Characters / Final Fantasy XI Jobs

Navigation The Adventurer | The Republic of Bastok | The Kingdom of San d'Oria | The Federation of Windurst | The Grand Duchy of Jeuno | The Marquisate of Tavnazia | The Empire of Aht Urhgan | The Sacred City of Adoulin | The Ulbuka Wilderness | Other Locations and Independent Characters | Beastmen | Deities, Avatars, and Immortal Entities | Jobs

Basic Jobs

Warrior

Masters of close-range combat, Warriors are well-apt at the use of a wide variety of melee weapons, but are most at home wielding axes and great axes. Between their hardy defenses and generous damage output, they work well as tanks and damage-dealers.

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• The Berserker: They have the Berserk ability, which increases attack at the cost of defense, and Blood Rage.
• Critical Hit Class: Mighty Strikes makes all auto-attacks a critical hit for a set duration.
• Draw Aggro: They have the Provoke ability, which makes Warrior a popular sub-job for other tank jobs.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Mighty Strikes, which makes all auto-attacks a critical hit.
  • The second special job ability is Brazen Rush, which significantly increases the Double Attack activation rate.
• Multi-Melee Master: Warriors specialize in using many different weapon types, and start off with the Onion Sword if a player begins as a Warrior. However, their best weapons are axes and great axes.
• Weapon Specialization: Their specialty weapons are axes and great axes.

Thief

Nimble and sneaky, thieves are Versatile fighters that can redirect an enemy's enmity, steal items and gil from their quarries, and evade attacks with ease. In a pinch, they can also easily escape from battle, living to fight another day.

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• Back Stab: Sneak Attack does extra damage when they strike from behind.
• Dual Wield: They gain the ability to use this naturally at level 83.
• Escape Battle Technique: Flee, which increases their movement speed enough to run away.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Perfect Dodge, which allows them to dodge all attacks for a set duration.
  • The seconds special job ability is Larceny, which steals a positive status effect from the target, and can even steal enemy special job ability effects.
• Video Game Stealing: True to their name, they have the Mug and Steal abilities.

Monk

Honing their bodies into weapons unto themselves, Monks use hand-to-hand weapons to increase their lethality. Their prowess in mortal combat is further boosted by their ability to harness chakra powers and strong counterattacks.

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• Bare-Fisted Monk: Monks are the only starter job that does not give new players a weapon, instead giving them a belt that increases strength. Later on, though, they generally use cesti, power fists, or Wolverine Claws.
• Counter-Attack: They have the Counter ability.
• Ki Attacks: Chi Blast.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Hundred Fists, which has them auto-attacking constantly for the duration of the ability.
  • The second special job ability is Inner Strength, which doubles HP and makes Counter always activate.

White Mage

A party with a White Mage on their side need not fear death, for they possess powerful curative abilities that can heal injuries or even revive fallen allies. If it comes to blows, however, they are perfectly able to fend for themselves with hammers and shields.

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• Carry a Big Stick: A more offensive-oriented White Mage can use Clubs and hammers for decent damage, which is also their highest weapon grade.
• Healing Hands: As expected, they have the full range of healing and revival spells.
• Light 'em Up: They get the Dia, Banish, and Holy spells.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Benediction, which fully heal all party members and removes all negative effects.
  • The second special job ability is Asylum, which provides a temporary immunity to Status-Buff Dispel and all negative effects to the entire party.
• Regenerating Health: The Regen spells, of course, but they also gain the Auto-Regen trait at level 25.
• Teleportation with Drawbacks: They get all of the Teleportation spells, which cost mana to use. It allows them to travel instantaneously to any of the Crags throughout the world.
• Uniformity Exception: The White Mage is the only starting job not to be a perfect statistical match for one of the five playable races.
• White Mage: From the series that gave us the Trope Namer. They are masters of healing, buffing, and holy magic.

Black Mage

Black Mages are feared for the destructive powers their harness, bending elemental forces to their whims and laying waste to any who dare stand against them. With the ability to skillchain spells together, they can rain havoc upon their foes without pause.

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• Black Mage: From the series that gave us the Trope Namer. They are masters of destructive magic.
• Elemental Powers: They have the full suite of them, from Fire, Ice, Lightning to Land, Sea, Sky and Dark magic like Bio, but they also get the Non-Elemental Meteor. The only element they lack is light.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Manafont, which allows them to cast spells with No MP Cost.
  • The seconds special job ability is Subtle Sorcery, which gives a massive bonus to Magic Accuracy and reduces enmity gain.
• Magic Staff: Their best weapon option.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Their Artifact gear tends to involve this.
• Squishy Wizard: Pretty standard for depictions of Black Mages throughout the series.
• Status Effects: Among their vast repertoire of spells they can do this too, many of which damage enemies at the same time.

Red Mage

Master of swords and spells alike, Red Mages are jacks-of-all-trades who are adept at the use of swords, daggers, and both white and black magics. While their overall prowess may pale in comparison to Jobs more dedicated to physical or magical combat, they are excellent at weakening enemies and empowering allies.

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• Jack of All Trades: A specialty of theirs. This allows them to be great at soloing encounters other jobs might struggle with. They avoid being a Master of None due to the sheer utility they have.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Chainspell, which allows rapid casting of magic.
  • The second special job ability is Stymie, causing the next Enfeebling Magic spell they cast to have near 100% success rate.
• The Red Mage: It's in the name. They are efficient healers, magic attackers, and sword wielders.
• Royal Rapier: Many of their special weapons are these, but they are efficient with one-handed swords in general.
• Spell Blade: They specialize in using the En-line of spells.
• Status Effects: They excel in these.
• Status Buff: They've got lots of these as well, including plenty of spells unique to them.

Advanced Jobs (Base Game)

Bard

With musical instruments in hand, Bards use the power of song to raise their allies spirits and demoralize their enemies. They can play multiple tunes at a time when armed with an instrument, making them versatile support-based party members.

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• Damage-Increasing Debuff: Many of their threnodies are versions of this, with a spell for each element.
• Forced Sleep: Lullaby.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Soul Voice, which massively increases the effects of their spells.
  • The second special job ability is Clarion Call, which allows Bards to stack an additional song on their allies.
• Magic Music: All of their spells are forms of this.
• Ornamental Weapon: Their best weapon are knives, but they won't likely be using them.
• Status Buff: Basically any type you can think of, from Regenerating Health to Regenerating Mana and buffing specific stats for party members.
• Support Party Member: They don't offer high damage or healing, but they massively empower their allies to do so.

Beastmaster

With an intricate knowledge of Vana'diel's fauna, Beastmasters can coax many kinds of monsters to join their side in battle. The best Beastmasters can convince monsters to bestow them with items that allow them to summon bestial allies in battle as familiars.

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• The Beastmaster: This game actually provided the Trope Namer.
• Charm Person: They gain control of beasts out in the wild with the Charm ability.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Familiar, which imposes their will upon a monster and strengthens their relationship to it, as well as increasing the duration of the Charm.
  • The second special job ability is Unleash, which gives a currently active monster 3000 TP, reduces cooldown of abilities that make a monster perform a Weapon Skill, and significantly increases the accuracy of Charm.
• Sinister Scythe: Their second best weapon option.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: They get a lot of traits for taking down any "natural" enemy type, from Vermin Killer to Beast Killer to Bird Killer.
• Weapon Specialization: Their best weapons are one handed axes.

Dark Knight

Dark Knights are dangerous damage dealers who combine a mastery of large swords and scythes with powerful black magic that make them feared on the battlefield.

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• Black Knight: Like most Dark Knights throughout the series.
• BFS: Their second best weapon option is Great Swords.
• Casting a Shadow: While their power in Elemental Magic is passable, the bulk of their magic damage comes from Dark Magic.
• Dark Is Not Evil: A player can be a Dark Knight just fine and they're not evil in the least.
• Glass Cannon: Dark Knights dish out a ton of damage but they tend to be pretty frail, despite having access to heavy armor.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Blood Weapon, which inflicts a Life Drain with every hit for the duration.
  • The second special job ability is Soul Enslavement, which allows Dark Knights to drain TP with every hit.
• Magic Knight: They lean to the Knight side more, but they do gain access to some useful spells, like Stun.
• Sinister Scythe: Their best weapon option.
• Spell Blade: They can enhance their weapons with En-spells, though they are restricted to darkness.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: They have an advantage against Arcana-type enemies.

Paladin

With swords and shields in hand, Paladins are formidable close-range fighters who supplement their skillsets with powerful white magic, making them a great boon to their allies as fierce tanks.

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• BFS: They can use Great Swords if they'd like to forgo the use of a shield.
• Carry a Big Stick: Paladins are also efficient with clubs and hammers.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Basically their purpose.
• Knightly Sword and Shield: One of the most common ways to use them, since one handed swords are their best weapons and they excel in the use of shields.
• Light 'em Up: In addition to healing spells they also do well with Divine magic, like Banish and Holy.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Invincible, which makes them immune to all physical damage for the duration, while also generating massive amounts of Enmity.
  • The second special job ability is Intervene, which greatly reduces target's Attack and Melee Accuracy
• Magic Knight: They have powerful healing and buffing abilities, some of which are unique to them. They lean more to the Magic side than Dark Knights do.
• Magic Staff: Interestingly, they have an A- rating in Staff weapons.
• The Paladin: White knights with powerful healing and divine magic.
• Shield Bash: The name of one of their abilities.
• Stone Wall: They are excellent defenders and among the best tanks in the game with their heavy armor and healing abilities.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: They have the Undead Killer trait.

Ranger

Whether with bows, crossbows, or firearms, Rangers are experts at long-ranged engagements. With the Wide Scan ability, they can track down their prey and put them down before they can pose any serious threat.

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• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Eagle Eye Shot, a powerful and accurate ranged attack.
  • The second special job ability is Overkill, which increases ranged attack speed and also causes Double Shot and Triple Shot to always activate.
• Trick Arrow: They gain the Decoy Shot, Double Shot, and Shadowbind abilities.

Summoner

The forbidden art of forming a pact with Avatars makes Summoners a force to be reckoned with. From the diminutive Carbuncle to the mighty Bahamut, Summoners are highly versatile.

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• Defeat Means Friendship: Aside from Carbuncle and the various elemental spirits, a Summoner has to defeat an avatar in battle to gain the ability to summon them.
• Elemental Powers: Through the use of their avatars and spirits, they have access to every element in the game.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Astral Flow, which reduces the MP drain for maintaining a summoned spell to zero and allows the use of a special Blood Pact - which tends to be each avatar's Signature Move.
  • The second special job ability is Astral Conduit, which fully recovers MP and removes cooldown on Blood Pact abilities.
• Magic Staff: Their preferred weapon type.
• Not the Intended Use: Early on when they had questionable damage abilities, Summoners would use White Mage as a subjob and use their large (and regenerating) MP pool to heal the party instead of doing damage.
• Regenerating Mana: They get Auto Refresh as a trait, which is helpful since every avatar is a constant drain on their MP.
• Summon Magic: As usual. The summons available to them are Carbuncle, Fenrir, Ifrit, Titan, Leviathan, Garuda, Shiva, Ramuh, Diabolos, Cait Sith, Siren, Atomos, Alexander, Odin, and an elemental spirit for each element. Alexander and Odin can only be summoned when Astral Flow is in effect, however.

Advanced Jobs (Rise of the Zilart)

Dragoon

With mighty spears and high-flying jumps, Dragoons are powerful damage dealers who can call upon wyvern allies to fight alongside them. The capabilities of the wyvern varies based on the Dragoon's chosen support job, affording them a great deal of versatility.

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• Balance Buff: They were considered very subpar when first introduced, with Call Wyvern considered easily the worst two-hour ability in the game. Later updates made them much more viable by making Call Wyvern a standard ability with a twenty minute timer while Spirit Surge was granted as a new two-hour ability.
• Dragon Knight: Like all Dragoons throughout the series, but in this game they're one of the few that actually has a draconic ally.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Spirit Surge, which gives their various Jumps different effects and increases their overall Strength and Accuracy, along with bestowing Haste - but their wyvern is dismissed in turn.
  • The second special job ability is Fly High, allowing Dragoons to repeadedly use Jump abilities
  • Their two-hour ability used to be Call Wyvern, but if the wyvern died early on it severely crippled a Dragoon's effectiveness. It was eventually made into a regular ability, but it still remains usable by main job Dragoons only.
• In a Single Bound: As usual, Dragoons have the Jump ability, and several variations thereof.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: They provide the current page image. Their wyvern is their faithful companion through battle and it uses its Breath Weapon to either augment their attacks or heal, depending on the Dragoon's current support job.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: Predictably, they have the Dragon Killer trait, and the Ancient Circle ability that makes party members resistant to dragons.

Ninja

The secret arts of Far Eastern assassins make Ninjas devious damage dealers, using melee weapons in both of their hands in addition to the art of "Utsusemi" to avoid damage.

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• Dual Wielding: The first, and for a long time only, job that naturally had the ability to do this. For a long time this made them a popular support job until Dancer came along and Thief eventually gained the ability at high levels (and Blue Mages can also do it with the proper setup).
• Fragile Speedster: Unusually for one of the foremost tank jobs, though they tank by evading attacks. But if they're hit, they're hit hard.
• Elemental Powers: They have access to most elements with their unique ninjutsu.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Their primary weapon type is the one-handed katana, though they're also excellent with the Throwing skill (which can include such things as darts or chakrams).
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Mijin Gakure, a self-sacrificing ability that massively damages the enemy.
  • The second special job ability is Mikage, which provides additional attacks depending on amount of Utsusemi shadows active.
• Ninja: Far Eastern assassins who use "ninja tools" to cast their unique spells.
• Not the Intended Use: Ninja were originally conceived as a damage-dealing job, but their Utsusemi spell was so useful for making them one of the most effective "evasion-style" tanks, so Square Enix eventually decided to just run with it.
• Self-Duplication: Essentially what the Utsusemi spells do, but it's an Informed Ability because the player can never actually see them, and the shadow clones dissipate with each attack directed at them.
• Status Effects: They have ninjutsu that can blind, silence, or slow their enemies.

Samurai

Noble soldiers of the Far East, Samurai are deadly with a wide variety of weapons, but are at their most dangerous with katanas in hand. In conjunction with devastating skillchains and weapon skills, they are fearsome fighters.

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• Combos: Their primary method of dealing damage is to link together skillchains by executing several weapon skills in quick succession.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Their primary weapon type is the Great Katana, which is wielded with two hands.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Meikyo Shisui. This reduces the cost of weapon skills to 1000 TP (as opposed to consuming all TP), allowing them to chain three weapon skills together at once.
  • The second special job ability is Yaegasumi, which allows Samurai to dodge enemy special attacks and gain TP while doing so.
• Meditation Powerup: The Meditation ability allows them to gradually restore TP to use weapon skills.
• Samurai: Warriors from the Far East, along with Ninja, though this incarnation of them characterizes them as combo-chaining demon killers.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: They're the preeminent demon killers in this incarnation, and have the Demon Killer trait.

Advanced Jobs (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)

Blue Mage

One of the most versatile Jobs in all of Vana'diel, Blue Mages are magically-empowered fighters who can take the powers of monsters for themselves. With the wide variety of monsters to learn from in the realm, their is almost no limit to their prowess.

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• Breath Weapon: They have several types of breath spells, from the series' iconic Bad Breath to Poison Breath.
• Carry a Big Stick: Their second best weapon type includes Clubs.
• Cool Sword: Their primary weapon type is one-handed swords, and they traditionally wield shamshirs or a Sinister Scimitar.
• Humanoid Abomination: In the lore, their abilities are learned by absorbing the essences of monsters within themselves. It's very common for Aht Urhgan Blue Mages to succumb to the monster within and become monsters themselves.
• Jack of All Trades: They can do a bit of everything depending on how they're set up, whether it's tanking, healing, damaging, supporting, or debuffing. Their only limitation is the amount of spells they can have equipped at a time.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Azure Lore, which enhances the effects of Blue Magic spells.
  • The second special job ability is Unbridled Wisdom, which allows the Blue Mage to cast magic that requires Unbridled Learning (one charge once per 5 minutes) without it.
• Magic Knight: They wield blades and magic together, and some of their Blue Magic spells count as physical effects as well.
• Power Copying: The source of all their magic is the enemies they copy in the wild.

Corsair

Terrors of the high seas, Corsairs are pirates who make extensive use of firearms known as "Hexaguns" to devastate their enemies. While their overall prowess comes down to luck, they can push the odds into their favor by using "Phantom Roll" to aid their allies.

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• The Gambler: Their spell potencies are all decided by the roll of a dice.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Wild Card, which has a random effect on all allies nearby.
  • The second special job ability is Cutting Cards, which reduces cooldown of allies special job abilities.
• The Musketeer: They are proficient in both their guns and either swords or knives (but knives have a slightly better grade), though it might be more beneficial to the Corsair to attack at range.
• Pirate: Corsairs are pirates.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: A Corsair's main weapon is their hexagun, a six-barreled revolver.
• Support Party Member: Corsairs are not focused on dealing damage or healing, but rather by rolling their dice in order to increase the effectiveness of their party members.
• Winds of Destiny, Change!: They manipulate luck in order to support their allies and debilitate their enemies.

Puppetmaster

Travelling entertainers and formidable fighters besides, Puppetmasters can control customizable automatons to perform a wide array of tasks, from aiding friends to confusing foes. The deftness with which they manipulate their puppets also makes them excellent hand-to-hand brawlers.

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• Jack of All Trades: Not the Puppetmaster themselves, but their automaton, which can be given attachments that make it a ranged damage dealer, a tank, or a mage.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Overdrive, which increases all of the automaton's stats to maximum without Overloading them.
  • The second special job ability is Heady Artifice, which prompts the automaton to do a Limit Break of its own.
• Marionette Master: They control their puppets, but they don't use any wires or marionettes to do so.
• Robot Buddy: This is essentially what their automaton is, and they're fully customizable to boot.
• Wolverine Claws: Their primary weapon type.

Advanced Jobs (Wings of the Goddess)

Dancer

Taking to the frontlines with their healing abilities, Dancers employ waltzes and samba to provide benefits to their allies while using specialized steps to enfeeble their enemies, finishing with flourishes to give their abilities more potent effects.

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• Combat Medic: They can function as efficient healers without the use of MP, though at higher levels they would struggle to be the party's main healer. Their Waltz abilities tend to be the healing and status effect cleansing skills.
• Dance Battler: Dancers are front-line fighters.
• Draw Aggro: Their Flourishes allow them to provoke the enemy, allowing Dancers to function as a tank and making them a popular subjob for tank jobs.
• Dual Wielding: Dancers are one of the only jobs to natively gain this trait, and they learn it earlier than everyone else except the Ninja.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Trance, which lowers the TP cost of dances and steps to zero while in effect.
  • The second special job ability is Grand Pas, which allows flourishes to be used without finishing moves and removes recast times and TP cost of finishimg moves.

Scholar

A magic based job that was common during The Crystal War. Scholars are able to switch between black and white magic depending on the current situation.

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• Elemental Powers: They are capable of using every element, and have a powerful Damage Over Time spell in the form of their Helixes for each element.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Tabula Rasa, which gives the Scholar the benefit of both Light Arts and Dark Arts, optimizing the use of white and black magic at the same time.
  • The second special job ability is Caper Emissarius, which redirects all enmity from the entire party to one party member.
• The Red Mage: In a different way from the actual Red Mage. They are capable of using both black and white magic, but their effectiveness in them functions as something of a Stance System. Also, unlike Red Mages, they are not good with physical combat.
• Squishy Wizard: Unfortunately, they are just as frail as their other mage counterparts.
• Spell Book: They utilize their unique grimoires in order to cast their spells.
• Stance System: Light Arts, which empowers white magic but weakens black magic, and Dark Arts, which does the opposite. Switching between the two stances effectively is the key to a Scholar's success. Notably, Light Arts, Dark Arts, and their related Strategems apply to all White and Black magic bar some individual exceptions instead of just the Scholar's native spells, making Scholar a very common sub-job for mage characters in general.
• Weather Manipulation: They have spells to influence the weather around them, increasing the effectiveness of that weather effect's corresponding element.

Advanced Jobs (Seekers of Adoulin)

Geomancer

Geomancers are support-based healers who can call upon the power of the very land itself to impede enemies and empower allies.

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• Carry a Big Stick: Their best weapon type is clubs.
• Elemental Powers: In addition to their support and enfeebling abilities, they have access to direct damage black magic.
• Geo Effects: As usual. These determine the types of spell effects they put on their enemies. When using a Geo spell, the Geomancer releases a "luopan," which is a stationary spell effect that influences anything in range.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Bolster, which doubles the effect of Geomancy spells for the duration of the ability.
  • The second special job ability is Widened Compass, which significantly increases the range of Geomancy spells.
• Squishy Wizard: Like all the other mages. Geomancers have few options for defending themselves.
• Support Party Member: They're described as a mix between a Bard and a Black Mage, in that they have a lot of supportive effects along with the ability to cast attack magic.

Rune Fencer

Magical tanks who are sturdy against enemy magic, Rune Fencers use the power of mysterious runes to strengthen their attacks and shore their defenses.

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• Anti-Magic: They are best described as tanks who are most effective against magical effects and mitigating magical damage.
• Barrier Warrior: They come with the Protect and Shell line of spells along with the Bar-spells to defend against specific elements and status ailments.
• BFS: Their primary weapons are two-handed greatswords.
• Elemental Powers: They can use all the elements and construct runes that allow them to deal the matching element type with each strike.
• Flynning: They have the best parrying skill out of all the other jobs.
• Instant Runes: Their abilities all utilize this. By expending their harbored runes, they can unleash all sorts of magical effects.
• Limit Break:
  • The first special job ability is Elemental Sforzo, which makes them immune to all magical damage for the duration and massively increases their enmity.
  • The second special job ability is Odyllic Subterfuge, massively reducing target's Magic Accuracy.
• Spellblade: Their runes have this effect after being cast, allowing the Rune Fencer to deal that type of elemental damage added onto their weapon swings.