechanic, making it tough to use even under optimal conditions.
We are unaware of any upcoming changes to Samurai, but it appears that it could benefit from a potency increase.
The Samurai is the DPS class that appears to have seen the fewest changes in the Endwalker expansion.
Except for small adjustments, Samurai leaders should have little to adapt.
7. Red Mage
Since its introduction with the Stormblood expansion, Red Mage has been an entertaining class.
With a combination of black and white magic as well as melee weapon skills, this rotation is an excellent beginning point for new casters.
However, the Red Mage’s damage output is by far the lowest of all magical DPS jobs.
It has doubtful utility as well.
The Red Mage’s ability to resurrect fallen allies can save a raid from a wipe, and it also possesses a decent healing spell, although these aren’t required if everyone is performing their duties.
In addition, the Embolden ability increases the user’s magical DPS, but only increases the physical DPS of party members, which is completely useless in a group of casters.
In Endwalker, the Red Mage class will include a new pre-level 80 mechanic called Mana Stack, which is provided whenever an enchanted weapon skill is utilized.
The maximum stack size is 3, which transforms Verthunder into Verflare and Verholy into Veraero.
6. Bard
Formerly favored among ranged DPS players that placed a premium on raid cohesion, Bards coupled moderate damage output with a multitude of support abilities, including self-buffs, party buffs, and enemy debuffs.
Even though Shadowbringers is still enjoyable to play, several of Bard’s support talents have been removed and given to the new Dancer profession.
Now, it is mostly a damage dealer.
Thankfully, the designers decided to compensate for the class’s diminished utility by augmenting its base damage significantly.
Overall, Bard remains viable, even for the hardest, highest-tier stuff.
Endwalker’s inclusion of a new party bonus for the Bard is unsurprising, given that Bard’s focus is on the group rather than the individual.
The Bard will profit by performing its tunes, but other than that, nothing else has changed.
5. Summoner
Summoner has always struck me as a fantastic blend between damage and utility.
To maximize their DPS, Summoners were previously required to micromanage the powers of their pets, as opposed to leaving them to their own devices, making it a more challenging class to play to its maximum potential.
In patch 5.0, pet instructions are now seamlessly integrated into the Summoner’s main kit, simplifying its rotation and making it more effective in combat for even casual players.
Summoner is now more accessible than it has ever been, but still quite complex and requires the usage of multiple separate mechanics.
Endwalker’s enormous list of alterations to the Summoner class makes it impossible to list them all here.
In brief, it has lost the ability to cast DoT spells, Fester now deals direct damage, and Tri-Disaster is now an AoE spell.
It appears like a brand-new class has been conjured in its stead.
4. Dancer
Dancer, one of the newest vocations in Final Fantasy 14, is both a support class and a damage dealer.
As a result, its damage output is the lowest of the DPS classes.
However, when applied properly, the party’s benefits compensate for its low base damage.
At level 70, the Dancer may not only permanently increase the damage of their selected “dance partner,” but they can also briefly increase the DPS of the entire group, allowing them to unleash their most powerful assaults.
Add to that a party-wide protection buff, a weak but quick healing spell, and some of the strongest area-of-effect abilities of any class, and the Dancer is a fairly impressive class.
The procs on Endwalker’s spells have been modified so that they now rely on same-effect combo action grants.
This is a change from its prior single-target and area-of-effect weapon skills.
3. Dragoon
Dragoon has always been at the top of the melee DPS rankings, and nothing has changed.
It deals exceptional damage and its Battle Litany and Dragon’s Eye boosts are vital.
Shadowbringers has removed the Dragoon’s Heavy Thrust ability, replacing it with a damage bonus to its Chaos Thrust combination for a smoother cycle.
The Dragoon’s jumping abilities have also been modified.
Spineshatter Dive no longer grants the Dive Ready bonus, making it more difficult to perform Nastrond’s ultra-powerful finishing move.
Despite this, the Dragoon feels at least as strong as it did before.
Blood of the Dragon for Dragoon becomes passive with Endwalker but retains the same functionality as Life of the Dragon.
No longer must players worry about repeatedly activating it, as it will now activate automatically.
2. Black Mage
The Black Mage, the caster analog of the Samurai, is the only magical DPS class that cannot buff, heal, or revives allies.
Nevertheless, although its melee counterpart appears to be lagging behind, the Black Mage is now head and shoulders above the competition in terms of sheer damage.
The rotation of the Black Mage, which rests on its Enochian principle, is now more forgiving due to the addition of a few handy tools.
Throw in new, extremely potent spells such as Despair and Xenoglossy, which are single-target variants of Flare and Foul, and you have a walking, talking turret capable of destroying anything on its path.
The Black Mage has long been a polarising class, with many arguing that its early levels are slow and meticulous.
Enochian becomes a passive trait, however, Endwalker does not bring about any significant changes to this mental process.
Enhance Freeze is now unlockable at level 58, helping to grant three Umbral Hearts when using Freeze.
1. Machinist
The Machinist has been redesigned from the ground up for Shadowbringers, shedding its reputation as a dull, cumbersome “Bard with a rifle and approximately 10 percent of the utility.”
Now, it is not only one of the most powerful damage distributors, but it is also a delight to play.
Some of the new devices, such as the Bioblaster and Auto Crossbow, are inspired by those employed by Final Fantasy 6’s Edgar Roni Figaro.
The Heat Gauge and turret mechanics have also received significant changes, and at level 80, Machinists will be able to deploy their very own robot companion.
Whether it’s a single target or a huge group, the Machinist makes quick work of any obstacle.
Most importantly, it is extremely entertaining.
On the surface, it may appear that the imminent release of Endwalker will not significantly alter the Machinist class, however, this is not entirely accurate.
At level 82, the Spread Shot is upgraded, while at level 86, the Automaton Queen obtains a new finisher.
Plan properly, as the best of the changes appear to be occurring between levels 80 and 90.
