After all the time spent farming critters and slaying dragons, it's no surprise that some people eventually look to whet their blades on a different, more interesting challenge: their fellow adventurers. While there are a lot of guides available for almost any PvE encounter, there is a surprising lack of information for people wanting to sate their newfound bloodthirstiness. This guide will cover some of the basics of PvP in Final Fantasy XIV and will help get players on their way to duking it out in Carteneau or the Wolves' Den!

The Different Game Modes

PvP in Final Fantasy XIV consists of two main game modes: Frontline and Wolves' Den.

Frontline

Frontlines are objective-based battlegrounds, usually focusing on capturing and holding points or destroying crucial structures, all while making sure the opposition is unable to do the same. The different types of maps are:

The Borderland Ruins (Secure)

The Borderland Ruins (Slaughter)

Seal Rock (Seize)

The Fields of Glory (Shatter)

Frontline battles can come in 2 different sizes: 24 (8 vs 8 vs 8) or 72 (24 vs 24 vs 24). 72-player battles will split the group of participants into 3-party alliances.

A match can be joined while in progress, providing a space opens up and there's more than 10 minutes left in the contest. The battle will end after one Grand Company achieves the maximum points in the specific game mode:

800/1600 for 24/72-player Secure

30/120 for 24/72-player Slaughter

500/800 for 24/72-player Seize

1000/1600 for 24/72-player Shatter

Or after the time limit is reached:

30 minutes for Secure

15 minutes for Slaughter

20 minutes for both Seize and Shatter

Should the battle end due to time, the Grand Company with the highest points will claim victory.

Rewards include PvP Experience, Wolf Marks, Allagan Tomestones of Poetics (for level 50 campaigns), Allagan Tomestones of Lore and Allagan Tomestones of Scripture (both for level 60 campaigns). There is also a Duty Roulette available specifically for Frontlines, as well as achievements associated with most maps that offer mounts or gear as a reward.

Wolves' Den

The Wolves' Den is an arena-style PvP area consisting of two primary game modes: The Fold and The Feast. The Fold is a 4vs4 deathmatch, and can be queued as 4vs4 solo or 4vs4 Party at level 50 or above. The time limit for matches in The Fold is 30 minutes, but generally end far sooner due to the nature of battles there. It's kill or be killed, and unlucky victims will find that they are out of the match for the duration should they be incapacitated.

The Feast

Available at level 60, and is split into several types:

8vs8 Unranked

4vs4 Ranked Solo

4vs4 Ranked Party

The Feast emphasizes strategic control of buff crates that appear at certain times throughout a match: Offensive Supplies (a 2 minute attack buff), Adrenaline (fills 50% of adrenaline bar), and The Wolf's Heart.

The Feast also spotlights strategic killing through the medal system. The idea is to kill opponents and take the medals they drop, while also being careful to not take too many medals and becoming a huge target opportunity for the other team. The match will end after a team reaches 600 medals or more, or after 8 minutes.

The 8 vs 8 mode has a slightly different map and buff crate layout from the others to accommodate the additional players, and requires a team to reach 1100 medals for victory.

The two ranked modes are competitive modes that offer players a chance to climb datacenter rankings during 3 month durations (or “Seasons”) by queuing solo or with a group. Solo and group ratings are separate. There are several tiers for both options:

Unranked

Bronze

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Diamond

Players' ratings will affect the matchmaking, and after reaching Bronze tier, rating points can be lost from a defeat. However, once a player obtains Bronze tier, their rating cannot drop below the base value for Bronze, nor can they lose the Bronze designation.

Parties for both The Fold and The Feast must consist of one tank, one healer, a ranged dps, and a melee dps.

Rewards include PvP Experience, Wolf Marks, Allagan Tomestones of Poetics (The Fold), Allagan Tomestones of Lore, and Allagan Tomestones of Scripture (both from The Feast). The Feast also rewards a Fenrir Pup minion to a random player at a very low chance, win or lose. There are special rewards for placing within the top 100 per datacenter and also for achieving a certain rank in solo or party Feast by the end of the season.

How to Unlock

After becoming a member of a Grand Company and reaching level 50 on a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic, there will be a quest available from these respective Grand Company representatives:

A Pup No Longer (Maelstrom) R'ashaht Rhiki - Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks @ X:13, Y:12

R'ashaht Rhiki - Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks @ X:13, Y:12 A Pup No Longer (Twin Adder) Vorsaile Heuloix - New Gridania @ X:9 Y:11

Vorsaile Heuloix - New Gridania @ X:9 Y:11 A Pup No Longer (Immortal Flames) Swift - Ul'dah - Steps of Nald @ X:8 Y:8

Completing the quest will unlock the Wolves' Den instances and Wolves' Den Pier, which has an Aetheryte and several shops for PvP gear and other items.

To access Frontline battles, complete the respective quest above first, and then one of the following:

Like Civilized Men and Women (Maelstrom) Trachraet - Limsa Lominsa - Upper Decks @ X:12 Y:12

Trachraet - Limsa Lominsa - Upper Decks @ X:12 Y:12 Like Civilized Men and Women (Twin Adder) Scarlet - New Gridania @ X:9 Y:11

Scarlet - New Gridania @ X:9 Y:11 Like Civilized Men and Women (Immortal Flames) Mimio Mio - Ul'dah - Steps of Nald @ X:8 Y:9

After these quests are completed, The Fold, The Borderland Ruins (Secure), and The Borderland Ruins (Slaughter) will be unlocked. Upon reaching level 60, The Feast, Seal Rock (Seize), and The Fields of Glory (Shatter) will automatically be added to the Duty Finder under the PvP tab.

A Note on Classes vs. Jobs

Classes such as Archer, Marauder, and Thaumaturge can queue for and enter any PvP instances. However, this is not ideal due to the fact that classes have lower physical and magical resistance than jobs in PvP, and naturally have lower base stats than jobs. In The Feast especially, classes are usually nothing more than medal fodder against level 60 jobs. Therefore, to have an optimal experience in PvP, please consider entering matches as a job instead of a class.

Gearing Up

Contrary to most other games, the PvP-specific stat Morale in Final Fantasy XIV is mostly useless. Morale was a stat that used to function similarly to PvP Power or Resilience from World of Warcraft -- it was intended to grant a bonus to attacks, heals, and defense in PvP areas. This has since changed, and focus has shifted more towards maxing out important primary and secondary stats for a chosen job.

Generally, melee, tanks, and ranged physical dps tend to use items with Critical Hit Rate and Determination. Black Mages can benefit more from a Spell Speed and Critical Hit Rate combination to get their powerful spells out quickly. Summoners can generally opt for a Critical Hit Rate and Determination build to bolster their damage over time and burst abilities.

Healers

For healers, the right combination of secondaries can be a little less clear. Piety is the one stat that all healers should consider. While players can gain full HP and MP back after being defeated, there will be times where battles become more about endurance, and running out of MP at a pivotal part of a fight can mean the difference between a win and a loss.

Scholars benefit the most from Piety and Critical Hit Rate, due to the strength of their critical http://xivdb.com/action/185/Adloquium. Piety will allow them to keep up at least a little longer while waiting for Aetherflow, Mana Draw, Mana Song, or Report to recover MP.

For White Mages and Astrologians, Spell Speed, Critical Hit Rate, and Determination all offer solid benefits in different situations. Others may forgo Spell Speed for more consistent heals with Determination or increased potential for stronger heals with Critical Hit Rate. It may take some practice for players to find a build they are comfortable with, but that's alright. Also, don't be afraid to have multiple builds for your healer. What may work well against a Black Mage may not work quite as well against a Summoner!

Piety + Spell Speed or Piety + Critical Hit Rate are preferred.

Fending?

Casters and Healers may also consider using fending accessories for a little extra survivability. All DPS and Tank jobs may want to consider using some accessories with Accuracy. While it does not take much to hit the ~410 accuracy requirement for PvP, it is still possible to miss even without being blinded. Players may want to experiment with how much accuracy they need to hit 100% of the time so they can maximize their damage output.

Item Levels

While the morale stat on PvP gear is useless for its original intention, certain pieces can still be used when there is no feasible PvE option available. Most PvP gear sets will be a mixture of PvE and PvP gear, and that is perfectly fine! One important thing to keep in mind is that gear should meet or exceed the sync level for the respective battleground or arena (item level 80 for The Fold, The Borderlands Ruins (Secure), The Borderlands Ruins (Slaughter), and item level 150 for Seal Rock (Seize), The Fields of Glory (Shatter), and The Feast). Using gear with a higher item level is completely fine, but using anything lower than sync level will take away desperately needed primary and secondary stats. Ideally, players should look for gear that is item level 190 or higher to have all their stats capped at sync level. XIVDB and Ariyala's Toolkit are great resources for researching what gear is available with the stats players are looking for.

Stat Points

As of right now, it's not absolutely necessary to adjust a job's stat points specifically for PvP. Some players, generally Casters and Healers, will opt to sacrifice Intelligence or Mind for a bit more Vitality to ensure survival from things like limit breaks. Since the recent nerf to the melee limit break http://xivdb.com/action/3360/Raw+Destruction, this has become somewhat less of a necessity.

PvP Experience

PvP experience allows players to gain ranks while representing their respective Grand Company. These ranks differ from things like Feast rankings, and are more comparable to gaining experience while leveling up a class or job.

PvP experience is awarded in all PvP instances, more for the victors and less for the defeated. Gaining PvP experience will increase a player’s PvP rank, and gaining a rank will award Action Points (AP) that can be spent obtaining or upgrading PvP Skills and Traits. The maximum rank for now is 50, which allows for up to 50 total AP to be assigned. 2 points will usually be left over, as that is not enough to purchase any further upgrades or traits.

PvP Skills and Traits

PvP skills are just that, skills that are created for and only usable in PvP areas. Each job has their own unique set of PvP skills, as well as some that are usable by part of or all of the jobs. Each job will automatically start with their respective set of PvP skills, and they can be upgraded with 4 AP each. Upgrades can increase potency and effect duration, or decrease cooldown time. These do not have to be taken in order, so players can choose, for example, to upgrade the first and third enchancements and skip the second one.

Here is a list of the current PvP-specific abilities:

Job/Role Skill All Jobs Purify Removes all detrimental effects from target. Can be used regardless of own status affliction.

Enhanced Purify: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Ranged/Healer Mana Draw

Restores 30% of maximum MP.

Enhanced Mana Draw: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds.

Enhanced Mana Draw II: Increases MP recovery to 50%. Caster/Healer Aetheric Burst Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 170 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Decreases skill speed of target by 30% Duration: 10s Enhanced Aetheric Burst: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Enhanced Aetheric Burst II: Extends duration to 15 seconds. Enhanced Aetheric Burst III: Increases skill speed reduction to 50%.

Equanimity Allows casting without interruption by attacks. Duration: 10s Enhanced Equanimity: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Equanimity II: Extends duration to 15 seconds. Healer Attunement Greatly enhances evasion, while nullifying 90% of damage. Cannot move or act while in effect. Duration: 10s Enhanced Attunement: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds.

Divine Breath Resurrects target at 30% of maximum HP/MP/TP. Enhanced Divine Breath: Shortens recast time to 240 seconds. Enhanced Divine Breath II: Increases HP/MP/TP recovered to 50%.

Focalization Increases nearby party members' magic resistances by 15%. Duration: 20s Enhanced Focalization: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Focalization II: Extends duration to 25 seconds Enhanced Focalization III: Increases resistances to 25%. Melee/Ranged (Physical) Enliven Nullifies all action direction requirements. Duration: 10s Enhanced Enliven: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Enliven II: Extends duration to 15s.

Fetter Ward Grants immunity to stun, sleep, bind, heavy, knockback, and draw-in effects. Duration: 9s Enhanced Fetter Ward: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Enhanced Fetter Ward II: Extends duration to 12 seconds.

Recuperate Restores 20% of maximum HP. Enhanced Recuperate: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Recuperate II: Increases HP recovery to 30% Bard/Ninja/Machinist Detect Reveal the location of nearby enemies under the effect of Hide. Enhanced Detect: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Tank Full Swing Delivers an attack with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Damage over time Potency: 30 Duration: 15s Additional Effect: Increases target's damage taken by 10% Duration: 15s Enhanced Full Swing: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Full Swing II: Increases durations to 20 seconds. Enhanced Full Swing III: Increases target's damage taken by 20%.

Push Back Delivers an attack with a potency of 150 every time you suffer physical damage. Duration: 10s Additional Effect: Counters any knockback attacks with a knockback and knock down Duration: 2s Enhanced Push Back: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Push Back II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Push Back III: Extends counterattack duration to 15 seconds.

Weapon Throw Delivers a ranged attack with a potency of 50. Additional Effect: 20% chance of inflicting Heavy Duration: 6s Additional Effect: Removes Sprint effect Enhanced Weapon Throw: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds. Enhanced Weapon Throw II: Extends duration to 9 seconds. Enhanced Weapon Throw III: Increases effect potency to 40%. Black Mage Night Wing Puts target and enemies near it to sleep. Duration: 8s Cancels auto-attack upon execution. Enhanced Night Wing: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Night Wing II: Extends duration to 12 seconds.

Phantom Dart Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150. Additional Effect: Reduces target's magic resistances by 10% Duration: 15s Enhanced Phantom Dart: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds. Enhanced Phantom Dart II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Phantom Dart III: Extends duration to 20 seconds. Summoner Misty Veil Reduces target's range by 20%. Range cannot be reduced to less than 3 yalms. Duration: 15s Enhanced Misty Veil: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Misty Veil II: Extends duration to 20 seconds. Enhanced Misty Veil III: Increases range reduction to 30%.

Wither Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 170 to all enemies in a cone before you. Additional Effect: Removes one beneficial status from affected enemies Enhanced Wither: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Wither II: Increases potency to 200. Bard Blast Shot Delivers an attack with a potency of 150 to target and enemies near it. Additional Effect: 10-yalm knockback to target Enhanced Blast Shot: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Blast Shot II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Blast Shot III: Increases knockback distance to 15 yalms.

Farshot Delivers a ranged attack with a potency of 200. Potency is not affected by distance. Additional Effect: Attack delivered with critical hit rate increased by 15% Enhanced Farshot: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Enhanced Farshot II: Increases potency to 240. Enhanced Farshot III: Increases critical hit rate by an additional 10%.

Mana Song Restores 25% of maximum MP for self and all nearby party members. Enhanced Manasong: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Manasong II: Increases MP recovery to 40%. Machinist Between the Eyes Delivers an attack with a potency of 120. If target is bound, stunned, or asleep, potency triples. Enhanced Between the Eyes: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Enhanced Between the Eyes II: Increases base potency to 150. Enhanced Between the Eyes III: Increases critical hit rate by 10%.

Report Restores 25% of maximum MP for self and all nearby party members. Enhanced Report: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Report II: Increases MP recovery to 40%.

Stun Gun Delivers an attack with a potency of 150 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 2s Enhanced Stun Gun: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Stun Gun II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Stun Gun III: Extends duration to 3s. Dragoon Impulse Rush Delivers an attack with a potency of 240. Additional Effect: Increases critical hit rate by 10% Duration: 15s Enhanced Impulse Rush: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Impulse Rush II: Extends duration to 20 seconds. Enhanced Impulse Rush III: Improves critical hit rate increase to 20%.

Skewer Delivers an attack with a potency of 220. Additional Effect: Reduces target's INT by 20% Duration: 6s Enhanced Skewer: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds. Enhanced Skewer II: Extends duration to 10 seconds. Enhanced Skewer III: Increases INT reduction to 40%. Monk Axe Kick Delivers an attack with a potency of 170 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Pacification Duration: 4s Additional Effect: Grants Greased Lightning III Duration: 28s Enhanced Axe Kick: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Axe Kick II: Increases potency to 200. Enhanced Axe Kick III: Increases pacification duration to 6 seconds.

Somersault Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. Additional Effect: Decreases spell speed of target by 30% Duration: 12s Additional Effect: Grants Perfect Balance Duration: 3s Enhanced Somersault: Shortens recast time to 40 seconds. Enhanced Somersault II: Extends duration of spell speed decrease to 15 seconds and Perfect Balance to 6 seconds. Enhanced Somersault III: Increases spell speed reduction to 50%. Ninja Ill Wind Delivers an attack with a potency of 170 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Silence Duration: 2s Enhanced Ill Wind: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Enhanced Ill Wind II: Increases potency to 200. Enhanced Ill Wind III: Extends duration to 3s.

Malmsight Locates enemies in a 50-yalm radius in front of you and displays them on allied maps. Duration: 10s Enhanced Malmsight: Shortens recast time to 90s.

Overwhelm Rushes target and delivers an attack with a potency of 150. Cannot be executed while bound. Enhanced Overwhelm: Shortens recast time to 40 seconds. Enhanced Overwhelm II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Overwhelm III: Adds Stun effect. Duration: 2s Astrologian Retrogradation Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 80 to all nearby enemies, while restoring own HP and the HP of all nearby party members. Cure Potency: 100 Additional Effect: Removes one beneficial effect from all nearby enemies and one detrimental effect from all nearby party members Enhanced Retrogradation: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Retrogradation II: Increases damage potency to 100. Enhanced Retrogradation III: Increases cure potency to 150. Scholar Aura Blast Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: 10-yalm knockback to target Enhanced Aura Blast: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Aura Blast II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Aura Blast III: Increases knockback distance to 15 yalms. White Mage Sacred Prism Envelops a designated area in a veil of succor, healing any who enter and nullifying 40% of physical damage. Cure Potency: 70 Duration: 24s Cannot be used with any other area-creating actions. Enhanced Sacred Prism: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds. Enhanced Sacred Prism II: Extends duration to 30 seconds. Enhanced Sacred Prism III: Increases cure potency to 100. Dark Knight Carnal Chill Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150 to target and all enemies nearby it. Additional Effect: Lowers target's damage dealt by 40% Duration: 6s Enhanced Carnal Chill: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds. Enhanced Carnal Chill II: Increases potency to 180. Enhanced Carnal Chill III: Increases damage penalty to 60%.

Tar Pit Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 250 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: Heavy +40% Duration: 8s Additional Effect: Absorbs 150% of damage dealt as HP Enhanced Tar Pit: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds. Enhanced Tar Pit II: Increases potency to 300. Enhanced Tar Pit III: Increases HP absorption to 200%. Paladin Glory Slash Delivers an attack with a potency of 170 to all enemies in a cone before you. Additional Effect: Removes one beneficial status from target Additional Effect: 10-yalm knockback Enhanced Glory Slash: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds. Enhanced Glory Slash II: Increases potency to 200. Enhanced Glory Slash III: Increases knockback to 15 yalms.

Testudo Reduces damage taken by self and nearby party members by 15%. Duration: 15s Enhanced Testudo: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Testudo II: Extends duration to 20 seconds. Enhanced Testudo III: Increases damage reduction to 25%. Warrior Mythril Tempest

Delivers an attack with a potency of 170 to all nearby enemies. Additional Effect: 10-yalm knockback and Stun Duration: 2s Enhanced Mythril Tempest: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Mythril Tempest II: Increases potency to 200. Enhanced Mythril Tempest III: Increases duration to 3 seconds.

Thrill of War Increases maximum HP of self and nearby party members by 10% and restores HP by 10%. Duration: 15s Enhanced Thrill of War: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds. Enhanced Thrill of War II: Extends duration to 20 seconds. Enhanced Thrill of War III: Increases HP increase and restoration to 20%.

In addition, each class has the option to obtain and upgrade the following passive traits for 4 AP each:

Trait Description Enhanced Strength (PvP) Increases strength by 2. Enhanced Strength II (PvP): Further increases strength by 4. Enhanced Strength III (PvP): Further increases strength by 6. Enhanced Dexterity (PvP) Increases dexterity by 2. Enhanced Dexterity II (PvP): Further increases dexterity by 4. Enhanced Dexterity III (PvP): Further increases dexterity by 6. Enhanced Vitality (PvP) Increases vitality by 2. Enhanced Vitality II (PvP): Further increases vitality by 4. Enhanced Vitality III (PvP): Further increases vitality by 6. Enhanced Intelligence (PvP) Increases intelligence by 2. Enhanced Intelligence II (PvP): Further increases intelligence by 4. Enhanced Intelligence III (PvP): Further increases intelligence by 6. Enhanced Mind (PvP) Increases mind by 2. Enhanced Mind II (PvP): Further increases mind by 4. Enhanced Mind III (PvP): Further increases mind by 6. Enhanced Piety (PvP) Increases piety by 2. Enhanced Piety II (PvP): Further increases piety by 4. Enhanced Piety III (PvP): Further increases piety by 6.

Adrenaline

The adrenaline bar appears in all PvP modes except for The Borderland Ruins (Secure). It is essentially the limit break bar. However, it is not shared between the party as it is in PvE, so it can be used at a player's discretion. Animation wise, they are all based on the level 1 limit break for their respective roles. The adrenaline abilities currently available are:

Role Adrenaline Description Melee Raw Destruction Very strong single target attack. Caster Cometeor Very strong area-of-effect attack. Healer Empyrean Rain Area-of-effect healing that will heal party members up to their maximum HP and remove all negative debuffs as long as party members are within range of the user. Tank Aegis Boon Area-of-effect defense boost for party members within range of the user.

Although players can use these as they please, it is often more prudent to save adrenaline abilities for key opportunities to turn the tide of battle, secure a kill on an otherwise annoying target, or to save the team from a devastating attack. For example, Raw Destruction does a lot of damage to a single target. However, it is not strong enough for a one-hit kill to any job under normal circumstances. It can do more damage if the opponent has Vulnerability Down (either from an ability, or from carrying too many medals in The Feast), or due to skills like Blood for Blood being active on your target. It can also be completely wasted if used at the wrong time, say against a White Mage standing in Sacred Prism, any healer using Attunement, or while the target is under the effect of Aegis Boon. Therefore, it is often advised to watch for defensive buffs, and should there not be any, weaken the target to about 75% HP or lower before using Raw Destruction.

All adrenaline abilities have a 2 second cast time, and it is possible to interrupt them either by stun and sleep or a well-timed knockback. If an adrenaline ability is interrupted, the player who attempted to use it will lose half of their adrenaline bar and will have to build it up again for another attempt. Be sure to look at the job guides for more ideas about effective usage of limit breaks.

Using Wolf Marks

Wolf Marks are the primary currency used to buy the PvP-specific gear sets and other PvP related items at the Wolves' Den Pier. Players can only carry up to 20,000 wolf marks at any given time. The Wolves’ Den Pier has several different shops for PvP weapons and armor of varying item levels, as well as a general item shop containing (completely useless) materia, faded orchestrion rolls, and even a wind-up cheerleader minion.

Shop List

These shops are located inside of the bottom level of the ship at Wolves’ Den Pier (X:6, Y:6):

Arms Supplier 1 Sells item level 70 to 180 PvP weapons for all jobs.

Sells item level 70 to 180 PvP weapons for all jobs. Arms Supplier 2 Sells item level 205 PvP weapons for all jobs.

Sells item level 205 PvP weapons for all jobs. Materia Provisioner Sells PvP materia and other special items.

Sells PvP materia and other special items. Armor Outfitter 1 Sells item level 70 to 180 PvP armor and accessories for all jobs.

Sells item level 70 to 180 PvP armor and accessories for all jobs. Armor Outfitter 2 Sells item level 205 PvP armor and accessories for all jobs.

They have also added a new vender during the Garo event who sells item level 235 gear. Please see the Disreputable Priest at the Wolves' Den Pier (X:5.0 Y:5.3).

Consumables and Materia

Consumables (food and HP/MP/TP restoration items) are usable in Frontline campaigns, and can help players gain the advantage they need to defeat their enemies, or save them from an untimely death. However, they are not usable in The Fold or The Feast.

All PvP modes ignore stat bonuses from materia, rendering them useless in PvP.

Ability Changes in PvP

In previous patches, the Final Fantasy XIV development team have made several balance adjustments to level the playing field. Generally, crowd control abilities like http://xivdb.com/action/145/sleep and http://xivdb.com/action/39/brutal+swing have decreased durations which decrease further with diminishing returns. Certain abilities, such as http://xivdb.com/action/45/storm's+eye and http://xivdb.com/action/168/miasma, have part or all of their additional effects removed. http://xivdb.com/action/122/cleric+stance is completely unavailable in any PvP mode.

PvP-specific adjustments for each job will be covered in the job guides, but the in-game tooltips also provide information on potency, duration, and activation changes.

Diminishing Returns

In various other games where there is an abundance of crowd control (sleep, stun, etc.), a system is put in place to prevent constant spamming of such abilities. In Final Fantasy XIV, the timer for diminishing returns goes for one minute after the initial application of the debuff. During that minute, players can apply a sleep, stun, or bind to their target up to three times, with each successive application decreasing in duration. Any attempt to apply these beyond the three shot threshold while diminishing returns are still active will result in the target fully resisting that particular debuff until the timer resets!

Each type of crowd control has its own diminishing return, so if a target is immune to sleep, they can still be stunned. Sometimes it is best to crowd control someone until they’re immune, if it means securing a kill. But more often than not, players should communicate with their team on what abilities they should or should not use if they may inadvertently cause diminishing returns to build up faster.

Sprinting

Unlike in PvE, all jobs are able to use Sprint whenever it is off cooldown in any PvP mode without penalty. It does not consume TP on usage, making it somewhat easier for melee and tanks to keep up with their targets. It can really come in handy for keeping up with your enemy or kiting them.

Ready to Go!

Players that are eager to dive in and get their feet wet are advised to test their mettle in either Frontline campaigns, The Fold (pre-60), or 8 vs 8 unranked Feast. 4 vs 4 Feast (especially solo) is very competitive, and patience can easily run short when experienced adventurers are forced to pick up the slack from a team member who has no idea what’s going on. It will be equally frustrating for the inexperienced adventurer going up against seasoned veterans.

Those who would like a little more study time before jumping in can check out the guides for each of the PvP instances, such as King Stefan's Addendum of the Wolf as well as guides for their specific jobs. Above all else, everyone should have fun and try their best to win! Good luck!

The Author

Kyrie Whisperwind on Hyperion. Top 100 on Primal datacenter as Summoner in The Feast Season 1 and avid Feast player.