Category Guide

Academy is a new, guided approach to helping newcomers to Final Fantasy Tactics or story-experienced players learn the important steps to fast-track their success in Tactics League PvP.

Headed, in part, by Tactics League member, Mistral, who now goes by The Countess, This program is split into five courses, ranging from basic teambuilding and getting familiar with unique characters and generic jobs, to testing your new team into Practice Mode, refining the team some more to improve it, and eventually working your way into setting up ZeroTier and having your first Melee, which is the PvP mode.

Academy is a Tactics League Discord-exclusive program as it is also entwined with various channels and links to help you throughout your curriculum.

If you have ever been interested in trying out our PvP offerings, join the Tactics League Discord, experience Academy, and be the next competitive challenger!

Today, we release a PvP Patch update that includes making changes to FFT WotL’s Rendezvous mode (co-op) to be up-to-date with the changes and additions we have for Melee mode and setting up Rendezvous for a more challenging experience than ever before.

To read about all of the Rendezvous changes: check out our Rendezvous Guide.

✅Setting Expectations and Endgame Rendezvous

The goal with these changes to Rendezvous missions is to set them to “endgame-level” rather than how they were originally designed based on them being unlocked through story progression. Similarly to how Tactics League’s PvP is considered endgame, this mode is also getting the treatment; making a fun and more challenging experience when coupled with the balancing of the PvP Patch. This is what to expect when playing with our modified version of Rendezvous:

• Missions are considered “endgame” instead of being originally based on the main story progression and party level.
• Includes all of the changes from the PvP Patch, including balancing, Weapon Power standardization, item limitations, jobs and abilities unlocked, gear gender equality, and some skillset changes, such as the reworked Aim.
• NPCs are all set to Level 99, with all generic units set to 60 Bravery and Faith.
• Bosses and unique characters will have their own uniquely set Bravery and Faith.
• Most NPCs have Protect/Shell gear to further their resilience.
• NPCs are all assigned abilities and gear instead of it being randomized.
• NPCs will have a random zodiac sign, but because the Tactics League-defined party roster is all Serpentarius, there is always neutral compatibility.

⚙️User Interface Changes

In addition to updating the missions with the PvP Patch changes, some of the UI elements were also updated. The flavor text has been removed for updated missions and will now display the mission’s objective and 5-star conditions. Missions that are currently updated will also have a BETA tag associated with the mission name to communicate which ones have been changed, starting with the first five as of the version 3.4 Beta update. Once we have made adjustments based on feedback and we are out of this current beta phase in its entirety, the BETA tags will be removed during the official update.

🏆Challenges Ahead

As previously discussed in a past article, the long-term goal is to create a competitive scoring and leaderboard system for Rendezvous. Harnessing the changes sought by the community via the PvP Patch, we can make a better, balanced, and impactful Rendezvous for all that will require strategy and careful planning to get those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and bragging rights once we have a leaderboard system in place.

If you have not joined the Tactics League Discord, this is definitely the time to hop in, playtest with other members with these new beta missions as they continue to be updated, provide feedback, and really put your strategic skills to the test in what is easily the hardest PvE battles you will ever come across in Final Fantasy Tactics.

Elemental affinities play a role in Final Fantasy Tactics’s story and an even more significant role in PvP. This article covers the intricacies of how these affinities work and what each type of bonus does in combat.

Table of Contents
● Different Types of Elements
● Elemental Modifiers (Boost, Halve, Absorb, Negate, Weak)
● Status Effects and Weather
● Equipment with Elemental Support

Different Types of Elements

In Final Fantasy Tactics, there are eight elements: fire, lightning, ice, water, wind, earth, holy, and dark. By themselves, they don’t mean much other than the type of damage they are considered, but once you factor gear or if you are going up against a monster things can change quickly.

Most monsters in the game are weak to a particular element and may be resistant to others. This is where elemental affinities can become an advantage in the story. In the Monsters Premade format for PvP, one of the main focuses on the roster is using elemental advantages to deal double damage so you can bring down your opponent twice as fast.

We will explore how you can take elements one step further by going more into modifiers.

Elemental Modifiers

There are five types of modifiers that can either increase or reduce or eliminate elemental damage: boost, halve, absorb, negate, and weak. It is important to know how they function especially in PvP as this can deter or enhance the damage you deal to your opponent’s team! We will cover what each one does below:
● Boost – Increases the damage done with the element by 25%.
● Halve – Decreases the damage taken from the element by 50%.
● Absorb – Restores HP instead of taking damage from the element. Whatever the damage total would be is healed instead.
● Negate – Nullifies all damage taken from the element.
● Weak – Increases the damage taken from the element by 50%.

These modifiers do not stack with themselves. For example, having 2 Boost: Fire does not mean 50% damage but still only increases your fire damage by 25%. The same applies to halve, absorb, negate, and weak.

Status Effects and Weather

Some status effects and even weather conditions can play a role in elemental affinities. Though we won’t go into too much regarding weather since we published an in-depth weather guide already, we will instead highlight weather interactions as well as how some status effects here below:
● Float status – Immune to earth attacks while also being treated 1 height higher.
● Oil status – Take double the damage from fire attacks. This status is removed once fire damage is taken.
● Thunderstorm – Fire damage dealt decreased by 25% and lightning damage dealt increased by 25%.
● Snowstorm – Ice damage dealt increased by 25%.

Equipment with Elemental Support

Now that we have gone over the types of elements and modifiers that can affect them, let’s go over the gear in the game that either deals its damage as a particular element or has a modifier built-in:

Did you know that certain weather conditions can actually affect battles? In this article, we go over how the random elements of weather can play a role in battles and how you should take advantage of it if you come across it.

What Are Weather Effects and the Ivalician Calendar

Weather effects can occur randomly on outdoor maps only and have a few positive and negative effects depending on the weather. Weather cannot stop or change once it has been started. Here are a few tidbits regarding weather depending on the mode you are playing Final Fantasy Tactics in:

● In story missions and multiplayer Rendezvous mode, each battle has its weather determined and is not randomized.
● In random battles, the weather is considered random and follows the Ivalician calendar. In multiplayer Melee mode, weather on outdoor maps is considered random and does not seem to follow the Ivalician calendar.
● Indoor maps and the Midnight Deep dungeon cannot have weather. There are also no accuracy penalties against Bow and Crossbow attacks in these locations.

Ivalician Calendar

Chance for Weather (Day or Night)

Clear Weather (Indoor and Outdoor)

Weather can sometimes not occur on an outdoor map and it cannot happen at all on indoor maps. All indoor maps are treated as “clear” as well as the Midnight Deep dungeon areas.
● During night-time with clear weather, the evasion rate against Bows and Crossbow attacks is multiplied by 1.80. Note: Midnight Deep does not increase the evasion rate against Bows and Crossbows even though the area appears dark.

Rainstorms and Thunderstorms

Rainstorms and thunderstorms are both similar in nature; the game depicts them as heavy rainfall and thunderstorms add flashes occasionally to the background to indicate it as such. The following positive and negative effects occur during rainstorms and thunderstorms:
● Evasion rate against Bows and Crossbows attacks are multiplied by 1.33 (or 1.80 if at night).
● Fire-element damage is reduced by 25%.
● Lightning-element damage is increased by 25%.
● Movement through swamp tiles costs 2 Move per tile in rainstorms and 3 Move per tile in thunderstorms. These movement penalties can be ignored via Mystic’s Ignore Weather movement ability.
● Don’t be confused by light rain, it is depicted as slower-moving rainfall animations and is considered “clear” weather, causing no positive or negative effects.

Snowstorms and Light Snow

Battles that take place on snowy terrain have a chance to cause light snow or snowstorms. When either of these weather conditions occurs the following takes place:
● Snowstorms are depicted by horizontal and vertical snowfall animations and increase the damage of all ice-element attacks by 25%.
● Light snow is depicted by only vertical snowfall animations and is treated as “clear” weather.

Are you looking to get into your first Competitive Starter game? A seasoned Tactics PvP player looking for some tips for your next Starter matchup? This article gives some essential tips to help lead you to your upcoming victory in this fast-paced format.

💊 Buff-Up Early

With the Competitive Starter format being considered an endgame-based PvP mode with access to endgame gear, it is even more important to get your defenses and other beneficial effects early onto your team so they can perform and sustain damage as best as they can. Some of the best ways to go about this are to either:

● Use Iaido’s Kiyomori to provide Protect and Shell (33% damage mitigation from physical and magick attacks).
● Use Iaido’s Masamune to provide Haste and Regen (faster turns and passive healing over time).
● Equip gear that has Protect, Shell, or Haste innately, such as Lordly Robe or Brigand’s Glove.

📑Team Composition and Adjusting to the Map

The overall goal of your 5-unit team and how they synergize is very important, but also don’t forget that the map plays a role in certain picks as well. Small maps, such as Lionel Castle Oratory, are very close-quartered and the opponent is usually in range to strike first turn if they plan to, so bringing slower characters or builds that require set-up time is not ideal. As a suggestion, usually have 1 or 2 extra units set up to swap in quickly into your team concept.

⚔️Know the Meta Abilities

In the current (and likely foreseeable future) metagame, there are 3 commonly used skillsets: Darkness, Iaido, and Throw. Each of these abilities can easily hit hard so knowing how to prepare against them is one part of the battle ahead and we will briefly go over each one and a few counters:

● Darkness – Skillset is entirely physical damage so Protect or Defense Boost support ability are the best defensive options.
● Iaido – This magick-based skillset’s damage can be mitigated using Shell or Arcane Defense support ability.
● Throw – This physical damage ability scales up with the user’s Speed as well as the damage of the thrown weapon. Lowering the target’s Speed is one way such as Rend Speed, but damage can also can be mitigated through Protect, Defense Boost, and the summon Golem. Also to note that Throw is evadable whereas Darkness and Iaido are not, so Shirahadori reaction ability and good evasion stats play a role as well.

⚠️Glass-Cannon is Not Always Best

Sure, in Competitive Starter you can opt for your builds for full damage or stat-stacking well into 30+ Physical or Magick Attack to do some insane damage, but you run the risk of being frail and if your opponent is defensively built or can slow the pace of the game down through status effects, you may quickly become crippled in offensive power and lose your damage-specced units as a result. Here are some tips to consider:

● The map will play a role in how risky you can spec for a glass-cannon-like build.
● Outside of team-comp predictions, it is typically ideal to have at least 2 units be fairly bulky; meaning they have a marginally high amount of HP, elemental or status resistances, and passive recovery methods, such as Manafont + Mana Shield, Soulbind, or even Lifefont to keep them sustaining damage.
● If you are running full damage specs, consider using Ovelia for her Aegis (for reraise specifically), slotting Dragonheart reaction, or using White Magicks to apply Reraise instead.

Hopefully, these tips get you on the road to success in your next Starter match. If looking for more ways to get prepared for the format, also check out the Starter: Abilities for Any Team guide for additional resources.

Looking at making your first Competitive Starter team? Already have one but looking for tips to improve it? This article covers the abilities that are battle-tested and should be considered when theory-crafting your next PvP squad. We will break each section by ability type and you can jump to each one using the table of contents below. Now, let’s get right to it.

YouTube video/audio version of this guide: https://youtu.be/l6QvfMG0KU4

Action Abilities

Iaido

● Kiyomori – For Protect and Shell; 33% damage reduction from physical and magical attacks.
● Masamune – For Regen and Haste; healing-over-time at the end of each of your turns and faster turns to act more frequently.
● Chirijiraden – Strong melee area magic damage.
● Kiku-ichimonji – Strong line-based magic damage up to 8 tiles away.

Darkness

● Sanguine Sword – HP sustainability and damage while in melee range.
● Unholy Sacrifice – Considered a “bomb,” deals a ton of damage in melee but the caster also takes a ton of damage in return; good against tight formations.

Summon

● Golem – Covers all allies with a damage shield equal to the caster’s max HP that absorbs damage from basic attacks, Throw, Jump, and Aim.
● Zodiark – Though it has a long cast time, it can be used as a “walking bomb” on an ally for later turns, dealing massive magic damage to all enemies in the area.

Martial Arts

● Shockwave – Line-based earth physical damage up to 8 tiles away.
● Aurablast – Ranged single-target physical damage.
● Revive – Instant resurrection of a fallen ally. Both the caster and the target need to be on the same height.
● Chakra – Instant area healing that also restores MP. Can also be used in conjunction with Mana Shield.

Throw

● Instant ranged damage that is based on the caster’s Speed and the Power of the weapon being thrown. Useful for high damage with tossing end-game weapons, like Chaos Blade or Excalibur.

Jump

● Deals delayed damage to a single target. Handy at pre-emptively avoiding incoming damage and effects since the character is “out of play.” Jump scales best when equipped with a polearm.

Reaction Abilities

● Mana Shield (Time Mage) – Bravery% chance to absorb incoming damage to your MP instead of HP. Very good at sustaining hard-hitting moves as long as you have at least 1 MP left.

● Shirahadori (Samurai) – Decreases the chance of being hit by incoming types of damage (like Throw, Jump, Attack, Guns, Bows) by reducing the hit rate of those types of attacks. Higher Bravery will further reduce the chance of being hit.

● Reflexes (Ninja) – Doubles the character’s physical and magical evasion rates at all times. Works best in tandem with shields like Escutcheon “II” to evade the front and sides or when equipped with cloaks as they provide the best evasive coverage regardless of side.

● Soulbind (Arithmetician) – Bravery% chance after taking HP damage to restore HP equal to half the damage taken and return that amount as damage to the attacking character. A good option for bulky and defensive characters and can be used to punish ranged abilities such as Kiku-ichimonji and Shockwave.

● Dragonheart (Dragoon) – Though there are sources to get the reraise status (White Magicks or Ovelia’s Aegis), being able to have an option to get it from taking physical damage is also a boon especially when most damage you will see is likely to be physical-type. Being able to revive in the mid-to-late game can be crucial to making a comeback. This ability is also Bravery% chance.

Support Abilities

● Arcane Defense/Defense Boost – Great magic or physical damage mitigation by 33% respectively that stacks with Protect and Shell. Also good options for when you predict your opponent is stacking heavy into things like Iaido (use Arcane Defense) or Darkness/Throw (use Defense Boost).

● Arcane Strength/Attack Boost/Vehemence – Arcane Strength (for magic) and Attack Boost (for physical) are great options, especially when stacking damage potential. Vehemence is risky as it causes you to take 50% more damage, but it also increases your damage dealt by 50%, sacrificing sustain for power.

● Dual Wield – Being able to have two one-handed weapons equipped for stat stacking or optimization can be pretty important when min-maxing builds. This is also a handy option with Arts of War since each ability has two chances to rent gear or reduce stats instead of one.

● Swiftness – This ability is very important when focused on using magicks or Summon, as this reduces the Spell Speed of those abilities in half, rounded up. Since Starter is primarily about speedy plays and magicks are naturally slower, Swiftness is crucial for magicks to compete against instant cast abilities.

Movement Abilities

● Manafont – Being able to restore MP from simply moving at least 1 tile can be potent when also combining this ability with Mana Shield.

● Move +2/Jump +2 – Traversing the map quickly is king, so having more options is always a plus. Move +2 in most cases should always be your go-to for movement.

● Teleport – A bit more of a niche ability, Teleport enables the unit to be able to traverse anywhere on the map, with the chance of it failing by 10% per tile past their normal Move stat. This can be handy in risky plays with things like Chirijiraden or Unholy Sacrifice or even immediately placing a Summon “bomb” into the enemy stack quickly before it goes off.