New FFXIV Endwalker Job Is Reaper; What We Know About The Scythe-Wielding Class

In true Naoki Yoshida fashion, the Final Fantasy XIV director and producer kicked off a Fan Fest by giving the keynote presentation cosplaying as the next job featured in an upcoming expansion. For Fan Fest 2021, Yoshi-P came out in a Bloodborne-esque getup holding a huge scythe to represent the fact that players will be able to take on the new Reaper melee DPS job in Endwalker. The presentation showed off the Reaper in action with a video and with several details on how this job works.

Reapers use a scythe as their main weapon to deal most their damage from close range, and they also summon a ghostly avatar from the Void to fight alongside them. Yoshida-san explained that Reapers can temporarily channel the power of their Voidsent avatar and become a host for it--although we don't know exactly how this will work, this will be a key gameplay mechanic for the job. As for armor and gear category, Reapers will share equipment with the Lancer/Dragoon.

In order to play as a Reaper in FFXIV, you'll need to have the Endwalker expansion on your account and have one other job/class at level 70 on your character so you can initiate the required job quest--that job quest will be found in Ul'dah.

Reaper is a completely new job/class for the Final Fantasy franchise and doesn't reference anything from previous games, other than the scythe weapon. Aesthetically, the Reaper's glamour draws a lot of similarities to the Victorian-era gothic horror stylings of Bloodborne--and honestly, it just looks cool as hell. The villain Zenos yae Galvus was revealed to take on the role of a Reaper in the story as seen in the full Endwalker trailer.

We previously got details on the other new job coming to FFXIV: Endwalker during the February presentation, which is the Sage. In case you missed it, the Sage is a healer job that uses floating knife-guns called nouliths and barriers to buff and protect party members. There was also a segment from the February presentation that outlined how the Sage works. Key character Alphinaud assumes the role of Sage in the Endwalker story as well, and you can see him in action in the cinematic trailer.

For more on what's new with FFXIV, be sure to check out my breakdown of the full Endwalker cinematic trailer. Endwalker also got an official release date of November 23--those who preorder can get early access starting on November 19. Final Fantasy Fan Fest 2021 continues through the weekend, so stay tuned for more coverage of FFXIV.