Tag Teambuilding

In version 4, two new characters in Standard and Rendezvous formats join the unique roster: Alma and Valmafra! These two will be replacing Ovelia and Balthier respectively. Let’s dive into each character’s profile so you can learn more about them and what makes them unique in their own way.

Alma, Cleric

Alma joins the version 4 roster, replacing Ovelia. At first glance, with Alma and Ovelia both having Holy Magicks, it may appear as to why she replaced Ovelia in the first place. Let’s compare the two stat-wise and you will see that Alma is different in her own right:

Ultimately, Alma has better stats to work with, notably her Faith and Speed. Because she has high Faith, she doesn’t necessarily need Faith status via Luminous Robe to have excellent casts though you can still of course opt for the Faith route if needed. Her 12 Speed also means she needs little to no investment in that category and she can typically be built in whichever way you choose allowing for better build versatility compared to Ovelia. The trade-off for these stats is lower HP bulk and Bravery, but that is intentional for balance’s sake.

Alma has the same innates as Ovelia, except Charm immunity instead of Stone immunity.

Alma can equip the following: Staves, Hats, Clothing, Robes.

Lastly, let’s take a look at her abilities in Holy Magicks:

• Aegis – Bestows: Protect, Shell, Haste, Reraise, and Regen on one target. The cost was increased from 30 to 40 due to the amount of buffs it bestows at once.
• Displena – Removes: Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Berserk, Toad, Poison, Stop, Charm, Sleep, Immobilize, Disable, and Doom statuses from one target.
• Barrier (from White Magicks) – Large area Bestows: Protect, Shell to nearby allies.
• Curaja (from White Magicks) – Large area HP healing that only affects allies (ally only change in v4.0 and Iaido-like)
• Arise (from White Magicks) – Revives a fallen ally with full HP restored.
• Holy (from White Magicks) – Deals holy-elemental magic damage to a single target.
• Chant – Restores 2/5th of your max. HP to a nearby ally at the cost of 1/5 of your max. HP (range increased to 3 in v4.0)

Valmafra, Witch of the Coven

Valmafra is the second unique addition to the Standard and Rendezvous roster in version 4, replacing Balthier. In the original game, she was not assigned anything as she was considered a “dummied” character – the opportunity presented itself by making her a new and exclusive character that rivals other unique characters.

Valmafra is designed as an offensive magick caster, the first of the type. Her skillset is a combination of both the classic Red Mage and Elementalist, having abilities from 5 faith-based magick skillsets: White, Black, Time, Mystic Arts, and Ja-Magicks, we will go into that more in a bit.

First, let’s take a look at her stats profile:

Valmafra boasts a modest 13 PA and 15 MA, allowing her to utilize her stats for both physical and magical setups. She also has 12 starting Speed, which doesn’t require much more investment if at all.

Valmafra also has innate Swiftness in her Witch of the Coven job allowing for flexibility in either offensive or defensive Support and can equip: Swords, Knives, Rods, Staves, Hats, and Robes.

Lastly, let’s take a closer look at her Magicks skillset, including her signature ability, Divine Ultima:

• Holy (from White Magicks) – Deals holy faith-based magic damage.
• Graviga (from Time Magicks) – Deals 50% of the target’s max. HP.
• Unholy Darkness (from Mystic Arts) – Deals dark faith-based magic damage.
• Arise (from White Magicks) – Revives a fallen ally with full HP restored.
• Curaga (from White Magicks) – Restores HP to nearby allies and enemies.
• Firaga/Thundaga/Blizzaga (from Black Magicks) – Deals fire/lightning/ice faith-based magic damage.
• Aeroja (NEW from Ja-Magicks) – Deals large area wind faith-based magic damage with a 19% chance to Remove: Float, Haste.
• Waterja (NEW from Ja-Magicks) – Deals water faith-based magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Silence.
• Quake (NEW from Ja-Magicks) – Deals earth faith-based magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Immobilize. Affects allies and enemies.
• Divine Ultima – Self-Iaido-ranged faith-based non-elemental magic damage. Affects allies and enemies.

Join the Tactics League Discord for the PvP Patch version 4.0 Beta launch on March 12th!

In PvP Patch version 3, many gender equality changes were made to close the gap between male and female build varieties; hair adornments, bags, perfumes, and the Tynar Rouge accessory were now accessible to males. Additionally, the reaction abilities, Fury and Magick Boost, that were gender-locked to Bard and Dancer were added so that either gender could use either ability. These improvements were well-received and opened up build diversity in a positive way. However, there is one outlier that version 4 is addressing – the gap between male magical and female physical specs.

The changes you will read more about are centered around improving the male and female Squires in both Standard and Rendezvous and have minimal impact on unique characters.

To resolve this task, this required a two-pronged approach:

• First: Fixing the stat disparity by adjusting PA/MA values of the base Squire stats – the result is that male Squire will now have 13/12, and female Squire will now have 12/13, a +1 stat increase from version 3.
  
• Second: Fixing the PA and MA multipliers (also known as PAM and MAM) marginally; most jobs received a 5% bonus to these multipliers depending on needs. For example, White Mage’s MAM was increased from 110% to 115% which resulted in generic male White Mage specifically getting an extra +1 MA.
  
• Combining the base Squire stat increase and job PAM/MAM resulted in:
  Male White Mage – 11/14 (+1 MA)
  Female White Mage – 10/15
  
• Lastly, to make sure being a male or female gender still played a role in the higher HP or MP spread, male Squires received +8 HP and female Squires received +9 MP.
  
• The accomplished goal of these changes is that the total stat spread (between PA and MA) is no more than 1 point between either gender. You can still build “optimally” and use a female White Mage, or you can choose for whatever reason (aesthetics, sprite design, wanting to use the additional PA) and go male White Mage instead and perform well and with a bit more added bulk!

The result of these adjustments to male White Mage for example is:

Another example of these base stat and job PAM/MAM adjustments are female Monks. In version 3, running a female Monk was very much not desirable, because there was realistically little to be gained from doing so (comparing Martial Arts, a female Monk had a marginally better Doom Fist).

In version 4, this changes quite differently, as you will now see that a female Monk is viable and even plausible for running secondary Dance or Arts of War:

And lastly, to quell any worries about how these job PAM/MAM changes affect unique characters let’s compare Agrias as a Dark Knight in version 3 and version 4:

Dark Knight’s PAM was increased from 130% to 135% resulting in a +1 PA value for female Dark Knights. This ultimately sets generic female Dark Knights to 16/11 while male Dark Knights retain 17/10 and the +1 PA translates as a minimal difference here with Agrias.

In PvP Patch v4.0, you can truly play any gender, and any job and perform well competitively. I look forward to seeing new builds and creations once we enter public beta on March 12th!

As part of our community mission to provide a home for multiplayer Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, we wanted to include a save that hones in on some of the game’s toughest PvE battles that you can take on with a buddy online wherever you have an internet connection and ZeroTier/PPSSPP. This supported save is included with our latest v2.5 save data update which you can read more about here.

✅Features

• All 15 Rendezvous missions unlocked (game cleared)
• This save is built similarly to how Starter is; the inventory is limited in quantity and characters have all jobs and abilities unlocked
• Ramza is listed as R-Ramza so you can track multiple Rendezvous saves within the Tactics League save data if needed

📃Important Details

• The PvP Patch must be disabled as this mode was designed with “vanilla” or original gameplay in mind
• It is highly recommended to have an original version of your FFT WotL backup ready so you can play with original text/descriptions
• Characters on the roster should not be modified, except via gear and abilities, and should retain their original Br/Fa values and stats
• Any stat changes, including EXP/JP, while in Rendezvous are reset after the mission ends
• Arithmeticks are disabled automatically in Rendezvous
• Characters that “crystalize” are not permanently removed from the party roster
• Multi-part missions, such as Brave Story, do not reset HP/MP, KO’d characters or status effects, inventory changes (such as katana breaks)

🏆Challenge and Scoring

You can always take on these missions with a friend casually, but why not add a little extra difficulty for added fun and strategy? The game’s Treasure Wheel dictates not only how many chests you get from completion but also your “Star Rating.” This Star Rating or the number of chests increases the fewer units you and your partner take on a mission together in addition to completion.

To go for a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐score:

• Ideally, both players bring no more than 1 unit each. However, this may vary from mission to mission
• Have zero party members KO’d by the time the mission ends (reviving does not penalize scoring)
• KO as many enemy characters as possible

At a later date, we are working on featuring a competitive-style Rendezvous challenge for everyone in the Tactics League Discord to participate in, so make sure to start learning these missions and prep to show your PvE prowess. If you have not already joined our Discord hop in and find a partner!

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.