On February 23, 2025, the 2025 Winter Cup #1 Competition was completed and Guitarmanager was crowned Champion of the event after a difficult battle for 1st place against Rumer.
To watch (or rewatch) the tournament in its entirety with chapters to jump to specific matches:
Guitarmanager and YoshnJa had a post-event interview reviewing Guitar’s perspective on Sunday’s recent event. The interview can be found here:
The 2025 Winter Cup #1 Champion, Guitarmanager
Starting his competition run in the Semifinals, Guitarmanager first faced Dr. Jay after Dr. Jay defeated im_the_king21 in Round 1. Guitarmanager and Dr. Jay fought off-site in Lobby A, ending with Guitar’s victory 2-0 in their best-of-3 series. Once Rumer claimed victory against DoggoK in the Semifinals after advancing against Acook10 in Round 1, the Grand Finals was set for a Guitarmanager vs. Rumer face-off.
Game 1 was played on Limberry Castle Inner Court. Guitarmanager had the high ground since he was the lower seed from Rumer and was the “guest,” which played a pivotal role in positioning and engagement issues later for Rumer. Though Rumer had plenty of offensive power, his two melee units, both an Onion Knight and Monk, had difficulties getting into range as well as Guitarmanager upkeeping Golem, lessening the overall impact Rumer could deal with his powerful basic attacks. Game 1 ended with a Guitar victory, 5 to 0 units alive.
As part of a new rule for map picks, Rumer decided to play Game 2 on Golgollada Gallows. Swapping in his undead Delita build he shook the audience with his turn 1 blitz-style engagement of Hallowed Bolt not only once, but twice in a row, thanks to using Critical: Quick coupled with his Thief triggering it with an X-Potion. With Deltia netting a triple kill, Guitar instantly was put on the defensive and recovered, which he thankfully managed to carefully do and ended up claiming victory after a harrowing spin of events that led to the finale of the 10 Action game. With it, Guitarmanager has netted his first Tactics League 1st place accomplishment and both Guitarmanager and Rumer will be invited to an exclusive Version 5 Exhibition match as well as getting the PvP Patch v5 Beta days before it goes public.
Thank you to im_the_king21, Acook10, DoggoK, Dr. Jay, Rumer, and Guitarmanager for being a part of the year’s first cup, and thank you to the audience on both Discord and Twitch!
Results and Registered Team Rosters
With the first event of the 2025 year completed and the many excitements we watched live in the Featured station, I am hopeful that the remaining year will be even more impactful and fierce as we go into the final series of updates with PvP Patch v5 Beta.
While the event is over, the match data and team rosters are now publicly available to view on both Google Sheets and PDF format which can be found below: 2025 Winter Cup #1 Competition Data – Google Sheets
Version 5 introduces a new and familiar mechanic that will affect Aerith (now playable in both campaign and Tactics PvP) and Cloud – the Limit Level System from the original Final Fantasy VII.
For anyone who has played Final Fantasy VII (if you haven’t by now what are you waiting for!) this system should feel and act quite at home while making some minor adjustments to fit for Final Fantasy Tactics and PvP balance and fairness. First, Let’s review how this system works and how it will impact both Aerith and Cloud in version 5.
Limit Level System Functionality
Cloud and Aerith both have “Limit” skillsets that correspond closely to their behavior in FFVII. This also means that Cloud (who we are already familiar with) had most of his abilities adjusted to mimic his FFVII counterparts in various ways where possible while ensuring there was still a physical and magick side of him that could be explored during teambuilding. We will go into more about that later when we go over the ability changes. For now, let’s go more into detail on how this system translates over to Tactics:
Cloud and Aerith’s “Limit” is initially unusable at battle start. Abilities unlock based on the percentage of HP damage taken from only enemy attacks. Steps were added to ensure that team damage cannot influence your Limit Level. This does mean that Cloud and Aerith are both more reliant on their secondary skillset and weapon attacks initially as well, but their “counter” options vastly grow stronger and stronger the higher their Limit Level reaches up to a maximum of 4.
Limit Levels are separated by: Level 1 = 20%, Level 2 = 30%, Level 3 = 40%, Level 4 = 60% HP damage taken
Limit is no longer blocked by Silence status.
Limit no longer costs MP (since there is an HP damage requirement).
Damaging Limits cannot target/hit allies.
Recoil damage and Poison status do not increase your Limit Level.
Mana Shield works with incrementing Limit Level as the HP to MP conversion is still considered HP damage.
Reaction abilities, such as Soulbind or Counter, can increase your Limit Level.
Once a Limit ability is used, your Limit Level will reset to zero as it did in FFVII; you will need to make choices on whether to “save up” or use lower levels (which are still of great benefit).
If a Limit ability has zero targets hit/affected, it will not reset your Limit Level.
If Cloud or Aerith is KO’ed, your Limit Level will be reduced by 1 (instead of being reset as it did in FFVII) so that you still have the option to utilize them as long as you were at least Limit Level 2.
Cloud – Limit Abilities
As mentioned earlier, Cloud’s Limit abilities are much closer to their FFVII counterparts instead of oddly being only MA-based abilities like they were in the original FFT. With the Soldier job having innate Doublehand, this plays a bigger role and Cloud can reach further damage potential when speccing him for physical damage. For those that enjoyed a magick-based Cloud, you will find some of his abilities a bit more limited than they were in v4, but more lethal due to the buffs pertaining to Limit Level. Let’s go over his reworked skillset:
Braver (Lv. 1)
An “attack-like” ability that deals 10% more physical damage with your [weapon] to one target, can now Cast or Inflict: [weapon], evadable, and can critically strike. This ability will strike twice if dual-wielding.
Cross Slash (Lv. 1)
Deals cross-shape AoE physical damage based on your [weapon] + 1 PWR, 25% chance to Inflict: Stop, can critically strike.
Blade Beam (Lv. 2)
Deals 3-range conal AoE physical damage based on your [weapon], uses Abyssal Blade row scaling (but does not recoil), and can critically strike.
Climhazzard (Lv. 2)
Deals 70% of the target’s max. HP in single target damage, ignoring mitigation. This ability no longer triggers Magick Counter.
Meteorain (Lv. 3)
Now 18 PWR instead of 14 and is still AoE magic damage (with the same range/vert.).
Finishing Touch (Lv. 3)
Inflicts all of: KO, Stone, and Stop (in that order) instead of randomly one of the three, and is still single target.
Omnislash (Lv. 4)
An “attack-like” ability that strikes with your [weapon] at 75% of its normal damage, but Omnislash now hits 5 times randomly within the AoE (and no longer hits allies). Can now Cast or Inflict: [weapon] and can critically strike. This ability will strike 10 times if dual-wielding.
Cherry Blossom (Lv. 4)
Now 20 PWR instead of 16 and has a 25% chance to Inflict: Poison, Immobilize, or Blind per target hit (still tri-elemental).
As you have probably noticed, most Limit abilities are now influenced by your equipped weapon this time around (as most Limit abilities were enhanced “Attack” in FFVII) and Doublehand, Attack Boost, and even Brawler, affect them too so there is a plethora of ways to build Cloud and ultimately, he is even more lethal than in v4, albeit he will now need to be “pushed to his limit.”
Aerith – Limit Abilities
As Aerith is a support-type unique character, most of her skillset is centered around supporting her allies to victory, but don’t sleep on her abilities as they can quickly turn the tides of battle!
Healing Wind (Lv. 1)
Restores HP to allies in an Iaido ranged-AoE. Heals undead instead of damaging them.
Seal Evil (Lv. 1)
3 range, single target, 100% Inflicts: Silence and Stop.
Breath of the Earth (Lv. 2)
Iaido-ranged, removes all negative effects from allies.
Fury Brand (Lv. 2)
Iaido-ranged, increases allies’ Power and Magick by 2.
Planet Protector (Lv. 3)
Single ally, Bestows: Protect, Shell, and Veil.
Pulse of Life (Lv. 3)
Iaido-ranged, ally revive at % = PA + 70. Restores 50% HP on success per target.
Great Gospel (Lv. 4)
Iaido-ranged, fully restores HP and MP, and Bestows: Protect, Shell to allies.
Though the majority of Aerith’s skillset is support-based, her stats on her Ancient job allow her to dive into either physical or magick abilities or attacks, as well as having innate Halves: All Elements, so not only is she tanky-capable, but also offensive too!
With these changes, I am hoping not only for further creativity especially for Cloud, but also your opponent will need to be cautious about how they play against either Cloud or Aerith as pushing their Limit at the wrong time could be disastrous for them!
Today’s article focuses on some new and exciting changes coming to Dragoon, Mime, and a new accessory called the Garment Ring. Let’s dive into how each impacts the following jobs and playability!
Dragoon’s New Skillset, Dragon Tech
Dragoons get a new, shiny set of abilities to play with in version 5, giving them more tools to combat with instead of strictly just Jump and Attack, while also adding Jump as a tertiary action command so it isn’t out of the equation. The new Dragon Tech skillset is inspired by the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance series of Dragoon jobs, giving them more options and creativity to build both for magic and physical specs.
Here’s a rundown of how each new ability operates (note that these breath changes also affect Reis’s Dragon skillset as well):
Ice Breath – Deals 2-line ice magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Immobilize
Fire Breath – Deals 2-line fire magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Poison
Thunder Breath – Deals 2-line lightning magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Blind
Luna – Self, 100% Berserk
Lancet – 2 Range, 33% HP Absorption
Tail Sweep – 2 Range Conal, Deals physical damage with a chance to critically strike
As mentioned earlier, not only does Dragoon gain a new skillset that isn’t strictly just “Jump” but it also adds Jump back in as a tertiary as their signature and most damaging skill. Jump will also be affected by your Jump stat in the future, so you can invest in more damage (and more pain) by building towards the Jump stat as well!
Dragoons got a flexibility buff in version 5, and I can’t wait to see what creative builds you take with them!
Become a Blue Mage (sort of) with Blue Magicks
With version 5, Mimes got a change to their Mimic skillset (which was technically just a dummied skillset by default) which allows them to finally learn select monster abilities in battle akin to how Blue Mages work in other Final Fantasy titles. With this change, Mimes can now use their exclusive skillset, Blue Magicks, to wield a variety of utility and damage options in addition to still being able to mimicry. Mimes did receive a bit of stat reductions to compensate for this change as this allows them to use functions outside of Attack on their turn. Other non-Mime jobs can use Blue Magicks, but you will need to slot the updated Beastmaster support ability to do so (this is also for balance purposes).
With 14 new abilities in their skillset, Mimes and Blue Magicks in general, is a contender option for flexibility and having a toolbox of plays when you need it most. Part of the changes going into it is that these abilities felt good to use, but also aren’t as powerful by default as is the nature of Blue Magicks in other games. Let’s do a quick brief on what each does:
Cat Scratch – 1 Range, physical damage with 100% knockback based on position
Choco Pellets – 4 Range, physical damage with a chance to critically strike
Heave – 1 Range, inflicts physical damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: KO
Magick Nymph – Self, 1 AoE, restores MP to all nearby targets (excludes yourself)
Tri-Breath – 3-Directional, deals 2-range damage based on 40% of the target’s max. HP per target
As you can see, Blue Magicks is loaded with a plethora of options, but it can only be accessed by either playing Mime directly or slotting the Beastmaster support ability which then unlocks it for slotting as a secondary command. Since Luso is considered a Blue Mage under his Game Hunter job, he will have Beastmaster innately, allowing you to slot Blue Magicks as a secondary if you choose to do so automatically while still keeping your Support slot open.
In the campaign, slotting Beastmaster (which is learnable on Squire) allows you to start mastering select monster abilities guaranteed as long as you were hit or affected, so this is a great way to start your Blue Magicks journey even in the beginning and it now extends the hidden ability unlock range from 1 to 3 tiles!
You can Bardsong or Dance with the Garment Ring
The Garment Ring is a new accessory joining the Tactics League inventory in v5 which allows you to access the unique, Perform command while slotted. Perform includes all of Bardsong and Dance abilities so you can finally do Bardsong on a female unit, or Dance on a male, whichever suits your needs!
This limited-item ring inspired by Final Fantasy X-2 gives its user the power to utilize both skillsets all in one, allowing you to have greater flexibility for situations. With greater power, you still should consider Performing Arts support ability to enhance your effectiveness with Bardsong and Dance, but even with select abilities, you can get away with a decent time performing your way to victory. Perform is considered a quaternary command, so you can still use both your primary, secondary, and tertiary (if slotted) alongside it. And yes, even Onion Knight can perform too!
Conclusion
Dragoons have more to do than just jump and poke, Mimes can use an array of abilities on their turn, and the Garment Ring allows you to perform however you choose. Version 5 is aimed to be a wild ride for sure!
The fifth and final iteration of the Tactics League PvP Patch will soon enter public beta, and with it comes a massive amount of new updates, changes, and quality of life for what will be the end of the series of updates.
In the first Focused article, we will explore a significant change coming with version 5: the Party Roster Expansion (which utilizes the previous 4 reserved Guest slots for the story) allowing for four additional unique characters to join the Standard and Rendezvous roster! Let’s go more into an overview of what makes each of these units special and how you will be able to wield them each in competitive PvP.
Ashley Riot (from Vagrant Story)
One of the more talked about characters from different (but similar) video game universes in the Tactics League Discord, Ashley will finally make his debut in version 5. As a Riskbreaker, you will utilize his Break Arts to dispatch highly damaging situations at the cost of your HP (similarly to how Dark Knight’s Abyssal Blade and Unholy Sacrifice work).
Each weapon has an associated Break Art that the Riskbreaker job can equip, and thankfully, Ashley joins the fight with innate Reequip and a plethora of accessible weapons to make changes on the fly for the battles ahead. Ashley can equip: Swords, Knight’s Swords, Fell Swords, Crossbows, Staves, Flails, Axes, Knives, Polearms, Shields, Robes, Clothing, and Hats.
If you are familiar with Vagrant Story, Ashley’s Break Arts should feel at home. Abilities like Vile Scar (Swords), Shadoweave (Knives), and Advent Sign (Knight’s Swords) are at your disposal but you will need to carefully juggle Ashley’s HP as each one taxes him depending on their overall power. There are 11 Break Arts to use with them being weapon-specific, so building into him requires consideration as well. The Break Arts skillset includes some of the Fundaments abilities from Squire, such as Focus, Stone, Salve, and Throw Dagger, but Frenzy and Taunt are excluded.
Scythe Wind (requires Polearm) – Deals devastating conal Wind damage (and can even mix with your weapon’s element) in the area for 60% of your max. HP.
A shout-out to Valkirst from FFHacktics for the awesome-looking sprite and portrait, Tactics style!
Aerith Gainsborough (from the Cloud event in Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy VII)
The lovely flower girl you come across during the event sequences with Cloud in the story is finally becoming a fully playable character in the PvP Patch. She joins the roster not only as a support character but also with a unique Quality of Life change coming that not only affects Aerith but also Cloud: the Limit Level System.
Without going off track entirely for this article, essentially Aerith and Cloud’s skillset behavior closely resembles the one in FFVII, taking enemy damage results in increased Limit Level, unlocking stronger abilities as you continue to do so, which can change the tides of battle quickly. We will dive more into that and Cloud’s changes in a specific article, but for now, note that that change is coming and I carefully wanted to make sure it is as rewarding as it is thoughtful and fun tactfully.
Now let’s take a closer look at our lovely lady who has the power to convene with the planet itself:
Aerith’s job, Ancient, grants her Innate: Halves: All Elements, and as you can see from her stat sheet, she can be theory-crafted in various ways fairly easily. Her Limit abilities closely resemble that of the Final Fantasy VII (not the remake versions) ones giving her an array of commands to aid her team to victory. These abilities require incoming enemy HP damage (no team cheesing sorry :p) to gain access to them and Limit is initially locked until you have taken at least 20% for Level 1. Let’s take a look at a few:
Fury Brand (Limit Level 2 – Take 30% HP Damage or more to unlock)
Planet Protector (Limit Level 3 – Take 40% HP Damage or more to unlock)
As mentioned earlier, we will dive directly into the Limit Level System – QoL update in its separate article, including changes to Cloud, coming with PvP Patch v5.
Elidibus, Serpentarius Lucavi (secret boss from Midlight’s Deep)
Though this probably ruined the secret (sorry if it did!), Elidibus is joining the Tactics League roster as the second monster alongside Construct 8. As a boss and Lucavi, I wanted to make sure he stood out on his own, especially against the coveted Construct 8 to not only make him a threat but to fit the title of “secret boss.” If you are familiar with Elidibus, then you will be quite familiar with him in this rendition, balanced for PvP playability but he is nothing to scoff at. Let’s take a closer look:
As a monster, you cannot equip or change his job or abilities, but he is loaded with innate abilities to offset these limits. Elidibus’s innate abilities are Bonecrusher, Instant Cast, Manafont, and Dexterity. Yes, he does have Instant Cast which makes all abilities in his kit be, well, immediate! He also has an array of status and elemental innates or immunities, listed in the second picture.
The Dark skillset is quite familiar if you have experienced against it before, bringing about devastating Toad and Poison status in Poisonous Frog, a lowered PWR version of Zodiark (which also cannot be uniquely mimicked for balance purposes), a hard-hitting 2-range attack in Snakecharm, and the life-ending Vengeance to net killing blows based on your damage taken.
Mentioning the MP costs in his skillset, you will need to carefully play around his limited MP pool as though he has Manafont, he will only recover so much per move so you will need to build in proportion to how effective you want Elidibus to be.
I can’t wait to see some crafty plays and AoE annihilation once the v5 Beta starts!
The Leading Man Permanently Returns, Balthier (from Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions and Final Fantasy XII)
Oh man, Balthier has had the most ins and outs in the Tactics League roster than any other character in history. With the struggles between the original Barrage, trying to find ways to adjust his stat spread and ultimately having low playability, to giving up his spot for another unique, Balthier has once stolen the show and then not so much after. But with version 5, I have taken the time to hone in on various feedback and pain points that players have had with him in the past and he can finally return to competitive play as the Sky Pirate we all love. And he is still menacing as ever (and don’t sleep on him)!
Balthier doesn’t return with Safeguard innately like he originally had, but rather, he now has Mug: dealing unarmed damage with successful Steal Equipment abilities. With Thief’s Gloves and even his initial or increased Bravery, not only can you rob someone of their precious gear, but they take a hefty amount of damage while doing so (and it can crit too)!
First, let’s address one of his signature issues from the past: Barrage. It is finally back, but it is now: a 2-hit instead of a 4-hit, it costs 60 MP as a means to check it directly, it is evadable (based on the weapon type), and it hits for 60% of the total power a normal attack would have done. Now don’t let that fool you, with the right setups and plays, Barrage can still cripple and down targets, especially with weapons having an initial 50% chance to activate their ability cast and even more so when you add the reworked Chantage (100% chance instead).
Second, the FFXII Quickenings that were added to replace Barrage, Leg Shot, Arm Shot, and Seal Evil in version 3 are coming back for version 5 too. With it, an array of options you can build Balthier for. Slotting Brawler lets Elements of Treachery and Fires of War damage propel to greater heights. But you can also build Balthier as a magic-spec with a reworked Tides of Fate and crush the opposition with conal water damage.
Third, the Plunder abilities have been replaced by the Steal Equipment ones (Thief’s versions) to make room for many new abilities that you will come across in later articles. With recent updates to Steal and as a “master thief” these mesh well with Balthier as a whole and allow him to play his job rightfully so.
I am glad he is finally able to come back, especially in the final series of updates, and I cannot wait to see the shenanigans he can do in the hands of our best players!
Conclusion
The Party Roster Expansion opens up new and exciting leaders to your future version 5 teams. This is just the beginning of what is in store for the ending series of updates. There is even more to explore, but we will save that for a future article. Stay tuned for more version 5 news to come!
