Classes - FFXIV Guild

FFXIV Archer / Bard Stats & Materia Guide

What’s a good archer stats build? What are useful bard stats? Archer/Bard materia? If any of these questions brought you here, you came to the right place. Whether its by stat allocation, gear or materia, knowing what stats your Archer or Bard need should never be far from mind!

Archer (ARC) & Bard (BRD) Stats

What are the archer or bard stat weights?

DEX > Critical Chance > Determination > PIE > Skill Speed > VIT

*These may vary slightly from patch to patch, or by personal preference. Following the recommendation above will always give you a good ARC & BRD build.

Archer (ARC) & Bard (BRD) Primary Stats Allocation

What stats should I add as a archer or bard?

DEX > PIE > VIT

Since this is where people may mess up the most, I’ll explain it in word for word. When you allocate stats, put as much points into DEX (Dexterity) as you can. If you cannot put any more points into DEX, place points into PIE (Piety). If you cannot put any more points into DEX and/or PIE, invest in VIT (Vitality).

Dexterity – Ranged physical damage up. Move on.

Piety – More mana to keep bard songs up longer. The value of piety rises sharply depending on how organized your group is.

Vitality – Increases total HP. Again, a luxury stat to give more breathing room for yourself and healers. Welcome, but not integral.

Archer (ARC) & Bard (BRD) Secondary Stats

What are good secondary stats for archer and bard, and why?

Critical Chance > Determination > Skill Speed

While you can’t allocate this directly, these will be heavily considered when picking gear upgrades and slotting materia.

Critical Chance – Nuts on Bards. Doing critical DoT damage with [Wind Bite] and [Venomous Bite] reset [Bloodletter].

Determination – Generic damage increase. Nothing special here.

Skill Speed – Even if returns are low, this stat is theoretically amazing on archers and bards. Why? 2 reasons. First, Enhanced Barrage is disgustingly strong. Second, Landing auto-attacks are essential to archers, who do not have a (dedicated) resource management mechanism. This has a soft-cap of around 1,000 where you hit the GCD cap of 1.50s.

Mahiko’s Note – I hesitate whenever recommending Skill Speed, and personally I’d value it much higher. I guess the explanation is long, and belongs on the eventual Page 2 “Theorycrafting” of these stat pages…

Archer (ARC) & Bard (BRD) Materia

This is directly related to the first section. As you may know, all gear has a limit for each stat it can have, the higher its Item Level, the higher amount of stats it can hold. So the idea is to max out (or get close to maxing out) the left most, and work your way right. Again:

DEX > Critical Chance > Determination > PIE > Skill Speed > VIT

Mahiko’s Note: PIE is always good to have (We’re discussing PvE here). The importance really depends on how organized your playgroup is…

Materia Name
DEX: Dexterity
Critical Chance: Savage Aim
Determination: Savage Might
PIE: Piety
Skill Speed: Quickarm
VIT: Vitality

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Have a question about ARC /BRD? Chime in on the comments or in our Archer / Bard Forums.

FFXIV Marauder / Warrior Stats & Materia Guide

What’s a good marauder stats build? What are useful warrior stats? Marauder / Warrior materia? If any of these questions brought you here, you came to the right place. Whether its by stat allocation, gear or materia: knowing what stats your Marauder or Warrior need should never be far from mind!

Marauder (MRD) & Warrior (WAR) Stats

What are the marauder or warrior stat weights?

VIT > STR > Parry > Critical Chance > Determination > DEX

*These may vary slightly from patch to patch, or by personal preference. Following the recommendation above will always give you a good MRD & WAR build.

Marauder (MRD) & Warrior (WAR) Primary Stats Allocation

What stats should I add as a marauder or warrior?

Vitality – Increases total HP. Many skills of MRD/WAR scale of total HP, and this also makes you a better tank. Really, it doesn’t get any simpler than that.

STR – Hit harder, Parry for more, and generate more threat. Marauders that make the case STR>VIT have a bit of logic in it because so many of the Warrior skills scale off damage. Don’t get sucked in to thinking you’re DPS though.

Dexterity – Increases Parry Chance. While you might not ever need to allocate a third primary stat, this is the only remotely useful one.

Maruko’s Note: VIT or STR, how much should you get of each? Marauders will be throwing this argument around until the sun goes down. While you really want STR, VIT is ALWAYS IMPORTANT. As far as stat allocation goes, just focus on VIT because you can always customize your materia later on if you find you need more STR (unlikely).

Marauder (MRD) & Warrior (WAR) Secondary Stats

What are good secondary stats for marauder and warrior, and why?

Parry > Critical Chance > Determination

While you can’t allocate this directly, these will be heavily considered when picking gear upgrades and slotting materia.

Parry – Marauders have an extremely thin HP pool. They have alot of HP but no mitigation. Adding Parry somehow counters this weakness.

Critical Chance – Serves to increase damage, threat and shields generated from Storms Path.

Determination – Generic stat when you have nothing else to put into that serves to increase damage and threat. *If you somehow want more damage and threat, value crit and determination over parry.

Marauder (MRD) & Warrior (WAR) Materia

Materia Name
VIT: Vitality
STR: Strength
Parry: Battledance
Critical Strike: Savage Aim
Determination: Savage Might
DEX: Dexterity

See Also: Materia Guide | Melding Guide Summary:

Overall MRD WAR stat importance: VIT > STR > DEX > Parry > Determination > Skill Speed
MRD WAR Stat allocation: VIT> STR > DEX
Secondary stats for MRD WAR: Parry > Critical Strike > Determination
Reference links: Marauder FAQ, Warrior FAQ

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Have a question about MRD WAR? Chime in on the comments or in our Marauder / Warrior Forums.

FFXIV Gladiator / Paladin Stats & Materia Guide

What’s a good gladiator stats build? What are useful paladin stats? Gladiator/Paladin materia? If any of these questions brought you here, you came to the right place. Whether its by stat allocation, gear or materia, knowing what stats your Gladiator or Paladin need should never be far from mind!

Gladiator (GLD) & Paladin (PLD) Stats

What are the gladiator or paladin stat weights?

VIT > STR > DEX > Parry > Determination > Skill Speed

*These may vary slightly from patch to patch, or by personal preference. Following the recommendation above will always give you a good GLD & PLD build.

Maruko’s Note: It’s still a toss up versus DEX and Parry. Either way, VIT STR is CEMENTED as the top two stats, while It is currently unknown whether DEX or Parry is better (Gut feeling leads me to think DEX). Just like all secondary stats though, these will always be wildly debated. Of course, any build similar to the above will always yield a good result.

Gladiator (GLD) & Paladin (PLD) Primary Stats Allocation

What stats should I add as a gladiator or paladin?

VIT> STR > DEX

Since this is where people may mess up the most, I’ll explain it in word for word. When you allocate stats, put as much points into VIT (Vitality) as you can. If you cannot put any more points into VIT, place points into STR (Strength). If you cannot put any more points into VIT and/or STR, invest in DEX (Dexterity).

Vitality – Increases total HP. This helps counter the Paladins glaring weakness of having a small HP pool, and low sustainability. This makes healing you less risky, and gives your healers breathing room to manage overall group healing.

Strength – More damage. More threat. Larger Parries. Larger blocks. What’s not to like?

Dexterity – While you may never find the need to allocate DEX, it is great to have. Increases Parry and Block % chances.

Gladiator (GLD) & Paladin (PLD) Secondary Stats

What are good secondary stats for gladiator and paladin, and why?

Parry > Determination > Skill Speed

While you can’t allocate this directly, these will be heavily considered when picking gear upgrades and slotting materia.

Parry – Increases rate of a successful parry. Really, this one needs no explanation. More damage reduction = happier & more successful raids.

Determination – Increases damage and healing. If you want more threat, you can have this over parry. Increases damage and threat a little bit, nothing too special here.

Skill Speed – Decrease Cast and Recast for weaponskills. Better than crit for paladins if you want to increasing threat. This also doubles as a pseudo “defensive stat”, by freeing up more GCD’s. Paladins superior resource management makes it safer to “do skills faster”.

Again, you cannot go wrong with this list. If you want more threat, take Determination > Skill Speed > Parry.

Gladiator (GLD) & Paladin (PLD) Materia

VIT > STR > DEX > Parry > Determination > Skill Speed

Materia Name
VIT: Vitality
STR: Strength
DEX: Dexterity
Parry: Battledance
Determination: Savage Might
Skill Speed: Quickarm

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Have a question about PLD /GLD? Chime in on the comments or in our Gladiator / Paladin Forums.

FFXIV Conjurer / White Mage Stats and Materia Guide

What’s a good conjurer stats build? What are useful white mage stats? Conjurer/White Mage materia? If any of these questions brought you here, you came to the right place. Whether its by stat allocation, gear or materia, knowing what stats your Conjurer or White mage need should never be far from mind!

Conjurer (CNJ) & White Mage (WHM) Stats

What are the conjurer or white mage stat weights?

MND > PIE > Determination > Spell Speed > Critical Chance > VIT

*These may vary slightly from patch to patch, or by personal preference. Following the recommendation above will always give you a good CNJ & WHM build.

Conjurer (CNJ) & White Mage (WHM) Primary Stats Allocation

What stats should I add as a conjurer or white mage?

MND > PIE> VIT

Since this is where people may mess up the most, I’ll explain it in word for word. When you allocate stats, put as much points into MND (Mind) as you can. If you cannot put any more points into MND, place points into PIE (Piety). If you cannot put any more points into MND and/or PIE, invest in VIT(Vitality).

Mind – Increases healing power. An obvious choice for Conjurers. This is by far your most important stat, hands down. You will ideally want to obtain as much of it as possible, wether it be through Stat Allocations, Gear or Materia.

Piety – Increases Mana (MP) Pool. Another no-brainer. More mana equals more healing.

Vitality – While you may never find the need to allocate or slot materia for a third primary stat, Vitality is a suitable choice. Why? Taking a hit or two before going down is never bad. The more durable you are, the more you can focus on healing others, and the less desperate you need to be when things go out of hand.

Conjurer (CNJ) & White Mage (WHM) Secondary Stats

What are good secondary stats for conjurer and white mage, and why?

Determination> Spell Speed > Critical Strike Chance

While you can’t allocate this directly, these will be heavily considered when picking gear upgrades and slotting materia.

Determination – Affects Healing and Damage Dealt. More healing. Need I say any more? This stat acts more consistently than Crit, and is much better for CNJ/WHM.

Spell Speed – This stat is a bit controversial, most CNJ’s and WHM’s debate whether this is better than critical chance, due to its low returns. I personally like this better than crit.

Critical Chance – A random crit wont do you much help, as it will probably “Overheal” your target. While a lucky crit can get you out of a bind, I’m much more in favor of consistency.

Note from Mahiko: These stats will forever be debated for CNJ / WHM, as long as FFXIV remains online. Mark my words. My personal preference leans towards Spell Speed over Determination. Remember that any mix of these stats is good, so don’t stress out about it and focus on being a better healer (Playerskill), having better teamwork and communication.

Conjurer (CNJ) & White Mage (WHM) Materia

MND > PIE > Determination > Spell Speed > Critical Chance > VIT

Materia Name
MND: Mind
PIE: Piety
Determination: Savage Might
Spell Speed: Quicktongue
Critical Chance: Savage Aim
VIT: Vitality

Paladin VS Warrior Tanking Comparison

Warrior Or Paladins? Is one truly better than the other? In this battle of the fat, we try to determine just that. PLD VS WAR comparison!

Inevitably, it’s come to this. “Who is better”, Warriors (Marauders) or Paladins (Gladiators)? Here, we will try our best to give you the ins and outs of each class. Note that we will be discussing level 50 PLD and WAR capabilities, and this somehow extends to lower-level Gladiator and Marauder comparisons.

This is also our very first ‘community driven’ guide – we will be discussing key points in the forums, ultimately leading to the content to this page. Participate and be commended!
PLD vs. WAR Forum thread

For reference you can open these windows:
Gladiator | Paladin : Marauder | Warrior

Base stats / Innate capabilities

Warrior
The main advantage of a warrior is it’s immense maximum HP. Does a lot of damage, and indirectly increases defenses by doing so. Marauders and Warriors are extremely combo sensitive, and are definitely more difficult to play. This further extends by adding the “Defiance” / “Infuriated” warrior system. Compared to Paladins, these guys pack a huge punch. Parrying serves as a welcome additional defense (Although Paladins have this too), they cannot block.

Paladin
Damage reduction / mitigation is the paladins key trait. Wears a shield by default (Blocks!). Paladins have a reactive gamplay style, and are much easier to play ‘mechanically’ than warriors. Paladins are susceptible to burst damage with a low HP pool, but over the course of longer encounters – their mitigation more than makes up for it. Their “Effective HP” is much much higher than a Marauder. Their damage is so pathetic, and could possibly be out DPS’d by a Conjurer.

So here we see the main difference, Warriors rely on HP and Damage. Paladins rely on Damage Reduction. This becomes brutally clear in the next section:

Defensive Skills

Warrior
— MRD —
Foresight – Increases defense by 20% for 20s. Recast 90 (Traited)
Bloodbath – Gain 25% “Lifesteal” for 30s (Traited). Recast 90.
Mercy Stroke – Killing a target with mercy stroke restores 20% of max HP. Recast 30 (Traited)
Thrill of Battle – Increases max HP by 20% (Traited) and heals for that amount. Duration 10s.
Storms Path – (If Combo’d into) Creates a shield equal to 20% of damage dealt up to 10% of max HP.
—WAR—
Defiance – (Stance) Increases maximum HP by 25%, while lowering damage dealt by 30% and increasing enmity.

Paladin
— GLD —
Rampart – Reduces damage taken by 20% (Traited) for 20s.
Convalescence – Increases HP restored by spells or actions by 30% (Traited) for 20s.
Awareness – Reduces critical strike damage taken by 15% for 25 (Traited) seconds.
Tempered Will – Immediately cures Bind and Heavy, while preventing knockback and draw-in effects.
Sentinel – Reduces damage taken by 40% (Traited) for 10s.
Bulwark – Increases block rate by 60% for 15s.
— PLD —
Shield Oath – (Stance) Reduces damage taken by 25%, and damage dealt by 30% but increases enmity generated.
Hallowed Ground – Renders you impervious to most attacks

Wow, from here it becomes rather obvious that warriors have the short end of the stick when it comes to purely defensive skills. Foresight is directly inferior to Rampart (Which also reduces magic damage) and Sentinel (40%!). Thrill of Battle is ‘cute’ at best, amounting to a large heal. Storms Path is the warrior saving grace here, giving you a reusable shield without a long cooldown.

Paladins on the other hand have a long list of defensive skills, all ridiculously effective. Just by comparing the stances, the trade-off for 30% reduction for damage dealt is just completely lopsided in the paladins favor: 25% damage reduction for the paladin, and 35% max hp for the warrior. While 35% HP is better in a vacuum, when healers are involved, this becomes next to useless (Remember Effective HP?)

Warriors scale extremely well with offense, and even benefit from it defensively. While this is good, the survivability gained is just nowhere NEAR the Paladin. Not even close.

Threat Generation

Both Paladins & Warrior have no trouble generating threat. It’s the small differences and situations that make the Warrior superior to Paladin in terms of threat. It’s very unlikely that DPS will pull aggro during a fight from either a Paladin or Warrior, so what’s the difference? Two key points.

Threat on Demand
The main difference? Warriors are better in more desperate times. When sh*t hits the fan – you’re going to want a warrior. When resources are tight, and adds spawn, Warriors are much much better at picking them up and making them stick. Paladins have superior resource management and will match a warriors threat over time. Warriors excels at keeping up with initial burst aggro when picking up and killing newly spawned adds.

Adds, AoE
In both single target and AoE situations, Warriors will out-threat Paladins any day. Paladins also have decent AoE threat, but simply pale in comparison to what Warriors can do to multiple enemies, and struggle alot less to build up initial aggro. It’s like Warriors WANT adds to spawn, and lots of them, while Paladins would rather not!

Due to the length of this post, we split it into two pages. In Page 2, we discuss Healer Preference, Overall Kit, and finally Summary and Recommendations.

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