FFXIV’s many jobs each have their own unique playstyles and design philosophies when it comes down to combat, especially when clearing more difficult content like Savage raids and Ultimates. While they are all reasonably balanced, some jobs are more complex and require a deeper understanding of the game’s mechanics. We will be ranking them primarily based on their difficulty in their play and to a lesser extent, the utility they provide to the raid. All of the classes listed below are viable for the endgame and having a diverse team can go a long way in clearing Savage raids.
Tank Jobs Tier List
🏆S-Tier
Starting with the Gunbreaker class, this tank class is considered by many to be the best overall tank in the game. Not only does it have enough damage mitigation skills, but it also has plenty of DPS options that make it a hybrid class that could excel in many combat encounters. However, Gunbreakers also require understanding both class and raid mechanics as compared to the other tanks; their damage mitigation skills aren’t as high as the rest. They have the best of both worlds as skilled Gunbreakers can be a main tank while also competing with Melee DPS jobs, thanks to their Cartridge skill mechanics. Mastering this job can be a gratifying and engaging experience once the complete skill set has been unlocked.
Warriors are the most accessible class to play, considering their extremely simple rotations and incredible self-sustainability. They are also considered the best dungeon tank class as they can keep their health at maximum with the AoE damage they can deal and lifesteal on demand. They are considered the “regen” tank, where damage mitigation comes in the form of lifesteal. Healer mains that pair with a Warrior player can focus more on dealing damage than just pure healing since Warriors are highly self-sufficient in HP. For damage, they have only one button to press for maximum burst: Fell Cleave. Paired with their guaranteed crit damage skills, the Warrior job stands as the best brawler in the game.
👍A-Tier
Paladins are simpler in practice compared to the Warrior job but are geared toward team support rather than burst damage. They can heal teammates with some of their skills expending MP, but they severely lack in overall damage compared to the other tank jobs. Paladins excel as the main tank role due to their self-sufficiency and powerful damage mitigation but do not expect them to make the best DPS when raiding. Still, they can survive multiple tank busters without needing to swap aggro.
The most jarring aspect of Paladin is the inclusion of cast times in their skillset, meaning some skills require standing still to take into effect.
👌🏻B-Tier
Dark Knights are the most flexible tank job, but that flexibility comes at a cost. This job is more demanding to play because many of their skills require MP, which is shared across both their damage and mitigation skills. Dark Knights can mistime their MP-consuming burst damage and run out just in time for a boss tank-buster move, which could have been used to cast other mitigation skills. While they are viable in raiding, they have stricter mitigation and burst timings since running out of MP can be a common issue. Even with some of their MP restoration skills, Dark Knights can easily miss their damage windows. Dark Knight is as good as your knowledge of a boss pattern is.
Healer Jobs Tier List
🏆S-Tier
Sage, as the most recent job class in FFXIV, has some fun gameplay mechanics that make them stand out in their role. While a Sage is primarily a shield-based healer, this job can passively heal your chosen tank, which can be augmented by dealing direct damage to an enemy yourself. One of its weaknesses is that it lacks massive burst healing, but with a bit of planning ahead, Sage can avoid having to deal with healing altogether if you know when to time the more enormous shield skills.
Astrologian is one of the better healing jobs as it excels at both healing and teamwide support. Unlike other healing classes, Astrologian has an array of damage buffs that can play a significant role in fast clears. This job is highly versatile as it can do health regen and shields at the press of a button. Much of its gameplay is based on RNG, with the different cards they can draw at random, with some cards bestowing the damage buff as mentioned above and others providing classic team utilities like heals. While this class is more complex than other healing jobs, players who know what they’re doing with Astrologian can be a great asset to the raid team.
👍A-Tier
White Mage is one of the most straightforward healing jobs in FFXIV, with much of its utility being raw healing output and DPS. It has no unique utilities like Sage or Astrologian, but its game plan is relatively simple: When the tank has low health, heal. If the tank is above 80% health, do damage. The Blood Lily mechanic only enhances their damage and healing playstyle just by playing normally, and when you spend your Blood Lily charges, it will grant you access to the highest damaging skill in the healing role.
👌🏻B-Tier
The Scholar job was the first to utilize shield-based healing in the game, in which its core identity is mitigating damage before it ever arrives. This job has fallen a bit off ever since Endwalker arrived since it hasn’t received much of a change in its kit. Among all the healing jobs, Scholar has the most OGCD (or Off Global Cooldown) healing skills in the game, as well as the ability to heal from a far distance with the use of their Fairies. Though the job stands well enough alone, Sage and Astrologian can provide the same utilities it does, but with better uptime and potency.
Ranged DPS Tier List
🏆S-Tier
The Bard job covers a lot of bases when it comes to team utility. It has steady DPS, teamwide buffs, and DoT skills. It can be a great addition to a raid team and is easy to pick up for new players. While there isn’t much variance in its gameplay, Bards have high uptime with their buffs thanks to their Songs, which can be done by doing damage.
The Dancer job has the most potent damage buffs in the game but it can only be bestowed to one person at a time. This job can elevate the best DPS member of your team even further with the Dance Partner buff. What they lack in damage, they make up for in utility and mobility.
👍A-Tier
The Machinist job lacks any raid utility or high burst damage, but they are the safest and easiest class to play. Consistency is the core idea of the Machinists, as they can constantly apply pressure on enemies at a far range. Among the ranged classes, they have the greatest personal damage out of the three, as their burst windows are highly flexible. While it is a great beginner-friendly job, it falls off by the time you reach Extreme Trials and beyond.
Melee DPS Tier List
🏆S-Tier
Monks are one of the best greedy DPS jobs in the game, as it has the fastest global cooldown timers in the game. It has a fluid damage rotation and can be very fun to play if you like fast and frenetic combat. Monks can easily transition between AoE and single target damage without sacrificing a whole rotation. Though it has a high skill ceiling, this job will reward mastery with the highest DPS metrics in your party.
The Reaper job is the most straightforward melee DPS class and can be easily picked up and played. It can provide team buffs and has a flexible burst window thanks to the Soul and Shroud class mechanics. It can cast an AoE teamwide heal, debuff enemies, and have a healthy amount of OGCDs that weave into your main DPS rotation. Reaper is a solid DPS class that can be great for beginners and absolutely lethal for experienced players.
👍A-Tier
Dragoons are a hybrid class of DPS and team utility. They have a variety of OGCDs to weave in while also having high burst window uptimes. One of their raid buffs, Battle Litany, can be given to everyone within the skill’s radius, making the Dragoon class a fine addition to the team. While their mobility skills may cause them to die by falling off ledges, mastering the Dragoon class can allow you to dodge boss mechanics easily. Its most glaring weakness is the animation lock, which can be a death sentence if you mistime your attacks. It also has a strict burst time, for if you mess up the rotation, you could lose minutes of uptime waiting for the next burst window.
The Samurai job is also a greedy DPS class like the Monk, with its high GCD cooldown timer but slightly higher skill ceiling due to the many self-buffing skills it has. Samurai can be relatively simple to pick up but is hard to master once you need to learn how to optimize this class’s rotations. If played normally without optimization in mind, the job becomes a generic melee DPS class that brings nothing unique to the team. Mastering the job will bring out the full potential of the class and will drastically increase your damage if you can activate all its self-buffs on time.
👌🏻B-Tier
The Ninja job can bring some great utility to the team with its ability to debuff a boss, making it take more damage from the entire team within its duration. Much of its difficulty stems from the Mudra system, which requires inputting a string of commands to unleash a Ninjutsu. Some high damaging abilities are Ninjutsus and require a specific input of Mudras to be cast. Messing up an input will be punished with your Mudra charges used up, waiting 30 seconds to get another one.
Caster DPS Tier List
🏆S-Tier
Red Mage is a highly versatile job that can put out as much DPS as it can with support. The Dualcast system alleviates the cast times inherent in this role, as casting a spell will make the next spell be cast instantly. This also makes Red Mage the best battle medic since it can instantly cast Resurrect without waiting the full 10-second cast. It can also rapidly attack in melee range and disengage just as quickly, making this job highly mobile on the arena.
👍A-Tier
The Summoner job is the quintessential pet DPS job, with its ability to summon Primals to deal damage. It is a solid job that excels in single target damage, teamwide buffing, and overall combat ability. Summoners have access to an instant resurrect skill that brings a ton of utility in raid settings, as well as a few other utilities with extra health regeneration and a teamwide damage buff. Its glaring weakness is that once you hit your burst window for Summoner, the filler phase after that will be incredibly weak and there won’t be much you can do until you get your Primal spells back. Still, the job still holds well for Savage raids and beyond, remaining as a great addition to any raid static.
👌🏻B-Tier
Black Mage is one of the most challenging jobs to play but is also the most rewarding. Much of Black Mage’s power is standing still in a specific area, which, in most scenarios, is a death sentence. This job requires not only an intimate knowledge of slide-casting timers but also knowledge of boss attack patterns and sequences to take full advantage of Black Mage’s skillset. It is only recommended for experienced players who know how each boss encounter will play out. Black Mage has some of the highest DPS potentials out of ALL the jobs if fully optimized, but it will take a lot of practice and refinement to reach this high.
