Final Fantasy XIV common terms explained

As with any MMO, Final Fantasy XIV has developed what seems like its own language that players use. If you’ve never played an MMO before, this gets confusing fast. Fortunately, these acronyms and slang terms are easy to understand once you know what they mean. Let’s go over the most common terms in FFXIV.

Job and Class abbreviations

Classes in Final Fantasy XIV are split into four subcategories:

Abbreviation	Meaning	Description
DoW	Disciple of War	Classes which deal physical damage
DoM	Disciple of Magic	Classes which deal magical damage
DoL	Disciple of the Land	Classes which focus on gathering
DoH	Disciple of the Hand	Classes which focus on crafting

There are a lot of classes in FFXIV; 20 battle jobs (not including the classes from which some of them originate), eight crafting classes and three gathering classes. Each of these classes has its own abbreviation that’s worth remembering. 

Here’s the full list:

DoW/DoM Classes

Abbreviation	Meaning
ACN	Arcanist, the beginning class for both Summoner and Scholar jobs
ARC	Archer, the beginning class for the Bard job
GLD	Gladiator, the beginning class for the Paladin job
LNC	Lancer, the beginning class for the Dragoon job
MRD	Marauder, the beginning class for the Warrior job
PUG	Pugilist, the beginning class for the Monk job
THM	Thaumaturge, the beginning class for the Black Mage job

DoW/DoM Jobs

Abbreviation	Meaning
AST	Astrologian, healer job
WHM	White Mage, healer job which stems from the Conjurer class
SGE	Sage, healer job
SCH	Scholar, healer job which stems from the Arcanist class
WAR	Warrior, tank job which stems from the Marauder class
GNB	Gunbreaker, tank job
DRK	Dark Knight, tank job
PLD	Paladin, tank job which stems from the Gladiator class
BRD	Bard, physical ranged DPS job which stems from the Archer class
DNC	Dancer, physical ranged DPS job
MCH	Machinist, physical ranged DPS job
DRG	Dragoon, melee DPS job which stems from the Lancer class
MNK	Monk, melee DPS job which stems from the Pugilist class
NIN	Ninja, melee DPS job which begins as Rogue
RPR	Reaper, melee DPS job
SAM	Samurai, melee DPS job
BLM	Black Mage, ranged magical job which stems from the Thaumaturge class
BLU	Blue Mage, ranged magical limited job
RDM	Red Mage, ranged magical job
SMN	Summoner, ranged magical job which stems from the Arcanist class

DoL/DoH classes

In-game terms you should know

Once you’ve begun to memorise the long list of class abbreviations, you’ll begin to pick up on other abbreviations throughout your time traversing Eorzea or running content. Many of these are derived from other MMO games, so they’re easy to pick up on.

This is not an exhaustive list and does not include terms that are specifically used in high-level raiding, as those are not something an average player will come across very often or accidentally. 

I’ve organised these terms alphabetically to help if you’re in a hurry:

Abbreviation	Meaning
Adds	Extra enemies which spawn during a boss fight
Aggro	Tanking term; aggro essentially means “attention”. Keeping aggro means the tank keeps the attention of the enemy so other players with less defense won’t take damage.
AoE	Area of effect – A part of the arena where damage will soon occur, usually forewarned by an orange shape. Avoid the shape = avoid taking damage
Buff	Any trait gained by a player which affects them in a positive way (Haste, Medicated, Well Fed). Enemies can also gain buffs, but this is less beneficial to players
Debuff	Any trait gained by a player or enemy which affects them in an negative way (Heavy, Blind, Weakness)
DoT	Damage over time – Any attack which causes health to drain over a period of time (for example, poison damage)
DPS	Damage per second – Classes and jobs that prioritize inflicting damage are referred to as DPS (usually denoted with red icons). At higher levels of play, DPS is also used to discuss a player’s overall damage output (Example: “John Strife had the best DPS out of everyone in the party”)
Drop	Items which appear once you have defeated an enemy
Emnity	Tanking term; emnity is the likelihood that enemies will attack you. The higher your emnity, the more likely enemies are to be attracted to you. This term is occasionally interchangeable with “aggro”
FATE	Full Active Time Event – Large scale events which occur across all overworld maps; designed to support a large number of players
FC	Free Company – Groups created by players for people to join; marked by “<<___>>” next to a players name while outside of duties. Free Companies are identical to “guilds” in other games
GC	Grand company – Maelstrom, Twin Adders or Immortal Flames
GCD	Global cooldown – The time between using most actions and being able to use them again. If using one action causes several other actions on your hotbar to go into a ~2-3 second cooldown (as most basic attack actions do), it is often called a GCD.
Hardcast	Hardcasting is a term that’s usually associated with healing, often when resurrecting fallen players. To hardcast means to cast a spell for it’s full cast time, rather than using a buff (such as Swiftcast) to reduce the casting time
iLvL	Item Level – A number attached to all pieces of gear which increases as your class level increases. Higher iLvL pieces offer better stats; a lot of content has a minimum iLvL requirement to enter
LB	Limit Break – A special ability that can be used in content with four or more players; the gauge is split into three sections, with the power of the attack increasing with each section filled. Limit Breaks can be used by Tanks to offer protection and Healers to revive the party, but it’s used mostly by DPS players to end boss fights
Meld	The process of attaching materia to your gear in order to increase its stats
MT	Main Tank – Used in content which requires two or more tanks to decide which tank will be holding aggro. The Main Tank typically starts the battle and maintains aggro for the majority of the encounter
oGCD	Off-Global Cooldowns – Actions which can be used at any time and are not grouped within your GCDs. oGCDs can be used between GCDs, which is often required to attain the best DPS possible. These are occasionally just called “CDs”
OT	Off Tank – Used in content which requires two or more tanks. The off-tank typically picks up aggro if the Main Tank dies or is debuffed. Off-tanks are also often responsible for picking up aggro on adds that appear during boss fights
Pop	‘Pop’ is another way of saying ‘use’ with regards to skills or actions. For example “Pop your invuln!”; also used when waiting for FATEs to happen, or ‘pop’
Pull	Tanking term; pulling an enemy simply means to begin combat with it. Tanks often pull enemies so they can establish aggro before other party members start attacking.
Rotation	The pattern with which you use your skills; your rotation is usually shown by what I like to call the “yellow ant line” which surrounds the skill which comes next in that rotation
RP	Role play – This one speaks for itself
Slidecast	To move in the last few moments of casting a spell, timed just right to let you move early without canceling the spell outright. This is tricky to get the hang of, but can be a good skill to master
Soak	To deliberately absorb the damage of an attack
Sprout	A new or inexperienced player; shown by a small green sprout next to their name
Stack	An attack which should be shared by as many players as possible to reduce damage; forewarned by a set of white/yellow arrows around a player
Tankbuster	An attack which is specifically to be soaked by a tank
Tank stack	A combination of a Stack and a Tankbuster; a Tankbuster which is specifically designed for more than one tank
W2W	Wall to wall – To pull everything in a section of a dungeon until you reach a wall that cannot be passed until the enemies are defeated