FFXIV Melee Comparison! Easy/Hard? Strong/Weak? Intense?

Monk, Dragoon, Ninja, Samurai or Reaper, which one would you like to be? I give my personal take on the good and the bad of each of the Melee jobs in FFXIV! I hope you will find it helpful or at least entertaining!

In case you were inspired to play any of the five melee DPS by this video, I have guides for both starters and high levels for each if you are interested!

Additionally, if words like GCD and oGCD, or lateweave confuses you, I have a guide on this subject too:
I also have a short on GCD and oGCD if you prefer the short version:

Music Used:
FFXIV: Shadowbringers - Neath Dark Waters

#ffxiv #endwalker

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:29 Ratings Glossary
00:40 Introducing Monk
00:57 Monks Rotation
01:56 Monks Burst
03:19 Monks Defensives
04:17 Introducing Samurai
04:42 Samurais Rotation
05:39 Samurais Loop and Burst
06:41 Samurais Defensives
07:29 Introducing Dragoon
07:55 Dragoons Rotation
08:33 Dragoons Optimization and Burst
10:10 Dragoons (lack of) Defensives
10:51 Introducing Reaper
11:19 Reapers Rotation
12:26 Reapers Optimization and Burst
14:10 Reapers Defensives
14:55 Introducing Ninja
15:36 Ninjas Rotation
16:01 Ninjas Burst
17:28 Ninjas Defensives
18:03 Summary and New Player Recommendations
19:31 Fun Fact

[sihiri_kabari]

This guy is so calm. I just feel so.. at peace watching this video. What a beautiful world we live in

[virtualstring]

In case someone is dissuaded from playing Ninja due to the need to learn the Mudras, they are actually quite easy, you only need to remember the last Mudra used in the combo. For example, a two-mudra combo will always result in Katon if you end it with Ten. This means that Chi -> Ten and Jin -> Ten will both perform Katon. This way you only need to learn which Mudras use which ability if used last, so that's just 3 for two-part combos and another 3 for three-part combos, instead of having to learn every possibility :)

[Teldarin]

I will always love playing Ninja. Weaving the Mudra combos is fun, as is the rather involved initial burst. I started playing with Dragoon and it is still a close second (mostly because of style :P), but NIN is what I fell in love with.

[Vulfnir]

I keep coming back to this video, as well as the ranged and caster ones too, and am really struggling with finding a DPS job from any category that I feel passionately about or feel "at home" in.

I main SCH/AST/DRK and enjoy all these jobs very much. They feel natural and I enjoy the job fantasies very much and I feel comfortable and connected to the jobs.

I have most the dps jobs around 70-85ish (with the exception of MNK/RDM/MCH which I have no interest in) in the name of trying to find my dps "main" and I always feel unfulfilled, or like something is "off" while playing dps. I like many elements of DRG, RPR, and SMN but never feel "settled" playing them. Like an imposter wearing a very obvious costume.

Ive considered the possibility I might just be a die hard healer/tank main and find the dps role itself alienating? I love helping, I like feeling useful, I love the idea of being the person who keeps everyone up and strong - it's rewarding and feels good. Dps doesn't elicit the same feeling at all and I also don't really care for positionals.

Anyway, I realize this is a very long winded comment on an older video, I just have watched the trio of them like 10 times each begging for something to kind of "dawn" on me to help me pick on to stick with and never happens.

I hope Dawntrial brings a dps class I enjoy or the changes to DRG and pick that up.

Thanks for your Videos by the way. You're by far my favourite ffxiv content creator. Unbelievably valuable resource for the community. :)

[Scerttle]

I really enjoyed levelling NIN, and it was very cool to mess around with at 90. But my ping just isn't happy with the mudras. It didn't happen often, but having that rabbit show up because the server didn't register my button presses correctly was a deep source of frustration every time it happened. DRG is a similar issue with its animation lock being worsened by ping. RPR in general is definitely the most user friendly over all from all perspectives. But I find SAM more fun lmao

[fattymoo]

Great video! Really appreciate the break downs of all the rankings :-) Came here as a newbie melee, thinking of maining SAM now!! Thanks so much <3

[hennyzhi]

I personally love Monk the most because it's a fair challenge to learn, but rooted in fundamentals in a way I think only Dragoon matches. And when you master not only your onpener but the 2-2-3 ratio for the basic combos everything falls into place and you become extremely powerful. Then it's just a matter of working in ways to double weave in the things you apply and forget like Riddle of Fire/Wind, or time into raidwides to use Riddle of Earth + Mantra to reduce your damage and help the healers top everyone back up. I'm a bit weary about the Dragoon changes in the future, but if I'd ask for one thing is maybe one more charge of elusive jump so the job can be more flexible and give one new system that rewards mastering the basic combo. I remember listening in to Mr. Happy going over the jobs history and how Life of the Dragon used to be something you could sustain through a whole fight if you were good enough at the job. I'd really like to see that reincorporated because I think jobs like Monk nail the skill floor and skill ceiling well while still having just the right amount of room to be unique; a job can and should be both easy to start yet difficult to master (with a substantial reward for getting good at it). I enjoy the floor of Dragoon, but the ceiling could be more interesting or even last longer when your doing everything correctly (the animations for LotD and Stardiver however are amazing).

[AzuriteTV]

My favourite is Dragoon and Ninja! They are the easiest on my smoll brain... also really enjoy Samurai, but feels bad to play when you haven't played it in a while and forgot how to not drift your abilities 💀

[GanRPG]

If I could change just one thing about Dragoon, it would be to have Fang & Claw and Wheeling Thrust share the same button like Gunbreaker's Continuation. Call it Draconic Arsenal and have it change between Fang & Claw and Wheeling Thrust depending on which combo you do.

[Tsugandate]

I really miss playing ninja, still haven't done so in EW after getting it to 90, but their burst looks so cool and is so much fun. It's just that getting scouting gear and aiming accessories is annoying, when I've been focused on SAM and MNK lately. Hopefully they'll add another fun dps that shares scouting gear in 7.0 or smth.

That being said, I'm happy to be enjoying melee jobs now, cuz other than NIN, I had only been focused on ranged and casters for DPS, up to 6.3, and melee just hits different once you've managed to master any given rotation, so I've been having a lot of fun trying them out.

[vespi]

DRG is my main melee job. I'm a little worried of its rework, like I was with PLD (my actual main job), but if it goes as well as it did with PLD, I think it will become better.

[BETRvids]

It's interesting to me, to see that the Monk and Ninja are similar in difficulties. Ninja is one of my favorites classes, and i love how involved i need to be for it to dish out proper damage... but monk just never felt right. It always felt clunky and unsatisfying to play, and the rotation is bleh. Even tried using the Road to 60-70-80 buff on alts over the years to force my way through it, and it was simply agonizing to play.

Now I mostly just play Reaper though. I still love my ninja, but the reaper does stupid amounts of damage with minimal effort.

[MrLocoSuave]

Ninja is the way I roll! Maining it was the best choice I made, tons of fun!! <3

[wollyram]

My favorite melee dos is Gunbraker
😉

[webwrecker]

I used Dragoon from ARR to EndWlkr the jumps are just too fun. Lol

[N.G.H.]

Melee jobs aren't my favorite to play, but when I do have to go as one I tend to go for either Reaper or Samurai. I just like their esthetics and play style.

[TLBreezy]

Im kinda glad my first job was NIN and kind of not, I love NIN, I believe starting on NIN with no prior MMO experience helped me become better faster, but now the issue is I really don't like playing anything else, I am omni 90 and every other job just felt way too slow, the only other job that I feel is remotely apm intensive is MCH, Im not a NIN one trick, I learned SAM, MCH, GNB but I don't really like playing those cause they dont feel as fulfilling in their bursts like NIN does. I also agree with the fact that Mug is better than Brotherhood, brotherhood and other AOE buffs can miss potentially, but mug is always going to be applied, unless there's a situation where you have multiple targets, which isn't unheard of

[HayTatsuko]

Once I got the hang of doing the Mudras, Ninja became my favorite melee job. Bang those pots, bang them until all the baddies are facedown on the ground! I like that it can help the team with Mug and Trick Attack, but the Ninjutsu is my favorite element, even if I still summon bunnies once in a while. The key to Ninjutsu is knowing that only the last Mudra and the number of Mudras used matters. There are eventually seven; a shuriken attack for any one Mudra, then three different attacks using two Mudras, and three more that need all three Mudras. Learn the last Mudra you need for the two- and three-Mudra attacks, and you will be golden with Ninja.

[TeamNovaRising]

After my friend introduced me to this game, I fell in love with NIN's playstyle and the use of mudras/ninjutsu. Even after using SAM in 4.0 and sub with MCH in 5.0, I still go back to NIN. Its skill rotation in 6.0 makes the job more fun to use. Currently trying to learn MNK but it's still ways to go, with the level currently in 41

When I learned Vipers will share the same gear with Ninjas in Dawntrail, I'm more glad that I won't have to farm as much as before just to secure sub jobs in raids and stuff

[VincentLawDS]

Excellent, as usual. Keep up the good work with the videos