The next (and only planned) major update for 2026 arrives on June 3rd. With it comes a new system that furthers theorycrafting and team-building: Equipment Sets! Let’s take a closer look at what this entails and how it affects the landscape of build “specializations.”

What are Equipment Sets?

As you probably guessed, Equipment Sets are a unique way to gain powerful effects or means to augment abilities by equipping select gear on your units. Inspired by Tactics Ogre: Reborn (or specifically Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together), equipping certain Headgear, Body Armor, and Accessory enables new passives that one can take to focus more on their build craft or inspiration. Equipment Sets will never require specific weapons or shields to be equipped.

Though these sets are designed to be powerful (as you are locked into certain equipment to enable them), there are drawbacks for each one; some include a direct drawback within its passive, while others have statistical drawbacks, such as being a slower Speed unit because the Set doesn’t enable high Speed values, not having gear-sourced Protect and Shell, or lack of elemental or status mitigation.

Keep in mind these 9 Equipment Sets aren’t intended to be “necessary” for all cases in the metagame. The intention is to provide new ways to bolster specific specializations, with costs associated with each. Let’s preview all nine Equipment Sets and their strengths and weaknesses so you can plan which ones may be of interest once update 5.4 launches!

Tactician

The Tactician Set allows you to restore your Move command after you defeat a unit with either an attack or ability. It is similar to the Tactical Shift movement ability, with the exception that this works for all abilities and not just getting a KO with a normal attack. Note that with Tactician (and even Tactical Shift), choosing to Wait instead of using your restored Move command conserves CT at the end of turn, allowing for a more robust strategy in regaining your turn faster.

• 📃Requires: Gaius Helm (NEW), Grand Armor, Gaius Caligae
• ➕Caters to the “in-and-out” playstyle
• ➕High Movement with Gaius Caligae
• ➖Very little offensive power and no Speed gained with the set, so KO timing is paramount
• ➖No Status immunities or elemental mitigation

Iai Strike

For those who enjoy Iaido or the Samurai job, really love the aesthetics of the Genji equipment, or just hearing that critical hit sound effect, this Set boosts your critical chance by 20% (so 30% starting), and HP-damaging Iaido gain an additional effect of being able to critically strike! Like other critical chance-increasing sources, the chance is stackable with other means, such as Death Strike support.

• 📃Requires: Genji Helm, Genji Armor, Genji Gloves
• ➕Enables higher burst potential with Iaido and even with Samurai’s Doublehanded attacks
• ➕Good overall stat density between all required gear: +HP, MP, Power, and Magick – you are tanky and damaging
• ➖No Speed or Movement gained with the Set; consider +Speed weapons and Move +2 or other +Move abilities
• ➖No Status immunities or elemental mitigation

Martial Spirit

For those who enjoy playing Monk, utilizing Martial Arts, or even embracing the spirit of Liu Kang, Martial Spirit causes all of your physical attacks and abilities to become unevadable and any HP-damaging Martial Arts ability you use (or even abilities that use the [(PA + PWR) / 2 * PA] calculation) absorb HP on hit afterwards (Note that for multi-target abilities, the last damage tick results in the HP restored, not accumulative). And with this update, the Headband is now treated as a Hair Adornment, allowing for Monk to finally equip this item and make use of this new Set as a commonly requested change.

• 📃Requires: Headband, Jujitsu Gi, Battle Boots
• ➕Gain Power, immunities to KO, Doom, and Curse, and an additional Movement and physical evasiveness
• ➕Really fun to use even on non-Monks, a great way to guarantee physical attacks to land without needing invisibility or flanking
• ➕Offers great sustainability with damaging Martial Arts restoring HP
• ➖Trouble versus Undead, as the HP absorption bonus now damages you in reverse
• ➖No elemental mitigation or increased Speed

Arcane Spirit

For those who love casting magicks, Arcane Spirit reduces the base charge time of magicks by 2. This only affects magicks within the specific skillsets of White Magicks, Black Magicks, Time Magicks, Mystic Arts, Summon, and Ja-Magicks. These same abilities that are associated with unique skillsets are excluded from this charge time reduction, such as Valmafra’s Curaga from her “Magicks” skillset. You’ll need to slot and use White Magicks to get this bonus reduction.

What makes this Set really potent is that this causes magicks with a Speed of 2 or less to become instant-cast. So for example, Black Magicks’ Fira is now instant like its Lv. 1 counterpart already is by default. And Arcane Spirit’s reduced charge time also stacks with Swiftness support, enabling very fast casting potential when you need it most.

• 📃Requires: Celebrant Miter, Sage’s Robe, Empyreal Armband
• ➕Magicks with Speed 2 or less become instant cast, changing the dynamics of strategic play or offensive actions (and further speeds up slower magicks too!)
• ➕Full elemental mitigation with Sage’s Robe and +1 Speed with Empyreal Armband and additional status immunities
• ➖Prevents commonly used Luminous Robe and Cherche – jobs that do not have access to Rod of Faith struggle more and more demand on MP upkeep with Manafont or other +MP sources
• ➖No Silence immunity and typical caster issues such as versus Atheist/low-faith or MP damage

Terramancer

For those seeking an alternate way to use Geomancy, Terramancer makes the once AoE version of Geomancy become single target instead, doubling your Power stat in the calculations (this specifically also affects other abilities that use the [(PA + PWR) / 2 * MA] calc), and increasing the status chance from 19% to 50% instead, enabling a more powerful and devastating Geomancy at the cost of wider radius.

• 📃Requires: Lambent Hat, Gaia Gear, Japa Mala
• ➕Alternative playstyle for Geomancers; more damage and coin-flip status odds
• ➕Elemental boost ensures all Geomancies have further damage potential, and additional Magick and Speed from Lambent Hat correlate to more offensive capabilities
• ➖Though it is a clear trade-off, not having AoE capabilities can hurt, especially against early game stacking or opportune moments
• ➖No elemental mitigation, but you do have Earth absorption and a broad coverage of status immunities

Duelist

For those who value opportunity and stat breaking, Duelist empowers Rend Stat abilities from Arts of War (and Zalbaag’s Blade of Ruin from All-Stars format) to have a 50% increased critical chance if used within two range (so 60% before other critical chance sources) and defeating a unit with one increases your CT by 50 and you gain an additional +1 Power; spoils for a timely attack. Note that the +CT and Power portion applies to ranged Rend Stat, but the critical chance boost only works in melee to incentivize the Knight’s playstyle.

Rend Stat abilities typically hit for half damage compared to a normal attack, so seizing the moment to strike an injured foe and successfully KO’ing them will yield faster turns and higher strength allowing you to nearly Rend Stat attack (or Act) again in a row.

• 📃Requires: Close Helmet, Maximillian, Brigand’s Gloves
• ➕Rewards timely kills with Rend Stat to ensure almost back-to-back turns with greater Power
• ➕Increased Movement and the most +Speed you can get in gear helps keep you engaged
• ➖Rend Stat abilities require a weapon (otherwise it calcs as zero damage) and deal approximately half the damage from a normal attack; losing your weapon diminishes the set’s usability. Consider Protect removal first or other statuses that cause increased damage taken to enable better Duelist usability
• ➖No elemental mitigation, no increased Power gained, and very low status immunities

Healer

For the build that specializes in supporting their allies in dire need, the Healer Set boosts others’ sustain and strongly incentivizes the “active healing” playstyle, putting greater power behind White Mages or their White Magicks. Using any Cure ability restores 50% of the HP healed as MP, and a unit with this set targeting and triggering a Cup of Life doubles the overhealed amount – which still affects all allies regardless of their location!

• 📃Requires: Red Hood, White Robe, Red Shoes
• ➕Great way to serve as a “battery” to allies, recharging their HP and MP, especially for those who use Mana Shield or are MP-reliant
• ➕Basic elemental mitigation, gear-sourced Protect and Shell, increased Speed, Movement, and Magick; all fit the demand and needs of a clerical role
• ➖Undead, Curse, and Reflect status really cause trouble with healing with Cure or receiving healing
• ➖No Silence or Status immunities

Gladiator

For the playstyle that chooses risk, bravery, and brawn, the Gladiator Set reduces the damage taken of Vehemence by 30% (so only 10% increased damage taken but 50% more damage dealt) but reduces your Movement Range by 1 (this does not affect the range of Throw, and this only affects the use of the Move command, not the “Move” stat). With each of your passing turns increasing your Bravery by 10 thanks to the Bravely Armlet, your ability to react better and fight harder can help sway the mid-to-late game battle.

• 📃Requires: Vanguard Helm, Carabineer Mail, Bravely Armlet
• ➕Provides a great amount of potential with little drawback with Vehemence support ability
• ➕Slightly increased damage taken and Bravery over time appeal to Soulbind and “Critical” reactions
• ➖Reduced Movement Range demands Move +2, weapons that grant additional movement, or jobs that have base 4 Move to offset the movement reduction
• ➖No Status immunities or elemental mitigation

Master Thief

For the build that specializes in equipment theft, Master Thief (masterfully) empowers Steal Equipment abilities to have their Range increased to 2 and avoids the victim’s ability to use their Reaction which would normally trigger against Steal (so no First Strike, Counter, or even Dragonheart, for example). In addition to the effect of Thief’s Gloves bypassing Safeguard and enhancing the hit rate, Steal’s success (or failure) solely relies on luck; your opponent ought to say a prayer to the gods before it’s too late.

• 📃Requires: Thief’s Hat, Black Garb, Thief’s Gloves
• ➕Enables the most potent form of Steal Equipment – bypassing Safeguard and Reactions and with a 2 range reach
• ➕Excellent increased Speed puts a generic Thief at 15 Speed, risky but potentially rewarding if needed; Master Thief is the best counter to all other Sets and weapon-reliant builds
• ➖Lower total bulk puts the unit at high risk of dying, especially if attempting an early-game Steal
• ➖No elemental mitigation or Initial: Protect, Shell – necessary for survivability for turn-one plays
• ➖For either you or the enemy, RNG decides the outcome

I hope you all explore new heights and theorycrafting when Equipment Sets launch with competitive version 5.4 on June 3rd! The Preview Team had a chance to test out new creations with this new system ahead of time to help squash bugs and prepare this new way to play for public availability.

Note that this update will require new save data, so your existing teams will be reset! Take the time to jot down or take note of your favorite compositions so you can explore your teams with this new system soon.

For transparency, we recently had some difficulties getting Series #6 going for the weekly Tuesday events. With seasonal and daylight savings time being observed in the United States (a good chunk of the player base is in the US), For Glory! will now be switching from the weekly format to a bi-weekly one instead.

This switch will take effect after March 31st, with the bi-weekly schedule starting on April 14th.

I hope you all understand the reasoning for this change as we continue to host fun and exciting matches, live-streamed and recorded on YouTube.

Back on March 3, 2026, PPSSPP publicly released their latest update, version 1.20. With it, came a wealth of improvements to the emulator, but notably for us at Tactics League, a major built-in feature that will make playing FFT WotL over the internet easier than ever before.

Introducing Ad Hoc Relay Servers

One of the (apparent) hurdles in getting more community members involved with the PvP Patch or just playing FFT WotL online multiplayer in general, even with the original game, is the amount of various installations you need to complete to be able to do so. Previously, we used ZeroTier VPN to handle the PSP’s local network mode (named Ad Hoc) over the internet by tunneling the connection over a virtual LAN environment. For those not technically inclined, it could be a difficult task or even off-putting to continue with getting set up for online play.

Now, with PPSSPP v1.20+, the ZeroTier step is no longer necessary, port forwarding your router or firewall isn’t as needed either (though enabling PPSSPP through Windows Firewall is still a good idea for the sake of less headaches), and even mobile connections (4G/5G) can play too versus Wi-Fi or other mobile users without extra steps to do so.

Ad Hoc Relay Servers forward these “local” network packets from one player to the other via a central server (in this case, we will be using socom.cc) which also removes a lot of the technical hurdles that comes about with networking. What this means for players is that we can use the settings directly in the emulator to set up a connection and battle it out without needing a VPN or even sharing our VPN IP address to make that connection – faster gaming and smoother connections for all!

Join our Discord and Better Matchmake

Even with this new feat, matchmaking with another player is a bit troublesome as the game requires one player to “Host” a game while the other “Joins.” There is a 30-second window before the fails to connect to others as it doesn’t have a lobbying system found in more modern games.

The Tactics League Discord is the avenue to find players, create fairer matchmaking (by using our bot to determine who is Host or Guest), and of course communicate and grow. If you are interested in partaking in Melee or Rendezvous, I encourage you to join our Discord today!

With the start of the new year, a new competitive take is on the horizon, one that will hopefully steer further interest into the competitive side of Final Fantasy Tactics and showcase all of the mod’s quality of life and other exciting changes that have gone into the PvP Patch and community creations to date.

For Glory! is a new weekly sanctioned competitive event program that will feature a live-streamed match from both the Tactics League Discord and YouTube channels every Tuesday (when possible) of the calendar year. This is a new initiative based on community feedback to improve the social aspects of Tactics League and to encourage new and returning players to compete – for all the glory, of course.

Schedule

As mentioned above, For Glory! will be hosted each Tuesday, when permissible, between 9:30 PM and 11:30 PM Eastern. This will also mark a change in streaming services as we switch from Twitch to YouTube to better align with our existing YouTube channel and content as an all-in-one place for the Tactics League media library.

How it Works

For Glory! creates a new avenue for the competitive scene to showcase featured matches, featuring commentary from both the emcee and the competitors themselves, providing insight into decision-making and thoughts on plays and overall performances.

Members of the Tactics League Discord can sign up the following week, starting on Wednesday and ending on Friday, for a chance to compete, up to a maximum of eight players, with the lucky competitors being randomly selected each week to do so for the upcoming Tuesday event. Selected competitors will still follow all normal ruleset and competition regulations in place (For Glory! is treated as a fully sanctioned competition, just faster paced and more consecutive), including submitting their party roster ahead of the event by Monday (this is commonly known as Roster Registration and Roster Lock) to ensure their team meets the standards of the game format and are locked in with their squad.

All For Glory! matches are considered single-elimination, best-of-3 series, to ensure a timely-paced event for both competitors and spectators alike.

Regarding game formats, For Glory! supports both Standard and 4v4 All-Stars too, so be on the lookout for different styles of fights and even some metas to form from this!

Competitor Points

As a sanctioned event by Tactics League, For Glory! also awards Competitor Points (CP), which is our seasonal points system to determine leaderboard ranking, competition-ranked privileges, and who is considered the best of the best for the current season. Based on the weekly nature of this event, both competitors will earn CP just for participating, in the amount of 300 for 1st and 150 for 2nd. These values may seem small at first, but there is the potential for 13,800 CP over 46 weeks from 1st place (and 6,900 CP for 2nd) earnings that also add up with other awarding from future competitions as well!

Prepare For Glory!

Come witness the start of a new journey and be a part of a growing community! For Glory!‘s first live-streamed event will take place on January 27, 2026, on our YouTube channel.
Interested in joining our Discord, checking out the PvP Patch mod, or wanting to partake in For Glory!? Join the Tactics League Discord today!

The holidays are just around the corner, and the time to gather with family and friends is drawing near. Before all of the festivities come, download and check out the last update of 2025, with Mime transitioning to Blue Mage, many Quality of Life updates, a few balance passes, and even more updates to monsters to give them the last boost they need to enter the competitive arena.

The notes for the minor update v5.3.2 on January 20th can be found here.

To download the all-in-one package that includes the PPF file and save data, please visit Downloads. To learn more about how to apply the PPF patch, visit Tutorials.

Make sure to always patch using an unmodified, USA-region backup of your FFT WotL ISO, and do not override an already patched copy!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Aerith’s Great Gospel failing to restore HP/MP and apply Protect/Shell to others if she had Protect/Shell immunity via Nagnarok. Aerith specifically will restore HP/MP, but will not gain Protect/Shell due to the granted status immunities

Quality of Life Updates

• Campaign
  • Random Encounters
    • Improvements to “random units now have smarter selection of equipment choices (special thanks to @Tzepish for this from WotL Tweak)
      
• Soundtrack
  • Vastly expanded the number of available soundtracks that can be heard in Melee mode! The new track list can be randomly one of:
    • Unavoidable Battle, Run Past Through the Plain, Backfire, Bloody Excrement
    • Decisive Battle, Night Attack, Under the Stars, Remnants
    • Antipyretic, Trisection, Antidote, Tension
    • Enemy Attack, Apoplexy, Battle on the Bridge
      
  • For Single Player, this track list includes the above revised list and restores the 4 original random encounter soundtracks: Desert Land, Apoplexy, A Chapel, Random Waltz
    Mods do it best! Thank you to @Tzepish for discovering the means to expand on the soundtrack list!
    
  • The Treasure Wheel screen now plays the “Treasure” soundtrack instead of “In Pursuit”
    Being rewarded should sound more uplifting, not like you are being chased or chasing after something lol.
    
• Midlight’s Deep
  • Completion of Terminus for the first time now grants you a one-item Treasure Wheel roll
  • Subsequent completion of Midlight’s Deep stages after a full completion allows for a one-item Treasure Wheel roll at the end of the battle
  • Multiplayer Items (or some Tactics League exclusive items that were using MP item space) can now be acquired in single player, such as Fell Swords. The full list of acquirable items is:
    
    • [Weapons] Thief’s Knife, Sasuke’s Blade, Iga Blade, Spellbinder, Moonsilk Blade, Orochi, Ultima Weapon, Moonblade, Onion Sword, Flametongue, Excalipoor, Defender, Excalibur, Ragnarok, Save the Queen, Durandal, Caladbolg, Chaos Blade, Masamune, Chirijiraden, Rod of Faith, Zeus Mace, Stardust Rod, Nirvana, Dreamwaker, Crown Scepter, Staff of the Magi, Perseus Bow, Sagittarius Bow, Javelin II, Gae Bolg, Gungnir, Deathbringer, Chaosbringer, Arondight, Valhalla, Balmung, Apocalypse, Earthbreaker, Golden Axe, Francisca, Ras Algehti, Fomalhaut, Tiny Bee, Vesper
      
    • [Shields] Escutcheon II, Kaiser Shield, Genji Shield, Venetian Shield, Reverie Shield, Adamantoise Shield, Onion Shield
      
    • [Headgear] Genji Helm, Grand Helm, Brass Coronet, Extension, Circlet, Onion Helm, Acacia Hat, Vanguard Helm
      
    • [Armor] Genji Armor, Maximillian, Peytral, Grand Armor, Onion Armor, Lordly Robe, Sage’s Robe, Mirage Vest, Minerva Bustier, Ever Coat, Brave Suit
      
    • [Accessories] Brigand’s Gloves, Gaius Caligae, Bravely Armlet, Garment Ring, Invisibility Cloak, Onion Gloves, Sage’s Ring, Pearl Rouge, Empyreal Armband
      A new way to earn MP items from the true end-game content in single player. A big shout-out to @Tzepish for deciphering the treasure wheel code after I came across it! Yay, teamwork 🤝
      
• Melee Mode
  • Melee Mode no longer has a gil fee cost
  • Removed the Treasure Wheel feature post-game
    Removing these now means that you can load back into the Tavern faster and without the need to reload your save (though you can still always do so).
    
• Rendezvous Mode
  • Chicken Race – Replaced Revenants with Ghouls
    Revenants now have Master Teleportation as of this update, and this RDV mission can already be tough with limited mobility, so these monsters are being replaced to reduce guaranteed movement with regular Teleport.
    
• UI Updates
  • The Arithmeticks menu (for Orran in All-Stars and Campaign) now displays the Reflect icon in the Ability list
  • Monster’s hidden ability is now viewable (and thus Help can be used) while in the Party Roster and Warriors Guild menus
    
• AI Behaviors
  • Units with Throw Items support will now correctly throw at 4 Range instead of their Move, as intended by this ability (credit @Tzepish)
  • AI is now aware of Garment Ring functionality and can utilize it based on gender (see Accessory changes below)
  • Bardsong and Dance AoE fix for AI usability 
  • AI improvements to unlock and use hidden abilities when an allied Beastmaster is present
  • Reduced AI prioritization of Golem HP while you have an active Golem (less likely usable to “cheese” the AI now)
  • Reis’s Dragon X abilities are now flagged for AI usability
    
• Text Updates
  • Corrected Life’s Anthem’s PWR in the Help menu (70 PWR, not 90) 
  • Help: Remove the job list from all accessories, as all accessories are equippable by every generic job
  • Help: Added Clothing job list to Minerva Bustier
  • Help: Added additional flavor text to Bracer
  • Help: Removed Traitor status from all items mentioned, as the status effect does not exist in the mod
  • Help: Updated Beastmaster description
  • Help: Added “Blue” to equipment job lists
  • Help: Added doom immunity context to Undead status 
  • Additional text improvements and spacing

Jobs

• NEW Blue Mage (fully reworked Mime):
  • Blue Mage is a fully equippable (within its limits) and ability-selectable generic job
  • Mimicry and Copy Weapon are no longer accessible with this job change
  • Starting generic stats (Male/Female): 359/343 HP, 50/60 MP, 14/13 PA, 13/14 MA, 11 Speed, 4 Move, 3 Jump, 12% C-EV
  • Can Equip: Knives, Swords, Rods, Shields, Hats, Clothing, Robes (and all normal accessories)
  • Innate: Beastmaster, Concentration, Status Boost
  • Prerequisites: Squire Lv. 5, White and Black Mage Lv. 3
  • Blue Magicks skillset is now selectable as a secondary skillset without the need for slotting Beastmaster and is treated in the same manner as Mastery Arts (if you have previous saves with Beastmaster + Blue Magicks equipped, you can safely unequip Beastmaster)
  • New sprites using “Animist_Male” and “Animist_Female” by Elric (from Jot5 mod)
    Controversial to a select few that have enjoyed the original Mime throughout the years, one of the biggest reasons this change happened was to remove the “free-actions” mimicry imposed in a PvP environment, fully flesh out the “Blue Mage” archetype that Mime was in earlier iterations, and make for a (hopefully) healthier competitive experience and improve engagements all around.
    
• Stat Growth Changes
  • Changed the following Growth values of select jobs to improve certain stats when at Lv. 99, notably for Practice Mode. Decreasing Growth increases +Stat per level:
    • Serpentarius (Elidibus, campaign variant) – PA Growth from 70 to 20
    • Riskbreaker (Ashley) – HP Growth from 15 to 12
    • Bard – HP Growth from 20 to 12
    • Dancer – HP Growth from 20 to 12
      
• Archer – Increased MAM from 100 to 110% (+1 MA both genders)
  Small MA buff to help aid Archers using magic-based longbows/crossbows. 
  
• Bard – Increased PAM from 100 to 107% (+1 PA, starting 14 PA/16 MA generic)
  Power increased to even out initial stats for hybridization usage.
  
• Dancer:
  • Increased MAM from 105 to 109% (+1 MA, starting 15 PA/15 MA generic) 
  • Increased Move from 3 to 4
  • Added Poles as available equipment
    Magic increased to solidify Dancer’s base stat potential and for better hybridization. Movement increased as Dancer’s weapons rely on melee range, and to get Dancer up to par with other popular Garment Ring bearers’ base Move. Poles..well I am sure you get the reasoning lol.

Action Abilities

• Dragon (Reis)
  • Dragon’s Gift:
    • This ability’s healing has been reverted to its vanilla version, which functions like Chant, healing the target for ⅖ of your max. HP and recoiling ⅕ damage to Reis
    • This ability can now restore HP even if the target was not under an applicable status effect
    • The healing from this ability doubles to ⅘ of your max. HP instead if the target is a Dragon or Hydra-type monster
    • No longer damages undead
      
  • Dragon’s Might:
    • This ability now doubles the Bravery and Power/Magick/Speed granted if the target is a Dragon or Hydra-type monster (to +10 Bravery, +2 Power/Magick/Speed)
      These changes are to improve Reis’s Dragonkin (or Dragoner) side of herself, allowing her to strengthen her capabilities among Dragons and Hydras while still keeping these abilities usable with non-Dragon/Hydra units.
      
• Piracy (Balthier)
  • Steal Heart (renamed from Plunder Heart) – Renamed as it sounds better lol
    
• Black Magicks
  • Curse:
    • This ability is now faithless and calculates using [MA + 75]
    • Increased MP cost from 24 to 32
    • This ability is still magic evadable
      Similar to Bio, this change is to give Black Magicks options versus Atheist or low-faith targets. Keep in mind that with this change, this ability can no longer reach a base 100% hit rate unless certain thresholds are met.
      
• Arts of War
  • War Cry – Flagged for Vertical Tolerance and increased Vert. from 1 to 2
    This ability went under the radar of being able to remove Protect/Shell from a far vertical distance, and now has limitations imposed.
    
• Aim
  • Charge Weapon – This magic ability can now critically strike
    The first generically accessible spell crit ability is now available on the job that has enhanced crit chance.
    
• Martial Arts
  • Aurablast – Increased PWR from 2 to 4
  • Shockwave – Increased Range from 5 to 6
    Though Shockwave’s Range was reduced to compensate for Monk’s increased Move, based on more recent trends, Shockwave’s Range will be restored to its prior state (and not the vanilla 8 range).
    
• Steal
  • NEW Thievery (replaces Steal Limelight):
    • A new ability that rewards you for successive Stealing/Renting equipment
    • 2 Range, 2 Vert.
    • Deals unevadable, mitigation-ignored [200 * number of empty equipment slots] damage
    • Can trigger counter-reactions, Nature’s Wrath, and Shirahadori
    • Does not work against monsters or fully equipped (all 5 equipment slots occupied) units
    •  700 JP Cost
    • NOTE: Forced two-handing weapons still treats the opposite off/main hand as “empty”
      This skill is inspired by FFIX. Though Steal Limelight by design wasn’t problematic, I felt that Thief needed access to a damage skill, but more so unique in a way that fits their theme. Thievery has the highest damage potential suitable for mid/late game finishes and caters towards teams that build more for Stealing and Renting equipment.
      
• Summon
  • Titan – Added a 19% Inflicts: Confuse
    
• Bardsong
  • Rousing Melody – Uses Seraph Song effect to display “Haste” bestowal per target
    This change is to improve messaging for which units gained Haste instead of needing to check the status screen or faster marching.
    
• Dance
  • Mincing Minuet – This ability can additionally trigger Nature’s Wrath since it is considered physical damage
    
• Darkness
  • Unholy Sacrifice:
    • This ability now calculates using [MA + (0.5 * maxHP)] instead of [(MA * MA) + (0.13 * maxHP)]
    • Reduced the Recoil from 60 to 40%
      This nerf to this skill is to push its use case more towards bulkier units and less MA-stacking. This directly benefits female DK, which the original changes were meant to target.

R/S/M Abilities

• NEW Status Boost (formerly Halve MP, assigned to Summon skillset and innate to Blue Mage):
  • Increases the 19% status chance of applicable abilities by 8% (increases the 19 to 27%)
  • This includes abilities like Nether Mantra, Animas, “Lv. 1” Summons and Odin, Geomancy, Iaido, or even the proc from abilities like poison status from Black Magicks’s Fire or Dragon Tech’s Fire Breath; abilities that have an auxiliary status proc chance to hit
  • This excludes abilities that are focused on status chance, such as Spellblade, Mystic Arts, Doom Fist, Beso Toxico, etc.
  • 300 JP Cost
    A new support ability to those who enjoy Geomancy, Iaido, or just want to gamble with chance to get more status capabilities off and turn the tides of battle.
    
• Halve MP – Now hardcoded to Summoner job and replaced by Status Boost above
  Though hardcoding Halve MP gets rid of future accessible slotting, the decision to do away with Halve MP comes with the simple question of “how often would you ever slot this in Support if not already a Summoner?”
  
• Dragonheart, Fury, Magick Boost, and Adrenaline Rush – These reactions can no longer trigger from allied damage (this also includes from original allies, even if under charm/confuse)
  This update addresses some commonly used Reactions that can no longer benefit from team-damage to ensure triggering only on opposition interaction and reduce some “gray areas” where these were used before.
  
• First Strike:
  • No longer cancels the applicable attack or ability entirely and resumes it second after your “first strike” occurs. Your counterattacks this way are unevadable
  • Added Throw context to Help since this command is weapon-ranged
    This change could be considered a nerf to functionality, but it is ultimately to get this reaction to its verbose intention; you strike first, and the attacker goes second instead of never even having a chance to do so, while now enabling unevadable counterattacks by you, giving space to finish them off before they follow up.
    
• Shirahadori – Updated the hit rate and forecast context to “set to 40%” instead of “set to 60%” to improve the accuracy of the math behind determining how this ability functions (it does 100 – 60 = 40%).
  Thank you for the suggestion @guitarmanager. 
  
• Nature’s Wrath – This ability no longer targets allies within the AoE
  A small quality of life change to this reaction to avoid potentially statusing/damaging them if they were near the offender. Don’t sleep on it!
  
• Concentration – Additionally increases the magical hit rate of abilities by 50% of the target’s total magic evasion additively
  Concentration works for all hit rate types now, both offensive and status magicks, and evadable physical attacks and abilities too.
  
• Safeguard – Additionally, fully prevents CT loss from abilities like Stall or Last Waltz
  
• Catch Projectiles – Successful evasion of arrows, guns, or harps will now display as “Caught” and not “Missed” (and to note this does not add those items to the inventory magically)

Blue Magicks, Monsters, and Monster Abilities

• Monster Class-Evasion (C-EV) Updates
  • All Monsters’ C-EV now also affects evadable magic hit rates
    This buff to monsters is to treat their C-EV as a means to allow the ability to passively dodge incoming evadable magicks from all sides (physical still only from the front unless they have Dexterity) due to their shortcomings of non-equipment.
    
  • Treant Family:
    • Added 10% C-EV to all members
      
  • Malboro Family:
    • Added 8% C-EV to Malboro and Greater Malboro
    • Added 12% C-EV to Ochu
      
  • Hydra Family:
    • Added 8% C-EV to Hydra
    • Added 6% C-EV to Greater Hydra
    • Added 5% C-EV to Tiamat 
      
• 👺Goblin Family:
  • Black Goblin – Increased HPM from 94 to 114%
  • Gobbledygook – Increased HPM from 98 to 118%
  • Added Blind, Stop, and Sleep immunities
    This family had no prior elemental mitigation or immunities, unlike others, so this is overdue. 
    
• 😼Cat Family:
  • Coeurl
    • Increased Move from 4 to 5
    • Increased HPM from 91% to 102%
  • Vampire Cat:
    • Increased Move from 3 to 5
    • Increased HPM from 99% to 108%
      
  • REWORKED Ambush (formerly Claw – Cat family):
    • This ability now prevents the target’s reactions when used
    • Uses [PA * 16] and physically evadable
    • This excludes Reflexes as the evasion increase is “an applied stat at battle start.”
      A little change to make our felines more fierce.
      
  • Venom Fang (Red Panther and Coeurl):
    • This ability now deals 30% of the target’s max. HP in damage in addition to Slow and Poison infliction
    • This ability is now magically evadable instead of physically evadable
    • This ability will still not trigger counter-reactions, even with this change
      
  • Cat Scratch (Cat family):
    • Change calc from [1…15 * PWR] to martial arts [(PA + PWR) / 2 * PA]
    • Decreased PWR from 15 to 3
    • Added a 19% Chance to Inflict: Berserk, Doom 
    • This ability can now 10% critically strike due to the change to martial arts calc
      Having a pseudo Throw Dagger ultimately did not measure up to this ability’s potential, so I changed it to lean more towards what a cat scratch could cause: either you getting rabies or a serious open wound that will lead to your demise.
      
• 🦅Bird Family:
  • Jura Aevis:
    • Increased HPM from 114 to 120%
    • Increased PAM from 115 to 129% (approx. +4 PA)
  • Steelhawk:
    • Increased HPM from 98 to 108%
    • Increased PAM from 122 to 130%
    • Replaced Attack Boost with Brawler (Talon Dive damage increase)
  • Cockatrice – Increased HPM from 101 to 114%
  • Glitterlust – Now fully reduces CT to zero instead of 30, and increased the Range from 1 to 2
    
• 👻Ghost Family:
  • Ghast – Increased HPM from 96 to 102% (approx. +40 HP)
  • Ghoul – Added Drain Touch as a 3rd ability
  • Revenant:
    • Added Sleep Touch as a 3rd ability
    • Replaced Teleport with Master Teleportation (only one in family capable)
      
• Ahriman Family:
  • Bewitching Gaze (Ahriman and Plague Horror):
    • Increased PWR from 45 to 70 to ensure this ability has a 100% base chance based on the monster’s average MA. This ability is still physically evadable
    • Removed Blind infliction to increase the eligibility of a better negative effect rolled
    • Corrected the Help menu for this ability so that it is 1 out of 5 debuffs at random
      
• 🐷Swine Family:
  • Wild Boar – Increased HPM from 132 to 164% (approx. +110 HP)
    
• 🐂Minotaur Family:
  • Wisenkin and Minotaur – Replaced Counter with Shirahadori
  • Sekhret:
    • Added innate Instant Cast
    • Replaced hidden ability Breathe Fire with Titan (Summon)
    • Replaced Counter with Nature’s Wrath
      
• 🌳Treant Family:
  • Added Immobilize immunity to all members
  • Treant:
    • Decreased MAM from 64 to 50% (approx. -5 MA)
    • Added innate Status Boost (now Cup of Life, Status Boost, Lifefont)
    • Replaced 3rd ability, Magick Nymph with Earthsplitter
  • Elder Treant – Added innate Defense Boost (now Cup of Life, Arcane Defense, Defense Boost)
  • Leaf Rain – Added 19% Inflict: Sleep per target
  • Guardian Nymph – Increased PWR from 10 to 20
    
• 🥗Malboro Family:
  • Added Bio (Black Magicks) to all as a 3rd ability. Note that monsters are excluded from MP costs when cast from self. This ability still has a cast time.
  • Malboro – Replaced Bonecrusher with Replenish
  • Greater Malboro:
    • Decreased MP Growth from 30 to 8 (requires rehiring)
    • Increased MPM from 10 to 145% (approx. starting 145 MP)
    • Replaced Replenish with Magick Counter
      
• 🐲Hydra Family:
  • Tiamat – Decreased MAM from 120 to 110% (approx. -2 average MA)
    This is to reduce some of the damage potential its skillset has, also factoring that it has the best MA growth out of the family, which in turn means it was always going to be the strongest magically.
    
• Blue Magicks
  • Replaced Cat Scratch with Goblin Rush. The ability will automatically appear as automatically learned for campaign progression if you had it formerly acquired.
  • Earthsplitter – Added 19% Inflict: Immobilize and increased Vert. from 1 to 2
  • Vampire – Increased Vert. from 1 to 2
  • Spark – This ability can now critically strike and added Help text that specifies it damages the caster
    

Equipment – Weapons

• Crossbows
  • Glacial Bow – Now Casts: Ice Anima instead of Blizzara
  • Boltsnipe – Now Casts: Thunder Anima instead of Thundara
    
• Poles
  • Eight-Fluted Pole – Additionally Removes: Undead, Vampire, Confuse, Charm, and Sleep
    Attacks with this weapon now remove any negative effect except KO and Chicken, making it a prime choice for spot removal if the opportunity arises.
    
• Rods
  • Dragon Rod:
    • Changed Element from Dark to Holy
    • Replaced Casts: Dark Whisper with Casts: Holy Breath (Reis) at [(MA + PWR) / 2 * MA], note this ability does not multi-hit
    • Updated the palette 
      
• Staves
  • White Staff:
    • Now restores 30% of the target’s max. HP if an applicable status was found and removed (similar to the old version of Dragon’s Gift)
    • Additionally Removes: Confuse, Vampire, Curse, Blind, and Silence (note that this weapon does not cleanse as many statuses as Eight-Fluted Pole)
    • This attack will zero out if no applicable statuses are found
    • The healing from this attack deals damage to the undead
      
  • Nirvana – Additionally Bestows: Haste on hit
    This weapon grants a unique way to get guaranteed, instant Haste on to others without fail, in addition to Protect and Shell. With Haste’s effective Speed being lowered to 25%, this weapon can now provide the means to do so.

Equipment – Gear

• [Rare] Item Flagging – Cursed Shield, Cursed Armor, Cursed Garb, and Cursed Robe are flagged as Rare, removing the ability for these gear options to appear on randomly generated units
  
• Heavy Armor
  • Platinum Armor (campaign only) – Increased +HP from 150 to 160 and added Initial: Protect, Shell
    This change is so that there is both an option of heavy armor protect/shell for solo play (after saving Rapha in Ch. 3), and so that I can generate AI units with it since Peytral is considered an MP item.
    
• Accessories
  • Garment Ring:
    • No longer grants Perform command, which contained all of Bardsong and Dance
    • Now adds Bardsong if female gender, Dance if male gender, or Perform (both Bardsong and Dance) if Onion Knight job as a quaternary command (note that to avoid learned skillset issues, Mincing Minuet and Life’s Anthem are in the first ability slot and not the second)
    • Increases the chance of primary (skillset) Bardsong or Dance by 5% if Bard or Dancer job
      This major rework of this accessory is based on feedback regarding Bard and Dancer jobs since the original version was released. The ring intended to enable cross-gender performances, after a very thorough (and lengthy lol) discussion with @acook10 @wngman @guitarmanager, they helped address Garment Ring’s pain points regarding Bard and Dancer jobs, notably full access to both skillsets and creating redundancy for Bard or Dancer to utilize.
      
      This now grants the opposite gender’s Bardsong or Dance, so the original intention is still in effect, but now requires you to either be a Bard or Dancer to get the full ability list – or – slot Bardsong or Dance as a secondary to do so. This change also gives Bards and Dancers a buff and a reason to use the ring, as they have even further hit rates, factoring in their innate Performing Arts.
      
  • Jade Armlet – Replaced Undead immunity with Curse immunity
    
  • Cherche – Decreased the MP restored from 20 to 18%
    This slight nerf is to bring Cherche a bit closer to Manafont and increase demand a bit more towards max. MP to make up for it.
    
  • Tynar Rouge – Decreased +Power and Magick from 2 to 1
    This is to claw back some of the damage potential this accessory provides while still being a staple item due to the volume of buffs it provides. Notably, this does hit certain “even numbers” checkpoints, which may require some re-assessing or Genji Gloves, for example, to make up for it.

Practice Mode

• This update introduces The Yuguewood as an additional Practice Mode location, purposeful for testing your teams against pre-configured AI comps, but on more neutral terrain
• Araguay Woods is now called “Practice – One” and The Yuguewood “Practice – Two” on the World Map
• Practice Mode teams specifically now have previously inaccessible multiplayer gear equipped, allowing for more diverse teams. Some gear updates to Practice One teams also happened with this new addition, such as Agrias now having Tynar Rouge instead of Bracer
  
• Practice-Two – West Team (from Riovannes Castle)
  • Delita – Dancer or Ninja, Orator, White Mage, Geomancer, or Mystic
  • Beowulf – Dragoon, Thief, Time Mage or Archer, Bard or Samurai
  • Balthier – Bard or Thief, Squire, Chemist, Blue Mage, or Knight
  • Rapha – Dark Knight or Monk, Archer, Black Mage, Sage, or Knight
    
• Practice-Two – East Team (From Yardrow)
  • Marach – White Mage, Geomancer, Dark Knight or Knight, Chemist or Bard
  • Reis – Bard, Dancer, Onion Knight or Ninja, Monk or Summoner
  • Luso – Behemoth, Blue Mage, Thief  + 1 randomly of: Red Chocobo, Black Chocobo, Sekhret, Mindflayer, Tiamat, Red Panther, Gobbledygook, Grenade, Pig, Floating Eye, Dryad, or Dragon 
  • Alma – Dark Knight, Onion Knight, Thief or Archer, Dragoon or Dancer
    
• Practice-Two – Special Encounter Team (only from Yardrow)
  • Agrias, Aerith, Mustadio, Construct 8 or Elidibus, Cloud or Ashley
    • Cloud’s weapon is randomized, and Ashley’s weapon and shield are randomized as well
      
• Practice-One Updates
  • Gear adjustments to various units take advantage of multiplayer items
  • Cloud Team (East) – Replaced Squire (M) with Blue Mage (M)
  • Aerith Team (East) – Replaced Monk (F) with Blue Mage (F)
  • Meliadoul Team (East) – Fixed Meliadoul not being able to use Jump

Incremental Update v5.3.1

And we’re back! This incremental update resolves known issues with v5.3, adds some Mustadio and Balthier buffs, and updates/improves select Help menu text.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved the Melee Mode War Funds gil lost post-melee issue. You may safely continue a Melee without loss of Gil as intended, allowing for quicker in-between games (and as a reminder, inventory losses or changes are restored post-melee)
  
• Pierce support ability no longer increases the damage done by Gravija or any ability that uses its formula
  
• Added break chance bypass for Iaido with Magick Counter to fix a bug that could cause a “__shattered!” because the game was unable to fetch the proper Item ID this way

Quality of Life Updates

• UI Updates
  • Monsters’ hidden abilities are now also viewable while in the Deployment screen
    
• Text Updates
  • Renamed all of Meliadoul’s Unyielding Strike abilities to their PSX equivalents (and renamed Crush Shield to Omen Fang, ty for the suggestion @tzepish) 
  • Help: Added critical chance labels to Rend Power/Magick/Speed, Beam, Skill Drain, and Disassemble since the damage they could deal also had a chance to strike critically
  • Help: Corrected Cat Scratch Help PWR from 3 to 4
  • Help: Corrected Cloths showing that Blue Mage can equip (they cannot innately)
  • Help: Added “Radius: 1” to abilities that use Weapon Range
  • Help: Added missing “Curse” text to White Staff’s list of cleanses
  • Help: Determined and updated the accurate Dark Whisper status chance as 5% each instead of 25%. This ability adheres to the normal 19% proc rate, which then determines the infliction rate at 25% of the base 19% value, rounding up to 5 (from 4.75).

Action Abilities

• Aimed Shot (Mustadio)
  • Leg Shot and Arm Shot – Increased PWR from 50 to 60
    Mitigation lowers their hit%, so this is to compensate for that, plus a marginal buff to mustard’s staple skills.
    
  • Seal Evil:
    • Decreased PWR from 70 to 65
    • Additionally can stone Vampire and Curse-affected units
      
  • Recharge – Is now Weapon Ranged instead of 3 Range (this also means it can strike twice with dual wield)
    These buffs to Aimed Shot are to bring them a bit more up to snuff and to improve Mustadio’s viability with his abilities, as well as providing better use-cases for his abilities that see rarer play.
    
• Piracy (Balthier)
  • Elem. of Treachery:
    • Elem. of Treachery can no longer target allies
    • Increased PWR from 20 to 22
      
  • Fires of War:
    • Fires of War can no longer target allies
    • Changed calculations from Martial Arts [(PA + PWR) / 2 * PA] to Geomancy [(PA + PWR) / 2 * MA]
    • Increased PWR from 12 to 14
    • This ability is no longer weapon ranged and is instead Iaido-like at 2 Range, 2 Vert.
    • Since it is now classified as magic damage, it can no longer trigger counter-reactions but can now trigger Magick Counter (including Nature’s Wrath)
    • This ability can no longer critically strike
      
  • Tides of Fate:
    • Can no longer target allies
    • Increased PWR from 15 to 17 to better justify the higher MP cost
      
• Fundaments
  • Taunt – Changed the effect to White Talk Skill for better smack-talking accuracy

Monsters

• Behemoth – Fixed Move from 3 to 4; this was supposed to have been 4, so it might have been a patch save issue prior
  
• Sekhret – Decreased PAM from 173 to 143% (approx. -5 Power)
  This was helping to enable a high amount of Nature’s Wrath potential – still factoring that it has access to Beef Up without Beastmaster.

Incremental Update v5.3.2

This second incremental update to v5.3 addresses a few more minor, but important fixes and changes, adds a requested feature of the Jump ability showing the number of turns until you land from the menu, and some buffs to our favorite robot, Construct 8. This is the last update to v5.3 as focus shifts towards For Glory! and other community endeavors.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the visual text bug with status Iaido stating “Osafune Shattered!” if its corresponding katana broke upon cast
  
• Fixed a softlock from the original game that revolved around having Fly movement ability + Float status while mounting a chocobo (credit to @Tzepish for this fix) 

Quality of Life Updates

• UI Updates
  • Jump (from slotting Dragon Tech) is now treated as a skillset instead of strictly a command, providing the number of turns before the Jump lands and allowing for the use of the Left/Right D-Pad Turn List window as well (credit to @Nyzer for the PSX version and @Tzepish for assisting me in this hack)
    Another QoL request from the original game, being able to view the number of turns before a Jump lands instead of mathing out the Jump Time and Speeds between the jumper and target.
    
• Text Updates
  • Additional improvements in Help menus and spacing
  • Corrected Nether Mantra’s PWR in calcs, it is 4 PWR, not 3

Jobs

• Automaton (Construct 8)
  • Increased Move from 3 to 4
    C8’s limited 3 Move made it harder to generally engage with its melee capabilities. Keeping in mind its former range reduction of Dispose in consideration, this increased Move is to help it get around easier and allow it to get better positioning for attacks or Pulverize in later game situations.

Action Abilities

• Unyielding Strike (Meliadoul)
  • Reordered the ability list so that it matches the normal Equipment List, making it (hopefully) easier to determine which ability destroys which slot, while retaining the community-voted change of the PSX naming. This may take some time to adjust to if you are used to the original order:
    • Hellcry Punch (weapon)
    • Omen Fang (shield)
    • Blastar Punch (head)
    • Shellbust Stab (armor)
    • Icewolf Bite (accessory)
      
• Tasks (Construct 8)
  • Salvo – Construct 8 can no longer target itself for this ability to fix an issue with recoil sometimes not being applied
    
  • Pulverize – Increased Range from 1 to 2, Vert. from 1 to 2, flagged Linear Range (remains t-shaped) and Direct
    Pulverize deals less damage versus unmitigated normal attacks at the cost of recoil, but undodgeable, so this gives more options for C8 to use when in melee range of a threat.

Equipment – Weapons

• Shields
  • Genji Shield:
    • Changed the palette to match it closer to Genji Armor & Gloves
    • Additionally, updated the flavor text as it is no longer “pitch-black” but now “vermillion”
      A set of Genji gear can now be fully fashionably attired.

Incremental Update v5.3.3

The third incremental update to v5.3 addresses an issue with inventories restoring to their original state after a multiplayer game has ended. This fix is part of efforts to no longer need to restart the emulator/save data after every game and should be the last “bug” associated with this QoL.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the inventory failing to restore its prior backup after Melee mode. Consumables, item breaks/steals, katana breaks, etc., all restore to their prior state and quantity as originally intended

With the upcoming Competitive v5.3 Update soon to be released on December 22nd, this article goes over an important change to the Mime job and why the course has been set to transition it as a Blue Mage, another well-known job in the Final Fantasy universe. Let’s take a deeper dive into what this means for the job change, the reasoning behind this change, and the future of Blue Mage and competitive Tactics PvP.

Why the Job Change?

First, I want to preface that for the few that enjoyed Mime and utilizing their powerful mimicry (which allowed them to copy generic abilities and attacks right after an ally performed them), I understand this change comes as rough news and changes up some of the deeper-driven strategies you utilize in your party by having Mime(s). If the means existed to just add a job instead of overwriting one, that would have been the route easily taken, but please take a moment to understand the reasoning for this job shift:

• Mimicry imposes a “grey area” that enables a player to effectively gain extra actions that do not count towards the 40-action limit. In a competitive environment where every action counts towards a limited amount shared between both players, this can and has led to, on numerous accounts, a lopsided advantage towards the player who has Mimes versus a player that does not. This does not always mean “Having Mimes = Win.” At the sake of fairness, mimicry fits well in single-player, but for PvP, it can create balancing issues.
  
• At the start of version 5, Mime gained access to a usable skillset in Blue Magicks. This was the first part of “Mimes to Blue Mages,” but still retained their mimicry capabilities back then and additionally gained limited equipment as well. This change is to complete the initial work that was done to Mime and to fully flesh out those changes while aiming to ensure Blue Mage remains competitive and fun to use, even without mimicry.
  
• With numerous efforts being made to support monsters as fully viable and capable allies for PvP, comparatively to the original game and even the earlier versions of the mod, Blue Mage thematically fits the theme and synergizes with bringing monster support through innate Beastmaster (this was a carryover from Mime), as well as being able to become customizable with abilities. Even if you don’t use monsters in your party, Blue Mages can hold their own without fear of misplays that could be caused by mimicry, allowing for a broader audience to explore and understand them.

A Deeper Look at Blue Mage

Blue Mage has big shoes to fill, and even though it won’t fully replace Mime in essence and their ability to mimic previous actions, they are a force to be reckoned with; not necessarily the best at damage, but moreso the status and control game. They have gone through the full rework treatment – new abilities, gear choices, and even new sprites too! A big credit to Elric (originally from the Journey of the Five mod – Final Fantasy Hacktics community) for the amazing “Animist” sprites used for Blue Mage.

First, let’s look at their innate abilities. They have Beastmaster, which enables the unlocking of all ally monsters’ hidden abilities regardless of location. They also have Concentration, which not only increases your hit rate by 50% physically of the target’s evasion, but also affects magics as well with this update. And lastly, they have a new support ability, Status Boost, which increases the 19% chance of statuses to 27% instead, great for Ice Anima’s Slow, Earthsplitter’s new Immobilize chance, and even Heave’s KO. This additionally works with other abilities like Geomancy, Iaido, and even Black Magicks, but does not enhance the hit rate of Spellblade or Speechcraft, for example.

Next up, their equipment options. Blue Mages have a variety of equipment choices with Knives, Rods, Swords, Shields, Hats, Clothing, Robes, and, of course, all regular accessories (where Mime was limited in accessories previously). The amount of customization and build choice is certainly not limited with this job.

Unveiling the Preview Team and Their Favorite Blue

Starting with the v5.3 update and onward, a group of hand-selected members in the Tactics League Discord were invited to privately test this update, provide feedback on changes, and help shape the future for both Blue Mage and other changes coming alongside this update. The v5.3 Preview Team was composed of @TheCountess, @Guitarmanager, @WngMan, @acook10, and @DUBZONLY. Preview members are only invited to test and help iterate the upcoming changes on a “per update basis.” Being actively involved with the community and helping others can net you an invitation in the future, too!

As the Preview Phase was wrapping up, some of them shared their favorite Blue Mage build and why they enjoyed playing it to help give some ideas once this patch is released for you all to explore as well!

Countess

“Status Quo”
Blue Mage has become a personal favorite job of mine for a slew of reasons, and I’d like to explain why with a favorite build of mine! With Blue Mage coming equipped with “Status Boost” as an innate ability, I’m personally someone who enjoys the disruption and initiating route when it comes to battles! Blue Magicks offers a nice set of different ways to status your opponent out, from Slow, to KO, to Vampire, Immobilize, and more!

With status boost increasing our 19% chance abilities to now have a 27% chance, this mage also comes equipped with the “Iaido” skillset as well. While your damage isn’t anything grand, don’t let that stop you from Iaido being a nice way to deal with units surrounding you, or ones who happened to stay a bit too grouped up together. And having “Safeguard” further helps this out, by not only keeping her gear safe for the most part, it also offers her Iaido abilities a lower chance of breaking! For a reaction ability, I find Nature’s Wrath to be a solid option, because Geomancy abilities also fall into the “19% status” category!

And lastly, she comes equipped with a lovely Ebon Blade and Nu Khai Armband to boost not only the initial hit, but the following Unholy Darkness, which has a possible chance to inflict a poor soul with the Curse status! And thanks to Blue Mage’s having innate “Concentration,” this makes using proc-based weapons a good option when thinking about your weapon of choice. All around, this Blue Mage’s goal isn’t to do an absurd amount of damage but instead to try and remain a constant nuisance to the enemy team by attempting to inflict them with different and multiple status effects depending on the situation! The innate “Beastmaster” is also a nice little cherry on top if you choose to run a monster or two on your team! Just remember, give her a nice protect/shell before sending her into battle!

---

Guitarmanager

“Lady Death”
Lady Death takes advantage of the Status boost from Blue Mage for increased status chances in Iaido (Ashura 😈).

Running up against a character with Ribbon, then give Ama-no-Murakumo a shot for a chance at cursing them. Construct 8, no problem, just go for a Muramasa for that sweet confusion proc. She also has some nice support abilities that shouldn’t be slept on for healing, buffing, and status removal.

Mind blast is a great ability for shutting down a lot of units, but it works particularly well for dealing with mages and support characters. If the blue mage gets low, Goblin Punch deals a ton of single-target damage, especially when rocking a high HP blue mage with Angel ring/Dragonheart.

---

DUBZ

“Quale”
Quale was named after the character, Quinna, from FFIX (which was also a Blue Mage-type of character). This build is centered around the idea of using Cashmere attacks for guaranteed Disable & Immobilize with Chantage or Mystic Arts; generally just being a pest with the numerous status skills both Blue Magicks and Mystic Arts have. Innate Concentration also helps with landing both regular attacks and even Mystic Arts casting. I didn’t get a ton of testing in with this build but it is a really fun way to interrupt the opposition.