The Bahamut phase has been reworked so each Astral Impulse (which replaces Ruin III) is an instant-cast like the vast majority of the actions, and Devotion has been replaced by Searing Light, which grants the party 3% damage increase for a staggering 30 seconds - which seems like a long buff in comparison to the other 120 second buffs. Even Tri-diaster is still in the skill list, but it’s simply an AOE attack used over Outburst.

The former is just an OGCD now, not being affected by anything else, whereas the latter is a more powerful attack that also damages surrounding enemies. It’s still busy, but there are far fewer job actions to assign, which for a controller player such as myself is a blessing.Įven though dot maintenance is a thing of the past, Energy Drain and Aetherflow are retained, which will act as two things: being able to use Fester (as usual) and granting a single cast of Ruin IV, which lasts 60 seconds. Actually, the biggest reason I enjoyed my time with the new Summoner is how few buttons there are. This feels like a Summoner, conjuring the power of Primals to inflict damage and alter abilities.

Square Enix have essentially removed dots all together, minus one in the Garuda phase that’s more of a persistent AOE similar to Dark Knight’s Salted Earth.

Now we have yet another in Endwalker, and it’s the biggest change we’ve ever seen from the job. This is a job that has had an identity crisis for many years now, trying to evolve while holding onto older philosophies to the point fans expect a rework every expansion. I don’t particularly enjoy dot management on the job even though, if played optimally, you only need to hardcast them once per cycle, but everything about Summoner felt clunky and I was too focused on my hotbar. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like or have ever liked how Summoner has played. With that said, there are some adjustments that are so great that we can’t just help bring them up. That means we’ll be trying to avoid talking too much about potency numbers. It should be stated what we got to play was an in-development build of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, and content in the final version is subjected to change. Getting hands-on time with these three powerhouses, we’re impressed what Square Enix has been able to accomplish. Red Mage also has picked enough to almost suggest it has been reworked, whereas Black Mage is more or less the same. Alas, this doesn’t mean that us casters are left without fewer options as this category has gone through a surprising number of reworks, especially when it comes to Summoner. While players were fully expecting a brand new Magic Ranged DPS in Endwalker, we instead receive a fifth melee DPS, only helping Square Enix’s dedicated approach to encourage a double melee party composition.

The making of a mage