Endwalker Caster DPS changes: new info from the Media Tour

With the end of the Media Tour news embargo, numerous FFXIV content creators from around the world have been flooding their subscriptions’ feeds with tons of info about all the class changes, job feel, and general Endwalker news which was guarded until now. While I did write a preliminary article about each class’s changes in the Job Actions trailer, some info is either out of date or speculation that was off the mark. I plan to remedy that now, so here are the Endwalker Caster DPS changes!

Do note that the information is subject to change between now and the release of Endwalker. This applies especially to potency numbers, but we can still glean some ideas as to how the team wishes to balance the jobs based on general potency numbers.

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Black Mage

Black Mage looks to have some of the least changes going into Endwalker. As has been announced before, Enochian will be removed as action and reintroduced as a trait, lessening hotbar space. Sharpcast will also be given another charge, allowing for more proc manipulation.

The main additions to BLM are those of Paradox and the Fire/Blizzard II upgrades. AoE pulls will no longer just be Flare and Freeze, as these upgraded Fire and Blizzard IIs will change ice and fire as well as reduce the MP cost of Flare. In general, it seems the AoE kit is more streamlined.

Paradox is a fire and ice skill mixed together which finally gets rid of the use of Fire and Blizzard at high levels. Gained by switching from ice to fire or vise versa, this high potency action refreshes the timer for each element and can even proc free Fire IIIs!

Summoner

Summoner is one of the poster boys of Endwalker, and it isn’t hard to see why. The class has been early completely overhauled again. Bahamut and Phoenix phases are similar to before, but now don’t necessitate instant casts to hit all Pet actions. Dreadwyrm Trance is an immediate Bahamut summon, and both Demi Summons have a single target, AoE button, and Enkindle. In Bahamut phase, Summoner can use Death Flare while Phoenix phase allows it an interesting new heal.

Instead of the old Ruin III fuller phase, Summoner’s filler is to cycle through Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda phases, each of which augments normal buttons into element relevant single target, AoE, and a unique action for each.

DoTs like Bio and Miasma have been removed entirely, so Summoner’s general flow is getting its party damage buff up, going into Bahamut and popping a bunch of off globals, cycling through the three primals, going into Phoenix phase, and repeating.

Red Mage

Red Mage received relatively few visible changes, but minor things add up. Aside from upgraded Veraero and Thunder II for enhanced AoE damage, Red Mage received a new finisher which takes place after Scorch to end off its burst phase.

The more notable changes come to Manafication, Embolden, and the melee ranged combo. Rather than how restrictive Embolden was before, it has been changed to affect all damage from party members and not just magic. Manafication now always gives 50 mana of each element rather than doubling the current amount. This is just a flat-out buff. The melee combo only costs 25 mana each now, which means Red Mage will spend comparatively little time in its Black and White Mana filler and more in its melee burst leading into Verflare or Holy, Scorch, and the new combo ender.

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Aside from Summoner, the Endwalker caster DPS changes were mostly small additions that help the classes perform better in AoE pulls and a big explosion move. There has been some apprehension about Summoner’s new iteration beyond a visual level, though we will have to wait and see how much fights require Summoner to move around its phases. Black and Red Mages alike look to have received great quality of life changes which keep Red Mage doing more damage more often and annihilating the weak Fire and Blizzard for Black Mage.