LB confusion

[Verethyl]

As the title states I'm confused about who uses the limit break, is it limited ONLY for use by a melee character ? Because if so then I will gladly stop using it.

[Kirika-]

It's mostly dependent on the situation.

• Healers should only use LB in the event of protecting from an emanate wipe, as it AOE rez's and/or AOE heals depending on the LB level, it does no damage to monsters
• Tanks use it for group wide damage mitigation, blocks a percentage of incoming damage for a time, doesn't hurt the monsters
• Melee DPS LB is for a single target, so use it only on Boss monsters
• Range DPS LS is for all targets within a straight line, so use it only on Boss monsters or on a tightly packed group
• Ranged Magic DPS LB is a ground marker AOE, place it in a spot and all targets within the marker are hit by the LB, use on Boss monsters or more spread out packs of monsters

More details per job here:
https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Limit_Break

[MicahZerrshia]

Melee should use on single targets, ranged on groups. But if the melee do not use it then its ok for ranged to step in. However, if ranged it's usually will be more beneficial to lb a large pack than a single boss and the ranged lb 1 and 2 is sometimes less powerful on a single target than just sticking to your rotation, so if there is no melee present, using it on pack pulls does more good in most cases.

[Kirika-]

One other thing to add, in certain circumstances, one will want to open with a LB as a Ranged or Magic Ranged only.
On some dungeon/raid encounters, a charge of LB exists before engaging a boss, but once the boss has been aggro'd the LB meter resets to zero.
One such example is in the MSQ - The Praetorium, at the start of the Nero encounter.
At that point, unless it was used up earlier, the group should have the LB fully charged.
Ranged should open the encounter with a LB, as the LB meter will reset if a melee/tank engages Nero, or someone gets to close and aggro's him.
Ranged/Magic Ranged DPS can activate the LB while still at distance and out of aggro range and but still hit Nero with it, so the damage is used instead of lost.

[Jeeqbit]

In a dungeon, either a melee DPS can use it on the boss or a ranged DPS can use it on multiple enemies (usually mob packs). As a lancer, you are a melee DPS.

In 8-person parties, you can save it until the boss is 5-15% in case the healer needs it to revive everyone.