Tag PvP

Today, we released an update that fixes a few bugs and addressed inventory counts in the SLOT 4/Starter save file. Read the changelog below for more information.

To download official version 2.2.1 save data, go here:
https://mega.nz/file/h4dSFLbZ#LzMaLdoC2hMGc4K2HMY0LlkfF4QYEk3UbnC4wQGXElc

Ramza

• Rollback his Chapter 2/3 sprite to Chapter 4 as it was disabling Shout and Ultima abilities when switching off his Squire job. The sprite is tied to his skillset so he needed to be swapped back in order to have access to his full abilities.
  
  Note: He will still use his Chapter 2/3 sprite in Generics and Uniques Premade since he is played as is without job switching.

Alicia (Female Generic)

• Fixed a previous issue where she had higher Physical Attack than the rest of the generic roster in Starter. She is now no longer stronger than the rest.

Inventory

• Reduced Materia Blade from 3 to 2 since Cloud had one slotted (originally making the inventory count a total of 4).

Looking at making your first Competitive Starter team? Already have one but looking for tips to improve it? This article covers the abilities that are battle-tested and should be considered when theory-crafting your next PvP squad. We will break each section by ability type and you can jump to each one using the table of contents below. Now, let’s get right to it.

YouTube video/audio version of this guide: https://youtu.be/l6QvfMG0KU4

Action Abilities

Iaido

● Kiyomori – For Protect and Shell; 33% damage reduction from physical and magical attacks.
● Masamune – For Regen and Haste; healing-over-time at the end of each of your turns and faster turns to act more frequently.
● Chirijiraden – Strong melee area magic damage.
● Kiku-ichimonji – Strong line-based magic damage up to 8 tiles away.

Darkness

● Sanguine Sword – HP sustainability and damage while in melee range.
● Unholy Sacrifice – Considered a “bomb,” deals a ton of damage in melee but the caster also takes a ton of damage in return; good against tight formations.

Summon

● Golem – Covers all allies with a damage shield equal to the caster’s max HP that absorbs damage from basic attacks, Throw, Jump, and Aim.
● Zodiark – Though it has a long cast time, it can be used as a “walking bomb” on an ally for later turns, dealing massive magic damage to all enemies in the area.

Martial Arts

● Shockwave – Line-based earth physical damage up to 8 tiles away.
● Aurablast – Ranged single-target physical damage.
● Revive – Instant resurrection of a fallen ally. Both the caster and the target need to be on the same height.
● Chakra – Instant area healing that also restores MP. Can also be used in conjunction with Mana Shield.

Throw

● Instant ranged damage that is based on the caster’s Speed and the Power of the weapon being thrown. Useful for high damage with tossing end-game weapons, like Chaos Blade or Excalibur.

Jump

● Deals delayed damage to a single target. Handy at pre-emptively avoiding incoming damage and effects since the character is “out of play.” Jump scales best when equipped with a polearm.

Reaction Abilities

● Mana Shield (Time Mage) – Bravery% chance to absorb incoming damage to your MP instead of HP. Very good at sustaining hard-hitting moves as long as you have at least 1 MP left.

● Shirahadori (Samurai) – Decreases the chance of being hit by incoming types of damage (like Throw, Jump, Attack, Guns, Bows) by reducing the hit rate of those types of attacks. Higher Bravery will further reduce the chance of being hit.

● Reflexes (Ninja) – Doubles the character’s physical and magical evasion rates at all times. Works best in tandem with shields like Escutcheon “II” to evade the front and sides or when equipped with cloaks as they provide the best evasive coverage regardless of side.

● Soulbind (Arithmetician) – Bravery% chance after taking HP damage to restore HP equal to half the damage taken and return that amount as damage to the attacking character. A good option for bulky and defensive characters and can be used to punish ranged abilities such as Kiku-ichimonji and Shockwave.

● Dragonheart (Dragoon) – Though there are sources to get the reraise status (White Magicks or Ovelia’s Aegis), being able to have an option to get it from taking physical damage is also a boon especially when most damage you will see is likely to be physical-type. Being able to revive in the mid-to-late game can be crucial to making a comeback. This ability is also Bravery% chance.

Support Abilities

● Arcane Defense/Defense Boost – Great magic or physical damage mitigation by 33% respectively that stacks with Protect and Shell. Also good options for when you predict your opponent is stacking heavy into things like Iaido (use Arcane Defense) or Darkness/Throw (use Defense Boost).

● Arcane Strength/Attack Boost/Vehemence – Arcane Strength (for magic) and Attack Boost (for physical) are great options, especially when stacking damage potential. Vehemence is risky as it causes you to take 50% more damage, but it also increases your damage dealt by 50%, sacrificing sustain for power.

● Dual Wield – Being able to have two one-handed weapons equipped for stat stacking or optimization can be pretty important when min-maxing builds. This is also a handy option with Arts of War since each ability has two chances to rent gear or reduce stats instead of one.

● Swiftness – This ability is very important when focused on using magicks or Summon, as this reduces the Spell Speed of those abilities in half, rounded up. Since Starter is primarily about speedy plays and magicks are naturally slower, Swiftness is crucial for magicks to compete against instant cast abilities.

Movement Abilities

● Manafont – Being able to restore MP from simply moving at least 1 tile can be potent when also combining this ability with Mana Shield.

● Move +2/Jump +2 – Traversing the map quickly is king, so having more options is always a plus. Move +2 in most cases should always be your go-to for movement.

● Teleport – A bit more of a niche ability, Teleport enables the unit to be able to traverse anywhere on the map, with the chance of it failing by 10% per tile past their normal Move stat. This can be handy in risky plays with things like Chirijiraden or Unholy Sacrifice or even immediately placing a Summon “bomb” into the enemy stack quickly before it goes off.

As we continue the PvP Job Series, we focus on the viability of the Dragoon job in a competitive PvP environment.

PvP Performance Statcard

Judging the ratings, Dragoon is a great choice for any PvP team. Let’s look at the reasoning behind that more below.

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

Abilities

Dragoon’s Jump enables it to remove itself out of play for a few turns and strike from above delivering high damage especially if equipped with a polearm. Jumping also has the benefits of taking the character out of play which in turn helps avoid incoming damage or cast-time abilities from landing. The more Speed a character has, the less time it takes Jump to land. Haste and Swiftness do not make Jump land faster. Since Jump’s skillset is basically learning further horizontal and vertical coverage we won’t go over that, but we will instead talk about some tidbits regarding Jump and other abilities Dragoons have access to:

Jump (action command) – Here are some important traits of this ability:
– Jump is considered physical damage and does not inherit the weapon’s element.
– Calculates using [PA x WeaponPower] for all weapons (does not interact with guns) and has a 1.5x modifier in addition when equipped with a polearm.
– You cannot be targeted by attacks or abilities while mid-jump, and status effects’ timers are paused while mid-jump.
– Jump does not work when on a map with a ceiling.
– It cannot be evaded, but can be canceled with Shirahadori.
– Jump does not benefit from Attack Boost, Brawler, and Vehemence.

Dragonheart (reaction) – Bravery% chance when taking physical damage to gain the reraise status, allowing your KO’ed character to return with some HP once their CT gauge reaches 100. This ability is good for mid-to-late gameplay as this can be useful for making a comeback.

Equip Polearms (support) – This ability isn’t for Dragoons since they already can equip polearms, but rather for other jobs that can utilize Jump and for maximum damage.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 120% | MP: 50% | SP: 100% | PA: 120% | MA: 50%
C-EV: 10 | Move: 3 | Jump: 4

Can equip: Polearms, Shields, Helmets, Armor, Robes

Dragoons are known for their fairly good HP bulk and Physical Attack. They can also innately equip shields to further increase their survivability and polearms have a range of 2 so they can avoid certain reaction abilities like Counter or First Strike depending. Their access to robes also makes Lordly Robe a possible option depending on how you are building them. Because of their bulky HP, they are a niche option for using the Summon, Golem since that is more effective with higher HP, albeit they have very little MP to work with. Though Jump is good damage on Dragoon, Thiefs and Ninjas can utilize it better due to their innately higher Speed as well as any other job that has inherently high Physical Attack.

Conclusion

Dragoons are a solid choice for PvP. They are fairly resilient and are a good choice at tanking damage, just like Knight. Because polearms give a damage bonus to Jump, they will always have solid damage and the ability to be an annoyance with dodging incoming attacks. Their 120% PA gives them a multitude of options from other physical damage skillsets.

As we continue going through each generic job in Final Fantasy Tactics, we will cover the competitive viability of the Ninja job as the main role in PvP.

PvP Performance Statcard

Based on the ratings, Ninja is one of the top-tier jobs for PvP. Let’s focus on more of why that is the case below.

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

Abilities

Ninja’s Throw ability allows you to propel weapons, shurikens, and bombs from a distance for instant damage. The item thrown is consumed from your inventory so you do want to make sure you have a decent quantity at the ready. Throw’s damage scales up with the weapon’s Power and your character’s Speed which is fitting with Ninja’s innately high Speed which we will cover in the Stats section. Since there are multiple properties with Throw we will cover them first before going over abilities:

● Is considered a physical attack (can be mitigated via Protect and Defense Boost).
● Throw’s element becomes the thrown weapon’s element (if any).
● The range is based on your Move stat.
● Throw cannot be reflected but can be evaded, stopped via Shirahadori, or caught via Sticky Fingers.
● Throw does not benefit from Attack Boost or Vehemence.
● Weapons only obtainable in multiplayer modes can never be thrown.

Now with that being said, let’s look at their job abilities:

Throw (action, high weapon power) – Throw, coupled with weapons with high power such as Chaos Blade or Chirijiraden, can deal quite a bit of damage instantly.

Reflexes (reaction) – This always-on reaction ability doubles all of your physical and magic evasion rates. This paired with cloaks enables you to be quite evasive even from behind, a specific issue with using shields.

Dual-Wield (support) – This passive enables you to equip two one-handed weapons, allowing you to strike twice with a basic attack as well as providing an extra slot for weapons that have stat bonuses. This also gives you a second chance at rending via Arts of War. Ninjas innately have this ability.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 70% | MP: 50% | SP: 120% | PA: 122% | MA: 75%
C-EV: 30 | Move: 4 | Jump: 4

Can equip: Knives, Ninja Blades, Flails, Hats, Clothing

Ninjas are the fastest generic job with their 120% Speed (tied only to Mime), have an excellent starting Move and Jump of 4 and 30% evasion, and fairly high Physical Attack. Because of their Speed, they are also good options for opening plays with support Iaido skills, like Kiyomori (protect and shell) to quickly get vital buffs out to the party. On the downside, they aren’t bulky and are not keen on magicks, but their versatility is what makes them such an enticing primary job in PvP.

Conclusion

Ninja is easily one of the top PvP job options because of their ability to make fast plays happen quickly, which in formats like Starter, is very vital towards success. They synergize very well with other physical skillsets and Throw is an all-round good ability even as a secondary for instant damage. Their innate Dual-Wield opens up a variety of different stat optimizations. Ultimately, Ninjas are a great asset for any team.

As we approach the 11th job and halfway point of the PvP Job Series, we will focus on Geomancer’s role in PvP.

PvP Performance Statcard

Based on the above ratings, Geomancer is a good choice in competitive PvP. But why is that the case? Let’s take a look by first analyzing some of their abilities.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Geomancer.

Abilities

Geomancer’s Geomancy ability tree uses the terrain the character is standing on to have a 19% chance to apply a status effect based on that tile and always deals area damage. Geomancy isn’t a powerful damaging ability, but where it shines is the chance to status someone from a distance. This of course is map-dependent so mileage may vary. Geomancy scales up with both Magick Attack and Physical Attack in its calculation. Since the action abilities in this skillset differ based on tiles, we won’t really focus on that, but will highlight job passives instead:

Contortion (action) – This action ability is mentioned because it is more commonly accessible as most maps have the following terrain: Gravel, Flagstone, Stone Wall, Earthen Wall, Gravestone. This ability has a chance to inflict stone status which is one of the more serious status effects in the game since the unit is considered KO’ed and there are not as many immunities to it normally.

Nature’s Wraith (reaction) – This Bravery%-based reaction causes you to counter-attack with a Geomancy ability after taking physical damage regardless of range. The tile used for this reaction is based on who dealt the damage, not the caster. This still scales like a normal Geomancy ability.

Attack Boost (support) – This passive ability increases the damage of most physical-based attacks and abilities by 33%. Just to note, this passive does not increase Geomancy damage, Black Mage’s Arcane Strength does.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 110% | MP: 95% | SP: 100% | PA: 110% | MA: 105%
C-EV: 5 | Move: 4 | Jump: 3

Can equip: Swords, Axes, Shields, Hats, Clothing, Robes

Geomancer has balanced stats making them versatile for various builds. Having access to swords and shields gives them a plethora of options for offensive power and evasion; if focused on amping up your Geomancy damage, Runeblade is a good pick with +2 MA. They also have 4 Move compared to Knight, Archer, and Dragoon’s 3 Move, so they have better base mobility. Compared to caster jobs, they have higher Move as well and can equip shields. Their jack-of-all-trades approach can be great for an off-meta build and male and female genders both can benefit from this job.

Conclusion

Geomancer is a balanced job that focuses on dealing damage from safety and with opportunities to cripple your opponent. They aren’t the best at anything, but they aren’t the worse either. Their Geomancy skillset is mostly for utility, and Geomancers can be placed into melee or magic setups.

Today, we focus on how the Summoner job as the main role compares in competitive PvP.

Based on the above performance rating, Summoners are a decent option in the PvP environment. Let’s take a look closer by first analyzing its abilities.

For more information on this job, visit the job link: Summoner.

Abilities

Summoner’s Summon skillset focuses on evoking the power of espers to deal damage or provide beneficial effects to the party. Just like the other mages we mentioned in previous PvP Job Series articles, Summoner’s magicks rely on both the caster and the target’s Faith to be the most effective. One interesting tidbit is that summons do not hurt friendlies and you can target your allies to “attach” a summon for later turns. While we won’t go over each of their abilities, we will highlight a few notable ones that make up their arsenal:

Shiva/Ramuh/Ifrit (action) – These ice, lightning, and fire-elemental magic damage summons are best known for their short cast time and also scales up with gear, like Black Robe.

Golem (action) – This defensive summon creates a “damage shield” around all allies that is based on the caster’s maximum HP. This shield absorbs damage from basic attacks, Jump, Throw, and Aim up until the damage exceeds the shield value. This is a very good ability in the Starter format.

Zodiark (action) – Though this summon has high MP cost and slow casting, it is very hard-hitting and attaching it to an ally early can lead to devastating blows to your opponent.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 70% | MP: 125% | SP: 90% | PA: 50% | MA: 125%
C-EV: 5 | Move: 3 | Jump: 3

Can equip: Rod, Staves, Hats, Clothing, Robes

Compared to Time Mage and Black Mage, Summoner has less Speed and Magick Attack with less HP bulk. However, they do have access to both rods and staves so you have a wider variety of weapons to choose from. Sadly, Summoners as the main job isn’t the best in most cases as Time and Black Mage both can utilize Summon more effectively with higher MA. Make sure to use Time Mage’s Swiftness ability to cut down the cast time in half, rounded up.

Conclusion

Summoner has a variety of magicks in its skillset that can be handy at the right moment. With that being said, Summon seems to be best as a secondary ability on the other mage jobs when looking at min-maxing damage or support. Summoners sadly fall short of being a competitive job option in most PvP formats.