Machinist PvP Guide for FFXIV

Reworked in patch 6.1, Machinist has been given a complete overhaul in its PvP kit. With this rework, several new mechanics have been added to the job. Coming equipped with a slew of crowd control abilities and on-demand burst, Machinist can fill a multitude of roles within a group, capable of turning the tide of battle with intelligent usage of the Analysis function.

This document will focus solely on Crystalline Conflict, so while portions of it may apply to other PvP game modes, its intended purpose is that of Crystalline Conflict.

Strengths

• High single-target burst
• Flexible, on demand crowd control
• Above average Crystal control with Aether Mortar

Weaknesses

• Rotation forces close range combat
• Lacks mobility
• Reliant on team to be effective

Starting out with the basics, Machinist has been given a new combat mechanic in the form of a slow-movement cast bar. This cast bar applies to our spammable weaponskill Blast Charge. There are some things to consider with this. While the action does feel incredibly satisfying to use, you can not cancel its cast (or rather, you can't easily. Pressing the ESC key will cancel the cast in an emergency.) This results in a bit of decision making; it may not be worth casting again if there is the chance you will need to Recuperate, Guard, or Sprint to stay alive. The cast bar is short enough that you can weave actions between casts, however. Five uses of Blast Charge within a short time frame will grant you temporary access to an Overheated status, changing the action into Heat Blast, increasing its potency, removing the casted requirement, and reducing the GCD down to 1.5 seconds on this particular skill.

That leads us into our next skill, Wildfire. Compared to the PVE variant, this ability has seen some major quality of life improvements. The action now deals AoE damage and explodes immediately upon receiving three weaponskills during the timer. There are no mandatory actions that need to be used during the timer; three uses of Blast Charge, uninterrupted, will land in time to detonate the skill. However, it is suggest you pile in as much damage as you can in the shortest time period possible to ensure the enemy has as little time to react and heal through your onslaught. If you need the detonation to happen a bit faster and you are not facing multiple opponents clustered together, single-target Scattergun will count as two hits on the enemy. Placing Wildfire on an enemy who is currently in Guard will help ensure your damage is not completely nullified, as you can time the detonation to go off after their shield drops.

Perhaps the coolest aspect of our PvP kit, Analysis, allows us to alter the effect of our Tool rotation, which in turn lets us decide if we need a bit of extra damage or crowd control in the heat of battle. Analysis has the following effects on the Multi-Tool actions:

• Drill: Doubles the amount of damage the action deals.
• Bioblaster: Doubles potency and nflicts an AoE slow on every target you hit.
• Air Anchor: Stuns the target.
• Chain Saw: Potency is increased by 50%.

The biggest part of this to take in, is at some point, you will be forced into melee range due to Bioblaster. This adds a bit of depth to our decision making, but can be extremely useful when attempting to get rid of the enemy team if they have decided to cluster together in a group. It is a wise decision that if you are forced to get in range due to Bioblaster that you have Guard off cooldown and ready to be abused in the chance the enemy team decides to focus you.

As of Patch 6.4, Chain Saw no longer has a chance to OHKO. Instead, it's used purely to deal AoE damage, with the augmented version dealing extra damage. This shifts our kit into more into Crystal control rather than single target assassin. You need to make sure you hit at least two targets while under the effect of Analysis to be more effective than just simply using Drill.

With the 6.1 PvP rework, each job has been given an extremely useful, and in some cases, overpowered Limit Break. The one Machinist has is called Marksman's Spite. It is quite literally a sniper rifle. There are some positives and negatives to this skill, and in my opinion, it makes it one of the more balanced Limit Breaks, while still being incredibly useful in the right hands.

Marksman's Spite has the ability to effectively disintegrate a single member of the opposing team if used properly. While less effective as an anti-tank mechanism, it does an extremely good job of taking care of pesky healers or ranged players, pretty much anyone who is trying to stay in the backfield and poke or traumatize your group with crowd control. This action has an astonishing range, 50 yalms, which is perfect for picking off players attempting to run away at low health. On the downside, this ability can be line-of-sighted. While the initial snapshot is very fast and it can hit people around corners, you have to be able to lock onto them prior to them leaving vision. There is also the disadvantage that, unlike a lot of other Limit Breaks, Marksman's Spite is single target only. Play smart, play to your strengths, and go after one of the more troublesome players on the opposing team.

With all of that out of the way, we can finally build up a burst that is capable of taking out a tank. Something to take into consideration is that the following combo will absolutely deplete you of all burst for... quite a while. There is also a good chance your target dies well before this sequence of actions ends, especially if you get paired with a competent group that will notice debuffs on the target. This will also require you to be in a specific point in your Multi-Tool rotation, so keep that in mind.

1. Wildfire
2. Heat Blast
3. Heat Blast
4. Analysis
5. Drill
6. Marksman's Spite

In total this will deal a whopping 80,000 damage to a single target. Even at full HP, not even a tank is living through this. It is highly suggested you only use this combo on a target you know can not use Guard. All of your burst will go to waste and you will be left with nothing to follow up with.

There are two other actions we have not touched on yet. One of those is your Bishop Autoturret. This is going to be your most effective zoning tool. Not only does it deal damage in a radius around where you have placed it, but it also debuffs on anyone hit by it, placing them under the effect of Mortared and increasing damage dealt to them by 10% for 5 seconds. Not only will the AoE debuff the enemy, it will also place a 6,000 potency shield on yourself and your teammates every time Aether Mortar goes off. Bishop Autoturret will attack a total of four times before disappearing.

The other action is Scattergun. While the majority of this document has focused on the amount of pure damage Machinist brings to a group, Scattergun, much like Bishop Autoturret, falls into another category. Zoning potential is huge in this game mode. With how overtime works, getting the enemy team mispositioned and out of the Tactical Crystal has a massive benefit. Scattergun, while it deals minimal damage, has an AoE push attached to it that can be paired with Air Anchor to knock foes out of the objective and keep them out.