Combat Skill

Combat Skills and Magic Skills are stats in Final Fantasy XI which determine a character's proficiency with weapons, magic, and certain other skills. Each Job is a assigned a "grade" with select Combat/Magic Skills which determine the maximum skill they can acquire with the Skill in question at their level. If a Job does not have a grade in a particular Skill, they cannot use that Equipment, Ability, or Magic.

Weapon Combat Skills determine the player's proficiency with the weapon in question. The higher the user's Combat Skill with the weapon in question, the greater their Accuracy and Attack. Most Weapon Skills also require a minimum Combat Skill to use.

Defensive Combat Skills activate when the player is attacked. Evasion skill increases the chance attacks will miss the player. Parrying skill increases the chance the player will parry an attack, negating all damage, although parry will only activate if the player is facing the enemy and has their weapon drawn. Shield skill increases the chance a player will block an attack with their shield, reducing the damage taken. Guarding skill acts similar to Shield, but for players who are unarmed or using Hand-to-Hand weapons. Parrying, Guarding, and Shield will only activate if the player has failed their Evasion check, while the player must also fail their Parrying check for Shield to activate.

Magic Skill lowers the amount of resistance enemies have against the player's spells, and also helps prevent spells from being interrupted from taking damage while casting. In the case of Bards, their Songs are affected by a combination of their Singing and either String or Wind Instrument skills, depending on which type of instrument they have equipped.

Skill Grades
Scholar: D = B+ when using Dark Arts. L = B+ when using Light Arts.