Final Fantasy V: Job System FAQ
Version 1.1--28 March 2003
by Dave Connoy
[email protected]
+---------+
| Preface |
+---------+
I recently played through Final Fantasy V for the first time, and while I was
satisfied with a couple of FAQs on the game, I didn't find enough discussion
to satiate my interest in the mechanics of the game's job system. Nor have I
seen any real insight into how to use it efficiently, besides notes like
"turn all your guys into black mages against this boss". So I decided to
just figure out how everything works myself, come up with some conclusions,
and put it all here in hopes that someone else might find it useful.
My idea with this FAQ is to provide detailed information on each of the jobs,
their statistics, what they are able to equip, and the usefulness of their
skills. I hope I can make it all come together to make a sort of "gestalt"
view of the job system that will help those who are new to the game not waste
money on equipment they don't need, or waste their time learning useless
jobs or skills that won't work together in the long run. And heck, maybe
even FF5 old-timers will learn something too.
+-------------------+
| Table of Contents |
+-------------------+
I. Version History
II. Overview of the Job System
III. Job Classes
Warrior Classes
Skill Classes
Caster Classes
Hybrid Classes
Special Classes
IV. Putting It All Together
V. Credits & Copyright Info
+--------------------+
| I. Version History |
+--------------------+
Version 1.1--28 March 2003
Grizzled FF5 veteran Alex Jackson (
[email protected]) has clued
me in to a bunch of FF5 subtleties, resulting in some improvements to a
few of the ability commentaries and a new segment on glitching the game.
Version 1.0--17 February 2003
This may be the fist and last version, since I have a pretty good idea
of what I want to have in this FAQ. Still, corrections and additions
are possible.
+--------------------------------+
| II. Overview of the Job System |
+--------------------------------+
The game has a manual, and many FAQs cover the basics. You should know
already that each job has its own command that comes with it, and you have a
second "free" slot to put one of your learned command or support abilities
in. I'll cover how the "Mime" and "Bare" jobs are exceptions to this rule
when I get to them.
Getting the most out of the job system requires changing jobs very often. AP
costs to level up jobs are very low early on, but rise quickly as you gain
levels. So to earn abilities at a steady pace, each character should
"bounce" rapidly between five or more jobs instead of mastering them one at a
time.
However, it's important to know that if you don't pay attention to what each
job can equip, you will find yourself running out of money repeatedly because
you are buying too many different types of helmets and armor. If you have a
character bouncing between Knight, White Mage, and Ninja, you'll need to
carry three different helmets and three different armors in your inventory,
just so that character has something to equip at all times. If you try
something like this, you'll be pulling your hair out at how much gear you
have to buy and keep track of.
So instead, think carefully about what equipment the jobs can use before
assigning characters to them. There are three major types of helmets and
armor, and if we look at the jobs in terms of which types they can equip,
there are five major job types. The following section, which describes each
job in detail, should help with this.
I'll call the major armor and helmet types Heavy, Medium, and Light. Here
are a couple of charts laying out the different helmets and armor. I'll
include the basic Def and M.Def stats for each piece, but consult a
comprehensive FAQ (I recommend Matt Hobbs & Dragon Fogel's walkthrough) to
learn about any special abilities of each one.
Helmets
=======
The Leather Cap, Plumed Hat, and Coronet can be used by all classes.
Light Def MDef|Medium Def MDef|Heavy Def MDef
------------------------+------------------------+------------------------
HairOrnament 0 2 |Green Beret 3 2 |BronzeHelmet 2 2
Lamia'sTiara 3 7 |RopeHeadband 6 2 |Iron Helmet 4 2
Wizard Hat 4 2 |Tiger Mask 9 2 |MythrilHelmt 6 2
Poet Cap 6 2 |Black Hood 12 2 |Gold Helmet 8 2
Circlet 10 2 | |DiamondHelmt 10 2
| |CrystalHelmt 13 2
| |Genji Helmet 15 2
| |Thornlet 20 5
Armor
=====
LeatherArmor can be equipped by any class.
Light Def MDef|Medium Def MDef|Heavy Def MDef
------------------------+------------------------+------------------------
Cotton Robe 2 4 |Bronze Plate 3 2 |Bronze Armor 4 2
Silk Robe 4 6 |Kung-fu Suit 5 2 |Iron Armor 6 2
Poet Robe 6 8 |Silver Plate 7 2 |MythrilArmor 9 2
Earth Robe 8 10 |Ninja Suit 9 2 |Gold Armor 12 2
LuminousRobe 11 12 |Power Tasuki 11 0 |DiamondArmor 15 2
Black Robe 14 14 |DiamondPlate 13 2 |Crystalmail 20 2
White Robe 14 14 |Mirage Vest 14 4 |Genji Armor 22 2
|BlackCostume 17 2 |
|Bonemail 30 5 |
+------------------+
| III. Job Classes |
+------------------+
Now that you know what I'm talking about when I refer to the different types
of armor, I'll start a run-down of all the job classes. Each entry will
include the following:
--The job's default command.
--The innate abilities of the job. These support abilities come "for free"
to a character using the job, and don't need to be equipped.
--What types of weapons the job can equip. The "special weapons" are the
Double Lance, Moonring, and Razor Ring. Everything else should be self-
explanatory.
--The job's effects on the attributes of the character using it.
Vigor determines the damage done by the character when he/she attacks.
Speed determines how fast the character's action comes up in battle.
Stamina determines how much HP the character has.
Mag.Pwr determines the character's MP and the potency of his/her magic.
Following all this will be a list of the job's abilities, with some
commentary on their uses.
When discussing the stats given by many of the EqX and magic abilities, I'll
be putting attribute bonuses in [brackets]. These increases do not "stack"
with the character's other bonuses; instead, the character will get the
bracketed attribute increase only if he doesn't get a better one from his/her
job or another equipped ability.
Warrior Jobs
============
Warrior jobs ("tanks" for short) are meant to deal and take physical damage.
They can equip the most damaging weapons, and because they have the most HP
and can equip shields, they are the only type of job that can consistenly
withstand attacks in the front row. I recommend dedicating two of your
characters to warrior jobs; have them learn the 2-handed ability as soon as
possible so they can be the backbone of your damage-dealing and defense.
Other useful tank abilities include the Samurai's !$toss and Swrdgrab, and
the Sorcerer's !Sword.
Warrior jobs can equip medium or heavy armor, but only heavy helmets.
Knight
------
The Knight is the first warrior job you'll acquire. Have any characters that
are going to be tanks use it exclusively until they learn the 2-handed
ability, which works well with the other warrior jobs. After that, it's not
of much use until the heavy swords (Flame Saber, Blizzard, Blood Sword,
Defender, Excalibur, Ragnarok, and Brave Blade) show up late in the game.
This class also has great synergy with the Sorcerer's Sword Magic ability.
Job Command: Guard
Innate Abilities: Cover
Can equip: Daggers, Light Swords, Heavy Swords, Shields
Stats:
Vigor: +23
Speed: +1
Stamina: +20
Mag.Pwr: -14
Total AP to master: 690
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 Cover Protect KO'd ally
Hooray for clear description. The Cover ability will actually cause the user
to jump in front of any single-target physical attacks directed at an ally
that is *near* being KO'd (stooping over), and take the damage instead.
Usually a good thing, as long as your character with Cover isn't also the one
with the ability to resurrect allies.
2 30 !Guard Defends against physical attack
Guard is like Defend, but reduces physical attack damage to zero. With a
Knight in the party, you can "lock out" enemies that only use physical
attacks by reducing the other characters' HP to critical levels. The Knight
will then jump in front of all the enemy's attacks, but take 0 damage from
each one. If you want to play really dirty, you can use this against just
about *any* enemy by putting Berserk on it. It even works against Shinryu!
3 50 2-handed Can hold sword/katana/axe in 2 hands for 2x effect
This is probably the most all-around useful ability for a tank character. It
doubles the damage from any weapon that works with it, and the only
limitation is that you can't use also a shield. No big deal, since the huge
amount of damage the character will be doing will end battles twice as fast,
subjecting you to half as much damage anyway.
4 100 EqShield Can equip shield
Most of the EqX abilities are a waste of an ability slot. If you really need
to have a shield (and I can't really see why that would be), just switch to a
class that can use one in the first place.
5 150 EqArmor Can equip armor
Very lame. This only allows you to wear heavy armor, not helmets. If you're
hellbent on making a caster that can tank, give a Knight a magic ability
instead of giving this to a caster.
6 350 EqSword Can equip sword
This ability allows you to equip all types of swords (heavy and light) and
gives a [+23] Vigor bonus. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding Stamina
bonus, so the user will probably have to fight from the back row, making the
whole exercise rather pointless.
Lancer
------
Lancers are probably the least useful of the warrior jobs, since they work
poorly with the other warrior abilities. Spears don't work with 2-handed,
and obviously, you can't use Sword Magic with them either. The Jump ability
might seem fantastic, but remember that your tanks are *meant* to take
damage. If your Lancer spends too much time in the air, that will just cause
your more fragile characters take all the damage instead.
Job Command: Jump
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Spears, Shields
Stats:
Vigor: +18
Speed: +5
Stamina: +15
Mag.Pwr: -12
Total AP to master: 600
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 50 !Jump Jumping attack; 2x stronger with spear attack
The Lancer jumps high into the air, removing himself from combat for one
round. He then comes down on the targeted enemy, doing twice normal damage
if equipped with a spear. I outlined the limitations of this technique
above, but it still has its uses. In the battle with Minitaurus at the top
of Fork Tower, change both of your characters into Lancers (with the Swrdgrab
ability if you have it). Put them in the back row and Jump repeatedly, and
it's all over for him. Also, against enemies that use missiles, a Jumping
character will cause the missile to fly off course and do no damage. Weird,
but true.
2 150 !Lance Suck HP/MP
A great idea, but it doesn't absorb enough HP or MP to make it worthwhile.
If you use this at all, don't use it against undead enemies.
3 400 EqLance Can equip spear
The character can equip a spear and gets [+18] to Vigor. As a weapon, the
spear is only useful for enhancing the Jump attack, so either just use a
Lancer or give a Bare character !Jump if you absolutely have to jump.
Samurai
-------
Samurai are a very strong warrior class. Their katanas do a lot of damage
and are one of the only weapons that seem to get critical hits regularly.
The job's only real limitation is that katanas don't work with Sword Magic.
I'd highly recommend mastering this class, to pass the Swrdgrab ability on to
the Bare and Mime jobs.
Job Command: $toss
Innate Abilities: Swrdgrab
Can equip: Daggers, Katanas, Shields
Stats:
Vigor: +19
Speed: +2
Stamina: +19
Mag.Pwr: -12
Total AP to master: 820
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !Sslap Petrify enemy
Sslap does as much damage as a regular attack, with a (very, very) small
chance of petrifying the target. It's probably not worth wasting an ability
slot on unless you're using a Mime, in which case you could use this instead
of !Fight and not really be losing anything.
2 30 !$toss Throw GP, damage enemy
The Samurai hurls your money at all the enemy targets, doing heavy damage.
Use it, don't abuse it. At the very end of the game, when you've bought
everything you're possibly going to buy, !$toss becomes the ultimate damage-
dealing ability. Use it sparingly until you have no more use for money,
though, because you will literally be throwing it away. Most of the damage I
did in the final battle came from two characters using !$toss every turn.
3 60 Swrdgrab Catches attack
Swrdgrab simply gives you an added chance to dodge an enemy physical attack
completely, and works often enough to be a real life-saver. It's a good
second ability choice if (for whatever reason) 2-handed isn't an option.
4 180 EqKatana Can equip katana
Yay, another EqX ability. It also gives [+19] Vigor. Katanas have some
advantages, but not enough to justify taking up an ability slot.
5 540 !Fdraw Route enemy
I think they mean "rout" the enemy. After taking a turn or so to charge up,
the Samurai kills all enemies on-screen. Sounds great, but due to its high
AP cost, you probably won't learn this ability until late in the game, when
most enemies are immune to it. I didn't get much of a chance to play around
with this, so if someone knows more about how it works (or maybe some neat
ways to use it for AP or Exp farming), then send me an email.
Berserker
---------
In case you didn't know, you have no control over a character in the
Berserker class during a battle--he or she will attack a random enemy every
time his or her turn comes up. It may seem unattractive to have a character
that you can't control, but consider that your tanks will probably not be
doing much besides attacking anyway. Unless you have some great command
ability that you'd really like your tank(s) to use, the Berserker's immense
attack and defense can at least be entertaining during random battles.
Job Command: None
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Axes, Shields
Stats:
Vigor: +21
Speed: -9
Stamina: +25
Mag.Pwr: -23
Total AP to master: 500
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 100 Berserk Attack until enemy dies
The Berserker does not actually have this ability as an innate, per se--he's
just uncontrollable. The "Berserk" ability not only makes a character attack
every turn, it boosts his damage by 25-50%. It's a decent alternative to
2-handed if you want to equip a shield but also want extra damage. Or, put
this *and* 2-handed on a Bare or Mime for some serious brutality.
2 400 EqAxe Can equip axe
The character can equip axes and gets [+21] Vigor. For what it's worth,
you'll find an axe late in the game (Thor'sHammer) that is thrown instead of
swung and does full damage from the back row.
Sorcerer
--------
With its amazing speed increase and ability to do severe elemental damage to
single targets for very little MP, you'll find yourself using the Sorcerer a
lot. Try to have !Sword at whatever level of magic is currently available to
you, so you can give it to another class and not lose any effectiveness.
Equipping the !Sword ability gives [+14] to Vigor and [+1] to Mag.Pwr.
Job Command: Sword
Innate Abilities: Magiwall
Can equip: Daggers, Light Swords, Shields
Stats:
Vigor: +14
Speed: +14
Stamina: +14
Mag.Pwr: +1
Total AP to master: 680
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 Magiwall Auto-Mbarrier when KO'd
The Sorcerer will automatically cast "Shell" on himself, at no MP cost, when
he is near KO (stooping over). Okay, but not worth an ability slot.
2 20 !Sword Use Sword Magic up to level 1
The Sorcerer "charges" his sword with the magic chosen, and it is cast at
whatever enemy he attacks (in addition to the attack damage). Note that you
only need to cast the Sword Magic once, and it will always go off whenever
you attack thereafter. This keeps MP costs down a lot.
3 30 !Sword Use Sword Magic up to level 2
Level 2 Sword Magic only includes status ailments: Poison, Mute, and Sleep.
It's actually quite a bargain to be able to stick enemies with this kind of
stuff *and* get attack damage in too. Keep these in mind for long battles.
4 50 !Sword Use Sword Magic up to level 3
The second-level elemental damage spells (Fire2, Ice2, Bolt2). Great against
early-game bosses like Shiva and Biblos that are weak to an element.
5 70 !Sword Use Sword Magic up to level 4
Drain, Break, and Bio. Not all that useful, but Bio Sword will waste enemies
weak to poison (what few there are).
6 100 !Sword Use Sword Magic up to level 5
The third-level elemental damage spells (Fire3, Ice3, Bolt3). These will
instantly kill some enemies that are weak to the element, such as those
annoying robots in the Pyramid.
7 400 !Sword Use Sword Magic up to level 6
Holy, Flare, and Asper. Asper is not that useful because the Sorcerer
doesn't use much MP, but Holy and Flare Sword will wreck some of the end-game
bosses like Twin Tania. As expensive as it is, don't pass this level up.
Skill Classes
=============
"Skill" classes (as I've dubbed them) tend to have useful commands and decent
attack power, but are typically too weak to fight from the front row.
Thankfully, most skill classes can equip long-range weapons that do full
damage from the back row. There are a lot of useful abilities amongst the
skill classes, so pick at least one character to work with all of them so
that you're never caught off-guard.
Skill classes can equip only medium helmets and armor.
Monk
----
The Monk has the highest HP of any class, and as a result can fight well from
the front row even with only medium armor equipped. Be aware that while the
Monk seems incredibly powerful early on, his attack power will level off as
the game goes on and the other fighting classes continue to upgrade their
weapons. !Blue makes a great second ability for a Monk--White Wind works
well with the Monk's high HP, and most of the best Blue Magic spells
(BlackShock, Blow Fish, Guardian, and White Wind to name a few) don't depend
on the user's Mag.Pwr rating in any way. With its immense Vigor and Stamina
increases and powerful Counter innate, this is a class well worth mastering.
Job Command: Kick
The Monk does a flying kick that damages all enemies equally. It generally
does too little damage to clear out anything but the smallest weenies, but in
the fight against the Dragon Grass in the Valley of Dragons, a Monk's Kick
can consistently wipe out the Dragon Bulbs and keep them from troubling you.
Innate Abilities: Barefist, Counter
Can equip: None
Stats:
Vigor: +26
Speed: +1
Stamina: +26
Mag.Pwr: -23
Total AP to master: 700
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 15 !Store Save power, 2x attack
The Monk spends a turn charging up his chi and attacks for twice the damage
shortly after. Useful only if you're looking to really pour on melee damage.
2 30 Barefist Same attack power as Monk
This allows you to do Monk-like damage while unarmed. It is basically like
an EqX ability, though this will allow you to attack with two punches if you
leave both hands empty. The character also gets [+26] to Vigor.
3 45 !Chkra Restore HP/Poison/Dark
This is a good early-game healing ability to help keep a character's HP high.
It gets less useful as the game goes on since it doesn't heal a lot of HP and
can only be cast on the user.
4 60 Counter Counter when attacked
The Monk launches a counter-attack whenever he is attacked physically by an
enemy. This works well with the Knight's Guard and Cover abilities, and it's
definitely worth mastering Monk to pass it on to Bare and Mime as an innate.
5 100 HP+10% Max HP 10% up
A whopping 10% HP increase. Can you feel the awesomeness? I can't.
6 150 HP+20% Max HP 20% up
I swear, these three are just in there to pad out the AP cost to master the
class.
7 300 HP+30% Max HP 30% up
There's nothing keeping you from using multiple copies of the same skill, so
you could give this to a Mime three times to nearly double his HP! Whee! He
won't be able to actually *do* anything, but hey, it's there.
Thief
-----
The Thief has the best Speed in the game, and several useful abilities.
!Steal can get you items before you're "supposed" to have them, if you're
patient, and !Flee is great to have in dungeons with irritating enemies.
This is an excellent class to master for its innates and Speed attribute.
Job Command: Steal
Innate Abilities: Secret, Dash, Caution
Can equip: Daggers, Special Weapons
Stats:
Vigor: +1
Speed: +16
Stamina: +2
Mag.Pwr: -6
Total AP to master: 635
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 Secret Can find "hidden rooms"
This ability will allow you to see secret passages while exploring. Equip it
as needed if you're in an area where you know there are hidden passages.
2 20 !Flee Escape quick; no good on some enemies
Much faster and more consistent than holding the L/R buttons to run, so equip
this as an ability in areas where there are enemies that are just too damned
annoying to fight.
3 30 Dash Use Directional Key while holding the O button; 2x speed
This ability is actually more annoying than anything in the PSX version, as
it turns the manageable and useful O-button dash into a hyper-fast sprint.
4 50 !Steal Steal monster treasure
If there's something you really need to steal, change a character to a Thief
rather than giving this ability to another class. The Thief's higher Speed
rating will increase your chances of successfully stealing.
5 75 Caution Protects against back attack
Self-explanatory. A good innate, but not worth using an ability slot on.
6 150 !Mug Attack and steal treasure
An upgraded version of Steal that also does damage.
7 300 Footwork Same speed as Thief
A character equipped with Footwork gets [+16] Speed. You're probably better
off giving the Thief a good second ability than equipping this on another
job. Or, use a Bare or Mime, which will get the Speed bonus for free.
Ninja
-----
The Ninja is almost as fast as the Thief, and can equip two weapons to boot.
A good choice if you want damage output (from the back row if you use the
Moonring and/or Razor Ring) and a few useful commands. Also, unlike
2-handed, 2-swords will get passed on to the Bare and Mime classes for free,
since it's an innate.
Job Command: Throw
Innate Abilities: Firstatk, 2-swords
Can equip: Daggers, Special Weapons
Stats:
Vigor: +15
Speed: +14
Stamina: +3
Mag.Pwr: -10
Total AP to master: 690
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !Dustb Escape quick; no good on some enemies
Identical to the Thief's !Flee ability.
2 30 !Twin Def phys attack 2x
The Ninja creates phantom images of himself that will absorb the next two
physical attacks directed at him. Having everyone use !Twin is an ideal way
to withstand the attacks of Gilgame in the second world's "money cave".
3 50 Firstatk Raises % first attack
You'll get pre-emptive attacks more often with this equipped. Like Caution,
it's not really worth an ability slot, but is welcome as an innate.
4 150 !Throw Throw/attack with weapon; use with Ninja/shuriken "throw"
Man, that in-game description is a mess. Anyway, throwing Shuriken and
MagiShuriken does a lot of damage to single targets, and throwing "Skills"
yields good elemental damage to one or all targets. It's up to you whether
this is worth the cost of buying the "ammo".
5 450 2-swords Hold weapon in each hand; Bow/Harp excluded
Not as damage-effective as 2-handed, but almost all the weapons will work
with this skill. Give the Ninja two Double Lances for four attacks, or two
Razor Rings (you'd have to steal one from a Belfagel) for back row damage.
Hunter
------
This rather unassuming class has a few benefits. As a weapon, bows are
surprisingly powerful and can be used from the back row with no loss of
damage. !Critt can have interesting results, !Aim has its uses, and !Sshot
is one of the uber abilities of the game.
Job Command: Aim
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Bows
Stats:
Vigor: +16
Speed: +12
Stamina: +1
Mag.Pwr: -5
Total AP to master: 600
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 15 !Critt Call friends from the woods
Pretty much all of the !Critt effects you will ever actually see will suck.
Supposedly the effects get better as the user gains levels, but I'm sitting
near the end at level 40 and the best I've ever seen is Nightingale, which
restores a decent chunk of HP to all allies.
2 45 !Aim Raise accuracy
An attack that (usually) never misses, !Aim actually has its uses against
"evasive" enemies like the Ninjas in the Dimensional Castle. Not something
you'll want to equip all the time, but don't forget you have it.
3 135 EqBow Can equip bow
This is probably the best EqX ability. Bows are highly damaging, do full
damage from the back row, and you'll get [+16] to Vigor and [+12] to Speed
when this ability is equipped.
4 405 !Sshot 4x attack
Four half-strength attacks, directed at random enemies, like the Offering in
FF6. As expected, a great ability and, along with !Sword, essential for
beating Omega.
Trainer
-------
Don't think you can get by without ever using a Trainer. It's a vital class
to take advantage of, as the !Cntrl command is the only way to get the best
Blue Magics, and it can take even very powerful regular enemies out of a
fight completely. A Trainer can even hold his own in a fight, since whips
can randomly paralyze enemies and do full damage from the back row.
Job Command: Catch/Free
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Whips
Stats:
Vigor: +13
Speed: +1
Stamina: +8
Mag.Pwr: -3
Total AP to master: 460
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !Tame Calm monster
Basically has the effect of paralyzing the target for one or two turns. Does
not consistently work, so use !Cntrl instead if you want to take a monster
out of a fight.
2 50 !Cntrl Control monster
One of the most vital abilities in the game. Try it out on everything--
you'll be surprised at what you can control, and once you're controlling a
monster, it'll stay under your control until it gets "woken up" by a hit with
a physical attack. The success rate is excellent--most enemies can be
controlled after only one or two tries, even without the Coronet equipped--
and it has a myriad of uses. Obviously, you could use the monster's own
attacks to wipe out all the enemies (just stick to magic, or you'll lose
control). Or, you could learn Blue Magic by having the monster cast it on a
Blue Mage or someone with the Learning ability in your party. Or, you can
just keep the monster out of the fight by having it repeatedly use some
rinky-dink ability, then gang up on it when all the other enemies are dead.
This is a flexible second ability for just about any job.
3 100 EqWhip Can equip whip
Along with EqBow, one of the more useful EqX abilities. The user gets [+13]
to Vigor and [+1] to Speed, and whips' abilities to attack from the back row
and paralyze enemies make this a decent option for a caster.
4 300 !Catch Catch drunk monster
Catching an enemy removes it from the fight and changes the command to !Free.
Upon being freed, the enemy will cast one ability and then leave (kind of
like a summon spell). An enemy has to be at less than 1/8 of its max HP to
be caught, or less than 1/2 HP if user is equipping the KornagoGourd.
Catching with the KornagoGourd equipped is a way of removing HP-intensive
enemies with only half the work, but be aware that you gain no Exp, AP, or GP
from catching a monster.
Caster Classes
==============
Caster classes, as the name might imply, specialize in using magic. They
typically have incredibly high Mag.Pwr, but are average or low in every other
stat. The abilities afforded by magic are considerable, but have a second
option ready so that a caster can do constructive things in combat that don't
use their MP. Some suggestions are "free" healing with the HealingStaff, the
!Earth command, or back row attacks with EqWhip or EqBow.
Caster classes can equip only light helmets and armor.
White Mage
----------
White magic spells are not very strong early on, but late in the game you
will find yourself hurting without the ability to cast them. Try to keep
your !White level up so that you can use spells like Esna, Cure3, and Arise
as soon as they're available. Have the White Mage provide free healing with
the HealingStaff while you're building up his/her job level.
Equipping the !White ability on another job gives [+25] to Mag.Pwr.
Job Command: White
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Staffs
Stats:
Vigor: -7
Speed: +1
Stamina: 0
Mag.Pwr: +25
Total AP to master: 580
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !White Use White Magic up to level 1
The basic White Magic spells: Cure, Scan, and Antdot. Cure doesn't heal
enough HP to be useful even early in the game, so just swap this in when you
need to heal poison.
2 20 !White Use White Magic up to level 2
Mute, Protes, and Mini. Protes is helpful against physical attacks, but the
other two won't work on anything worth using them on.
3 30 !White Use White Magic up to level 3
This level includes Cure2, Raise, and Muddle. The HealingStaff is a better
deal than Cure2 on a single target, but you may want to have Cure2 against
enemies that damage everyone at once. And obviously, Raise is a must since
Phoenix Downs are astronomically expensive in this game.
4 50 !White Use White Magic up to level 4
Blink, Shell, and Esna. Blink is identical to the Ninja's !Twin ability but
can be cast on anyone, and obviously Esna's ability to heal any status
ailment (except Zombie) is irreplaceable.
5 70 !White Use White Magic up to level 5
This is where the class really starts to shine. Cure3 is an incredible
value, completely healing the HP of one target or healing well over 1000 HP
to everyone. Rflect can seriously mess up the plans of magic-using enemies,
but remember that you can't cast healing magic on yourself while using it.
Bersrk is a cheap way of squeezing some extra damage out of your tanks if you
don't plan to have them do anything but attack.
6 100 !White Use White Magic up to level 6
Arise, Holy, and Dispel are all absolutely essential for the end stages of
the game. Arise allows you to resurrect a character with full HP so they
don't immediately get smacked down again, Holy allows your White Mage to
actually do damage, and Dispel will get rid of bosses' annoying buffs.
7 300 MP+10% Max MP 10% up
I hate these "filler" abilities that just seem to be in there to drive up the
AP cost to master the job. You can get away without actually mastering White
Mage if you master Black Mage or Summoner, so just get it up to level 6.
Black Mage
----------
It's not that Black Mage is a *bad* job, it's just that its abilities are
completely obviated by the abilities of other jobs. Sorcerers can cast all
of the good Black Magic spells for a fraction of the MP and do melee damage
at the same time. Or, you could use Summon Magic and have a much wider
variety of effects available to you.
Equipping the !Black ability on another job gives [+31] to Mag.Pwr.
Job Command: Black
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Rods
Stats:
Vigor: -9
Speed: 0
Stamina: -2
Mag.Pwr: +31
Total AP to master: 680
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !Black Use Black Magic up to level 1
Fire, Ice, and Bolt. It's really hard to get psyched up for this stuff when
you know a Sorcerer can do it easier and cheaper.
2 20 !Black Use Black Magic up to level 2
De-buffs: Poison, Sleep, and Toad.
3 30 !Black Use Black Magic up to level 3
More elemental damage: Fire2, Ice2, Bolt2. Did I mention that the Sorcerer
only has to cast his spell once to use it every turn?
4 50 !Black Use Black Magic up to level 4
Drain, Break, and Bio.
5 70 !Black Use Black Magic up to level 5
Fire3, Ice3, Bolt3. It costs the Sorcerer 15 MP to cast these instead of the
Black Mage's 25 MP.
6 100 !Black Use Black Magic up to level 6
Flare, Doom, and Asper. Yup, it sure looks cool when the Sorcerer uses his
sword to stick an enemy with Flare.
7 400 MP+30% Max MP 30% up
More filler. If you're having MP problems, just equip a HairOrnament.
Time Mage
---------
The Time Mage is the king of buffs and de-buffs, has excellent utility spells
like Telepo and Return, and can cast some damage spells to boot. He can even
heal by equipping the HealingStaff! You can get away with "swapping in" the
!Time ability as needed instead of carrying it around all the time, but keep
your job level high so that you can use it without limitation.
Equipping the !Time ability on another job gives [+24] to Mag.Pwr.
Job Command: Time
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Rods, Staffs
Stats:
Vigor: -5
Speed: +2
Stamina: -3
Mag.Pwr: +24
Total AP to master: 530
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !Time Use Time Magic up to level 1
This includes Speed, Slow, and Regen. Regen is a nice buff, but there are
more efficient ways of putting it on your characters. Surprisingly, Slow
works on just about everything. Casting it at the beginning of every boss
battle is pretty much a no-brainer.
2 20 !Time Use Time Magic up to level 2
Mute, Haste, and Float. There's just no downside to Haste--slap it on all
your characters at the beginning of any tough battle. Don't forget you have
Float when you go up against earthquaking bosses like Titan and X-Death.
Also, be aware that unlike the White Magic version of the spell, the Time
magic version of Mute doesn't miss and never wears off. Unfortunately, it
also targets everything on the battlefield, including your party.
3 30 !Time Use Time Magic up to level 3
Demi, Stop, and Telepo. The first two rarely work on any enemy worth using
them on, but you'll use Telepo a ton in the second and third worlds. That
is, unless you *want* to walk all the way back to the entrance of a dungeon
after you get what you came for.
4 50 !Time Use Time Magic up to level 4
Comet is a cheap attack spell, but is unreliable due to inconsistent damage.
Obviously, being able to slow all the enemies at once with Slow2 is nice.
The real star of this level is Return, which lets you time-travel back to the
beginning of the battle that you're in. It's great for taking another, fresh
shot at a boss once after learning what it can do, and is *required* if you
want to steal the Protect Ring that Odin holds.
5 70 !Time Use Time Magic up to level 5
Demi2, Haste2, Old. Haste2 alone is worth the price of admission, letting
your caster Haste everyone in one shot and then get on with healing, nuking,
singing, or whatever.
6 100 !Time Use Time Magic up to level 6
Meteo, Quick and X-Zone are included. I didn't play around with X-Zone too
much, but it could be a way of cheaply getting rid of annoying/powerful
enemies if they're not immune to it. Meteo tends to fizzle much like Comet
does, but since it drops four meteors instead of one, it's still good against
single targets. Finally, Quick can only be used on the caster, but it
immediately gives them two actions in a row! Its MP cost keeps it from being
usable in too degenerate a fashion, but the potential of combining it with
!Sshot, !Redx2, and many other abilities, is frightening.
7 250 EqRod Can equip rod
Apparently this is some sort of joke.
Summoner
--------
Though it's expensive to do so, Summoner is the caster class most worth
mastering. The !Summn command provides a variety of effects, the class has
the highest Mag.Pwr in the game, and the !Call ability is at least of some
use during random battles. The drawback of the Summoner is that virtually
all of his spells require some sort of sub-quest to acquire. Give a Summoner
!Earth as you build through the levels, to take advantage of his huge Mag.Pwr
and to give him something to do that doesn't cost MP.
Equipping the !Summn ability on another job gives [+33] to Mag.Pwr.
Job Command: Summn
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Rods
Stats:
Vigor: -10
Speed: -1
Stamina: -1
Mag.Pwr: +33
Total AP to master: 750
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 15 !Summn Use Summon Magic up to level 1
Like all the level 1 spells, there's nothing very good here. Sylph is the
best spell at this level since it heals your characters as well as damaging
an enemy.
2 30 !Summn Use Summon Magic up to level 2
This level includes the bread-and-butter elemental attack summons Shiva,
Ramuh, and Ifrit. Don't miss the sub-quests that get you these summons if
you're looking to use this job to the exclusion of Black Mage.
3 45 !Summn Use Summon Magic up to level 3
Titan does good damage (just not to anything that flies), but the real star
of this level (and possibly of the entire Summoner spell list) is Golem.
Summon Golem and it will absorb the next 10000 or so (yes, you're reading
that right) physical damage that's dealt to your characters. Don't miss the
stupidly obscure side-quest that gets you Golem, unless you want to build
your characters about 10 levels higher to compensate!
4 60 !Summn Use Summon Magic up to level 4
You can't go wrong with either of the attack spells on this level. Odin can
kill all of your enemies instantly; if they're immune, he'll still pick one
and do damage to it. Hydra just does a solid chunk of damage to everything.
5 100 !Summn Use Summon Magic up to level 5
Phoenix, Leviathan, and Bahamut are all simply amazing spells. Phoenix does
damage to all enemies *and* resurrects an ally of your choosing with full HP!
Bahamut does a ton of non-elemental damage to all enemies, and depending on
the type of enemy, Leviathan can do as much or more than Bahamut, for a lower
MP cost. Having these on tap for the final battle is a no-brainer.
6 500 !Call Use summon w/o MP; anything could happen
Using !Call gets you a summon spell chosen at random (I don't know if it's
from all the summons or only the ones you actually own). The casting doesn't
cost any MP, but figure you'll get useless crap like Chocobo twice as often
as something like Bahamut. Also, "utility" summons are not immune, so you
will see Golem (good) and Carbuncle (usually bad) when using this.
Geomancer
---------
Be sure to learn the !Earth ability immediately upon getting this class; it's
an abolutely vital skill for a caster, allowing them to do damage and magical
effects without using MP. Beyond that, you can afford to use the Geomancer
only when you need its innate abilities to find trap doors and avoid damage
from lava and such. Oh, and don't get excited by the bell's ability to
attack from the back row--they do pathetic damage.
Job Command: Earth
Innate Abilities: Findhole, Antitrap
Can equip: Daggers, Bells
Stats:
Vigor: +4
Speed: +2
Stamina: +4
Mag.Pwr: +24
Total AP to master: 175
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 25 !Earth Attack enemy with natural power
This is the perfect ability to have on a caster during random battles. While
the effects typically do small to moderate amounts of damage to one or all
enemies, once in a while you'll get something cool like a Doom Claw effect or
instant death effect. !Earth doesn't use any MP and its potency is based on
the user's Mag.Pwr, making it even better in the hands of the other casters.
2 50 Findhole Can find trap doors
You can get away with just equipping this in areas where there are trap
doors. Walk slowly, one tile at a time, as the traps won't be revealed until
you try to walk on them.
3 100 Antitrap No damage on damage floors
The utility of this is obvious--bring in a Geomancer or give someone this
ability whenever there's a surface like lava that does damage as you walk
across it.
Bard
----
The Bard is pretty much a useless class, except for the Requiem song, which
does a huge amount of damage to any undead-type enemies. Bring along a Bard
(or give someone the !Sing command) whenever you're in an undead-infested
area like the Pyramid, to breeze through it (relatively speaking). Like
bells, harps do pathetic damage, even if it's long-ranged.
Job Command: Sing
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Harps
Stats:
Vigor: -8
Speed: +8
Stamina: -9
Mag.Pwr: +11
Total AP to master: 175
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 25 !Hide Evade attack when hidden
Shades of Edward from FF4, and just as useless, since you can't heal the Bard
while he's hiding.
2 50 EqHarp Can equip harp
[+8] to Speed and [+11] to Mag.Pwr come with this. Interestingly, harp
damage is always a fixed fraction (1/16 to 3/16, depending on the harp) of
the target's remaining HP. This is almost always a pathetic amount.
3 100 !Sing Sing Magic song
As I described above, Requiem is the best of the Bard's songs. Str.Song puts
Regen on all your characters and is of some use; Love Song and TemptSong
confuse and paralyze enemies. The remaining songs continuously buff your
party but tie up the Bard, who sings the song chosen until the end of the
fight (or he gets killed, I guess). The inability to change or stop the song
makes the "buff songs" a novelty at best, but LVL Song is worth using against
the not-so-threatening first form of the final boss. You'll then retain your
pumped-up status when you go into the fight with his final form.
Hybrid Classes
==============
Hybrid classes are sort of "catch-all" jobs that don't really fall clearly
under any other heading. As the name might suggest, they have elements of
caster and skill classes, including magic or magic-like skills. Hybrid
classes have the weakest overall stats, but they have a lot of skills that
are hard to pass up.
Hybrid classes can wear light or medium helmets and light or medium armor.
Because of this flexibility, it's easy for a character that's specializing in
skill or caster classes to branch out into one or more hybrid classes as well.
Blue Mage
---------
Blue Magic affords you a ton of flexbility by giving you access to buffs,
de-buffs, healing, and attack spells all under one command. Blue Magic is so
versatile, in fact, that you may want to have two or more characters master
this class (or at least earn enough AP to get the !Blue command). The catch,
of course, is that you have to learn the spells from enemies. Even though
Blue Mages can equip swords and shields, their poor Vigor ensures that they
do pathetic damage, even from the front row. They do get a caster-like
Mag.Pwr boost, though, so !Earth is an option.
Job Command: Blue
Innate Abilities: Learning
Can equip: Daggers, Light Swords, Rods, Shields
Stats:
Vigor: -8
Speed: +1
Stamina: +3
Mag.Pwr: +23
Total AP to master: 350
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 10 !Check Get enemy HP/weakness
The kind of command that's only useful if you don't have a FAQ around. It's
nice to know exactly what you're up against, but is it really worth passing
up something that could actually help you *kill* it?
2 20 Learning Learn monster special attacks
The character that gets hit by a learnable enemy skill must either have this
equipped (or be a Blue Mage) to learn it. If you have a FAQ that calls out
the Blue Magics for you, then you can just take this on and off as needed.
3 70 !Blue Use Blue Magic
Gives [+23] to Mag.Pwr and the ability to cast any Blue Magic that's been
learned by the party. The best Blue Magics are very expensive, but have
great effects. Aqua Rake is one of the only water-elemental attack spells in
the game and does good damage to all enemies; Black Shock is a brutal de-buff
that cuts an enemy's level in half, reducing all of its stats; Guardian is an
awesome buff that puts Protes, Shell, and Float on your entire party, and
finally, White Wind heals all of the party members according to how much HP
the caster has. White Wind is especially strong in the hands of a Monk and
his huge max HP.
4 250 !View See enemy's level/HP/weakness/condition
A more powerful form of !Check that suffers from the same limitations. I
don't believe that this tells you anything more than the Scan spell does.
Red Mage
--------
The Red Mage is at his most powerful and flexible very early in the game and
very late in the game. The !Red command allows you to use both Black and
White Magic, but only up to level 3; after that, you will probably want to
set this class aside until you're able to gain the huge amount of AP
necessary for !Redx2. As far as its capabilities in a fight are concerned,
the Red Mage may seem attractive for its ability to equip swords, but the
job's low Stamina keeps it from being any type of fighter. You'd be better
served giving the HealingStaff to the Red Mage.
Equipping the !Red or !Redx2 ability on another job gives [+8] to Mag.Pwr.
Job Command: Red
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Daggers, Light Swords, Rods, Staffs
Stats:
Vigor: +8
Speed: +5
Stamina: -6
Mag.Pwr: +8
Total AP to master: 1159
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 20 !Red Use White and Black Magic up to level 1
Obviously, this is more attractive than being able to use only one or the
other type of magic; just be aware that the Red Mage's low Mag.Pwr means that
his spells will not be as potent as a White or Black Mage's.
2 40 !Red Use White and Black Magic up to level 2
Ah, the level of the lame de-buffs. Blow right past this on your way to...
3 100 !Red Use White and Black Magic up to level 3
The 100 AP cost is pretty steep for early in the game, but that's the time to
gain this skill. The ability to cast Cure2, Raise, and the second line of
elemental damage spells with one command is a huge asset in the first world.
However, this magic is no substitute for the more powerful spells that become
available in the second world.
4 999 !Redx2 Back to back spells
The way this skill works needs a little explanation. !Redx2 allows the user
to cast two spells each turn, but the only spells that come "for free" are
White and Black Magic up to level 3. If you want to doublecast Sword, Time,
or Summon Magic, or higher level White or Black Magic, you'll have to equip
the appropriate magic ability at the appropriate level. This eats up your
ability slots very quickly, so only a Mimic can really get a lot from this
command. If you want to go for this ability, I would highly suggest waiting
until the final dungeon, where you can earn 25-35 AP per battle.
Chemist
-------
Probably the most unconventional of the FF5 jobs, the Chemist uses items to
heal and boost the stats of himself and his allies, as well as attack. While
some of the job's commands are good, it's rarely useful to have an actual
Chemist in the party, because the job's stats are very weak overall and the
!Drink command can only target the caster. This job is another good
candidate to equip the HealingStaff.
Job Command: Drink
Innate Abilities: Medicine
Can equip: Daggers, Staffs
Stats:
Vigor: +2
Speed: +3
Stamina: +6
Mag.Pwr: -4
Total AP to master: 630
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 15 Medicine 2x Potion/Ether
Another ability that's good for an innate but not worth a slot, Medicine
causes any HP or MP healing items used by the character to have twice the
effect.
2 30 !Mix Make new elixir in battle from 2 old ones
The results of your concoction are determined by a simple table that you can
find in most FAQs. Be aware that the command will choose an ally as the
default target, even if the result will be a damage effect. You can get many
interesting effects from this command if you take the time to master the
various combinations. While very few of them are actually any good, one
result can downright break the game--see "!Mix Weirdness" at the end.
3 45 !Drink Power Drink
This command lets you use the Giant Drink, Hard Body, Hero Drink, Power
Drink, and Speed Drink. They're very helpful, but only work on the user, and
since it's not really any help to have a super-buff Chemist running around,
give !Drink to a class that's physically strong in the first place. You'll
get a lot more bang for your buck from the potions this way.
4 135 !Recvr Recover from various conditions
This is a good way to counter enemies that use a lot of status attacks. Just
make sure that the person with the skill also has either an Angel Robe or a
Ribbon, so that they don't get afflicted themselves.
5 405 !Rvive Restore KO'd ally
Junk. While it revives all KO'd allies and does so for no MP cost, they come
back with almost no HP and will certainly just get smacked down immediately.
Dancer
------
Another very quirky class, the Dancer has a lot of potential as a damage-
dealer, but requires a certain set of equipment to live up to it. The
"dancer gear" doesn't appear until near the end of the game, so you can wait
until then if you want to use this job seriously.
Job Command: Dance
Innate Abilities: None
Can equip: Dagger
Stats:
Vigor: +5
Speed: +5
Stamina: -10
Mag.Pwr: -5
Total AP to master: 400
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 25 !Flirt Thwart an attack by "arousing" your enemy
Ooh la la. I guess this is supposed to confuse the enemy; I'm not sure
because I've never seen it actually work.
2 50 !Dance Dance the forbidden dance
You'll get one of four effects at random after choosing !Dance and the
target. "Temptango" confuses the enemy and seems to work consistenly (or
maybe it only goes off when it will work). "Jitterbug" and "Wonderwaltz"
drain HP or MP from the target respectively; the latter would be a neat way
for a caster to regain MP, but you can't ever count on it because it's
random. The one you probably want to see is "Sword Dance", which causes the
Dancer to do an attack for four times normal damage. You can increase the
chances of Sword Dance showing up by equipping the Prism Dress and Red Shoes.
You'll get it about 3/4 of the time with both equipped, turning !Dance into a
powerhouse attack.
3 325 EqRibbon Can equip ribbon
This actually allows the character to equip *all* of the Dancer-exclusive
equipment (Man-eater, Ribbon, Prism Dress, and Red Shoes). Necessary if you
want to successfully bring !Dance to the Mime class.
Special Classes
===============
Finally, the two exceptions. Bare and Mime are different from the other jobs
in that they don't have job commands, innate abilities, or attribute
increases of their own; instead, they have multiple skill slots and possess
the innate abilities and stat increases of any other jobs the character has
mastered. So that means a character that has mastered all of the warrior
classes will have the Cover, Swrdgrab, and Magiwall abilities as a Bare or
Mime, without having to equip them.
Similarly, the highest attribute bonus of any job the character has mastered
will be transferred to Bare and Mime. Negative modifiers won't be
transferred. So using the same example as above, our uber-tank would have
+23 to Vigor (from Knight), +14 to Speed (from Sorcerer), +25 to Stamina
(from Berserker), and +1 to Mag.Pwr (also from Sorcerer) as a Bare or Mime.
Taking this to its logical conclusion, the classes to master for ideal Bare
and Mime stats are Monk (+26 to Vigor and Stamina), Thief (+16 Speed), and
Summoner (+33 Mag.Pwr). Other options, just for the sake of variety, are
Knight (+23 Vigor), Ninja and Sorcerer (+14 Speed), Berserker (+25 Stamina),
and Black Mage (+31 Mag.Pwr).
Because they have few or no skills to learn, Bare and Mime are best suited
for the end stages of the game, when you want to amass your party's full
power against the last few bosses.
Mime
----
The Mime is the only job without the default !Fight and !Item commands.
Instead, the Mime only has !Mimic, and three empty slots. !Fight and !Item
are added to the ability list if you want to use one or more of them as well.
At first, this might seem a better option than Bare because of its three
ability slots, but be aware that the Mime cannot equip the Dancer-exclusive
gear (including the all-important Ribbon!) without using EqRibbon. It can
equip all other armor, helmets, and accessories.
Job Command: Mimic
Innate Abilities: From other jobs (see above)
Can equip: Daggers, Rods, Staffs, Shields, Special Weapons
Stats: From other jobs (see above)
Total AP to master: 999
Lvl AP Ability Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 999 !Mimic Mimic preceding command
The Mime will copy the last ally's action. This includes defending, so it
can be really hard to set up a long chain of double Bahamut summons (or
whatever) if your characters' actions don't order up just so. Mimicing a
spell costs no MP, but mimicing the use of an item will use up another item.
Mimicing !Critt, !Dance, or !Earth will result in a random effect, not
(necessarily) the same exact effect. Mimicing !$toss will use up money.
Also note that the power of mimiced actions such as attacks or magic depends
on the mimicing character's attributes.
Bare
----
The "default" class of Final Fantasy V, which all the characters start in.
It has the !Fight and !Item commands like all the other jobs, but two empty
ability slots. It's most attractive for its ability to equip all of the
game's weapons and armor. Since it has no abilities to learn, the Bare class
does not earn AP. Against the final boss, I highly advise changing all your
characters to Bare, with the best abilities you have available.
Job Command: None
Innate Abilities: From other jobs (see above)
Can equip: All weapons and armor
Stats: From other jobs (see above)
+-----------------------------+
| IV. Putting It All Together |
+-----------------------------+
I organized the jobs according to what they can equip for a reason: you can
save yourself a lot of hassle, and bounce around between jobs easily and
rapidly, if you have each character only use jobs of one type. For example,
you could have two characters only use the warrior classes, one character use
the skill and hybrid classes, and one character use the caster and hybrid
classes. With this strategy, you would only have to carry two heavy armors
and helmets, one medium armor and helmet, and one light armor and helmet.
You'll still need to carry one or two of each type of weapon, but having a
minimum of "contingency gear", at least on the armor/helmet side, saves tons
of money and time. Of course, this is just one suggestion. You can mix the
job types as you see fit, so long as you make sure you use them all. This
also has the benefit of giving you a well-rounded party that can use all the
abilities at the end of the game.
Base Character Attributes
=========================
The five player characters actually have slightly different base attributes.
The differences are very small, but if you're the type that wants every edge
you can get, you can tailor your job group choices to particular characters
based on their attributes.
Name Vigor Speed Stamina Mag.Pwr
----------------------------------------------------
Bartz 28 25 27 25
Reina 25 26 25 28
Galuf/Krile 27/25 24/28 28/24 24/27
Faris 27 27 26 26
As you can see, Bartz's high Vigor and Stamina make him a good candidate for
the warrior jobs. Galuf also makes an excellent tank, but bear in mind that
he's replaced by Krile about halfway through the game. She has much
different attributes, so if you choose this strategy, plan accordingly.
Personally, I would train them in skill and hybrid classes to take advantage
of Krile's high Speed. Reina is ideal for caster jobs, as she has the
highest Mag.Pwr; Faris has well-rounded attributes and can handle anything.
Special Bonus Secion: The 4th Protect Ring
==========================================
By far the best all-around accessory, the Protect Ring gives the wearer +10
to Defense, +10 to Magic Defense, *and* puts them in Regen status. There are
exactly four to be found, though getting one of them will take some work.
First the easy ones: chests in the Pyramid, Island Shrine, and Easterly Falls
lithograph sites. The last one is held by Odin in the basement of Val
Castle. It is *extremely difficult* to successfully steal from Odin, and
this is compounded by the time limit on the battle. For this reason, some
careful choosing of job classes and commands is necessary.
Make one character a Thief, and give her the Thief's Glove and any gear that
will increase her Speed. This character needs to have the highest Speed in
the party. The next fastest character needs to be able to use Blue Magic
(for the Guardian spell) and Time Magic up to level 4 (for Return). Ideally,
you should do this by giving !Blue to a Time Mage, because Haste2, while not
required, will help a lot. The remaining two characters simply need to be
able to do damage (Samurai with 2-handed work well) or cast the !Sword spell
Break.
When the battle begins, immediately have your Thief steal (since she will be
acting first). If she is unsuccessful, have the Time Mage (whose turn should
come up next) cast Return. Repeat this until the Thief successfully steals;
it may take several dozen tries, so don't space out. When the Thief finally
does steal the Protect Ring, have the Time Mage cast Guardian instead so that
you don't immediately get wasted by VengSwrd. After that, just pour on the
damage as fast as you can and heal the damage Odin does. Or, you can just be
cheap: the Break spell works on Odin, so you can kill him instantly by using
the Break sword magic. The Black Magic version can work too, but will
usually miss; the Sword Magic version will always get him. If you want to
beat him without using Break, I'd advise a "trial run" before this process to
make sure you have the power to deplete Odin's HP within the time limit.
It's your call whether a complete set of Protect Rings is worth all this
trouble. But I thought I'd include this as an example of how to make the job
system work for you and for those completists out there.
Super Special Bonus Section: !Mix Weirdness
===========================================
I just thought this was too weird not to include, and I know there are some
people out there who get a kick out of this kind of stuff. Alex Jackson
(
[email protected]) has clued me in on a lot of FF5 nuances, the most
bizarre of which is a particular abuse of the !Mix command. I'll reprint
what he told me, since I've yet to try doing it firsthand. There are
spoilers below, so don't read this until after you've finished the game.
"If you mix a Maiden's Kiss and a Holy Water, you'll get an effect which puts
nearly every buffing spell in the game on the target simultaneously...
including Berserk. For some reason (possibly because all those multiple
effects are being applied at one) the game doesn't bother to check that the
target actually should be affectable by each of those buffs. The upshot of
this is that you can but the Berserk status on any enemy in the game.
"You can combine this with the "Knight lockout" or !Twin abuse to defeat,
say, Omega easily, but that's not much fun after the first time you do it.
What is fun is that Berserking the enemy in a "story battle" (i.e. a battle
which gets interrupted by dialogue or something of the sort partway through)
really confuses the game. Apparently, all special events in battles (even
dialogue spoken by your party members) are treated by the program as actions
performed by the enemy, so if you Berserk the enemy these events just won't
happen any more (since the enemy can't do anything but attack).
"If you Berserk Ramuh (or Shoat or Golem), the internal flag that the game
sets to indicate that you've already gotten them doesn't get set, so you can
fight them again and again. If you Berserk Gilgamesh in X-Death's castle in
World 2, he'll never get X-Zoned away by X-Death, so you can actually kill
him yourself (he'll still appear in the final dungeon, though). Weirdest of
all, if you Berserk the final X-Death, he won't be able to transform into Neo
X-Death. When you deplete his HP, the game will apparently freeze for a
while, and then abruptly jump straight into the ending movie (or possibly
just freeze forever... the exact behavior may vary depending on the game
version)."
Weird, wild stuff. Thanks Alex!
+-----------------------------+
| V. Credits & Copyright Info |
+-----------------------------+
That's all I've got. Drop me a line at
[email protected] and let me know if
any of this has been of help to you, or if you have any suggestions!
Thanks to the following for their help:
CJayC, for maintaining www.gamefaqs.com.
Alex Jackson (
[email protected]), for information on the "Knight
lockout", !Sword effects, using !Twin against Gilgame, the differences
between the two Mute spells, the utility of Slow, harp damage, !Singing
in the final battle, glitching the game with !Mix, and !Breaking Odin.
Matt Hobbs and Dragon Fogel, for the best FFV walkthrough out there. Ideally
organized, it tells you everything that you need to know. And, just as
importantly, very little that you don't.
Basil Brush, for his efficient list of FFV gear, monsters, and spells.
David Cassady, whose Final Fantasy Anthology Strategy Guide made a great
scratch pad for my notes on how the game *really* works.
Finally, the copyright warning, reprinted with the gracious permission of Kao
Megura. Take it seriously or suffer.
Unpublished Work Copyright 2003 Dave Connoy
This FAQ and everything included within this file cannot be reproduced in any
way, shape or form (physical, electronical, or otherwise) aside from being
placed on a freely-accessible, non-commercial web page in it's original,
unedited and unaltered format. This FAQ cannot be used for profitable
purposes (even if no money would be made from selling it) or promotional
purposes. It cannot be used in any sort of commercial transaction. It
cannot be given away as some sort of bonus, gift, etc., with a purchase as
this creates incentive to buy and is therefore prohibited. Furthermore, this
FAQ cannot be used by the publishers, editors, employees or associates, etc.
of any company, group, business, or association, etc., nor can it be used by
game sites and the like. It cannot be used in magazines, guides, books, etc.
or in any other form of printed or electronic media (including mediums not
specifically mentioned) in ANY way, shape, or form (including reprinting,
reference or inclusion), without the express written permission of the
author, myself. This FAQ was created and is owned by me, Dave Connoy. All
copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged and respected that are not
specifically mentioned in this FAQ.
To continue, this FAQ and everything included herein is protected by the
Berne Copyright Convention of 1976, not to mention International Copyright
Law. Please remember that plagiarism is against the law. I will take
appropriate action against transgressors, period (the same goes for people
who put this up on web pages claiming it's their FAQ).
