FFXIV's Summoner Job Gets New Makeover In Endwalker

In every Final Fantasy XIV expansion, jobs get tweaked to and fro--often receiving new abilities or a complete change in rotations. In FFXIV's Letter From the Producer, director and producer Naoki Yoshida and other staff members introduced the upcoming changes to jobs in Endwalker. We detailed the Reaper and Sage gameplay in a separate article, and the info below covers adjustments to existing jobs.

Out of all of the jobs, Summoner received the largest amount of changes. It's basically a new job--losing its damage over time abilities, which have been an integral part of the job's gameplay--for new summoning abilities. In any case, have no fear of your favorite job becoming obsolete: Every FFXIV job is viable and can take you to the endgame. That will certainly remain true for Endwalker.

Tanks

General

• Using mitigation abilities at the right times will increase the effects of said ability.
• Combos will not be broken by ranged attacks.
• You may notice changed numbers for physical attacks, but magical attacks and physical attacks are of equivalent potencies. (See 1:56:08 if you want the full detailed explanation behind this.) Applies to other classes as well.

Paladin

• Requiescat will be equally effective no matter how much MP you have remaining.
• Confiteor will launch a new three-attack combo.
• Gap closer Intervene gets an additional 5 yalm for a total of 20 yalm.

Warrior

• Damage up effects can now be triggered and extended by AoE combos. This will make smoother transitions from single target rotations into AoE rotations.
• Onslaught and Upheaval will no longer drain the Beast Gauge. Onslaught will also get a new total charge of three.
• Inner Release now can trigger a new action. Inner Release's recast time is also adjusted to 60 seconds now--making its execution more available.

Dark Knight

• Salted Earth will now affect the area immediately around you and make a new action available. You no longer have to "place" Salted Earth.
• Your Living Shadow is going to get a new action as well, when you receive one of the new job abilities.
• Delirium's recast time will be adjusted to 60 seconds, affected up to three times.
• Plunge will get an extension of 5 yalms, for a total of 20 yalms.
• Will receive a new action that is a single target defense buff.

Gunbreaker

• Savage Claw and Wicked Talon will swap for Gnashing Fang on the hotbar, making combo execution easier and saving hotbar space.
• Continuation will be able to be used following Burst Strike.
• A trait will raise the number of cartridges raised to three.
• Paladin's gap closer also will get an extension of 5 yalms.

Melee DPS

General

• Feint's effect will be changed to reduce physical damage dealt, and will also reduce magical damage dealt.
• Combos will not be broken by ranged attacks.

Dragoon

• AoE rotation expanded.
• Weapon skill combo rotation execution will make a new action available.
• Blood of the Dragon will become a trait, so there's no need to execute or maintain it.
• Spine Shatter will get changed to two charges.
• Lance Charge recast changed to 60 seconds, Litany recast to 20 seconds.

Monk

• Chakras will now be unlocked at a lower level.
• Perfect Balance activates the chakra system and can be stacked up to two. Each stack is charged up every 40 seconds.
• When you light up the three chakra slots, Perfect Balance lets you execute Masterful Blitz. The Blitz changes depending on what weapon skills you used while Perfect Balance was active.
• True Strike and Twin Snakes will no longer have directional conditions.
• Shoulder Tackle will get removed, but a rush movement will get added. You can target a party member to rush over to.

Samurai

• Effects granted by Jinpu and Shifu can also be applied by AoE combos.
• New actions in the vein of Taijutsu and Tsubame-gaeshi will be available.

Ninja

• Actions linked to Raiton, Doton, and Huton will be added.
• An action making it easier to apply Huton will be added.
• Shadow Fang--a damage-over-time--will be removed.
• New actions will be linked to Bunshin as well.

Ranged Physical DPS

Bard

• Each of the three songs can trigger a new action that applies a party buff.
• Apex Arrow can trigger a new action.
• Wanderer's Minuet and Battle Voice recast times will be adjusted to match 120 seconds.

Machinist

• A new action called Chain Saw will be added.
• Automaton Queen will get a new action too.
• Reassemble will get two charges.

Dancer

• Weapon skill effects like Flourishing Cascade will now be shared across single-target and AoE skills.
• New actions will be available upon the execution of Technical Finish, Improvisation, and Devilment. Core of Dancer's gameplay is applying buffs to party members, and the dev team kept the development of Dancer in that general direction for Endwalker.

Magical Ranged DPS

Black Mage

• Enochian will become a trait that is automatically applied while under the effect of Astral Fire or Umbral Ice.
• Under certain conditions, swapping between Astral Fire and Umbral Ice will make new actions available. In the Job Action trailer, you saw Black Mage execute a new spell that looked like ice and fire were being simultaneously casted.
• When casting Fire IV and Thunder, the resulting proc will be extended.

Red Mage

• A new action will be available upon execution of Scorch.
• Verflare, Verholy, and Scorch will be changed to AoEs, available as part of AoE rotations.
• A defensive party-wide enhancement will be added.
• Black Mana and White Mana depletion amount will be reduced.
• Displacement and Engagement will have the same potency.

Summoner

• Significant rework to the job to make the job feel more like a "summoner."
• All actions applying damage over time will be removed.
• Can summon Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan--not just Egis.
• When summoning each of the primals, the summoner will gain an elemental aether and will switch into different modes.
• Updated flow: You will call forth demi-Bahamut, obtain an elemental property, and be able to summon Ifrit, Garuda, or Titan, and fight using the elemental properties of those different summons. Once you've depleted those three, you will be able to call forth the phoenix. There is no specific order that you need to call the Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan in.
• Physick and Resurrection were almost removed, but both will still be available.

Healers

General

• All healers will get new actions that apply single-target buffs.
• Offensive spells cast time will be reduced.
• Limit break area of effect will be expanded to 50m.

White Mage

• A functionally and visually distinct restorative field actions will be added.
• Higher tier for Holy Spell will get added.
• Fluid Aura will get removed.
• Divine Benison will become a charged action.

Astrologian

• Diurnal Sect and Nocturnal Sect will be removed, and basic healing actions will be adjusted to have the same effects as they would have while under Diurnal Sect.
• A new action called, Neutral Sect, will get added. Under this Sect, there will be barrier effects that you can use.
• The effect of Divination will be changed, and the seals used for new enhancements can be applied to yourself.
• Redraw will no longer be a Charge action.
• Will get a new AoE spell that has both a healing and offensive component, inspired by White Mage's Holy.

Scholar

• Adjusted so that Scholar leans more towards a barrier healer.
• Will receive a unique job action that can enhance the party's movement speed during combat. Same action will also give a damage reduction buff. The speed enhancement will not overlap with sprint.
• Will receive an action that gives an enhancement to a single party member.

Endwalker releases on November 19 for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and Playstation 5. This expansion will conclude FFXIV's 10-year story arc surrounding Hydaelyn and Zodiark, but will not mark the end for FFXIV as a whole. You can check out a short interview we did with Yoshida for more information.