With over 17 jobs to choose from in Final Fantasy XIV it’s tough for players to know which one to choose. Fans will largely agree that no one class is superior to others as much of the game is based around group play and everyone has their job to do.
Instead what matters is how well the player masters their job in battle. There’s no point in being the strongest job on paper if the player doesn’t know how to do the job well, so this guide will rank the jobs based on how easy they are for the average player to pick up.
17 Red Mage
The Red Mage is easily one of the easiest classes for players to master. Its main role in combat is to deal as much ranged damage as quickly as possible to the enemy. Granted they do have access to white mage which enables them to heal allies, but this is more of a fallback if the main healers die rather than a priority for the Red Mage.
There is a little bit of timing and resource management, but nothing like the other classes. It’s a simple job that’s great for beginners to the game.
16 Monk
The Monk is a close-ranged DPS brawler. They’re required to chain and combo attacks together to boost and sustain their DPS output. They use their abilities to stun and silence enemies which makes them important team members as they can put a stop to problems quickly. It’s a great melee class for new players looking to get into group play.
15 White Mage
The White Mage is the group’s primary healer. Their job is to keep allies on their feet with a variety of healing and reviving spells. The act of triage in the middle of a fight can be tricky at times and balancing resources to have spells at the ready is a learning process. But it’s very easy to pick up and become effective at.
14 Paladin
Paladin is probably the easiest tank job for players starting in the game. Their main job is to keep the enemies attention on them and not the other players. This means using skills to bring the hordes in and using different skills to survive the onslaught as long as possible. While the job is relatively easy to master the group role is another story and might not be the best class for players looking for something more passive.
13 Samurai
The Samurai is very similar to the Monk in many ways in that it’s all about mastering the timing and flow of combo attacks. The Samurai tends to ignore what the group is doing and focus on the enemies in front of them. This pure DPS based job makes it very easy to pick up as they’re focused on cutting enemies down one by one.
12 Bard
The Bard is an interesting job as their main priority is to support and benefit their allies through song. They do fight with a bow, but because the job is oriented towards support the damage is more to help others take down something faster.
Knowing when to trigger a ballad can be tricky and maintaining awareness of the entire group and the enemy isn’t for everyone.
11 Ninja
The Ninja is one of the more hands-on jobs in the game. It’s similar to the Monk or Samurai in that the player is stringing combos together to take opponents out, but these combos are a bit more complex with hand-signs. This is a good melee class to practice transitioning into more complicated jobs.
10 Warrior
The Warrior is a more complex tank than the Paladin. Not only are they keeping the enemies’ attention on them, but they also have to manage the damage they receive to their advantage. It’s a tricky dance knowing when to trigger abilities and when to let the enemies carve and slice just a little longer to manage cooldowns better.
9 Machinist
The Machinist has powerful attacks that can function a bit oddly at times. Most of the difficulty with this job is knowing when to unleash an attack and when to keep the powder dry. There’s also a bit of resource management thanks to overheating gear and having enough juice in the batteries.
8 Astrologian
The Astrologian is another healer, but one that isn’t as straight forward as the White Mage. Part of this is because they have three main responsibilities; heal allies, shield allies, and buff them. For some players, that’s a lot of responsibility to handle and knowing whether it's better to heal or shield can get tricky.