As I shared some information about the new ranged support job in Final Fantasy XIV last time, the Machinist, a question came to mind. Now that there are two physical range DPS in FFXIV, which is more powerful between the two, Machinist or Bard? The follow-up question is which do people or raids prefer more, Machinist or Bard? More powerful doesn’t mean it is more preferred since both have different utilities aside from dealing damage. Some things that Machinist lack can be provided by Bard and vice versa. So let’s take a look the differences of the two.
Best Support DPS: Machinist Vs Bard
While these two classes are really ranged support, there have been comparisons as of late between the two since they are the two physical range DPS in the game. The question is more of a concern in team composition for maximum damage and more likely to progress in raids.
Let’s take a look first on their support capabilities. Bard has songs while Machinist has turrets. Both can give buffs to allies and debuff enemies. So basically, they are equal on that aspect.
In terms of damage, there are no really definite way to distinguish this because every situation or instance differs. I didn’t find any numbers on their damage parse so I looked for opinions of players who both play Bard and Machinist. They are saying that it is a mere battle of consistency. Bard is the more consistent in terms of damage because there is nothing to think about. Just pew-pew arrows on enemies. While the Machinist is quite inconsistent. Machinist needs some good setup and complete mastery of its rotation. Also, the flow of Machinist’s 3 shots shouldn’t be interrupted in any way. Basically they say that one miss is a big drop on DPS for Machinist.
So Who is the Best Support DPS?
Machinist has a higher learning curve compared to Bard but they say that at the same level of skill of player and in terms of equal consistency in fights, Machinist can deal the higher DPS. But yeah, they concluded that it doesn’t really matter since both jobs are useful and strong in their own terms.
