With the latest Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter before the Dawntrail expansion, we could finally have a better look at the updated job actions and changes we’ll be seeing during the upcoming expansion. Here are all the announced job changes for FFXIV and how our favorite jobs will play when Dawntrail drops.
All Job Changes From the Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Live Letter
While not all changed were documented, we had some brief visual and written info on how these jobs will play and feel during the next expansion. More should be revealed as the expansion itself arrives, but we do have enough for speculation until now.
Tanks
General changes for all Tanks include upgrading all of their 30% damage reduction skills with new animations, as well as upgrading Reprisal to last for 15s. Aside from that, everyone’s also getting new skills to mess around with.
Paladin
Atonement is now changing to have different skill animations for its second and third uses, now being completely new skills with the same button. The job is also getting small changes to how certain skills are used, as well as an update to Requiescat and a new cast after Blade of Valor is used.
Warrior
With a new cast to be used after three uses of Decimation or Fell Cleave while under Inner Release, Warrior has a more strict rotation during their one-minute phases. There’s also a new cast to be used after Primal Rend, giving it even more burst options. Mix it with the new skills we could see in the trailer and it looks like Warrior will have both more offensive and defensive options throughout this expansion.
Dark Knight
Dark Knights received changes to their basic skills, with the most notable one being merging Blood Weapon and Delirium into one. As for new skills, we can mention a new cast after Living Shadow, but nothing much different seems to have been added yet.
Gunbreaker
As the most recent Tank released, Gunbreaker has received few changes since its release. Instead of a fourth cartridge, they got a Continuation combo for Fated Circle, as well as a new 3-hit combo after using Bloodfest, increasing even further their output during burst windows. So much for the offensive-based tank.
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Melee DPS
All melees now have a stronger healing on Second Wind, as well as an extension to Feint (to align it with the Reprisal changes). Positional requirements are still here, fortunately, and each of the jobs received some unique changes to how they play.
Monk
Monk has a completely new set of visual abilities, which are available after certain combo conditions are met, much like how their burst already works. However, two aspects have been removed as it no longer has its buff or its DoT. Combo flow should still be the same regardless.
Dragoon
Dragoon received a full rework with big changes to its gameplay. A new action was added as the fifth hit of their combo, and it has no positional requirements to make their lives easier. Life of the Dragon can now be granted right from the start of the fight too, making their bursts a bit stronger. However, some skills had to be removed to make their rotation smoother. Spineshatter Dive took the hit for us this time. More changes should be revealed later.
Ninja
The Huton buff is now a passive effect for ninjas, with the actual Jutsu becoming an AoE damaging variant. Many animation changes are coming to things like Mug, Trick Attack and Hellfrog Medium from what we’ve seen in the quick trailer,
Samurai
Samurai might be the Melee who mostly remains unchanged. Hissatsu: Kaiten is not making its return, despite what some believed, but Samurais have some new animations for some of their main skills (such as Hakaze and Midare Setsugekka), as well as some QoL changes to make it easier to land the right skills during their burst phase. Third Eye is also getting an upgrade, from what we could see in the video.
Reaper
Plentiful Harvest now directly allows Reapers to use Enshroud instead of simply increasing their gauge, allowing for smarter usage of it. Their transformed state is also receiving a new trick to use, and their main skills Gallows and Gibbet have new animations to bring to the table. Aside from that, their mobility skills Hell’s Ingress and Hell’s Egress have reduced cooldown if Enhanced Harpe is used.
Viper
As a new job, we could finally see how Viper plays out in real combat, where it constantly changes between three different stances, where it can either apply buffs to itself, debuff its target and choose a stance to use their powerful, swift slashes. Skills can be chained between Single Target and AoE, making for even smoother rotations. There are fewer skill icons on the job bar, but many possible combos.
Ranged DPS
Similar to Melees, Second Wind is now more powerful to use, and their damage reduction skills are now boosted to reduce up to 15% of received damage to the whole party. Pretty much the basic stuff until here.
Bard
Bards can finally use their Song buffs without a target, allowing them to keep their songs even during downtime. This is huge for the job’s viability in long fights such as Ultimates, which are always filled with periods where they’re forced to adjust their songs to fit the encounter. Some other smaller QoL changes were mentioned such as merging the Straight Shot Ready/Shadowbite Ready procs and turning Pitch Perfect into AoE. We could also see new animations during the video.
Machinist
Similar to Reaper, Barrel Stabilizer now allows you to use your Heat Blast combo without spending gauge. Speaking of which, its animations seem to be different now. We could also see a new skill used immediately after Chain Saw, as well as Drill having two charges, allowing for an even better burst.
Dancer
Dancer had more modest changes, but new things like a follow-up to Flourish are being added, as well as a new skill to follow up Technical Finish. More changes such as something that looks like an update to Saber Dance can be seen, but we still need to wait to see more about it.
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Magical DPS
The biggest general change is the cooldown change for Swiftcast down to 40 seconds, allowing for even more quick actions throughout a fight. Addle is also receiving the same streamlining change for lasting up to 15s. But individually, all jobs have seen some significant changes.
Black Mage
A huge change for mana gains is now introduced when using Ice-based Spells, as well as finally having the ability to reposition your Leylines once during its duration, allowing for even more mobility during the burst phase. There also seems to be a new finisher-type skill from what we’ve seen in the video, but we’ll only know more about it in the future.
Summoner
Perhaps the most apparent change is that Summoner now has Solar Bahamut, a new version of his main summoning skill to burst his opponents. Most importantly, much was discussed about whether Summoner would keep their resurrection skill or not, but it was ultimately decided they would keep it during the 7.0 expansion. The question will be raised again in the future, where they may not keep it.
Red Mage
Similar to Machinist and Reaper, Manafication will now allow you to cast the finisher combo without spending your Mana gauge, giving you an easier time when saving resources. The AoE Mana combo is now changed to cost up to only 50 Mana too, streamlining it with the single target variant. New skills were also shown during the video, but we haven’t seen much more about them.
Pictomancer
Pictomancers have three different Canvas where they prepare Creatures (powerful spells built up over time), Weapons (a powerful, fast-paced combo) and Landscapes (buffs to the whole party). Aside from that, they can also use their other paint gauges to unleash other combos, alternating between white and black paint. With lots of possible casts and a lot of utility such as a dash, it seems like they’re a great addition to the caster role, being quite unique in the way they play out.
Healers
Just like casters, healers have now a 40s cooldown on Swiftcast, making it easier to revive people during progression. This could mean an easier time to learn a new fight, but could also point at future encounters being even harder to the point where the quick casts are necessary.
White Mage
One of the biggest winners from the changes, White Mage has the same dash from PvP implemented into PvE. Changes were mostly focused on new offensive skills, such as a new 3-stack attack available after Presence of Mind, but new skills that seem to be an upgraded version for Medica are also seen during the showcase.
Scholar
Leaning even further on their Fairy Mage identity, Scholar has now a fairy transformation where they get enhanced healings and a new visual. Chain Stratagem has a follow-up hit too, focused on AoE situations.
Astrologian
The other big rework in this expansion is for Astrologian, which is getting its RNG completely removed for once. Seals and Astrodyne are gone, and they can now draw a set of three specific cards at once with different effects. New cards can be drawn every 60 seconds. Most of their heals look the same, but Essential Dignity is getting yet another use to make it even easier to heal single targets. A better insight in this new card system should be available at a later point.
Sage
Finally, Sage had small but impactful changes. Their AoE attack can now be enhanced by Eukrasia, turning it into an AoE damage-over-time skill. While not many animation changes were introduced, we also got a new skill which is an AoE version of Kardia. It only lasts for a few seconds, but it’s one of the most powerful new healing tools introduced.
Overall, all job changes introduced in Dawntrail feel like natural progressions for their jobs, as well as various quality-of-life changes here and there. Some of them seem to be more drastic than others (especially the reworks), but we need to wait and see how they’ll actually feel to play in a real environment before taking conclusions. There’s only a few weeks to go, so we’ll be seeing that really soon.
Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail releases on July 2nd, 2024. Early Access begins on June 28th.
