Weapon Tierlists 2025

And that's just the WS damage comparison, before even considering the insane utility from the HP/MP return. As well as just being on Scythe, for easy access to full MP refills with Entropy without having to swap weapons/lose TP.

If Mumei also refilled a SAM's HP, in addition to its damage relative to Masamune/Fudo, people would be calling Prime GK SSS-tier.

If you used Absorb VIT for Torcleaver, you have to use it for the other WSes as well.

VIT reduction directly raises physical damage dealt, and Fimbulvetr also has a VIT WSC mod for it to take advantage of.

Well obviously but same for other WSs and Origin still gets to 99k faster. Also technically in Limbus or any other event with significant DT, 99k cap is a factor, but after reduction, so going above 99k before reduction is very relevant.

I used Absorb-Str for others WSs (which I noted), changed to Absorb-vit for Calad.

I could see that being a factor with NMs in Limbus. You'll almost most certainly want a WAR for Tomahawk as well.

In its current form Dual wielding WHMs do just fine.

Does Scythe out TP gain GS? Looks like both are hitting 99k a roughly the same threshold.

I mean fine, but you are nitpicking. I was answering the comment saying Origin lags in damage behind other WSs. Now you trying to push it to "ok so it makes big damage but at lower frequency" and go back to "sam is doing similar WS damage at higher frequency". What's next? Animation is bad (It's actually amazing)? Foenaria is Black instead of Gold? It had no rocket launcher attached?

Not trying to Nitpick, you have the SIM.

DRK gets to have both up at the same time. You aren't limited to one absorb spell buff and debuff.

Y'all first mistake was ***talking Foenaria/DRK in front of Simon without evidence to back it up. You know exactly how that's gonna go

Not sure what you mean. It's clearly the best WS and 7% Triple attack is also clearly a best general Prime enhancement for TP gain. Foenaria has pretty much everything, higheest damage WS, utility, higher tp gain than other scythes/greatswords. It's "MNK has low WS damage" stereotype all over again

This is true, but I limited this to one DSNV Absorb with full absorb set. Other Absorbs would be much lower, could be resisted and would in general take casting time during the fight. One Absorb can be done on pull without and downtime to melee time.

Some grenades can always be tossed, no matter how old they might appear on the outside^^

What's with the constant need for some folk to demand that their choice was the smart one? Do you enjoy the weapon you built? That's enough, man! <3

I built Pinaka right out of the gate with Sortie, when Bows still had the rightful stereotype of not being a good option against Marksmanship. Never once have regretted it.

Then I built an Earp even though I had "already" done a Ranged choice...because my COR felt left out :)

Now I'm doing the 1h sword, knowing I could have picked more "powerful" choices, I just wanted something fun to play with on RDM now and then. I consider the fact that I'm midway through my 3rd stage 5 and not completely burnt out on Sortie to be the victory <3

But you realize that VIT+ Boosts Torcleaver while ALSO lowering the mobs DEF... where as STR+ only Boosts the WS in question without lowering the mobs DEF...

That kinda skews the test no?

In a way (VIT:def ratio from an absorb is low, and at attack cap, does this even do anything?(actually the VIT to STR difference would)), but if so, it would also mean he gave Torcleaver an advantage vs Origin, and Origin still beats it at the non-low TP values, which is quite different than the statement that "DRK has better WSs than Origin"

I didn't account for lost vit on target, because you could do absorb on something else and have it up for 7 min. We could talk about party utility from -96vit on the Sortie boss, but that's whole different conversation and not really a WS conversation. I guess if you are doing absorb on boss it would be better to make absorb vit for fim, because it would provide same wsc and same fstr as absorb str, but it would add the party utility too.

If you apply -96vit on Cog then Torc is:

Torcleaver(CaladbolgR15 and Absorb-VIT not on target):
1000TP: 65k
2000TP: 96.5k
3000TP: 120k

Torcleaver(CaladbolgR15 and Absorb-VIT on target):
1000TP: 67.5k
2000TP: 99.8k
3000TP: 124k

Yaeg is 99k 1K TP

For most of these lists, I'm struck by how I feel the weapons are more or less where I would expect them to show up. Some differences in my personal preferences/tiers, but the general consensus seems pretty reasonable.

However, from a NIN perspective, if you want a couple other good examples of inaccurate stereotypes:

1) I think it's wrong to put Heishi Shorinken anywhere but S or A tier. Best weapon for the job, full stop. It unlocks NIN's ability to massively increase their damage potential on any mob that doesn't resist hybrid WS, which is commonly useful in practical situations like Limbus, Apex, Segments (even if not the ideal Sheol C DD, it's very solid and better than NIN's other options), Divergence, etc. Even for purely physical damage, it's a clear winner over all katanas except that Dokoku can squeak by it in limited situations (Heishi usually still wins though). Naegling/Savage can sometimes beat it out, sure, but that's nothing unique to NIN.

I understand the position that "well, NIN still isn't meta in popular events", so yeah I think it's fair if people dock it some points for that reason. But it's still the best weapon for the job, so I see that as maybe dropping from an S-tier to an A-tier. Like, we're seeing people consistently rate stuff like Kenkonken and Nirvana high, and while those are strong weapons for their jobs, it's not as if they make PUP and SMN heavily used in current meta situations either, right? Nirvana kinda coasting on the popular AFAC zergs for Aeonic HELMs, but that content is getting a bit aged now and melee zerg is more popular on it these days. Kenkonken doesn't make PUP a meta job for any reason, and when it does get used it tends to be more for tanking where Kenkonken doesn't shine anyway (and Xiucoatl C path now exists if you're talking about something like pet-only Overdrive zergs, and doesn't require maintaining Mythic AM3).

2) And Nagi... let me be the Nagi defender! This weapon gets ***on so consistently and IMHO it's based on outdated takes. It's my second choice NIN weapon and WAY more effective than it is given credit for due to fitting well into more modern NIN use cases. Maybe if we were talking about this in 2017 I'd agree with rating it as low as possible, but now we have:

• As noted above, NIN is WAY more effective in modern FFXI with hybrid WS due to stuff like Nyame gear pairing WSD with MAB, and Nagi is the second best weapon option for that (behind Heishi), due to Mythic AM3 working on WS (and the extra hits being a big boost when it procs on hybrids). Still not first place from a pure DPS perspective, but it's a solid contender that loses less damage than other choices when you're playing a more tanky style...

• If you are trying to keep a mob's attention as a dedicated tank or even a more hybrid DD/tank (e.g., lowman stuff, Limbus, wahtever), the Enmity+ on Nagi pairs beautifully with the DT/Meva/Eva on Malignance gear from a tanking/defensive perspective, and the Store TP on Malignance is perfect for TP gain with Mythic AM3 up.

• Further to that tanking style, as a practical matter, in most situations Nagi's Enm+40 helps it to be similarly effective in keeping hate as a mainhanded Fudo Masamune C-path (which people rate highly), but Nagi does that while also pushing out way more DPS than the Su5 mainhand. If I was the only tank and my ONLY goal was to maximize enmity generation to keep mobs from turning to strong DDs (at the expense of a good chunk of NIN DPS) I might choose Su5 mainhand. But in most cases where people may want to NIN tank, they do value the additional damage too, and Nagi is perfect for this.

• Yagyu Darkblade also exists now, and has made Nagi tanking even more effective by being able to offhand Yagyu and generate massive hate with each Utsusemi (since Yonin = enmity per each shadow applied, and the ones you apply to party members count). And a lot of people have recently obtained Yagyus ;)

• Also, it looks amazing.

Like, I get it, when I made my Nagi a few years back I was doing it for completion's sake and expected it to be the worst REMA I would own. But once I had it, I realized I was just wrong. I'm not saying it's an S/A tier weapon, but it sure as hell isn't a D-tier either and that's where most people put it because they really just don't know.

Oh, and I will fully agree that Blade: Kamu isn't a very good WS. But it sucks less if you're getting the associated weapon bonus and just using it occasionally for AM3 triggering purposes.

And Origin is 99k at 1000TP if you get Warcry from WAR, which is the most obvious second DD.
and DRK will be at 2000TP in same amount of swings you normally need to do for 1000TP if you do Soul Enslavement and if you have both warcry and SE up, you do 99k at 1000TP with way higher WS frequency.
Also if you are so boxed in Sortie for this, you cant do Mumei at all at E if people are doing Savage Blade or you risk being killed, while Origin will make light with Savage Blade completely obliterating both E and G. you also have Yaegasumi for 2 bosses and it still takes several seconds to boost the effect all the way up to +60% WS damage.

You also can't die basically, this is why SAM is better.

E is irrelevant.

Yaegs obviously the better sp2 but couldnt you get a similar return just through excess tp via soul enslavement? Though if warcry is active its not as nice as it could be otherwise i guess

Off Topic from some stuff but:


I wasn't sure what to call it honestly. No enhancing magic needed. It's more or less just an absorb/separate buff.

Just an idea/shower thought:

Absorb Haste/Delay (Name Pending): Puts a slow effect on an enemy (10% for example). DRK gains an amount equal amount of JA/MA Haste (depending on resist.) Does not screw with TP gain per hit. Debuff stacks with RDM's Slow.

Now I don't have to feel like a Addict waiting for his next fix when Last Resort is down.

Absorb Defense: Steal percentage of enemy's defense and add it to your own. Stacks with Dia III/Armor Break/Angon/etc.

Also cuts back on the defense penalty from Last Resort while buffing your party's damage against the target.

Some new absorb types would be neat. All I'm saying.

Sadly you would probably need Nether Void/DS to land it on certain NMs. Seems like lately a ton of enemies resist darkness.

It's not a job tier thread. I would argue though, that dying on DRK with full sakpata and null cape (massively higher meva than SAM) stealing massive amount of TP from the target and refilling HP to max with every WS would be super hard too.

If this is the bar (not dying), Taint said earlier you just DPS during Asylum and Kite after that to avoid death, even if not in a 9b comp. Gartell's not a threat in this situation if he's kept out of range, and you "can't die basically".

There's so much goalpost moving in this thread, we may need to continue this conversation over at ffxiclopedia

Does Origin Miss?

If you ever missed a Catastrophe and died, feels bad man.. 95% hit rate hurts on single hit WS sometimes. Been there ROFL.

Origin misses more than any other WS (sarcasm)

Genuinely wasn't sure due to WS Description and Magical/Unique attributes.

Edit: it can snipe stuff through blink/utsusemi.

I dont really play with Foenaria DRKs that much.

Been barking up that tree since they put out abs-acc, doubt itll ever happen though, especially this late in the game

Just don't miss! (EDIT: LOL turned to a work email and 2 others called this out before I posted. They know!)

I agree with you on this, just processing some lingering trauma from my Apoc and "hahaha, I have Catastrophe I'm unkillable!". Which sounds great, until Capuchin misses the mob (95% acc cap, baby!) at JUST the right time and ends up face down. :(

I do generally feel safer on my DRK than SAM though. Not just Sakpata/Null (which are great), but you get some nice perks like Weapon Bash, Stun spell, higher HP with Drain, Dread Spikes. Then stick an HP refilling WS on top of that?