Need Sortie Melee WS Assignments

Hello fellow FFXI enjoyers!

For fun, I'm writing an addon/program that will take a list of jobs and generate weaponskill assignments for each Sortie Boss. I'm hoping I could get some help from folks who do melee sortie regularly.

Could you fill out this spreadsheet with your Melee WS assignments on each boss? I'll use your assignments (assuming they're correct).

Please fill out this sheet: Melee Sortie WS Assignments per Job
Edit: Permissions fixed 2026/02/21

Here's an example that one person filled out so far. Thanks Mordaunt!:

Updated 2024/02/24: This chart appears to be correct. I just updated it to remove Fudo from A/E Boss because Savage Blade > Fudo makes Distortion and we want to avoid water-aligned Skillchains for A/E.

I just want to see folks take their friends into Sortie, as their favorite jobs and who knows, maybe they kill 8/9 bosses and have fun.

Here is a more generic spreadsheet that I maintain. I don't know who the original author is. I added columns of the skillchain priorities to make and avoid for each boss. Can I get some feedback if the skillchain element being avoided is correct? Thanks Vyre for helping identifying the correct skillchain elements to avoid. (I should be able to proceed with my code from here but verification is always welcome).

Updated: 2026/02/26: Updated to correct DNC WS assignments. I believe this largely works, verification is always welcome. Credit to original author, I just maintain this sheet until I can automatically generate it.



Edit: Updated in-line on 02/26/26 above.

Preface: Your spreadsheet wouldn't let me fill it out, so I can't use it. :/



For ground floor bosses you can just have everybody Savage Blade or go with same SC element as Savage Blade(Fragmentation/Scission) every boss, since there is no WS Wall.

For Ground floor my 8-boss group does:

RDM: Savage Blade
BRD: Savage Blade
COR: Savage Blade
GEO: Judgment, Dagda on B/D
WHM: Mystic Boon
WAR: Fimbulvetr B/C/D, Impulse Drive A

For Basement my 8-boss group does:

RDM: Black Halo E/G/H, Imperator F
BRD: Savage Blade E/G/H, Rudra's Storm, Mercy Stroke F
COR: Savage Blade E/G/H, Evisceration F
GEO: Judgment E/G/H, Dagda F (and Dagda on H at his own discretion)
WHM: Mystic Boon E (doesn't melee other bosses)
WAR: Fimbulvetr F/G/H(alternate to Resolution for G and H if Darkness is possible, except for if H has done Flaming Kick/Fulminous Smash), Impulse Drive E

As far as making wrong Skillchains goes, it only really matters for A/E, or if you are pressed for time on other bosses. A heal slipping through on BFCGDH doesn't impact the fight too awful much if your DPS is sufficiently high(And if you have consistent procs rolling on Aita). I've had embarassing days where I've healed Aita for 99k, and no one batted an eye about it, because we killed it shortly after.

All in all, as far as H boss(Aita) goes, he leans towards being more friendly toward Light and Wind adjacent Skillchain properties.

Firstly, he has no Wind mode, meaning Detonation will never heal him. He also has no Light mode, meaning Transfixion will never heal him. He also has no Darkness mode, since if he uses his one Darkness TP move, it means you hit Enrage and are dead (So effectively, Compression will also never heal him). 3/5ths of his stances lean into the Darkness side of things, 2/5ths in Light side of things. This means you have to pay attention and alter what WSes you do, if anyone is doing WSes with different SC properties. You should note that most strategies for melee for him involved everyone simply resorting to Fragmentation based SC property WSes, such that no SCs ever get made, and WS wall is avoided. If allowing anyone in your group to open or close skillchains, even incidentally, they need to know what they're doing.

The long chart you have at the end there, for instance, showcases incomplete skillchain consideration for every boss and skillchain set.

You have to know Level 1 Skillchain interactions, too, as Level 1 skillchains still carry a single element, and as such, can still be absorbed by the Sortie bosses.

A/E - No Reverberation, Distortion, or Darkness. Reverberation is Water, no Water damage. Water damage is what causes his Enrage, which is that his next TP move will deal damage proportional to the amount he absorbed (generally 99999, unless a VERY SMALL amount was absorbed(sub 1500)).

B/F - Wind Mode: No Detonation, Fragmentation, or Light
Thunder Mode: No Impaction, Fragmentation, or Light
Detonation will not heal him during Thunder Mode.

C/G - No Compression, Gravitation, or Darkness

D/H - Flaming Kick: No Liquefaction, Fusion, or Light
Fulminous Smash: No Impaction, Fragmentation, or Light
Eroding Flesh: No Scission, Gravitation, or Darkness
Icy Grasp: No Induration, Distortion, or Darkness
Flashflood: No Reverberation, Distortion, or Darkness

For H in particular, this means that typically you can get away with introducing Tachi: Mumei or Fimbulvetr without much issue since they carry the SC properties of Detonation/Compression/Distortion. As already stated, Detonation being made will never heal Aita, and Detonation opens for Scission or Gravitation, meaning in 4/5ths of his modes, resulting SCs closed by Savage Bladers or Black Haloers or another Mumei/Fimbu will only result in dealing more damage rather than healing him. If in Eroding Flesh mode, Fimbulvetr/Mumei are still on the table, because they will close Distortion from a Fragmentation primary WS, which will result in more damage done to the boss, without healing it. Of course, in practice, it's best to hold off on doing Fimbu/Mumei during IcyG/FlashF, since they can close Distortion and heal it, those modes are when you rotate to Resolution or Tachi: Kasha(but as a result of you being the closer in that case, you can wait and still do them, if another SC gets made somehow). This applies to Maru Kala from the Hand to Hand as well, with alternate WS being Dragon Kick or Victory Smite.

Looking at other Prime WS for H, you can look at the commonly built Foenaria. Foenaria carries Induration/Reverberation/Fusion. It will open and close Light with Savage Blade, making it ideal for 3/5ths of Aita's modes. It also closes Light off of Black Halo, while opening for Compression for Black Halo. As well as opening Impaction for Judgment. Basically this means alternating to Cross Reaper if he does Flaming Kick or Fulminous Smash. This applies to Terminus for Gun, where RNG or COR would alternate back to Savage Blade where DRK is alternating to Cross Reaper.

Looking at Disaster, Dagda, and Sarv, they are Transfixion/Scission/Gravitation. This makes them a little awkward because they open for Distortion for Savage Blade to close, and repeated use makes Darkness off of Distortion. Done after Savage Blade and they make nothing. This means Disaster/Dagda/Sarv want to avoid WSing during 3/5ths of Aita's modes, unless they know they're going after an SB, and that the mode is going to change before the next SB goes off. This means that Disaster/Dagda/Sarv cause Savage Blade to be a closing liability in 2/5ths of Aita's modes as well, which is somewhat bad for business.

All in all, a lot of times, simultaneous WS firing or WSing so fast that the chain window is avoided can give you the appearance that you're doing things right, since things aren't going wrong. A lot of times, that's how people make it through stuff in this game lmao!

All of these considerations are generally why a lot of groups sport a PLD nowadays, even if they're not doing 9-boss comp, because you can avoid almost all of the mode changes by keeping him in Frog-Kited limbo (not too mention avoiding a lot of the damage). If you really wanna bring your friends for a "casual" 8 boss run, get a skilled PLD to kite most of the bosses for you, and remove most of the margin for error!

Thank you! I've fixed the permissions in the spreadsheet. But your post is extremely helpful.



For sake of conversation, let's assume no prime WSes at the moment. Instead of Fimbulvetr on B/C/D, the WAR can theoretically use King's Justic (Great Axe, which is Fragmentation/Scission, property), right?


I have to come back to this part because I want to replace prime WSes with non-primes. I also agree with you on making the wrong skillchain, but I have witnessed firsthand that some folks curl into a fetal position when they spam a WS and the mob's HP goes up! So, if I can avoid that by making WS recommendations, I'm all for it.


I've been doing Sortie 8-boss daily on magic strat for 2-3 years, and I definitely appreciate this fresh perspective. Historically, my knowledge of Level 1 SCs is poor because the mantra of many players is to repeat the following (1) Level 1 SCs all suck and (2) except for Jinpu spam. It's good to see how you bring Level 1 SCs into context, even if we're suggesting what not to do. So, thank you for that!


Perfect! ..See? I knew I wasn't taking level 1 SCs into consideration for Avoiding SCs, but I was only like 80% sure of my answers for Level 2 SCs to avoid. I really appreciate the extra help. It will go a long way in codifying this.

I am sitting on an embarassing amount of Gallimaufry and these unintentional interactions are why I want to make this. It may even help me to pick a prime weapon, haha.


I am totally picking up what you are putting down. I have a cousin/gamer friend who never commits to improvement because according to him, "a win is a win" ...and I definitely get it. I really do. However, with Sortie, we do it so often that we might as well commit to some kind of improvement, or trying new things, right?


Yes, totally agree. I'm very risk averse in general. Our group only does Melee mode when farming Mesos, which is usually annually. Regardless, like you said, I still prefer PLD kitting (and of course, with Burtgang, because I've never tried it without) ...but yes, Kiting and keeping Enemy mode in limbo is definitely part of the secret sauce.

I updated the blue table to remove Fudo from A/E Boss because Savage Blade > Fudo makes Distortion and we want to avoid water-aligned Skillchains for A/E.

Does Kagero work well on E? I thought it needed special setup to use in basement due to m.acc and such

You only need threnody, possibly some mixed acc food like a rolanberry daifuku if you werent using such already. Threnodys the main bit though, same if you were to use jinpu though im not sure which had an easier macc check(think jinpu?) Itll melt either way

Fire Threnody is water-based so it may have a hard time landing, but haven't tried so not sure.

Fire threnody lands easily on A/E C/G no issues

Maybe I'm misreading that list, but it shows DNC using Savage Blade in several places. I assume that should be Rudra's Storm.

Nice project, I know it would be useful to me given my little experience with melee setup.
Where is the RDM in your setup though? XD
Or the DNC, duh!

RDM can replace GEO and would also do black halo to help with WS wall (also it does good damage)

In the Aminon setup though (not necessarily 9 bosses) you have RDM and GEO though, not one or the other like in the typical 8boss melee setup xD

We let the GEO use Judgment tipically and the RDM is on Black Halo.

Honestly I see no other chances other than uhm... RDM could use Fast Blade 3 I guess if they have it, or Imperator. And GEO of course could Dagda?
I mean in terms of feasible WS options but I'm not sure which issues they would create with the SC thing which was the main goal of this topic after all, right?

Impulse drive from sam/drg/war also works on A/E. As does koki from Sam on B/F and koki doesn't usually require a light threnody.

I only added the avoid columumn to this sheet. But, I think the original author intended:

If DNC needs to make darkness/avoid light SCs, then use Rudra's storm.
If DNC needs to make light/avoid darkness, then use Ruthless Stroke.
For all other situations, just spam Savage Blade?

If that's wrong, can you be more specific?

??
Dancer can't learn Savage Blade at all, so I don't understand why it's listed next to Dancer.

Great work bro, This will help me a lot, cause i take breaks and somehow I forget what is safe to use on these Bosses.

Oh wow, that's a huge mistake. Definitely a copy/paste error. I'll fix it when I finish the work day. It's been a long week.


Me too, man. I like to maximize simplicity. I did not create the larger spreadsheet, I wish I could figure out where I got it from....but I can confirm the smaller chart (one in blue which is base test case) works.

Just for the sake of ideas. My group rolls two DD 8 boss strat. We typically use Drg and Drk. A/E we do a 5 step that shreds it in 1 sc for the top, less then 2 for the basement. Origin > Diarmud = Grav > Camlans = Frag > Origin = light > Camlans = Double Light.

For C/G and D/H as was said, SC don't matter much even if you proc the occasional grav. We spam Origin and Diarmud and try to go roughly at the same time so as not to produce a sc.

For B/F the drg uses Diarmud and drk either Torcleaver or Fimbulvetr to encourage darkness.

Brd and cor also DD on all but A/E and do savage and ruthless stroke typically.

Again, this isn't optimal. It is doable and fun. War replaces drg using Laphria / Diaster as both weapons have identical sc properties.

Again, Just for the aaje if ideas.

Bro get a spell checker, wtf.

Thanks for your critique "bro". Got inturputed at work and hit send prematurely. Fixed. Thanks "bro".

My thought is that it's Savage Blade II, possibly? I know our DNC main has the sword and bought it for zerg reasons where he couldn't use dagger.

There is no "Savage Blade II". Onion Sword III's unique WS is Fast Blade II, so the list is still incorrect.

Correct. I made the DNC corrections in my original post/embedded image. I also added Vyre's L1 SC elements for complete regard of all SC elements. I also updated D/H designations to indicate when his is in Absorb Dark vs Absorb Light mode (in which case DNC will change their WS accordingly).


Thank you, I appreciate you chiming in and sharing your experience. I would like more jobs covered in this sheet (like DRG, RNG, BST... etc etc), so it' a continuous process to update it.

If you want Melee 9 boss instructions, especially for skillchaining I can share the sauce. Not sure if that's what you're aiming for here

Blame early morning work brain. Yes, I meant Fast Blade 2, and thanks.

Good to know for these things. I'm also excited to see more job possibilities as a DRG main who lives on COR.

Impulse Drive > Savage Blade makes Fragmentation, so F Boss can be problematic for a Samurai without Mumei.

Any suggestions? I guess just do Impulse Drive only after a given Savage Blade :/

Is fudo not an option?

Just don't make distortion or darkness on E and then use whatever ws you want. Who cares if you heal it. As long as you're not relying on trust dps any buffed dps will outpace the healing. Just full send and have fun. You don't need to optimize content people solo with bots.

Yes, correct, but we're talking about F boss specifically, not E. Our first or second Fragmentation healed it for a paltry ~19k or so. But after that second fragmentation, it wiped us. We didn't approach any 3 minute time limit or anything.


I'm having trouble computing all permutations to answer your question. :(

However, I can also say that Impulse Drive > Savage Blade and Impulse Drive > Black Halo will result in Fragmentation and that's no bueno for Gartell (F-Boss).

This group is a scrappy group, that's trying their best......but I guess a party without Prime weaponskills has no choice but to just spam WSes and pray, that is unless a WAR and a SAM both get 1M galli for Helheim + Mumei? (allegedly!...because I am assuming that Helheim and Mumei eliminate Fragmentation for F boss entirely...but I don't know for sure yet) :/

Anyway, this completely blows.

So this is F, wind/thunder heals it. Sb > fudo = dist fudo > sb = nothing fudox2 makes light but there should be enough ws' going off that fudo shouldnt chain off itself. This should also apply if black halo is in rotation. So if impulse is a risk then just use fudo? Still at risk but less of one i guess? Though maybe im missing something obvious