Final Fantasy XIV Races, Classes and Jobs Explained

Despite being a bit of a mess at launch, Final Fantasy XIV eventually grew to become one of the most popular MMOs around. FFXIV’s successful revival from the brink of irrelevance has attracted loads of new players over the past few years, many of whom found themselves mesmerized by the game’s vibrant world. Those not used to eastern MMOs, however, found themselves confused by certain aspects of the game. Including seemingly simple ones like Races, Classes or Jobs.

Indeed, if you’re coming from MMOs like The Elder Scrolls Online or World of Warcraft you’ll need to learn a few things about Final Fantasy XIV before jumping in because the game is quite different from its western counterparts. Sure, things like items, quests and perhaps even some of the enemy encounters will feel familiar, but before you can get to all of that, you’ll first need to create your character. That’s where this little guide comes in.

Final Fantasy XIV Races

First off, the number of playable races you can access in Final Fantasy XIV depends on your game version. The Starter Edition already comes complete with the first expansion pack known as Heavensward. Meanwhile, the Complete Edition also includes the subsequent two expansions – Stormblood and Shadowbringers. If you already own the Starter Edition, you actually only need to buy Shadowbringers to have access to Stormblood as well.

Assuming you own all available expansions, you’ll have access to a total of 8 races when creating your character. Each race has two possible variants – known as Clans – and two of them are mono-gendered. Here’s a brief overview of the races:

Hyur (Humans)

• Midlander Clan
• Highlander Clan
• Male and female

Roegadyn (Stocky Humans)

• Sea Wolf Clan
• Hellsguard Clan
• Male and female

Au Ra (Humans with Horns)

• Raen Clan
• Xaela Clan
• Male and female

Miqo’te (Humans with Cat Features)

• Seekers of the Sun Clan
• Keepers of the Moon Clan
• Male and female

Viera (Girls with Rabbit Ears)

• Rava Clan
• Veena Clan
• Female only

Hrothgar (Stocky Humanoid Lions)

• Helion Clan
• The Lost Clan
• Male only

Lalafell (Child-like People)

• Plainsfolk Clan
• Dunesfolk Clan
• Male and female

Elezen (Eleves)

• Wildwood Clan
• Duskwight Clan
• Male and female

Keep in mind that some ffxiv items are not available to all races. For instance, the Viera are unable to equip certain types of headgear because of their ears. If you want to maximize the number of items you can equip it’s a good idea to play a race with standard body proportions like the Hyur.

Final Fantasy XIV Classes

FFXIV does things a bit differently than other MMOs when it comes to player classes. There are four main categories of FFXIV classes – Disciples of War, Disciples of Magic, Disciples of the Hand, and Disciples of the Land – with each of them being split into multiple sub-categories. The Disciples of War and Disciples of Magic groups contain combat classes while the other two contain crafting and gathering classes.

In total, there are currently no less than 20 FFXIV classes to choose from. That may seem a bit intimidating if you’re a new player but don’t worry because you can learn and freely switch between all classes without losing progress. This streamlined system means that there’s generally very little reason to create multiple characters. Though you can of course still do so if you wish.

Below is a quick look at all the classes you can try out in FFXIV. Their names are pretty self-explanatory.

Disciples of War

• Gladiator
• Pugilist
• Marauder
• Lancer
• Archer
• Rogue

Disciples of Magic

• Conjurer
• Thaumaturge
• Arcanist

Disciples of the Hand

• Carpenter
• Blacksmith
• Armorer
• Goldsmith
• Leatherworker
• Weaver
• Alchemist
• Culinarian

Disciples of the Land

• Miner
• Botanist
• Fisher

Final Fantasy XIV Jobs

The Jobs system is probably the one that sparks the most confusion among new Final Fantasy XIV players, but it’s actually very straightforward. Jobs are essentially just class specializations you can unlock once your character has progressed up to a certain level. The reason they are called Jobs is because each of them fulfills a certain role within a party. These roughly correspond to the traditional roles you can find in other MMOs such as Tank, Healer, and DPS. With DPS Jobs being split into Melee and Ranged DPS, which then split even further into Physical Ranged DPS and Magic Ranged DPS.

Many of the available Jobs are direct upgrades to base classes. For instance, you can start off playing as a Gladiator tank and then upgrade to the Paladin Job upon reaching level 30, gaining new skills and spells in the process. Naturally, a more specialized character will also unlock access to a new selection of in-game items, some of which can also be purchased from places like z2u.

As you may have already guessed by now, these specialized roles only apply to combat situations, which means there are no crafting and gathering Jobs. Also worth noting is that about half of all Jobs are not dependent on Classes. These are known as Advanced Jobs and have higher level requirements, but also provide new and interesting playstyles. You can refer to this page on the FFXIV wiki to learn more about all the possible Final Fantasy XIV Jobs and their prerequisites.