Machinist PvP Guide for FFXIV

Machinist, the Glass Canon physical ranged job. Machinist offers explosive damage on demand, combined with single-target and Area of Effect heavy attacks. The job becomes fragile when focused, as it does not have any escaping dashes or jump, so positioning is important! Being able to be versatile with Analysis gives you lots of choices to make during a game, so smart usage is advised!

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, all-in-one kit
• Above average Crystal control with Aether Mortar and Scattergun
• Able to one-shot unaware targets

Weaknesses

• Marksman's Spite and its burst can be guarded
• Rotation forces close range combat
• Heavy lack mobility
• Wildfire obvious tell who the burst target is.

4.

Skill Selection

Recuperate Standard-issue Elixir Guard Purify Sprint

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.1.

Recuperate

Recuperate – This is your most important healing ability. MP in PVP is only used for this ability. With a max of 10,000 MP, Recuperate will consume 2,500 and heals you for 15,000 HP. The amount of healing received can be increased and reduced by healing up or down status effects, such as Summon Seraph to increase or Biolysis to decrease. You gain 500 MP per 3 seconds passively, something to keep in mind!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.2.

Standard-issue Elixir

Standard-issue Elixir – This is your second-most important healing ability. Elixir allows you to gain back all your HP and MP, resetting yourself for the next fight! The listed cast time is 4.5 seconds, which means the cast is actually snapshotted as complete after 4 seconds, after which you can move and opponents can no longer cancel your Elixir. You'll see moments where you get hit, and the position will still finish.

When not under pressure, make sure to top up your resources for the next fight. As with the animations counted in the death timer, you will be out for 20~ seconds instead vs a 4 second Elixir!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.3.

Guard

Guard – Grants 90% damage reduction and immunity to most crowd-control debuffs for up to 5 seconds. Using another action cancels this guard early. Damage over Time effects that have been applied before Guard will always tick for the full amount and wont be negated with Guard!

Per Patch 7.1, there have been multiple abilities added that work against Guarded targets. Where Shield Smite and Chain Stratagem half the defensive bonus of Guard (90% → 45%), there are also abilities that simply ignore guard when dealing damage; Drill, Assassinate, Enchanted Riposte, Disesteem, Wreath of Fire, Serpent's Tail and Chaotic Spring

Damage per ability is now tight to animations, compared to pre-7.1 where the damage would register when pressed. This means Guard is more reactive than it has been before, but it's also possible now to start ability animations that will hit the moment your Guard ends. Beware of your surroundings and what the enemy is doing!

Machinist has the Ability Drill, which can ignore the Guard status of the enemy! More on this later!

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.4.

Purify

Purify – Cleanses all common crowd-control debuffs and provides a 3-second immunity to further crowd control, draw in and knockback effects. Use this to prevent yourself from getting CC-chained to death.

With the amount of crowd-control abilities, try not to be trigger-happy when using Purify. Taking a stun with no follow up from the enemy team, doesn't bring you in danger! If you have no defensives ready against a crowd-control heavy enemy team, it's recommended to play defensively before making another engage.

Every job has access to a few common actions, but some will have additional info for you.

3.5.

Sprint

Sprint – Toggle for increased movement speed. This is a GCD and using any other action cancels the buff, so be smart in using it. Sage is a fragile job, as it has the lowest HP out of any job. If you are using off-global abilities repeatedly while running away or chasing, you should try to late-weave them if you can afford to, to avoid cancelling too much of the Sprint duration.

Machinist offers a versatile playstyle with a wide operational range, allowing for both powerful individual skills and a structured rotation. The job excels in delivering high-damage abilities while offering support to the team. However, it is constrained by a fixed four-skill rotation assigned to a single button, preventing players from cycling through abilities at will. Despite this limitation, Machinist’s diverse toolkit, featuring both high and low cooldowns, enables it to provide on-demand burst damage, defensive shields around a center point, and effective crowd control to support the team in various combat situations.

Machinist's basic skill is Blast Charge. This will be your filler attack within your kit. Dealing average overall damage, Blast Charge will be the ability you use while you are either waiting for your big skills to come off cooldown or to burst sync with your team. The cast takes 1.44 seconds and your movement speed will be reduced to your walking speed. Normally you can cancel casts by moving, but that's not the case with Machinist and Bard. We haven't found a way to cancel this cast on console yet. To cancel a cast on PC, you can press the ESC button to stop the cast of a Blast Charge. When the enemy Samurai presses Hissatsu: Chiten, cancel that cast!

Important note: When you suffer the Heavy debuff, you are not able to move during this cast!

After every Blast Charge, you gain a stack of Heat for 15 seconds. Once you accumulate 5 stacks, you will gain the Overheated buff. Your Blast Charge will change to the more powerful ability Blazing Shot for 5 seconds. Another way to get the Overheated buff is by the usage of Full Metal Field, which grants you the buff instantly. It also grants you 5 seconds, but can extend the buff to a maximum of 10 seconds duration.

Blazing Shot deals more damage, is an instant cast, only has 1.5 seconds of recast time, and during its duration you gain 25% extra movement speed. Within the 5 second window, you are able to shoot three Blazing Shots into the enemy. This goes well for chasing targets as well as stacking damage onto your Wildfire quickly.

Wildfire is a big package of dynamite that is being charged based on the amount of hits you deal to the target, with a max of 4 before detonation. Per hit, the wildfire stacks up 4,000 potency, to a maximum of 16,000 potency that will explode in a 5 yalm radius around the target. Once you have applied Wildfire to your target, the skill will change to Detonator, allowing you to let the Wildfire explode on demand. Meaning if you hit a target twice and use Detonator, it will deal 8,000 potency on and around the target instantly.

Wildfire requires four hits of any of your weaponskills to stack up. Meaning all of your damage tools except for Bishop Autoturret will count towards this number. Over the course of 8 seconds after applying Wildfire to the target, you can stack up the number and charge the damage it will deal. You can use Wildfire on a person that is in Guard, as its only 5 seconds, stacking up the charges and preparing a big explosion once their guard falls off. Wildfire is used in your burst rotation, but more on that later.

Here are a few tips and gimmicks to Wildfire that need to be listed.

• Scattergun Gives 2 charges on Wildfire if they are the only one hit.
• Full Metal Field: Gives 2 charges on Wildfire if they are the main target of this skill.
• Marksman's Spite: Gives 1 charge on Wildfire.
• The damage of Wildfire is calculated based on the amplifiers/debuffs you have once it explodes .

When you apply Wildfire to a target that is retreating and you wont be able to finish them, try to get one hit onto the target and let Wildfire expire by itself. As the duration is 8 seconds and its already applied, keeping it on the target to cancel their Standard-issue Elixir keeps them out of the fight for longer!

Full Metal Field is a new skill introduced in the patch 7.1 kit. From a distance you are dealing a big AoE attack to everyone in a 5 yalm radius around the main target. The main target will be hit twice by this attack, dealing half the potency of the first attack. This also counts for 2 charges on Wildfire. Once you use this ability, you gain the Overheated buff and are able to follow up with some quick Blazing Shot's.

Full Metal Field, also referred to as FMF, is often used in combination with Wildfire. The cooldowns are close to similar and grants you safety from a distance to stack up the charges. If you do not have Wildfire, you can use FMF to chase down a target, as after the use you will get a movement speed buff from Overheated and instant casts!

Scattergun is a low cooldown AoE attack with a knockback that requires you to be in melee range. What makes this ability unique is that it deals double the damage on a target if they are the only one hit. This also counts for two charges on Wildfire if they are solo hit. If you use Scattergun on multiple targets, this will only be a single charge.

Scattergun is an ability that can push back anyone hit, unless they are under the effect of Guard or Purify-like abilities. Abilities that can push people around are powerful tools in Crystalline Conflict, as positioning it correctly can bring a fight into your favor. Being able to push people around every 16 seconds, which is a lower cooldown than Purify or Guard, gives you the advantage to bring targets out of position. Right before Overtime starts, you can use Scattergun to push people off the Crystal when you are winning, and secure a cheeky win! During Overtime when you are losing, you can push people off to try and advance the Crystal in your favor instead!

This comes with the risk that you have to get into melee ranged as a fragile ranged job.

Welcome to the core of Machinist, where we have four different skills under one button that will rotate in a set order of usages. The usage and its Analysis effect are listed below.

• Drill: Doubles the amount of damage the action deals.
• Bioblaster: Potency is increased by 50% of the DoT and hit
• Air Anchor: Potency is increased by 50% and stuns the target.
• Chain Saw: Target's damage taken increases by 20% for 6 seconds.

Analysis is the enhancer of your rotation, and has a longer cooldown with two charges. For 10 seconds, the next skill through your multi-tool will be buffed. Now there are a lot of viable options to use this on, so you gotta make the decision quick during combat.

Important Note: Just because your tools are off cooldown, doesn't mean you need to spend them! Its okay to hold a Drill or Analysis to get greater value on your next burst target. Do not randomly use these abilities as they are strong and effective tools.

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 an escape route planned. You run in close, use Bioblaster and get out again.

We also have the Bishop Autoturret. Compared to pre patch 7.1, it no longer has the amplifier of 10% damage increase on it, while the remainder of its effects remained untouched.

The Bishop Turret, also referred to as "mortar" or "turret" by itself, is a small 5 yalm radius pulsing area-of-effect that will shield teammates and hit enemies who stand inside of the pulse. The Turret pulses four times in a row, applying a 6 second barrier to your team and refreshing it for every new pulse.

Due to the long cooldown, it's not advised to zone enemies away from certain areas. The damage they receive is equal to a single Blast Charge and is easy to dodge. Instead use it when there is a fight in a choke-point on the map or around the Crystal. Giving your team a renewable shield during a fight can absorb a lot of damage and giving you an edge during a teamfight.

When you need to use your own Standard-issue Elixir, check if your team is fighting around the Crystal. If you have your Turret off cooldown, place it on the Crystal before starting your Elixir. This way you still contribute to a fight while regaining your health and mana.

A tip for placing ground targeted abilities is to limit the ring of movement to targeting ranges. This means that you will get a lock on the max range of your ground ability when you try to place it, if your cursor is all the way over your screen or controller stick drifting way to far. You can enable this in: Character Configurations → Control Settings → "Target". Light up the box next to; "Limit Ring movement to targeting range". Now your turret wont be showing up anymore beyond its max range!

Marksman's Spite gives you a sniper-rifle. Yes, really. Marksman's Spite is your long ranged, high damage Limit Break. From over 50 yalms away, the moment you can target someone in game, you can use this Limit Break to deal significant damage on them. With Patch 7.1 however, people are now able to Guard or shield your Marksman Spite. Together with the HP inflation, it became more difficult to kill a target like we used to, but there are combos that can still bring them low and even kill the people who are unaware.

Your Limit Break is incredibly useful when it comes to counter-LBing someone. When they are in an animation lock or all focused on their own burst, Spite offers a window that deals significant damage and punishes people who aren't paying attention to you. Aiming for the lower health jobs like healers and ranged players makes it easier to burst from afar with the kit you have.

All of this comes with paying a bit more attention to the enemy buffs. "Who has used their Guard" tracking this will be vital for your success with Marksman's Spite. If you apply Wildfire, people tend to use Guard quickly already. Stack up the charges and once their Guard is about to fall off, use your LB so that they take instant damage that they wont be able to Recuperate!

Fun fact! People who have their Battle Effects for PvP Opponents on "Some", wont be seeing you aiming your Marksman's Spite on them! If you figure out they have this setting on, it will be even easier to pick them off in the future.

Machinist is a job that has lots of ways to deal a high amount of damage, be supportive to the team or even get a solo kill on an unaware target. Your burst may need some setup and can be predictable with Wildfire, so sometimes you have to get creative. In this chapter we will talk about Burst, with and without Limit Break and some of the different combos you can do!

Bursting with Marksman's Spite is the way to assassinate someone on the battlefield. This can be either done to target someone who is already being focused, pick someone right when their Guard drops or someone that is completely unaware of your positioning.

When it comes to optimal, non-resistant Burst with your Limit Break, it can look like this.

1. Analysis
2. Wildfire
3. Chain Saw
4. Analysis
5. Full Metal Field
6. Drill
7. Marksman's Spite

In total the damage of this combo will be 114,000 damage to a single target. The damage that you are able to bring with this combo is incredible, but is countered but Guard rather easily. Make sure that if you are using this combo, the target does not have Guard anymore!

Most of your damage will still resolve around Wildfire combos. Being able to stack these up quickly with Full Metal Field and Overheated makes it a strong AoE to be feared. We have mentioned already that Wildfire has a longer duration than Guard does, meaning you can stack the charges and have a big hit for the final charge, so that the instant damage combined with Wildfire is hard to survive.

When it comes to the opener of a match for example, starting as stated below is suggested.

1. Analysis
2. Wildfire
3. Full Metal Field
4. Drill
5. Blazing Shot

Why in this order? During the opener, people expect to be bursted when they gain the Wildfire on them. By following up instantly with an FMF, you are already two charges in and often they will Guard up at this point, leaving them vulnerable to a buffed Drill that still does full damage. Right as they will leave their guard, you would still have one shot of Blazing Shot left, detonating the Wildfire just out of Guard. If your team will follow up on this, the chance on an early game kill is big!

Another example you can do is when you know the enemy doesn't have Purify. This will put them in a stun lock position, letting them receive some incredible damage that they cant Recuperate

1. Analysis
2. Wildfire
3. Blazing Shot / Blast Charge
4. Air Anchor
5. Full Metal Field
6. Blazing Shot

Assuming they will not Recuperate the blazing shot, stunning them quickly after is of great importance. Once the Stun lands and they don't have purify, they will take 49,000 damage without any Limit Breaks involved!

As you can see there are a lot of combo's possible with this kit, and its up to you to find the right one during a certain situation. Keep in mind that a Scattergun does 12,000 potency on a solo target and gives two charges on Wildfire as well! The combinations are endless.