There’s never been a better time to jump in competitive multiplayer in Final Fantasy XIV. PVP keeps getting love and the FFXIV 6.18 Job changes help further balance things out. Thanks to the full FFXIV 6.18 patch notes, we have all the details on how PVP has been adjusted, which includes tweaks to Frontline and the new season of Crystalline Conflict.
Patch 6.1 completely overhauled how Jobs worked in PVP for the better, but needed some additional balancing, which we saw in 6.11 and 6.11a. Surprisingly, FFXIV 6.18 brings several more adjustments, most of which are potency tweaks. However, there are some notable changes that you’ll want to take note of depending on which Jobs you main in PVP.
For more on PVP, check out our Crystalline Conflict guide to help you rack up Ws or use our PVP Job tier list to learn more about how each Job works. Below is the full list of FFXIV 6.18 Job changes.
Tanks (PVP Changes)
While three tanks have been buffed in some fashion, the most notable one is arguable Dark Knight’s Eventide, which gets to do actual damage now. For others, there are slight potency boosts. Sorry Paladins, you get less than nothing this time around.
Paladin
- Holy Sheltron: Knight’s Resolve effect has been nerfed from 20% to 15% in damage reduction.
Warrior
- Onslaught: Base potency increased from 400 to 500, max potency increased from 4,000 to 5,000.
- Orogeny: Base potency increased from 800 to 1,000, max potency increased from 8,000 to 10,000.
Dark Knight
- Bloodspiller: Base potency increased from 4,000 to 6,000. Action now reaches max potency when at 25% HP or lower (previously 20% or lower).
- Eventide: Base potency increased from 1 to 10,000.
Gunbreaker
- Burst Strike: Potency increased from 6,000 to 7,000.
- Hypervelocity: Normal potency increased from 2,000 to 3,000.
- Junction DPS damage potency increased from 4,000 to 5,000.
- Junction Tank barrier potency increased from 5,000 to 6,000.
- Junction Healer cure potency increased from 3,000 to 4,000.
DPS (PVP Changes)
With DPS, some minor buffs help bring some lower tier Jobs up a notch. Dancer gets some much needed potency increases, while Black Mage gets some extra utility with its Umbral Freeze stacks. Machinist gets a speed boost while Overheated, which is a useful perk. Then you have Ninja, which can wreak havoc on teams in a matter of seconds with its Limit Break. It’s multikill timing window has been curbed slightly, but we’ll see if it’ll even things out.
Ninja
- Seiton Tenchu (Limit Break): Unsealed Seiton Tenchu effect (attacking a second target) duration decreased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
Machinist
- Blast Charge: Movement speed increase granted when under the effect of Overheated.
Dancer
- Honing Dance: Potency increased from 3,000 to 4,000.
- Reverse Cascade: Potency increased from 5,000 to 6,000.
- Fountainfall: Potency increased from 7, 000 to 8,000.
- Saber Dance: Damage buff effect increased from 5% to 10%.
Black Mage
- Burst: Barrier potency decreased from 16,000 to 12,000.
- Superflare: Umbral Freeze will now afflict targets with status effects for 2 seconds based on number of UF stacks.
- 1 stack: Heavy
- 2 stacks: Bind
- 3 stacks: Deep Freeze
Summoner
- Fester: Base potency increased from 3,000 to 4,000, max potency increase from 6,000 to 8,000.
Healers (PVP Changes)
Not much going on with healers in this patch, other than Astrologian’s utility getting nerfed. If you had fun locking teams up with Gravity II, well, it’s not as fun anymore. I love you Astrologian, but in PVP, it’s all the more reason to go White Mage.
Astrologian
- Gravity II: Heavy status affect only inflicted on the primary target.
- When used with Double Cast: Bind status affect only inflicted on the primary target.
FFXIV 6.18 PVP Updates – New Season and Frontline Changes
Job actions aren’t the only things changed in PVP. The second season of Crystalline Conflict starts with Patch 6.18. The fast-paced 5-on-5 competitive mode has its own dedicated ranking system, and with the end of season one, you’ll get some rewards depending on where you ended up in the ranks. You can claim your season one rewards from the NPC Seasonal Quartermaster in the Wolves’ Den Pier (X: 4.9 Y: 5.7). Be sure to claim rewards before the end of season two, which is when Patch 6.2 launches in late August.
Also, don’t get seasons and series confused. Series refers to the rewards progression track from leveling up your Series Level. Season refers to the time period in which players earn and maintain their PVP ranks, with unique rewards at the end of each season. Series one is still going on, but season two has begun. Series two will start when Patch 6.2 goes live.
Some additional balance changes are worth mentioning for those who play the large-scale PVP mode Frontline. They include adjustments to damage modifiers and tweaks to the rate your Limit Break gauges fills.
- Damage taken for tank and melee DPS have been changed from -40% to -60%.
- Damage taken for physical ranged DPS, magical ranged DPS, and healer have been changed from -20% to -30%.
- Damage dealt for Summoner, Scholar, and White Mage, have been changed from 0% to -10%.
- New Limit Break gauge rates: First bar fills at 0.75x the normal rate, second bar fills at the normal rate, third bar fills at 1.25x faster. Overall, all bars were adjusted to fill 0.25x slower than before.
If you need a bit more of an incentive to jump into PVP, check out our guides on rewards like the Virtu gear and Tropaios weapons, the Archfiend attire, and the Garo collaboration gear.
Everything FFXIV Patch 6.18 and Beyond
The headliner for FFXIV 6.18 is the data center travel system. However, players should also be aware of small, but impactful changes to that make the endgame grind for the best weapons easier. Looking to the near future, the last Live Letter detailed content coming with Patch 6.2 in late August. From the next gathering Tribal Quests and Hildibrand relic weapons to the brand-new Criterion Dungeons and Island Sanctuary, we have it all covered.
