Tag Updates

The first incremental update to competitive version 5 adds quality of life enhancements that will help with team building and better AoE targeting details, improved longbow targeting, Auto-Battling for multiplayer modes, AI behavior updates, some love to Flails and Axes to enhance the uniqueness in their selection, and a new ability dedicated to chocobo riding. Many thanks to @tzepish for these. Many of these will also be part of WotL Tweak in a future release!

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

• Resolved the “map glitching” issue related to toaded units
  First reported by @guitarmanager, this was a weird issue to trace and fix, but it was related to the status effects rewrite that was a part of the v5.0 update.

Quality of Life Updates

• Ability Target Cycling
  • You can now press the Square button while in the Forecast screen (before committing to an action) while targeting unit(s) within an AoE to preview their forecasted damage/healing for each unit instead of only relying on the targeted unit
    
  • The forecast now always displays one of the target’s info within the area, even if they were not originally selected via the cursor (ideal for abilities like Shockwave or -aja spells), instead of showing up as “00%” if a unit was not selected
    This makes getting the proper damage/healing/hit rate more accurate than just relying on self-targeting (which Iaido/Saint Cross/Unholy Sacrifice/Self-Destruct does) as well as just being able to generally see all targets within an AoE’s effectiveness, allowing for speedier decision making!
    
• Party Roster Reordering!
  • You can now use the L/R buttons to reposition units within the Party Roster and change their “order number”
  • Only works if the Sort Units mode is set to “Number,” which it is by default
  • Note that Ramza cannot be reordered due to campaign reasons
    Another big PSX QoL hack is now available. You can reorder your party as you see fit, making it easier to line up “teams” and reserved units near the top instead of by their default order listed.
    

• Smarter Longbow Arc Targeting
  • The original version would prioritize avoiding allies when picking arcs, which caused weirdness like firing directly into obstacles, or always picking a high arc when targeting allies
    
  • This new version now prioritizes hitting your original target instead of checking for allies in its path
    This is a major QoL to how longbows function with targeting, especially at short ranges.
    
• Help (Select) Now Usable While Selecting a “Move” Destination
  • Previously, you would need to be fully out of menus for the Help window to function notably for Geomancy information, but now this works as well during tile selection when performing a Move command
    
    
    
• Melee Mode
  • Auto-Battle (New Option, replaces the former “Arithmeticks” setting):
    • Allows or disallows the use of the [AI] menu command for both the Host and Client; this allows players to now host something similar to the FFTBG Twitch channel or to do “Ghost” battles
      
    • Replaces the former Arithmeticks game option for the Host, allowing for Orran’s Arithmeticks to be usable at all times since it is uniquely restricted to him
      
    • Note: Live competitions require this setting to be set to [Disallowed]
      This reworked setting gives the Host the ability to enable the AI to do battle for both players if set (though this requires each unit to individually have it enabled), especially for fun or casual settings.
      

• Rendezvous Mode
  • The [AI] menu command is now usable at all times instead of being disabled in this mode
    
  • Orran’s Arithmeticks is now allowed in this mode and removed the mentioning of Arithmeticks in the opening dialog for Rendezvous
    
  • Note: It is now “legal” to use the AI command even for the Rendezvous Leaderboards due to this change
    In the vanilla game, Arithmeticks was disabled in Rendezvous mode for good reason, but with it now only being tied to Orran in the PvP Patch, there is no reason for it to continue to be.
    
• Text Updates
  • Fixed erroneous ability cast text on Glacial Bow, Boltsnipe, and Fire Bow
  • Additional text adjustments and updates
  • The original “Potion” is named “Auto-Potion” across all mentioned text, and updated the Auto-Potion reaction to state it heals for 150 HP to dissuade that it only provides this value by default
  • Fixed Arise’s Spell Quote
  • Updated Protect status Help menu
  • Removed Magma Surge listings on terrain Help menus since it is no longer accessible
    
• AI Behavior
  • AI units in critical will now prioritize moving towards a “healer” instead of just fleeing by default (will continue to flee if no healer found)
    
  • AI units will no longer consider Jump on sleeping allies (lol)
    
  • AI will now only ignore Doom status if you have 1 tick remaining instead of just ignoring the unit until they die (or if KO immune)
    This sets better expectations for the AI to appropriately determine if a doomed unit is worth going after in consideration, instead of just removing them from the targets list.
    
  • AI handling of Cloud, Aerith, and Ashley are now “aware” of the player limitations of Limit Breaks or Break Arts and will only use them in the same manner players are normally restricted by (must have taken damage to unlock Lv. 2+ Limits with Lv. 1s being initially unlocked and Break Arts are strictly only tied to his equipped weapon instead)
    This change sets the expectation that the AI can no longer freely use their skillsets while the player has imposed restrictions, and creates fairer situations.
    
  • AI Beowulf can now use Spellblade regardless of the target’s Faith/Atheist
    
• Practice Mode (Araguay Woods)
  • Some select units now have their weapons randomized instead of being set, allowing for more variance in practice fights
    
  • Implemented 2 additional units into each team to replicate the “reserves” found in competitions. These units will randomly take an already pre-determined one’s slot if it rolls to do so. The following changes were made to each team:
    
    • Elidibus Team (West)
      • Squire (M) may spawn instead of Mime (F)
      • Dancer may spawn instead of Ninja (M)
        
    • Ashley Team (West)
      • Ashley’s main and off-hand weapons are now <random> instead of Excalibur to simulate Reequip, and with the above change to AI now following the limitations in Break Arts
      • Thief (M) may spawn instead of Squire (F)
      • Sage (M) may spawn instead of Samurai (F)
        
    • Mustadio Team (West)
      • Samurai (M) may spawn instead of Samurai (F)
      • Mystic (F) may spawn instead of Knight (M)
        
    • Agrias Team (West)
      • Bard may spawn instead of Black Mage (F)
      • Chemist (F) may spawn instead of Summoner (F)
        
    • Construct 8 Team (East)
      • Archer (M) may spawn instead of Dragoon (M)
      • Knight (F) may spawn instead of Monk (M)
        
    • Cloud Team (East)
      • Onion Knight (M) may spawn instead of Archer (M)
      • Time Mage (M) may spawn instead of Squire (M)
        
    • Aerith Team (East)
      • Geomancer (F) may spawn instead of Orator (F)
      • Monk (F) may spawn instead of Thief (M)
        
    • Meliadoul Team (East)
      • Thief (F) may spawn instead of Bard
      • Summoner (M) may spawn instead of Ninja (M)
        
    • Special Encounter Team (5x Uniques)
      • Set all Levels to Party Level instead of Lv. 99 as intended for campaign reasons
      • Delita may spawn instead of Balthier
      • Rapha may spawn instead of Beowulf
      • Marach may spawn instead of Luso

Jobs

• Divine Knight (Meliadoul)
  • Decreased PAM from 120 to 110% (-1 PA, from 16 to 15)
    This reduction in PA is due to a change to her innate Pierce to keep her job damage potential relatively the same with Unyielding Strike/any other PA-based skillsets.

Action Abilities

• Limit (Cloud)
  • Finishing Touch – This ability is flagged for vertical tolerance
    This was supposed to be set for vert tolerance in the last update, but I have seemingly missed it lol.
    
  • Omnislash:
    • Decreased PWR per hit from 75 to 50%
    • This ability no longer randomly hits within the area and hits all enemies five times each per target
    • This ability can now be physically evaded based on the weapon type
    • This ability is no longer affected by Shirahadori (since it is now checked by evasion)
      The changes to Omnislash are primarily to remove the “feels bad” from multiple random whiffing of what is considered one of the strongest abilities in the game. Because it requires unlocking and can be countermeasured by not “hard stacking” or evasiveness, this ability shouldn’t have additional consequences to demote unleashing its potential if unlocked in battle, and can be avoided by killing Cloud (which reduces Limit Level back to 3 if it was at Lv. 4).
      
  • Cherry Blossom – Fixed an issue where this ability had a very low status chance to inflict. This ability now uses a base 100% status chance (previously 19%) that then rolls at a 25% chance each for Blind, Poison, or Immobilize per target hit to ensure it has the intended status hit rate
    Cherry’s status chance in v5.0 was basically 25% of 19% per status rolled – you would rarely see it land one. With this correction, it will flourish better as an ultimate limit skill. 

Monster Abilities

• Tentacles (Malboro and Squid family) – Increased Range and Vert. from 1 to 2
  
• Malboro Spores (Greater Malboro) – Increased Range from 1 to 2 and Vert. from 0 to 1

R/S/M Abilities

• NEW Adept Rider (Movement, assigned to Fundaments or the unique’s skillset for 300 JP) – A new movement ability that expands on chocobo riding ONLY while mounted:
  • Mounting no longer consumes your Move, allowing you to Move after mounting 
  • Reduces your damage taken by 10% while mounting (similar to Resilience’s all-time reduction)
  • Access to your Chocobo’s skillset based on the Chocobo type via the Chococraft command, including its hidden Beastmaster ability
    • Chococraft abilities use the rider’s stats, not the mount 
    • NOTE: If you are using Dragon Tech as a secondary or are using Elmdore or Isilud on their main job, their tertiary skillset (Jump or Vampire) will override Chococraft!
      
      
      
• Ward (Reaction) – Slotting this ability additionally grants Initial: Protect, Shell
  This buff to Ward is to entice it as an option for those who prefer Initial mitigation via ability, while allowing it to be more impactful in that it can consistently refresh uptime from taking HP damage.  
  
• Pierce (Support) – Additionally increases your damage done by 5% at all times
  Pierce has a niche in being a great option versus Reflect and Golem, but there are times when neither is present, so this ability falls short very quickly against other damage done modifiers. This extra 5% helps offset some of that while buffing all damage types instead of specific ones like Attack Boost or Arcane Strength. Notably, this also makes it a stronger option for those focused on Jump (as the only support ability capable of technically buffing it).

Equipment – Weapons

• Removal of <Rare> Flagging on Select Equipment – The following equipment had the flag removed from them, which previously disallowed randomly generated units from being able to roll them as equipment options:
  • Knight’s Swords – All except the Tactics League-exclusive ones 
  • Shields – Genji Shield, Kaiser Shield, and Venetian Shield
  • Note: This does mean that randomly encountered units, such as Knights, can now roll this equipment; however, the item’s “enemy level” still dictates if they can be legally equipped or not
    This change is mostly to improve Practice Mode’s Ashley, but also provides a potential outlet to finding these weapons/shields in encounters, albeit still scarce by design due to item level limitations.
    
• Axes
  • Golden Axe:
    • Decreased WP from 18 to 16
    • Now Holy-elemental
      
  • Francisca:
    • Increased Range from 1 to 2 and is now flagged <lunging> instead of <striking> like Poles and Polearms; notably, back-targeting can cause a “miss” with attacks, so make sure you select a valid target
    • Decreased WP from 18 to 12
    • Now 50% Casts: Crush Helm instead of Rend Helm, allowing it to deal additional damage if the item breaks. Note that this portion of damage also ignores mitigation due to being sourced from an axe
    • Updated the Help menu
      This change to Francisca is to treat it more like a “Throwing Axe,” dealing less damage upfront for an additional range. The basic attack + Crush Helm cast is nothing to scoff at. Hold on to ya heads! Thank you to @thecountess for the suggestion!
      
• Flails
  • Increased the Range of all Flails from 1 to 2
  • All Flails are now flagged as <lunging> instead of <striking>
    
  • Morning Star:
    • Added +1 Magick
    • Increased Block from 5 to 10
    • Added 50% Inflicts: Blind
      
  • Vesper:
    • Decreased +Power from 2 to 1
    • Added HP Absorption on damage dealt and 50% Inflicts: Slow
      Flails were overall lacking before, so I revisited the archetype in previous FF titles to try to improve them as well as provide a bit more uniqueness to the weapon type.
      
• Shields
  • Ice Shield, Flame Shield, and Lightning Shield:
    • Removed their respective elemental Weakness
    • Decreased P-Ev. of each shield from 40 to 30%
      These shields have always been niche, and will probably continue to be in the future, but their biggest drawback is the Weakness associated with them. The removal of their weakness is to (hopefully) allow for more build diversity to utilize their Boost/Absorb element without needing to “cover” the weakness aspect and place that more on Oil/Breakage.
      
• Staves
  • Staff of the Magi:
    • Decreased WP from 15 to 14
    • Added +1 Magick
      
• Swords
  • Coral Sword – Added +1 Magick

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

This incremental update addresses most bugs reported with v5.0, removes the bonus +HP gear damage from Crush Helm/Armor, and some monster buffs.

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

To download this update, please visit Download.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Invisible status not applying doubled evasion rates
• Fixed Silence status prohibiting Iaido
• Fixed Purification cleansing Curse status (only Esuna and Holy Water are able)
• Removed % text from Steal Helm
• Corrected Ultima’s Speed text
• [Campaign] Fixed Mustadio and others wanting to join the party while your party is full, giving you a join request instead of outright not prompting the opportunity to dismiss units instead to make room

Learn on Hit Functionality

• Learn on hit now ignores your status except if considered KO’d to make for an easier time triggering learn prompts, from abilities like Mind Blast
  Note: the “Learn?” prompt doesn’t display if under a disabling status (such as Vampire or Confuse) but the ability is still being automatically learned in Blue Magicks
• “Learn (ability)?” prompt should always display regardless if Battle Prompt is ON or OFF

Abilities

• Crush Helm/Crush Armor – Removed the equipment +HP damage difference when targeting helms or armor for this update
  When this was changed, this was primarily to buff Meli from feedback in v4 on her damage performance. However, Meli also isn’t the only one with access to these skills or the ability to Cast them (like Orlandeau or Ashley) so for this iteration, this change is being removed to tone down on the overperformance of using these skills with these units combined in All-Stars. I’ll reassess if it is worth re-adding in a later update.

Equipment

• Thief’s Cap – Increased +HP from 60 to 70
• Acacia Hat – Increased +HP from 50 to 60

Monsters and Monster Abilities

Goblin family

• Black Goblin:
  • Increased HPM from 86 to 94%
  • Replaced Counter with First Strike
• Gobbledygook – Replaced Counter with Fury

Bird family

• Beak – Increased Vert. from 0 to 2
• Jura Aevis – Increased HPM from 90 to 114%
• Steelhawk:
  • Increased HPM from 85 to 94%
  • Replaced Innate: Pierce with Attack Boost
    Monster abilities don’t get blocked by Golem so this is to give them a bit more usable innate, buffing Talon Dive specifically.

Ghost family

• Replaced Counter with Shirahadori for each monster
• Ghoul – Increased PAM from 90 to 110%
• Ghast – Increased PAM from 93 to 103%

Dryad family

• Dryad:
  • Increased MPM from 160 to 200%
  • Increased SPM from 120 to 135%
  • Replaced Counter with Mana Shield

• Elder Treant – Replaced Innate: Counter with Resilience
• Leaf Rain – Increased Vert. from 1 to 2
• Guardian Nymph and Shell Nymph – These abilities now hits the caster as well

Squid family

• Mindflayer:
  • Increased HPM from 105 to 124%

• Skill Drain (formerly Level Drain):
  • No longer lowers the target’s Level by 1 and instead lowers the target’s PA/MA/SP by 2.
  • Deals PA * (MA / 2) damage on success.
  • Decreased PWR from 60 to 45, using MA + 45
  • This ability is unevadable

• Squidkraken – Increased HPM from 115 to 131%

Swine family

• Snort and Toot – Increased Range from 1 to 2
• Pig:
  • Increased HPM from 110 to 120%
  • Added Snort as a 2nd ability
  • Replaced Counter with CT Boost

• Swine – Increased PAM from 80 to 120%

Ahriman family

• Beam – Increased -PA/MA from 2 to 3

It’s almost time for the PvP Patch v5 Beta. That said, there is some news to share regarding map pool changes coming to Standard and map-specific ones for the new 4v4 All-Stars format debuting on Tuesday, March 18th. This information is coming out ahead of time so there’s one less headache or news to follow with the plethora of changes coming in version 5. Let’s first talk about small map changes coming to Standard.

Standard: Oratory is out – Roof is in

The small map, Lionel Castle Oratory is being removed entirely from the map pool for this iteration and is being replaced by Riovannes Castle Roof as a new small map. Roof’s spawning is still close-quartered being separated by a 5-tile difference for both Host and Guest, however, Roof improves on aspects such as neutral spawning and height, as well as being fairly symmetrical, so neither player has an advantage initially.

Riovannes Castle Roof will be updated into Tavernmaster and a part of the ruleset changes on day 1 of the Version 5 Beta.

Riovannes Castle Roof

All-Stars Format Maps

With All-Stars being 4v4, the current v4 map pool was analyzed to determine what maps wouldn’t feel good to play on with a smaller team size. This led to adding two small maps specifically for All-Stars and not a part of Standard: Monastery Vaults – Level 1, as it is small enough for fast engagement time, but there are several quirks about the map, especially its underpasses and Limberry Castle Undercroft, with its neutral spawning, tight-quartered arena making for frantic battles likely on turn 1.

With All-Stars being 4v4, deployment positioning is more vital than ever before.

The All-Stars map pool will only feature these maps in its rotation:

• Small
  • Orbonne Monastery, Mullonde Cathedral Sanctuary, Riovannes Castle Roof, Limberry Castle Undercroft, and Monastery Vaults – Level 1
    
• Medium
  • Zeirchele Falls, Mullonde Cathedral Nave, The Yuguewood, Araguay Woods, Golgollada Gallows, and Mandalia Plain

Monastery Vaults – Level 1 Spawning

Limberry Castle Undercroft – Spawning

New small maps to play, a bit more neutral balancing for small maps in Standard, and tailored maps for All-Stars are all a part of making the version 5 experience a fun and successful one for the future ahead.

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!