Introduction to Melee in FFXIV

Melee DPS jobs in Final Fantasy XIV are defined by the range of their Weaponskills being just 3 yalms. This is referred to as "Melee Range" because it requires your melee DPS jobs to remain close to the boss at all times to maximize their damage output. Everything you do in any encounter is done in such a way as to maximize what we refer to as "Melee Uptime" - the amount of time your Weaponskill GCD actions are spinning compared to how often that GCD stops due to your inability to hit the boss.

Many raid strategies focus on maximizing melee uptime by pairing the melee DPS with the tanks (who also are melee jobs) so that both groups can stay close to the boss for mechanic resolutions.

There are currently six different melee DPS Jobs as of Dawntrail. Dragoon and Reaper share the Maiming gearsets, Monk and Samurai share the Striking gearsets, and Ninja and Viper share Scouting. All but Ninja and Viper utilize the Melee-exclusive Slaying accessories, while Ninja and Viper share the Aiming accessories with the Ranged DPS Jobs. All five are melee DPS Jobs with different pros and cons both in playstyle and raid composition.

Dragoon focuses on a static string of GCD Weaponskill combos, weaving a large quantity of off-GCD abilities in between casts of their Weaponskills. The Job is very easy to pick up and play to a reasonably decent extent. Maximizing output takes somewhat more dedication. Their iconic Jumping skills combine with draconic skills to fuel their damage-dealing capabilities. They sport Battle Litany to boost raid damage every two minutes. This action provides a sizeable contribution to the overall output of the raid team.

Reaper focuses on a relatively fluid array of GCD Weaponskill actions with a strong focus on hard-hitting GCDs after properly building up two different gauges. The overall flow is very simple once you understand it, but it boasts a high barrier to entry due to the seemingly complicated nature of its gauge interactions with its burst windows. Utilizing the powers of the void and a voidsent Lemure, the Reaper's damage primarily comes from this dark pact. They bring Arcane Circle to slightly boost raid damage, though it is more beneficial as a jumpstart to the burst cycle every 2 minutes. In addition to this, they bring Arcane Crest, which is a nice little additional bit of raid utility that your healers will appreciate, if you properly coordinate.

Monk focuses on strings of GCD Weaponskill combos that flow through three animal-related stances, each stance having two actions to choose from. One of each set improves the power of the other, making its GCD rotation ever-changing in many circumstances. Their Masterful Blitz burst windows can be rather unintuitive to the new player, but they function like a fighting game-esque button combo to execute powerful finishing moves. Favoring fisticuffs by nature, Monks subdue their opponents through flurries of blows with a fast GCD timer and a wide array of dynamic striking maneuvers. They also pack Brotherhood to boost raid damage and increase their personal rate of Chakra generation every 2 minutes. In addition, they have Mantra, which brings additional utility to the healers, if you coordinate usage properly with them.

Samurai focuses on a relatively fluid string of GCD Weaponskill combos to generate Sen and Kenki in order to activate their most powerful actions in their burst windows. All of their off-GCD actions, aside from Shoha, utilize the generated Kenki to deal damage, causing the job to have a rather impactful ebb-and-flow that meshes well with its aesthetic. Brandishing a katana, you utilize Iaijutsu to decimate opponents in the style of the classic Samurai of ancient Japanese culture. Samurai is considered a "selfish" DPS class because it brings absolutely nothing to raid damage other than its own personal output (which, admittedly, is quite large!). They do, however, have Tengentsu, which allows smart Samurai to mitigate incoming damage from raid-wide damage to make healing easier.

Ninja is technically a melee. All of its strongest attacks are ranged magic actions, and it gets to use them every 20 seconds. It even uses the same accessories as the physical ranged DPS jobs. You can be a true Japanese fan by playing as the iconic Ninja and utilizing their diverse array of Ninjutsu actions to destroy the enemy. On the plus side, they do have Dokumori, which boosts raid damage every two minutes. Alongside that, they also have Shade Shift, which can mitigate incoming damage from raid-wides to help the healers.

Viper is a quick and frenetic melee DPS Job with a focus on variety in the speed of their GCD Weaponskill actions. They maintain a damage boosting debuff on the enemy as well as a haste and damage buff on themselves through an intricate array of combo actions. The class generally "plays itself", making barrier to entry rather low, but the upside to maximizing the output of the job is incredibly high, especially compared against the other melee. The Viper's aesthetic is based on monster hunters in Tural, focused on taking down powerful monsters to keep people safe using their snake-inspired actions. While they lack any personal mitigation skills or raid buffing actions, we can all agree that the fact that they can Slither into combat is reason enough to want to play as one.

Because of the varied nature of the Melee DPS Jobs, making an omni-efficient BiS takes quite a lot of effort. Most of the time, swapping between the Melee jobs will require re-melding several pieces of gear in order to maintain optimal performance for whichever Job you are switching to. Despite these limitations, we go to great lengths to work together and make our melds in our normal BiS sets as compatible with one another as physically possible, to cut down on the need for re-melding gear. You will notice that Ninja is notably absent from any of these considerations - this is because Ninja shares none of the gear with the rest of the Melee Jobs, so its sets have no bearing on the compatibility.

Playing a melee DPS job can be very difficult, especially if you are used to the freedom of movement enjoyed by healers or ranged DPS. Being tied to the boss to deal your maximum damage can be complicated in some encounters, so the following sections will cover some specific optimization concerns when learning to play any melee DPS job.

Every melee DPS job has multiple tools to return to melee range after needing to disengage for mechanics concerns. The difference between the good and great Melee players, however, is moreso in learning to cheat at max melee range rather than running away. Most encounters in the game allow nearly perfect melee uptime with proper strategies and movement on your part.

Every melee DPS job needs to maintain positional requirements to maximize their damage output. If a skill gives you a "Flank" bonus, you need to strike the side of the boss. "Rear" means you must hit the back side of the boss. These slices each take up a 90 degree chunk of the targeting circle, with the two flanks obviously on either side, and the opposite slice to the rear being the front, where tanks stand. The only benefit you gain from attacking the boss from the front is a swift, painless death. In situations where you cannot land your positionals, you have access to True North to eschew the necessity of being in proper position to gain the benefits.