ADHD player asking for advices for 1st non-mage, melee DPS job

Hi,

I'd like to have advices and opinions if Viper would be a hard first melee DPS job to learn, considering I only played magical ranged DPS until now. That's because I find the job style "cool" from afar.

I've played this game for around 1 year, but still never played content from Extreme level and above, as I don't want to drag people down anymore in a game.

Main BLM/RDM/PCT, I'm now quite at ease with all the mages jobs, but I have some serious issues of multitasking, reflexes/action per minute, clumsiness, and learning slower/through long "repeat duties 100 times until you get used". That's why I still don't feel confident enough about playing Tanks and Healers.

For multitasking, I am especially concerned about already struggling to manage rotations+positioning to clear mechanics, so adding things like staying in range position or "special rotations" (e.g. involving multiple branches of choices following the situation or random procs) may overwhelm my sluggish brain x)

I only play mouse+keyboard (tried gamepad, but didn't get used after days of trying).

Any tip or advice (or alternative jobs I could try) is welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Pick whoever has the coolest swords I guess.

As someone who probably also has ADHD; Viper's rotation is quite simple and very forgiving compared to something like Ninja - both in terms of making mistakes and uptime, thanks to being able to store up to three GCD's worth of high-damage ranged attacks. I admittedly haven't tried Monk, or played much of Dawntrail's gutted version of Dragoon, but I'm pretty sure Viper is the easiest melee DPS.

i think viper would be a good start to try out melee. it looks fast but thats mostly animations so its quite easy actually.

it can be a bit confusing to learn at first / to set up your bar because you have skills turning into like four different skills during your rotation. so that might appear as complicated but it only really is til you start using your skills.
you may wanna find a practice puppet or watch a video to set up your skillbars

positionals, well.... practice i guess? you get a skill which you can use to ignore positionals for like 10 seconds during mechanic heavy moments.
also its not the end of the world not doing every positional perfectly. make mechanics your first priority. with time there comes a feeling when you can do a positional right in time or if you rather move away and use your 'true north' skill to ignore the positional requirement.
i dont think there is anyone who bites your head off for not doing positionals perfectly.... even in extremes

I agree with Asari, try VPR. Yes, it's fast, but its control scheme is very simple, and what it asks of you is very straight forward. It also has some strong ranged attacks which will help with learning fights as a melee.

As someone who is on the ADHD spectrum, my favorite melee DPS is MNK. I find that my mind wanders playing the simpler/slower/more static jobs, and leads me to make more mistakes. MNK has enough going on that my brain can stay preset. You can also try MNK if you are feeling adventurous.

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Originally Posted by mallleable

I agree with Asari, try VPR. Yes, it's fast, but its control scheme is very simple, and what it asks of you is very straight forward. It also has some strong ranged attacks which will help with learning fights as a melee.

As someone who is on the ADHD spectrum, my favorite melee DPS is MNK. I find that my mind wanders playing the simpler/slower/more static jobs, and leads me to make more mistakes. MNK has enough going on that my brain can stay preset. You can also try MNK if you are feeling adventurous.

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I agree, I enjoy Monk as well.

A lot of people who play have ADHD and additionally plenty of them enjoy high-end content, sometimes obsessively so.

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Originally Posted by aereniil

I'd like to have advices and opinions if Viper would be a hard first melee DPS job to learn

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No, because newer jobs are typically "easier" than the old fashioned jobs they developed back in ARR and Heavensward. Since at least Stormblood, new jobs have started off ridiculously easy, then slowly had more buttons added. Viper, in particular, has combos that are just 1 button, preserving hotbar space. You literally just press what glows yellow. But if it's an "Ability", you should press it between the GCD - often you will need to press two of these between the global cooldown, or you lose them. There are positionals, which is where you need to land the third combo attack at the rear or side, depending on which combo glows. This is normal for all melee DPS. You probably won't end up doing your main combos very often though, because Reawaken or Vicewinder keeps you busy a lot unless the enemy is attackable for a long time.

A layout I could suggest is like this:

• Hotbar 1: Reaving Fangs (rear combo), Steel Fangs (sides combo), Slither (gap closer), Writhing Snap (ranged attack), Uncoiled Fury, Vicewinder (press when available then use all glowing attacks), Swiftskin's Coil, Hunter's Coil
• Hotbar 2: Serpent's Tail above Reaving Fangs, put Twinblood above Swiftskin's Coil and Twinfang above Hunter's Coil. These are all abilities which will proc after using certain attacks. The coils you need to press both between the GCD or they get erased.
• Now, somewhere, you will want an "AoE" (multi-enemy) version of Hotbar 1, which is the same layout but AoE: Reaving Maw, Steel Maw, Slither, Writhing Snap, Uncoiled Fury, Vicepit, Swiftskin's Den, Hunter's Den

Notice the first name of your AoE attacks are the same as the single target version. Placing them in the same way makes it easy to switch between Single Target and AoE.

Serpent's Ire is your 2 minute burst so throw that somewhere, and Reawaken is your guage spend that will make all your combos glow in succession.

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I've played this game for around 1 year, but still never played content from Extreme level and above, as I don't want to drag people down anymore in a game.

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My suggestion is to google "The Balance ffxiv". They have a discord and a website and their goal is to provide advice on how to optimize your gameplay, to take it from not knowing what you are pressing to actually pressing it in a way that maximizes damage. This includes what buttons to press or avoid, gear sets to aim for, materia to meld, and a rather standard thing is to use food (Mate Cookie HQ) and Grade 3 Gendraught of Dexterity HQ (Viper's main stat is Dexterity but it's different for other jobs).

I suggest watching YouTube videos of the Extremes. Not just guides, but rather: "Ageless Necropolis (Extreme) Viper PoV"

Point of View (PoV) videos show someone clearing it, in real time, using that job. You get to see exactly what they press, when and in what order, and how they navigate mechanics while doing this. It helps a lot, because you can pick up tricks from them, and maybe discover if you are pressing buttons wrong.

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I have some serious issues of multitasking, reflexes/action per minute, clumsiness, and learning slower/through long "repeat duties 100 times until you get used".

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I don't recommend melee DPS if you want easier jobs. Melee DPS are the harder jobs to play. Ranged are what you play if you want easy DPS. MCH most of all in my opinion. At the moment, the most distracting is probably BRD due to its old fashioned design that includes procs and DoT and song tracking.

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That's why I still don't feel confident enough about playing Tanks and Healers.

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Gotta understand that:

• Healers mostly spam 1 button for attacks, which makes it extremely easy to focus on the fight. If the fight requires a lot of healing in a short period of time, it can be rough, but a lot of the time this game is not healing intense - so there have actually been many Savage raids that are incredibly easy for a healer. It depends a lot on the fight, and Extreme trials are going to be less punishing.
• Tanks you can literally get hit by most mechanics and survive. Additionally, their rotations are not quite as distracting as melee DPS due to lack of positionals and focus on tank mechanics. This means it's easier to focus on the fight, and if you ignore the fight, you will probably survive getting hit by mechanics. A lot of people are afraid of tanks, but ironically, they are the best option if you aren't good at mechanics and want an easier rotation than melee DPS.

Thank you very much for all your advices and tips. I feel much better informed to pick my next class as DPS (and someday Healer & Tank).
Indeed, I want to improve, enjoy this great game deeper, and not be stuck with my current weaknesses, so I decided to gradually step out of my comfort zone, starting with non-ranged DPS. I think I’ll spend a long time to experiment with melee (starting with Viper), and only then I’ll see for alternatives (like physical ranged) in case melee really doesn’t work for me.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

A lot of people who play have ADHD and additionally plenty of them enjoy high-end content, sometimes obsessively so.

No, because newer jobs are typically "easier" ...

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Interesting, thanks ! Though I quickly heard about it at the start of ARR, I never grasped the idea of positionals to strike bosses on specific sides. Now I get deeper respect for melee managing it x)

For higher-lever content, yeah, since I'm a slow learner and need a huge lot of practice to understand, I'll eventually prepare to deal with Extreme (and Party Finder) someday.

for positionals keep in mind that you dont have to walk the entire 90 degree from the middle of the back to the middle of th side and then back again.

when you target enemies the circle you see on the ground around them helps you. there where its open is the back area. you can just stand where the circle starts and only do a few steps to reach the necessary position.

if enemies dont have that open area in the circle you dont have to care about positionals at all.

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Originally Posted by Asari5

for positionals keep in mind that you dont have to walk the entire 90 degree from the middle of the back to the middle of th side and then back again.

when you target enemies the circle you see on the ground around them helps you. there where its open is the back area. you can just stand where the circle starts and only do a few steps to reach the necessary position.

if enemies dont have that open area in the circle you don't have to care about positionals at all.

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Ooooh, thanks a lot ! Didn't know these circles worked that way (especially the 'open area' I sometimes see). Will try it asap

I also have ADHD, and for positionals, to remember them I do two things, one is try to memorize the pattern, if any, that the positionals have, like taking MNK for example, MNK is always 1 rear 2 flank, while some Jobs like VPR are alternating with a small degree of freeform immediately after Vicewinder, so on, another is to literally place a hotbar smack dab in the middle of my screen, set it to 3x4 in your settings, and place all the buttons for your positionals, with rear on one side, and flank on the other, since combo buttons light up when that combo button is next, you can be quickly reminded of which positional is next should you lose track.

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Originally Posted by Asari5

when you target enemies the circle you see on the ground around them helps you.

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If you don't have this circle for whatever reason, you can find it in Character Configuration -> Control Settings -> Target -> Scroll down until you find "target ring" in one of the checkboxes.

Fellow ADHDer here. Like everyone else, I suggest Viper.

It's possible to set it up to essentially have a primary 2 button single target rotation, with only the extras during the burst windows. The buttons get sparkly when it's the correct time to hit them.

I'm an ADHD-er that hasn't tried Viper long enough to call it. My favorite melee right now is Samurai, and I like Reaper, too.

I play cross-hotbar and always have since ARR. What's helped me with dealing with focus and consistency is laying out my hotbars in the same relative fashion for similar skills. If that job has a dash skill, it's the same button for every job (L2+Y on page 1. I always put them there). My 1-2-3 combo is in the same place. For healer, same thing, same type of skill is on the same location, with job unique skills laid out as needed that makes personal sense.

Since the rule of thumb is the ABC of Always Be Casting, I can always reliably hit keep damage going while doing mechanics because muscle-memory kicks in.


(When you get to tank, I suggest Gunbreaker.)

After some delay, I finally gathered the courage to start Viper just a few moments ago. (I was right, the cutscene showing skills is already so cool - as i'm a big fan of anime Kirito ;) )

https://i.imgur.com/pB4tocl.jpeg

Thank you so much for all your advice, especially since I couldn’t really understand the in-game guide that popped up when it was unlocked. All the information you shared will definitely help me during practice :)

It may sound silly, but I’m so excited - it already feels like I’m starting a brand-new adventure (just like when I first began playing the game) !

To begin with, I think I’ll start from the very basics (because my first melee ever in a game):

- Hall of the Novice (update: my bad, I just discovered I can't even access it with Viper lmao)
- Hotbars
- ARR dungeons
- See if I need a gamepad - and if so, finally try to get used to it
- And so on :)

Update : humble, but just tanked Shinryu at 8% left (both tanks + 1 healer+1 dps died), launched Bloodbath+combos+my first melee LB3 in Trial (4% left), mates killed the tail ==> we got through it !! It was sooooo exciting and satisfying. Hands still shaking x)

Big love

Glad to hear it! Enjoy it!!

VPR is like the SMN of melee. Obnoxiously complicated Actions & Traits menu to make sense of, but in reality it's on rails. VPR is essentially a glorified combo filler, just press what lights up next and you'll be good. Then find the couple of skills that have positionals (the 3rd final step of the combo), and weave in your two handed longer cooldowns at your leisure.

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Originally Posted by Underscore

As someone who probably also has ADHD; Viper's rotation is quite simple and very forgiving compared to something like Ninja - both in terms of making mistakes and uptime, thanks to being able to store up to three GCD's worth of high-damage ranged attacks. I admittedly haven't tried Monk, or played much of Dawntrail's gutted version of Dragoon, but I'm pretty sure Viper is the easiest melee DPS.

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I agree with this.

VPR's rotation is based on following how the gauge is being lit. If you arrange the keybinds somehow to help you differentiate 'left side actions' from 'right side actions', you can perform the rotation just by looking at the gauge.

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Originally Posted by Valence

VPR is like the SMN of melee. Obnoxiously complicated Actions & Traits menu to make sense of

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Classical problem of XIV - they don't know how to format and write tooltips in a way that is clear and direct. You often need to cross reference multiple tooltips in different menus (actions x traits) to understand what stuff does and then you realize "Wait... that's it?!".

I remember when I first played Ninja, trying to make sense of what TCJ actually did took me a good while.

ADHD person who's leveled everything to 100 and therefore has tried all the melees - I gave Viper a shot but IMO it's too simple. Probably not a bad starting point, but I personally found I got bored with pressing 2 buttons very quickly. My go-to melee is Monk, I would definitely recommend giving it a try, especially if you're already comfortable with/enjoy the amount of plates you have to keep spinning on BLM and RDM. Especially now in DT, MNK is a lot more straightforward now and I think not too hard to pick up.

I will say also, the fact that you're asking and clearly willing to learn already puts you ahead of... many, many people I have encountered in DF and PF. And if you're still concerned about performance, give the jobs a shot with Duty Support so you can get in practice in actual fights without having to worry about other people.

if VPR feels too quick I 100% recommend reaper, like VPR it has that burst big window but with Reaper you have a slightly slower GCD timer which lets you adjust and relax a little and give time to sort out everything going on at once.

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Originally Posted by SerephinaBlossom

if VPR feels too quick I 100% recommend reaper, like VPR it has that burst big window but with Reaper you have a slightly slower GCD timer which lets you adjust and relax a little and give time to sort out everything going on at once.

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ADHD here. I love RPR. Reaper combines some mild positionals with an easy to understand progression towards Communio and Perfectio. Once you get your first Perfectio, you've got everything you need to succeed.

Don't have ADHD but I'm here to vouch for RPR too! It's not too slow as to bore you, but it's not too fast as to overwhelm or force you fully on rails with your rotation.
There's a bit of wiggle room on the order you can use some skills (as in, you won't be terribly punished for purposefully delaying certain skills to some extent) and it feels rewarding when you manage to line everything up nicely, included your very limited ranged insta-cast. Enshroud is speedy, looks impactful and allows you to ignore all your positionals which you can use to your advantage when boss fights force you into odd positions during burst. It is by far my favorite melee we have!
VPR feels like an evolution of RPR (doesn't always mean better, it is quite obvious they're very similar but VPR took the same-ish concepts and gave it a different spin) so if you like VPR but it doesn't quite scratch that itch, maybe RPR will be what you're looking for.

Just an update and a feedback, as I just hit lvl 90 on Viper : I see how it starts to skyrocket in terms of execution and weaving from here.

From my perspective, the combos are definitively powerful, fast-paced, and visually impressive.

From lvl 90 onwards, I kinda get the same feeling of managing multiple gauges as with my RDM (and my BLM), but with much more depth and comparatively less punishment to death.

Thanks to all your advices, I got to practice a lot positionals and max melee range on lvl70- duties.
The resources and tips you gave me helped me a lot better (than the game guides) to understand what I'm doing as I press the buttons (buffs, combos, gauges, pots).
I start to get at ease with True North, Slither, Feint, and Arm's Length in-between.

However, from lvl 80+, I think that my current difficulty to multitask finally made me choose to prioritize clearing mechs (and not killing mates) during tense fight moments. Due to hyperfocus and lack of skill, I still sometimes have troubles to notice mechs and move while not dropping too much damage.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't feel at ease at all using gamepad, so I'll try again later.


Now, I need a lot of practice, with some breaks and time to let brain/muscle memories kick in. Thank you for the other jobs you advised : I think I'll try RPR and MNK as soon I max VPR.

Big love ♥

Do what works for you. Play around with different jobs. I personally don't believe there is a job that's perfect for all people with adhd or neurodivergence. And that's if this is a sincere question.

No one knows your limitations as well as you do and I'm sure you can tell if you're not vibing with a specific playstyle. The game is an adventure. Use that opportunity to explore.

I got ADHD.

Go MONKE
Or Viper for melee.

you go swish swish bop bop zoop and it's very satisfying.

Ask for tanks I say go simple and tried and true Paladin will never steer you wrong.

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Originally Posted by BunnyBrat

Do what works for you. Play around with different jobs. I personally don't believe there is a job that's perfect for all people with adhd or neurodivergence. And that's if this is a sincere question.

No one knows your limitations as well as you do and I'm sure you can tell if you're not vibing with a specific playstyle. The game is an adventure. Use that opportunity to explore.

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It's absolutely got nothing to do with being ADHD or neurodivergent. I'm literally both. And I still have everything at Lv100 with no problems playing any of it. The only class I won't touch as much as humanly possible is Pictomancer because I simply hate it aesthetically.

The occam's razor here is just pick a class and see if you vibe with it or not. It's not deep at all.

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Originally Posted by BlisteringFrost

It's absolutely got nothing to do with being ADHD or neurodivergent. I'm literally both. And I still have everything at Lv100 with no problems playing any of it. The only class I won't touch as much as humanly possible is Pictomancer because I simply hate it aesthetically.

The occam's razor here is just pick a class and see if you vibe with it or not. It's not deep at all.

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Thanks for the feedback :D I completely understand and respect your point - I don’t mean to suggest that a condition automatically determines one’s ability or skill in an activity like gaming. I definitely don’t want to use my ADHD as a blanket explanation or excuse for my flaws or limitations.

That said, the reason I mentioned it is because, as BunnyBrat pointed out, everyone has their own challenges. In my case, my ADHD makes it genuinely difficult to organize, filter, and consistently retain information over time - especially when trying to focus amid the constant flow of (mainly parasitic) thoughts in my head. That makes playing video games quite challenging at times.

Still, I’ve really fallen in love with this game, and I want to keep improving. Progress up to a satisfying point can be very slow when I’m learning on my own, so I decided to be bold and ask for help from more experienced players. And I truly appreciate how kind and helpful everyone has been - thank you again!

I have autism, and the Ninja job was very easy for me to know its rotation after it first came out in Patch 2.4.

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Originally Posted by aereniil

Hi,

I'd like to have advices and opinions if Viper would be a hard first melee DPS job to learn, considering I only played magical ranged DPS until now. That's because I find the job style "cool" from afar.

I've played this game for around 1 year, but still never played content from Extreme level and above, as I don't want to drag people down anymore in a game.

Main BLM/RDM/PCT, I'm now quite at ease with all the mages jobs, but I have some serious issues of multitasking, reflexes/action per minute, clumsiness, and learning slower/through long "repeat duties 100 times until you get used". That's why I still don't feel confident enough about playing Tanks and Healers.

For multitasking, I am especially concerned about already struggling to manage rotations+positioning to clear mechanics, so adding things like staying in range position or "special rotations" (e.g. involving multiple branches of choices following the situation or random procs) may overwhelm my sluggish brain x)

I only play mouse+keyboard (tried gamepad, but didn't get used after days of trying).

Any tip or advice (or alternative jobs I could try) is welcome.

Thanks in advance,

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Dragoon or Reaper may help if you don't like decision paths. Dragoon is just play 1 route of skills then the following route and just cycle them back and forth with the OGCD's on their cooldown. Similarly Reaper is just use a couple of free spenders, then your big CD, then just cycle your basic rotation until gauge fills and repeat.

I'm the same as you, I've got ADHD and I'm a caster main as well, viper is honestly pretty easy to learn, theres only 2 positionals and they're at the end of the combo and you just go back and forth, just remember red is rear, green is side, I also recommend setting up your hotbar to make positionals make sense. Aside from that just practice, make viper your new main and it'll become second nature over time. That's honestly the best advice I can give as someone in your situation that picked up viper.

Just cleared my first M8N (and last recent Normal Trial) with VPR, and I can say the job is really fun to play, with long and intense weaving. The DPS feels high, even though I’m clearly still way far from playing it optimally (it still feels like I’m doing more DPS on my not-quite-perfect BLM). I’m starting to get the hang of adapting my rotations in real time to different situations while keeping my buffs up at all times. I find the way [this] melee job[s] adapt[s]/move[s] differently to AoEs, mechanics, and their timings compared to (magical) ranged jobs really fun and rewarding - that’s my favorite aspect of playing melee so far !!

I’m still practicing to make VPR feel more natural to me, but compared to my BLM, I still tend to lose focus and awareness of the arena during the fights - especially when I have to weave through fast-paced rotation combos.

So, I’ll keep practicing VPR a lot, and also try out RPR and MNK next to see if any of them feel even more comfortable for me. I’ll also use your advice on these jobs, so thanks everyone! \easternbow

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Originally Posted by Xapapetsu

I'm the same as you, I've got ADHD and I'm a caster main as well, viper is honestly pretty easy to learn, theres only 2 positionals and they're at the end of the combo and you just go back and forth, just remember red is rear, green is side, I also recommend setting up your hotbar to make positionals make sense. Aside from that just practice, make viper your new main and it'll become second nature over time. That's honestly the best advice I can give as someone in your situation that picked up viper.

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Thank you very much. I really appreciate ^^

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Originally Posted by aereniil

Just an update and a feedback, as I just hit lvl 90 on Viper : I see how it starts to skyrocket in terms of execution and weaving from here.

From my perspective, the combos are definitively powerful, fast-paced, and visually impressive.

From lvl 90 onwards, I kinda get the same feeling of managing multiple gauges as with my RDM (and my BLM), but with much more depth and comparatively less punishment to death.

Thanks to all your advices, I got to practice a lot positionals and max melee range on lvl70- duties.
The resources and tips you gave me helped me a lot better (than the game guides) to understand what I'm doing as I press the buttons (buffs, combos, gauges, pots).
I start to get at ease with True North, Slither, Feint, and Arm's Length in-between.

However, from lvl 80+, I think that my current difficulty to multitask finally made me choose to prioritize clearing mechs (and not killing mates) during tense fight moments. Due to hyperfocus and lack of skill, I still sometimes have troubles to notice mechs and move while not dropping too much damage.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't feel at ease at all using gamepad, so I'll try again later.


Now, I need a lot of practice, with some breaks and time to let brain/muscle memories kick in. Thank you for the other jobs you advised : I think I'll try RPR and MNK as soon I max VPR.

Big love ♥

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It sounds like RPR's slightly slower pace might be more preferable to you, so I really hope you enjoy it!

Super short version: Just do it, don't think!

I also have ADHD and main magic DPS (SMN). My advice is to just start playing all of the jobs. You'll find out what you like and what you don't pretty easily. I hate AST, but I enjoy SCH. I Love GNB. I thing VPR and RPR are super fun. I don't really like how SAM feels. (Etc...) These are things I've discovered by just playing the jobs. Don't let your inexperience deter you from playing a job you think looks fun. You never learn if you don't try, and failure is just the pathway to success! But I get it if you're worried about triggering rejection sensitivity dysphoria or something, just explain that you're new to the job, other players are generally nice about it.

Make your keybindings as close to the same for your other jobs. Buffs are in the same place, escape tools the same, defensive abilities the same, core abilities in order of operations, ect. This is a very overlooked practice but helps a lot in relearning another job.