Why Fans Think We're Getting A Shield-Bearing Tank As Our Next Job in Final Fantasy XIV Evercold

As Final Fantasy 14 looks to wrap up our time in Tural, the beloved MMO is looking at our next big adventure with the Evercold expansion, releasing in January 2027. As you can expect with a new expansion, we're set to be receiving two new jobs, and fans are already starting to put together the clues for what it could be.

Last week, Square Enix held its annual FanFest event in Anaheim, California, where it revealed its new expansion and a litany of changes coming to the game.

Director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida would continue his tradition of foreshadowing the next job, donning a shirt with the character Rhitahtyn sas Arvina, with the caption "Guess Who's Back?" teasing that the next job will have a fighting style similar to that character, or perhaps a thematic connection in some way. However, Yoshi-P is known to be far more elusive, prompting fans to second-guess how direct the shirt is this time around.

Sadly, there's no way of knowing for certain what the new tank job is until the next FanFest event, which is set to be held in Berlin, Germany, later this July. However, that isn't going to stop fans from speculating on what the new job could be, and how it may tie into the new expansion's setting.

What Fans Think The New Job Is

New jobs are one of the major additions fans look forward to each expansion, as they traditionally recreate beloved legacy jobs from other mainline Final Fantasy games.

Dawntrail would introduce the Viper and Pictomancer Jobs at launch, and just recently released the Beastmaster, inspired by its appearance in Final Fantasy 5.

It's been confirmed that Evercold is set to receive two new jobs with a new Tank class and ranged physical DPS on the way. Both of these classes are looking to buck the series' trend, with both being entirely original to the game. This isn't the first time the MMO will introduce an entirely new job. In the Endwalker expansion, we were treated to the Reaper class, based around Garlemald and the power of the void. The Viper class included in Dawntrail would similarly be a new job, although it shared several similarities with Final Fantasy 9's Zidane.

Evercold will be the first expansion to have both jobs not be connected to any legacy class, which makes it harder to narrow down what the new potential roles could be. However, passionate fans trained in the ways of Yoshi-P clues believe they've found the hidden link.

While some fans believe the shirt is remarkably transparent, hinting that we'll be getting a dual-shield-wielding class similar to what you can build in Elden Ring, others believe this is a red herring. Yes, the new class will theoretically feature us using a shield once more, but fans believe that this could actually be a sign we'll be returning to the Sentinel class.

The Sentinel class was originally a subclass in Final Fantasy 14's 1.0, and most of its abilities would be reworked into the Gladiator starter class that we've all come to know and love. Sentinels were also always a secondary discipline, as classes worked off of which weapons you had equipped. As Sentinel was a shield class, players' main class would be their weapon, with Sentinel as their second. Of course, if the plan is to have a dual-shield-wielding class, this would be a pretty funny callback.

However, given that we're heading to a Norse-themed location in the next expansion, other fans think we'll see something that fits more thematically.

How Final Fantasy 14's Next Job Could Tie Into Its Location

With Evercold's new Norse-themed setting, some fans are thinking we're going to get a job somewhat themed around this location. We've seen this before with the Stormblood expansion, which introduced the Samurai while taking place in a fantasy feudal Japan.

One theory suggests that the next jobs we'll see are the Viking and Ranger, playing in the desolate, frosty environment. Both of these jobs originally appeared in Final Fantasy 3, with the Viking having the ability to provoke enemies into attacking them, which does set a precedent for a tank. However, given that Yoshi-P has already said that the two new jobs are unique to Final Fantasy 14, it's unlikely to see this being the case.

The Beastmaster was also just added into the game, and already wields a one-handed axe and a shield. While it doesn't stop your character from wielding two giant frosty axes, I'm not sure if the team would double-dip like that and so recently as well.

In saying that, I wouldn't be surprised if the new classes take inspiration from pre-existing jobs in the franchise while putting a new spin on them, just like the Viper in Dawntrail. If the next tank job is themed around the region, it could play similarly to a Viking, but have a different name to better fit within the game's world.

We know the second job will also be a ranged physical DPS. Some are speculating we'll see Rangers make their debut, but given that the team have gone out of their way to remove all pet interactions in the game from the Arcanist jobs, I can't see the developers rushing to add them back in for a new class.

In recent talks about the game's upcoming overhaul to jobs, introducing a new "Evolved" mode with different rotations, Yoshi-P repeatedly mentioned that this new mode made bows more viable. It's possible this could mean we'll see a Ranger class debut, but my hunch is we might actually see something closer to Freja from Overwatch, a Norse-themed warrior who uses a crossbow in battle. Given that the only crossbow in the game is a single Machinist ability, it's possible it could also become an entire dedicated weapon in the upcoming expansion.

Dawntrail proved that even after so many expansions, the team is still more than capable of designing unique and exciting jobs that stand out on their own. With such an inspired setting being established for this new expansion, I have no doubt the team has cooked up two more jobs that are sure to have fans switching their mains in no time.