Final Fantasy 14 Reveals Patch 7.1 Job Changes

Key Takeaways

• Job adjustments in Final Fantasy 14 Patch 7.1 aim to close the gap within roles for both PVE and PVP content.
• Significant changes were made to Jobs like Dark Knight, Gunbreaker, Ninja, White Mage, and Black Mage to enhance their abilities.
• Overall, the diverse Crossroads content update introduces quality-of-life changes and opportunities for players to explore different Jobs.

As Final Fantasy 14 underwent server maintenance, Square Enix released the full patch notes for its 7.1 content update and confirmed that several Jobs were adjusted to close the gap within their respective roles. The sweeping Job changes for Final Fantasy 14 were not exclusive to PVE content, as several PVP adjustments were also made in Patch 7.1.

Days before the Crossroads update went live, Final Fantasy 14 gave players a preliminary look at what to expect when servers come back online on November 12. Alongside continued main story quests, Patch 7.1 saw several quality-of-life changes. Between the addition of two dye channels for older glamours like Endwalker‘s Manderville relic weapons, and changes to the Group Pose feature to make it easier for players to take vertical shots, the Crossroads content update is shaping up to be a diverse patch for Final Fantasy 14 overall.

Once Final Fantasy 14 players start Patch 7.1 on November 12, some may notice that other Jobs will feel a little more powerful than before. According to the complete patch notes posted by Square Enix, the Final Fantasy 14 Jobs that saw the most changes were Dark Knight, Gunbreaker, Ninja, White Mage, and Black Mage. The Dark Knight’s self-sustaining woes were addressed, as its Carve and Spit and Abyssal Drain abilities were changed to grant more healing. Rather than reducing its health to one point, Gunbreaker’s Superbolide ability now reduces its health to 50% while still granting invulnerability for 10 seconds. The Ninja’s Dokumori was given area-of-effect damage, and its Ten Chi Jin ability can now be used while moving, as it previously required standing still to be utilized. The White Mage’s Holy spell had its cast time reduced by a second, and the Black Mage was given both a second charge of Ley Lines and changed its Despair spell to be instant cast when under Astral Fire.

Other Jobs, including Machinist, Summoner, and Red Mage, saw their overall damage buffed as a way to close the gap with other DPS Jobs such as Pictomancer. Alongside the PVE Job updates, Final Fantasy 14‘s PVP modes saw significant changes across the board. All Jobs in PVP had their health increased, while Dragoon and Dark Knight were nerfed in Frontline mode. Gunbreaker, Summoner, and Black Mage received overhauled PVP actions, and the mechanical minions of Rival Wings had their health pools increased.

Between the balance changes and other additions arriving in Patch 7.1, Final Fantasy 14 players seeking to try a different Job will have an ideal opportunity. Only time will tell how players will respond to the changes.

Final Fantasy 14 Patch 7.1 Job Changes (November 12, 2024)

PVE Job Adjustments

• In Patch 7.1, we’ve made several adjustments to the potencies of actions to address issues with the overall balance of DPS within each role.
• To further improve the ease of gameplay, we’ve also made more detailed adjustments, such as changing the required level of certain actions, increasing their area of effect, and fine-tuning their hit detection.

Tank

• Abilities that prevent incapacitation, such as Hallowed Ground and Living Dead, have been adjusted across all tank jobs, allowing their status effects to be applied more quickly.
• We believe this will ensure players can more readily make use of these abilities when taking heavy damage from enemies.

Paladin

• The required level to learn Intervene has been lowered to better align it with the movement abilities of other tank jobs.
• We’ve also increased the effective range of Cover to improve ease of use.

Dark Knight

• The required level to learn Dark Missionary has been lowered to better align it with the defensive party abilities of other tank jobs.
• To improve survivability when taking damage from large groups of enemies, the cure potency of Abyssal Drain has been increased.
• Moreover, the additional effect “Restores own HP” has been added to its single-target counterpart, Carve and Spit.
• Lastly, to address disparities in physical defense among tank jobs, the abilities Dark Mind and Dark Missionary will now also reduce physical damage taken.

Gunbreaker

• The cartridge cost of Double Down has been reduced to improve ease of use.
• Because this cost reduction allows for greater use of Burst Strike and Hypervelocity, we’ve chosen to reduce the potency of the latter.
• That said, gunbreaker will still see an overall increase in their DPS.
• To improve gunbreaker’s survivability, we’ve increased the cure potency of Aurora.
• Moreover, to address disparities in physical defense among tank jobs, Heart of Light will now also reduce physical damage taken.

Dragoon

• To help prevent DPS loss when it’s necessary to keep distance from an enemy, we’ve increased the potency of Piercing Talon.
• An additional effect further increasing its potency has also been added to Elusive Jump.
• To reduce the number of actions executed during damage burst phases, players will no longer gain multiple stacks of Nastrond Ready.
• Because this change greatly affects dragoon DPS, we’ve made further adjustments to other actions to maintain balance among melee DPS jobs.

Ninja

• The effect of Ten Chi Jin will no longer end upon moving, which we believe will improve its ease of use.
• Similarly, Dokumori has been changed to an area of effect attack.
• To help prevent DPS loss when it’s necessary to keep distance from an enemy, we’ve increased the potency of Throwing Dagger.
• Please note, however, that this change is meant only to supplement the use of ninjutsu, which allows ninjas to deal high damage at range.

Black Mage

• To help improve black mage’s mobility in combat, we’ve reduced the cast time of Flare and Despair.
• We’ve also made Ley Lines a charged action, making it easier to use outside of burst damage phases.
• While the effect potency of Enochian has been slightly reduced, the above changes should result in an overall increase in black mage’s DPS.

Summoner

• The combo requirement for Crimson Strike has been removed, and it will now require the status effect “Crimson Strike Ready” to execute.
• Previously, the actions Inferno, Earthen Fury, and Aerial Blast were incorrectly set to 750 potency, despite their descriptions stating a potency of 800.
• This issue has been resolved, and their values now match their descriptions.

Healer

• To help improve ease of use, Esuna’s cast time has been made instant.

White Mage

• To allow players to use abilities between spell casts, the cast time of Holy and Holy III has been reduced.

Scholar

• The MP cost of area-of-effect healing actions has been reduced to help improve MP management.
• Previously, the actions Embrace and Seraphic Veil were incorrectly set to a cure potency of 150, despite their descriptions stating a potency of 180.
• After careful consideration, we’ve determined that a potency of 180 would not disrupt game balance and have therefore increased their cure potency to match their descriptions.

Astrologian

• To ensure all targets can be reached when battling groups of enemies, the area of effect for Gravity and Gravity II has been increased.
• This should be especially helpful when larger enemies are among the targets.

PVP Job Adjustments

• Much like with PVE actions at the release of Dawntrail, we have introduced several new PvP actions, and made adjustments to pre-existing ones to better highlight the unique aspects of each job.
• We’ve also made changes to certain Jobs’ mechanics to provide players with a more enjoyable gaming experience.
• Because the additions and adjustments made in this patch were so extensive, we have elected to forgo overviews of individual jobs.
• To help players better contend with enemy burst damage, all jobs will see an increase to their maximum HP, and the recast time of Purify has been reduced.
• Moreover, we’ve increased the potency of basic weaponskills and spells considered to be less effective than most, to help place a greater emphasis on sustained damage.
• Patch 7.1 will also usher in improvements to hit detection, which we believe will significantly affect job balance.
• We will continue to monitor the situation and consider further adjustments as needed, so we encourage you all to join the fray and give us your feedback.