During the FFXIV Letter from the Producer Live LXXV broadcast on December 23, 2022, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida and Community Manager Toshio Murouchi previewed the planned Final Fantasy XIV Paladin rework. The changes revealed a few significant adjustments to the job, as well as the team’s aims.
According to the team, the goal for the adjustments for planned job reworks (Paladin included) is to improve the usability of certain actions. For Paladin, this means shortening the job’s “rotation” (i.e. the sequence of skills and abilities executed in a given situation for maximum efficiency and effectiveness). The team is adjusting the rotation to improve a Paladin’s ability to deal “burst damage” (high amounts of damage in a short time frame). Similarly, the team wants to reduce the Paladin’s reliance on damage-over-time (DoT) effects. Improving the usability of the Paladin’s defensive abilities is also a key objective of the Final Fantasy XIV Paladin rework.
To that end, the team will implement a variety of adjustments to the job. Overall the action rotation will be shorter, and accommodate more high-powered actions. The DoT component for the Goring Blade and Blade of Valor abilities has been removed, with the abilities’ potency (damage) increased. A new effect called Divine Might applies after weaponskill combos, which allows an enhanced “Holy Spirit” spell to be cast instantly. This suggests that use of magic spells may be more directly woven into physical damage combos. The current Paladin damage rotation tends to emphasize transitioning back and forth between a “weapon phase” and a “spell phase” dominated by using weaponskills and spells, respectively.
Defensive abilities are also part of the Final Fantasy XIV Paladin rework. The Holy Sheltron ability has been changed from a damage-blocking effect into a damage reduction effect, improving its usefulness against enemy DoTs. The team is also revamping and bringing back the “Bulwark” ability (which was removed previously). The original version of Bulwark increased the blocking rate of the Paladin by 60%, negating more damage from things like auto-attacks. Other abilities and combos will also receive adjustment, with an eye to their utility.
The Final Fantasy XIV Paladin rework will apply during the 6.3 patch period. Patch 6.3 debuts on January 10, 2023. The game is available for PS4, PS5, and PC.
