There are currently four melee DPS classes in Final Fantasy14, and they all bring unique skills to the team.
When it comes to Shadowbringers’ raid content, however, some of these melee classes are far better than others and are highly sought out in raid teams.
Of the four, Dragoon, Monk, and Ninja are the best melee DPS to have on a raid team at the moment (sorry, Samurai). While Samurai is a great class and its fun combo system lets you unleash crazy amounts of damage on enemies, it isn’t the best team player and brings few advantages to a raid team other than its high damage.
Overall, Dragoon, Monk, and Ninja should be top choices for a raid team, and this list will explain just which class deserves that number one melee spot.
3) Monk
Monks have the potential to deal a high amount of damage while also a couple of beneficial skills to the team, landing in the third place slot. Designed to deal smaller bursts of damage extremely quickly, Monk builds up chakra stacks through its changing forms in order to snag buffs like Greased Lightning which boosts potency and attack speed. The one downside to Monk is that it can be tedious to build up these stacks in the beginning of a fight or after being revived. Monk also has a couple of nifty team member buffs that are crucial to dealing more damage and helping other players recover faster.
What makes Monk a great melee DPS:
- Deals smaller amounts of damage very quickly
- Can boost attack speed even further with stacks
- Mantra boosts healing by 10% for nearby players and Brotherhood increases physical damage dealt by 5% for all team members
2) Dragoon
Alongside of Monk, Dragoon is one of the original melee DPS classes and it’s nice to see that the class is still popular after three major expansions. Dragoon remains a strong melee class because of it damage output and team buffs. Overall, Dragoon works best with ranged DPS classes like Bard of Machinist, since Dragoon’s buffs can really pump up the damage dealt. While Dragoon has fairly straightforward mechanics, it can be difficult to balance the various jump actions since some require flank or rear positions and have timed animations. However, if you can master Dragoon, then you’ll be a strong addition to a raid team.
What makes Dragoon a great melee DPS:
- Various damage buffs for the player like Disembowel and Lance Charge
- Battle Litany boosts team’s critical hit rate by 10% while Dragon Sight boosts player’s damage by 10% and nearby team members by 5%
- Its buffs make it a great team player and allow ranged DPS to contribute more damage
1) Ninja
Ninja is perhaps one of the most sought after melee DPS classes when it comes to current raids and for good reason. Alone, Ninja is a strong DPS able to unleash damage through a variety of actions created by different mudra combinations. Its strongest team buff is Trick Attack, which when used in conjunction with other classes that deal large bursts of damage at once, it can really boosts the teams’ damage output. However, Ninja can be a difficult class to master considering the range of mudra combinations and sometimes timing Trick Attack so the whole team can take advantage of the buff can be, well, tricky. However, the hard work learning to excel in this class is well worth it since it is easily one of the best melee DPS.
What makes Ninja a great melee DPS:
- High damage output
- Buffs for combo actions and positions
- Trick Attack increases the enemy’s damage taken by 5%, allowing the entire team to take advantage of the skill
