Square Enix producer Naoki Yoshida revealed Bastion, Final Fantasy 14 Evercold‘s new tank class, during Fan Fest Berlin on Saturday, and it’s a pretty big deal for Final Fantasy. Bastion is a main tank, a term introduced as part of FF14‘s new “evolved” combat system that designates a tank as defense- and offense-oriented, rather than support-minded. And it’s also the first brand-new class unassociated with any previous Final Fantasy job in FF14.
The Bastion wields two special shields called Skyltborg, models of which Yoshida brought on stage during the address while wearing full Bastion garb (and quickly discarded thanks to their weight). These heavy shields represent a tradition of martial training on The Fourth (Evercold‘s setting) that stretches back generations, originating in a northern archipelago and passed down to those who dedicated their lives to protecting the realm. They’re not just big shields, though. The Bastion’s shields are shape-changing, aether-powered turrets that function as defensive devices and artillery units.
“Main tank” might mean defense first, but the Bastion does pretty much everything. Yoshida played a brief trailer showing the Bastion in action against one of Evercold‘s big new enemies. The trailer showed no skill names, but you can see the Bastion going through several ability chains: One that creates a magic shield around the player, another that fires off aether-charged shots from a distance after charging for a few levels, a skill that makes the earth quake under an enemy, and an up-close melee combo chain. The Bastion also gets a set of “curative boons,” though the trailer didn’t show any of those.
Square Enix isn’t in the habit of making new job roles in any Final Fantasy game, so Bastion is kind of a big deal. Even spinoffs like Brave Exvius (soon to be Final Fantasy Resonance) repurpose older roles like FF12‘s Green Mage and the Spellblade from FF5. That’s the philosophy Square Enix previously adopted with FF14 as well. Prior to Evercold, all of FF14‘s job classes had ties to established roles in previous Final Fantasy games — obvious ones like Red Mage and Bard and some slightly more obscure references, like Reaper being a nod to Sice from Final Fantasy Type-0 and Final Fantasy 11‘s scythe-wielding Dark Knight. Bastion has no such reference point. It’s a totally fresh class designed with Evercold‘s Evolved Combat in mind.
Evercold will introduce a second job, a ranged DPS, though Square Enix is keeping details on that one quiet until Tokyo Fan Fest in October.
Final Fantasy 14 Evercold launches in January for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.