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.
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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 |
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| 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
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
| MIN | Miner, gathering class |
| BTN | Botanist, gathering class |
| FSH | Fisher, gathering class |
| ARM | Armorer, crafting class |
| BSM | Blacksmith, crafting class |
| GSM | Goldsmith, crafting class |
| LTW | Leatherworker, crafting class |
| WVR | Weaver, crafting class |
| ALC | Alchemist, crafting class |
| CUL | Culinarian, crafting class |
| CRP | Carpenter, crafting class |
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” |
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| 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” |
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| 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 |
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