Tag Teambuilding

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.

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!

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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.

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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.

The third major beta update of version 5 is now released, sporting a few new system-related enhancements and other combat changes.

If you are already on version 5, you DO NOT need to update your save data.
Make sure to always patch using an unmodified, USA-region backup of your FFT WotL ISO, and do not override an already patched copy!

To download this update, please visit Download.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Steal Limelight/Glitterlust/Snort would sometimes display -20 CT instead of -30 CT in the forecast (visual bug fix)

Quality of Life Updates

• Melee Mode
  • Midlight’s Deep multiplayer map variants now have their lighting fully restored, while ensuring campaign variants still require crystals for brightness
    
  • Increased the Timer from 12 to 13 minutes (this affects all Tactics League competitive rulesets)
    Based on feedback, I want to compromise in the middle by adding an extra minute, but am still wanting to have a slightly shortened timer due to improved time-per-game. I will be monitoring both replay and spoken feedback in the future.
    
• Systems/Limit Level System (Cloud & Aerith)
  • Cloud and Aerith now start battles with Limit Level 1 unlocked. Some changes occurred to Level 1 abilities now that they are no longer initially locked:
    • Braver – Decreased damage bonus from 10 to 5%, still evadable
    • Seal Evil – Decreased Range from 3 to 2
      This is a change to the LLS I want to explore. Going into v5, I suspected that players would try to “not go after” either of these characters to avoid triggering their limit (and rightfully so), which ends up making their unique effectiveness a bit less than I would like. Weary of this and currently seeing these results happening, the goal is to test both of these uniques with their Level 1 abilities unlocked at battle start, still giving you merit to preserve Limit Level if so (and reaching lv. 4 faster too as a result), but also they can use their initial skills right a way as well.
      
• Systems/Traps
  • Improved the traps found on tiles for both campaign and melee formats. Thank you to Tzepish for this hack and improvement. Here are the following changes:
    • Degenerator – No change, still -1 Lv.
    • Death – Inflicts: KO instead of Doom
    • Hypnogas – No change, Inflicts: Sleep
    • Sten Needle – Inflicts: Immobilize & 25% max. HP damage instead of only 20% max. HP damage
    • Mine – Inflicts: Oil & 50% max. HP damage instead of random minor damage & Oil
    • Mossfungus – Inflicts: Poison and 25% max. HP damage instead of only Poison (will not deal damage if poison immune)
    • Cursed Stone – Inflicts: Curse instead of Undead
    • Updated the Help menus for each trap during the Trap Placement screen (melee) with these changes
      These improvements to traps should make them a bit more impactful and dangerous during encounters, especially for melee when played for fun.
      
• Systems/Mechanics
  • Bow Arrow Animations
    • Improved the animation queuing with abilities that have an effect assigned. Abilities with an effect will no longer display the “arrow” and will only play the effect on target one time (to continue to remove double damage display/effects). Abilities with no effect, such as Attack, Take Aim, or Barrage, will still display its arrow visually en route to the target
      
  • Added missing status text for Veil and Curse in the Reequip – View List screen

Jobs

• Bard
  • Increased HPM from 100 to 105% (generic 285 to 299 HP)
  • Increased MPM from 50 to 100% (generic 50 to 101 MP)
    These stat adjustments to Bard are to ensure that the job can better compete against the recent Garment Knight builds to provide better “stat” options on job choices. The intention is that though Bard is less bulky than Knight, they have Performing Arts innately, so they can build more into HP Boost or any other support option than Garment Knight can. This also puts Bard in a better position for spellcasting. 

Action Abilities

• Break Arts
  • Sunder:
    • Increased PWR from 4 to 6
    • Increased Range from 2 to 3
    • Updated the spell quote
      During Alpha, Sunder was originally 6 PWR, but it was scaled down due to the +HP armor difference change that is no longer active in crush abilities, so I am reverting the PWR to its original state to enforce this as the hardest “hitting” single-target Break Art. The range buff is to get it up to standard with other bladed weapons’ range, especially with recoil.
      
• Piracy
  • Tides of Fate – Changed animation to use Waterja’s effect
    This was changed due to not getting proper hit reactions when it hit multiple targets in the cone.
    
• White Magicks
  • Regen – Increased PWR from 170 to 180 (approx. 3% increased hit rate)
    
• Black Magicks
  • Bio – Decreased MP cost from 60 to 48
    
• Time Magicks
  • Hasteja and Slowja – Increased MP cost from 30 to 48
    Ability cost increases to justify their wide-area impact, excellent hit rate even without Faith, and ally/enemy only targeting capabilities. This also puts pressure on non-caster jobs to build a bit more for MP.

R/S/M Abilities

• Reflexes – Additionally increases your Class Evasion (C-EV) by 8% while slotted
  With Reflexes being half the value than vanilla, this buff is to fit the theme of improving your endurance by strengthening your class evasion automatically which in turn is also factored into the increased evasion rates. This is the only method that can enhance class evasion.
  
• Bravery and Faith Boost – Both abilities additionally now increase your Bravery or Faith by 10 while slotted
  This is to improve these abilities and provide an option to augment your Bravery or Faith stat pre-battle as the only means of doing so.
  
• Celerity – This ability now grants Initial: Invisible
  This was added to give it a “passive” effect like Ward and Earplug, albeit this isn’t an immunity.

Equipment – Weapons

• Magick Guns – Decreased WP standardization from 20 to 19
  Mag guns are overperforming slightly, so I am going to dial down the WP a tad and re-assess from there, keeping in mind they are still stronger due to Black Magicks.
  
• Staves
  • Nirvana – Added +1 Power and Magick

Practice Mode

• Ashley Team (West)
  • Improved Ashley’s decision making to use more of his abilities and not focus mostly on Items

During the Version 5 Exhibition, Guitarmanager and Rumer showcased a brand new supported format joining Tactics League during the v5 beta launch: All-Stars, a new competitive 4v4 experience.

All-Stars is a rendition and an upgrade of an older format from back in Tactics League’s earlier days – Uniques Premade – where the roster was fully comprised of unique characters with no generics, but was limited to “play how it comes.” This is coming back but it will also combine the battle-tested and open format of Standard, allowing players to fully customize a battle party of heroes and villains across the Zodiac Brave Story. This will sunset the Generics Premade format and All-Stars will take its place.

Let’s briefly go over the all-star cast joining this uniques only format.

A Powerful Cast at Your Disposal

The All-Stars format will house 28 unique characters from the campaign and Tactics League exclusives. If you have played version 4 Standard, you will be familiar with the first three rows of units, of course with new additions: Aerith, Ashley, Elidibus, and a returning fan-favorite, Balthier, joining the Standard roster in v5. Now let’s take a look at who is joining the cast specifically for All-Stars and a brief description of what they can do each:

• Orlandeau (Sword Saint)
  • Orlandeau received some base stat adjustments to bring him more in line for both the campaign and All-Stars.
  • Innate: Swordplay usable with Katanas, Ninja Blades, Swords, Knight’s Swords, and Fell Swords
  • Swordplay skillset now only includes:
    • [Holy Sword] Judgment Blade, Cleansing Strike, Hallowed Bolt
    • [Unyielding Strike] Crush Helm, Crush Accessory
    • [Fell Sword/Darkness] Sanguine Sword, Infernal Strike
      
• Orran (Astrologer)
  • Innate: Arcane Defense
  • Replaced the Astrology skillset (which only housed Celestial Stasis) with the original Arithmeticks skillset. Arithmeticks can now be Silenced or Reflected unlike in the original game.
    • CT and Height only targeting parameters
    • [White Magicks] Cure
    • [Black Magicks] Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Scathe
    • [Time Magicks] Gravity, Reflect
    • [Mystic Arts] Umbra
      
• Zalbaag (Ark Knight)
  • Innate: Lifefont and Manafont
  • Blade of Ruin is now all instant cast, still requires a sword-type weapon, abilities cost 40 MP each, and is faithless. Because of changes in v5 for damaging Arts of War’s Rend Stat abilities, Blade of Ruin will also deal damage on stat reduction success.
    
• Boco (Chocobo)
  • Innate: Counter, Swim
  • As a chocobo, players can mount Boco to position faster or take advantage of rider immunities!
    
• Isilud (Nightblade)
  • Innate: Concentration
  • Renamed his skillset to Dark Arts (from Arts of War), which combines various abilities from Arts of War and Darkness. While Nightblade, also adds the Jump command as a tertiary skillset:
    • [Arts of War] Bulwark, Rend MP, Rend Speed, Rend Power, Rend Magick
    • [Darkness] Sanguine Sword, Infernal Strike, Abyssal Blade
      
• Elmdore (Ark Knight)
  • Innate: Safeguard,  Immune: KO, Undead, Stone, Vampire, Reraise, Invisible, Berserk, Chicken, Toad, Doom
  • Sword Spirit skillset functions entirely like Samurai’s Iaido. While Ark Knight, also adds the Vampire command as a tertiary skillset (which only has Vampire ability, 25% chance to Inflict: Vampire)
    
• Celia (Assassin)
  • Innate: Death Strike, Dual Wield, Immune: KO, Stone, Chicken, Toad
  • Equip: Knives and Ninja Blades (to showcase the difference in gear with Lettie)
  • Subdual Arts was reworked to make room for other abilities and is now:
    • Conceal (NEW, 100% self-invisible), Death, Curse, Ultima, Entice
      
• Lettie (Assassin)
  • Innate: Death Strike, Dual Wield, Immune: KO, Stone, Chicken, Toad
  • Equip: Knives and Katanas (to showcase the difference in gear with Celia)
  • Subdual Arts was reworked to make room for other abilities and is now:
    • Conceal (NEW, 100% self-invisible), Suffocate, Dark Whisper, Ultma, Entice
    • Note: Suffocate now uses [% = SP + 40] and not 100% like the original version
      
• Byblos (Byblos)
  • Innate: Soulbind, Dexterity, Arcane Defense, Defense Boost, Immune: Vampire, Curse, Doom
  • Removed Fire Weakness and can now enter water tiles
  • The Byblos’s skillset is now: Chant, Manaburn, Vengeance, Maim
    
• Argath (Deathknight variant)
  • Innate: Equip: Undead, Monkey Grip
  • Fell Sword includes: Sanguine Sword, Infernal Strike, Throw Dagger, Salve, Frenzy, and Taunt
  • Note: To avoid complications with the campaign, this sprite is using the “Squire” version of Argath, and though Fundaments skillset shows up in the menus, in battle he has Fell Sword instead.

4v4 Competitive Battles

Besides using unique-only characters in All-Stars, this format also is specific to a 4v4 experience, intending to have faster-paced games, with thrills and chaos to be had. All gear, jobs, and abilities are unlocked and follow the basics and limitations of the Standard format so jumping from one format to another should be fairly easy.

All-Stars is a fully supported competitive mode and will become a part of the competition rotation for sanctioned events in the future!

All-Stars format will be available on March 18th during the Version 5 Public Beta and will require a save data update, included with the v5 patch file.

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!

As we inch closer every passing day to the March 18th version 5 public beta, this article covers what you need to know about new and updated equipment coming soon to your inventory.

New Hair Adornments – Circlet and Extension

Two new hair adornments will become a part of the Tactics League itemization ecosystem in version 5: Circlet and Extension. All jobs will be able to use these new hair accessories, which are expected to become essential in future teambuilding due to previous efforts to reduce the genderization of both male and female equipment. Let’s go over what these items do by simply checking their Help menus:

Circlet

With Circlet using the headgear slot, this provides a unique way to get Initial: Protect, Shell coverage with permanent Regen to boot. +100 HP and MP aren’t anything to scoff at either.

Extension

Extension is part of new ways to enhance your critical strike chance on applicable abilities and normal attacks. Stackable critical chance is a new way to build, albeit it is limited in scope, but with Extension, Death Strike support ability, and the base 10% critical chance netting a total of 80% critical chance, someone is going to feel pain soon enough. Both hair adornments will be limited in Standard.

New Weapons and Shield – Earthbreaker, Excalipoor, and Adamantoise Shield

Version 5 introduces a new axe, Earthbreaker, a new, but familiar one-handed sword, Excalipoor, and a new shield. Let’s look at what these weapons and shield can do.

Earthbreaker

The Earthbreaker is a two-handed axe that is Earth elemental, scales with Magick instead of the typical Power other axes use, and its goal: up your critical damage by 10% while slotted. Geomancers and Knights will find great enjoyment in crushing their enemies with this new weapon. This item is capped at three in Standard.

Excalipoor

An artifact you can acquire in the campaign (but originally not an actual weapon), Excalipoor is the second weapon that will be newly joining the Tactics League inventory and formats. This sword is essentially a “low bravery attack” where its damage is based on how low you can go with your Bravery, but be careful to not get chickened! This item is limited in Standard.

Adamantoise Shield

The Adamantoise Shield is a limited new Shield that is a part of the “damage reduction” additions in version 5, such as Curse status and Resilience. This shield reduces all incoming damage taken by 10% but because it is so heavy, you’ll start Initially: Slow at first (gotta figure out the best way to hold it you know?). 10% automatic damage reduction is quite noticeable once you factor in stuff like basic mitigation in Protect and Shell or even damaging Rend Stat abilities in Arts of War now as these are ways to empower players with how to check “high-end” damage or add another playstyle to the vast varieties of the sandbox.

Adamantoise Shield does not add any Shield Evasion to your stats so keep in mind that you will need to rely on your weapon’s Block or slot an accessory that ups your evasiveness.

New Accessories – Pearl Rouge and Garment Ring

Pearl Rouge

It’s a bummer that in the original game, there was only one accessory classified as Lip Rouge, and that was Agrias’s Tynar Rouge you bought for her birthday. With version 5, a new one is being introduced and it somehow made its way from the otherworldly land of Treno to Ivalice.

Pearl Rouge is notably a nice addition on caster jobs that want Silence protection, but don’t also scoff at the multiple bonuses this accessory grants, and this item synergies well with Caladbolg and Sage’s Waterja or Black Mage’s Blizzard series of spells. Pearl Rouge is a limited item in Standard.

Garment Ring

Showcased in PvP Patch v5 Focused: Dragon Tech, Blue Magicks, and Perform, the Garment Ring is a limited accessory that enables the quaternary action command, Perform. Perform combines both the entirety of Bardsong and Dance abilities all in one, allowing any gender to recite poetry or show off their best dance moves. Keep in mind, that for the best results for any ability, you will want to be either a Bard, Dancer, or slot Performing Arts as a support ability to increase your potency or hit chance of abilities.

Changes to Existing Equipment

With Curse status being introduced and Vampire status being accessible, some existing gear received updates to gain immunity against these statuses. Note that it is purposeful that Curse specifically doesn’t have a ton of gear immunity coverage, but the Ward reaction grants it to ensure equipment doesn’t always counter its time of need.

Additionally, there are a few more critical chance sources to enable “crit builds.” Let’s dive into the more important changes coming below:

• Knives
  • Have been reverted to allow for dual-wielding.
  • Removed doublehand capability.
  • Increased WP standardization from 13 to 16 for all status-inflicting knives.
  • Status Knives now are set to 50% infliction chance down from 100%.
  • Note that because of these changes and Ninja re-gaining Knives, there are more ways to build for customization, and Chantage – dual knives are possible.
    
• Magick Guns – Decreased WP from 22 to 20 to make up for the buffs to their applicable Black Magicks.
  
• Ninja Blades
  • Increased WP standardization from 16 to 18 to maintain competitiveness versus knives on Ninja.
    
• Artemis Bow (bow)
  • Increases your critical strike chance by 10%.
    
• Knightslayer (crossbow)
  • Now ignores the target’s damage mitigation.
  • Decreased WP from 22 to 17 due to this change.
    
• Murasame (katana)
  • Heals allies on attacks and no longer deals damage.
  • Adds +1 Power and +1 Speed.
    
• Osafune (katana)
  • Absorbs MP instead of HP damage with normal attacks.
    
• Save the Queen (knight’s sword)
  • Holy Elemental alongside Durandal.
    
• Gokuu Pole (pole, limited item)
  • Reverted to deal “no damage” with attacks and is no longer evadable to ensure it is a viable tool for Crown Scepter builds/teams or Marach, or as a means to counter faith-based casters.
    
• Stardust Rod (rod, limited item)
  • Now Casts: Graviga instead of Gravity.
    
• Zeus Mace (staff, limited item)
  • Now forced two-handed.
  • Now grants +3 Power and Magick instead of +2 Power and +1 Magick.
    
• Onion Sword (sword)
  • Onion Sword is now doublehandable, but not dual-wieldable.
  • Standardized Block from 15 to 10.
    
• Ras Algethi (returning, gun, limited item)
  • Increased WP from 12 to 15.
  • Increases your critical strike chance by 10%.
    
• Dreamwaker (returning and reworked, staff, limited item)
  • Removed +4 Magick from the original version.
  • 12 WP and 8 Block.
  • Uses the Sky Mantra calculation to Remove: Sleep on target and deal 70% max. HP damage if the target was sleeping. Note that this weapon deals no normal attack damage, so there isn’t “extra” damage from this ability cast.
    
• Samite Coat
  • Removed +1 Magick.
  • Increased +HP from 120 to 140.
    
• Steadfast Ring
  • Added +1 Speed due to its previous shortened Veil duration.
    
• Diamond Bracelet
  • Removed Slow immunity.
  • Grants +1 Power, Magick, and Speed.
    
• Spiked Boots
  • Removed +1 Move and Power. Now adds +4 Jump.
    
• Germinas Boots
  • Grants +1 Move and +2 Jump (instead of +1 Jump) in addition to its 8% Accessory Evasion.
    
• Curse-immune equipment:
  • Deathbringer (fell Sword)
  • Ama-no-Murakamo (katana)
  • Nagnarok (sword)
  • Jujitsu Gi (clothing)
  • Cachusha and Barette (hair adornments, note that Ribbon specifically does not have immunity)
    
• Vampire-immune equipment:
  • Japa Mala (accessory, re-added)
  • Vampire Cape (accessory)

Conclusion

With new ways to build critical chance, customize gear-based Protect/Shell coverage, ways to build for Jump stat for Dragon Tech’s Jump, and many more, these equipment changes give a bit more ways to play in the sandbox that has been in years in the making. These new and changed equipment additions will be in your hands on March 18th!