FFXI: The Best Subjobs For Monk

With the recent changes we got to hand-to-hand weapons and weapon skills, monk (a job that was once considered vastly underpowered) has quickly soared to becoming one of the strongest DPS jobs in the game.

With Verethragna in hand, these assailants can repeatedly use Victory Smite for damage that could boggle anyone’s mind.

With monk’s incredible HP, utility, and damage capabilities, this job can function as flexible hybrid DDs that adopt various roles based on what they’re using as a subjob.

So that leads to the question: which subjob does fit best for a monk?

Let’s take a look at the best ones suited for these punching powerhouses.

5. Blue Mage

Despite appearing as a powerful DD, monks are also capable of tanking thanks to their incredibly high natural HP, and many ways to mitigate physical damage.

They traditionally tank via a method called “counter tanking” where they rely on their counters to negate damage. This means that unlike many other DD jobs, monk gets a lot of use out of blue mage.

This subjob provides monk with utility spells that let them not only gain and retain enmity, but also shore up their defenses in case an enemy manages to bypass their counters.

The ability Cocoon improves defense by +50%, so this should always be one of the most used set & used spells in the repertoire.

It doesn’t cost much MP to use, and is incredibly easy to maintain. And they’ll also get access to Metallic Body for an easy Stoneskin, which can absorb attacks not caught by counter.

It’s generally advised to use monk for single target tanking instead of AoE situations. But if you’re willing to try your luck, you can make use of Soporific, Geist Wall, Sheep Song, Blank Gaze, and Jettatura as immensely powerful enmity generation tools.

Blue mage also provides a small amount of healing in the form of Wild Carrot. It’s just a small yet welcome addition to a monk’s tool belt of survivability.

4. Dancer

Dancer works very well with monk, primarily due to their naturally high VIT which enhances the potency of the Waltzes you’d receive.

With access to Curing and Divine Waltzes, this subjob can provide players with the means to heal themselves efficiently. Mostly because Chakra is usually not a reliable enough healing ability.

Dancer as a sub also provides monks with lots of utility to back up much of what they already have.

Subbing dancer will be most beneficial in low-man and solo content, or for players who are newer to the game.

Haste Samba is very effective too (providing a 5% job ability Haste to the party), in addition to Steps, giving you some melee debuffing techniques.

Dancer’s natural Skillchain Bonus trait is extremely useful for a monk, as they’re one of the most skillchain-heavy jobs in the game.

They’ll frequently be closing skillchains with strong weapon skills like Victory Smite, so the damage bonus improves their DPS considerably.

Subbing dancer also provides monk with Violent Flourish, which acts as a physical Stun. This is effective in stopping annoying spells or abilities in battle.

Plus you’d get access to Spectral Jig, a useful traveling ability that guarantees you safe passage through areas where monsters will aggro.

3. Rune Fencer

Ah, rune fencer. One of monk’s defensive support job options.

While monk is great at handling physical damage thanks to counter tanking, they don’t have much in the ways of magical defenses.

And that’s where rune fencer comes in!

The natural Magic Defense Bonus and Tenacity traits that come just from having rune fencer subbed, immediately makes this job a fantastic defensive choice.

Rune fencer can provide some very nice buffing spells too. Specifically, it can grant access to a wide range of bar-spells, Blink, Aquaveil, and even Flash. So you have the flexibility to adapt to any rapidly changing situation.

Pflug and Vallation also give monk incredible control over just how much magical damage they take, and status effects they might receive, via a combination of runes.

But monks are also no strangers to incredibly powerful auto attacks.

So the additional effect damage provided by runes can work very well in pushing their punches to the max.

2. Ninja

Here’s the second (and slightly more popular defensive subjob) that a monk will use.

While ninja doesn’t offer much in the way of offense, it does offer a massive defensive tool that synergizes well with their sturdy nature:

Utsusemi.

Many fights at the current stage of the game will require this subjob in order to handle the copious amounts of AoE physical damage, or strong single target attacks coming a player’s way.

And Utsusemi is the most reliable way of dealing with that.

A monk can alternatively fall back on their counter rates, in addition to Utsusemi, if they find themselves tanking. This way they’d be forcing enemies to contend with multiple layers of defenses before actually being able to hit players.

1. Warrior

The best way to capitalize on monk’s power is with a support job that pushes their damage to the limit.

And that’s just what warrior does!

Double Attack, Attack Bonus, Smite (which works on hand-to-hand weapons), Warcry, and Berserk all allow monks to truly open their fifth chakra.

While strong by itself, the monk job suffers from lower natural attack than the other DD jobs. So being given as much attack as possible truly benefits any monk, and that’s why using a warrior support job is a fantastic choice when monks need to deal some serious damage.

While this subjob forgoes utility in all other aspects, it’s still a fantastic choice to bump up DPS.

In situations where monks may find themselves needing to tank, or where you might be required to hold enmity, warrior has tools to help.

For example, Provoke is the easiest way to gain enmity, while Defender is great way to increase defense temporarily.

Defender works particularly well for monks that are using Counterstance, which severely lowers their defense.

Not to mention that warrior also grants the Defense Bonus trait, which helps just that much more!