Rune Fencer Rune Fencer is one of the jobs released in the expansion , " " . Rune Fencer is the third " tank " - type job of " Final Fantasy XI " , and the first job to specialize in the use of the greatsword . Whereas Ninjas specialize in using shadow images to absorb attacks without taking damage and hindering the foe ' s attacks , and Paladins reduce incoming damage with shields and heavy armor while using White Magic to stay alive and draw the foe ' s anger , Rune Fencers are intended to use their damage - dealing capabilities to help draw the foe ' s attention and use their spells and special job abilities to mitigate magic damage . Rune Fencer ' s magical attacks and defenses have a strong elemental aspect , determined by which runes they happen to be " harboring " at the time . Built - up harbored runes provide elemental attack and defense , and furthermore can be expended for various effects . Becoming a Rune Fencer . The quest to become a Rune Fencer is undertaken at Eastern Adoulin . The player must speak with Octavien to begin the quest " Children of the Rune " . They then must acquire a Yahse wildflower petal to draw the runes on their body , and repeatedly attempt to use the rune enhancement until they succeed . Subjobs . Blue Mage . Blue Mage sub is the best defensive sub job . Players can access to the potent Cocoon spell which buffs defense by 50 % in addition to a bevy of enmity generating spells ( including AoE ) and niche traits such as Resist Sleep and some basic Killer effects . Use it on anything if expecting to take a lot of physical damage and shadows will either be a waste of time or ineffective . Ninja . Ninja is the second best option for tanking . If the player is fighting something with a lot of powerful single target attacks , consider subbing Ninja . Rune Fencer can cap both the recast and casting time reduction on Utsusemi fairly effortlessly , allowing one to basically chaincast shadows as necessary . Warrior . While Warrior is not the best for Rune Fencer , it has its uses . Defender doesn ' t come close to Cocoon or Utsusemi and Provoke is better on Paladin because it has some nice enmity manipulating abilities . However , since Provoke isn ' t affected by Silence and Defender can ' t be overwritten by Defense Down , Warrior sub can be used on fights when both effects are issues . On the DD side , Berserk , Warcry , Aggressor and Double Attack don ' t overcome the benefits of Smite and Last Resort for damage dealing purposes , but they can be useful nevertheless . Dark Knight . Due to the recent addition and buffs to Smite , subbing Dark Knight has never been a better choice . In addition to a staggering passive bonus of 14 . 8 % attack , players also gain access to Last Resort , Weapon Bash , and a new powerful hate accruing spell on Stun . Poisonga is also a nice tool for AoE pulling . Samurai . Samurai is a sort of Hybrid subjob . It won ' t always be worth more damage to sub Samurai over Dark Knight ( unless planning on capping attack , in which case Samurai is the best choice ) , however Samurai sub offers some extra utility that Dark Knight sub can not . Seigan and Third Eye make a great emergency defense combo , and Zanshin is nice if one happens to fall under the hit rate cap . White Mage . The spells that the player gains access to , notable status removal , cures , and Haste , make White Mage a very strong candidate for when the player is solo or in a very low man situation . Being able to heal , remove a bad status ailment , and cast haste more than makes up for the loss of offensive power by switching from Samurai when battling a powerful enemy .