best and worst jobs in the new pvp mode?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Josebm

WORST - DRG Pls buff ASAP

---

nice try sir.

I should start ranked, been trying to pick a job for casual runs.

Sage is strange, it's crazy good fun but it's lacking "something". I've won more matches as SGE and see I get more kills than I did on MCH as well as assists. Though there have been matches where we get obliterated. I've seen my team literally melt and oneshotted the moment the rez and enter the fray, even WARs. Maybe we need our LB to put a paralyze effect instead of DoT.

I'm aware of the rampant cheaters, it's a shame.

SGE would feel much better if they simply made it so you can target its shields manually instead of them being tied to Kardia.

WHM really only feels like an outlier compared to the other healers because of Miracle of Nature and its LB IMO.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kyu-Momo

They gave mch and brd cast skills that slow you down. They feel awful.

---

At least MCH has a 1-shot kill ability. With bard, you have to break your hand racking off about 6 shots in rapid succession to pull even half the damage that other classes can just do in 1 or 2 skill presses. Oh, and if you play on console, there's a bug that locks you into permanent walking whenever you fire Powerful Shot while your Frontline March buff is up; so, along with pitiful damage, you're a slow moving target just waiting to die.

Seriously, as a bard, we're just a totem. I hardly see anyone other than me playing bard in ranked CC at gold tier.

My personal experience:

Best - WAR and WHM, they have enough utility to actually perform their roles in a match, as for DPS DRG and RDM have insane burst damage and survivability, RDM even has utility.
Worst - DRK and GNB, they just don't have the damage to compete with DPS jobs nor the utility to compete with WAR so end up being just a waste of slot. Also, I don't play AST but heard from my healer friends that it's awful, so there's that as well, I never see them.

I will turn a blind eye to anyone who leaves a match because they got queued with a BLM on their team.

I don't know where they rank, but I'm having an absolute blast with WHM, SMN and SCH. WAR and DRG are definitely really great as well, I just don't play them often.

So many people listing NIN as SSS tier but you hardly see any NIN at higher levels.

I wonder why is that, is it because a game is usually over in the 30 seconds it takes to get your burst back?

Who knows! Best of luck to you my fellow Hokages. Hope you don't give up on this job for the flavour of the month after trying it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aeliott

I've made it to Crystal almost exclusively on Mnk. Setting my own bias aside, it's...I dunno, very feast or famine? I feel like I'm either dominating or a helpless pup. It has very high single target burst which seems to catch people off guard very often. Ridiculous mobility, likely the highest of all jobs. LB is kind of understated next to the other melees, but it completely locks your target down independent of other CC effects, and you're also able to break shields independent of your warrior. Very handy against solo stall heroes. Not to mention the most responsive and reliable push ability which chunks a lot of aoe damage to boot. The main drawback is ramp up time to Phantom Rush. If you're getting too much heat and can't keep attacking it becomes hard to contribute outside of Enlightenment. It feels very well balanced to me, but if Sam Nin and Drg are the benchmark then people will naturally look down on you. I feel it's one of the stronger of the jobs that isn't really talked about along with AST.

---

I 100% agree on Monk feeling balanced despite being the second worst melee, in a general sense. It just feels like one of the most balanced jobs right now - it has its strengths, it has its weaknesses and has meaningful counterplay. Tbh, instead of buffing everything else to be on par with WAR, SAM, DRG, WHM and RDM, I feel like it'd be better for PvP in the long for them to use jobs like MNK, MCH (aside from the RNG oneshot, that needs to go), AST and SMN as a benchmark and bring all other jobs up/down to their level.
The 7-part combo, despite adding to the skill ceiling of Monk because you actually need to time your setup outside of LB one-shots, just feels very unfun though. They could potentially remove Phantom Rush from the main combo and have it combo out of Enlightenment instead but I'm not sure about that either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bureda

So many people listing NIN as SSS tier but you hardly see any NIN at higher levels.

I wonder why is that, is it because a game is usually over in the 30 seconds it takes to get your burst back?

Who knows! Best of luck to you my fellow Hokages. Hope you don't give up on this job for the flavour of the month after trying it.

---

I was getting run down and repeatedly chunked for like 40% of my hp at a time from NINs last night without it being a stealth ambush I want to note. I dont know what happened skillwise but the utter meme that was NIN in gold and below is gone and now I wish I had pregame bans for them in Plat+ lol. The difference between skill floor and ceiling on NIN seems to be one of the wider gulfs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rael_Norende

Either I'm really bad at this game mode and have no idea what I'm doing (though I did get to Plat), or GNB is the weakest tank.

In some games you literally have ZERO sustain or mitigation as GNB.

You literally cannot tank as a tank job in some games as GNB.

---

Yeah when SAM has a better version of Nebula without relying on the other party makeup to proc it, more self sustain and more cc, you know something went wrong when someone looked at GNB compared to the other tanks lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Qeilos

I was getting run down and repeatedly chunked for like 40% of my hp at a time from NINs last night without it being a stealth ambush I want to note. I dont know what happened skillwise but the utter meme that was NIN in gold and below is gone and now I wish I had pregame bans for them in Plat+ lol. The difference between skill floor and ceiling on NIN seems to be one of the wider gulfs.

---

That would be Mug + ice looking shuriken things + Bunshin for double attacks.

Whenever i have a BLM on my team im thinking "oo free loss" whenever its on the enemy team its "oo free win" is it really that bad. It almost feels like playing BLM is trolling your team atleast in the elo im at.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Oizen

I'm struggling to see what DRK is meant to do other than plunge in, use salted earth then run away.

The HP Drain to Damage gain mechanic is pretty lopsided in that you barely do damage, yet hack off your life to do it anyway. The class has no ranged options, his only stun move is pretty weak imo
Especially when I found out WAR has 3 ranged options and a very strong stun every 15 seconds that also closes distances.

Its sad cause I enjoyed DRK in pvp before this, but now the class feels really clunky in a way where it doesn't even really have a endgoal with its kit. You're not going to be assasinating people with plunge or going on plunge combos like before as your health cannot handle it.
I also don't think you regen enough health for it to matter on Eventide, I ususally find myself at 1hp permanently getting stunned by every single thing under the sun until I die. The only thing I think DRK excels at is stalling.

---

DRK is stall and anti healing. If you want something dead, you pick DRK and plunge/salted earth. They're god awful in Frontline but good in Crystalline conflict since they help a lot against warrior, exploit mage and melee in general due to plunge. Surprisingly tanky when holding a point and have other people in it, but bad everywhere else. They are more like a bruiser than a tank, unlike Warrior/Paladin.

GNB and BLM need serious buffs or even a rework, while Monk/Reaper would be fine if the other three melee were tuned down. I don't want to imagine a buffed Monk/Reaper from its current state, but if they want to make PvP as volatile as it is now, it would be funny to have a melee that will literally never die. Red Mage is probably the best after SAM/DRG/NIN, and I have no idea why people are not abusing it more. Literally unkillable and has both healing and damage out the wazoo.

I'd really only prefer giving the lower tier mdps more play-making potential than bringing other DPS down. I'm a sage main only and I've never felt oppressed by a mdps and appreciate that they can actually move the game along with kills

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VictorSpoils

So far in Frontlines I've seen:

-A DRG with over 40 kills
-SCHs with 80+ assists and 2.5M damage
-6 WHMs in one party (ours)
-13 SMNs on one team
-Virtually no RPRs

---

Adding to this: a match with 5 SCHs from Zalera in the same party topping the leaderboard, one with over 90 assists and 6M damage. Pretty much every encounter had 4 bios on the whole alliance and people could barely outheal the damage.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nav_Fae

SS Tier Jobs: Ninja, Samurai
S Tier Jobs: Warrior, Dragoon, White Mage
A Tier Jobs: Astrologian, Red Mage, Machinist, Dark Knight, Summoner
B Tier Jobs: Sage, Reaper, Bard, Scholar
C Tier Jobs: Monk, Dancer, Gunbreaker
D Tier Jobs: Paladin, Black Mage

---

Having played PvP more since I last commented on it, and played around with other jobs and observed others, I find this to be the most accurate take on where jobs are in terms of strength. Though I'd swap Gunbreaker and maybe Dancer with Paladin. Potentially swap Ninja with Warrior, or just bump Ninja down a tier.

I just don't find much redeeming about Dancer outside of being a dance partner and a situational AoE LB stun that has such a tight window to capitalize on; Whitemage's LB is almost superior in every way outside of differing AoE ranges. Because of it's nerfed attack range (why?), using DNC in Frontlines is almost a death sentence if they want to ever try to contribute with more than half of their skills (though job balance in Frontlines is a different beast for the most part, any job with a powerful AoE LB jumps to top tier). Maybe someone can explain to me why Dancer would be perceived to being a tier above Blackmage.

Paladin isn't strong, but feels like it executes its purpose as a classic tank/disrupter better than Gunbreaker (though Dark knight does it better). If Intervention actually had a stun though...

I think all healers are viable, with White mage and Astrologian having an edge. Sage doesn't have any reliable healing; it needs to be played somewhat aggressively and while being attentive to focused targets (or creating them) with Toxicon's debuff. Between that and their slightly larger (AoE) DPS kit, Sages can be solid provided targets are being focused down together with teammates. The shields and Kardia heals are mostly perks to staying on the offensive (though their LB is a godsend for pushing past the checkpoint/giving your team a breather... if they notice it). Scholar is interesting, in that you can regularly damage buff (and shield your entire team), or damage debuff (and DoT) grouped-up enemies, and increase the damage of the DoT or shield strength with an ability every half a minute that gives an AoE defense bonus. Their LB is also pretty good at keeping your team alive, and I'd argue this makes them the best at "healing," but only in that window of having Seraph. However, they have the worst direct-damage capacity (Mummification's range is pretty pitiful), so Scholars are basically left hoping the rest of their team can capitalize on their buffs.

While Whitemage has some solid abilities, it seems like it's carried entirely by their LB; I will be surprised if it survives a PvP balance patch unscathed. Being able to follow-up the LB with their instant AoEs usually means something is going to die with even a little bit of help from attentive teammates and the imp debuff being versatile enough as a defensive or offensive maneuver. I still stand by Astrologian being the most well-rounded healer, with a potential of up to 4 (instant) heals with HoTs or shields, AoE abilities that can inflict heavy and bind and Macrocosmos that's essentially a nuke to the enemy team and a (delayed) heal to your own. And if you have competent teammates, their balance and spire cards and limit break can quickly turn a fight in your favor.

I think something that would help RPR is to make Death Warrant have three charges on its debuff and a longer duration so you can more reliably get three GCDs off to pop it rather then having to worry about it getting wasted if you get CC'd by somebody.

It would also makes its burst scarier if the debuff trigger can be reliably made to coincide with a weaponskill connecting.

As things currently, the job has decent sustained damage output, but its burst is rather lacking without Plentiful Harvest and/or its LB primed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cidel

I still stand by Astrologian being the most well-rounded healer, with a potential of up to 4 (instant) heals with HoTs or shields, AoE abilities that can inflict heavy and bind and Macrocosmos that's essentially a nuke to the enemy team and a (delayed) heal to your own. And if you have competent teammates, their balance and spire cards and limit break can quickly turn a fight in your favor.

---

I had a big elaborate reply written and the forum ate it apparently.

The Tl;dr was:
1. I wish more healers were based around AST.
2. There's no reason why every class shouldn't have at least one CC skill (GNB and SGE having none is hilarious to me as those are my two faves)
3. SCH and SGE could be made better with SCH getting something like tether/cc/etc and SGE getting something like sorteria/krasis/some new pvp skill since they're one of the few classes that didn't get any pvp unique skill.
4. Create systems where you goad/punish not where spamming zerg rush is the best tactic depending on what classes you were lucky enough to get that run.

It took me a bit to learn how to play SAM buts it is quite a fun class to play in pvp. their cone aoe is brutal and that limit break is so sweet to take down multiple enemies if you got a team that can coordinate with each other.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cidel

Maybe someone can explain to me why Dancer would be perceived to being a tier above Blackmage.

---

From my personal perspective? DNC can atleast keep itself alive, it has decent self peel and survival mechanisms. If someone puts a <1> above a BLM it dies. Full stop.

S: WHM - WAR - DRG - NIN
A: RDM - SAM - SMN - OTHER HEALERS
B: RPR - MNK - BRD - MCH - DRK - BLM
C: GNB - DNC
D: PLD

From my experience healers are too vital to not focus on them, they'll make you waste your burst on their team members a lot without success. That aside best tank is absolutely WAR and DPS I would definetly say DRG.

I have to say i’m so curious on people putting bard fairly high/mid tier. Is it only some people getting the bard bug then? Because i see it currently as the worst job by far in there because due to the bug you’re basically the easiest kill in the world in every single match.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

I have to say i’m so curious on people putting bard fairly high/mid tier. Is it only some people getting the bard bug then? Because i see it currently as the worst job by far in there because due to the bug you’re basically the easiest kill in the world in every single match.

---

I didn't place it high, actually 7th worst, you would rank it in my C or D tier? because those jobs I actually find considerably worse.

I like the reaper... in general. But I hate his LB. Compared to LB of any other melee class, he loses. You may simply not have time to implement it. The same can be said about Plentiful Harvest. To fully realize the ability, you must survive, otherwise you lose all the accumulated stacks. It seems to me that it was necessary to do the loss of half the stacks, but not all.

I don't think there are too many problems with classes in general barring a few glaring exceptions but think you could improve CC instantly by removing most of not all of the stun moves from it.

When you can go from 100% to 0% in under two seconds, there is simply no room for total loss of your character. And don't get me started on how you can chain stuns with no diminishing returns or have classes like Ninja that have multiple of these stuns for hell knows what reason.

Team fights seem to be won and lost by which team has the most stuns and Purify is simply not the answer. Not when time to death is so damn fast. Get put up against too bad of an enemy comp and you are simply not playing the game anymore.