More specifically, Interject is a tank Role Action, which means all tanking jobs will unlock it at level 18 (not tied to any specific class). It’s part of a small, shared set of utility skills useful to every tank in FFXIV.
When Would I Use Interject?
You can’t interject everything, unfortunately. Most of those big nasty attacks that Eorzea’s dungeon bosses throw in your general direction are still going to come at you. And compared to our other interruption-type abilities, Interject actually doesn’t see that much use. But it’s still a good tool to have under your belt. If you can interject an enemy’s action, their cast bar will take on a blindingly obvious red color. When you see that red flash, it’s time to use Interject – it’ll stop the cast dead in its tracks. This can make potentially problematic spells into a non-issue. But it’s not just about preventing damage to you and the party. Because intelligent use of interruptions and stuns like this can also stop enemies from healing and buffing each other, which is an absolute must-have for harder content. And most of the time, Interject would primarily be used against bosses anyways. It’s generally not worth using your interrupt or stun skills to prevent actions against mobs out in the world, as they rarely have the potential to do anything devastating.
Interrupting vs. Stunning: What’s The Difference?
Interrupting (via the use of Interject, for example) will prevent an action from being taken, as long as that action can be interrupted.
Stunning will also stop actions from being cast, but only if the enemy can be stunned.
Most of the bosses you’ll face can’t be stunned, so obviously, using those moves on them won’t work.
Low Blow is the generic stun action that’s available to tanks as a Role Action, gained at level 12. By understanding which actions you should stun and which to interject, you’ll be able to stop more actions from happening.
So, to recap:
Use Interject when an enemy has a glowing red cast bar, and stun to stop everything else, as long as the enemy is susceptible to stun effects.
Can Other Jobs Interrupt Too?
Yes, and they should! I’m not just saying that as a tank who wants to do a little less work, either (although that is definitely a big reason). Melee DPS get Leg Sweep as a Role Action at level 10, and they can use that to stun an enemy for three seconds. It’ll also knock them out of any attacks, as long as they can be stunned. As a tank main, I do make the effort to keep an eye out for anything I can interrupt. But sometimes in the heat of battle that’s simply not possible. So keep your stun mapped somewhere handy, and you might be able to do some interrupting yourself! Not to mention the hilarious mental image that comes with leg sweeping giant scorpions, which is worth its weight in gil.
