If you are a [JOB] without [Ability], you are holding back your team at endgame

It seems a lot of people are in the same situation, for me, I am leveling LNC to 34 and MRD to 26 for the abilities to use with MNK.

I however find it quite painful to level two jobs I have no interest in, however, as also said earlier, it does improve performance (when used correctly ). It also can, depending on the job, add more utility and situation dependent skills to use. I have to grin and bear it, like I did in FF11 :).

For MNK though: Rupture, Blood for Blood, Invigorate

I think whether you get cross class skills ultimately depends on what you want your focus to be in game. You can probably get away with not having some of the more essential cross class skills (Blood for Blood, Invigorate, Swiftcast, etc.) if you don't plan on doing much past Garuda.

However, for fights like Titan and beyond, having these skills helps bolster your group a lot. I can also see people being left in the cold because if you compare someone who has their cross class skills vs. someone who doesn't, there is quite a good chance that the person with those extra skills will tank better/do more damage/heal better.

Nature of the game is to level more than one class/job anyways :)

Edit: I should be clear, as a leader of a Free Company that does Coil (currently on Turn 4), which you may not want to level a class to get a skill that may seem essential, it is not my duty to take you to a raid when you are potentially hurting us all on fights that can be rather demanding. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

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Originally Posted by Jynxii

***Edited the post to reflect what others have mentioned throughout the thread. Mantra is definitely a 'long haul' skill, but it has been mentioned that it would definitely help with efficiency during some of the more healing intensive, or rather, damage intensive moments. And of course, I don't have experience with all classes, so I may have some things wrong. Alternatively you can head over to ffxivinfo.com and look up the job ini question, and it will tell you which cross-skills are available.

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Actually I think your list is way wrong. You're ignoring the fact that we're limited in off skill slots, and a lot of the skills you list are just absolutely not worth slotting over other useful things.

A SCH doesn't need stoneskin. The only time it's really remotely useful is when speed running AK for that extra buffer of health on the tank. It's basically pointless in a 8 man because you will, or should, have a WHM.


No one needs to get MRD to mercy stroke. Mercy stroke is such a meager addition to your appreciable dps that it's a joke. A 200 potentcy attack on a 90 second cooldown is so meager it's hardly worth mentioning. Not only that it can only be used when the target is below 20% health. Most bosses don't spend over 2 minutes below 20% health, which means you end up getting 1 hit of 200 potency out of it during a fight - completely pointless. Trying to time a kill with it is also basically impossible in any sort of group setting - it's hard enough solo.

Mantra is debatable. 10% additional healing received on a 120 second cooldown for nearby party members. This isn't something a DPS should be that worried about taking. For a WAR, it is more debatable. But you're usually better off with other skills, which makes the utility of leveling up to Mantra marginal at best.

A SCH will need to get THM to 26 to get Swift Cast.
A WHM will need to get THM to 26 for Swiftcast and ACN to 34 for Eye for an Eye,
A MNK will need to get DRG to 34 Blood for Blood and Invigorate.
A DRG will need to get MRD to PGL to 12 for Internal Release.
A BRD will need to get DRG to 34 for Blood for Blood and PGL to 12 for Internal Release.
A WAR will need to get GLD to 22 for Provoke and PGL to 12 for Internal Release.
A SMN will need to get THM to 26 for Swift Cast.
A GLD will need to get CNJ to 34 for Stone Skin and MRD to 8 for Blood Bath.

I think this list is more sensible and reasonable. You might argue that a MRD should get GLD to 34 for awareness. But at that point you're really splitting hairs over what you are taking into any encounter.

I don't quite agree on Mercy Stroke. Usually on a boss that is near death on my Monk I can get it to hit for ~500-600 as a crit, which is quite a significant bit. It even beats out Snap Punch, which is probably the hardest hitting Monk skill. And it isn't always a "use once" mechanic, I've found time to use it twice on quite a few fights, most notably Cadeuceus in Turn 1 of Coil.

Mantra is an amazing skill when it's from a Monk. When it isn't, it's kind of just a nice skill to have.
Also: You left BLM off your list :)

I play SCH and BLM, for sch you'll need swiftcast, NEED! For whm it helps also, swiftcast raise, swiftcast ressurection, swiftcast summon pet. ALL mages can equip eye for an eye, its a debuff on the mob that makes them do less dmg, you pop it on the tank, its acn level 34, I really think anyone who can cross class it should have it, which is SMN, SCH, BLM, WHM, all mages. I already had cnj to 38 pre 2.0, so I had stoneskin and protect already, I only see it useful if you're doing four man and you're the only healer. 8 man I prefer one sch one whm, instead of two whm or two sch. It saves both of our mp if we just do little adloquidium and cures together.

PLD its less important what you get from MRD, but WAR needs GLA abilities a little bit more, since they have a lack of dmg negation. Either way if you're career tanking its smart to just get both to 50 that way whatever people need, you can tank it. (My boyfriend is a career tank so I'm taking a lot of his advice on this, but I don't know all the specifics). On pld you'll cure yourself for pathetic numbers, but cure is level 2, so no excuse not to have it, I can't really see how efficient stoneskin is since you might need mp for a flash and your mp pool is pathetic.

In all honesty, it's no problem if some players don't want to maximize the effectiveness of their class/job by unlocking cross-class abilities. That's your prerogative and is absolutely acceptable. Where the conflict comes in is if you are of that attitude, but still want to participate in the most challenging content a game offers. Just remember, that if someone is putting together a group for challenging content and have the option to bring someone that does have a more optimized character it is also their right to do so. It would be the logical choice for them to make (assuming all other factors are equal) .

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Originally Posted by MelianDoriath

I don't quite agree on Mercy Stroke. Usually on a boss that is near death on my Monk I can get it to hit for ~500-600 as a crit, which is quite a significant bit. It even beats out Snap Punch, which is probably the hardest hitting Monk skill. And it isn't always a "use once" mechanic, I've found time to use it twice on quite a few fights, most notably Cadeuceus in Turn 1 of Coil.

Mantra is an amazing skill when it's from a Monk. When it isn't, it's kind of just a nice skill to have.
Also: You left BLM off your list :)

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It's justifiable as a monk because there isn't a 5th skill to really cross class. Same with Dragoon. But it's definitely not great. Even if you crit twice, you're still talking ~1000 additional damage over what is around a 7 minute fight.

It works out to ~2 additional DPS. Yes, it's more than nothing, but it really isn't something that is really necessary to go out of your way for. Yes reducing it to dps is a little 1 dimensional because of where the DPS comes, but the point is it's hardly a necessary skill. Comparing it to say, Blood for Blood or Internal Release and it isn't even in the same ballpark.

Maybe I went overboard with saying it is completely pointless, but my point is that it's definitely not a necessary cross class skill. Not like Swiftcast, or Blood for Blood, or Provoke, etc.

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Originally Posted by Hachiko

A BRD will need to get DRG to 34 for Blood for Blood and PGL to 12 for Internal Release.

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You're already gonna be level 15 on PGL to be a BRD in the first place, so posting about PGLs level 12 ability is pointless.

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Originally Posted by MelianDoriath

I think whether you get cross class skills ultimately depends on what you want your focus to be in game.

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This was kind of the point I was going for. Not everyone has to min/max, but they also have to be aware that min/max'ers will likely want to play with other min/max'ers to optimize their play. There is definitely a place where having the cross-skills will have a far greater impact, if not be a necessity (ie Bahumut's Coil), but not everyone is aiming for that content, and if they are with no intention of min/max'ing, then they are in for a shock and need to rethink their position.

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Originally Posted by Hachiko

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Haha yeah I can't say I've played every class, and I apologize if I gave the impression that I had, or that I knew everything. I definitely agree that your list is far more reasonable, and the Mantra thing was mentioned else where in the thread as a 'not overly necessary but can potentially help' thing for most (all?) classes that could get it.
I am maining SCH at the moment, and to be honest there are few skills I'd consider crucial to have. In a raid scenario (ie WHM present) your protect is undervalued as will stoneskin, and that leaves you with Sure Cast and Swift Cast. Stone Skin was ideally for 4mans, which you pointed out isn't overly necessary, but what other cross-skill would you put on your bar? Even with 5 slots, these 4 seem like the only viable ones, although I guess you can add Cleric Stance if you want to add DPS during fights, but it seems like a waste of mana.

Some classes/jobs definitely have more cross-class skills available to them, but at glance, only 3-4 out of the 5 seem to 'really' be necessary/worth having. This isn't to say that Mercy Stroke, which many people have pointed out is essentially worthless, should be tracked down to fill that last slot, but I'm unsure where the limited cross-skill slot part comes into the argument when people only seem to be taking 2 or 3 anyway as 'must haves'.

Either way I'll put your list over the one I put together. The thread/list basically started due to the other thread calling out WHMs that didn't have Swift Cast (yet) and how they were 'holding up endgame' (which I highly doubt was any beyond titan) when the OP didn't have his cross-skills either, and got up them because he derped and died to mechanics he shouldn't have.

As a fresh level 50 BLM, my highest priority is getting Archer and Arcanist to 34 to maximize my ability potential.