Machinist PvP Guide for FFXIV
This page contains an overview to Machinist in the PvP mode 'Crystalline Conflict' for FFXIV. Below you will find information on the strengths and weaknesses of Machinist as well as how their rotation interacts in this 5v5 game mode.
Crystalline Conflict Machinist Overview
Reworked in patch 6.1, Machinist has been given a complete overhaul
in its PvP kit. With this rework, several new mechanics have been
added to the job. Coming equipped with a slew of crowd control abilities and
on-demand burst, Machinist can fill a multitude of roles within a group,
capable of turning the tide of battle with intelligent usage of the
Analysis function.
This document will focus solely on Crystalline Conflict, so while portions of it may apply to other PvP game modes, its intended purpose is that of Crystalline Conflict.
Crystalline Conflict Machinist Strengths and Weaknesses
High single-target burst
Flexible, on demand crowd control
Above average Crystal control with Aether Mortar
Rotation forces close range combat
Lacks mobility
Reliant on team to be effective
Basic Combat Interaction
Starting out with the basics, Machinist has been given a new
combat mechanic in the form of a slow-movement cast bar. This cast bar
applies to our spammable weaponskill Blast Charge.
There are some things to consider with this. While the action does feel
incredibly satisfying to use, you can not cancel its cast (or rather,
you can't easily. Pressing the ESC key will cancel the cast in an emergency.) This results
in a bit of decision making; it may not be worth casting again if there is
the chance you will need to
Recuperate,
Guard, or
Sprint to stay alive. The cast
bar is short enough that you can weave actions between casts, however. Five uses
of
Blast Charge within a short time frame
will grant you temporary access to an Overheated status, changing the
action into
Heat Blast, increasing its potency, removing
the casted requirement, and reducing the GCD down to 1.5 seconds on this particular skill.
That leads us into our next skill, Wildfire. Compared to the PVE
variant, this ability has seen some major quality of life improvements. The action now deals
AoE damage and explodes immediately upon receiving three weaponskills during the timer.
There are no mandatory actions that need to be used during the timer; three uses of
Blast Charge, uninterrupted, will land in time to detonate the skill.
However, it is suggest you pile in as much damage as you can in the shortest time period possible
to ensure the enemy has as little time to react and heal through your onslaught. If you need the detonation
to happen a bit faster and you are not facing multiple opponents clustered together, single-target
Scattergun will count as two hits on the enemy. Placing
Wildfire
on an enemy who is currently in
Guard will help ensure your damage is not completely nullified, as
you can time the detonation to go off after their shield drops.
Analysis Multi-Tool
Perhaps the coolest aspect of our PvP kit, Analysis, allows us to alter the effect of our Tool rotation, which in turn lets us decide if we need a bit of extra damage or crowd control in the heat of battle. Analysis has the following effects on the Multi-Tool actions:
Drill: Doubles the amount of damage the action deals.
Bioblaster: Doubles potency and nflicts an AoE slow on every target you hit.
Air Anchor: Stuns the target.
Chain Saw: Potency is increased by 50%.
The biggest part of this to take in, is at some point, you will be forced into
melee range due to Bioblaster. This adds a bit of depth to our decision
making, but can be extremely useful when attempting to get rid of the enemy team if they have decided
to cluster together in a group. It is a wise decision that if you are forced to get in range due to
Bioblaster that you have
Guard off cooldown and ready to be
abused in the chance the enemy team decides to focus you.
As of Patch 6.4, Chain Saw no longer has a chance to OHKO. Instead, it's used purely
to deal AoE damage, with the augmented version dealing extra damage. This shifts our kit into more into
Crystal control rather than single target assassin. You need to make sure you hit at least two targets
while under the effect of Analysis to be more effective than just simply using
Drill.
Marksman's Spite
With the 6.1 PvP rework, each job has been given an extremely useful, and
in some cases, overpowered Limit Break. The one Machinist has is called
Marksman's Spite. It is quite literally a sniper rifle. There are
some positives and negatives to this skill, and in my opinion, it makes it one of
the more balanced Limit Breaks, while still being incredibly useful in the right hands.
Marksman's Spite has the ability to effectively disintegrate
a single member of the opposing team if used properly. While less effective as an anti-tank
mechanism, it does an extremely good job of taking care of pesky healers or ranged players, pretty
much anyone who is trying to stay in the backfield and poke or traumatize your group with crowd control.
This action has an astonishing range, 50 yalms, which is perfect for picking off players attempting to run away
at low health. On the downside, this ability can be line-of-sighted. While the initial snapshot is very
fast and it can hit people around corners, you have to be able to lock onto them prior to them leaving
vision. There is also the disadvantage that, unlike a lot of other Limit Breaks,
Marksman's Spite
is single target only. Play smart, play to your strengths, and go after one of the more troublesome players on the
opposing team.
Burst Rotation
With all of that out of the way, we can finally build up a burst that is capable of taking out a tank. Something to take into consideration is that the following combo will absolutely deplete you of all burst for... quite a while. There is also a good chance your target dies well before this sequence of actions ends, especially if you get paired with a competent group that will notice debuffs on the target. This will also require you to be in a specific point in your Multi-Tool rotation, so keep that in mind.
Wildfire
Heat Blast
Heat Blast
Analysis
Drill
Marksman's Spite
In total this will deal a whopping 80,000 damage to a single target. Even at full HP,
not even a tank is living through this. It is highly suggested you only use this combo on
a target you know can not use Guard. All of your burst will go to waste and you
will be left with nothing to follow up with.
Zoning & Other Utility
There are two other actions we have not touched on yet. One of those
is your Bishop Autoturret. This is going to be your
most effective zoning tool. Not only does it deal damage in a radius
around where you have placed it, but it also debuffs on anyone
hit by it, placing them under the effect of Mortared and
increasing damage dealt to them by 10% for 5 seconds. Not only will the AoE
debuff the enemy, it will also place a 6,000 potency shield on yourself and your teammates
every time
Aether Mortar goes off.
Bishop Autoturret will attack a total of four times before disappearing.
The other action is Scattergun. While the majority of this document
has focused on the amount of pure damage Machinist brings to a group,
Scattergun, much like
Bishop Autoturret, falls into another category. Zoning potential is
huge in this game mode. With how overtime works, getting the enemy team mispositioned and out of
the Tactical Crystal has a massive benefit.
Scattergun, while it deals minimal
damage, has an AoE push attached to it that can be paired with
Air Anchor to
knock foes out of the objective and keep them out.
Changelog
- 20 Oct. 2023: Guide updated for interaction changes.
- 10 Jul. 2022: Guide added.
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Lavender splits their time between FFXIV, where they play Machinist and Reaper in high-end raiding, and Last Epoch, theorycrafting builds for Forge Guard, Void Knight, and Lich.
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