Tag PvP

As we approach the March 18th public beta date, it’s time to highlight some action ability changes with version 5. This article will focus on some of the major changes that you will need to know about ahead of time so you can start planning for the future. This will be a decently long read, but one worth having from start to finish.

Distinction in Elemental Abilities

Abilities like Fira, Blizzara, and even Reis’s Breath abilities (except Holy Breath) essentially acted the same in version 4, where there was no distinction between choices. That changes in version 5, with select elements and abilities now having a 19% status chance associated with them; making choices even more impactful than ever. Let’s do a quick rundown about what was changed:

• Fire – Inflicts: Poison (Black Magicks, Summon’s Ifrit, Dragon Tech, and Reis’s Fire Breath)
• Ice – Inflicts: Immobilize (Black Magicks, Summon’s Shiva, Dragon Tech, and Reis’s Ice Breath)
• Lightning – Inflicts: Blind (Black Magicks, Summon’s Ramuh, Dragon Tech, and Reis’s Thunder Breath)
• Wind – Inflicts: Confuse (from Windslash Bow)
• Holy – Removes: Reraise, Regen, Haste (White Magicks’s Holy)
• Dark – Inflicts: Curse (Mystic Arts’s Unholy Darkness)

As mentioned, these distinction updates only affect the listed abilities. They also affect weapons that cast their ability, like Vitanova (Holy) and even Glacial Gun (Black Magick’s Blizzard series)!

A Reworked and Improved Black Magicks

One skillset that wasn’t as performant was Black Magicks. Between the distinction updates listed earlier and a reworking of the abilities and even new ones, Black Magicks will be a future contender in a competitive environment for Black Mage and as a secondary for casters. First, let’s go over how the skillset was reworked:

• Level 1 Black Magicks (Fire, Blizzard, Thunder) got a PWR increase from 18 to 25 each.
  
• Level 2 through Level 4 abilities were condensed and restructured. What this means is that:
  • -aja variants (Lv. 4s) have now become the -aga (Lv. 3) variants, copying over all ability data, including costs and AoE. After this copy, their cast times were reduced from 5 to 4.
    
  • – aga variants (Lv. 3s) have now become the -ara (Lv. 2s) variants, copying over all ability data as well. After this copy, their cast times were reduced from 3 to 2.
    
  • This ultimately removes the original four-step progression of these abilities and leans the skillset. More importantly, it gives space to introduce 3 NEW abilities to take over those slots!

With 3 new ability slots, I aimed to diverse and strengthen the kit as a whole, bringing about new ways to play Black Mage, and to utilize their destructive arsenal with the following, including an upgrade to the original Poison ability:

• Scathe – Consider it a faith-based Kiku-ichimonji (from Iaido), at 1 speed and non-elemental damage at 25 PWR. This ability does not damage allies in the line.
  
• Doomsday – This 3 ranged, Iaido-AoE, Dark-elemental magick deals 40% max. HP damage to those affected and has a 19% chance to Inflict: Doom.
  
• Curse – This instant single target ability has a variable chance to Inflict: Curse, the new negative status. Curse lowers the target’s damage done and healing received by 33% and is permanent until cleansed.
  
• Bio (Poison upgrade) – The original Poison ability got a massive upgrade, as this ability uniquely does not calculate with Faith, and is guaranteed to Inflict: Poison as long as the target was not immune with a 50% HP loss to boot! This ability is the only “magick” in the game that can be cast on low-faith/Atheist targets as a means to give Black Magicks an option when normally countered. This ability has a 3-speed cast time.

With faster cast times, more power, and more options, Black Magicks is much better and more appealing than ever before!

Iaido 2.0

One skillset that has always been performant even in the original game is Samurai’s Iaido. However, with that being said, Iaido was never really competitive on its own derived job, so there have been pretty sizable changes to it.

Damaging abilities will now use [(MA + PWR) / 2 * PA] calculations instead of [MA * PWR]. This change is to not only buff Samurai’s signature skillset for their use but also widen the number of jobs, including physical ones, that can utilize Iaido. Yes, this is a nerf to Magick-stacked jobs, like the tried-and-true Iaido Black Mage, but with some additional base job PA enhancements, mage jobs can still utilize Iaido effectively, albeit they will need to go more into PA this go around instead of stacking straight into Magick. Jobs that can hybridize their stats well, like Samurai and Geomancer, will find newer heights in this reworked Iaido. Let’s look at the PWR changes to compensate for this new hybrid formula:

• Ashura – from 10 to 14
• Kotetsu – from 12 to 16
• Ama-no-Murakamo – from 13 to 18, now Inflicts: Curse instead of Undead at 19% chance
• Muramasa – from 15 to 18
• Kiku-ichimonji – from 14 to 16
• Chirijiraden – from 17 to 22

Additionally, the break chance of Iaido has gone up from 33 to 50% per cast. This is to reduce same-ability spamming, especially with the skillset having a wider audience to use it. The Safeguard support ability will additionally lower the break chance of Iaido to 25% if slotted. With an increase in break chance, the “support” Iaido abilities, Murasame and Osafune, respectively got a slight PWR (14 and 16) increase in potency and still use [MA * PWR].

Lastly, based on community feedback, the Zanmato katana now has an ability assigned to it called “Advent of Might,” which increases the Bravery of all allies affected by 4. This katana is still limited in Standard, and being able to improve your group’s Bravery in a single cast can be advantageous not only to Samurai and unarmed Monk but to better reaction chances too at the start of a fight.

Damaging Stat Reduction Abilities

To improve Arts of War’s Rend Stat abilities (Rend Speed, Rend Power, Rend Magick specifically), these abilities will now deal minimal damage using [PA * (WP / 2)] on hit in addition to their stat reduction. With being able to apply chip damage mitigated and lower a unit’s vital stats in one go, Rend Stat abilities got an enticing buff that not only improves Knight but the skillset as a whole.

Additionally, Mustadio’s Disassemble ability deals minor damage too but uses [PA * (MA / 2)] instead in addition to lowering a target’s PA and MA by 2.

The Safeguard ability will also lower these stat reductions by 1, so getting hit by Rend Power would be a -2 Power loss instead of 3 for example.

Don’t sleep on these abilities, especially for openers and high-threat targets!

Mastery Arts is a Fully Slottable Secondary

With version 5 being the last, major update series, it is fitting to get the Onion Knight’s skillset to become usable as a secondary, especially since it is considered a generic job. You will now be able to wield Mastery Arts on any character, including Uniques, which uniquely grants them access to Focus for the first time.

Additionally, Mastery Arts is fully viewable from the skillset menu too, so you can find out what exact abilities they have instead of having to wait to go into battle.

Updates to Sword Skills

Some changes went into select “sword skill” skillsets and abilities to improve their viability in general.

First, Holy Sword and all abilities, except Unholy Sacrifice, in Darkness, now scale with [weapon] instead of [PA * WP]. Because these abilities already require a “sword-type” weapon and these weapons use [PA * WP] anyway, you won’t see any changes to their output. However, when using abilities with dual wield or with other weapons, these will use that weapon’s base calculation. A prime example of this is using a katana in the main hand and a one-handed sword in the off-hand for Darkness Ninja. Though katanas have more WP than a sword, because of Bravery scaling, the damage will be a bit less upfront unless you can reach near-max Bravery.

Abyssal Blade got a buff in its row scaling now using +2 PWR for the first row, +1 PWR for the second, and divide by 2 for the third. These changes impact Cloud’s Blade Beam as well.

Meliadoul’s Crush Helm and Crush Armor abilities now deal the max HP difference properly so there isn’t a “loss” in damage due to hitting these equipment. This is a fairly notable buff to Meliadoul’s toolkit and damage potential. Additionally, based on requests, she now has Crush Shield too!

Beowulf’s Spellblade got a hefty change where though it still requires a sword-type weapon, it no longer calculates against his and the target’s Faith, allowing for Spellblade to be more versatile against Atheist and lower-faith targets. PWR changes were made to these abilities as they now use [% = MA + PWR] to determine their status chance, but it should be roughly near the same as it was in version 4 with some slight deviations, like Break having a bit lower chance due to a technical KO in Stone infliction.

Additionally, Spellblade’s Drain and Syphon now scale with [weapon] too but at 70% of the damage done, as a slightly weaker version of Sanguine Sword and Infernal Strike, to give him more physical options in his kit. With these changes, Beowulf is certainly able to “check” select uniques and generics better and is a more flexible combatant.

New and Improved Reaction/Support/Movement Abilities

One big goal of version 5 is to improve on lesser-used R/S/M abilities so that it empowers players with even more options than they already had! Of course, with a major update, new abilities are being added, so let’s look at these first, starting with Supports:

• 2 NEW Support Abilities – Pierce and Power Throw
  • Pierce – Normal Attacks, Magicks, Jump, and Throw bypass Golem and Reflect.
  • Power Throw – Increase damage with Throw by 43%.
    
• 3 NEW Movement Abilities – Tactical Shift (by Tzepish), Stealth, and Athleticks. Note that Tactical Shift is an upgraded Treasure Hunter that allows you to still find hidden items in Campaign:
  • Tactical Shift – Restores your Move command after a killing blow with a normal attack.
  • Stealth – Bestows: Invisible after moving at least 5 tiles at once.
  • Athleticks – Increases your Power and Magick by 1 for every 5 tiles moved at once.
    
• Improved R/S/M Abilities:
  • Resilience (Reaction – formerly Resilient) – Applies an 8% damage reduction at all times while slotted (this affects normally mitigation ignored sources). While charging, remove the physical damage penalty and reduce all damage taken by 50%. Notably, this includes incoming magic-based abilities with this change too, and not just physical.
    
  • Ward (Reaction) – Grants Curse and Doom immunity at all times while slotted.
    
  • Earplug (Reaction) – Grants Confuse and Charm immunity at all times while slotted.
    
  • CT Boost (Reaction) – Increased CT gained from 9 to 12.
    
  • Critical: Restore (Reaction – formerly Critical: Recover HP) – Additionally restores MP as well HP to full if triggered while in critical.
    
  • First Strike (Reaction) – Now can trigger against all incoming Steal abilities.
    
  • HP Boost (Support) – Increases base HP from 20 to 25%.
    
  • Safeguard (Support) – Additionally lowers Iaido break chance to 25%, reduces Stat Reduction loss by 1, and prevents items from being stolen or broken.
    
  • Concentration (Support) – Uses additive calculations instead of multiplicative, improving hit rates by approximately 10% more.
    
  • Equip Bludgeon (Support) – Now includes Knives.
    
  • Monkey Grip (Support) – Now fully works with Reequip.
    
  • Beastmaster (Support) – Extends the range of friendly monster’s hidden abilities from 1 to 3 and slotting Beastmaster enables the slotting of Blue Magicks as a secondary ability.
    
  • Nimble (Movement) – Added +1 Move.

Conclusion

There are even more ability changes than what was previewed today but this highlights the most notable ones. With only a week left, version 5 is changing the game and opening up new possibilities for creativity. See you all on the 18th!

The Version 5 Exhibition match will take place LIVE on Twitch and the Tactics League’s staging channel on Sunday, March 16th at 7 PM EDT. Guitarmanager and Rumer, the 1st and 2nd place winners of the 2025 Winter Cup #1 event that was held on February 23rd will get their hands on this massive update a few days ahead of the public beta and showcase some of the new changes in a best-of-3 series match!

It won’t be long before everyone can get their hands on PvP Patch v5 Beta! The beta will go public and downloadable on March 18th shortly after the changelog is posted in the Tactics League Discord. Website updates will follow behind it. If you are eager to participate in campaign or multiplayer, join the server early and get accustomed to the current v4.4 patch, making transitioning into version 5 a bit easier.

Join the Tactics League Discord today and become a future beta tester of this year’s series of updates!

In the fourth article of the Version 5 Focused series, we go over one of the bigger aspects of what this newest update focuses on: major quality-of-life changes that improve and add various aspects to not only the PvP Patch but to Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions in general. There’s a lot to cover, so we will focus on the bigger highlights you want to know once the public beta is out. Just to note, though Campaign received several QoL changes, we will focus on that in a separate article later this week.

⚙ Customized Options

PvP Patch v5 will add a requested feature that is scarcely available in other FFT mods; the ability to change your team’s battle color via the new “Battle Palette” Option! Helmed by @Tzepish, this modifies the previous Cursor Repeat Rate setting to now allow you to change your generic unit’s color according to the various enemy factions you encounter in the campaign. You’ll be able to finally put some extra customization with your team in addition to being able to change your unit’s name via the Warriors’ Guild from a previous update.

Additionally, with Spell Quotes being reintegrated, the “Display Ability Names” setting is now named “Ability Names and Quotes” which disables or enables ability name display and Spell Quote pop-ups. This setting is enabled by default.

The “Display Earned EXP/JP” setting now affects the enemy team’s EXP/JP display as well as disabling or enabling the celebration they do when they gain a job level as a means to speed up battles.

💬Spell Quotes Integration

A feature disabled in the original War of the Lions, Spell Quotes have returned and are fully usable in both Campaign and Multiplayer modes. There are a few caveats with Spell Quotes returning to ensure it doesn’t impact live gameplay performance in general. Thank you to @Tzepish and @3lric for the translated text and optimizations!

• Spell Quotes can occur 35% of the time
• Invisible, chicken, or toad-status units or Mimes cannot quote
• Some generic abilities, such as Steal and Speechcraft, do not have quotes set
• Quotes, when triggered, are fairly short-lived so that they do not take away much time from Melee. Note that quotes do not consume a player’s timer while being displayed

☠ Status Effects

Version 5 introduces Curse status – a new negative effect that reduces the target’s damage dealt and healing received by 33% while affected denoted by a new status bubble. Curse status is a new form of “damage reduction” that affects mitigation-ignored sources, like Axes or Knight’s Mow Down, and lowers the HP restored from sources like Regen or Elixir. Additionally, Curse is a permanent debuff until removed via Esuna or Holy Water. Curse is accessible via the following abilities:

• Curse (NEW Black Magicks) – variable status chance to single target Inflict: Curse, instant cast
• Ama-no-Murakamo (Iaido) – 19% status chance to Inflict: Curse in an AoE
• Unholy Darkness (Mystic Arts or Ebon Blade) – 19% status chance on hit
• Accursed Umbra (Ashley’s Break Arts – Axe) – 100% status chance on hit

Float status increases your effective Height from 2 to 4; this change affects Longbow’s variable range by 1 depending on targeted tiles, allowing your bow and arrow to go further distances even if the map is not as favorable!

Reflect status now has a status bubble to show units affected and Veil additionally displays a yellow-invisible tint to improve status messaging. Poison and Vampire’s status bubbles have been removed to allow for Curse and Reflect, but these still have their respective status color.

⏰Updated Melee Mode Timers

As part of efforts to speed up gameplay and overall competition total time-per-game, Tactics League’s Standard ruleset will now use a 12-minute timer with a 20-second reset time instead of the previous 15-minute timer with a 15-second reset time. Though the initial time window is shortened per player, the 20 seconds on reset if you reach zero on the main timer gives a bit more flexibility with decision-making making and the extra 5 seconds surprisingly cuts down on those “nail-bitter” situations where you only have a few seconds to spare to commit to an action. I will be monitoring these timer changes as a whole going into the beta and am hopeful that it will help game time and reinforce the need to think ahead more off-turn.

Conclusion

With v5 being the final series of updates, Quality of Life changes are a bit focused on ensuring the final product is ready for the future and beyond. There are a handful of other lesser-important QoLs (but still impactful nonetheless!) that will be mentioned going into v5’s changelog.

On February 23, 2025, the 2025 Winter Cup #1 Competition was completed and Guitarmanager was crowned Champion of the event after a difficult battle for 1st place against Rumer.

To watch (or rewatch) the tournament in its entirety with chapters to jump to specific matches:

Guitarmanager and YoshnJa had a post-event interview reviewing Guitar’s perspective on Sunday’s recent event. The interview can be found here:

The 2025 Winter Cup #1 Champion, Guitarmanager

Starting his competition run in the Semifinals, Guitarmanager first faced Dr. Jay after Dr. Jay defeated im_the_king21 in Round 1. Guitarmanager and Dr. Jay fought off-site in Lobby A, ending with Guitar’s victory 2-0 in their best-of-3 series. Once Rumer claimed victory against DoggoK in the Semifinals after advancing against Acook10 in Round 1, the Grand Finals was set for a Guitarmanager vs. Rumer face-off.

Game 1 was played on Limberry Castle Inner Court. Guitarmanager had the high ground since he was the lower seed from Rumer and was the “guest,” which played a pivotal role in positioning and engagement issues later for Rumer. Though Rumer had plenty of offensive power, his two melee units, both an Onion Knight and Monk, had difficulties getting into range as well as Guitarmanager upkeeping Golem, lessening the overall impact Rumer could deal with his powerful basic attacks. Game 1 ended with a Guitar victory, 5 to 0 units alive.

As part of a new rule for map picks, Rumer decided to play Game 2 on Golgollada Gallows. Swapping in his undead Delita build he shook the audience with his turn 1 blitz-style engagement of Hallowed Bolt not only once, but twice in a row, thanks to using Critical: Quick coupled with his Thief triggering it with an X-Potion. With Deltia netting a triple kill, Guitar instantly was put on the defensive and recovered, which he thankfully managed to carefully do and ended up claiming victory after a harrowing spin of events that led to the finale of the 10 Action game. With it, Guitarmanager has netted his first Tactics League 1st place accomplishment and both Guitarmanager and Rumer will be invited to an exclusive Version 5 Exhibition match as well as getting the PvP Patch v5 Beta days before it goes public.

Thank you to im_the_king21, Acook10, DoggoK, Dr. Jay, Rumer, and Guitarmanager for being a part of the year’s first cup, and thank you to the audience on both Discord and Twitch!

Results and Registered Team Rosters

With the first event of the 2025 year completed and the many excitements we watched live in the Featured station, I am hopeful that the remaining year will be even more impactful and fierce as we go into the final series of updates with PvP Patch v5 Beta.

While the event is over, the match data and team rosters are now publicly available to view on both Google Sheets and PDF format which can be found below:
2025 Winter Cup #1 Competition Data – Google Sheets

Version 5 introduces a new and familiar mechanic that will affect Aerith (now playable in both campaign and Tactics PvP) and Cloud – the Limit Level System from the original Final Fantasy VII.

For anyone who has played Final Fantasy VII (if you haven’t by now what are you waiting for!) this system should feel and act quite at home while making some minor adjustments to fit for Final Fantasy Tactics and PvP balance and fairness. First, Let’s review how this system works and how it will impact both Aerith and Cloud in version 5.

Limit Level System Functionality

Cloud and Aerith both have “Limit” skillsets that correspond closely to their behavior in FFVII. This also means that Cloud (who we are already familiar with) had most of his abilities adjusted to mimic his FFVII counterparts in various ways where possible while ensuring there was still a physical and magick side of him that could be explored during teambuilding. We will go into more about that later when we go over the ability changes. For now, let’s go more into detail on how this system translates over to Tactics:

• Cloud and Aerith’s “Limit” is initially unusable at battle start. Abilities unlock based on the percentage of HP damage taken from only enemy attacks. Steps were added to ensure that team damage cannot influence your Limit Level. This does mean that Cloud and Aerith are both more reliant on their secondary skillset and weapon attacks initially as well, but their “counter” options vastly grow stronger and stronger the higher their Limit Level reaches up to a maximum of 4.
• Limit Levels are separated by: Level 1 = 20%, Level 2 = 30%, Level 3 = 40%, Level 4 = 60% HP damage taken
• Limit is no longer blocked by Silence status.
• Limit no longer costs MP (since there is an HP damage requirement).
• Damaging Limits cannot target/hit allies.
• Recoil damage and Poison status do not increase your Limit Level.
• Mana Shield works with incrementing Limit Level as the HP to MP conversion is still considered HP damage.
• Reaction abilities, such as Soulbind or Counter, can increase your Limit Level.
• Once a Limit ability is used, your Limit Level will reset to zero as it did in FFVII; you will need to make choices on whether to “save up” or use lower levels (which are still of great benefit).
• If a Limit ability has zero targets hit/affected, it will not reset your Limit Level.
• If Cloud or Aerith is KO’ed, your Limit Level will be reduced by 1 (instead of being reset as it did in FFVII) so that you still have the option to utilize them as long as you were at least Limit Level 2.

Cloud – Limit Abilities

As mentioned earlier, Cloud’s Limit abilities are much closer to their FFVII counterparts instead of oddly being only MA-based abilities like they were in the original FFT. With the Soldier job having innate Doublehand, this plays a bigger role and Cloud can reach further damage potential when speccing him for physical damage. For those that enjoyed a magick-based Cloud, you will find some of his abilities a bit more limited than they were in v4, but more lethal due to the buffs pertaining to Limit Level. Let’s go over his reworked skillset:

• Braver (Lv. 1)
  • An “attack-like” ability that deals 10% more physical damage with your [weapon] to one target, can now Cast or Inflict: [weapon], evadable, and can critically strike. This ability will strike twice if dual-wielding.
• Cross Slash (Lv. 1)
  • Deals cross-shape AoE physical damage based on your [weapon] + 1 PWR, 25% chance to Inflict: Stop, can critically strike.
• Blade Beam (Lv. 2)
  • Deals 3-range conal AoE physical damage based on your [weapon], uses Abyssal Blade row scaling (but does not recoil), and can critically strike.
• Climhazzard (Lv. 2)
  • Deals 70% of the target’s max. HP in single target damage, ignoring mitigation. This ability no longer triggers Magick Counter.
• Meteorain (Lv. 3)
  • Now 18 PWR instead of 14 and is still AoE magic damage (with the same range/vert.).
• Finishing Touch (Lv. 3)
  • Inflicts all of: KO, Stone, and Stop (in that order) instead of randomly one of the three, and is still single target.
• Omnislash (Lv. 4)
  • An “attack-like” ability that strikes with your [weapon] at 75% of its normal damage, but Omnislash now hits 5 times randomly within the AoE (and no longer hits allies). Can now Cast or Inflict: [weapon] and can critically strike. This ability will strike 10 times if dual-wielding.
• Cherry Blossom (Lv. 4)
  • Now 20 PWR instead of 16 and has a 25% chance to Inflict: Poison, Immobilize, or Blind per target hit (still tri-elemental).

As you have probably noticed, most Limit abilities are now influenced by your equipped weapon this time around (as most Limit abilities were enhanced “Attack” in FFVII) and Doublehand, Attack Boost, and even Brawler, affect them too so there is a plethora of ways to build Cloud and ultimately, he is even more lethal than in v4, albeit he will now need to be “pushed to his limit.”

Aerith – Limit Abilities

As Aerith is a support-type unique character, most of her skillset is centered around supporting her allies to victory, but don’t sleep on her abilities as they can quickly turn the tides of battle!

• Healing Wind (Lv. 1)
  • Restores HP to allies in an Iaido ranged-AoE. Heals undead instead of damaging them.
• Seal Evil (Lv. 1)
  • 3 range, single target, 100% Inflicts: Silence and Stop.
• Breath of the Earth (Lv. 2)
  • Iaido-ranged, removes all negative effects from allies.
• Fury Brand (Lv. 2)
  • Iaido-ranged, increases allies’ Power and Magick by 2.
• Planet Protector (Lv. 3)
  • Single ally, Bestows: Protect, Shell, and Veil.
• Pulse of Life (Lv. 3)
  • Iaido-ranged, ally revive at % = PA + 70. Restores 50% HP on success per target.
• Great Gospel (Lv. 4)
  • Iaido-ranged, fully restores HP and MP, and Bestows: Protect, Shell to allies.

Though the majority of Aerith’s skillset is support-based, her stats on her Ancient job allow her to dive into either physical or magick abilities or attacks, as well as having innate Halves: All Elements, so not only is she tanky-capable, but also offensive too!

With these changes, I am hoping not only for further creativity especially for Cloud, but also your opponent will need to be cautious about how they play against either Cloud or Aerith as pushing their Limit at the wrong time could be disastrous for them!

Today’s article focuses on some new and exciting changes coming to Dragoon, Mime, and a new accessory called the Garment Ring. Let’s dive into how each impacts the following jobs and playability!

Dragoon’s New Skillset, Dragon Tech

Dragoons get a new, shiny set of abilities to play with in version 5, giving them more tools to combat with instead of strictly just Jump and Attack, while also adding Jump as a tertiary action command so it isn’t out of the equation. The new Dragon Tech skillset is inspired by the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance series of Dragoon jobs, giving them more options and creativity to build both for magic and physical specs.

Here’s a rundown of how each new ability operates (note that these breath changes also affect Reis’s Dragon skillset as well):

• Ice Breath – Deals 2-line ice magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Immobilize
• Fire Breath – Deals 2-line fire magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Poison
• Thunder Breath – Deals 2-line lightning magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Blind
• Luna – Self, 100% Berserk
• Lancet – 2 Range, 33% HP Absorption
• Tail Sweep – 2 Range Conal, Deals physical damage with a chance to critically strike

As mentioned earlier, not only does Dragoon gain a new skillset that isn’t strictly just “Jump” but it also adds Jump back in as a tertiary as their signature and most damaging skill. Jump will also be affected by your Jump stat in the future, so you can invest in more damage (and more pain) by building towards the Jump stat as well!

Dragoons got a flexibility buff in version 5, and I can’t wait to see what creative builds you take with them!

Become a Blue Mage (sort of) with Blue Magicks

With version 5, Mimes got a change to their Mimic skillset (which was technically just a dummied skillset by default) which allows them to finally learn select monster abilities in battle akin to how Blue Mages work in other Final Fantasy titles. With this change, Mimes can now use their exclusive skillset, Blue Magicks, to wield a variety of utility and damage options in addition to still being able to mimicry. Mimes did receive a bit of stat reductions to compensate for this change as this allows them to use functions outside of Attack on their turn. Other non-Mime jobs can use Blue Magicks, but you will need to slot the updated Beastmaster support ability to do so (this is also for balance purposes).

With 14 new abilities in their skillset, Mimes and Blue Magicks in general, is a contender option for flexibility and having a toolbox of plays when you need it most. Part of the changes going into it is that these abilities felt good to use, but also aren’t as powerful by default as is the nature of Blue Magicks in other games. Let’s do a quick brief on what each does:

• Cat Scratch – 1 Range, physical damage with 100% knockback based on position
• Choco Pellets – 4 Range, physical damage with a chance to critically strike
• Choco Esuna – 1 AoE, Removes: Stone, Blind, Silence, Poison, Stop, Immobilize, Disable
• Goblin Punch – 1 Range, deals damage based on your missing HP
• Dread Gaze – 3 Range, reduces target’s Bravery by 20
• Spark – Iaido-Range, deals fire magic damage to all targets, including yourself
• Vampire – 1 Range, deals 33% max. HP absorption with a 25% chance to Inflict: Vampire
• Mind Blast – 3 Range, chance to Inflict: Confuse or Berserk (at 25% chance each)
• Ice Anima – 4 Range, deals ice magic damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: Slow
• Earthsplitter – Iaido-Range, deals earth magic damage
• Goo – 1 Range, Inflicts: Immobilize, Slow, or Stop randomly (at 25% chance each)
• Heave – 1 Range, inflicts physical damage with a 19% chance to Inflict: KO
• Magick Nymph – Self, 1 AoE, restores MP to all nearby targets (excludes yourself)
• Tri-Breath – 3-Directional, deals 2-range damage based on 40% of the target’s max. HP per target

As you can see, Blue Magicks is loaded with a plethora of options, but it can only be accessed by either playing Mime directly or slotting the Beastmaster support ability which then unlocks it for slotting as a secondary command. Since Luso is considered a Blue Mage under his Game Hunter job, he will have Beastmaster innately, allowing you to slot Blue Magicks as a secondary if you choose to do so automatically while still keeping your Support slot open.

In the campaign, slotting Beastmaster (which is learnable on Squire) allows you to start mastering select monster abilities guaranteed as long as you were hit or affected, so this is a great way to start your Blue Magicks journey even in the beginning and it now extends the hidden ability unlock range from 1 to 3 tiles!

You can Bardsong or Dance with the Garment Ring

The Garment Ring is a new accessory joining the Tactics League inventory in v5 which allows you to access the unique, Perform command while slotted. Perform includes all of Bardsong and Dance abilities so you can finally do Bardsong on a female unit, or Dance on a male, whichever suits your needs!

This limited-item ring inspired by Final Fantasy X-2 gives its user the power to utilize both skillsets all in one, allowing you to have greater flexibility for situations. With greater power, you still should consider Performing Arts support ability to enhance your effectiveness with Bardsong and Dance, but even with select abilities, you can get away with a decent time performing your way to victory. Perform is considered a quaternary command, so you can still use both your primary, secondary, and tertiary (if slotted) alongside it. And yes, even Onion Knight can perform too!

Conclusion

Dragoons have more to do than just jump and poke, Mimes can use an array of abilities on their turn, and the Garment Ring allows you to perform however you choose. Version 5 is aimed to be a wild ride for sure!