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

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

Different Types of Elements

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

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

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

Elemental Modifiers

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

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

Status Effects and Weather

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

Equipment with Elemental Support

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

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

💊 Buff-Up Early

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

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

📑Team Composition and Adjusting to the Map

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

⚔️Know the Meta Abilities

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

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

⚠️Glass-Cannon is Not Always Best

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

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

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

As we have reached the end of the Tactics PvP Job Series, we have our final discussion about generic jobs’ competitive viability in PvP, ending with the mastered Onion Knight job.

PvP Performance Statcard

Based on the above ratings, mastered Onion Knight seems to be a decent option for PvP. Let’s expand more on that below.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Onion Knight
For the scope of this article, we will be covering the mastered version of Onion Knight as that would be the most considered option for PvP.

Stats and Information

Mastered stats (can only be primaried): HP: 150% | MP: 140% | SP: 120% | PA: 130% | MA: 120%
C-EV: 30 | Move: 4 | Jump: 4

Can equip: All weapons, gear, and accessories

Onion Knights do not have abilities nor can they slot any, but they can equip every piece of gear, weapon, and accessory in the game. Where their effectiveness lies in is their gear versatility, though how well they perform will vary because they are limited to only Move and basic physical attacks which can be mitigated or evaded. Since they cannot slot reaction abilities, it is ideal to slot a highly evasive shield such as Onion Shield or Reverie Shield (reduces elemental damage by half which can be used against abilities like Unholy Sacrifice) to help them evade attacks and abilities.

They do have 30% class evasion which further helps with their evasiveness and 4 Move and Jump which can be paired with Gaius Caligae or Germinas Boots to further their mobility since they cannot slot a movement ability.

Conclusion

For the amount of work it takes to get a mastered Onion Knight (14 mastered jobs except Squire, Chemist, Dark Knight, and Mime), they do not bring much to the table for such an accomplishment and not having access to other slottable skills limits their potential. Onion Knights do hit very hard with their high PA when paired with physical-based weapons, but their overall results will vary.

As we are nearing the end of the Tactics PvP Job Series, we discuss the competitive viability of the Dark Knight job as the main role in competitive PvP.

PvP Performance Statcard

Dark Knight is a very solid option for PvP game modes. We will expand more on the reasoning below, starting with their abilities.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Dark Knight

Abilities

Dark Knights use their Darkness skillset to absorb the HP or MP from foes or deal massive single target or area damage. Some of their abilities, such as Abyssal Blade or Unholy Sacrifice damage the caster after use, but they will still typically leave a dent in whoever they damage if they aren’t already KO’d from their attacks. Dark Knights are the only generic job that can equip Knight’s Swords or Fell Swords so they are the closest thing to unique sword users such as Orlandeau or Agrias. It is very important to note that they must have a Sword, Knight’s Sword or Fell Sword equipped to use their abilities and all of their attacks have a 100% hit rate. Now let’s take a closer look at their abilities:

Sanguine Sword (action) – Absorbs HP from the target. This simple skill is one of the best ways to sustain long-term fights as it directly heals you for the damage done.

Crushing Blow (action) – This hard-hitting ability does a ton of single-target damage with a 25% chance to inflict stop status.

Abyssal Blade (action) – This conal attack deals more damage the closer the target is to the caster. Inflicts 20% of your maximum HP to yourself afterwards.

Unholy Sacrifice (action) – Considered a “bomb,” the user deals dark area damage around themselves and inflicts 30% of their maximum HP to themselves afterwards. Works best around loosely stacked or tightly stacked enemy formations.

Vehemence (support) – Increases your damage dealt by 50% and increases your damage taken by 50%. This is a risk/reward support ability that incentives the “glass cannon” playstyle, trading sustain for raw damage. Works well on both physical and magick builds.

HP Boost (support) – Increases your maximum HP by 20%. The more a character is stacking into HP through job and gear, the futher your sustainability increases.

Move +3 (movement) – Though this ability is not available in the Starter format, this is the quintisential mobility option if looking at easily traversing the map.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 80% | MP: 90% | SP: 100% | PA: 140% | MA: 80%
C-EV: 0 | Move: 3 | Jump: 3

Can equip: Swords, Knight’s Swords, Fell Swords, Flails, Axes, Shields, Helmets, Armor, Clothing, Robes

Dark Knights are the most substantial physical attack job out of all generics with their 140% PA. With great strength, they do have some downsides; they have zero class evasion, standard Move and Jump of 3, and not a ton of HP bulk. They are the only generic job that can equip Knight’s Swords and Fell Swords (Knight’s Swords are better in most situations due to their access to buffs and having access to a shield or dual wield, whereas Fell Swords are two-handed). Dark Knights do have access to helmets and armor to increase their 80% HP to fairly robust values or robes, such as Lordly Robe if speccing for a mixed build. Since they have high Physical Attack, they can utilize Martial Arts or Jump as well.

Conclusion

Dark Knights are one of the top choices in PvP due to the sustainability and damage of their Darkness skillset. Though they are very strong, they have to be within a range of 3 tiles to effectively use their kit, so smart opponents will likely try to cripple them early but if they get in range, they can do some serious damage to the opposition quickly.

As we continue towards the end of the Tactics PvP Job Series, we will have a look at the viability and the performance of the Mime job as the main role in PvP for competitive use.

PvP Performance Statcard

Mime seems to be a good choice regarding PvP, but there are some tidbits we will go over more below as they are a bit more complex than other jobs.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Mime

Abilities (well sort of)

Mimes don’t actually have a skillset. Instead, they copy the last used ally’s ability that is from a generic job and cast it immediately, at no cost, in the direction they are facing and at the range the ability was used at (including height). This occurs at the end of each ally’s turn. If carefully positioned, Mimes can be dangerous to the opponent, but they typically require the use of Turn Order to be very effective. The end result is that they can be not as effective or very effective depending. Let’s look at some additional tidbits regarding the job:

• Mimes cannot slot any abilities or gear.

• They can mimic basic attacks and generic abilities but cannot mimic unique character and monster abilities. Uses the ally’s weapon when mimicking a basic attack.

• Since Mimes have no abilities, they can only move or attack during their turn.

• Mimes cannot mimic the action of a previous Mime.

• A Mime cannot mimic if they are affected by negative status effects.

• Regarding ability range: If an ability was cast 2 tiles forward and 1 left, then the Mime will mimic 2 tiles forward and 1 left from its position and facing.

Stats

Stats (can only be primaried): HP: 140% | MP: 50% | SP: 120% | PA: 120% | MA: 115%
C-EV: 5 | Move: 4 | Jump: 4

Innate: Brawler, Beastmaster, and Concentration

Can equip: Nothing

Mimes have great all-around stats which gives them good HP bulk, solid PA and MA as well as being fast so they can re-position often if necessary. Keep in mind their Move and Jump cannot be changed due to job restrictions on abilities. They cannot equip any gear, so they will be fully relying on others for status buffs or immunities.

Conclusion

Mimes can be very interesting in PvP. They do require a lot of thought and pre-planning for them to be most effective. In most cases, keep the amount of Mimes you run on your team limited to 1 or 2 as the more you have, the less mimicking you can do.

In this Tactics PvP Job Series, we take a closer look at how the Dancer job performs in a competitive PvP environment.

PvP Performance Statcard

Going by their performance ratings, Dancer isn’t a great option overall for PvP modes. We will go over why that is the case below, starting with their abilities.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Dancer

Abilities

Dancers are a female-only job that uses their Dance to debuff the enemy or deal HP or MP damage regardless of distance. Like their male counterpart, Bard, their abilities besides Witch Hunt and Mincing Minuet (deals MP and HP damage respectively) have a 50% chance to miss once they cast their ability. And just like Bardsong, while performing a Dance, your evasion rates are ignored as well. Let’s take a look at the abilities that you would likely come across or use in PvP:

Slow Dance (action) – 50% chance to lower each of your opponent’s Speed by 1. This ability can make the difference in one of your units acting before another when comparing Speed.

Polka/Heathen Frolick (action) – 50% chance to lower each of your opponent’s Phyiscal Attack or Magick Attack by 1 respectively. Though their effectiveness relies on the type of composition your opponent is mostly comprised of, reducing their PA or MA in the early game can slow down the flow of combat in your favor since incoming damage is less.

Forbidden Dance (action) – 50% chance to inflict one of blind, confuse, silence, sleep, toad, stop, slow or poison status. Though even more random since its a randomized selection at which gets applied (making it a 1/8 of a chance for a particular status on top of 50% chance to hit). Stop, slow, and toad are the best ones to get since they are the most disruptive.

Last Waltz (action) – 50% chance to set each opposing unit’s CT to 0. Though it can net a positive reward as long it affects at least half of the opposition, Last Waltz’s biggest drawback is the amount of time (20+ in-game clock ticks) it takes to even cast.

Fury (reaction) – This ability has a Bravery% chance to increase your PA by 1 after taking damage. Mostly only plausible on physical-based builds that can sustain long-term damage to make use of this proc.

Fly (movement) – This ability is a built-in Ignore Elevation, go over characters and obstacles when traversing, and ignores fall damage. While Fly has advantages, Teleport tends to be the better option for traversing height differences since there is no penalty for teleporting height differences.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 60% | MP: 50% | SP: 100% | PA: 110% | MA: 95%
C-EV: 5 | Move: 3 | Jump: 3

Can equip: Knives, Cloths, Bags, Hats, Clothing

Dancers have a bit more stat versatility compared to the male-exclusive Bard, giving them a better variety of skillsets and utilities. Having access to bags, such as Hydrascale Bag for +1 Speed or Croakadile Bag for +1 MA can also build towards Dancer’s diversity by making faster performances or even using Iaido. Cloths are a good option with Parry since they have a 50% parry rate, but you cannot evade while performing so this is going to depend on playstyle. If looking to optimize Dance, Ninja or Thief is your best option as Speed plays an important part in starting performance early.

Conclusion

While they have better overall stats and gear options compared to Bard, Dancer still struggles with viability in faster PvP formats compared to slower ones. Dance does tend to be a bit more effective to Bardsong since debuffing tends to yield better results in the long-term, but Dancer as a primary job is very niche at best and their skillset is likely best suited for other high-Speed jobs if considered.