FFXIV: Dawntrail Job Guide

Final Fantasy XIV is on its fifth expansion, and with that comes two new jobs for our Warriors of Light to master. Dawntrail's release means that Pictomancer and Viper – both damage dealers (or DPS) – are newly available to play. But they're far from the only options.

Final Fantasy XIV is now officially up to 21 main jobs, as well as one limited job with a second on the way. A continual evolution of specified playstyles means that with every new level cap, each job gets tweaked a little, making it the perfect opportunity to dive into something new.

SUPERJUMP has a handy guide for anyone not certain what job to level next, homing in on what each excels at, the drawbacks, and its playstyle.

2.0 A Realm Reborn

Final Fantasy XIV's base game includes the original base class to job evolution. Your journey from levels 1 - 30 are as your selected base class, and upon reaching level 30 you receive your corresponding job stone and are able to move through the job questline. You'll need to complete one of these regardless, as not only does the game require you to pick a discipline during character creation, but every other job introduced in the later expansions begins at or after level 30.

You'll progress through the job quests through to level 80. These job quests also grant certain actions upon completion, so not completing them means you'll be missing the necessary skills. They're a must.

Tanks

Class Quest: Way of the Gladiator - Level 1, Gladiator's Guild

Job Quest: Paladin's Pledge - Level 30, Gladiator's Guild

Paladins are primarily party-defensive tanks, with a skillset suited to mitigating damage to the whole party. In comparison to the three other tanks, Paladin is more "buff"-heavy, meaning they can do more to protect the at-large group and even heal other members, but also have to balance the uses of their abilities. Play-wise, there might be a little negotiating with party-wide damages and preemptively knowing when wind-ups for big hits might benefit from popping a little extra protection on everyone. They also have some skills that require casting.

Class Quest: Way of the Marauder - Level 1, Marauder's Guild

Job Quest: Pride and Duty (Will Take You From the Mountain) - Level 30, Marauder's Guild

Warriors are tanks focused more on damage and self-preservation. They've got nifty self-healing abilities that are notoriously convenient for running content solo. They lack Paladin's more party-based defense strategy, but their invul ability – Holmgang – is an endure-like ability that keeps them from falling below 1 HP for 10 seconds and is similarly as basic in use. Warrior is often considered extremely beginner-friendly due to its self-sustaining abilities and a forgiving rotation.

So, if you prefer a bit of tunnel vision when tanking – in not necessarily having to worry about party buffs, and instead focusing on yourself and fight mechanics – Warrior is the way to go.

DPS

Class Quest: Way of the Lancer - Level 1, Lancer's Guild

Job Quest: Eye of the Dragon - Level 30, Lancer's Guild

Dragoons have a storied history in Ishgard. They're the poster job for Heavensward, and they also used to be affectionately known as floor tanks. They're very leap-oriented, so it's important when playing Dragoon to know your position on the board and be able to accurately understand where your dismount might land you, although this has become less of a pain in recent updates. Dragoons are also positional, meaning that damage is increased depending on the position in which you're executing certain skills.

These positions are usually the rear and flank (often on bigger enemies or bosses) and straight lines for mobs. Dragoons have a pretty solid starter kit with a very focused and straightforward rotation. Battle Litany, acquired at level 52 by way of job quest, provides more utility for the party, but otherwise, this job is a dedicated slice and dicer.

Class Quest: Way of the Pugilist – Level 1, Pugilist's Guild

Job Quest: Brother From Another Mother – Level 30, Pugilist's Guild

Monks move fast and hit hard. They're a close-range melee and are great if you're looking to be able to run around the board and dodge mechanics without having to worry about cast times or more explicit positionals. Unlike Dragoon, there's a fair bit of flexibility in how (and when) exactly you want to execute certain actions, but this also makes the job a little more of a balancing act. Monk has different "forms", and transitioning into these will determine the nature of the rotation in use. There are positionals in the coeurl form, but the other two – Opo-opo and Raptor – are more general in dealing damage. Monk has a generally loose, weavy feel during combat, with constant upkeep of moves and little downtime.

Class Quest: Way of the Archer – Level 1, Archer's Guild

Job Quest: A Song of Bards and Bowmen – Level 30, Archer's Guild

Bards are the songsters of the group, and like their inspirational counterparts, they have more utility for the wider group in the form of music-based actions that offer increased critical hit rates, healing, and more to all party members within range. Bards are also less strict in their rotations and have room for maneuverability in playstyle. Because of this focus on the wider group, Bards have somewhat of a responsibility (especially in higher-end content) to understand the use and timing of certain critical skill buffs.

In addition – you ever hear anyone playing the harp in the overworld? Leveling Bard also allows you to unlock instruments, which will provide you with a plethora of ways to play actual music on a variety of instruments.

Class Quest: Way of the Thaumaturge - Level 1, Thaumaturge's Guild

Job Quest: Taking the Black – Level 30, Thaumaturge's Guild

Y'shtola of the Scion is a dedicated black mage – a powerful spell-caster who can literally call down meteors on foes. Black Mage is a caster, meaning that you will have some downtime in readying spells, making the class a bit more difficult if you're dodging mechanic-heavy fights. There's a long-running joke that Black Mages refuse to move for certain AOEs when they're in their ley lines, which reduces cast time for a quicker rotation. It reflects a pretty real sacrifice of the playstyle, in that mistakes in your rotation when balancing the element gauge while having to dodge can result in a loss of built-up DPS. It is widely considered one of the best DPS damage-wise though.

Class Quest: Way of the Arcanist – Level 1, Arcanist's Guild

Job Quest: Austerities of Flame – Level 30, Arcanist's Guild

Summoners utilize the unique ability of summons, or "pets", to help deal damage. There are three main summons which, after the carbuncle phase, will become Garuda-egi, Ifrit-egi, and Titan-egi. Later levels see your ability to unlock Bahamut and Phoenix, which are pretty fun to unleash onto the field. Summoner is also one of the few DPS classes that has a resurrection ability, so they're able to assist healers if the party is taking heavy losses during a high-level raid or trial.

Class Quest: My First Daggers – Level 1, Rogue's Guild

Job Quest: Peasants by Day, Ninjas by Night - Level 30, Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks

Ninja is a notoriously busy job, with high DPS and constant damage-dealing. There's little downtime, and there are windows in which you have to execute high burst damage. It's a very mobile class with some positionals, so there's a lot of flexibility in movement if you're trying to easily get out of the way of AOEs and other telegraphed attacks. This makes it a good choice for dodging mechanics, but the rotation can get busy, be demanding, and require focus.

Healer

Class Quest: Way of the Conjurer – Level 1, Conjurer's Guild

Job Quest: Seer Folly – Level 30, Conjurer's Guild

White Mages are the traditional healers, with the bulk of their actions focused on casting strong burst heals instead of regen abilities or shield actions, meaning the play is a bit more reactive to what's happening in a fight than it is preemptive. As casters, this also means you run up against a similar issue as Black Mage, although thankfully this is offset by a great set of off-global-cool down (oGCD) skills that consist of instant heals and a pretty big heal-potency buff. They're also the only job questline that gets a mount at low level, so if you want to snag a unicorn by level 30, this is your place to do it.

Class Quest: Way of the Arcanist – Level 1, Arcanist's Guild

Job Quest: Forgotten but Not Gone – Level 30, Arcanist's Guild

The great thing about Scholar and Summoner is that they're both derived from the Arcanist class, so you really can level 2 jobs for the price of one until level 30. Scholars have a little more of a detailed playstyle, considering they've got a "pet" that, while autonomous, can do with a little guiding. Scholars are considered shield healers, which means they have a heavier focus on regen abilities and protective spells, but they're also pretty flexible.

Since this job has designated pet commands, it allows for greater situational specificity and adaptable play. This also means it's a bit of a hard sell if you like a less cluttered hot bar.

Heavensward

2015's Heavensward brought three new jobs into the rotation, one for each of the roles. The starting city - Ishgard - is full of towering Gothic structures and continual gales of snow. You'll find each starting quest line for the new jobs housed here, with no more class quests as a prerequisite. While you'll need to have completed the base game MSQ to unlock them, they all start at level 30.

Tank

Job Quest: Our End – Level 50, The Pillars

Dark Knight is well-beloved for having one of the more emotionally potent questlines in the game. Some level it explicitly for that, but Dark Knight is a popular tank for a reason, and it's only partially because of its cooly gothic aesthetics. Like Warrior, Dark Knights can cause a lot of damage, but they have fewer self-sustainability abilities. You can also summon a shadow to fight with you at level 80, which adds to the whole job's vibe.

One of the more complicated aspects is in its invul ability, Living Dead, which allows you to essentially live past a hit that takes you to 0 HP, but you have to reach that 0 to activate your following ability, Walking Dead, which allows your dealt damage to provide big HP regens. This is a nifty ability when applied right but can also backfire in a way that Warrior or Paladin's invul abilities can't.

DPS

Job Quest: Savior of Skysteel – Level 50, Foundation

Machinists are the gunslingers of the group, able to fire off from a distance with consistent damage. Unlike Bard, they have no real party buffs, meaning they're more focused on dealing damage. By level 40 Machinists gain a rook companion that runs, essentially, on its "battery" charge, and can only be in battle for so long. Machinists have a fairly dedicated rotation, so there's less concern about how flexible a player has to be under pressure. They're great if you want to blend more into the damage-dealing background.

Healer

Job Quest: Stairway to the Heavens – Level 50, The Pillars

Astrologians are a bit more complicated than their other healing counterparts. They function on the use of cards that can be applied to certain members of the party based on their own job classification. For example, if the Balance card is drawn, it's best applied to a melee DPS or a tank for that extra few percentage points of buffed damage dealing. Knowing what cards apply to what classes makes this job a fair bit more difficult to master, in that there's some memorization needed under pressure, and the preemptive needs of the abilities means you'll have to read the tells of content mechanics more closely.

Stormblood

The third expansion arrived in 2017 and brought two new DPS jobs. This time the starting city is the jumping-puzzle playground of Kugane, but you won't find the jobs here – they're both unlockable in Ul'dah, and the only prerequisite is that you reach level 50, as they both start at level 50. This would start the trend of each new job introduction at expansion launch being twenty levels below the current max level. This also means they're only ten levels below the previous expansion's max, and since you're starting Stormblood at 60, you'll only need to level up by 10 to go through the MSQ with a shiny new job.

DPS

Job Quest: The Way of the Samurai – Level 50, Steps of Nald

Samurai is the heavy hitter of the melee DPS, in that it is a pure damage dealer. It lacks any party buffs, so the focus of the job is considered more selfish, an ideal choice for those who don't want to have to worry about when and how to execute certain buff abilities on other players. As a melee class, Samurai can also easily move around while still executing actions. It's a good starting class with high yields of damage, where you can focus, really, on just wailing on the enemy.

Job Quest: Taking the Red – Level 50, Steps of Thal

Red Mages are a bit of a mix between casters and melee classes. They see-saw between the white and black mana use and function slightly similar to black mages in the balancing out of particular spell affiliations. You also have engage and disengage abilities that, if well timed, allow for easy outs from AOEs as needed. Red Mages are also sometimes cheekily referred to as "Rez-Mages" for their Verraise ability when paired with their Dualcast trait (meaning the next spell has no cast time) for a great combo in high-end content. Conversely, it can also put some extra pressure on you if you want to fly a bit more under the radar. Luckily, you don't have to really worry about that until level 64 – and even then, its only real constant usefulness is in bigger party content.

Shadowbringers

Lali-HO! Shadowbringers is the expansion everyone talks about. It broke some ground after doing away with the slightly daunting job quests, and instead consolidated all roles into dedicated role quest lines. This was a four-way split to tank, healer, magical ranged DPS and physical DPS role quest lines. Luckily, these don't grant abilities like the job-specific quest lines do, so you can complete them at your leisure in later expansions – although they are required reading in Shadowbringers.

Tank

Job Quest: Makings of a Gunbreaker – Level 60, New Gridania

Gunbreaker is a high-damage tank with a rotation that feels very DPS-like to a lot of players. It's got flashy moves and versatility in what kind of tank it needs to function as, so in content with two tanks, like higher-end trials, Gunbreaker can more easily adjust to the playstyle best suited to complement the other tank. Its invul ability, Superbolide, is fun in that it immediately reduces your HP to one while offering a window of 10-second invulnerability. Superbolide does have a pretty big tell (in that the HP just whooshes to one) but hey, as I've been maining White Mage lately, that's what Benediction's instant full heal is for!

DPS

Job Quest: Shall We Dance? – Level 30, Lower Decks

Dancers fall in with Bards at the lower end of the damage-dealing spectrum in exchange for great party-wide buffs. Specifically for this job, you can select a "dance partner" with whom you can share all the benefits of your personal buffs, so it's best to choose a high-yield damage dealer like Samurai. There's a fair bit of flexibility with Dancer and it's an easy job to dodge with, making it a good selection for newcomers. It's also got something of a dancing mini-game at the end of a rotation, making it feel a little more cheerful than some of the serious jobs.

Endwalker

All good things end, and we mark the finale of a 10-year saga with the release of 2021's Endwalker. This also marks the first new job – Sage – that would be endemic to Final Fantasy XIV itself. These jobs are unlockable in the starting cities of Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa, so you can grab them as long as you've reached level 70.

Healer

Job Quest: Sage's Path – Level 60, Lower Decks

Sage is considered a shield healer, meaning that nearly its entire toolkit is dedicated to preventative or pre-planned healing. This makes the job the opposite in utility of White Mage, which excels in topping up low numbers. Sage is all about preventing the numbers from getting that low in the first place, and they've got quite a few skills aimed at assuring damage is mitigated. It's best suited to players who like to be proactive rather than reactive and works wonderfully if you can reduce greater damage right off the bat. If stuff does hit the fan though, Sages aren't necessarily equipped with instant burst heals as readily as White Mage or Scholar.

DPS

Job Quest: The Killer Instinct – Level 60, Steps of Nald

Reaper calls the aid of voidsent to assist in battle. It's a very aesthetic job, sharing the vibes of Dark Knight in its particularly emo attire. Unlike most other melee jobs, it doesn't have as many positionals to remember, and also features an ability to become possessed by a voidsent, allowing you a burst window of high damage dealing. Reaper is flexible and considered easy to initially learn, making it a great entry point for those new to melee DPS.

Dawntrail

Announced at 2023's Fan Festival in Las Vegas, Square Enix unveiled Dawntrail, ushering in a new arc for the game's central story. It's a much sunnier venture – with vistas and cities inspired by South American cultures and rite of succession on the line. The two main jobs each start at level 80.

DPS

Job Quest: Enter the Viper – Level 80, Steps of Nald

Viper is the newest melee DPS and boasts extremely high damage. It's also a much more straightforward job than some of the other melee DPS jobs, meaning your hot bar won't be quite so busy. Lacking any real party buff skills, Viper is a more selfish playstyle focused solely on dealing damage and can grant itself its own buffs. Its combo also has more tells, making it easier to execute under pressure, as there's more guidance for what to press and at what times.

Job Quest: The Joy of Pictomancy – Level 90, Old Gridania

Pictomancer is a unique job that's got an...interesting playstyle. There's also something unintentionally hilarious about seeing players bust out a giant cartoon hammer while fighting a massive enemy that might be responsible for ending the world as we know it. Pictomancer focuses on painting certain rotations for its job gauge, and these can be applied situationally. You can also "pre-load" certain skills by painting them on your canvas, allowing you easy access to them as needed. It's a change of pace from other jobs that follow similar patterns, making Pictomancer a pretty fun pick.

So there you have it, 10 years of Jobs in the epic universe of Final Fantasy XIV. Let us know if the comments if you'd like to see more guides from our team.