What is a DPS Check in FFXIV & How Does It Work?

In FFXIV, DPS checks are parts of fights with enemies that require the party to do a certain amount of damage to the boss or kill more enemies before time runs out.

There are different ways to do a DPS check, but they all boil down to the same idea.

Damage Per Second is what DPS stands for.

It’s also a general term for all jobs other than tanking and healing.

Ranged, magical, and close-combat attacks are all DPS.

How does the game know you’re still paying attention and not just pressing buttons without thinking?

DPS checks.

Stop stabbing that big monster for a second and go beat up one of his friends, or you could face bad things.

Why Do Encounters Use DPS Checks?

Because if they didn’t, the party would just run around in circles for ten minutes, hitting skills and dodging AOEs.

It keeps things interesting and hard.

DPS checks force players to switch which targets are most important.

If we didn’t do that, we’d just keep destroying the boss’s health bar, which might sound fun at first but gets pretty boring after a while.

In reality, you don’t need to worry too much about DPS checks if you’re just going through the story or doing normal difficulty content.

I mean, you’re going to have to know how things work.

But you don’t have to get your skill rotation down to a science to do as much damage as possible.

Ifrit, the Primal, was one of the first things to use the DPS check.

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You’ll fight him in the Bowl of Ashes as your first experience with Trials.

You and three other players will go into his arena together.

Even if you don’t know what to do, it’s not hard to win.

But once Ifrit’s health is down to 50%, he will call forth an Infernal Nail.

When I say that half of the newbie groups I tanked Bowl of Embers with completely ignore the Infernal Nail, I’m not exaggerating.

It doesn’t move, it doesn’t attack you, and when you’re staring down the jaws of a fiery hell beast, it doesn’t seem like the Nail should be a priority at all.

 DPS Check

But if the group doesn’t destroy the Infernal Nail in time, Ifrit’s next attack, Hellfire, will hit everyone in the party for up to 1,000 damage, no matter where they are standing.

At this point in the story, that’s more than enough to wipe the group and make them start over.

Even if the Infernal Nail is destroyed, Hellfire can still be cast.

But it makes a big difference in how much damage it does.

Ifrit will fight you again on the Hard and Extreme difficulties, which both need eight players.

On these difficulties, the DPS check mechanism stays the same, but it gets harder.

During the fight, he called up a number of nails that exploded.

Ifrit’s different levels of difficulty are probably one of the best examples of how DPS checks can keep players on their toes.

No matter how good your healers are or how well you move on your feet, you’ll still need to pay attention to these game mechanics if you want to win.

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What Happens If We Fail The DPS Check?

There are many things that could happen, but the most obvious is a wipe, which is a full (and pretty quick) party kill.

If you don’t pass the DPS checks, the boss’s next attacks might do more damage, making it harder to get back on your feet.

If you’ve already killed a few people, this could be the last Infernal Nail in the coffin.

If you don’t do them right, your whole group could get harmed, which would slow you down even more in the fight.

But, as we’ve already talked about, you don’t need to do much to get ready for DPS checks besides being aware that they exist and what happens when you fail them unless you’re going after the very latest high-end content.

Most of the problems you’ll face in the Main Scenario Quests can be solved by knowing your rotation and staying alive.