This article is a personal guide. Information expressed in this guide is one player's opinion and may be more opinion than fact. Strategies and information contained herein may not work for everyone.
No non-minor changes should be made without consulting the author. Changes or questions should be discussed on the talk page.
Warrior: Whitetiger's Guide
By WhitetigerOfValefor
About the Author
When I started playing FFXI, 5 years ago, I started as a mere WAR01 with no Support Job. Being new to the game at the time, it appeared to me that this was taking forever to get 75WAR. My name is Whitetiger, and this is my Ultimate Guide to Warrior!
Purpose for this guide
As I leveled other jobs to 75, I continually notice that Warrior's sometimes don't know what they are doing, about equipment swaps, support jobs, TP setups, etc... This I'm hoping will clear the air for that because even some of my greatest friends struggle with equipment and what not BUT that is why I am making this, to give the best advice Possible!
I'd also like to note that I am still learning today about Warrior, some people may disagree with my ideas, views or even facts BUT this is JUST A GUIDE, Learn from it to better your WAR everyday. Feel free to send Msgs with results or questions too, can't kill.
The loss of STR in the support job is made up with this by swapping hate onto tanks or dealing massive damage with criticals on Weaponskills. Without anyway to live though or recover HP, you must be excellent at landing Sneak Attack+Trick Attack
Job Abilities(THF):
Steal (WAR10/THF5) - Not a heavy option, nice if you need synth items that can be stolen.
Sneak Attack (WAR30/THF15) - Stacks with weaponskills, great on early levels with Great Axe or Great Sword, Stick with 2 handed weapons though
Flee (WAR50/THF25) - Excellent get away tool, Run Away !
Trick Attack (WAR60/THF30) - Now you can officially swap your hate from your heavy weaponskills onto another member whether it be a Paladin or Ninja.
Mug (WAR70/THF35) - Good for Gods, basically extra gil in your pocket, that is if you remember to use it.
Only real reasons for this sub, is 1. Easy Sneak and Invisible, 2. Blink by tools, 3. Dual Wield. This SJ has mediocre strength but may provide usefulness in merit parties. Odds are more often than not, you will be asked to come this sub for Party's, but other subs for Events.
Magic(NIN):
Tonko: Ichi (WAR18/NIN9,WAR68/NIN34[Ni]) - Invisible at early levels is very nice.
Utsusemi: Ichi (WAR24/NIN12,WAR74/NIN37[Ni]) - Slow Casting time(Ichi) Faster on (Ni), but its 3 shadows, early level Blink.
Monomi: Ichi (WAR50/NIN25) - Sneak at 50, yikes, well this will help you nonetheless on your travels.
Elemental Wheel - (WAR30/THF15) - Lol At this, you should never or RARELY use these EVER.
Job Traits(NIN):
Stealth (WAR10/NIN5) - Fail, extra hiding, not very efficient.
Dual Wield (WAR20/NIN10,WAR50/NIN25) - Dualing axe's is nice, or even swords, but to me Great Axe is better still
Subtle Blow (WAR30/NIN15)- Like I stated for MNK, not a deciding factor..
Probably the best melee support job for Warrior, The TP Storing on this support job is amazing and superb to any sub i've use. Hasso's STR and Accuracy Helps on Weaponskills, but if you take hate you can easily, Seigan+Third Eye. This is by far probably my favortite Support job for Merit party's or normal(Level Sync) Parties. I highly recommend you have this leveled as it is a HUGE Benefit, to you and your party.
Job Abilities(SAM):
Warding Circle (WAR20/SAM10) - Unless your fighting demons, useless.
Third Eye (WAR30/SAM15) - 1 Shadow or Anticipation of attack every minute, however with Seigan this is a powerful ability
Hasso (WAR50/SAM25) - Accuracy, Increased Attack Speed, STR, whats not to love? Doesn't stack with Seigan.
Meditate (WAR60/SAM30) - Extra 60 TP Great for Weaponskills, or when your close to weaponskills, provides 5 ticks of TP, 12TP/Tick. Great and AWESOME.
Seigan (WAR70/SAM35) - Similar to Ninja's shadows, with Third Eye blocking 1-10(Reported) attacks with the possibility of countering makes this amazing, only down side, does not stack with Hasso.
Job Traits(SAM):
Resist Blind (WAR10/SAM5,WAR50/SAM25) - Okay, if your ever getting Blinded.
Store TP (WAR20/SAM10,WAR60/SAM30) - Extra 1.0 TP then 1.5 TP at higher levels, together gives your 1 more TP per hit, with all the Store TP Equip at higher levels this will come in handy.
Zanshin (WAR20/SAM10) - When missing an attack, sometimes given opprotunity to hit it again. Rare, but very nice.
What? DRG? Really? Its okay, it doesn't misplace Samurai but a Wyvern Earring and Wyvern Mantle At low levels are very nice to have along with some of the Job traits. Nice at lower levels, uncommon at higher levels.
Job Abilities(DRG):
Ancient Circle (WAR10/DRG5) - Don't sub Dragoon at this point.
Jump (WAR20/DRG10) - Extra hit at lower levels, i'll take it !
High Jump (WAR70/DRG35) - Huge Level Gap, for another extra hit, but this lowers your Enmity unlike Jump, but the level gap is not worth it.
Dancer? Its okay, it doesn't misplace Samurai but for soloing or Campaign this is a superb sub, with Warrior's Retaliation ability being somewhat like counter BUT giving you TP for the hit you just took. With all the Double Attack equipment you can stack, this makes gaining TP MUCH easier. The high VIT on WAR means you can cure yourself for more HP than lets say a Mithra Thief.
Job Abilities(DNC):
Drain Samba (WAR10/DNC5,WAR70/DNC35) - The drain effect helps with soloing at lower levels but after around 40 it becomes junk, until 70 when Drain Samba II comes into play. With Double Attack you can get around 30-60HP back per swing, pretty sweet.
Curing Waltz (WAR30/DNC15,WAR60/DNC30) - A Cure, that costs TP, Amazing. Able to keep yourself and fellow party members alive longer, Curing Waltz=90HPish, Curing Waltz II=160-170ish.
Desperate Flourish (WAR60/DNC30) - Lowered movement speed, Run away tool.
Box Step (WAR60/DNC30) - Lowering Defense, sweet, but that is if you can land the hit. Also 1 Point towards Animated Flourish and Desperate Flourish
At first you think, wow this is a great idea, i should use this more often with its high Strength and Attack, i'll deal amazing damage. But my question is, If You pull hate, how Will you live? This Sub has only one thing that'll keep you alive and its not very potent as a support job. Also a WAR get 0 MP... So don't rely to heavily on spells. Check List Below.
Important/Used Stuff(DRK):
Attack Bonus (WAR20/DRK10,WAR60/DRK30) - 10 Attack, nice. Both at 20 and 60.
Drain (WAR20/DRK10) - Only reason you'll live at low levels, not very potent at all.
Last Resort (WAR30/DRK15) - Increase in attack for 30 seconds, Increases by ABOUT 15% (Exact Number click on Job Ability)
Weapon Bash (WAR40/DRK20) - Quick Stun cool, low rate of kicking in and a huge recast.
Souleater(WAR60/DRK30) - Massive Hate but massive damage at the Sacrifice of HP.
Absorb-VIT (WAR70/DRK35) - Extra VIT, if it hits, for Steel Cyclone Damage, Rare to stick this.
Stun (WAR74/DRK37) - Extra Stun, rate to me is known, but this may prevent you from dying.
Lol Mage sub for a job with 0 MP sweet. But, i've tried this a few times, it just breaks boredom. Low MP all you can rely on is spells and Equipment for MP. (Add to this at your will but these are the only spells i've used.
Important/Used Stuff(RDM):
Dia (WAR1/RDM1) - Lowers HP and DEF at cost of 7MP.
Cure (WAR6/RDM3,WAR28/RDM14,WAR52/RDM26) - Healing keeps you alive, but low MP, can't spend too much on Cures
Solely for defensive Shield tanking on Warrior, still its not a PLD because it lacks MP, but overall with all the Enmity equipment you can stack on Warrior, not a bad idea for tanking. Still CAN'T Replace PLD.
Important/Used Stuff(PLD):
Cure (WAR10/PLD5,WAR34/PLD17,WAR60/PLD30) With the Low MP you have just rely on Mages to heal you unless your solo.
Defense Bonus(WAR20/PLD10,WAR60/PLD30) - 10 DEF each set, can't complain.
Shield Bash (WAR30/PLD15) - Helps with hate, deals damage and sometimes Stuns. (If you using shield)
Shield Mastery (WAR50/PLD25) - Very usefull job ability if your using a 1 handed weapon and shield. Extra TP when blocking with shield.
Sentinel (WAR60/PLD30) - Extra hate move, greatly increases defense for 30 seconds, a useful hate tool.
Auto Refresh (WAR70/PLD35) - Woot, constant MP for you, 1MP/tick.
Cover (WAR70/PLD35) - Save a life by covering a mage or a melee that took hate.
Flash (WAR74/PLD37) - VERY useful tool with hate, causes a hard blindness, very useful for holding hate, 25 MP though.
I'm not putting White Mage down for a reason, its nearly the same as RDM, more MP, No Phalanx, no Fast Cast, but this does have power to remove debuffs
Finishing Unusual SJ's ASAP
Unfinished, will continue to edit daily... Working on Warrior Weapons guide
Weapon Choices
Weapon Choices
Warrior's probably have the highest range of weapons in the entire game. Thus making all your choices very difficult. Most Warrior's stick with the same few weapons consistantly. Stuff to consider is, What Weaponskills does each weapon have? What does more Damage over time? What's appropriate for the support job?
Main Weapons:
Great Axe - Warrior's best choice ALL the way to 75, in my opinion.
Axe - Mainly for SJ Ninja best to Dual Wield these or...
Sword - Mainly positive attack status's on these or double hits.
Archery - Well, I've only seen one person do this with exceptionally good gear/Merits for /RNG Sub for Sidewinder, explain in merits later why this may be good.
Marksmanship - Mainly for pulling or enfeebling at lower levels.
Scythe - Although this is a B+ weapon, i have seen to fail people use this AT ALL, i guess its okay for lower levels.
Hand-to-Hand - D Ranking, only exceptional for salvage really which in this case you really dont need a Weapon just some skill.
I will only be listing weapons for the Main Weapons.
Great Axe
Best weapon by far with an A+ Ranking, I just can't stop using Great Axe, on WAR I just Love it.
1-20
Can get Away with almost anything, at this level it doesn't matter really what weapon you use unless you have merits.
20-37
Neckchopper (WAR20) - Accuracy +5 at early levels is very nice. Will definately help you kill the monster faster
Voulge (WAR31) - High damage and at this level Sneak Attack for some GREAT Damage.
Horror Voulge (WAR37) - Attack plus 8... Heavy Damage, top choice if your planning on 37+
37-50
Heavy Moth Axe (WAR44) - STR+3 Great option for weaponskills.
Gigant Axe (WAR49) - STR+4 Very nice for weapon skills, one up of Heavy Moth Axe
Leucos Voulge (WAR50) - VERY high base damage, its either this or Gigant for best weapon at 50.
51-65
Executioner (WAR54) - High STR(+5) High base damage.
Darksteel Voulge (WAR55) - Like Leucos voulge, high base dmg but no Stat modifiers, personal choice.
Schwarz Axt (WAR56) - 80 DMG and Accuracy+10 at night time. Rare/Ex though.
Heavy Darksteel Axe (WAR59) - 85 Base Damage, high, but like the voulge's no stat modifiers.
Demon's Axe (WAR62) - Highest STR mod known on a great axe, no negative stats. 82 Base DMG.
66-75(Endgame)
Pendragon Axe (WAR67) - Extremely high base DMG, no Stats, Rare/ex aswell... Work for it.
Dark Amood (WAR68) - Not too bad of damage, but on First Quarter Moon, decreases dmg and may attack twice.
Erik's Axe (WAR68) - Holy Crap. Failed to see one of these on Valefor, Attack and Accuracy +6 with high Base Damage. Mini-Perdu...
Sparth (WAR69) - 89 DMG Haste+1%... With Earring could be one of best axes.
Berserker's Axe (WAR69) - 95 Base Damage, /droooooool. No stats.
Fourth Toporok (WAR71) - Attack+10 Poor? Get this. Or get a Rare/ex Weapon.
Seismic Axe (WAR71) - Not enough information on this, to give an opinion, seems like Soil gorget on a weapon. King's Justice
Foolkiller (WAR72) - Accuracy, Attack and STR+8 WTF? Its similar to Perdu Voulge but with STR.
Martial Bhuj (WAR72) - Best Steel Cyclone piece other than that, no real use.
Fortitude Axe (WAR73) - Low Damage but with Virtue stones may double attack, Stacks with Double Attack too, leading up to 3 swings per hit.
Perdu Voulge (WAR73) - Personal best choice from me, unless you have relic. Acc and STR hidden Effect and High Damage under 100% TP and WS.
Byakko's Axe (WAR74) - Good choice if you can't get Perdu and you are poor.
Balestarius (WAR74) - Very defensive Great Axe. VIT+8 Phys DmG -8%, In Campaign May attack twice. Campaign Tank go.
Delivers a threefold attack. Damage varies with TP. Conqueror: Aftermath effect varies with TP, i prefer this rather than Raging Rush mainly because it has more STR modifiers.
Lowers target's defense. Additional effect: temporarily lowers damage taken from enemies. Never tested but if you get this, you should know ALL about WAR.
A- ranking, nowhere near as good as Great Axe unless you have AWESOME equipment. Usually Dual Axes or Axe/Sword. Also a great use for this is its weaponskills.
1-19
Just like the Great Axe, you can get away with everything, except... I advise not to use this until 20.
Tigerhunter (WAR26) - Slightly better than Battle Axe, but not bad on tigers.
Military Pick (WAR28) - Good damage, Good Delay and accuracy +1. Great Choice. Expensive and rare to find.
Warrior's Axe (WAR32) - High Damage, Great for dual wield, STR and DEX+1, go for it.
Mythril Axe (WAR37) - Very high base damage, no stat mods.
38-50
Razor Axe (WAR40) - High Damage STR and DEX+2, definately a keeper until higher levels.
Combat Caster's Axe (May take +1 or +2 tho) (WAR43) - Attack, High base damage, good piece if you hit enough.
Viking Axe (WAR48) - DEFINATELY WILL HELP WITH ACCURACY !! Accuracy+10... GET ONE! With Life Belt And 2 of these, Accuracy+30...
51-65
Darksteel Axe (WAR56) - Only reason to have one of these is its high base damage, Main hand this, off hand Viking's for a bit.
Tungi (WAR60) - Opinion choice, 1 less damage but less delay that darksteel, this is also rare/ex.
66-75(Endgame)
Acha d'Armas (WAR68) - STR+2 DEX+1, Sacrifice VIT and AGI though high damage.
Juggernaut (WAR70) - THE EPIDIMY(Spelling) OF AXES ! Attack+30 STR+3, /love on. Expensive, well worth it...
Iron Ram Pick (WAR71) - Attack+10 decent damage, go for this if your poor and/or on a budget.
Woodville's Axe (WAR72) - Price fluctuates but STR+4 high base damage, well worth any man's gil. (or womans...)
Maneater (WAR73) - Just like Woody, except has similar effects as Perdu Voulge, Off or mainhand this weapon is more common than not, expensive and price fluctuates.
Labrys (WAR74) - I don't know about this, have only seen one on our server(Valefor) but Store TP -5 is Killer... Weak vs Maneater and Woodville's Axe combo.
Axes NOT TO USE(In Pts)
Highly advise not to use ANY picks, too high of delay for my taste.
Navy Axe (WAR37) - Enhancement TP+10, thats it... not worth it.
Storm Axe (WAR43) - Look at it, its just has sad effects and low damage.
Gerwitz's Axe (WAR50) - Used for DRK AF... GARBAGE STATS DELAY AND DAMAGE !
Sirocco Axe (WAR60) - Unlike the Dagger Sirocco (Sirocco Kukri), this isn't 100% activation, decent damage but much better.
Fransisca (WAR63) - Rangers Axe PLEASE do not USE.
Fleetwing (WAR69) - Pitiful stats even with earring.
Kriegsbeil (WAR70) - Just like Fransisca, except expensive not rare/ex.
Tabarzin (WAR71) - Poor people's choice but nothing real positive about the stats from this except high base damage but Woodville's axe Juggernaut and Maneater are equal or better.
Retributor (WAR72) - Unlike other crit hit weapons this ones not as useful.
Martial Axe (WAR72) - Seen too many WAR's with this and yet, im killing them un in damage.
Five-hit attack. Chance of critical varies with TP. Only reason for this weapon, highest damage 5 hits and possible 5 criticals each times for HEAVY damage.
Even though this is a B- weapon I still see it used for its medium delay and decent damage. I never see this weapon main-handed unless it is just for show.
1-18
Just like great axe and axe before it, it really doesn't matter what weapon you use, Sword and Shield is a good combo at low levels as you will be tanking and when Berserk Sets in you can stack that plus Fast Blade for nice damage.
Even though this is a B+ weapon for Warrior, WE get gimped on one of this weapons greatest weaponskills. 38-70 are tough levels for a Great Sword user, WARs weaponskills suck.Spinning Slash is only for Paladin and Dark Knight. But we do get one great weaponskill as you'll see on the list. 1-18
1-17 Just use anything but when you get to 18 use:
Braveheart (WAR18) - DEX+2 ACC+5 Godly for low levels, stack this with more accuracy equipment you should not miss at all.
19-37
Hellfire Sword (WAR27) - Loss of accuracy from Braveheart but can be made up by other equipment, Higher damage and additional fire effect is somewhat nice on mandies at these levels.
Demonic Sword (WAR31) - View this as a Hellfire Sword +1 with Darkness damage.
38-50
Greatsword (WAR41) - Evolution of DPS needs to occur.
Cobra Claymore (WAR50) - Amazing DPS along with Attack+7, the MP+8 is not really needed.
51-66
Zweihander (WAR60) - Evolution of DPS yet again, no special effects.
Mercurial Sword (WAR62) - One of the 4 options used when WAR/DNC, hits 2-3 times! Low DPS so low Weaponskills.
Mythril Heart (WAR66) - Better damage and a chance to dispel an opponents effect or buff.
67-75
Ascalon (WAR68) - STR VIT amd MND+3 not bad stats and 100% Light Damage on Dragons!!!
Ferrara (WAR71) - Low Delay, Acc_4 and really high DPS!
Martial Sword (WAR72) - Semi expensive but for 200% TP WS's at 100% TP and at 150% TP 300% TP WS's, Worth the buy if you are a great sword user.
With many a long wait for an updated guide for Warrior's in abyssea, I will begin to work on a guide that will help warrior's with equipment and what is NOW required to become a good Warrior. As more and more people are now Keying Warrior to 90 and soon 99 probably, I'm seeing a pattern that people either have gimped skills or just don't know how to gear up and play the job correctly.
What's required of Warrior's now?
1. Red Weakness Proc's
2. Blue Weakness Proc's
3. Damage beyond other DD's capability while surviving.
4. Back up tanking, yes you heard me right.
Red Weakness
On some Abyssea NM's, these things called Atma's drop, as well as some Key Items to pop a higher Notorious Monster. With the red weakness proc'd you are almost guaranteed to get the key item and atma. What makes warrior so great for this? We can proc all of the weaponskills except for Katana, Great Katana and Dagger. Here is the chart of weaponskills needed and i'll tell you everything Warrior can use.
Lets analyze this. Of the weaponskills listed Warrior's can't perform Blade: Ei, Cyclone, Tachi: Jinpu, Energy Drain and Tachi: Koki. Thats 5 of the 13 weaponskills warrior's cant perform, the good new is a simple Ninja can. Here are the minimum skills required to perform these weaponskills.
Club:40
Great Sword:100
Polearm:70
Scythe:70
Staff:150
Sword:125
Now granted with you're Skill that low, TPing on Monsters will be hard as hell. So I'm going to suggest getting Atma of the Voracious Violet or any other atma that pocesses a Regain status. Strong note, subbing Samurai will help with gaining tp without actually attacking a monster aswell. Some people are impatient and will also go tosuch measures as to stack tons of accuracy and put on Accuracy or DEX Atma's and try to TP on Monsters. While this may work since the monsters in the area will most likely be Decent Challenge to Even Match, it requires the use of Atma's which you're only limited to 1-3.
