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!
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
[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
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
Version 5 introduces a way to circumvent the recruitment process for acquiring monsters (with Traitor status being removed, and it being the original only way to recruit them), and monsters are on track to become usable in the future in competitive PvP.
Hire Monsters at the Warriors’ Guild
In the Campaign article, there was a mention of there being future updates to the Warriors’ Guild. This update comes right before the version 5 public beta (huge thanks to @Tzepish <3) and it changes the system to allow for hiring both female and male Squire in one option and now introducing the new option: Hire Monster.
Hire Monster randomly generates any of the regular monsters (no special monsters sorry!) at your highest party level member so they don’t have to be grinded before they can catch up with the rest. This highest level scaling also applies to the Hire Squire option but they will still start with their preset gear and 0 JP across jobs. One neat aspect about this new feature is that generated monsters have slight deviations in their stats too, so one Chocobo is not the same as the other when it comes to stuff like HP, MP, Power, or Magick.
Since this new method fixes the ability to experience Campaign with monsters who received hefty ability updates and some stat balancing, you’ll be able to bring them alongside your journey into the Zodiac Brave Story by simply dismissing units ahead of time if space is limited, heading to the Warriors’ Guild, selecting Hire Monster, and hiring new units for a 3,000 Gil fee.
An Update to Beastmaster Ability
To improve this ability’s viability with monsters and to resolve an issue that causes the recently announced 3 range to bug out in situations, this ability will now unlock your monsters’ hidden abilities at any location on the map. Yes, that means you can get your Squeal or Gigaflare on from the other side as long as the Beastmaster unit is not KO’ed or mid-jump (from Jump) or under Sleep, Disable, Stone, Vampire, Chicken, Toad, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, or Veil.
In the picture below, here is an example of a Dark Behemoth using its hidden ability, Almagest, several tiles away from Ramza, who has Beastmaster.
A Future in Competitive
With the ability to hire monsters and they generate at your party level, there’s finally a future for them regarding competitive play in Standard. Monsters have received numerous updates in job stats and abilities to balance them better while aiming to improve them overall for Campaign and Standard.
Now to set expectations, monsters have their limitations, most do not have access to Protect or Shell, Defense Boost, or Arcane Defense (but a select few do) and will rely on their human allies in most cases to provide these buffs, but there is a potential in the future metagame. Giving up a generic human job for a monster, may or may not be worth the trade-off, but experiment now that it is a possibility. Stay tuned for potential ruleset updates regarding monsters being allowed in future competitions!
Today, we go over how the fifth and final version of the PvP Patch will finally support the Campaign so you can embark on a single-player adventure with one of the greatest stories in video game history and suit up afterward to take on some of Tactics League’s best players in competitive PvP. Let’s go over these changes below.
Party Roster Expansion
Though this was first mentioned in the v5 Focused series, the roster expansion is a very important detail for those looking to progress the story once more or for the first time. The expansion unlocks the four reserved Guest slots to be fully usable, expanding the party limit from 24 to 28. Leveraging this also allows for more unique characters to join your party permanently in the story and for Tactics League PvP, but there are a few important notes to share:
Guest characters are fully deployable (for the first time) in both story and random encounters. Note that because of this, you can have duplicate Guest characters in a mission, such as two Delitas in the Chapter 1 fight in Garland. If you want to keep things true to form, avoid deploying these Guests where they normally would already spawn.
Guest characters are also fully dismissable now so keep cautious of this and always remember to save in between battles.
NPC-controlled mission-based Guest characters do update their stats, gear, and abilities if they already exist in your party.
Progress Faster with Always-On EXP and JP Boost
Everyone loves being able to build their party and further explore the creative offerings of Final Fantasy Tactics, and version 5 is supporting that by ensuring that the EXP and JP Boost support abilities are always enabled – you won’t need to slot these abilities to quickly start watching your units grow in levels and unlock abilities faster.
Additionally, the Bard and Dancer jobs both now support spillover JP whereas they originally did not and Onion Knight Base and Master versions can now accrue EXP and JP as well; all a part of making sure you can progress in the way you choose to.
Warriors’ Guild Changes and Zodiac Signs
A few changes also went into the Warriors’ Guild unit recruitment. Such as:
New hires are always 60 Bravery and 60 Faith to conform to the Tactics League Standard format.
Female-generated Squires will start with an Oak Staff instead of a Dagger since their Magick scales better with this starting weapon.
New hires always have the Serpentarius Zodiac Sign.
The hiring cost is now a flat 1,500 gil instead of being 1,000 gil + equipment price.
There may be additional changes to follow with the Warriors’ Guild in a later update during beta.
Additionally, the Zodiac Compatibility system is fully disabled. This change is to follow suit with the Serpentarius-neutral sign that is already used in Tactics League game formats to set expectations early that this system no longer plays a role in this mod. Units with different signs that you come across in the Campaign did not have their signs changed.
Errands Unit Customization
Ever deployed a unit on an Errand and maybe forgotten to remove gear from them beforehand? Or do you want to deck them out in the latest fashions while they are away? Or even change their job or abilities while unavailable? Now you can with this quality of life change! The picture below is a screenshot of being able to use the Outfitters on “unavailable” units deployed on an Errand.
Encounter Updates and Monster Improvements
One of the main goals of the Campaign is to set some expectations heading into Melee. Additionally, one area that I felt needed improvement was monsters and monster abilities. The following changes have been made to story and random encounters in general:
All non-unique units are set to 60 Bravery and 60 Faith, including monsters.
Monsters in story-based encounters and Midlight’s Deep now use Party Level +2 level scaling unless they were already assigned a higher value by default; this is to improve their combativeness while not hopefully making them overbearing for most players.
Many monster abilities have been improved, notably in their PWR (which dictates its base damage/healing or chance); you should see more non-attack-like monster abilities happen due to this change and monsters are a bit more challenging, especially in mid-to-end game encounters!
One of the bigger goals was to avoid changing encounters from their original design; besides the NPCs now having access to stronger gear and abilities due to the PvP Patch, the majority of fights are familiar as intended. However, with access to new stuff, some battles may require a bit more strategy and careful planning as some can be quite surprising to handle if you are not prepared, such as Argath’s battle at Fort Ziekden.
With Aerith joining the Tactics League roster in Standard, a change was made to Cloud’s Sal Ghidos event that now has her staying instead of fleeing and fighting alongside Cloud and friends. Aerith will now also join your party roster alongside Cloud after a successful finish now scaled with your party level instead of the original Level 1 join-in!
Tactics League-Exclusive Abilities and Equipment Balancing
Efforts were made to all Tactics League-exclusive abilities to now have a JP cost associated with them to ensure they are a part of the campaign progression and some equipment balancing was made to reduce getting your hands on powerful gear early game, such as moving the updated Knives, such as Blind Knife or Tiptaptwo later into Chapter 1 instead of being a part of the starting Chapter 1 inventory. Keep in mind, that with some changes, the “balancing act” isn’t perfect, but suitable for those wanting to go from start to finish with the PvP Patch in Campaign.
Conclusion
Though the PvP Patch was originally multiplayer-focused only, community feedback and requests stoked a change in heart with version 5 to ensure that those who wanted to enjoy this mod in a single-player setting could now from start to finish, with bigger hopes that you can become better accustomed to changes and more ready to enter the true endgame: PvP.
In the fourth article of the Version 5 Focused series, we go over one of the bigger aspects of what this newest update focuses on: major quality-of-life changes that improve and add various aspects to not only the PvP Patch but to Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions in general. There’s a lot to cover, so we will focus on the bigger highlights you want to know once the public beta is out. Just to note, though Campaign received several QoL changes, we will focus on that in a separate article later this week.
⚙ Customized Options
PvP Patch v5 will add a requested feature that is scarcely available in other FFT mods; the ability to change your team’s battle color via the new “Battle Palette” Option! Helmed by @Tzepish, this modifies the previous Cursor Repeat Rate setting to now allow you to change your generic unit’s color according to the various enemy factions you encounter in the campaign. You’ll be able to finally put some extra customization with your team in addition to being able to change your unit’s name via the Warriors’ Guild from a previous update.
Additionally, with Spell Quotes being reintegrated, the “Display Ability Names” setting is now named “Ability Names and Quotes” which disables or enables ability name display and Spell Quote pop-ups. This setting is enabled by default.
The “Display Earned EXP/JP” setting now affects the enemy team’s EXP/JP display as well as disabling or enabling the celebration they do when they gain a job level as a means to speed up battles.
💬Spell Quotes Integration
A feature disabled in the original War of the Lions, Spell Quotes have returned and are fully usable in both Campaign and Multiplayer modes. There are a few caveats with Spell Quotes returning to ensure it doesn’t impact live gameplay performance in general. Thank you to @Tzepish and @3lric for the translated text and optimizations!
Spell Quotes can occur 35% of the time
Invisible, chicken, or toad-status units or Mimes cannot quote
Some generic abilities, such as Steal and Speechcraft, do not have quotes set
Quotes, when triggered, are fairly short-lived so that they do not take away much time from Melee. Note that quotes do not consume a player’s timer while being displayed
☠ Status Effects
Version 5 introduces Curse status – a new negative effect that reduces the target’s damage dealt and healing received by 33% while affected denoted by a new status bubble. Curse status is a new form of “damage reduction” that affects mitigation-ignored sources, like Axes or Knight’s Mow Down, and lowers the HP restored from sources like Regen or Elixir. Additionally, Curse is a permanent debuff until removed via Esuna or Holy Water. Curse is accessible via the following abilities:
Curse (NEW Black Magicks) – variable status chance to single target Inflict: Curse, instant cast
Ama-no-Murakamo (Iaido) – 19% status chance to Inflict: Curse in an AoE
Unholy Darkness (Mystic Arts or Ebon Blade) – 19% status chance on hit
Accursed Umbra (Ashley’s Break Arts – Axe) – 100% status chance on hit
Float status increases your effective Height from 2 to 4; this change affects Longbow’s variable range by 1 depending on targeted tiles, allowing your bow and arrow to go further distances even if the map is not as favorable!
Reflect status now has a status bubble to show units affected and Veil additionally displays a yellow-invisible tint to improve status messaging. Poison and Vampire’s status bubbles have been removed to allow for Curse and Reflect, but these still have their respective status color.
⏰Updated Melee Mode Timers
As part of efforts to speed up gameplay and overall competition total time-per-game, Tactics League’s Standard ruleset will now use a 12-minute timer with a 20-second reset time instead of the previous 15-minute timer with a 15-second reset time. Though the initial time window is shortened per player, the 20 seconds on reset if you reach zero on the main timer gives a bit more flexibility with decision-making making and the extra 5 seconds surprisingly cuts down on those “nail-bitter” situations where you only have a few seconds to spare to commit to an action. I will be monitoring these timer changes as a whole going into the beta and am hopeful that it will help game time and reinforce the need to think ahead more off-turn.
Conclusion
With v5 being the final series of updates, Quality of Life changes are a bit focused on ensuring the final product is ready for the future and beyond. There are a handful of other lesser-important QoLs (but still impactful nonetheless!) that will be mentioned going into v5’s changelog.
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!
