Solo dps comparison: paladin/ninja/samurai

Hi all,

I've tried looking for this, but had no luck: I've only been playing FF14 for about a month now. I've got a Paladin at 50, and I'm considering leveling a DPS class for solo content. After some research, it seems like the Ninja or Samurai would be most fun for me, in terms of mechanics.

However! This new dps class would be almost purely for solo content; the vast majority of the time in groups I will go tank or healer. And I'm primarily picking up this dps melee class because I've been told that the tank classes are -much- slower comparatively, in terms of killing mobs solo.

So! With that out of the way, we get to my question to those far more experienced than me: is this correct? In *purely solo-content terms*, would I actually see a significant increase in dps with the Ninja or the Samurai, over a Sword-Oath Paladin?

Thanks in advance!

--IndyPendant.

In terms of straight damage, Samurai offers more in personal damage than Ninja does.

Samurai all the way. Ninja has the lowest personal DPS of all the DPS jobs since so much of it's toolkit comes from raising party DPS. Additionally, ninja is reliant on positional for maximum DPS. Samurai is penalized for missing positionals in the form of not generating as much kenki, but in solo content, it won't be a big issue. Both of them are able to do stuff solo, but samurai has the much higher damage output making it easier to kill threats before they kill you.

Hmm, okay thanks guys. So there is a significant increase in solo dps with the Samurai over the Sword-Oath Paladin? (And...would it be noticeable with the Ninja over the Paladin? : )

Yes. There is a significant increase in damage from any solo tank to a solo DPS, even when you take into account that a tank is using their DPS stance (in PLD’s case, Sword Oath). DPS, by nature, do more damage than tanks, as that is the core function of their job (to deal damage—hence why they are called DPS [damage per second]). A tank’s damage at a higher level is not anything to scoff at, but they will not beat an equally skilled and geared DPS.

As already being said, SAM has the higher dps of the 3.

But if you want to solo content, you might want to take into account other things than the dps, especially survivability if you take too much damage. RDM and PLD are for me the way to go for that, with good mobility and vercure/clemency self-healing when you have the level required for that. I usually go for RDM most of the time, and switch to PLD if i know that i will need more defense.

That being said it depends of what you call "solo content". If you can have your chocobo with you on full healer mode SAM is of course totally viable (even if the chocobo is sometimes slow to heal you when you need it the most). But you will have a way harder time trying to solo a too high level dungeon without proper healing.

Sam is definitely the choice for killing mobs solo. Just remember that DPS is much squishier than tanks. RDM or SMN are better at soloing due to their ability to self-heal (and SMN get a bit of a tank in Titan-egi). They won't kill as fast as a Sam or Ninja, but have much more survivability.

Healer chocos in world content help a lot. If you're going to do dungeons or solo lower level ex-primals, tanks are better for that, IMO. I usually use my Warrior when soloing the level 50 ex fights.

As others have said. If you want big numbers you want the Samurai. But if you prefer faster combat Ninja would be the way to go.