Easiest to hardest DPS job to play

Is there some kind of ranking of easiest to hardest DPS job to play? I know it's a bit subjective, but is there a approximative ranking? I played a lot the BLM, but I want to try something else. Right now, I'm playing RDM (pretty easy) and MCH (I don't know yet, I'm just level 39). I'll maybe try a melee, because I always played ranged DPS. I play on PS4, so I'm looking for a easy job to play with a controller. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Nephisto

Is there some kind of ranking of easiest to hardest DPS job to play? I know it's a bit subjective, but is there a approximative ranking? I played a lot the BLM, but I want to try something else. Right now, I'm playing RDM (pretty easy) and MCH (I don't know yet, I'm just level 39). I'll maybe try a melee, because I always played ranged DPS. I play on PS4, so I'm looking for a easy job to play with a controller. Thanks!

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easy wise, I think DNC and RDM are easier than everbody else. In terms purely fo rotations, BLM is also very easy, but you have to account that since its so immobile its neccesity of knowing the fights ahead of timei cnreases its dificulty severly. Im nto too expirienced with SAM but I didnt find it particularly hard personally. The hardest ones are: For casters, imo SMN (the rotation is like 3 mins lol its huge) but its quite debatable between SMN and BLM tbh, MCH NIN and MNK I'd say

I'd say that BLM, DNC, RDM, SMN and SAM are fairly easy to play.

Few, if any, oGCD's to use and a core rotation that doesn't use a ton of skills.

DRG is fairly straightforward, but has several oGCD's it wants to use, which can use up a lot of action bar space.

BRD and MCH have periods of spamming oGCD's that can get difficult to keep up with (Especially while moving to deal with mechanics AND keeping GCD skills being used)

NIN and MNK are probably the hardest, due to the speed at which they perform (Both get strong attack speed increases), but also with the ordering of their skills (Trying to use the right Ninjutsu for example. While MNK doesn't just do 2 different 123 combos as it depends on DoT and buff durations). With MNK also having positional requirements on every one of their attacks, as opposed to just the finisher of a combo.

Hmm I haven'd done BLM , but I hear that is the hardest!

For easiest I would have to say DRG. Straight foward rotations and buffs. Only 2 positionals. Close second would be DNC, which I personally think has the best AOEs in the game.

RDM is pretty easy too.

I find it easier to divide them into their roles. Mainly because some people find certain roles easier than others, to the degree that it trumps a lot of other aspects about the job. For example, the easiest job might be RDM, but to a person who can't get on with Casters, DNC might be easiest for them.

Casters: RDM > BLM > SMN
Ranged: DNC > MCH > BRD
Melee: SAM > DRG > NIN > MNK

This is personal to me, maybe you'd swap a couple around, but I'm pretty sure the easiest of each role is more-or-less consensus.

So "easiest" also is subjective since one playstyle will just click for one person while another "easier" one will cause them to struggle. Also sometimes the complexity doesn't come from the rotation but from everything else you need to know. For example, summoner is much more flexible in being able to effectively play the job without knowing a fight than black mage is. So black mage you can have the rotation down, but still have to really study every fight as they come out in order to actually do your rotation.

But for me, I'd say I'd rank them this way easiest to hardest:

Caster
BLM on rotation alone, but harder when it comes to adjusting to each fight
SMN
RDM (I used to have this easiest, but I haven't ever been able to get the rotation flow to feel good and natural since the changes in 5.1)

Ranged
DNC
MCH
BRD

Melee
SAM
MNK
NIN
DRG

I'm surprised BRD isn't considered the easiest job. Maybe it's just because I'm used to it, but it's very easy to play and especially easy to play optimally. You literally have four GCDs. You spam one unless you get a proc, have to refresh DoTs, or if you're ready to use Apex. Since the ideal duration of your songs is 30-30-20, it gives you a lot of leeway when it comes to deaths and boss "jumps." If you configure your UI properly, BRD is a piece of cake. DNC feels busier in its burst phase, and you have to manage lots of different types of procs all the time and pay a lot more attention to your positioning. BRD is a very simple and forgiving job that I would recommend to new players, and it has just enough nuance to be fun to pilot for years to come.

Casters

Easiest:
Red Mage, easy at first, but later gets to be more complicated as you have to manage the Mana Guage and Procs. This requires a lot more concentration than it appears at first due to proc management maximization for Melee Combo + Verholy/Verflare + Scortch. Not to mention emergency situations like Verraising half the party and covering for a downed healer.

Hardest: two way tie.
BLM: easy at low levels hard at high levels. Maintaining Enochian and fire stacks is a serious balancing act and there's more to it than meets the eye. Lack of mobility also makes this job disgustingly tough to play in high level instances that require a lot of movement, like... well just about any Eden Raid.

SMN: Great mobility but the entire job is based on stacking damage and maintaining it. So the enormity of the multi tasking required to run this one is huge. You're maintaining DoT timers + Pet Attacks to gain Ruin 4s + Aetherflow stacks + Demi Timers + Dreadwyrm timers + Multiple Egis that each have a different purpose and different attacks. Weaving all of this togather while simultaneously dodging mechanics.

If a WAR main like me can play RDM, anyone can. I can't imagine anything easier than keeping two bars even.

Wow, the order pleople are saying.
Ranged, brd is stupid easy.
Melee, drg because of easy positionals
Mage, they are all harder then above.

But finally.
They are all easy to play but to really push dps to its max that is a different question.

I find brd easy than dancer,
Brd is just shot, move, hit procs, keep songs up.
Dance, is attack, partner, mini game avoid aoe, stack cures.

But I like dancer.

For ranged, tbh BRD was easier during SB ... Since the MCH rework, clearly, it isn't. MCH has clipping issue on optimization, but no really difficult to play now ...

To my opinion, ranged are equal now and easy to play.

Casters : RDM so far. BLM and SMN ask a few knowledge on each fight for optimization.

Melees hmmmm .... I really dislike MNK to my mind aha. SAM and DRG are easy.

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Originally Posted by zeylos

easy wise, I think DNC and RDM are easier than everbody else. In terms purely fo rotations, BLM is also very easy, but you have to account that since its so immobile its neccesity of knowing the fights ahead of timei cnreases its dificulty severly. Im nto too expirienced with SAM but I didnt find it particularly hard personally. The hardest ones are: For casters, imo SMN (the rotation is like 3 mins lol its huge) but its quite debatable between SMN and BLM tbh, MCH NIN and MNK I'd say

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BLM is probably the hardest job to play well in FFXIV due to the impact of movements on the DPS output of the class, so I wouldn't classify it as easy.

RDM is definitely the easiest DPS to play. Everything about the job is pretty straightforward.
My personal opinion based on each role from easiest to more complicated:
RDM > SMN > BLM
DRG > SAM > NIN > MNK
DNC > BRD > MCH

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Originally Posted by CrystalRainbow

Wow, the order pleople are saying.
Ranged, brd is stupid easy.
Melee, drg because of easy positionals
Mage, they are all harder then above.

But finally.
They are all easy to play but to really push dps to its max that is a different question.

I find brd easy than dancer,
Brd is just shot, move, hit procs, keep songs up.
Dance, is attack, partner, mini game avoid aoe, stack cures.

But I like dancer.

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I think Bard can seem overwhelming to some during gameplay because you have to constantly be on lookout for multiple procs (gauge also increases with chance), quite a lot of oGCD's as well as your dots. They have to pay more attention to their rotation/abilities than most other jobs I would say. Doesn't mean that that necessarily makes the job more difficult though.

The hardest DPS to play is MCH. You have to manage your rotation AND manage to not fall asleep. What other class has to do that?

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Originally Posted by Coatl

The hardest DPS to play is MCH. You have to manage your rotation AND manage to not fall asleep. What other class has to do that?

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lmao. I don't have all jobs maxed but I agree with how MCH for sure looks like one of the easiest jobs I've played. So few buttons, so much room to optimize your rotation. No dots or buffs to look out for. You basically already have your whole rotation at lvl 58 (only addition is a 120s cooldown oGCD at lvl 66).

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Originally Posted by MeanDragon

Hmm I haven'd done BLM , but I hear that is the hardest!

For easiest I would have to say DRG. Straight foward rotations and buffs. Only 2 positionals. Close second would be DNC, which I personally think has the best AOEs in the game.

RDM is pretty easy too.

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BLM can be considered the hardest until you learn how each fight works, since we dont move as much as others.
Once you learn where to place laylines and where to stand in general it becomes quite easy tho.

I think DNC is the easiest DPS. Like WHM, the majority of DNC's skills can fit into 2 hotbars.

'Easiest priority based rotation'.

Probably the most mobile with the dash move(En Avant).

Any challenges that I have with DNC is when I have lag spikes and my procs don't appear. But this is much worse on classes like BRD.

Or hyperfocusing on procs and not paying attention to mechanics.

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Originally Posted by Sheli54

Casters : RDM so far. BLM and SMN ask a few knowledge on each fight for optimisation.

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This seems to be a common misconception of people who don't play RDM at a high level.

RDM is a job that is easy to pick up and do decent numbers, but the difference between an average RDM and a top percentile RDM is all from optimizing the small things in the rotation paired with specific fight knowledge.

Where fight specific knowledge really comes in is from the fact that the job has the melee burst component of the job that is fueled by the white/black mana.

As a RDM player you need to make sure you have the proper mana at the proper time in the fights so you can do your melee combo when it is safe to do so mechanically and lining up with buff windows if possible.

With the RDM doing savage with the scripted nature of the fights, you build an optimal rotation schedule with the fight and then make small adjustments with your white and black mana using reprise to keep you in that schedule.

DRG, SMN and BLM have long but static rotations - the complexity comes if/when you cut said rotation and your DPS drops significantly because of it.
SAM, MNK, NIN, and MCH are easy to use, hard to master, the latter 2 also being more reliant on latency
BRD and DNC don't have many buttons to press, but are reliant on procs and can be overwhelming at times
RDM is all around the easiest - no long complex rotation, no DoTs, no positional, no buffs to keep up, decently mobile, self heal...but bottom tier damage.

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Originally Posted by Thi

This seems to be a common misconception of people who don't play RDM at a high level.

RDM is a job that is easy to pick up and do decent numbers, but the difference between an average RDM and a top percentile RDM is all from optimizing the small things in the rotation paired with specific fight knowledge.

Where fight specific knowledge really comes in is from the fact that the job has the melee burst component of the job that is fueled by the white/black mana.

As a RDM player you need to make sure you have the proper mana at the proper time in the fights so you can do your melee combo when it is safe to do so mechanically and lining up with buff windows if possible.

With the RDM doing savage with the scripted nature of the fights, you build an optimal rotation schedule with the fight and then make small adjustments with your white and black mana using reprise to keep you in that schedule.

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Indeed, I agree with you for that.

But still. RDM has his stuff for his rotation, it's the same for BLM and SMN. BLM : each uncontrolled movement is a huge loss of DPS. SMN : huge optimization on the DoTs (especially on fights like E3S when the boss goes away twice in the fight) and the Bahamut/Phoenix phase, using them sometimes earlier than expected in the rotation to don't lose/delay one later.

I already played RDM at a high level and if we wanna talk about optimization, then, every job in every role in the game needs to know some stuffs here and there in each fight with a perfect knowledge of his rotation.

Regardless of optimization, RDM is easier so far than SMN and BLM in my opinion, but like I just said, it's just my opinion ! :)

Every job works very well with controller. Look into your settings, you can use up to three cross hotbars without having to switch between them. There are good guides on it and you can also just try out which settings you like.
The only job that's a little more annoying to play on controller is AST because you have to switch between targets way more often than with the other jobs.
So, playing with a controller is no reason not to be able to play whatever job you like, and by far no excuse for being bad (not saying you are bad - just some people say things like "sorry, I'm on PS4" when they claim they can't get better). You just have to set up the controls a little because all the good settings are off by default and you have to test them out a little or look for guides because ingame there aren't many explanations for it.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Casters: RDM > BLM > SMN
Ranged: DNC > MCH > BRD
Melee: SAM > DRG > NIN > MNK

This is personal to me, maybe you'd swap a couple around, but I'm pretty sure the easiest of each role is more-or-less consensus.

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Casters and Ranged are spot on. Melee seems to be a mixed bag depending on whether you find positionals easy or not. Personally I'd put DRG and MNK as the easier ones with very little you have to keep track of, and SAM with NIN as the two hardest due to how many things you have to keep track of.

Blu is the hardest job to play because it has 0 content.