Healing is understandably the job the player base finds the most intimidating. The Tank is sturdy, and the DPS nimble, but they depend on you to keep them alive, as none of them can compete with the sheer healing and resurrection powers you have! And that can be a lot of pressure, but we can break this down so its slightly less pressure!

Healing in its most basic form is all about multitasking and prioritizing your moves. Think of it like playing Invaders, you have to make sure you are taking out the closest threats before you can worry about the next - get rid of the first row, then the next row, and so on. In this case the threat is your party members health bars depleting XD

How to Heal

Know Your Skills

Let's start with getting familiar with your skills! The Healer classes all have pretty unique styles to each other, so I advise you READ YOUR TOOL TIPS. For the most part you will have two types of healing spells:

Regular Heal-this heals the player/party for a certain amount of points. Some will heal a little bit, some heal a good amount, and a couple will heal for a lot/all the targets HP. These come in both single target and Area of Effect [AOE] form.

Regenerating Heal-also known as regen. These are spells that initially heal a small amount of points, and then heal a small amount over time, for a few seconds or so. These also come in single target and AOE forms.

The Healer classes also all have unique class specific Heal spells that will have certain effects, or play with class specific mechanics. That is for you to learn as you get more familiar with the classes, as most of them are beyond Lv50 and at that point we're no longer in newbie territory. SO, from this point on I will refer to a "regular heal" as simply a Heal, and a "regenerating heal" as a Regen.

All Healers also have a Role skill called Esuna, a status or debuff clearing heal. These are also called DOTs or Damage Over Time. Keep in mind this will not heal any status, only the ones with a progress bar over them will be cured. You also will not be able to choose which status is healed if your target has multiple. Esuna is a single target skill.

Two of the Healer jobs [SCH & SGE] also have shielding or barrier granting skills. These skills do not heal the party, but instead negate damage for a certain amount of points. This will appear as a yellow section of a player's HP bar capping before their health points. If they have full health it will roll over to an extra line. Any damage taken will first have to go through the barrier before it can get through to the health points. These also can be single target or AoE.

Finally, every Healer has the ability to revive a fallen player, usually referred to as a "res". This will be elaborated on later, but know that you all get this skill very early, and that this has a pretty long cast time normally.

Learning to Cast

Yes I said cast time! All Healing jobs are also casting types! Meaning that for a majority of your skills are spells, and most of them require you to stand still until the cast finishes for it to work! This requires you to position yourself out of danger, but still close enough to heal.

Most of the time a good place to be is a short distance off to the side of the Tank. That way you have a good view of everyone, while being out of harm's way. This applies to both groups of enemies and Bosses.

Single target spells will have a longer range than the AoE ones, and most AoE heals/regens/barriers treat you as the center of the circle. So if you're planning to do a party-wide skill, you need to position yourself so others are in your range!

There is also a helpful tactic called slide-casting, that can assist you if you find yourself in harm's way. There is perhaps a half-second before your spell is done casting, that you can move, but the spell will still finish! It will take some practice to get a feel for it.

You and Your Tank

As the Healer you are responsible for your parties health, but most of all you are also the Tanks partner. They are going to depend on you to keep them alive as they do their best to soak up all the damage to keep the party out of harm's way.

This means you must keep up with the Tank for every pull. If they are running, you are running. If they pull the group around a corner, you have to run around that corner to target them for healing. If they fall, you bring them back up!

But also, if they are taking on too much for you to handle or going too fast, tell them! Very few Tanks will warn or ask if big pulls are ok, because it tends to be assumed. If you're nervous, let them know you are new/new to healing a particular encounter. Most Tanks will ease up and at that point you can tell them if you're comfortable taking on more. They might lead the charge, but you're the one keeping them standing!

The Tank in turn is supposed to be keeping everyone safe, especially you. They do this by generating the most enmity. Enmity is the in game stat that tells the enemies who to attack first, also known as Aggro in most other games. All enemies are drawn to who is creating the most enmity and who is doing the most damage. All Tanks have a Stance that will help them generate enmity, if they have it on, it will look like a little buff by their name called either Iron Will, Defiance, Royal Guard, or Grit. If your Tank is pulling and you don't see this by their name, tell them!

This is important because you as the Healer are also capable of generating enmity, because big heals also tend to grab the enemies attention. Especially regen.

The Pull

OK, let's try to put all that together!

1. The Buddy System

If you are a SGE, immediately put Kardia on your Tank. If you are a SCH, summon your Carbuncle/Fairy if they're not out!

The Tank is the front liner so they will run in first so that they can grab the enemies attention. Always stay behind the Tank, not just because you need to be there to heal them, but because you don't want the enemies to spot you first! You are mighty of mending but squishy of body!

Generally you have two options on your approach: if you are some distance away from an enemy group you can safely throw a regen/barrier on to the Tank without drawing enemy attention. OR you can wait until the Tank have picked up the Boss/all the enemies before starting up any skills.

2. Stay Alive

This is going to sound counterintuitive to your Role, but remember: you are the only Healer! The party might be able to take a few mobs and be okay until you return, but if you die in the boss fight, the rest of the party is often soon to follow.

Make sure you are out of harm's way and your own health is fine, before you start throwing out heals to the others! You can't heal anyone if you are face-planting the earth.

3. Keep the Others Alive

Once you're in a good spot and your own HP bar is okay, it's time to watch everyone else's! When you're the Healer you're going to spend most of the time watching these bars, so it might be helpful to change the size in the HUD to make them bigger. This will make it easier to select the player you want for individual heals.

SCH, your Fairy will also move independently of your commands to heal and shield other players. This is normal, and your game is not tweaking out. It also will not interfere with any of your spells, so don't worry about it!

Generally the Tank will be your priority and the one taking all damage if things are going well. Depending on the amount they are taking, you can heal them every so often, give them a big heal, or if it looks like they are doing fine, a regen may suffice!

Something to watch here also: make sure your Tank is using their mitigations! These are skills the Tanks have to lessen the amount of damage they take, and the skills will have many different names, but all of them will appear as a buff by their name and say they reduce damage. This is important because you are not expected to, and in some cases straight up cannot, heal through all the damage the Tank will take. This is a balancing act between you and the Tank and you both have to contribute for it to work! If you notice the Tank is not using mitigations, politely ask if they are/know about them.

4. Attack Whenever Possible

Remember, you also have attacks! FF14 wants all the players to be actively damaging foes. In fact they generally want the healer to be 30% of the DPS! If your party looks good and the Tank is not in immediate danger, be attacking as much as you can!

SGE this is why you pick the Tank to put Kardion on, for every attack you make it gives the Tank a bit of healing!

Again you are a caster class so most of your attacks will also require you to stand still! When you are fighting groups of enemies, stick to AoE attacks, when you are fighting single targets, use single target spells.

When you are using AoE attacks, some of them will also treat you as the center of the circle, forcing you to get close to your enemies. DO NOT stand next to the Tank. The Tank is only directing damage, they cannot actually shield you with their body. Attacks will go through them and hit you. This is called Cleave. A fair strategy is to follow the lead of the DPS who is experienced, as they also prefer not to die lol

Your DOTs or Damage over Time skills are instant cast! Which can come in handy, as sometimes you won't have time for much else. These are best saved for Bosses, but if you have time to throw them on a random enemy, don't hesitate! For bosses you want to try and reapply DOTs as often as possible.

AST, your Tarot Cards and Divination are specifically for buffing the attack power of yourself and other players, so keep whipping those out!

And remember, the slide-casting trick works on attack spells too!

5. Pick Up the Fallen

Despite your best efforts, someone has died. Don't panic! Even if it's the Tank, don't panic. Now is the time we learn how to play god!

All Healers have the ability to res: Raise for WHM, Resurrection for SCH, Ascend for AST, and Egeiro for SGE. Despite the different names these spell all function exactly the same and they have the same casting time. Which is long.

So when you need to raise someone in a pinch, you want to use the Role skill Swiftcast first! This skill makes it so the next spell you cast is instantaneous. Your priority if everyone else is dead will always be Tank first. If there is a need to raise more, you can use the res move again, but you will have to do it for the full cast time, until you are able to use Swiftcast again. So it's best to wait for a moment where everything is back under control, and you are out of harm's way so you won't be interrupted.

Keep in mind also, when you res someone, they will revive in the last place you were standing when you cast that spell, not where their body is. Also, players first have to accept the res in order to be revived, meaning there may be a delay between when you cast it, and when they actually get up.

6. Tank Busters

Every so often a Boss will think "well shit, if I just take care of this one mother fucker, the rest will fall like leaves!" and try to take out your Tank in one attack. This is the Tank Buster and you need to keep your eye on the Tank when this is happening!

You can tell when this is happening when the Tank suddenly has both a circular marker around their body, and an arrow over their head pointed directly down at them. This is usually coupled with a progress bar indicating a strong move is charging up.

Generally these moves cannot be stopped, your Tank will take damage. So do your best to make sure your Tank's health is at max before the attack hits, and once the damage is done, assess the amount needed to be healed after. Sometimes it's going to be a lot, sometimes they might just need a regen.

Making Good Choices!

As the Healer, you will in the end have to prioritize some Roles over others depending on your situation. There isn't any favoritism involved in these lists, it's purely from a "how do I get us back on track the fastest" standpoint. If it helps, think of it like you're a battlefield medic, they have to make choices based on the conditions!

For Light Parties

This will be most Dungeons and the early Trials. For the majority of in game content this will be the set up you will work with: 1 Tank, 1 Healer, and 2 DPS.

Heal Priority- 1. Yourself 2. The Tank 3. DPS

Res Priority- 1. The Tank 2. The DPS

For Full Parties

These will be Normal Raids and most trials after ARR. 2 Tanks, 2 Healers, and 4 DPS.

Heal Priority- 1. Yourself 2. The Main Tank 3. Off Tank/DPS

Res Priority- 1. One of the Tanks 2. Other Healer 3. DPS- Summoner [can help res at Lv12] or Red Mage [can help res at Lv64] 4. Other Tank/All other DPS

For Alliance Raids

These are Alliance Raid only. You will be part of an 8 player team, and there will be two other 8 player teams on the field. When you pick Healer in Alliance Raid, keep in mind that your skills will typically only affect those in your immediate party. For instance if you use an AoE skill. You can help players from the other parties, but only if you specifically select them, and only with single target skills. Your Party-1 Tank, 2 Healers, and 5 DPS. The Alliance- 3 Tanks, 6 Healers, and 15 DPS.

Heal Priority- 1. Yourself 2. The Main Tank [may not be your Tank!] 3. Your Tank [if not the main tank] and DPS

Resurrection Priority- 1. One Tank 2. Your other Healer 3. Healers from other parties 4. Any Summoner [can help res at Lv12] or Red Mage [can help res at Lv64] 5. Other Tanks/Your other DPS 6. DPS from other parties

General Tips and Etiquette

You will never need Repose. At this time, this skill is useful maybe in a few story instances, and if you're out in the field alone. But in any general dungeon/trial/raid run it has no use.

You can use the Role skill Surecast to ensure your next spell will not be interrupted by attacks, and it will also prevent most knock-back effects!

If you are having trouble managing MP consumption, you can use the Role skill Lucid Dreaming to steadily regain MP for a short amount of time. Likewise you can also use it after just having been revived to get your MP back quickly so you can use your stronger spells faster! Because your MP will be extremely low when you regain control.

Speaking of that, WHM and AST, once you guys get level up high enough to learn Cure II and Benefic II, stop using the first versions of these skills. Yes, there is a neat little bonus action combo that they do, but I'm telling you that is inconsequential. It is simply more time and cost effective to use the stronger Heal move, then to keep pumping out a tiny heal for a chance at something bigger. If you're having trouble just use Lucid Dreaming, or Presence of Mind/Lightspeed to help you out, it will be quicker I promise!

Don't forget about Esuna! Yes you could just heal through the DOT on your Tank, but that takes more time and MP than just cleansing them! Especially if the DOT is going to last more than 5 seconds. However, if the target has more than 2 status effects on them and they have short timers, it may be more cost effective to cleanse one and then heal. If ALL the DOTs have long timers, heal between cleanses.

On that note, let's talk about Doom [the in game debuff]. Cleansing Doom is not optional, as it can kill a player that has full HP instantly. Doom is not so much a DOT as a countdown to player death. On top of that, the way you must cure Doom is not always the same. Most of the time you can cleanse Doom by healing a player up to full HP before the timer runs out. Sometimes it has a bar over it, which means you can use Esuna to clear it. And then there's the ones that are completely out of your control, because it's a boss specific mechanic that required the afflicted player to do something [there's only one of these in main game content]. So yes when it comes to Doom, pay attention and do your best :')

For the Healers the use of the Limit Break is not common, but when it's time, it is crucial. For main game content with a 4 player party you will never need it, but in the Trials and Raiding content this is a potential tool to save your team if you need it. Because for the Healers the Level 3 Limit Break [LB3] results in a full party 100% heal and res. Meaning if you are the last man standing in the raid you have the power to turn the whole thing around! Keep in mind: You will still have a cast time for this move, and this move has a limited range. Make sure you are safe when casting, and be close to the party members you intend to res.

If a player has died and you didn't have time to res them before all the enemies/boss are dead, whatever the reason may be, it is better for them to teleport and run back. This might seem rude, but it's because when you res someone, they don't come back at full strength! They have a minute long debuff called Weakness that lowers their attack by 25%. If you've already ressed them in that time frame, doing it a second time will make it Brink of Death and then their attack is lowered by 50%. Some players don't know this and will just lay there. Politely explain it to them. If they stay there, then they can stay there :)

Rescue is a Role skill that you need to be the most careful with in its use. Yes, a timely rescue from the jaws of death is great and you love to see it! But this is also a move that can easily be used to cause grief in the wrong hands. Unless the player in question is actively in danger and they are aware of it, they are more often than not going to be a little bit terse with being literally pulled away from whatever they were trying to accomplish. Especially if they were in the right place and they just got pulled into death. You must be 100% sure when you use this move, that you are moving someone out of danger when you do it.

DO NOT pull for the Tank. Remember you and the Tank are a team! That means you both have to be comfortable with a big pull. Because you might be an awesome healer, but if they're still not familiar with all their mitigations, or even not familiar with the encounter, then they might die anyways. If you're feeling good about it, you can simply tell the Tank that they can grab more enemies. If they're not, then please continue to move at the pace they set. If the Tank wants to make a big pull they will either ask, or most just do it and see if you're able to keep up with their stride.

On that note, DO NOT use Rescue to make the Tank move forward faster. Do not use it to pull the Tank into mobs. The only thing this will accomplish is make the Tank mad at you. Again, this is a partnership, be considerate of the Tank!

Now some people might say the DPS have it easy, and to be fair, we don't lead the charge or bring our buddies back from the dead [most of us]. But do you really think the Tank and the Healer want to do a 30 minute dungeon run? Or want to try and man a cannon while enemies keep punching them in the back of the head? They get to focus on what they are doing, because we are doing everything else!

The DPS Club is the most diverse of the job groups, so we will not be covering a lot of the class specifics [though I will point out unique traits if relevant]. For simplicity, we'll stick with group names: the close range fighters aka Melee [MNK, SAM, DRG, RPR, NIN], the long ranged fighters aka Ranged [BRD, MCH, DNC] and the magic users aka Caster [SMN, BLM, RDM]

THE RULES OF THE DPS CLUB

1. Don't Die

You can command the most destructive magics in all the world, but it won't mean much if you've been surrounded by enemies that can and will, take you out in a few hits. Luckily that's what the Tank is for! So you can freely beat the enemies heads in without worry! BUT, remember the Tank can't actually block all the damage, they just direct it. You still need to be avoiding Area of Effect moves [AOE], and generally trying not to stand right on top of the Tank, as some of the attacks can go through the Tank and hit you. This is called Cleave, and is why Tanks will typically point the boss away from the party.

For the Melee this is the part where you must learn to dance. A conscientious Tank will try to group the mobs in a way that keeps you safe, but sometimes that's just not how the dice rolls. So keep one eye on your Tank and the other on the ground lol

Ranged can literally run in circles while attacking from a distance so there's no shortage of mobility here lmao But if you're spinning like top into all the AOE's and then get Cleaved then you need to adjust your arc.

Yes, this means you too Casters. I know you guys have to stand still to attack, but if you die before you can pull off your spell it won't matter :'> One thing that can help is a little trick called slide-casting! When you are casting a spell, there is a half-second or so just before it is unleashed, where you can move, and the spell will still cast! This will take some practice to get a feel for it, but is great for especially hectic fights. At the very least: check that your health is full, that you are not in a Venn diagram of death, and that the healer isn't occupied with keeping someone else alive!

All DPS [except BLM] also have a self-Healing move [Melee & Ranged: Second Wind, RDM: Vercure, SMN: Physick], and the Melee have an additional heal called Blood Bath, which heals you as you do damage. DNC also has a party wide heal called Curing Waltz.

Some DPS also have skills that will increase the potency of healing moves for themselves and the party [MNK: Mantra, BRD: Nature's Minne], meaning you can use them before a strong attack is coming, or simply before you use your own healing move, to help you and the party recover more HP.

At this time only one DPS has a status curing skill. BRDs can use the skill Wardens Paean to remove a curable debuff from themselves or another party member.

Quite a few DPS also have their own Mitigation skill similar to the Tanks. Some only reduce damage for the user [MNK: Riddle of Earth, NIN: Shade Shift, SAM: Third Eye, BLM: Manaward, SMN: Radiant Aegis], while others will be party wide so long as they are within range [RPR: Arcane Circle, BRD: Troubadour, DNC: Shield Samba, MCH: Tactician, RDM: Magick Barrier]. Additionally, the Melee DPS have a Role Skill called Feint which reduces the amount of damage the target does to the party.

Remember, nothing is a bigger DPS loss than dying!

2. Control the Battlefield

The Tank is the leader, and they will be doing their best to make sure everything in the room is focused on them. But if things start to get crazy or if extra factors come into the fray, that's when you need to step in!

When you are facing groups of enemies [which is most of the time], you want to be using your AOE skills primarily. The Tank will also be doing this in order to keep the enemy focused on them. This makes it so the party can make a clean sweep of the enemies faster and move on to the next pull quicker! Once you get down to two or one enemies, you can start focusing on attacking one at a time.

Occasionally ranged enemies can put a damper on the AOE attack strategy though, as they tend to hang back from the rest of the group. Sometimes a skilled Tank can find a way to force them to come in closer, but if not, look to DPS these enemies down first!

If the Tank misses an enemy and it targets you, do not panic! Bring it to the Tank. Grab that random Coblyn and wave it in the Tank's face until they take it from you!

If the Tank misses an enemy, and you see one go directly for the Healer, go kick it in the face! You must get its attention on you, and away from the Healer. Then, you guessed it, bring it to the Tank!

If the Tank goes down, the enemies will divide their attention on you and your Healer. This is because their enmity [or aggro] is based on two things: who is doing the most damage, or who is generating the most enmity, and they really hate the Healers regen moves. Do your best to take the heat off your Healer and stay alive while they get the Tank back up!

Some bosses will summon extra enemies to the battle to fight you. The additional enemies [Adds] should be quickly eliminated. They typically will not have a lot of health, and will only serve to annoy and harry your party while trying to kill the boss if left alone. Sometimes extra adds will disappear when the boss dies but not always.

Melee and Ranged, you also have a couple skills that you can use to either Stun or Interrupt enemies from doing certain attacks. These are indicated by the Progress Bar, showing that the attack is charging up. The normal progress bar indicates an attack that can be stopped by Stunning the enemy [IF they can be stunned, some are impervious]. Melee can do this with the skill Leg Sweep. The flashing progress bar indicates that the attack can be Interrupted. Ranged can do this with the skill Head Graze. Remember that Stun and Interrupt are not interchangeable! Enemies who have been stunned multiple times will become impervious to it, and Bosses cannot be Stunned at all.

Extra mechanics like flipping switches and shooting cannons and so on during the battle- that's up to us! The Tank needs to keep the enemies focused on them and the Healer needs to focus on keeping all of you alive. So if the boss needs to get shot with a cannonball in order to stop it's big party-wiping attack, its up to the DPS to get it going! [This seems to be slowly getting phased out in Main Scenario, but is still present in a fair amount of optional dungeons, so it's still good to keep in mind]

3. Maximize Your Damage

You've dodged all the enemies attacks and and made sure your party is safe, now its time to turn to your enemies and do what you do best- melt those motherfuckers HP bars!

Now! This is much too large and diverse a topic for the DPS Club to really get into the nitty-gritty of it for each class, so I encourage you all to look up guides for the specific class you are interested in. Finding a training dummy in the game to test things out on to get a feeling of the class's rhythm will help too! But most importantly, READ YOUR TOOL TIPS! Hovering your mouse over them will give a detailed description of each skill. Some general tips for everyone:

Pay Attention to Your Combos! Any attack move you can do that is a part of a combo [the skill description will say it has a "Combo Action" with another skill] will do more damage if you do it in the correct order of the combo. These are also visually indicated when you start with your first attack skill, the next in the combo will have a flashing dashed line moving around the icon.

Always be Using Your Off-Global Cool Down Skills! What does that even mean, WELL, those combo moves I just mentioned? They all recharge at the same time, meaning they all have the same "Cool Down" [CD] timer or Global Cool Down [GCD]. But you'll get extra attacks that have their own CD, that are independent of your usual combo moves. This means that if you can use one of those moves to attack in between the time you are waiting for your next combo move to be available. So use those whenever possible! [if you ever read a guide and it talks about "weaving" skills, this is what they mean]

Always be Using Your Damage Over Time Skills! These are skills that then inflict a form of status or de-buff on your enemies that will cause a small amount of damage to the enemy, repeatedly, for a small amount of time. Also known as DOTs. Most of these are a single attack that affect one target, with a few exceptions: BLM and RPR- which have both a single target and Area of Effect [AOE] DOTs, MCH and NIN- which only have a AOE DOTs [NIN is ground targeted one], and BRD- which has two single target DOTs. DNC, SMN, and RDM are the only DPS that have no DOT moves as of Endwalker. HOWEVER this is best utilized on Bosses, unless you have one of the rare AOE DOT's it's a DPS loss to try an place a DOT on every single enemy. Just focus on AOE attacks for crowds otherwise.

Always be Buffing Your Damage! All DPS have the ability to either temporarily increase their damage, or increase the speed of which they attack. Many of them also get party wide versions of these skills. There are some that you may want to use strategically [such as selecting another DPS for a single target one], but for the most part use these as frequently as you can.

And for each group, here are some extra things to consider so you can up your game:

Melee- For the most part you guys want to be paying attention to how your combos work, and where you are striking the enemy from. All the Melees have a basic 1-2-3 combo, and as you get more moves, you might either get another combo set, or have your original combo make a branching point. Again read your skill info, feel it out. In most cases for these branching combos, the final skill in a set will do more damage based on if you strike from the Flank, or from the Rear. These are called Positionals. To try and explain simply: the open space on a targeted enemy circle is the Rear, and the lined spaces on either side of the Rear [up until the little notch] are the Flanks. Those are your sweet spots, dance between them!

Ranged- This is a strange spot because MCH honestly is very similar mechanics wise to the Melee group: it has a combo and relies fully on damage, but it does not have to worry about Positionals at all. On the other hand, damage for BRD and DNC is more "Random Number Generated" [RNG] based. This makes it a bit hard to make a consistent damage output, but that's okay, because you guys get to buff yourself and your pals with song and dance! DNC, always be dancing to provide attack buffs. BRDs, keep in mind that your Songs do not stack with the Songs or other BRDs, so try to pick a different Song from the other BRD to max out those damage buffs!

Casters- For you guys the importance is mostly on learning the rhythm of your magic, and making sure you position yourself well. Ideally you want to be familiar enough with the battles so that you don't have to move, and you can keep spamming spells all day. This is particularly important for BLM, as they are the least mobile of the three. Remember the slide casting trick mentioned earlier! It will take a little practice but it's very worth it. For RMD, remember that your sword skills are always more powerful if they are used when you have some magic built up!

4. The Limit Break

The battle has raged and you've got your enemy on the ropes, it's time to finish them off! It's time. To. LIMIT BREAK!!!

If you're new to Final Fantasy, a Limit Break [or LB] is generally a strong move used by a character to do a lot of damage. If you are the DPS at least. This is a multi-sectioned bar that fills gradually as the party attacks, and a Limit Break can only be used if at least one of the sections is full. For most encounters you might only get one or two sections, but many bosses will get three. The more sections full when you use the attack, the stronger it will be.

And most critically, the Limit Break is party shared [not the case in most FF games], which means if one player uses it, it has been used for everyone else too. This is why it's important for the LB to be used strategically, particularly for higher level dungeons/trials/raids.

On top of that, the LB move changes depending on your DPS Type, and how many bars are full. The Limit Break Three [or LB3] in particular is the strongest and it's attack animation is unique for every single DPS class. But the inherent way the LB attacks function is the same for each group:

Melee- a single target, hard hitting attack

Ranged- a line AOE that will hit multiple enemies

Casters- a circle AOE that will hit multiple enemies

As a general rule the Melee DPS is the one who uses the LB attack on a Boss. This is not favoritism, but rather because the Melee LB attacks do the most damage to a single target. So when you are fighting a single enemy, the party will expect the Melee to use the LB. You could do this at the start of the fight if the bars are full, or wait near the end to finish the boss with it if you prefer. If there are no Melee DPS in the party: the next most powerful LB attacks belong to the Ranged group, then the Casters.

As you get more familiar with fights, you will note there may be exceptions to the Melee LB Rule! Sometimes it's more strategic to do a Ranged LB on a certain phase of the fight. Or maybe you guys are fighting some mobs and it will save time if a Caster uses an LB on them so you can move along. There can also be situational exceptions where you don't want the DPS to LB at all! If a raid isn't going well, you might save the LB3 so that the Healer can use it instead for a full party raise! And there are a couple instances where the Tank might need an LB3 to shield the party from a boss attack that may otherwise wipe the group.

General DPS Etiquette

Dungeons & General Tips

If you notice the Tank run into battle without their Tank stance, remind them to put it on! A lot of times the game will turn off their stance when they enter a new duty and they might forget to stance up again because of it.

On a similar note, remember how you are in the field, the name of the enemies you attack change color when they are aggressive towards you? You can use that cue to spot when the Tank has successfully engaged all the enemies, making it safe for you to attack after with no worry of repercussion!

Leave the AOE attacks for the enemy groups. When you face a single enemy or a Boss, use your single target attacks. They are much stronger than your AOEs, so they are worth more in the long run when you fight a single target.

When the enemy is doing a visible AOE move, usually visible on the ground and in orange, that area is dangerous only when it is orange. Yes, even if the attack animation is still going. So you can move back into that into that space immediately after it stops being indicated on the ground! More time for attacking! [There are like...maybe two exceptions to this in main game lol you'll remember when they happen. The party will likely warn you even!]

Ranged guys! You have a really fun move called Peloton that makes everyone in your party run faster [when you're not in combat]. Everybody likes it when you use this :D

Ranged and Casters, be mindful of your position relative to your Healer. Their heal moves only go out so far, so if you're on the other end of the battlefield, they won't be able to hit you with their AOE Heal Skills!

SMN and RDM, you guys are in the unique position of being able to Resurrect [Rez/Res] fallen players like your Healers can! For SMN this is called Resurrect and for RDM it is Verraise. This can be extremely helpful if the Healer has already used their Swiftcast to Res someone else or is otherwise occupied. Or dead. RDM specifically, is able to spam this skill quickly by virtue of its Dual Cast mechanic. You can use a fast spell [like jolt], and then be able to cast Verraise again instantly!

BRDs don't forget about Wardens Paean! Like the Healers Esuna skill it picks one status to remove at random, but unlike Esuna the cool down is much longer. Since the healer will likely prioritize themselves or the Tank first, if the whole party has been hit with a status effect, a good bet is to use it on yourself or the other DPS! Or maybe if the Tank has multiple status effects on them, use it on them so the Healer has one less thing to worry about!

Every so often you'll encounter a Boss that is charging a party wiping attack. For the most part [again some of the older side content is not up to date with the new indicators] you can tell this is happening when a completely different looking progress bar appears on the screen. It typically has a silver frame and fills up at snails pace compared to the usual one. This is the DPS check and it is your time to shine! Usually the Boss themselves is not the target in this case, but something else on the field. Whatever it is, it's your job to crank up the damage and turn it to dust before it does the same to you!

If you ever see a player get marked by another player with an icon [they are by default a white icon hovering over the character, either a number or a shape] usually this is to indicate this player knows the fight very well, and to follow them! This is often used in more chaotic trials or if the party has wiped a few times, to help the newer players know where to go to avoid dying. Not all players know how to do this though [or there's not enough time], and they might just start jumping in place on the safe spot, so look for that too! XD

DO NOT run in front of the tank, wait for them to pull the aggro first. Despite what the Duty Support/Trust systems would suggest, DPS do not lead the charge, because you would die in 5 seconds. This doesn't happen in those settings because the Tank is programmed to be glued to your ass. Please wait for your Tank!

DO NOT PULL FOR THE TANK. I know it seems like I am the same point twice, but I am this time referring to purposefully running ahead of the tank to pull enemies back to them. Please do not do this. How many enemies are being fought at one time is a decision that must be balanced between the skills and comfort level of the Tank and the Healer. You should not be deciding this for them!

Raids

When you are in a Normal Raid, the party becomes an 8 player team, and for the most part the same rules apply as when you're in a Dungeon or Trial. Even the use of the LB. But when you are in an Alliance raid, you are joined by two additional 8 player teams. This makes battles chaotic and fun, so there are some extra things to keep in mind:

Any party buffs you have or can give to other players will not be given to the other Alliances, they will only reach your own Alliance. This includes AOE Healing.

HOWEVER, players of other Alliances can be healed or rezzed if directly targeted when using the skill.

The LB is shared only with your Alliance. This means each alliance will have its own LB bar. Typically it is in the Raids that you want to keep an eye on how your team is doing before using the LB. If half your party is down, consider letting a Healer do it. But if you're the last man, may as well go for it!

For the most part Raids [at least not the regular difficulty ones] do not have DPS specific mechanics to watch out for like they have for Tanks and Healers. But the Raids are very diverse and many of them have unique mechanics, plenty of which may require the DPS to handle. And there are lots of online tutorials on dungeons and raids to help you make sense of them!

Basic Tanking and How it Works

Part 1: How to Pull

As the Tank it's your job to make everything in the room hate you the most! That way they punch your extremely durable face instead of everyone else's more squishy ones!

You do this by creating what the game calls "Enmity", aka the stat of creating enemy aggression, or "Aggro". There are three steps in which the Tank must do this.

PUT YOUR STANCE ON Your stance is the thing that makes the bad guys turn their heads and go "Oh! You're a mother fucker!". You will generate enmity just by having it on. This is called a different thing depending on your job: Defiance [WAR], Iron Will [PLD], Royal Guard [GNB], and Grit [DRK]. You click it once to put the stance on, click it again to turn the stance off [there are a few instances you may need it to be off, they will be explained later]. It's important to put this on because if it's not, no matter how much you attack, other players WILL take aggro and get hurt.

USE AN ENMITY GENERATING SKILL Unlike some other MMOs your mere presence does not make the enemies incensed enough to fully ignore your party members, you must encourage them to hate you and only you! You can do this in a couple ways. There is the Provoke skill, which has the longest range. All Tanks also have a ranged skill which works similarly to Provoke but slightly closer distance and slightly less enmity, Tomahawk [WAR], Shield Lob [PLD], Lightning Shot [GNB], and Unmend [DRK]. [While they are fun and look cool, none of the skills that rush the enemies actually generate enmity] Using one of these once is enough to piss off a group or a boss.

ALWAYS BE ATTACKING Enemies in this game are drawn to the player doing that are doing two things at once: generating the most enmity & doing the most damage. This is important to remember! Because even if you have your stance on and you use an enmity skill, if you are not also attacking with all your might, the enemies will think you are all talk and start attacking your DPS/Healers instead! If you are fighting a group of enemies [and that is more often the case] make sure you are using attacks that are going to hit multiple enemies at once. These are called Area of Effect or AOE skills.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE DONE ALL THAT-look at the names of the enemies. There should be a little red square next to them, indicating that they are focused on and attacking you. If they are not, don't panic! A few things could have happened:

You might have just missed one

Your Healer used a Regen skill as you were engaging, and enemies just hate that.

Your DPS is doing some bonkers damage to start pulling enmity, good for them!

Regardless of the why, you can either use an enmity generating skill, or just hit them really hard a few times, and they'll be pissed off enough to turn around and hit you instead!

[and for reference, green circle means they are not focused on you at all, and yellow triangle means that your face is beginning to look punch-able!]

Part 2: Managing your Damage

OK, now everyone in the room wants you dead more than they want your DPS/Healers dead. Excellent! Now you move to Step two: STAY ON YOUR FEET. You are made to take all the blows from the enemy and laugh at them! It's time for MITIGATIONS.

All Tanks have several mitigation skills [or "mits"] that they can use to either reduce the damage they take from enemies, reduce the amount of damage their enemies are doing, or temporarily negate damage altogether [only one of these per Tank Job].

Ideally you want to be spacing these skills out, rather than using them all at once. These skills have a longer recharge time [or Cool Down] than your attacking skills, so if you use a bunch, you will more than likely end up halfway through the fight with nothing to shield you but the Healers skills and the speed of your DPS. ALSO, mitigations have a soft cap, that is to say, the game will only allow you to negate so much damage at one time. So at most you can use 2 of these skills at once while still effectively negating damage, anything past that goes to waste.

Now there are too many mitigation skills to go through all of them individually [most are unique to their Tank Job], I encourage you to read all your skill descriptions and get familiar with them. But I will touch on a couple Role ones and the full damage negation ones.

Reprisal: Great for groups and bosses, it will reduce the damage enemies do to your party

Arm's Length: This is not advertised as a mitigation from it's description, but it is in fact quite helpful for large pulls. Because every enemy that hits you [physically] will have their actions slowed by 20%, which means less time hitting you, and more time for the Healer to do their work.

The full damage negation mitigations are great! But a couple of them can be risky to use, and require your healer to be paying attention. They also have very long Cool Downs, so they're meant to be used sparingly.

[PLD] Hallowed Ground: You're impervious for 10 seconds, have fun.

[WAR] Holmgang: You will still take damage, but cannot be taken down past 1 HP for 10 seconds, and also root the targeted enemy in place.

[GNB] Superbolide: This will negate all damage for 10 seconds, BUT it will also take you down to 1 HP.

[DRK] Living Dead: You will still take damage, but your enemies cannot take you down past 1 HP for 10 seconds. HOWEVER, if while using this mit you would have been killed by your enemies, your Healer now has to heal an amount of points equal to your HP points in a limited amount of time, or you die. So say your HP is 5000, and you use Living Dead, and you would have "died" while using it, the Healer now has you heal you for at least 5000 points [within 10 seconds], or you die .

Some tanks like to use simple macros that announce when they are using the Superbolide and Living Dead mits in particular, to give their Healers a heads up. This is up to player preference.

Every so often a boss will decide they've had enough of you kicking them in the shins and will try to get you in one blow. This is called a Tank Buster and will be indicated by a red targeting marker on you [red circles around your character and a red arrow pointing down on them] coupled with a progress bar. Stay calm! So long as you have a mitigation to use when you see it coming, everything will be fine. The Healer will know to be watching your health. Some will of course hit harder than others though, so if you're worried or low on health use 2 mits to be safe!

Part 3: Stunning Enemies & Interrupting Attacks

Now you've got the enemy right where you want them and you're weathering their blows- but oh no! They're preparing to attack the party anyways! It's a huge AOE too. What do you do? You give them the finger and then kick them in the balls! [partly true, most of the time.]

Most enemies in the game have both an auto-attack, and attacks that can be stopped in some fashion by specific skills. There are two different ways to stop an attack, you can use a skill that will Stun the enemy [Tanks and Melee DPS], OR you can Interrupt it [Tanks and Ranged DPS]. Stun and Interrupt are not interchangeable in their use.

So! How can you tell which attacks can be stopped by players? They are the attacks that have a progress bar, showing the enemy has to charge them up before they are actually used. The normal progress bar indicates an attack that can be stopped by Stunning the enemy. For Tanks this is the Low Blow skill [also the Shield Bash skill for PLD]. The flashing progress bar indicates that the attack can be Interrupted. For Tanks this is the Interject skill.

Keep in mind that both these types of skills will also have longer cool downs, so you cannot spam them. This means sometimes you might have to be strategic about when you use them, as some attacks will be more dangerous or troublesome than others. HOWEVER, not all enemies can be stunned, and enemies that can be stunned will become impervious to it after a few uses. You cannot stun bosses period.

You And Your Healer

You may be the biggest baddest person in the room now, but you are not a one man show, and you certainly cannot stay alive without your Healer! Your mitigations can only do just that-mitigate, in the end you have to rely on the Healer to help keep you standing.

You and the Healer are partners in this system. You have to make sure that if you are going, they are following close behind. If you decide to pull a ton of enemies around the corner, your Healer now has to run around that corner first before their spells can effect you.

Most Healers are going to assume you will run and grab all the enemies you can, but if you're finding that you and your Healer are struggling to keep the party alive, you need to tone down your pulls! If the Healer tells you that they are new, or straight up asks you not to full-pull, be considerate of that! Remember, while they have their eyes on you often, they are charged with keeping the whole party alive too! Literally in their case lol

General Tank Etiquette

Dungeons & General Tips

As the Tank it is your job to protect the party and make sure you are the only one taking damage. This also means you set the pace, and lead the group into every battle. This is because it is much easier to pull enemies to you if you are the first thing they see, and are the first to attack. Most players will follow your lead and wait to attack after you have done so. Mostly. So! It's good to remember that your comfort level is important. Go at the pace you feel works for you, let people know you are new if you are worried. Most other players are understanding of this! Many are willing to explain mechanics even!

Additionally since you are the leader, most players will expect you to run in first and generally to keep running until you've decided you've gathered all the enemies you feel like pulling. But! Don't leave your party in the dust. You need you DPS to kill all the things you pulled and your Healer to keep your ass alive X'D

Remember to check that your stance is on before you run in! Most times when you enter a dungeon or a raid its turned off at the start, even if you had it on when you were in the field.

Also, while not a hard rule it's generally advised not to do big pulls in early dungeons anyways [like, Lv 40 or under]. This is mostly to do with the amount of enemies in some areas versus your mitigation options and your Healers healing options. Often at this stage there is simply not enough of these to go around between you and your Healer, and a big pull can sometimes result in a party wipe.

Whether engaging a group of enemies or a boss, common courtesy is to run through the enemy and tank them from the other side [or if you're out in the field, attack from the opposite side of the other players]. This rotates the enemy so that they face you and not the rest of the party, making it so no one else is caught in the majority of enemy attacks. [You do not prevent damage from happening to others by standing in front of them, so attacks can go through you and hit other players, this is called Cleave]

Generally speaking it is also best to keep enemies in one place and facing the same direction as best you can. This makes it easier for the DPS to do their job [especially if they are using casting skills] and easier for the Healer to keep track of you.

Many of the melee DPS have a thing usually referred to as Positionals, meaning they do more damage if they strike enemies from the flank or from the rear. When possible it is good to position bosses so that they can do this, and reposition bosses out of harmful terrain for the melee DPS to strike without harm to themselves.

Speaking of that, do not stand in bad things or perfectly dodge-able attacks! You might be the Tank, but you don't need to tax your Healer while you're at it. They have to worry about other people too! One last note on movement and control of enemies: generally speaking it is also best to grab all the enemies you feel comfortable with and then stay put until all of them are dead, rather than pull a group and kill some and moving to the next one. It might seem like you are saving time by advancing slowly, but in actuality you are making everything harder for everyone else. This is because this forces all the other players to stop and start their actions constantly, which is bad. Why? Because now your melee DPS are having to chase after enemies they are trying to kill [meaning they are only hitting them half the time], and your DPS casters/Healers basically cannot do anything until the party stops again [because they have to stand still for 95% of their actions]. In the end it it more effective to stay until all the enemies are dead!

When it comes to the Limit Break [or LB], you as the Tank will almost never need to touch this button. The Limit Break is usually something the DPS will use to make a big attack on the boss, or in the case of a boss/raid not going well, the Healers can use a Limit Break Three/LB3 [when you have three full Limit Break bars] to revive the entire party. Thus far in the core game encounters, there are only a couple specific cases that utilize the Tank LB 3, and that will not occur until the ShadowBringers Expansion.

Provoke is not part of your attack rotation! If you have used an Enmity skill once in the fight, especially if you opened with it, you will not have to use it again to keep the enemy on you. While using Provoke consistently is not a big deal if you are the sole Tank, it is a bad habit to get into, as it will become a problem in situations where there are multiple Tanks.

Raids

In a Raid, be it a 8-player one [Normal Raid] or a 24-player one [Alliance Raid], you are not the only Tank on the field, making things slightly confusing and sometimes chaotic lol

When you are all facing mobs of enemies, all Tanks should have their stance on to ensure none of the Healers or DPS get hurt. Sometimes the mobs are spaced far apart when you find them, and its easier when Tanks work together to bring them in. Sometimes you may notice your Enmity being pulled, it is [hopefully] the other Tanks.

When you are facing bosses, generally the first Tank to put on their stance and engage the boss is now the Main Tank:

If that is you, cool! Have fun tanking boss!

If that is not you, DO NOT turn your stance on and try to provoke the boss away from the other Tank. That is rude. Keep your Stance off so you don't draw Enmity, you are now the Off-Tank and play the part of a beefy DPS.

If you are an Off-Tank, DO NOT stand next to the Main Tank to attack the boss. This makes you vulnerable to being Cleaved from boss attacks and unnecessarily overtaxes your Healers. Off-Tanks need to be attacking from the flank or the rear with the other DPS.

Main Tank is the Main Tank until they die.

Off-Tanks, if inclined, can help bring any extra enemies that appear on the field to the Main Tank so they do not have to move the boss around. This is helpful to the group because they can now attack all enemies together at the same time, rather than in small pockets. In this case it's okay to Stance On to get the enemies and then Stance Off so the Main Tank can take them.

IF the Main Tank dies for whatever reason, [one of] the Off-Tank[s] must put their Stance on and take control of the boss, they are now the Main Tank.

Some raids will also require Tanks to switch control of the boss off to each other, require Off-Tanks to manage their own mechanics or assist the Main Tank in some way, or even make all Tanks have to position themselves away from the group to take three-pronged Tank Busters that can cleave others! Raids are very diverse so it's a matter of learning the fights. There are many online guides for dungeons and raids you can use for this!