How to play Pictomancer in Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail

Final Fantasy 14’s Dawntrail expansion has introduced the artistic Pictomancer job to the game. Here’s how to fully utilize the wrath of their magical paintbrush.

The Pictomancer’s visuals are heavily inspired by Relm from Final Fantasy 6, who is even established as a character in the lore of Final Fantasy 14’s world. However, the Eorzean Pictomancers simply use magic via painting rather than copying an enemy’s attack, which is how Relm’s powers function.

As the Pictomancer is a Magical Ranged DPS job, you’ll be dealing damage to foes, while also buffing your allies. This means balancing two gauges along with your Job powers, which can be hard to pick up. So, here’s our guide on how to play the Pictomancer in Dawntrail:

Pictomancer combat basics

The Pictomancer can be unlocked once you’ve reached level 80 in either a Disciple of Magic or Disciple of War job. Check out our Pictomancer job unlock guide for more info.

They have access to five Role actions shared with other classes, Addle, Lucid Dreaming, Sleep, Swiftcast, and Surecast. Swiftcast can be used to quickly throw out powerful spells like Rainbow Drip, while Lucid Dreaming should be hotbarred if you’re revived and need quick access to MP.

The Pictomancer has two meters that need to be tracked: Canvases and Palette Gauge. In short, the Canvases have stronger abilities and buffing effects, but the timers and startup actions are longer. The Palette Gauge spells will be your main source of damage between your canvas summons.

Pictomancer Canvases explained

Three Pictomancer Canvases are available at level 80: Creature Canvas, Weapon Canvas, and Landscape Canvas.

The three Canvases have their own abilities which create a drawing, referred to as Motifs. These can be used together to create powerful spells.

One important thing to note is that Canvas powers have an instant casting time when not in combat. This means you can set up all three while waiting for an instance to start. You should also use them in between fights whenever possible.

Creature Motif turns into several spells in order and level when placed on the hotbar. The first is Pom Motif, which lets you use the damaging Pom Muse spell. The second is Wing Motif, which turns into Winged Muse. Once both of these moves have been used, you can cast the AoE Mog of Ages spell.

Once you hit level 96, you gain new Motifs that are tied to Madeen. You’ll gain Claw Motif, which turns into Clawed Muse, and Maw Motif, which turns into Fanged Muse, and both together let you use Retribution of Madeen.

The Weapon Motif turns into a Hammer Motif on the hotbar. As you level up, this will evolve into chain moves called Striking Muse, Hammer Stamp, Hammer Brush, and Polishing Hammer. This chain of attacks deals a ton of AoE damage and is great for crowd control. You can freely move while using the Hammer attacks.

Landscape Motif turns into Starry Sky Motif when placed on the hotbar. This allows you to cast Starry Muse, the premier Pictomancer buffing spell, which not only grants benefits to nearby party members but becomes stronger as you level up. Throwing up this spell at level 100 is needed to use the powerful Star Prism attack, which also heals nearby allies.

Pictomancer Palette Gauge explained

The Palette Gauge is a lot simpler to understand. It has a bar that fills you when you cast spells and five spaces for White Paint that are created by casting specific spells.

The Pictomancer uses Aetherhue spells that work in an automatic rotation. These are Fire in Red, which turns into Aero in Green, turning into Water in Blue. This last spell fills up the palette gauge. You also have versions of the spells with an AoE radius, named Fire II in Red, Aero II in Green, and Water II in Blue, which should be used when facing groups of enemies.

The Subtractive Palette ability, which requires 50 Palette Gauge to use, lets you cast stronger spells. Subtractive Palette allows you to use Blizzard in Cyan, Stone in Yellow, and Thunder in Magenta, each with II variants with an AoE.

Using Water in Blue or Thunder in Magenta will create White Paint dots, up to a maximum of five, which appear on the Palette Gauge. These can be spent to cast Holy in White. When Subtractive Palette is used, it turns a White Paint into a Black Paint, which can be used to cast Comet in Black at level 90.

It bears mentioning that Holy in White and Comet in Black have instant cast times, allowing you to throw them out as soon as they’re available and letting you chain into another spell.

Pictomancer defense options

While you’re mostly going to be dealing damage, the Pictomancer does have some defensive options that you’ll need to use to stay alive. These are especially important to master if you’re going to tackle the Pictomancer job quests.

The most crucial defensive option is Smudge. This ability will shoot you forward at the press of a button, so make sure it’s the easiest quick press you have assigned, as it will help you escape from boss AoEs. Once you reach 84, you’ll unlock Enhanced Smudge, which increases your speed after using the move.

After this, you have Tempera Coat, which absorbs damage equal to 20% of your hit point total. Usually, this has a recast of 120, but if the barrier is broken from damage, the timer is reduced by 60 seconds. The only problem is that Tempera Coat only lasts for 10 seconds. This means you need to be sparing when you use it and keep it prepped for when an enemy is about to use a powerful AoE attack.

Once you reach level 88, you’ll unlock Tempera Grassa, which you can use after Tempera Coat. Tempera Grass disables Tempera Coat but creates a new barrier around you and your allies that absorbs 10% of your maximum hit points. It can also reduce Tempera Coat’s recast time by 30 if the barrier is broken.

Like with Tempera Coat, Tempera Grassa is best saved when a boss is about to perform a big attack, especially one that is absorbed when all party members move closer together.

Pictomancer rotations

Fill up your Canvases at the start of or between battles. This saves you time going into fights and will let you throw out powerful spells as soon as combat begins. Also, your Motif spells have long cast times of around 4 seconds each, so be vigilant about when you use them in boss fights.

It also bears mentioning that White Paint can be stored between battles, so you can have a full stack ready when entering boss fights if you spend the previous battle focusing on Aetherhue spells.

In most cases, start out with Starry Muse, then go into Creature Motifs and Weapon Motifs. Once the recharge for those moves has begun, go into your Aetherhue spell rotations, using the II variants for groups of enemies.

When the Palette Gauge hits 50, use Subtractive Palette to unlock your stronger spells and Black Paint. Alternate between Holy in White/Comet in Black and your regular spells so you don’t fill up the paint slots on the gauge. Then, once the Motif timers have finished, go back to them so long as you can safely use their casting time without taking a hit.

At level 92, you’ll gain the Rainbow Drip attack spell, which grants White Paint, allowing it to be used in conjunction with your Aetherhue spells to get a quick Comet in Black spells out.

Once you hit level 100, your Starry Muse must be used before you can use Star Prism, your strongest attack with some additional healing properties. Depending on the health of your party, you might want to save this attack for when it’s most useful.

Are you heading into Final Fantasy 14’s Dawntrail expansion for the first time and looking to try out the other new job? Check out our guide on how to unlock the dual-sword master Viper job.