Corsairs have recently taken a shine to dealing incredible amounts of physical damage, and they have the ability to dish it out as physical and magic. They’ll often be taking the front-lines because of this. But their subjobs allow them to adopt many different roles if needed.
5. White Mage
In a purely supporting role, a white mage subjob will be a rare, but viable choice. White mage grants access to all forms of –Na spells including the much-needed Stona. Your Corsair can also gain access to Erase, which is very handy for removing debuffs that –Na spells can’t remove. And Cure IV gives corsairs some healing capabilities too. Raise and Reraise are very useful for keeping party members alive, should a fight take a turn for the worst. Subbing white mage also grants Curaga. It’s not used much for healing, but it gives corsair the ability to wake up a sleeping party. This meshes well with their backline role which keeps them out of dangerous AoE damage range. While you would also gain Repose with this subjob (a light-based form of sleep), many corsairs will opt instead to use Light Shot. This is much more reliable and doesn’t require any MP. Divine Seal will most often be saved as an emergency tool to turn all –Na spells into an AoE variant, and shouldn’t be used for Cures unless it’s more important than removing a status ailment.
4. Dragoon
Now this job is now far more notable thanks to its Weapon Skill Damage Boost trait. With an increase of +7%, it’s especially great for situations where a corsair won’t be running into combat range that often – and instead could be ranged & attacking from afar. In situations where a corsair is able to get up close, the Attack and Accuracy Bonus traits you’ll get from dragoon will certainly be handy. If you’re standing at mid-range, High Jump is a fantastic enmity suppression tool—highly necessary on a job that’s capable of dealing very high amounts of damage in quick succession, and thus gaining dangerous levels of enmity. Corsair will also gain the Conserve TP trait which helps preserve TP after using a weapon skill. Even though it’s sporadic, it certainly helps in longer fights – or in situations where you aren’t able to generate TP as quickly because you’re so far away from the action.
3. Ninja
Adding a ninja in here would be a defensive sub job that sees frequent use when a battle is expected to be dishing out lots of hurt. But this subjob doesn’t offer any offensive traits that help corsairs deal damage in any way. So this should only be used purely as a survival option. What it lacks in offense, it absolutely makes up for in defense: Utsusemi is still an essential tool in many fights today—especially ones that deal physical damage. Having access to shadows allows corsairs to safely stand on the front lines and use melee weapon skills, which may provide an indirect DPS boost because of an increase in weapon skill frequency, since they can operate in the face of danger much more comfortably. Additionally, you’ll gain access to the Dual Wield III trait. This greatly enhances your TP generation, and helps you gain all the many benefits from whatever weapon you choose for your offhand. Corsairs have no natural defensive options (with the exception of Resist Paralyze and Amnesia), so they can often fall prey to damaging attacks quite easily. This is why a ninja can really help out to fill that gap.
2. Dancer
Not only is the dancer fantastic as a subjob for its solo capabilities, but it also grants many tools that bolster a corsair’s utility. This might also be a corsair’s first choice if you’re considering dual wield. Even if a dancer’s dual wield tier is 1 lower than a ninja’s, the tools a dancer brings to the table outweigh a ninja’s (if Utsusemi isn’t necessary for a fight). Offensively, subbing dancer offers the fantastic skillchain bonus trait. This is highly prized by corsairs in addition to their own Allies’ Roll ability. This improves DPS substantially due to corsairs closing many skillchains themselves with Leaden Salute—a powerful dark-based magical weapon skill. Violent Flourish also gives any corsair the ability to stun enemies on occasion. Definitely a nice skill to have. The many steps you get from a dancer subjob allow you to not only to buff, but also to debuff enemies, when in melee situations. One particular example is Box Step, which is really beneficial to players who find themselves frequently using physical weapon skills. It’s worth noting that Savage Blade is a physical weapon skill that corsairs are known to use and known to deal exceptional damage with. In addition to steps, Waltzes also allow a corsair to occasionally heal. And Sambas allow corsair to provide a valuable 5% job ability haste effect to the party (if no one else happens to be using this support job).
1. Warrior
When it comes to corsairs dealing damage, warrior as a subjob is simply tough to beat. Even if corsairs lose the ability to dual wield from the prior two sub jobs, a warrior’s Fencer trait more than makes up for it. Not only does it enhance the TP bonus of any weapon skill (ranged or otherwise), but it also increases the critical hit rate of your melee attacks. Subbing warrior also provides the Double Attack and Attack Bonus traits, both of which are incredibly powerful in physical attacks and physical weapon skills. You could also gain access to Berserk and Warcry, providing monumental boosts to your Attack stats. This way you know your corsair can hit as hard as possible!
