Final Fantasy XIFinal Fantasy News

Basic Professions Uncovered

Details on each of the standard professions in FFXI.

Monday, October 27, 2003

Before you can obtain advanced professions such as Paladin and Ranger, you must level a basic job to level 30. Those jobs are: Warrior, Monk, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage, and Red Mage. Here is a summary of each profession:

Warriors

If you are playing as a Warrior, your job is to “tank” the monster. To tank a monster, use the ability Provoke to get the monster’s attention. The reason to tank is to protect the mages so that they may heal you. Mages cannot cast spells if their spells are interrupted by a monster’s attack. Another reason to tank is because Warriors have better defense than Mages. This relationship between Warriors and Mages require complete faith in each other. When Warriors tank a monster, White Mages are expected to heal the Warrior before himself (unless the mage is near death). Strength, Vitality, Dexterity are important stats for Warriors.

Monks

Monks are meant to be damage dealers in early parts of the game. Do not be surprised to hit harder than Warriors especially if you are using weapon skills. Monks can be good tanks are low levels because at the higher levels, Warriors will get to wear heavy armors compared to the light armors that Monks wear. Strength, Vitality, and Dexterity are important stats for Monks.

Thieves

Thief is an interesting class like the Red Mages because while they carry weapons such as daggers and swords, they are not meant to be front line melees. At lower levels, Thieves are expected to attack normally like a Monk would, but not necessarily tank because Thieves wear light armor as well. Thieves excel in using daggers, which attack more often, however they do not do as much damage per hit compared to swords. Thieves are used for hate control at the higher levels to keep the monster’s attention on the designated tank. In the mean time, a thief’s job in a party is to switch between daggers, swords, and knuckles to accommodate weapon skill chains. Dexterity above all is the most important stats to Thieves because the damage from the job ability Sneak Attack is based on Dexterity.

White Mages

White Mages are the primary healers in a party. Your job is to keep everyone healthy, even if the monster is attacking you when Warrior isn’t doing his job in provoking. When you run out of MP, it is important not to engage the monster because you should spend that time to recover MP back so that you can heal again. Keep in mind that it is also a good idea to warn Warriors that you are low on MP during a battle so that Red Mages can pitch in to heal them. Do not waste MP and over heal with Cure II if Cure I is sufficient in recovering the target’s health. MP, and Mind are important for White Mages because you need MP to cast spells, and Mind to cast them well.

Black Mages

In following the traditions of previous Final Fantasy games, Black Mages cast magic that damages the monster. Old school spells such as Fire, Aero, and Thunder are the types of spells that Black Mages would use. Instead of casting the highest level Black Magic that you have, cast spells that does moderate damage that cost the least MP. In other words, try to pace yourself out because Black Mages need MP to cast spells. This mage tactic is similar to how White Mages should not cast spells that over heals. In a party situation during a battle, stand in the back and cast your magic. This way, if you take the monster’s attention from the Warriors, the monster would have to spend time chasing you. Intelligence and MP are the most important stats to Black Mage.

Red Mages

Red Mages are one of the controversial jobs out there because of the nature of Red Mages. First of all, they carry swords, somewhat heavy armors, and a bit of MP to work with. Because of all those characteristics described above, they tend to be a very flexible class. When fighting with a sword, a Red Mage can hit as hard as a Warrior sometimes, they have decent defense, and MP to cast cures with if needed. This means that Red Mages should play their role according to the party formation. For example, if you party does not have a White Mage, it is your job to cure everyone like a White Mage would. However, Red Mages excel at enfeeble spells. This means that during the earl stages of battle, you should cast spells such as Paralyze to pretend a monster’s blow from time to time, or Dia to lower the monster’s defense and damage. Depending on how you want to develop your Red Mage, some stats, such as MP, or Dexterity could be equally as important as others.

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