The Feast (4v4 Solo) Season 3 Patch 3.45 Tier List

Hello,


My name is Stefan, and this is my tier list for The Feast (4v4 Solo). For those unfamiliar with tier lists, I have evaluated the capabilities of each job and rated them based on their ability to succeed in The Feast (4v4 Solo). As with all tier lists, this is not an absolute representation on a player’s ability to succeed, as there are plenty of 20% win rate monks, and at least a few 50%+ win rate ninjas. However, much thought has been put into this at least, and if you are looking on climbing the leaderboards and are not sure which job to choose, this list should help you narrow down the choices.

Solo:
S) MNK, MCH
These jobs are simply the best in every regard. They have great utility, massive damage, and overwhelming presence.
A+) PLD
Please refer to the PLD section below.
A) DRG, WHM, AST, WAR
These jobs are well balanced for solo, but are on the more powerful side than others in their roles. They generally have great impact on the match, and come with very distinct and effective skill sets.
B) BRD, BLM, SMN, SCH
While good at what they are meant to do, you will find that you often cannot carry your team on these jobs. While it is certainly possible, the other options are certainly easier to achieve solo Q victories.
C) DRK, NIN
These jobs are rather niche and very ineffective at their role when compared to the other jobs. You can succeed while on these jobs, but your life will be difficult.


(S) Monk: The monk is currently the single strongest job in The Feast solo queue. It is a job with extreme amounts of utility and flexibility, and can carry a game all on their own with ease. Even very mediocre players can do well on a monk, since their burst is high and undetectable, in addition to taking less damage than other dps through a passive stance. They have several potent debuffs that can be a nightmare to deal with, and also have great objective control with their short CD OGCD bursts.

(S) Machinist: Machinists are the all-encompassing gods of the ranged dps slot. CC? Check. 100-0 burst potential? Check. Utility? Check. They do it all, and they do it amazingly well. Their low CD CC chains will make any healer have nightmares, and when paired with insane 6k+ crits and overall high OGCD damage, will put them right down to boot. But that’s not all! Machinists also buff their fellow melee and tanks with hypercharge, while also being able to give MP to the healer, while also being able to peel with binds and knockbacks, while also having a small virus...Yeah, you get the idea. Nerf MCH OP.


(A+) Paladin: The uncontested “best” tank for both solo and party, as they can be labeled as something no other job can: The anti-carry. Paladin’s, when played well at high levels, make all the difference in the tank role. With pacifies, stuns, silences, covers, heals, and more? It’s no contest. When played right, Paladin’s can make or break a team all on their own, setting up kills for DPS, or saving their healer from certain death. Two seasons ago I would have placed the PLD down in the “C” tier for solo queue, but after seeing just how much of a force they are, I had to give them this special place. Unfortunately, due to their low damage, they cannot carry as hard as MNK/DRG/MCH, but they are the gods of defense and utility.


(A) Dragoon: Similar to the monk, dragoons have insane carry potential. They are extremely mobile, and their burst combo is unmatched by any other in the game. The only downfall of this job is that the burst is relatively easy to detect, so prepping heals to counter them is less difficult than a monk or machinist. They are also less tanky than monks, but these are relatively minor things which they make up for with raw damage.


(A) White Mage: Arguably the best of the three healers in terms of raw potential, the white mage is indeed the only one of three with its own win condition: sleep. The CC potential of the white mage rivals its black counterpart, and when paired with insane healing output, is a force to be reckoned with. This job is also home to one of the most powerful defensive CDs in the game, Sacred Soil, which will essentially make you and all who stand in it invincible for 30 seconds. They have two downfalls. The first, that when their CDs are all used up, they are extremely vulnerable and are at the mercy of their team to defend them (which is never, in solo queue.) The second is that they are a healer, and healers have next to no say on whether or not their team will win the match in the current state of the game.


(A) Astrologian: The Astrologian is extremely powerful in it’s ability to stay alive while under pressure. While it has mediocre CC, it sort of makes up for that with its invaluable cards. A well pulled balance or bole can make or break a skirmish, and ewer and spear are great pulls for MP efficiency and CD uptime. Also, it’s ability to choose Diurnal or Nocturnal Sects at the start of each match allows the player to adapt their play style to the enemies composition.


(A) Warrior: The go-to tank for those that don’t want to tank, Warriors are a strong choice for anyone wanting to climb the solo rankings. Their strength lies in their ability to dish out dps-levels of burst damage, while generally being able to do so without the pressure of dying. There’s not much more to say here...Warrior smash!


(B) Bard: Bards are like the younger brother of Machinists, always living in their shadow. Machinists have a tool kit which is generally better, but Bards DO have two strengths about their gun-wielding counterparts: Their insane bursts and Warden’s Paen. Their burst does more damage in less time than MCH, but they just don’t have BTE(Between the Eyes.) If done right, a Bard should ALWAYS land a kill with all their CDs up. Also, Warden’s Paen is an underestimated tool that can really save the ass of your healer from pesky paladins, white mages, or those silly tri-disasters.


(B) Black Mage: Before the nerf, I would have considered Black Mages to be god-like carries of The Feast. Nowadays, they are but mere remnants of their former OP selves, and are widely considered the worst choice of ranged dps. To play a BLM effectively takes great team coordination, awareness, and positioning, though none of these things really pay off as well as they once did. Being able to freecast Fire 4’s is still as deadly as it ever was, but the nerfs to their CC were a detriment too large to justify them being any higher.


(B) Summoner: Once about as OP as Bahamut himself, Summoner’s nerfs during season 1 has left them in a lackluster place. If done correctly, their AOE burst can still cause massive devastation, but the readily available AOE healing of all the healing jobs, paired with Focalization (which can last their entire DWT) leaves their damage hitting like a flurry of wet noodles against a prepared healer. They also sport the weakest utility of the ranged jobs, and the weakest and bursts.


(B) Scholar: No CC, a nerfed fairy, and flat out lackluster utility, Scholar is the black sheep of healers. Some minor adjustments could bring them up to par, as they are not far off from Astrologians and are actually quite excellent against the cheesy burst of bards and machinists. However, they still fall victim to CC, and are the worst job to try and recover with after a death. It is also argued that they have the worst MP management of the three healers (as energy drains are not common with the amount of damage going out), which leaves the job quite behind the other two choices.


(C ) Dark Knight: Dark Knights have been historically weak in PVP, and will likely continue to be such until 4.0. DRK simply does not have the damage of WAR, or the utility of PLD. It falls in an awkward space that is in between the two, which simply doesn’t work well. AOE binds, AOE heavy, and a gap closer are what make the job very unique, but none of those things hold higher value than the skills of the opposing tanks. Carnal Chill, while great in theory, fails in practical use, as a simple shield bash could prevent more damage and only has a GCD to worry about.


(C ) Ninja: Terrible does not even begin to describe NIN. They do less damage than the other two melee, AND do it over a longer period of time, offering healers more room for counter play. Their burst is easily detectable with Suiton/Trick Attack, and they also fall short in their defensive CDs as compared to their melee counterparts. Ilm Wind can be deadly when used at a good time, and Shukuchi can help save a NIN after their healer falls, but these are not enough to make up for it’s glaring weaknesses.

Woulda put monk on its own tier, everything about it is just to good, burst is faster than most jobs with lower CDs, self sustain is insane with fists of earth and bonus to feather foot and second wind, pvp skills are broken beyond belief with a pacify and a 20% cast reduction

I love these breakdowns of each jobs. Keep it up.

This is good, but as an AST main I have to say put them down to B with SCH or move both to A-. You know why.

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Originally Posted by FreeKingStefan

(A+) Paladin: The uncontested “best” tank for both solo and party, as they can be labeled as something no other job can: The anti-carry.

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I agree with pretty much everything you're saying about what a Pld can do, but the reality of Pld game-play is far different from the theory.

The problem lies with how dependent their CC is on the party being coordinated. Pacify is great, but Pld's are like mosquito repellent. You can go an entire match without seeing a Shield Swipe proc, because the enemy dps would rather attack practically anyone else other than the Pld. Their stuns can also be sabotaged, or completely wasted, by their own team. Even the most beautifully timed healer stuns don't mean anything if the dps are too scrub to finish off a target, and the total duration can be clipped by melee stuns and gap-closers. Even their defensive utility requires the healer to take full advantage of it. It just goes to waste if the healer is not up to snuff.

All in all, you're completely right about everything a Pld can do, but they require a coordinated party to do it. You're more likely to win the lottery than find a coordinated party in solo-queue, so Pld's practical utility is dramatically nerfed from their maximum potential. In party matches or custom matches, then they're most certainly in a tier of their own, bt in Solo-queue they're closer to the B range tier because everything they do requires the team to be on point.

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Originally Posted by Februs

I agree with pretty much everything you're saying about what a Pld can do, but the reality of Pld game-play is far different from the theory

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That's the point of a tier list. A PLD who is able to optimize the potential of their job can carry harder than most other jobs in the game. Sure, sometimes we get terrible teammates, but a consistently opitimized PLD will climb farther than those on the tiers below it.

Well, it looks like I'm (grudgingly) getting my paladin from 50-60! I want to be valuable to my team, and it seems DRK won't cut it in the upper levels. I do have Monk and Dragoon and Bard to 60 though, but I've heard queue times (on Primal) are awful for DPS

S tier getting lucky with the matching
everything else shit tier

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Originally Posted by Stormfur

I do have Monk and Dragoon and Bard to 60 though, but I've heard queue times (on Primal) are awful for DPS

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On primal if you play during prime time the queues on melee are under 5 minutes. Unfortunately when the queues are that fast it comes with the downside of the healers almost always being new since these new healers queuing are the reason the queues are faster in the first place. If you wanna dps I'd suggest monk. Since ranged dps is generally easier and much safer to play than melee dps it typically has the longest queue times out of all roles.

Even if you're rather new to Feast? I don't really want to get clobbered my first few times through the gate :)