The Basics of Magical DPS in Final Fantasy XIV

ESTNN covers all the ins and outs to break down the basics of Magical DPS in Final Fantasy XIV.

If you are into big particle effects, keeping your distance and churning out big damage, maybe the Magical DPS is the job for you. We’ll be going over the basics, introduce you to your basic kit and give you a little rundown on the three Jobs.

Always be Casting

The Magical DPS, Casting DPS or as the game wants you to call them, Magic Ranged DPS deal with, who guessed it, Magic. This involves casttimes and MP management, but comes with the upside of not having to be in proximity of the enemy at all times. All three of them are absolute powerhouses that either bring great utility to the party or great damage. They range from being fairly easy to pick up and master to being somewhat tricky. Either way you will be rewarded with satisfying gameplay, flashy moves and a unique gameplay style for all of them.

Slidecasting

Similar to the Healer, Magical DPS have one very important tech to learn, that is essential to their gameplay. Slidecasting. During the latter half, of the final second of your cast, you should be able to move while not interrupting your cast. This depends on your own latency, so we can only recommend you to find a training dummy and test it. This will allow slight adjustments to avoid mechanics, or to squeeze out that extra bit of damage while repositioning. Alternatively, all the Magical DPS have skills that will allow them to keep the damage going while running. This might not be optimal to keep up your damage but is the saver option. After a while, you will definitely develop a feeling for this and when running content for the first few times, we recommend going for the saver option.

Role Actions

Next up, we’ll introduce you to your Role Actions, by the time you hit level 50 you should have access to all of them. And most of them are essential to your gameplay experience.

Addle: This skill will lower a single target’s physical damage by 5% and magical damage by 10% for 10 seconds. While it is somewhat tricky to find out what attacks do physical or magical damage, their animations, ability name and castbar are usually a great indicator. While not necessary to use, you should use this ability whenever the opportunity presents itself. Any kind of damage mitigation is good, and your healer will love you for it.

Sleep:  This will put a target, and any enemy in range to sleep for 30 seconds. Turning them harmless, this effect will end however should the enemy be attacked. While it won’t see much use in group content, it will find use when playing solo. Since your movement is somewhat limited, you can use this to focus on one enemy at a time.

Swiftcast: This ability will let you instantly cast your next ability and is up for 10 seconds. You can use this to quickly get a spell out or to pick up your rotation again should something mess it up. Both Red Mage and Summoner also get a resurrection spell. Swiftcast and Raises are a beloved combination.

Lucid Dreaming: Recovering MP for 21 seconds sounds like a sweet deal doesn’t it? Being on a relatively short cooldown, you should use this ability whenever it comes back up. We recommend using it whenever you hit the 80% mark on the MP bar or after being raised.

Surecast: Allowing you to ignore any kind of cast interruption, which can be taking damage or a draw-in or knockback effect. It’s plenty useful to keep your uptime, especially when casting spells with a longer castime.

The Three Magical DPS

Now that we’ve gone over the basic gameplay, it is time to introduce you to our three resident spellslingers.

Black Mage: A classic Final Fantasy job that deals with ice, fire and thunder magics. Starting off as the Thaumaturge in Ul’dah, you’ll quickly notice that this one plays quite differently from other casters. Instead of having to manage your MP, you have to switch between a fire and an ice phase. One depleting your MP while the other one regenerates that. This self sustainability and great Damage come at a great cost. Lack of movement. Since Black Mage Spells usually have a long cast time, they can’t move as much. Which means you'll have to learn fights to figure out a good spot to stand in, and that your party will have to adjust around you.

Summoner:This highly mobile caster starts out as the Arcanist in Limsa Lominsa. It has a pet through which you can channel your myriad of spells. These Spells will alter depending on the form your pet takes as you go through your rotation. Later on, your pet can channel the abilities of enemies you have bested, making former foes signature attacks your own. Not only is the Summoner very mobile for a caster, it also offers an array of utility for the party. Including a damage buff and a big, partywide healing ability. A beginner friendly job, that is not only forgiving towards mistakes but also quick to adjust to any situation.

Red Mage: The hybrid between White Mage and Black Mage starts out at level 50 in Ul’dah. How white and black makes everyone’s guess but it is a ver-y funny joke. Get it? Cause Red Mage spells start with Ver- okay nevermind. Red Mages are the swiss army knife of Final Fantasy XIV. You would definitely want them in your party while progressing content. Not only can they get a raise out quicker than any healer, they can also heal, buff the party and are highly mobile. Their core gameplay revolves around balancing two resources with the help of their dual cast trait. Which lets you cast two spells in quick succession. And finishing off with a melee combo, crowned by the succession of three very flashy moves for extra style points.

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