Final Fantasy 14: What's The Best Mage Job?

Want to do magic in Eorzea? "Final Fantasy 14" is back after briefly being pulled from the shelves. Once considered a huge flop, it's become one of the must-play live service games that's still worth playing today. You can start from a number of classes including Thaumaturge, Conjurer, and Arcanist, which could lead to a future magical job as a mage.

Mages, most of which are magical long-range DPS, are one of the main classes in "Final Fantasy 14." In this article, we'll be going over the best jobs (a.k.a. subclasses) that you can pick from the four DPS mage jobs: Black Mage, Summoner, Red Mage, and Blue Mage. There's also the healer White Mage job, but it's not under the magical DPS umbrella.

There's a time and place for most "Final Fantasy 14" jobs, otherwise they wouldn't exist. As per popular opinion via Reddit and existing guides, Black Mage is the best choice for pure damage output. However, the other mage jobs can work depending on player preference. Here's a short breakdown of the pros and cons of each mage job and if Black Mage really is the job for you.

Black Mage mains (a.k.a. BLMs) love their "big numbers" — a.k.a. the devastating damage that the class is known for. It's also about resource management to those big numbers, though. "It's class that I find can be very rewarding when you understand a fight very well," a Black Mage player wrote on Reddit. "Once you have that down, the sheer amount of damage you can output once you get into your groove is nice."

Red Mage, Blue Mage, and Summoner have different expectations than the "big numbers" from Black Mage. "Red Mage is your easy to pick up utility mage. You can heal, Res, DPS on the move, and is great for learning fights with," one Redditor explains. "Summoner is your pet management class, it's the middle ground. Can res, has a small heal, is better DPS than Red Mage but harder to master."

As per one Redditor, Blue Mage has the "biggest burst potency" but a lower maximum level. It's also for solo play, so you can't join duty finder parties with it and have to make premade parties. They warn that it "doesn't have regular stats on weapons, just materia slots" but highlights the achievements you can only earn as a full blue mage party.

However, each type of mage has drawbacks as well.

Many players who chose Summoner don't seem to have much to say about it other than its "boring" or lacking compared to the other classes. "I find summoner way too rigid and limited, and overall not satisfying. It looks cool, but that's all it has going for it. Much prefer red mage," one Redditor wrote.

Meanwhile, Red Mage and Blue Mage are less ideal choices just because of their limitations. Red Mage is a class that only comes with the Stormblood expansion, so if you don't want to buy that, then that's already off the table. Blue Mage is a "limited" class, meaning it's designed for solo play. "Final Fantasy 14" is an MMO, so multiplayer is part of the draw for many of its players. Both classes have their perks, but Black Mage will likely be a better choice for those focusing on the main campaign and multiplayer. 

In short, Black Mage is the best overall job because of its damage potential and convenience. However, if you want a more well-rounded character, Red Mage could be the one. Those who like juggling monsters and don't mind a challenging class to master can pick Summoner. Meanwhile, Blue Mage is for those who enjoy burst damage and don't mind solo play.