Solo Jobs/good Jobs For Returning Players

Apologies for another one of these as I'm sure there have been a bunch, but please bear with me...

I have been playing off and on for many years now. I returned for another go around recently and my job schedule does not really allow me much time to play and when I do have time it isn't during very optimal US hours.

On top of that, I enjoy the challenge of soloing content. I understand not all content is soloable, and I'm totally fine with grouping up when necessary, but given everything, I am looking for jobs that can solo and gear up relatively effectively without much help from other real players.

I have scoured the BGwiki and FFXIclopedia and several guides for different jobs and gear progression and I just find myself getting a bit overwhelmed and just a bit unsure of what jobs can effectively solo content for gear upgrades. There are some obvious first steps I know I can take - like finishing all the mission lines to unlock my fifth trust - to increase my ability to solo among other things.

Overall, I have read that BST, SMN, PUP, SCH, RDM, BLU(I think) and RUN are the most capable solo jobs. I have THF, COR and PUP at 99 and all of them(at least to the best of my memory) are in basic iLvl 119 gear(Homestead weapons and Bayld gear with a few Alluivion Skirmish pieces mixed in here and there). I enjoy PUP, but I know it is a very gear-dependent and knowledge and skill-based job to play especially when soloing, so I am not sure if I want to jump into it as my first job to gear up.

Side note: for the most part I understand what makes BST, SMN, PUP, BLU and RDM good soloers(survivability, pets, both magic and physical damage, etc.), but I am not sure about SCH and RUN. I haven't played either job at all so maybe it's just a fundamental lack of understanding of mechanics when it comes to those two classes, but I hear that SCH is arguably the best solo job and I can't figure out why. Are self-SCs and MBs that powerful? Is RUN's magic defense/avoidance coupled with good damage output what drives its solo capabilities?

I know I kind of went off in several different directions here and I apologize if this sort of "returning to FFXI" post gets old, but I am just a bit confused and looking for some clarity on some things. I'd appreciate any information/direction. Thanks a ton in advance.

SCH can MB big #'s from relative safety. NPCs like Iroha can close a variety of level I and II SCs with you. MBs pull relatively little enmity, so your NPC tanks can keep the mob far away from you. Helix spells are substantial DOT (up to 10k per 'tick'), with Helix + MB + Kite being a viable strat against tougher targets.

For NMs that are strong versus magic, have a nasty AOE spam, and/or shred NPC tanks, RUN is a good solo choice. Put on a hybrid set (mix of -DT and TP stats), pop Battuta, and you can power through a lot of things. Some tougher solos will be locked behind an Epeolatry, but decent armor sets and just Montante or Aettir should get you pretty far.

Between BLU, RUN and SCH, you should be able to tackle anything in the game that can be solo'd.

OK, cool. That makes sense. I originally wasn't too interested in either class, but after looking more into them I think I would definitely want to give them a try. Thanks a lot!

Jobs like sch, bst, pup or maybe rdm is probably best at no trust solo. Sch can just self mb, put dot on, then kite forever until the nm die. Easier to understand by watching it.




If you have trust though, other dd isnt much worse when it comes to solo. For example a high acc dd like blu or drg with trust can solo the same thing that sch did by spamming ws until its dead, and done it faster too. So the advantage of no trust solo on certain job like sch isnt necessary must have if your goal is to get things done.

Also have to say a lot of solos done by people is more about having good gears, and less about playing certain jobs. So if you dont have gears, you wont solo as effectively as others. And I think its faster to get 1-2 established player to help with gears, imo.

BLU.

Yeah, I am aware that a some jobs can solo well based on the gear they have, which is understandable and something I have thought about. I will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks for the video link and thanks everyone for the info!

Use blu or sch for soloing.

I use rune, but only because its my best job. Them two jobs don't have to rely on trusts too much. When i solo on rune and my whm dies that is no problem, but when the rdm and brd dies im sitting for the rest of the fight swinging slow as hell and often time out in escha areas. That is similar to other jobs.

There's nothing close to blu, self cap haste, insane defense and attack, stupid amount of shadows and cheap spammable stun, some of the best ws's in game.

Before you decide which job to pick, between those you listed, try them out. Even when you fail stuff, or when you CP them, don't make a choice too quickly as they are all as powerful in different ways but they are all gated being gearing. I am assuming you aren't scared of that otherwise you'd be playing whm already.

Consider, which you like best, which one is more versatile, which one can also get you more groups for things you can't solo.

When you are done thinking about all of that, pick RUN.




ps. For me the best one was SCH, but only cause it is my best geared. But more importantly, cause i love the ***out of SCH and because I am in total denial about how much gil I put into it.

RUN is not the best job for returning players, that job demands high knowledge of many game mechanics to make it work well. it's easy to put some DD gear on and swing the sword, but even then a returning player cannot make it work with trusts. Trusts are literally HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE.

Aside from the very steep learning curve of RUN and the gear barrier, RUN is amazing for solo, but nowhere near better than SCH or BLU.

but RUN > PLD lol

You already have PUP, which can solo almost anything. Just gear it up and tear stuff up.

With trust, you will be able to solo tons of content regardless of the job you are on.

You will run into more issues with grouping up for the content you can't solo. If you only have bst leveled, very few groups will invite you for content.

Same with only having a dd job. The game is at a point that so many people have upgraded REMA weapons and the player base would rather pick an AG DD over a new guy running with skirmish or colada on their blu.

If you really want to thrive long term in the game, pick a few jobs that share a lot of the same gear pre-reforge.

Blm shares gear with geo, rdm and sch
Blu shares melee gear with cor, thf, run
Geo shares refresh/idle sets with blm, sch, whm, rdm

Picking 3 or 4 jobs and gearing them evenly will give you the greatest potential in progressing to the point in which you can pick 1 or 2 jobs to gear them to the highest point possible.

Blu, Cor, Rdm, Run are some of the jobs that can do party-content without needing REMAs.

We get them on Cerberus from time to time but they're usually done by people who aren't really worth answering.

There is a difference between "can do it solo" vs actually solo to clear contents for a challenge and group only when necessary.

If you have aeonics and you solo T1 NM then it's the former while if you have none of the escha gear and try to solo as much as you can before grouping up then it's the later which is much harder.

Pretty much those listed above can do the former since if you have very strong equipments then you can do a lot of soloing.

However, if you only have access to some 119 JSE and Ambu+1 gear as the later case then I think Bst would be your best option.

Wouldn't BLU with +1 Ambuscade sets or PUP with Taeon reach better results while allowing for a better transition into group play or super solo later on?

So which jobs would fall under "solo to clear contents"? Soloing content after you are BIS isn't that interesting to me.

I enjoy Run and Nin but both appear to need gear that is from things I can't solo. I don't mind Bst or Blu but I would like to keep the number of jobs I am gearing/CPing to a minimum.

My wife plays Geo and Dnc so I always have a buffer or DD with me if that changes anything. Really our goal is to duo as much as possible. Taking time and requiring a bit of trail/error is fine with us... its part of the fun. However we don't want to be wasting our time trying to do things harder than they need to be.

Basically, BST is your best bet at soloing to clear contents if your focus is to solo. Half of the gear to need to solo can be obtained at lv119 bayld gear.

You only need a good set of pet PDT gear, spend an awesome amount of gil trying to gamble with skirmish pet gear and a massive amount of Dawn Mulsum and a lot of fiddling.

It will be a rough and slow ride. You will spend a large amount of time soloing for JP as it directly affects your ability to solo.

If you want the easy way and just duo most of the time with some party and solo for fun then I suggest a combination of Pld/Blu/Bst and Whm/Geo/Cor/Sch.

Basically, Get 100+jp for Blu then use Blu+whm/Cor/Geo to farm ambu until you can get a decent set of DT gear for Pld and Blu. Then obtain ochain/agis for pld if possible and duo as Pld/Bst+Sch or Blu+Geo/Cor. You should be able to clear a lot of contents with that combo.