I love Final Fantasy. It's probably my favorite video game series (as I mention here), and Final Fantasy XIV is a decade-plus of Final Fantasy imagery and references dotting an excellent standalone setting and story, celebrating Final Fantasy better than any other media, ever. I haven't been an FF14 player from the beginning, but once I got into it, it became one of my most-played games of the last 10 years.
My first binge into FF XIV was in 2016, when I played through all of the A Realm Reborn main story quest (MSQ) and part of the postgame; I think I was subscribed for four months, but it was so long ago that I don't remember. In 2019, with a lot of buzz surrounding the Shadowbringers expansion, I played through all of Heavensward and Stormblood over a period of six months. After a break, I played for another six months in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, playing through all of Shadowbringers and leveling up every job to at least 50. And those jobs, they're a key part of why I love FFXIV.
My 2025 gaming goals are in shambles, and it's in large part to falling back into this old habit. I've sunk over 300 hours into Final Fantasy XIV over the last six months (I'm too scared to do hard research into a more exact hour count) and it's a double-edged sword. I love Final Fantasy XIV and consider it to be an excellent video game, but it also brings out my worst video game instincts and behaviors with its powerful slow drip of rewards for its grind.
Over last six months, I finished the Endwalker and Dawntrail expansions to FF XIV and got every single combat job to level 90 (100 is the max, and I have three jobs there). I get weird about Final Fantasy jobs. They represent significant gameplay aspects and character archetypes of many Final Fantasy games, and in Final Fantasy XIV each job has a specific visual aesthetic and a dedicated optional storyline. I love them.
Whenever a new expansion for FF14 is announced, what new jobs are added are a bullet point of excitement and hype. I can't wait to see what new jobs are included in the (probably) 2026 expansion, especially if we get four first new tank job since 2019. I even wrote a speculative Final Fantasy jobs post back in 2019 that ended up mostly incorrect. Many FF14 players claim that jobs have become too simplified and homogenized over the last few years (and frankly I get it, because some level 80 rotations 5 years ago were complicated AF), but I still love them. At least enough to rank my favorites.
But enough talk! I've played every single job in FFXIV through to level 90 content, with nine of them all the way from level 1. This is my public, ranked list of combat jobs in Final Fantasy XIV as of patch 7.35 in November 2025. The only criterion is how much I like it. Sometimes it’s for mechanical reasons, sometimes for style reasons, but always for “does it feel fun to play?” reasons. Let’s begin:
Sollosi's Top Ten Combat Jobs in Final Fantasy XIV
Unranked
Blue Mage is weird, since it can’t be used for current story content and doesn’t level up and learn skills like normal jobs. Like it does in several other Final Fantasy games, BLU learns skills observed from monsters and uses them to fight stronger monsters, but in FFXIV it caps at twenty levels below other jobs, and its cane weapon doesn't confer any stats. BLU is fun sometimes, but also just… annoying? I wish it had actual functional weapons and story viability, but it doesn’t, and I don’t have it at a high level. Thus, BLU gets an unofficial last place.
Number Twenty-One
Machinist (MCH)
The fantasy and flavor of MCH is dope - you can summon drones and robots, and fire off rapid-fire shots with your gun in a burst damage window. But ultimately, it’s an uninteresting combo rotation with high mobility, medium-low damage, and two forgettable support skills, and that’s a bummer. There are many other DPS jobs to play that feel more powerful and/or interesting. Plus, I’m not really a video game guns guy.
Hard choice putting AST or MCH last, but while I don’t love either job AST is at least more interesting. AST is a healer with some awkwardness to its casts, including rotating windows of boosts, heals, and offense based on card draws. It also has less healing oomph than WHM and worse shields than SCH or SGE but is above-par in both fields. The starry animations are cool, but I never feel like I know what I’m doing as an AST. No thanks.
Number Nineteen
Bard (BRD)
I like BRD's myriad bardsongs and skill procs more than the MCH’s combos punctuated by blazing guns every 30-ish seconds (proc = an ability or trait that activates based on a % chance rather than a cooldown). Also, BRD has some pretty good party boosts and freedom of choice in your rotation. None of that is bad, but I find the BRD lacking in both power and style, which is a rough combination. Maybe I'm not a video game bows guy either? I just don’t love what two-thirds of FF XIV’s ranged DPS jobs bring to the table.
Number Eighteen
Paladin (PLD)
I consider myself a tank main, and Paladin is simply the most boring tank. Very staid damage rotation (mostly true for all tanks), but the side hustle of priestly spellcasting is… kinda lame. They have a ton of good-to-great OGCD defensive skills, but so do the other three tanks (OGCD = Off Global Cool Down, skills that can be cast at almost any time and not part of a combo rotation). PLD does get better with some skill upgrades around level 82-86, and I think it’s strong in advanced content, but I’m not into it.
Number Seventeen
Ninja (NIN)
NIN(s) are great to have around, since everyone loves taking advantage of their excellent vulnerability debuff, but are a bit of a chore to play properly. The main rotation is even lamer than a Paladin’s, and their ten-chi-jin skill system is complex and powerful but rarely feels good to pull off. And it doesn't help that it's the most support-oriented of the six melees, with lower damage numbers than the other five. NIN can be quite effective in the right hands, but it's my least-favorite melee DPS in FF14. Even though they are undeniably cool in looks and moves.
Number Sixteen
Number Fifteen
Pictomancer (PCT)
PCT is one of the two newest jobs in FFXIV, and it's neither the easiest- nor hardest-to-play caster and neither the strongest nor weakest caster, but probably the overall silliest. PCT can summon Moogles and giant hammers for a few of its stronger spells, and its cartoony flavor is definitely fun. But I admit that while I like the OGCD skills and support spells, and don't mind the easy rotation, PCT doesn't feel as powerful or as stylish as other caster jobs. PCT is fun to take into instances, but it's not a new personal favorite.
Number Fourteen
I respect good SCH players so much. Their shielding spells are great but not always easy to manage, and I think if played properly SCH is the best healer job in the game. I also love that the fairy summon takes some of the heat off of HP mitigation! But SCH isn't close to being a main, because its spell loadout is less intuitive than the two healers ranked higher and the fantasy of “science strategist” isn’t for me. But SCH is good as hell, and a perfect choice for people who like highly technical shields-first healer jobs.
Number Thirteen
I think that BLM is the highest-DPS job in all of FFXIV, but that might be old information, and I don’t want to dive into tier list hell to check. But I can confirm that you get MASSIVE numbers and BIG COOL EXPLOSIONS all the time playing BLM, with the downsides of zero support abilities, a complex spell rotation, and pitifully bad mobility. Seriously, you are as agile as a potted plant when you roll BLM. But I dig the classic fire, ice, and lightning magic trinity that they wield, and the explosions are GREAT.
Number Twelve
I think DRK is quite boring at low levels (to be fair many jobs are, especially tanks), but I like its persistent Darkside buff more than most other tank damage buffs, and I also prefer the DRK's OGCD skills to PLD ones (and even most WAR OGCDs). Then level 70 happens and it’s all over - Blackest Night and Living Shadow are SUCH strong, cool, and fun skills that they lift DRK by 4+ spots in this list. It also helps that black armor and huge greatswords are sick as hell.
Number Eleven
These next five or so jobs are the hardest for me to rank, because none of them are my “mains” but I genuinely like using all of them. SMN has a simple rotation for a caster job (This was NOT the case eight or nine years ago when I first tried it), plus good damage and VERY cool summoned monsters for flavor, especially at higher levels. You also get a few heal and revive spells for backup. I wish SMN was more mechanically interesting, but I like its core concept and can’t knock its brilliantly flashy dragons and phoenixes. Maybe that's the fantasy monster fan in me.
Number Ten
RPR has an easy combo rotation with a very specific damage window for maximum effectiveness but absolutely oozes style and grim-darkness with its robes and scythes, making it a perfect melee job for millennial recovering edgelords like yours truly. Soul Reaver and Enshroud combos are especially tasty to pull off. RPR is like a melee MCH or an offensive DRK but with tighter design sensibilities, making it more entertaining than either. Definitely fun to mess around with, but there are a few melee DPS jobs I like more.
Number Nine
Probably the most stylish healer job in FF XIV, Sages wear fantasy-styled medical robes and wield floating Noulith crystals that can attack, shield, and heal via telekinesis. I love the Kardia shield spell that rewards constant attacks and the Eukrasia skills that switch between shielding and healing depending on the situation, but I admittedly struggle with SGE in advanced content (I think I attack too often and don't shield enough?). Sage is super fun to play, but I worry I'm not healer enough to handle it.
Number Eight
Remember when I said NIN was “a chore to play properly”? Well, MNK was way, way worse back in 2020 and is now only marginally easier (two positional attack skills instead of six-plus). MNK at least has high damage, stylish martial arts, and decent group buff skills to dull the pain of dealing with hyperactive combos and frenetic stance-dancing. The rotation becomes less rigid once you get late-game skills, but it's still frantic as fuck. Pugilist was my starting class back in 2016, which earns MNK extra points in 2025, but in every era of FF XIV MNK feels fast, powerful, and versatile, and my favorite vehicle for living out a wuxia fantasy in Eorzea.
Number Seven
White Mage (WHM)
I think WHM is the most satisfying healer to play, because the spells just feel good (I love the switch from combo heals to majority-OGCD heals around level 50-56). Especially the offensive-heals like Assize and the Afflatus line. WHM gives you the biggest and best HP restoration spells of any class with surprisingly okay mobility at the expense of limited shield spells and healer-ass offense. Healer is my least-favorite role to play in FFXIV, but WHM is by far the healer job I’m most comfortable taking into a raid. Also, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD LILY.
Number Six
RDM is a caster anomaly, as it's unencumbered by casting speed around 50% of the time, has just as many skill procs as BRD or DNC, and packs a series of melee combos as one of its most powerful damage payoffs. RDM even has decent revive spell! That you can skip the cast time for! It seems unintuitive that a rapier-wielding swashbuckler is a mage job, but RDM wears it proudly with an unconventional moveset that lacks the raw power of a BLM's but makes up for it in versatility. Not to mention that DRIP.
Number Five
SAM has so many options that I feel like I'm gazing at the best sushi buffet I've ever seen every time an instance begins. The six-part main combo serves multiple skill and stack gauges that pay off into snappy OGCD Kenki skills and DEVASTATING Iaijutsu combos that always feel great to execute. Later skills just introduce more fun treats to the smorgasbord, including ways to get those Kenki and Iajustsu skills activated more often. Samurai is considerably slower paced than MNK or VPR but delivers monstrous damage numbers with flair and aplomb. (If you couldn't already tell, I really enjoy playing melee DPS. It's tied with tanking for my favorite role and comprises four of the top ten).
Number Four
I wish I could tell you why I find DNC so fun and the other two rangers so pedestrian. The DNC damage rotation is a flowy combo heavily built on procs, but Technical Step and Dance Partner are two of the most satisfying buffs in the game. Also, pulling off a flurry of fans and chakrams during Technical Step feels great every time. DNC is amazing at support and mobility and kinda low for damage, but I love it. I always feel like I'm contributing when I take it into a raid.
Number Three
My favorite melee DPS job has the power of a SAM, the speed of a MNK, and the style of a RPR. Free-flowing swashbuckling animations (your swords can combine together!) are the shiny veneer over a six-button rotation that's really a two-button game of "follow the flashing light," but made more complex with a stronger cooldown-limited advanced rotation and a flashy payoff combo, all of which have fancy inter-cooldown skills. Look, this is the job for you if you want a melee DPS that feels like an anime protagonist; VPR is strong AF and cool AF, despite lacking any support skills whatsoever.
Number Two
A tank that feels like playing melee DPS? Sign me up! GNB has a basic-ass main rotation (like every tank) and a handful of reliable OGCD defensive skills (also like every tank) but blazing-fast-for-a-tank combo payoffs and meaty between-cooldown bonus strikes that look and feel great. Maybe it's because of the relentless attacks and quick-filling meter, but I think that GNB has the highest single-target damage of the tanks, with downsides of weaker protection skills than DRK or PLD and less self-healing than WAR. GNB is one of my favorite jobs to take for a spin under most circumstances, because I love its core skills and also its "resolute bodyguard" vibe.
Number One
Whenever I roll WAR, I feel like I'll never die. Even if I don't know the boss battle. Even if I accrue five-plus Vulnerability stacks. Even if my healer is untrustworthy. Especially after level 56 when I get some improved OGCD self-healing skills. WAR has a very basic set of combos that result in a few equally basic stronger hits governed by a meter and a flat damage buff called Surging Tempest, with occasional windows of MASSIVE damage with guaranteed critical hits using skills like Inner Release, Infuriate, and Fell Cleave. And that feels strong and satisfying, but let's be real: I love the power fantasy of a barbarian axe fighter thriving on pure beef and rage. When I play as a WAR I am at my tankiest and living my best FFXIV life.
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Whew, that was a long one. But hey, FF XIV deserves it. It's an unapologetic MMO grind loaded with repeatable filler quests, but I love its style, storytelling, and Final Fantasy-ness. Of the twenty-two (!) jobs above, really the top six are my "mains," RPR, SMN, DRK, and MNK are fun diversions, and I'll play SGE or WHM with some reticence if I have to heal. Those are the twelve I roll with.
I'm going to stop playing FF XIV very soon for another long break of at least a year (probably), but until then I'm having a blast playing Final Fantasy dress-up. Then maybe I'll revisit those game goals. We'll see. Happy gaming!
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