Final Fantasy III

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

Final Fantasy III - Job Guide

By:

Penguin Knight, Seferaga and Egervari3

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

Version: 1.40 Last Update: 3-13-08 Penguin Knight: [email protected] Seferaga: [email protected]

All rights reserved (C) 2007-2008

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= Introduction to the FAQ =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

This guide was translated and written by Penguin Knight, and has been combinedwith Seferaga's and Egervari3's Job Guide for a more resourceful document. :)

Penguin Knight:I have gathered, translated, interpreted, and typeset this written guide forplayers who cannot understand Japanese, but are interested in understanding howthe statistics work for most aspects of Final Fantasy III DS.

Most of the statistics are taken from the following Japanese sources:

http://www.f-navi.org/ff3/index.htmlhttp://gamedeep.jp/gamesoft/ff3ds/http://ff3-ds.com/

The descriptions and interpretations are mostly my creation, however, some ofthem are taken from valuable discussions I had with the users at GameFAQs.

Seferaga:The MAIN purpose of this FAQ is to help all NEW players, in an organized anduser-friendly style, with any Job questions they may have.

It will inform them of which Jobs are effective in each area of the game,useful strategies when using their favorite Jobs, details of Job Abilities,what to use against those DIFFICULT bosses, and A LOT more! ;)

If you need to, check the "Credits" and "Copyright" sections at the bottom ofthe document.

Learn something, and ALWAYS have fun! :)

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= Table of Contents =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=Use Ctrl+F to find what you're looking for, and copy/paste the brackets {}.

I) Job Introduction: {I}

II) General Information: {G1} {G1-1} Job Level {G1-2} Character Level {G1-3} JP Overflow {G1-4} The Transition Phase {G1-5} Attaining 9999 HP

III) Mechanics and Formulae: {M1} {M1-1} Attacking {M1-2} Melee Proficiency {M1-3} Healing Magic {M1-4} Offensive Magic {M1-5} Status Magic {M1-6} Other Formulae

IV) Descriptions, Stats, and Abilities: {JOB} {JOB-FR} Freelancer {JOB-WA} Warrior {JOB-MO} Monk {JOB-WM} White Mage {JOB-BM} Black Mage {JOB-RM} Red Mage {JOB-TH} Thief {JOB-RA} Ranger {JOB-KN} Knight {JOB-SC} Scholar {JOB-GE} Geomancer {JOB-VI} Viking {JOB-DR} Dragoon {JOB-DK} Dark Knight {JOB-EV} Evoker {JOB-BA} Bard {JOB-BB} Black Belt {JOB-MA} Magus {JOB-DE} Devout {JOB-SU} Summoner {JOB-SA} Sage {JOB-NI} Ninja {JOB-OK} Onion Knight

V) The Effective Jobs: {E1} {E1-1} Land Turtle {E1-2} Djinn {E1-3} Nepto Dragon {E1-4} Giant Rat {E1-5} Medusa {E1-6} Gutsco {E1-7} Salamander {E1-8} Hein {E1-9} Kraken {E1-10} Goldor {E1-11} Garuda {E1-12} Odin {E1-13} Leviathan {E1-14} Bahamut {E1-15} Hecatoncheir {E1-16} Doga & Unei {E1-17} Titan {E1-18} Ninja {E1-19} Amon {E1-20} Kunoichi {E1-21} General {E1-22} Guardian {E1-23} Scylla {E1-24} Xande {E1-25} Cerberus {E1-26} Two-Headed Dragon {E1-27} Echidna {E1-28} Ahriman {E1-29} Cloud of Darkness {E1-30} Iron Giant

VI) Job Suggestions: {S1} {S1-1} How to Choose an Effective Party

{S1-2} Job Observations {S1-3} Quick Party Set-ups {S1-4} Thematic Parties

VII) Version History

VIII) Credits

IX) Copyright

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= I) Job Introduction: {I} =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

Jobs are special classes that can be assigned to each party member. When youassign a Job to someone, they will inherit all the different traits andabilities which that Job is based upon. All of FFIII revolves around youchanging your Jobs and experimenting with your favorites; All while attemptingto exploit the weaknesses of your foes, and allowing you to conquer the ever-growing Darkness! :)

The Jobs ~~~~~~~~ .------------------------------------------. |.----------------------------------------.| || || || Wind Crystal Fire Crystal || || ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ || || Warrior Ranger || || Monk Knight || || White Mage Geomancer || .-------------'| Black Mage Scholar |'-------------. |.------------.| Red Mage |.------------.| ||Initial Job:|| Thief ||Secret Job:|| ||~~~~~~~~~~~~|| ||~~~~~~~~~~~~|| || Freelancer || Water Crystal Earth Crystal ||Onion Knight|| |'------------'| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |'------------'| '-------------.| Viking Black Belt |.-------------' || Dragoon Magus || || Dark Knight Devout || || Evoker Summoner || || Bard Sage || || Ninja || || || |'----------------------------------------'| '------------------------------------------'

At the beginning of the game, the only Job you will have access to is theFreelancer Job. As you progress further into the game, you will come acrossthe Four Crystals. Each Crystal will grant to you a certain amount of Jobs inwhich you will then be able to use. By the end of the game, you will have asatisfying selection of 23 unique and well-dressed Jobs! ^_^

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= II) General Information: {G1} =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={G1-1} Job Level |------------------'

Q: What is Job Level?

A: Job Level (Job LV) is a renewed idea for the DS version. Each character can have, at most, 23 jobs, and every Job comes with a Job LV showing how proficient that specific character is at that Job. Maximum Job LV is 99.

Q: What does Job LV do?A: The more you train as that Job, the higher the level will become, and the better your character will perform! Here is EVERYTHING that Job LV affects:

1. Number of hits when attacking. 2. Chance of executing a Critical Hit. 3. Physical damage. 4. Black Magic damage. 5. White Magic recovery. 6. Summon damage. 7. Attack Power of bare-handed Monks and Black Belts. 8. It also enhances the special abilities of certain Jobs. 9. In one of the side quests, a Job Mastery Item will be unlocked when a character reaches Job LV 99.

Q: What is NOT affected by Job LV?A: The characters' overall stats are not affected by Job LV. Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intellect, and Mind.

Two characters with SAME Job and Character LV, but different Job level, will have the same stats. However, their performance may differ.

Q: Speaking of the Job Mastery Items, can I get more than one?A: There is ONE item per Job, and you can only get each of them once. In the end you can only have 23 of them.

Q: How does the Job LV increase?A: Every character has a hidden stat called Job Points (JP) that dictates their Job LV growth. When JP is accumulated to 99, Job level goes up by 1. Each action (except: Front, Back, Escape, and Flee) will contribute a fixed amount of job points to the character.

The amount of JP contributed follows the rules below:

.------------------------. | JP Gain: |------------|------------.-----------| Job: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |------------|------------|-----------|Freelancer | 20 | 20 |Warrior | 20 | 14 |Monk | 20 | 14 |White Mage | 20 | 10 |Black Mage | 20 | 10 |Red Mage | 20 | 12 |Thief | 20 | 18 |Ranger | 20 | 14 |Knight | 20 | 12 |Scholar | 24 | 24 |Geomancer | 20 | 14 |Viking | 20 | 14 |Dragoon | 20 | 16 |Dark Knight | 20 | 14 |Evoker | 20 | 10 |Bard | 20 | 18 |Black Belt | 20 | 14 |Magus | 20 | 10 |Devout | 20 | 10 |Sage | 20 | 10 |Summoner | 20 | 12 |Ninja | 20 | 12 |Onion Knight| 20 | 8 |------------'------------'-----------'

Thanks to evilynxis at GameFAQs for clarifying this. I have been speculatingabout this system for a while, and finally his comment made me re-read theJapanese thread once more with extra care. And this revision should be right.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={G1-2} Character Level |------------------------'

Q: What does EXP do?A: EXP is experience points you collect after each battle. When you have gained enough EXP, your character will gain one Character LV.

Q: What does Character LV affect?A: When you go up one Character LV, the following things happen: - Your HP Increases; Your HP gain depends on your Vitality and current Character LV.

- Your stats will shift up to the next level within your Job class. For all the Stat Profiles, see section III of the guide.

- If your character is a mage, MP Profile will also shift up one level. For all the MP Profiles, see section III of the guide.

Important Notes:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1. Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intellect, Mind, and MP, are predetermined stats. This means that each Job has its own fixed stat "chart" that will always be the same, no matter what you do.2 MAX HP is the ONLY thing that is carried over between Job changes.

Experience Chart:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This is a chart showing you how much experience is needed to level up at eachcharacter level.

-------.---------------------------------------------------------------------. Level | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10|-------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| 0+ | 16 31 58 99 159 239 343 473 631 821| 10+ | 1044 1304 1601 1940 2321 2748 3222 3745 4321 4950| 20+ | 5636 6380 7185 8051 8982 9980 11046 12183 13393 14676| 30+ | 16037 17475 18995 20596 22282 24053 25913 27863 29904 32039| 40+ | 34269 36597 39024 41552 44183 46918 49760 52710 55769 58941| 50+ | 62226 65627 69144 72781 76538 80417 84420 88549 92805 97191| 60+ |101707 106356 111139 116058 121115 126311 131648 137128 142752 148522| 70+ |154439 160506 166724 173095 179619 186299 193137 200134 207292 214611| 80+ |222095 229744 237561 245546 253701 262028 270529 279205 288057 297087| 90+ |306298 315689 325264 335023 344968 355100 365422 375934 ------ |-------'---------------------------------------------------------------------'

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={G1-3} JP Overflow |--------------------'

This was tested and proven, that, there is a 99 JP "Overflow" limit. Let meexplain how this works.

Let's say you have an Onion Knight, Job Level 50. For every action you take,you will get 8 JP.

100 / 8 = 12.5

To level up you will have to take 13 actions.

13 x 8 = 104

If you end the battle at this point, you will have a 4 JP "Overflow". Whatyou could do, however, is keep fighting the battle to get more JP!

In every battle, you can get a total of 199 JP. You will obviously level upfor reaching 100, but that extra 99 will carry-over to your next battle! Withthat much "Overflow" JP, you will only need to take 1 action in the nextbattle, to level up your Job! Nice!

All "Overflow" will differ, depending on how many actions you take and howmuch JP Gain you get for that specific Job. So keep track if you want!

That's it! ^_^

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={G1-4} The Transition Phase |-----------------------------'

One of the worst parts about switching between Jobs is the horrible, horrible"Transition Phase". Yes, it needed two. :P Here is an explanation of whatthis phase is, and does.

Let's say you currently have Luneth as a Monk. Then after a while, you decideto swap Jobs and make him a Warrior! Because you changed your Job, this willput you into the transition phase.

In this phase, certain defects will veil your character.

1. Stats will be lowered.2. Performance hindered.

Just think of it as you "learning" this new Job. That makes sense right? Imean, you have to use something for a while to become good at it! :P

Fortunately, this phase doesn't last very long. When you switch Jobs, the gamewill let you know how many battles you will need to fight in order to becomeproficient at the new Job. (meaning normal stats and performance)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All Jobs in FFIII have two properties:

From chaotic to lawful;From magical to physical.

Suppose X axis is from physical (negative) to magical (positive); and Y axis isfrom chaotic (negative) to lawful (positive). The coordinates should be:

Freelance (0,0)Warrior (-1,1)Monk (-1,-1)B. Mage (1,-1)W. Mage (1,1)R. Mage (0,2)Ranger (-1,3)Knight (0,4)Thief (-1,-4)Scholar (2,2)Geomancer (3,-3)Dragoon (-3,3)Viking (-3,-3)B. Belt (-4,0)Bard (3,3)D. Knight (0,-4)Evoker (-3,0)

Warlock (4,-4)Devout (4,4)Summoner (-4,0)Sage (4,2)Ninja (-2,-4)

The number of battles in the Transition Phase is then:

|vertical distance between points| + |horizontal distance between points| - job level of the new job / 10

For those of you who are not very sure about what is |x|, it means absolutevalue. For example, |7| and |-7| both would become 7.

For instance, to change from a Freelancer to a new Monk, the formula will be:

|-1 - 0| + |-1 - 0| - 0/10 = 2 battles

If you level up the Monk up to job level 20, then there should be no Transitionneeded for freelancer-to-monk job change.

There are a few rules to this penalty:

- It accumulates, so multiple job changes at one time will stalk up the adaptation period.- It has a cap of 10, so even changing from a Magus to a new Dragoon should take 14, the requirement will still be only 10.

If you are having a hard time understanding this, check out the followingchart made by OneWittyBritty.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/924897/50243

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={G1-5} Attaining 9999 HP |--------------------------'

HP is the only statistic that is carried over between Job changes.

If you have been a low HP Growth class, such as mage, for a long time, your HPwill be relatively lower than your fighter cohort.

Why? Let's look at the formula of HP growth:

HP Gain = Character's Level + Vitality + BonusBonus = (Random # between 0 and 0.5) x Vitality

Take note that the Vitality in this formula is the BASE Vitality; All penaltiestoward stats, after Job Changes or during Mini status, as well as Stat boostsobtained from equipment, DO NOT affect your HP growth.

Because stats are fixed within each Job, choosing a low Vitality Job willresult in a character with relatively low Max HP.

The lowest Character LV to beat the Final Boss, as far as I have seen, is two28's and two 29's; So getting Max HP to 9999 is not necessary. However, ifyou aim at perfection, and MUST attain Max HP, you might want to considerleveling up with the highest HP class: Black Belt.

NOTE: Job Level has nothing to do with HP.

The following chart estimates how much HP you will gain, as a Black Belt, fromyour current Character LV to LV 99.

For Example:

You have a Warrior with 2300 Max HP, at Character LV 49, and you change himinto a Black Belt. What is the possible HP growth until Character LV 99?

Go down the chart to Character LV 49. You'll see: 49 | 7350 | 8269 | 9188.

This means, if your luck is bad, you can still have a 7350 HP gain. If you'reokay at being lucky (getting half of the bonus), you'll still have a 8269 gain.And if your luck is good, you'll gain 9188, which means, you'll actually reach9999 HP sooner than you'll reach Character LV 99.

I started the chart at Character LV 21 because you normally won't get theBlack Belt Job sooner than that.

The chart shows numbers higher than 9999, but that's just calculation, Max HPnever goes beyond 9999.

.----------------------------------------. | HP Gain |-------------|-----------.--------------.-------------|Character LV | | | |when changed | Low Bonus | Medium Bonus | Large Bonus |to Black Belt| | | |-------------|-----------|--------------|-------------| ---- | ---- | ----- | ----- | 21 | 9282 | 10442 | 11603 | 22 | 9240 | 10395 | 11550 | 23 | 9196 | 10346 | 11495 | 24 | 9150 | 10294 | 11438 | 25 | 9102 | 10240 | 11378 | 26 | 9052 | 10184 | 11315 | 27 | 9000 | 10125 | 11250 | 28 | 8946 | 10064 | 11183 | 29 | 8890 | 10001 | 11113 | 30 | 8832 | 9936 | 11040 | 31 | 8772 | 9869 | 10965 | 32 | 8710 | 9799 | 10888 | 33 | 8646 | 9727 | 10808 | 34 | 8580 | 9653 | 10725 | 35 | 8512 | 9576 | 10640 | 36 | 8442 | 9497 | 10553 | 37 | 8370 | 9416 | 10463 | 38 | 8296 | 9333 | 10370 | 39 | 8220 | 9248 | 10275 | 40 | 8142 | 9160 | 10178 | 41 | 8062 | 9070 | 10078 | 42 | 7980 | 8978 | 9975 | 43 | 7896 | 8883 | 9870 | 44 | 7810 | 8786 | 9763 | 45 | 7722 | 8687 | 9653 | 46 | 7632 | 8586 | 9540 | 47 | 7540 | 8483 | 9425 | 48 | 7446 | 8377 | 9308 | 49 | 7350 | 8269 | 9188 | 50 | 7252 | 8159 | 9065 | 51 | 7152 | 8046 | 8940 | 52 | 7050 | 7931 | 8813 | 53 | 6946 | 7814 | 8683 | 54 | 6840 | 7695 | 8550 | 55 | 6732 | 7574 | 8415 | 56 | 6622 | 7450 | 8278 | 57 | 6510 | 7324 | 8138 | 58 | 6396 | 7196 | 7995 | 59 | 6280 | 7065 | 7850 | 60 | 6162 | 6932 | 7703 | 61 | 6042 | 6797 | 7553 | 62 | 5920 | 6660 | 7400 | 63 | 5796 | 6521 | 7245 |

64 | 5670 | 6379 | 7088 | 65 | 5542 | 6235 | 6928 | 66 | 5412 | 6089 | 6765 | 67 | 5280 | 5940 | 6600 | 68 | 5146 | 5789 | 6433 | 69 | 5010 | 5636 | 6263 | 70 | 4872 | 5481 | 6090 | 71 | 4732 | 5324 | 5915 | 72 | 4590 | 5164 | 5738 | 73 | 4446 | 5002 | 5558 | 74 | 4300 | 4838 | 5375 | 75 | 4152 | 4671 | 5190 | 76 | 4002 | 4502 | 5003 | 77 | 3850 | 4331 | 4813 | 78 | 3696 | 4158 | 4620 | 79 | 3540 | 3983 | 4425 | 80 | 3382 | 3805 | 4228 | 81 | 3222 | 3625 | 4028 | 82 | 3060 | 3443 | 3825 | 83 | 2896 | 3258 | 3620 | 84 | 2730 | 3071 | 3413 | 85 | 2562 | 2882 | 3203 | 86 | 2392 | 2691 | 2990 | 87 | 2220 | 2498 | 2775 | 88 | 2046 | 2302 | 2558 | 89 | 1870 | 2104 | 2338 | 90 | 1692 | 1904 | 2115 | 91 | 1512 | 1701 | 1890 | 92 | 1330 | 1496 | 1663 | 93 | 1146 | 1289 | 1433 | 94 | 960 | 1080 | 1200 | 95 | 772 | 869 | 965 | 96 | 582 | 655 | 728 | 97 | 390 | 439 | 488 | 98 | 196 | 221 | 245 | 99 | 0 | 0 | 0 |-------------'-----------'----------------------------'

Worried that you won't be able to make it? Check the following chart to see ifyou can still get Max HP.

If you have LESS then the Required HP for your current level, you will NEVERbe able to get 9999 HP. Sorry. :P

----------------.-------------.Character Level | Required HP |----------------|-------------| ---- | ---- | 42 | 24 | 43 | 129 | 44 | 236 | 45 | 346 | 46 | 459 | 47 | 574 | 48 | 691 | 49 | 811 | 50 | 934 | 51 | 1059 | 52 | 1186 | 53 | 1316 | 54 | 1449 | 55 | 1584 | 56 | 1721 | 57 | 1861 | 58 | 2004 | 59 | 2149 | 60 | 2296 |

61 | 2446 | 62 | 2599 | 63 | 2754 | 64 | 2911 | 65 | 3071 | 66 | 3234 | 67 | 3399 | 68 | 3566 | 69 | 3736 | 70 | 3909 | 71 | 4084 | 72 | 4261 | 73 | 4441 | 74 | 4624 | 75 | 4809 | 76 | 4996 | 77 | 5186 | 78 | 5379 | 79 | 5574 | 80 | 5771 | 81 | 5971 | 82 | 6174 | 83 | 6379 | 84 | 6586 | 85 | 6796 | 86 | 7009 | 87 | 7224 | 88 | 7441 | 89 | 7661 | 90 | 7884 | 91 | 8109 | 92 | 8336 | 93 | 8566 | 94 | 8799 | 95 | 9035 | 96 | 9271 | 97 | 9511 | 98 | 9754 | 99 | 9999 |----------------'-------------'

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= III) Mechanics and Formulae: {M1} =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={M1-1} Attacking |------------------'

This section delineates all the statistics about physical attacks. Theseformulae are shared among all Jobs. Notice that basically, all physical attacksare similar, with the exceptions of Archery, Bare Hands, and Harps. (which willall be separately discussed)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Number of Hits: |----------------'

For attacks other than Archery and Harps, the calculation is as follows:

Number of Hits = 1 + Agility / 7 + JobLV / 14 + (Melee Proficiency. - 1) / 7 - Wt. of Equipment / 6

- This is calculated once per hand.- Maximum hits is 16 per hand, but actually it works like damage; The number of

hits can go beyond 16 per hand. However, you will only see 16 (one hand) or 32 (both hands) on screen.

For Archery attacks:

Number of hits = 1 + Agility / 9 + JobLV / 14 + (Sum of both Melee Prof. - 2) / 14

For Harp attacks:

Number of hits = 1 + Agility / 6 + JobLV / 22 + (Sum of both Melee Prof. - 2) / 14

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Basic Damage: | (except Archery, Bare Hands, and Harps)--------------'

Basic Damage = (Attack + Strength - Enemy's Vitality / 2 - Enemy's Def. / 2 + JobLV / 11 + Melee Prof. / 9) x (Attack / Enemy's Def.) x Weapon Property Adjustment x Magical Property Adjustment

- This is calculalted once per hand.- The (Attack / Enemy's def) term has a permitted maximum of 2.- Property Adjustment is 2 if it is weakness, 0.5 if it is resistance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hit Rate: | (except Archery, Bare Hands, and Harps)----------'

Hit Rate = {[80 + Weapon Hit Rate + Agility / 10 + JobLV / 10 - Enemy's Agility / 20 - Wt. of the Weapon / 6] / 2}%

- Maximum is 95%.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Basic Damage: Bare Hands |-------------------------'

Basic Damage = (JobLV + Strength - Enemy's Vitality / 2 - Enemy's Def. / 2 + CharacterLV / 9 + Melee Prof.) x (Attack / Enemy's Def.) x Weapon Property Adjustment x Magical Property Adjustment

- This is calculalted once per hand.- The (Attack / Enemy's def) term has a permitted maximum of 2.- Property Adjustment is 2 if it is weakness, 0.5 if it is resistance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hit Rate: Bare Hands |---------------------'

Hit Rate = {(165 + Agility / 10 + JobLV / 10 - Enemy's Agility / 20) / 2}%

- Maximum is 95%.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Basic Damage: Archery |----------------------'

Basic Damage = (Sum of both hands' Attack + Strength - Enemy's Vitality / 2 - Enemy's Def / 2 + Sum of both hands' Melee Prof. / 2) x (Attack / Enemy's Def.) x Weapon Property Adjustment x Magical Property Adjustment

- The (Attack / Enemy's def) term has a permitted maximum of 2.- Property Adjustment is 2 if it is weakness, 0.5 if it is resistance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hit Rate: Archery |------------------'

Hit Rate = {[80 + Weapon Hit Rate + Agility / 10 + JobLV / 10 - Enemy's Agility / 20] / 2}%

- Maximum is 95%.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Basic Damage: Harps |--------------------'

Basic Damage = Attack of Weapon + Mind - Enemy's Mind - Enemy's Mag. Def.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hit Rate: Harps |----------------'

Hit Rate = (40 + Mind - Enemy's Mind)%

- Maximum is 95%.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Final Damage: Everything |-------------------------'

Damage Inflicted = Basic Damage from both hands x Random No. x No. of Successful Hits x Critical Adjustment x Dual-hand Adjustment

Random No. = number between 0.5 and 0.7Critical Rate = (Agility - Enemy's Agility + 5)%, Maximum is 10%.

- If using two weapons, the Dual-Hand Adjustment will become 0.6.- Archery, Bare Hands, and Harps DO NOT have dual-hand penalty.- Harps do not have critical hits.

The 0.6 Dual-Hand Adjustment seems to be a penalty, but actually not. Whentwo same weapons are equipped, attack became the sum (doubled) in the damagecalculation. In the final damage calculation, instead of halfing the damage,the formula only takes 40% away. So, you'll find your two-hand fighting dealseven more damage than adding up each single-hand damage together. Thedifference is then the 10% (60% instead of 50%) difference. Conclusion: It'svery effective to fight with two hands.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={M1-2} Melee Proficiency |--------------------------'

Q: I saw "Melee Proficiency" in the formula, what is that?A: According to the Japanese Complete Guide, this Melee Proficiency is a hidden statistic. Each arm has its own proficiency, and the initial level is 1, maximum is 99.

Q: How do you increase Melee Proficiency?A: By attacking. For every 33 attacks, you will gain one level in Melee Proficiency. Just keep hitting and it will naturally go up.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={M1-3} Healing Magic |----------------------'

(Outside Battle)----------------Total Recovery = Root Recovery x MTA

Root Recovery = Base x (Mind / 2 + JobLv / 4 + Recipient's Vitality / 8)MTA = 1, if 1 ally targeted. " = 0.8, if 2 allies targeted. " = 0.75, if 3 allies targeted. " = 0.7, if 4 allies targeted.

(Inside Battle)---------------Total Recovery = Root Recovery x MPA x Random No. x MTA

Root Recovery = Base x (Mind / 2 + JobLv / 4 + Recipient's Vitality / 8)MPA = 1 = 2, if used on undead.Random No. = number between 0.9 and 1.0.MTA = 1, if 1 ally targeted. " = 0.7, if 2 allies targeted. " = 0.6, if 3 allies targeted. " = 0.5, if 4 allies targeted.

---------.------------.W. Magic:| Base: |---------|------------|Cure | 10 |Cura | 30 |Curaga | 80 |Curaja | 120 |---------'------------'---------.------------.Summon: | Base: |---------|------------|Heatra | 120 | - Healing Light---------'------------'

MPA = Magical Property AdjustmentMTA = Multiple Target Adjustment

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={M1-4} Offensive Magic |------------------------'

Total Damage = Root Damage x MPA x Random No. x MTASuccess Rate = (30 + Int - Enemy's Mind)%

Root Damage = (Base + JobLv - Enemy's MDef - Enemy's Mind) x Int / 3MPA = 2, if weak against. " = 0.5, if resistant.Random No. = number between 0.9 and 1.1, if Success Rate IS passed. " = number between 0.5 and 0.6, if Success Rate ISN'T passed.MTA = 1, if 1 enemy targeted. " = 0.6, if 2 enemies targeted. " = 0.5, if 3 enemies targeted. " = 0.4, if 4 enemies targeted.

---------.-----------.W. Magic:| Base: |---------|-----------|Aero | 40 |Aeroga | 200 |Holy | 300 |---------'-----------'---------.-----------.B. Magic:| Base: |---------|-----------|Fire | 40 |Blizzard | 43 |Thunder | 46 |

Poison | 35 |Fira | 85 |Blizzara | 88 |Thundara | 85 |Break | 110 |Blizzaga | 180 |Thundaga | 183 |Firaga | 190 |Bio | 170 |Quake | 140 |Drain | 130 |Flare | 320 |Meteor | 170 |---------'-----------'---------.-----------.Summon: | Base: |---------|-----------|Icen | 190 | - Icy StareIcen | 220 | - Diamond DustSpark | 193 | - ThunderstormSpark | 220 | - Judgment BoltHeatra | 200 | - HellfireHeatra | 220 | - InfernoHyper | 170 | - ClobberHyper | 175 | - StompHyper | 220 | - Earthen FuryCatastro | 255 | - SlashLeviath | 300 | - CycloneLeviath | 350 | - Tidal WaveBahamur | 400 | - Megaflare---------'-----------'

MPA = Magical Property AdjustmentMTA = Multiple Target Adjustment

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={M1-5} Status Magic |---------------------'

Inflict Rate = Chance + (JobLv / 7 + Int - Enemy's Mind)%

---------.-----------.W. Magic:| Chance: |---------|-----------|Toad | 10% |Mini | 10% |Confuse | 25% |Silence | 40% |Tornado | 40% |---------'-----------'---------.-----------.B. Magic:| Chance: |---------|-----------|Sleep | 25% |Poison | 30% |Blind | 30% |Break | 30% |Shade | 20% |Warp | 20% |Breakga | 10% |Death | 10% |---------'-----------'---------.-----------.Summon: | Chance: |---------|-----------|Icen | 25% | - Mesmerize

Spark | 20% | - Mind BlastCatastro | 10% | - ZantetsukenLeviath | 10% | - Demon EyeBahamur | 10% | - Rend---------'-----------'

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={M1-6} Other Formulae |-----------------------'

Action Sequence:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Action Score = Agility x 2 - All weight + Random No.

Random No. = number between 0 and Agility.

- The higher the score, the earlier to take a turn; Calculated every turn.- All weight includes equipment weight and action weight. Both are not covered in this FAQ.

Defend: (except Knights)~~~~~~~For one turn:Damage received = Original damage x 0.5

Escape:~~~~~~~Escape Score = Lowest CharacterLV in party - Highest Monster LV in enemies

- If result > 1, escape is successful.- If failed, multiple attempts will accumulate the chance.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= IV) Descriptions, Stats, and Abilities: {JOB} =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

The purpose of this section is to provide you with detailed Job descriptionsthat are meant to go above and beyond the manual - giving you top quality andin-depth information that you can't find anywhere else.

Also included into this section are Job Profiles; Which show JP Gain charts,Stat progression, MP growth, and usable equipment for each Job. There are alsodetailed breakdowns of all Job Abilities. :)

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-FR} Freelancer |---------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Freelancer is the first Job you get to use, even though you probablydon't know you're using a Job at this point if this is your first time playingthe game.

There's not much to say about the Freelancer. They can use a wide variety oflow-level equipment - basically any weapon or armor you will acquire in thefirst few hours of gameplay up until you are blessed with the powers of theWind Crystal.

Freelancers can cast level 1 White and Black Magic, which let you castlow-level spells to cure your party, as well as cast offensive magic to exploitenemy weaknesses (Fire will most likely be the spell you'll use against thetougher Undead enemies at this point).

Once you acquire the jobs from the Wind crystal, you'll immediately want toswitch all of your characters over to another Job. I suggest you read all thejob descriptions in this FAQ to help you make your decision.

As for endgame, the Freelancer obviously doesn't factor in, even though there'ssome potential. It is possible to use some of the best equipment on theFreelancer, like the Ultima Weapon and Excalibur, which not only give you anamazing attack power, but this will give you a +20 point boost to all yourstats. Furthermore, if you use the Wi-Fi connection to unlock their masterygear, the Celestial Gloves, you will further get another +15 point boost to allof your stats!

While this is pretty nifty on paper, the Freelancer's base statistics aren'tthat amazing to look at. While they have no inherant weaknesses, they also haveno inherant strengths either. Even with the Celestial Gloves, because otherJobs have better stats all across the board (Dark Knight, Dragoon,Red Mage, etc.), this one piece of armor still causes the Freelancer to comeup short.

For example, let's compare the Freelancer to the Red Mage. The Red mage canessentially use the same equipment and receive the same set of stat boosts(minus Celestial Gloves, plus Crimson Vest). Red Mages can also cast level 1-5for both White and Black Magic, and they have better Vitality, Intelligence andMind stats to boot (a 33 point different at level 99)!

That's not to say Red Mage is the best class in the game, but it is superior toFreelancer in every way (not to mention the character model is hugelynostalgic!). Therefore, I suggest only using the Freelancer until you acquirethe jobs from the Wind Crystal - as if you had a choice! :)

---------.--------------------------------------------------------.------------Profile: | Freelancer | Initial Job---------'--------------------------------------------------------'------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Freelancers can use low-level Attack | 20 | 20 | magic, but their base attributes Magic | 20 | 20 | are pretty low." Guard | 20 | 20 | Item | 20 | 20 |----------'------------'-----------'

Actions........ Total actions taken during battle, for one character.JP Gain........ Amount of JP you gain for each action.Add............ Additional JP from previous battle.(Overflow)Total JP Gain.. The amount of JP at the end of battle.Overflow....... Extra JP that will carry over to the next battle.

-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 5 | 20 | -- | 100 | | -- | 2 | 5 | 20 | -- | 100 | | -- | 3 | 5 | 20 | -- | 100 | | -- | 4 | 5 | 20 | -- | 100 | | -- | 5 | 5 | 20 | -- | 100 | | -- |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

The Freelancer is one of the easiest Jobs to level up. No matter what yourcurrent Job Level is, you will always gain 20 JP, making Overflow potentiallynon-existant.

On average, you must take 5 actions per battle to level up a Freelancer.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 30 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 40 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 50 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 60 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 70 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 38 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 80 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 43 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 90 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 99 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 |------------------------------' '----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can cast Lv. 1 White Magic and Lv. 1 Black Magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: Knife, Dagger, Mythril Knife, Spark Dagger, Main Gauche, Poison Dagger.Swords: Golden Sword, Longsword, Wightslayer, Mythril Sword, Tyrfing, Serpent Sword, Salamand Sword, Freezing Blade, Royal Sword, Excalibur, Ultima Weapon.Bows: Bow, Great Bow, Killer Bow.Arrows: Wooden Arrow, Holy Arrow, Iron Arrow.Claws: Bronze Knuckles.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Headband, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Scholar Hat, Black Cowl, Chakra Band, Dragon Helm, Diamond Helm, Ribbon, Genji Helm, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Mage Robe, Shell Armor, Kenpo Gi, Ice Armor, Scholar Robe, Flame Mail, Knight Armor, Black Garb, Reflect Mail, White Robe, Black Robe, Bard Vest, Black Belt Gi, Dragon Mail, Gaia Vest, Demon Mail, Diamond Mail, Genji Armor, Crystal Mail.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Thief Gloves, Rune Bracers, Power Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Genji Gloves, Crystal Gloves, Celestial Gloves.Shield: All (excluding Onion Shield)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Celestial Gloves

Def: 40MDef: 18Bonus: +15 All Stats

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-WA} Warrior |------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Warrior is a decent enough job to start with, mainly aimed at doing damagewhile also soaking up some hits for the party. The Warrior also gets an abilitycalled Advance that let's him do more damage at the cost of lowering theirdefense.

In the beginning of the game, the Advance skill's effects don't amount to much either way, and like any job ability, it'll make a bigger difference later on, doing up to 2.4x the attack damage of a regular attack while being joblevel 99. The problem with the job, though, is that you probably won't remaina Warrior long enough to tell or care.

Outside of the Advance ability, how does it stack up damage wise? Actually,pretty good. I mean, the whole point of Warriors is to deal damage, and the jobdoesn't disappoint. The main problem is that while the Warrior gets the jobdone, there are other jobs that can do it equally well... and "then some"(in case you don't know, I'm pointing to the Red Mage). Red Mages can attackfor the same damage, use the same weapons, and wear the same armor until youget to the Fire Crystal, making the Warrior an inferior pick.

This is very contradicting to what you might think, especially after playingmany Final Fantasy games in the older generation. The old adage that you musthave a knight/warrior character in the front position is pretty much thrown outthe window based on how FFIII defines its job's statistics and job archetypes.This is especially true when the game forces your beginning party into a fewsituations where physical attacks are meaningless (due to the constant use ofthe Mini spell).

To make matters worse, every other fighting job in the game outclasses aWarrior at some point, including the Monk within the same tier of jobs. This ismostly due to the fact that the Warrior stat growths are not nearly as highcompared to other jobs. This is most notable, even by the time you get theFire Crystal. Knights and Rangers may take a few job levels to reach thenumber of hits and damage you'll be accustomed to, but eventually the Warriorwon't measure up.

Also, the weapons and armor that become available won't be exclusive to the Warrior either. The Royal Sword is the last Sword he can use for example, and that's meant for the Knight in all honesty. Basically, the Warrior doesn't remain competitive for long. With the Monk and Red Mage available, why bother using the Warrior in the first place?

That pretty much sums up the Warrior. The job's nearly useless at thebeginning, and has no end-game potential whatsoever. The exception to this isunlocking the job's ultimate equipment through job maxing. This gives theWarrior his mastery weapon: The Gigantic Axe, which boosts their strength statby a whopping +20 and gives them an attack power of 155, free to use anotherweapon in their off-hand.

Still, only the most determined to power level their Warrior to job level 99 will ever enjoy these benefits. I also think the Warrior's stat growths are on the low side compared to a Knight and other top tier classes, making the whole affair to be quite moot. A Knight at job level 30-40 with Excalibur, Ragnorak and/or Ultima Weapon is immediately useful. Why invest so much time into the Warrior when you already have something better with no investment? For the restof us who don't care about exploiting trophy accomplishments andpower-leveling, we can safely skip this one. I recommend that you never take

a Warrior through Final Fantasy 3, ever.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Warrior | Wind Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Warriors are weapons experts. Attack | 20 | 14 | Their Advance ability allows Advance | 20 | 14 | them to deal even more Guard | 20 | 14 | damage than normal, but they Item | 20 | 14 | also get hit a lot harder."----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 8 | 14 | -- | 112 | | 12 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 12 | 110 | | 10 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 108 | | 8 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 8 | 106 | | 6 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 6 | 104 | | 4 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 4 | 102 | | 2 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 100 | | -- | 8 | 8 | 14 | -- | 112 | | 12 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 12 | 110 | | 10 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 108 | | 8 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Warrior.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 14 | 14 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 18 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 22 | 22 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 38 | 38 | 34 | 26 | 26 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 44 | 44 | 40 | 29 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 51 | 51 | 46 | 33 | 33 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 58 | 58 | 52 | 37 | 37 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 41 | 41 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 71 | 71 | 63 | 45 | 45 |----------------------------------'

NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Advance: Increases attack power, but decreases defense.

Advance Damage = Original Damage x (1.5 + JobLv / 110) Damage Received = Original Damage x (1.5 + JobLv / 110)

If JobLv = 99, then both are multiplied by 2.4!

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: Knife, Dagger, Mythril Knife, Spark Dagger, Main Gauche, Poison Dagger.Swords: Golden Sword, Longsword, Wightslayer, Mythril Sword, Tyrfing, Serpent Sword, Salamand Sword, Freezing Blade, Royal Sword, Excalibur, Ultima Weapon.Bows: Bow, Great Bow, Killer Bow.Arrows: Wooden Arrow, Holy Arrow, Iron Arrow.Axes: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Headband, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Scholar Hat, Black Cowl, Chakra Band, Dragon Helm, Diamond Helm, Ribbon, Genji Helm, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Mage Robe, Shell Armor, Kenpo Gi, Ice Armor, Scholar Robe, Flame Mail, Knight Armor, Black Garb, Reflect Mail, White Robe, Black Robe, Bard Vest, Black Belt Gi, Dragon Mail, Gaia Vest, Demon Mail, Diamond Mail, Genji Armor, Crystal Mail.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Thief Gloves, Rune Bracers, Power Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Genji Gloves, Crystal Gloves, Celestial Gloves.Shield: All (excluding Onion Shield)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Gigantic AxeAtk: 155Bonus: +20 STR

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-MO} Monk |----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Monk is a variant on a typical fighting Job, essentially giving you higherdamage output and more hits per round at the cost of wearing lower-defensearmor. An interesting facet with the Monk is that the Job can deal damage withhis bare hands, meaning you don't have to find or buy weapons to make the Monkeffective.

During the beginning of the game, Monks start off weak, but with some Job levels, they really start to come into their own. Typically, before the FireCrystal, Monks do more damage than any other Job using standard attacks.

The Monk also has the Retaliate ability, which allows them to dish out acounter attack on the enemy to deal 2x the damage of a regular attack,

provided they get hit.

This ability is hit and miss, because if your Monk is not attacked, you missout on the opportunity to attack that round. If you only had a 2-member party,or had a way to coerce the enemy to attack the Monk, this ability would beeven or better. However, given that the chance of being hit is only 25%, andthat you don't deal 4x+ damage, I'd say this ability is worthless. I'd suggeststicking to normal attacks.

The only exception to this rule is when you are attacked by 3 enemies (doesn'thappen until Nepto Temple to the best of my knowledge), or when the boss does3 attacks per round (this is very rare). In those cases, it's statisticallyfavorable for the enemy to hit your Monk, because there is a 75% chance thatyour Monk will do 2x the damage. If you were to run this scenario 100 times,you'll end up dealing more damage on average than simply using regularattacks.

Also, when fighting the Iron Giant, he will attack 4 times per round. In thiscase, there is a 100% to do 2x the damage. Using the Retaliate ability in thesecases is actually beneficial.

Outside of using your bare hands to attack, the Monk can also equip Clawweapons, just like Yang in Final Fantasy IV. However, the main problem withusing these claw weapons is that they often lower your attack power,especially at higher levels. Too often, having no weapons equipped will dealmore damage than using two claws.

Now, I find this rather odd, because the game constantly feeds the player withnew and higher attack power claws in almost every dungeon, ending with HellishClaws in the Ancients' Maze. In fact, I can't think of any other weapon typethat is consistently fed to the player throughout the entire game! It's as ifthe game is toying with you, trying to get you to use them. Outside ofexploiting an elemental weakness, I don't see the point. There's even a set ofclaws called "Faerie Claws" that boost your Intellect and Mind stats. The Monkis supposed to take advantage of this... how?!

The Monk has some end-game potential - although it's a hit and miss... justlike the Retaliate ability :) The Black Belt Job is available at tier 4, and isthe natural replacement for the Monk. The Black Belt has higher stats inStrength, Speed and Vitality, making it highly seductive to switch over. If youdon't have the ability to use the Wi-Fi Connection AND if you don't mindJob-leveling to get the max benefit, then you should do so. You may have tobuild up your Job Levels a little, but the end result will be worth it.

However, if you have a Wi-Fi connection and don't mind putting the effort into acquiring the Monk's ultimate equipment, there is some potential to be more effective then the Black Belt, but in a different way than you might expect. This also has the added bonus that you won't have to max out the Job Levels of the Black Belt from square one.

In addition to using the Fuma Garb (let's face it, the Master Dogi on the BlackBelt is not that big of an upgrade) and the Ribbon to help out with the Monk's glaring Magic Defense problems, the Monk gets access to the Shura Gloves, whichgives 45 defense! That's 27 more defense than the Protect Ring! Also, the Magicdefense is +1 better too! This gives the Monk quite a bit of an edge over the Black Belt.

Since weapons don't matter, the amount of damage you do is only limited by yourcharacter's level/Job level. The same can be said for the Black Belt as well,so the Black Belt has an advantage there having higher stats. Still, using allof this gear on your Monk will definitely make him end-game worthy. There'salso something to be said about not having to Job-grind all the way back tolevel 99 as well.

Overall, my recommendation is to possibly use this Job over a Red Mage up untilyou get the Jobs from the Fire Crystal. Then, make a choice if you want to keephim or not. If you want to put the time into making the Monk qualify for

endgame, that's up to you. For the rest of us, we can safely upgrade to theBlack Belt.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Monk | Wind Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Monks are very resilient melee Attack | 20 | 14 | fighters. Their Retaliate Retaliate| 20 | 14 | ability allows them to Guard | 20 | 14 | counterattack while on the Item | 20 | 14 | defensive."----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Monk.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 20 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 14 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 28 | 22 | 24 | 15 | 18 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 36 | 28 | 31 | 19 | 22 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 45 | 34 | 38 | 22 | 26 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 53 | 40 | 44 | 25 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 61 | 46 | 51 | 29 | 33 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 69 | 52 | 58 | 32 | 37 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 78 | 58 | 65 | 35 | 41 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 85 | 63 | 71 | 38 | 45 |

----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Retaliate: Increases defense, Counterattacks if hit.

Counterattack Damage = Damage Received x 2 Defense Bonus = Defense + JobLv

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Claws: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Headband, Feathered Hat, Black Cowl, Chakra Band, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Kenpo Gi, Black Garb, Black Belt Gi, Fuma Garb.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Shura Gloves.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Shura GlovesDef: 45MDef: 19Bonus: +20 STR

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-WM} White Mage |---------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The White Mage is your basic healer in Final Fantasy III, and it doesn'tdeviate much from other White Mage archetypes in the series.

I consider the White Mage to be a fairly essential Job, not only at the beginning of the game, but I suggest using one all the way until you get the Jobs from the 4th and Final Crystal. Besides using potions, there are very fewways to heal your characters, as well as heal multiple characters at the same time.

For one, the White Mage has the most MP of Cure magic for a long time, and you'll have to use it often, both in and out of battle.

In boss battles, Cure magic is even more essential. Expect to cast anall-party Cure spell each and every turn during a boss fight. Some of thebosses use mega-attacks that deal a considerable amount of damage to yourentire party. If you don't have a White Mage casting an all-party Cure spell,you might as well reset the game and change Jobs.

The White Mage is pretty much the only Job where I wouldn't suggest using a RedMage instead. Yes, the White Mage has all the problems that the Black Mage has;They have poor armor, they are forced to stay in the back row, and they do pitiful melee damage. All of this is true.

However, you REALLY do need all the Cure spells to survive comfortably, atleast until a Bard becomes available using a Dream Harp (if you choose to gothat route). Using a White Mage also ensures that their Job level will be highthroughout the game. Many times you'll barely have enough MP or you'll even run

out - you'll wish you had access to Ethers... which by the way, the gamedoesn't happily oblige you with like other games do in the series.

Also, the White Mage's actual magic power is very high. You'll get a lot out ofyour basic Cure and Cura spells. It's worth noting that a Devout, the natural upgrade to the White Mage Job, heals for half the HP that a White Mage doeswith the equivalent Cure spell. Go figure.

There are a few negative points with the White Mage, and with some of them, there are no ways to compensate. For one, the White Mage doesn't learn theRaise spell (the ability to resurrect characters) until Level 5. This means to resurrect one of your party members, you are forced to rely the very rare item:Phoenix Down. Otherwise, you'll have to go to a Wellspring that revives fallenallies within a town or a specific location - the Inns surely won't do it. Ifyou're deep in a dungeon, this becomes a problem... and an annoyance. I neverran out of Phoenix Downs, but in some very unlucky back-attack situations,I had to use several. Sometimes I just "bit the bullet" and reset the game tomy last save.

Also, the Level 7 spell Esuna comes far too late in my opinion. You'll have to rely on items to remove those pesky, annoying status effects... like poison, silence or blind. Even when you do get Esuna, you probably won't want to waste MP because Curaja is in the same slot - you do only have 2 MP at level 40 afterall.

As for the endgame, the White Mage doesn't make the cut, unfortunately. The Devout largely makes the White Mage obsolete, by giving you access to Level 8 spells (like Arise and Holy), as well as boosting the overall MP of your most powerful spells. While the Devout's magic power is surprisingly not as strong, with access to over 20 castings of Curaga and Curaja when you initially switch over, I doubt you'll find this to be an issue. There's also the Sage Job, whichhas the ability to cast Black Magic and level 8 White Magic spells too, giving you two good options to upgrade your White Mage.

Overall, the White Mage is a very good Job for the first half of the game, andeven though it's not essential after the Fire Crystal because other Jobs may provide better healing combinations, it's still an effective Job to use.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | White Mage | Wind Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "White mages are casters who Attack | 20 | 10 | specialize in restorative magic. Magic | 20 | 10 | They're not physically strong, Guard | 20 | 10 | but their willpower is Item | 20 | 10 | incomparable!"----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 10 | 10 | -- | 100 | | -- | 2 | 10 | 10 | -- | 100 | | -- | 3 | 10 | 10 | -- | 100 | | -- | 4 | 10 | 10 | -- | 100 | | -- | 5 | 10 | 10 | -- | 100 | | -- |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'

Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 10 actions per battle to level up a White Mage.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can cast up to Lv. 7 White Magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: All (excluding Sage Staff)Rods: Wizard Rod, Fire Rod, Ice Rod, Light Rod.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, White Robe, Angel Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Angel RobeDef: 45MDef: 45Bonus: +20 MIND

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-BM} Black Mage |---------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Black Mage in Final Fantasy 3 is your standard elemental nuker that you canuse at the beginning of the game. While you may not use this job very often during the main story, the Black Mage really becomes an asset during boss fights.

The best ability on the Black Mage is their ability to cast Black Magic, andout of all the beginning caster jobs, they have the most MP and have muchquicker access to the "-ara" spells than Red Mages do, which is a definiteperk.

During some boss fights, the "-ara" spells are nearly essential. They will deal3x the damage (or more) compared to your regular fighting jobs. And in a tough boss fight, you really want to get it over with quickly! Elemental spells are the best way to achieve that.

While you can use attack items like Zeus' Wrath or Antarctic Wind for similar effects, it's nice to have non-item uses of these spells because finding those items is rare - you cannot purchase them. And truthfully, why not cast Blizzaraand Antarctic Wind at the same time?

The Black Mage is also useful at eliminating multiple targets, especially thosewith elemental weaknesses. They provide a great way of getting rid of pesky high-damage enemies, like Bombs, with a simple Blizzard spell. In fact, in the Molten Cave, the Blizzard spell is absolutely essential to survival.

The common problem with the Black Mage is their overall lack of usefulness. While they excel very well in a few niche areas, they are just not that effective 95% of the time when you have them.

Because they can only wear cloth-type armor, they need to stay in the back row.Otherwise they'll get pummeled into the ground fairly easily.

Also, Black Mages don't deal a whole lot of damage with their rods or staffs. They can use a bow and arrows surprisingly, but it's not much better. When you're trying to conserve MP for the boss battle coming up (thus avoiding usingMP whenever possible), you can't help but get the feeling that the Black Mageis merely along for the ride until you arrive at the final boss.

There's one exception to this, and that's right when you acquire the elemental staffs. At this time, the attacks - even from the back row - surprisingly deal decent damage... as long as you're using the right elemental staff. Keep in mind, the damage is not as much as your Red Mage, Monk or Warrior would deal, and it's still decent.

On the plus side, the Black Mage's elemental spells will continue to deal greatdamage to bosses after the Fire Crystal too, however you will receive more options for dealing elemental damage by that time, such as using a Ranger.

After the Water Crystal and beyond, the Black Mage becomes nearly useless.There are just more effective ways to deal damage to multiple enemies, and manyof them don't rely on using MP (Geomancer or Souleater). The game also doesn't provide a lot of equipment upgrades for either the Black or White Mage, so theBlack Mage won't be very competitive.

Also, the Black Mage becomes obsolete when the Summoner, Sage and Magus become available. Without the ability to cast level 8 Spells, as well as only being able to cast a handful of the obviously more powerful spells, the Black Mage isn't a very useful choice in the endgame.

Overall, the Black Mage isn't bad at the beginning of the game because of its boss-nuking abilities, however I can't quite shake the feeling that theRed Mage is still overall more useful. My recommendation is to stay away fromthis job, or use one Black Mage to deal with the story until you beat theMolten Cave.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------

Profile: | Black Mage | Wind Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Black mages are casters who Attack | 20 | 10 | specialize in offensive magic. Magic | 20 | 10 | Despite their appearance, they Guard | 20 | 10 | can take a few hits, too." Item | 20 | 10 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 10 actions per battle to level up a Black Mage.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can cast up to Lv. 7 Black Magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: Staff, Fire Staff, Ice Staff, Light Staff.Rods: All (excluding Millenium Rod)Bows: Bow, Great Bow, Killer Bow.Arrows: Wooden Arrow, Holy Arrow, Iron Arrow.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, Black Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Lilith RodAtk: 110Bonus: +20 INTEffect: Casts death.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-RM} Red Mage |-------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Red Mage is your jack-of-all-trades Job in Final Fantasy III, but unlikeother games in the series, it's anything but typical.

I, for one, love this Job. In my first play-through, I made the mistake oftrying to emulate a classic FF party setup using: Warrior, Monk, White Mageand Black Mage. I did this because I thought it would make a balanced party. Itwasn't until after the Vikings' Cove that I switched my Warrior to a Red Mage(I needed more magic power to deal with the enemies in the Nepto Temple due tothe Mini status). It was then that I discovered just how useful and powerfulthis Job could be.

The Red Mage is a superior beginning Job, and I thoroughly recommend using itat the beginning of the game up until you acquire the Jobs from the FireCrystal. The Red Mage can use all the weapons a Warrior can, allowing for thesame damage dealt (excluding the Advance skill obviously). It can also use thesame armor too, so you won't need to keep them in the back row.

Red Mages can also use up to Lv. 5 Black magic for those areas where you needto exploit enemy weaknesses. They can use up to Lv. 5 White Magic as well. Thiswill help with any extra healing you might need in and out of battle. The only real complaint here is that you'll get half of the MP a White or Black Mage would. But the ability to do excellent damage with two Mythril Swords more thanmakes up for that.

Looking at all these benefits the Red Mage brings to the table, I can't helpbut recommend that you take 2 or 3 Red Mages and 1 White Mage as your beginningparty. With this party setup, you'll comfortably breeze through the first quarter of the game. You'll have 3 strong attackers, 3 characters to deal with elemental weaknesses, and 4 characters to cast timely cures when needed, makingsure that you'll never need to use Potions or have to worry about not having enough Cure magic. The only reason I recommend taking a White Mage is to raise their Job level for their use after you get the Jobs from the Fire Crystal... because you will likely keep the White Mage around.

As for end-game possibilities, the Red Mage can become an extremely powerful Job. It is the only Job that can use the Crimson Vest, Excalibur, and the Ultima Weapon at the same time. This provides a +30 stat boost across the boardand makes him quite godly.

However, if you are unable to unlock all ultimate equipment by using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, or don't want to invest the time, you'll probably retire this Job once you get access to more effective Jobs from the Fire Crystal. The Red Mage just doesn't get the equipment upgrades to remain competitive. Even if you do plan on using the Red Mage during the endgame, it'sstill recommended that you retire this Job and only pick it up again after you get access to the Legendary Blacksmith.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Red Mage | Wind Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Red mages can use both white and Attack | 20 | 12 | black magic, but they cannot use Magic | 20 | 12 | high-level spells from either Guard | 20 | 12 | school." Item | 20 | 12 |----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 9 | 12 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 104 | | 4 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 100 | | -- | 4 | 9 | 12 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 104 | | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 100 | | -- | 7 | 9 | 12 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 104 | | 4 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 100 | | -- | 10 | 9 | 12 | -- | 108 | | 8 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 8-9 actions per battle to level up a Red Mage.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 13 5 3 2 0 0 0 0 | | 20 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 17 8 5 4 1 0 0 0 | | 30 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 22 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 22 11 8 6 2 0 0 0 | | 40 | 24 | 24 | 28 | 28 | 28 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 26 15 10 8 4 0 0 0 | | 50 | 29 | 29 | 34 | 34 | 34 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 31 18 13 10 5 0 0 0 | | 60 | 34 | 34 | 40 | 40 | 40 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 35 21 15 11 7 0 0 0 | | 70 | 34 | 34 | 40 | 40 | 40 |

----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 40 25 17 13 8 0 0 0 | | 80 | 43 | 43 | 52 | 52 | 52 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 45 28 19 15 10 0 0 0 | | 90 | 48 | 48 | 58 | 58 | 58 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 49 31 21 16 11 0 0 0 | | 99 | 52 | 52 | 63 | 63 | 63 |------------------------------' '----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can cast up to Lv. 5 White Magic and Lv. 5 Black Magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: Knife, Dagger, Mythril Knife, Main Gauche, Poison Dagger.Swords: Golden Sword, Longsword, Wightslayer, Mythril Sword, Tyrfing, Serpent Sword, Salamand Sword, Freezing Blade, Royal Sword, Defender, Break Blade, Excalibur, Ultima Weapon.Staves: All (excluding Elder Staff, Sage Staff)Rods: Mythril Rod, Wizard Rod, Fire Rod, Ice Rod, Light Rod.Bows: Bow, Great Bow, Killer Bow.Arrows: Wooden Arrow, Holy Arrow, Iron Arrow.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Ribbon, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Flame Mail, Reflect Mail, White Robe, Black Robe, Crimson Vest, Crystal Mail.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring, Crystal Gloves.Shield: Leather Shield, Mythril Shield, Ice Shield, Aegis Shield, Crystal Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Crimson VestDef: 50MDef: 25Bonus: +10 All Stats

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-TH} Thief |---------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~When it comes to Final Fantasy games, I like Thieves. I like them because theycan Steal from the enemy party. Thieves to me are a huge investment, and beingthe completionist that I am who wants to get the best items, weapons and armorpossible, Thieves in Final Fantasy are a means to that end, especially in the later installments in the series.

However, I forgot FFIII was a remake of an old game where all the Thief could steal was potions and generally things you could buy at the Item Shop. Thus,Steal amounts to a near useless ability.

To be fair, the Thief can steal more than stuff found at the Item Shop, suchas rare attack items and the most-coveted Elixirs. However, none of these itemsare what I would call essential or game-breaking, and Elixirs (the mostimportant of them all) can be found by defeating dragons in the later stages of

the game.

What quality items can the Thief steal? Well, sadly there's only two. The firstis called Gungnir, the best lance in the game for the Dragoon Job. This is a very important steal because without spoiling anything, the item is entirely miss-able if you don't steal it at the appropriate time (or you don't get itwhen it's dropped... which is also very rare so you're better off trying tosteal it).

The second and final item worth stealing is the Protect Ring. Not only is the opportunity to steal it very rare (it's a random spawn), but the game already provides you with 2 Protect Rings found in chests (which is probably all you'llever need, honestly).

Not only is it bad enough that the Thief can only steal 1 essential item duringthe entire game, but you need to raise your Job Level to 71 in order to steal it! This requirement alone means that only the most dedicated of players are going to grind their Thief up to level 71 in order to get this item. You needto do a lot of work to make your Thief worthwhile, and it's just to make the Dragoon a top-contender for the end-game! - What I consider a total side-event!This doesn't bode well for the Thief's usefulness in my opinion.

Besides stealing, what else does the Thief having going for it? Well, hisdamage isn't too bad. Early on in the game, your damage will be lower than aWarrior, Monk or Red Mage, but not so much once the game progresses. Also,daggers are plentiful throughout the game. Specialized daggers like theAir Knife can actually deal quite a lot of damage against the right enemies.However, if you're looking for fast damage, you might as well look elsewhere.

The Thief actually has an incredibly high speed stat to make up for its weakerdamage - actually making it the fastest acting Job in the entire game. This causes the Thief to act first in every battle round. Depending on thesituation, if you really need a more predictable battle order, the Thief isyour best bet to make that a reality. Many players consider this aspect to bethe Job's most defining and greatest asset.

However, as a side know, keep in mind depending if you unlocked the Thief's mastery weapon and someone is using Ultima Weapon, you might not act first in the round after all.

Lastly, there are a few places where the game pushes you to use a Thief. Although it's not required, a Thief is very useful to have in Goldor Manor andthe Temple of Time. These areas have multiple locked doors that the Thief can pick. The game further encourages you to use a Thief by placing powerful Thief-specific items in these places too, so you might as well use a Thiefsince the equipment is available. However, you don't have to use a Thief toopen locked doors; you can buy 20 keys for 2000 Gil, which will be enough toopen all the locked doors for the entire game.

Undeniably, the Thief has its uses throughout the game, but overall, the Thiefis a situational Job at best. It knows where it can excel, and you should useit for those situations only.

However at the beginning of the game, avoid using a Thief and opt to useanother Job instead (the Red Mage or Monk come to mind). The steals might netyou some extra gold, but you probably won't ever be strapped for cash. Also,there are no locks to pick at the beginning of the game either. The first timeyou will encounter a locked door will be right before the Fire Crystal, whichis almost to the half-way point of the game.

As for endgame, the Thief doesn't really have much potential either. The Ninja is a much better choice due to their higher strength and better weapon selection. The Ninja also starts every battle first, just like the Thief, despite the Ninja's speed stat being lower. For all intents and purposes, the Thief's high speed stat is overkill. Also, in the last quarter of the game,gold is very easy to come by, making the Steal ability useless too.

My conclusion is this: if you enjoy playing a Thief, use the Ninja instead - it's the natural upgrade for this Job. My recommendation is to stay away fromthe Thief unless either the game calls for it, or you really, REALLY have to acquire the Gungnir lance for your Dragoon.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Thief | Wind Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. "Thieves are very fast and agile, JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ | and they can swing their weapons----------|------------|-----------| lightning-fast. They also have Attack | 20 | 18 | the ability to pick locked doors. Steal | 20 | 18 | Their Steal ability allows them Flee | NONE | NONE | to take items from enemies. Also, Item | 20 | 18 | everyone will take less damage----------'------------'-----------' while escaping if they use Flee."


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 6 | 18 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 8 | 116 | | 16 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 106 | | 6 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 6 | 114 | | 14 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 14 | 104 | | 4 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 112 | | 12 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 12 | 102 | | 2 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 2 | 110 | | 10 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 10 | 100 | | -- | 10 | 6 | 18 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 11 | 6 | 18 | 8 | 116 | | 16 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 6-5 actions per battle to level up a Thief.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 16 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 12 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 22 | 30 | 22 | 18 | 15 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 28 | 40 | 28 | 22 | 19 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 34 | 50 | 34 | 26 | 22 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 40 | 60 | 40 | 29 | 25 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 46 | 70 | 46 | 33 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 52 | 80 | 52 | 37 | 32 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

90 | 58 | 90 | 58 | 41 | 35 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 63 | 99 | 63 | 45 | 38 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Steal: Steal and item from an enemy.Flee: Higher chance of escaping from battle.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: AllThrowing: All (excluding Shuriken)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Black Cowl, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Black Garb, Fuma Garb.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Thief Gloves, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring.Shield: Leather Shield, Mythril Shield, Ice Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: GladiusAtk: 130Bonus: +20 AGI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Stealing~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~To make things simple, there are 4 items you can steal from enemies.

Here is a sample chart of the enemies and what you can steal from them:

---------------------------------------------------------------------.Enemy: |Item 1: |Item 2: |Item 3: |Item 4: |------------|-------------|-------------|--------------|-------------| | | | | | Sample | Potion | Potion | Hi-Potion | Elixir | | | | | |*Boss | Nothing | Nothing | Elixir | Elixir | | | | | |------------'--------------------------------------------------------'NOTE: An enemy with a * by its name is a Boss!!

Pretty simple right?

Now to explain the items. Here are the Job Level ranges at which they can bestolen.

------------------.Item: | Job Level |------|-----------| 1 | 1-30 | 1-2 | 31-70 | 1-3 | 71-98 | 1-4 | 99-99 |------'-----------'

So if you are between Job Levels 1 and 30, you can only steal Item 1. If you

are between Job levels 31 and 70, you can steal Items 1 or 2, etc....

Next is the Steal Rate for each item.

------------------.Item: |Steal Rate |------|-----------| 1 | 19% | 2 | 17% | 3 | 15% | 4 | 12% |------'-----------'

Another thing. When you steal, the game will try for the rarest item first.So if you are Job Lv. 82, it will attempt to Steal Item 3. If it failsto steal Item 3, it will try for Item 2. If that fails, Item 1, and if thatfails, you fail completely and have to try again!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-RA} Ranger |-----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~In many ways, the Ranger plays a lot like a Warrior, but uses a bow instead ofa sword. It is believed by many that this job is worthless. This may be truewhen nearing the final areas of the game, but when you first acquire theRanger, it's a very useful job.

Rangers can use higher defense armor like a Knight, which is pretty useful. Andsice their attack is ranged, they can also do FULL damage from the Back Row!Seeing that you take LESS damage from the back row (and are wearing nice armorto boot!), this is a huge advantage during the early stages of the game.

Even better though, many enemies at this time are weak against Light damage, sousing your Holy Arrows (which can be bought for 10 Gil a piece) will causeconsiderable amounts of damage. You will also get the Rune Bow shortly afteryou acquire the Ranger job, which will allow you to simply decimate everything!With a Rune Bow + Holy arrows, you'll deal around 600-700 damage.

You can also use the other elemental arrows to exploit those weaknesses too,making this a very good job. The game practically begs to use a Ranger becausethe game provides all the necessary equipment upgrades to make it worthwhile.

I found their Barrage ability to be a mixed bag, which allows you to split thedamage of your attack while being able to attack multiple enemies at the sametime. Because most enemies require a full attack to destroy them, I can'tpossibly see how this ability is useful. The best case scenario is that you canuse a Ranger to kill much weaker enemies more quickly, but where's the sense inpicking a Ranger just for that?

Even when you exploit a weakness using Barrage, the damage actually turns outto be the same. This is also true when using Barrage against a single foe. Solet me get this straight... I use 4 Arrows, yet it only deals the same damageas one arrow? In all honestly, Barrage is a complete waste of arrows and timeto use, regardless who your target is. I would suggest that you avoid usingBarrage completely.

As for end-game possibilities, the Ranger becomes less useful, mainly becausetheir ultimate Bow and Yoichi arrows have an attack power of 165, which isabout 100 points less compared to other jobs dual-weilding better weapons.Furthermore, boomerang-type weapons (such as the Fullmoon Blade) dealconsiderable more damage without having to refil your arrows.

Overall, the Ranger is decent pick when you acquire him, and nothing more.There are a whole slew of superior jobs to choose from after you gain access to

the Water crystal. I suggest you replace your Ranger with one of those ASAP.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Ranger | Fire Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ | "Rangers are experts in ranged----------|------------|-----------| combat. With their bows, they can Attack | 20 | 14 | attack for full damage from even Barrage | 20 | 14 | the back line! Their Barrage Guard | 20 | 14 | ability allows them to unleash Item | 20 | 14 | a hail of projectiles at the enemy!"----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Ranger.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 17 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 14 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 24 | 28 | 22 | 18 | 18 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 31 | 36 | 28 | 22 | 22 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 38 | 45 | 34 | 26 | 26 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 44 | 53 | 40 | 29 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 51 | 61 | 46 | 33 | 33 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 58 | 69 | 52 | 37 | 37 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 65 | 78 | 58 | 41 | 41 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 71 | 85 | 63 | 45 | 45 |----------------------------------'

NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Barrage: Attacks randomly, 4 times, with decreased damage. Damage Per Hit = Original Damage x Factor

.-------.---------. | JobLv | Factor: | |-------|---------| | 1-20 | 0.2 | | 21-70 | 0.3 | | 71-99 | 0.4 | '-------'---------'

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bows: AllArrows: AllThrowing: Boomerang, Chakram.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Black Cowl, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Flame Mail, Black Garb.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Artemis BowAtk: 122Bonus: +10 STR, +10 AGI

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-KN} Knight |-----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Knight is a very solid job to use in Final Fantasy 3. Warriors should immediately upgrade to a Knight once it's available. The automatic coverability has saved my butt more than a few times when other characters had lowlife, which really made me feel like I made a good investment. It'sunfortunate the actual Defend ability is garbage because the Knight will do this automatically during battle anyway. So in this way, you lose the ability to have an effective special command.

Still, Knights can cast Cure spells, and while they don't heal as much as a White Mage's cure spell, it's nice to have that extra safety net when you are playing between the Fire and Water Crystals. It takes some pressure off theWhite Mage. I found that in a few parts of the game, my White Mage was low onCure Magic. Those extra Cures on the Knight were enough so that I didn't haveto go to my inventory and use potions. Poisona was also a nice spell to use.

I think the Knight loses its appeal when the 3rd tier jobs come in. To me, Viking, Dragoon and Dark Knight are all more interesting. That's not to say theKnight is useless. I guess I consider it on the same tier as these jobs because

it's definitely usable from the Fire Crystal onwards until the end of the game.

Unlike the Dark Knight, the Knight can wear Crystal armor (very good defense)as well as equip the both Excalibur and Ragnorok found in Eureka. It can alsouse the Ultima Weapon. This setup makes him a top contender for the endgame.

So even though the Knight goes out of fashion for a big chunk of the game,it'll become viable again since some fighting jobs cannot use those weapons. Inthe Ancient's Maze, the game provides you with Crystal armor and a Break Sword.The game is practically saying, "You really should start using your Knightagain... there's big things in store for you."

Overall, the Knight is a fairly solid job. They have great stats, do excellent damage, and are a tough mark for enemies to kill. Unlike other final jobs like the Ninja or Black Belt, the Knight is capable of surviving focused magical attacks like Flare. And by equipping the best weapons in the game, he'll also have the highest attack power out of any other job to my knowledge.

For these reasons, you just might want to stick with your Knight until the end of the game to make sure his job level will be the highest possible, but you have to be pretty stubborn not to use some of the cooler 3rd tier jobs in the meantime. Overall, I give this job 2 thumbs up.

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Knight | Fire Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Knights take pride in their high Attack | 20 | 12 | defense. Their Defend ability Magic | 20 | 12 | allows them to step in and take Defend | 20 | 12 | damage for weakened allies. And Item | 20 | 12 | they can use white magic, too!"----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 8-9 actions per battle to level up a Knight.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |

----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 10 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 20 | 20 | 14 | 20 | 14 | 15 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 30 | 28 | 18 | 28 | 18 | 20 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 40 | 36 | 22 | 36 | 22 | 24 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 50 | 45 | 26 | 45 | 26 | 29 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 60 | 53 | 29 | 53 | 29 | 34 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 70 | 61 | 33 | 61 | 33 | 38 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 80 | 69 | 37 | 69 | 37 | 43 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 90 | 78 | 41 | 78 | 41 | 48 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 99 | 85 | 45 | 85 | 45 | 52 |------------------------------' '----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can use Lv. 1 white magic.Defend: Increases defense. Takes damage for weakened allies. Damage Received = Original Damage x (100 - (40 + JobLv / 5))%

If JobLv = 99, total percentage cut is about 60%.

Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Swords: All (excluding Onion Blade, Onion Sword)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Diamond Helm, Ribbon, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Flame Mail, Knight Armor, Reflect Mail, Diamond Mail, Crystal Mail.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Crystal Gloves.Shield: Leather Shield, Mythril Shield, Ice Shield, Heroic Shield, Diamond Shield, Aegis Shield, Crystal Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Save The QueenAtk: 140Bonus: +10 VIT, +10 MINDEffect: Casts reflect.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-SC} Scholar |------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Scholar is essentially a misfit Job. It's definitely a niche Job, because

you can't really plug it into any sort of group like "fighter" or "caster" for example. The Scholar really doesn't stand for anything. The best way todescribe a Scholar is that it's a collage of several "interesting" abilities.

Lets start with the good points, because there aren't many. The Scholar has a very useful ability called Item Lore. This ability doubles the effect of any item used by the Scholar, whether its attack or support. This means that Hi-Potions will restore 1000 HP instead of 500 HP. Likewise, attack items willdeal double damage (or quadruple if the enemy has a weakness to that item's element). Up until you acquire the Jobs from the Fire Crystal, taking advantageof elemental weaknesses this way is a good way to decimate enemy bossesquickly.

Secondly, the Scholar has a Study ability that analyzes the enemy and tellsyou its HP and Weakness while nullifying any positive status effects (likeHaste, Protect, etc.). During the Hein Castle incident, a Scholar makes thefinal battle much easier because their Study ability removes Hein's specialprotective Barrier, which constantly reactivates and changes his elementalweakness. This makes the Scholar almost essential during this point in thegame.

Thirdly, the Scholar can make good use of the gear found in Castle Argus.There, you'll find armor and elemental books for the Scholar well before youcan even utilize the Job. You can complete your set of equipment by eventuallybeating the Molten cave. All this early access to equipment is nice, anddefinitely hints at their necessity later on in the game. These books actuallydeal okay damage when you first get them, even from the back row, however onlyinitially.

That's about all the Scholar's actually good for. Unfortunately, Scholars have the worst Vitality in the game, which means they have the worst HP growth when your character levels up. While I don't imagine anyone would take a Scholar to level 99, if someone uses the Scholar Job and gains a few levels with it, you will notice that this character will PERMANENTLY be behind in their HP growth compared to other characters!

Also, vitality impacts the character's defense too (an area where Scholars are already troubled in due to weak armor), which means Scholars are limited to being placed in the back row. What does that mean? Their rather weak physical attacks become even worse! Sure, the books have elements which can exploit elemental weaknesses... and when you first acquire them, they are actually somewhat effective. But when the enemies become more difficult, ask yourself this: "Does weakness exploiting really make a huge difference?" Because we're talking about the Scholar, the answer is NO!

The Scholar has the ability to cast Black Magic at Level 1-3. However, due to his insanely low MP curve, you'll only have access to Level 1 spells for a majority of the time. You will only start gaining access to level 2 Black Magicspells when your character level reaches mid 30's - That's around the time mostpeople reach the Temple of Time! How well do you think the basic Thunder spell fairs in this crazy-difficult dungeon? NOT GOOD! During the endgame, level 1-3 Black Magic is even more useless. Not even Magi or Sages use it!

Also, the Study ability further minimizes their usefulness, because shortly after the Hein Castle incident, you will be able to find/purchase the Libra White Magic spell, making the Study ability obsolete.

Lastly, while Item Lore is decent, it also loses effectiveness in the endgame. Elixirs being the best support item in the game, giving a character 100% HP andMP. How is using Item Lore going to improve 100%? Exactly - it can't!

Also, given that powerful spells become readily available later on in the game,the Scholar's Item Lore ability becomes obsolete entirely. Even an improved Arctic Wind won't be enough to compensate for the sheer power of the Geomanceror Black Mage at this point by the time the Water Crystal roles around.

Essentially, the Scholar is only good for the Hein's Castle segment of the

storyline, just so you can eliminate Hein's Elemental Barrier. However, lateron in the game in Eureka, there is a similar boss to Hein called Anon, andneither Study or Libra are required to defeat him - he's a real pushoverdespite being much tougher compared to Hein.

Overall, The Scholar is highly situational and quirky Job. It simply doesn'tmake the cut for endgame... or even after Hein's Castle for that matter. Takemy advice: Use it for Hein's Castle... and never use it again!

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Scholar | Fire Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. "Scholars can examine enemies and JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ | spot their weak points. They can----------|------------|-----------| also enhance the effects of the Attack | 24 | 24 | items they use. They can dispel magic Magic | 24 | 24 | effects from enemies they've studied. Study | 24 | 24 | Surprisingly enough, these bookworms Item | 24 | 24 | can also use magic!"----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 5 | 24 | -- | 120 | | 20 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 20 | 116 | | 16 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 16 | 112 | | 12 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 12 | 108 | | 8 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 8 | 104 | | 4 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 4 | 100 | | -- | 7 | 5 | 24 | -- | 120 | | 20 | 8 | 4 | 24 | 20 | 116 | | 16 | 9 | 4 | 24 | 16 | 112 | | 12 | 10 | 4 | 24 | 12 | 108 | | 8 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

Scholars are by far the easiest Job to level up. Every action you take, nomatter what Job Level, you will always gain 24 JP.

On average, you must take 4-5 actions per battle to level up a Scholar.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 9 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 20 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 20 | 14 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 30 | 22 | 24 | 15 | 30 | 18 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 20 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 | | 40 | 28 | 31 | 19 | 40 | 22 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 25 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 | | 50 | 34 | 38 | 22 | 50 | 26 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

60 | 29 13 7 0 0 0 0 0 | | 60 | 40 | 44 | 25 | 60 | 29 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 34 17 9 0 0 0 0 0 | | 70 | 46 | 51 | 29 | 70 | 33 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 39 20 12 0 0 0 0 0 | | 80 | 52 | 58 | 32 | 80 | 37 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 44 23 14 0 0 0 0 0 | | 90 | 58 | 65 | 35 | 90 | 41 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 48 26 15 0 0 0 0 0 | | 99 | 63 | 71 | 38 | 99 | 45 |------------------------------' '----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can cast up to Lv. 3 White Magic and Lv. 3 Black magic.Study: Scan enemies HP and weakness. Also dispels beneficial magic.Item: Items have double the potency. Use an item from the item list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Books: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Scholar Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, Scholar Robe, White Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: OmnitomeAtk: 130Bonus: +10 INT, +5 MIND

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-GE} Geomancer |--------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming Soon!

---------.-------------------------------------------------------.-------------Profile: | Geomancer | Fire Crystal---------'-------------------------------------------------------'-------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ | "Geomancers harness the power of----------|------------|-----------| nature itself, manifested in their Attack | 20 | 14 | different terrain attacks. Their Terrain | 20 | 14 | damage potential rises Guard | 20 | 14 | exponentially by job level." Item | 20 | 14 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Geomancer.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 15 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 20 | 24 | 20 | 24 | 20 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 24 | 31 | 24 | 31 | 24 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 29 | 38 | 29 | 38 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 34 | 44 | 34 | 44 | 34 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 38 | 51 | 38 | 51 | 38 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 43 | 58 | 43 | 58 | 43 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 48 | 65 | 48 | 65 | 48 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 52 | 71 | 52 | 71 | 52 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Terrain: Uses the environment for an attack.

Damage = (Power + JobLv x 2) x (INT + MND) / Adjustment x Random No. Random No. = number between 0.8 to 1.0

.-------------.--------.-------------.-----. | Attacks: | Power: | Adjustment: | Wt: | |-------------|--------|-------------|-----| |Whirlpool | 30% | --- | 4 | |Wind Slash | 45 | 3 | 3 | |Ice Storm | 55 | 4 | 4 | |Magma | 70 | 4 | 3 | |Ice Pillar | 80 | 3 | 3 | |Flame Burst | 80 | 3 | 4 | |Black Hole | 80% | --- | 4 |

|Earthquake | 90 | 4 | 3 | |Close-In | 100 | 3 | 4 | |Shadowflare | 110 | 1 | 9 | '-------------'--------'-------------'-----'

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bells: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, Black Robe, Gaia Vest.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Geomancer Card~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Blessed BellAtk: 130Bonus: +10 AGI, +10 INT, +10 MIND~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Terrain Attacks~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------.-------.--------------------------------------------------------. Attacks: |Target:| Descriptions: |-------------|-------|--------------------------------------------------------|Whirlpool | All |Calls forth the waters of the sea, drowning all enemies.|Wind Slash | One |Slices the enemy with blades of wind. |Ice Storm | All |Damages enemies with the piercing cold of the Arctic. |Magma | All |Shoots out molten lava causing severe burn damage. |Ice Pillar | One |Incredible damage with spears of ice. |Flame Burst | One |Scorches the enemy with a blazing fire. |Black Hole | One |A world destructing force consumes the enemy. |Earthquake | All |Shakes the earth causing damage to all enemies. |Close-In | One |Drops the weight of a thousand boulders onto the enemy. |Shadowflare | One |Massive non-elemental damage to the enemy. |-------------'-------'--------------------------------------------------------'

-------------.----------------. Attacks: | Element: |-------------|----------------|Whirlpool | Ice, Water |Wind Slash | Wind |Ice Storm | Ice, Water |Magma | Fire |Ice Pillar | Ice, Water |Flame Burst | Fire |Black Hole | Non-elemental |Earthquake | Earth |Close-In | Earth |Shadowflare | Non-elemental |-------------'----------------'

Here are the chances of what Terrain attack will be used in different areas.--------------------------.-------------------. Environment: | Success Rate: |--------------------------|-------------------|Land (World Map) | Wind Slash = 50% |Forest (World Map) | Ice Storm = 48% |Castle Sasune | Shadowflare = 2% |Dragon's Peak | |Tower of Owen (Except F1) | |Castle Hein | |

Goldor Manor | |Dragon Spire | |Crystal Tower | |Bahamut Boss Fight | |--------------------------|-------------------|Desert (World Map) | Earthquake = 40% |Altar Cave | Close-in = 38% |Mythril Mines | Wind Slash = 20% |The Sealed Cave | Shadowflare = 2% |Tozus Tunnel | |The Cave of the Circle | |The Ancient Ruins | |Cave in Falgabard | |Bahamut's Lair | |The Cave of Shadows | |Doga's Grotto | |Ancients' Maze | |--------------------------|-------------------|Sea (World Map) | Ice Pillar = 40% |Underneath Sea (World Map)| Whirlpool = 38% |Nepto Temple | Wind Slash = 20% |Tower of Owen (Floor 1) | Shadowflare = 2% |Subterranean Lake | |The Cave of Tides | |Amur Sewers | |Sunken Cave | |Saronia Catacombs | |Temple of Time | |Behind Falgabard Waterfall| |Lake Dohr | |Secret ??? Dungeon | |--------------------------|-------------------|Sky (World Map) | Wind Slash = 50% | | Ice Storm = 48% | | Shadowflare = 2% |--------------------------|-------------------|Ur (Path to Storehouse) | Wind Slash = 50% | | Ice Storm = 50% |--------------------------|-------------------|The Molten Cave | Magma = 40% | | Flame Burst = 38% | | Wind Slash = 20% | | Shadowflare = 2% |--------------------------|-------------------|Southwest Saronia | Blackhole = 50% | (Tavern Fight) | Shadowflare = 40% | | Wind Slash = 10% |--------------------------|-------------------|Eureka, The Forbidden Land| Blackhole = 40% | | Shadowflare = 40% | | Wind Slash = 20% |--------------------------|-------------------|The World of Darkness | Wind Slash = 23% | | Ice Pillar = 23% | | Flame Burst = 22% | | Earthquake = 22% | | Shadowflare = 10% |--------------------------'-------------------'

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-VI} Viking |-----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Viking is an interesting job, in that it's a very different role from a

warrior-type job. Firstly, they use Hammers and Axes as their main weapons, buteven further, they are geared towards defense rather than dealing damage, like the Knight, Dark Knight and Dragoon.

Firstly, the Viking shouldn't be called upon if you just want to deal damage. While the Viking has a very high strength stat, Hammer and Axe-type weapons aredesigned to have lower hits per round, which obviously means lower damage when its all said and done. When you first acquire the Viking after the 3rd crystal,his performance is rather disappointing compared to other jobs. He just doesn'tdeal out very decent damage.

Secondly, the Viking agility stat is among the worst out of all the jobs. This is essentially the trade off for having such a high strength, despite hisdamage becoming curved due to his weapon types. Unfortunately, the causes theViking to act last in battle whenever he attacks, further minimizing his use.Let it be said, it is far better to have a weaker defensive character attackfirst rather than having a high-defensive character act last. This makes jobslike the Ninja come out on top.

Thirdly, the Viking has the Provoke ability, which causes one enemy of theenemy party to target the Viking. However, initially this ability isn't veryreliable - it requires many job levels to work successfully. Also, Provokewon't stop the OTHER enemies from attacking your other characters. So ifyou're facing 2 or 3 enemies at a time, you can still expect to take somedamage. When compared to Souleater, Throw or Jump, this ability isn't nearlyas useful.

Lastly, the Viking has a moderate Intelligence stat, and a low Mind stat,which causes him to fall to heavy magic, especially anything focused.Admittedly, many jobs have this problem - Black Belt being slightly worse, andNinja being slightly better. Still, with all the other problems the Vikinghas, this is just one more to add to the list.

Because of these issues, the Viking is perhaps one of the more situationaljobs in the game, ranking near Ranger and Scholar in terms of nicheusefulness. The Viking is fairly useful when fighting enemies under water,because his Hammer weapons all possess the Lightning element attribute. Thisis substantial as there are a lot of water levels and water enemies after youacquire the 3rd crystal.

What about endgame? Firstly, outside of the Wi-Fi connection, the best weaponsyou can weild are the Blessed Hammer and Dual Haken, and they only combine for242 attack power... which is considerably lower compared to other jobs(namely, Knight, Ninja and Dragoon for example). Adding the fact that they hitfar less often and that the Viking will attack near the end of the battleround, I can't recommend the Viking as a top damage-dealer. This role isbetter suited to Knights, Dragoons, Dark Knights, Ninjas, etc.

Having said that, the Viking is a true superstar when facing massive boss battles where the boss has powerful physical attacks. Simply have your Vikingequip a full set of Crystal Armor and give him two shields: The Crystal Shieldand the Aegis Shield. Then, place the Viking in the back row and have them usetheir Provoke ability over and over.

This diverts all the damage from the boss towards your Viking, which allowsyour healer to focus all of their healing efforts on the Viking. Since thehealer is only responsible for one character, they can use lower level andmore plentiful healing spells like Cura, or even a healing staff like theElder Staff. If necessary, use the Protect spell, Turtle Shell or the Bard'sProtect on the Viking, to make him the ultimate meat shield.

Using this method is a fantastic way to beat tough bosses when you are underleveled (ie Cloud of Darkness and Iron Giant). It is one of the MOST effective ways to CONTROL the flow of a big battle - you are basically exertingmind-control over the enemy, nearly dictating what the boss does. The entire battle becomes predictable and stable at that point.

It's also been said that this combo's well with the Warrior, as the Warrior canuse their Advance ability to deal 2.4x the damage at job level 99. However,Most people won't level a Warrior to level 99, making this combo moot for many players. Even then, I still can't help but notice that two characters doing incredibly damage on their own is more useful if you were going to use Provoke just for that.

Overall, I'd say the Viking is a situational class, being usable during the 3rdcrystal only. It's also not entirely necessary to use a Viking either, since a Dragoon with Wind/Thunder lances will accomplish much the same thing. With his rather low magic defense and the fact that he acts near the end in battle, it'shard to recommend a Viking for the endgame, or to use one at all over other classes.

However, if you want to exploit the Provoke ability against tough bosses and design an end-game party around this ability, then go for it. The choice is ultimately yours. As a stand-alone character though, the Viking really doesn't make the cut.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Viking | Water Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Vikings have the ability to lure Attack | 20 | 14 | enemies into attacking them instead Provoke | 20 | 14 | of other members of the party, Guard | 20 | 14 | but it's gonna hurt!" Item | 20 | 14 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Viking.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 20 | 14 | 17 | 14 | 15 |

----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 30 | 18 | 24 | 18 | 20 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 40 | 22 | 31 | 22 | 24 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 50 | 26 | 38 | 26 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 60 | 29 | 44 | 29 | 34 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 70 | 33 | 51 | 33 | 38 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 80 | 37 | 58 | 37 | 43 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 90 | 41 | 65 | 41 | 48 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 99 | 45 | 71 | 45 | 52 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Provoke: Lure enemy attacks onto yourself. Reduces enemy defense.

Enemy Defense = Original Defense x (100 - (0.5 x JobLv))%

.-------.---------------. | JobLv | Success Rate: | |-------|---------------| | 1-20 | 60% | | 21-40 | 70% | | 41-80 | 80% | | 81-98 | 90% | | 99-99 | 100% | '-------'---------------'

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hammers: AllAxes: All (except Gigantic Axe)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Viking Helm, Diamond Helm, Ribbon, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Flame Mail, Reflect Mail, Viking Mail, Demon Mail, Diamond Mail, Crystal Mail.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Crystal Gloves.Shield: Leather Shield, Mythril Shield, Ice Shield, Demon Shield, Diamond Shield, Aegis Shield, Crystal Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Mighty HammerAtk: 145Bonus: +20 VITEffect: Deals lightning damage.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-DR} Dragoon |

------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Dragoon is very much like a Knight, however it relies on a Lance ratherthan a Sword. The Dragoon can also Jump in the air to land devastating attackson foes instead of covering other party members. Besides that, the charactermodel for this job is one of the best in the game ;)

The Dragoon has grown to be one of my favorite jobs, but during early playtesting, it didn't start that way. I always liked this job when it was introduced in Final Fantasy 4, but when I first tried them out in this game, Iwas not all that impressed. The damage seemed comparable to the other jobs... yet the Jump ability had some issues with it.

Firstly, the Jump ability takes 2 entire battle rounds. The damage finallycomes at the very end of the second battle round. So in the meantime, if youhaven't killed the enemies yet, you'll be hit by enemy attacks. Whereas twostandard attacks from the Dragoon might have killed the enemies sooner, thuslessoning the damage you would have taken.

Secondly, this ability increases the chance that your low durability party members will be hit by the enemy party since enemies can't target your Dragoon while he's in the air. So lets say you have a Bard, White Mage, Geomancer, etc.in your party? Well, you can kiss them good-bye in a tough spot.

Thirdly, the damage is typically 1.5 times the normal damage, and sometimes a little less. To me, if this ability is going to take 2 entire turns to execute,I expect some kind of reward for the sacrifice of not being able to attack fora turn as well as acting last in a battle. This ultimately renders the Jump ability useless in most situations, because normal attacks will do more damagein comparison.

This means in most situations, with comparable weapons (especially when thetime you can choose this job)... the Dragoon is basically a Knight without thecover and cure abilities. Also, spears are few and far between for a longpart of the game... while swords are plentiful and increase in power over time.That Thunder Spear doesn't go a long way.

Now, that's not to say this job is garbage - that's far from the truth. Forone, the Jump ability is EXTREMELY useful against flying enemies, especiallyflying bosses. The damage seems to get doubled against these, and since theattack is 1.5x that of a normal attack, the Jump will actually do TRIPLEdamage. Now that's more like it!

For example, against Garuda, a flying boss that has ~10,000 hit points, if youhad an entire party of Dragoons using the Jump ability, you could end thebattle in 2 turns: First turn Jump, next turn dead... as each Jump does around3000-4000 damage. If you were to use standard attacks at 700-900 damage each,it would be very difficult to survive this battle long enough to kill him,since his attacks are extremely powerful. The answer to quickly beating him isusing the Dragoon's Jump ability, preferably using 3 Dragoons and 1 White Mage.

Also, lances (and their elemental properties) seem to do very well against somespecific enemies, almost to a point of decimating them with 4000 to 9999damage. These numbers look insanely high compared to the damage your otherfighting jobs will be doing. I think some enemies are just weaker to lances, orpossibly the wind/thunder elements typically found on the beginning lances(like in the Temple of Time), which makes Dragoons a very worthwhile investmentif you know which enemies to target.

This leads me to my next point. While Dragoons are not the best job when they first become available, it's worth using a Dragoon when you can purchase two Wind Lances in Saronia Kingdom, and acquire all of the Dragon Gear in Dragon Spire Tower, also found in Southeastern Saronia. From that point on, Dragoons seem to excel much better than Knights could ever hope to.

Even further, Dragoons get weapon upgrades that are sickening, and they pace very well with the enemies you'll be up against. These include Heavy Lance, Blood Lance, Dragon Lance and Holy Lance. I know from experience that 2 Blood Lances refill around 800-1100 life per attack, which is far better than the Blood Sword.

If you have a level 71 Thief, you can also steal Gungnir, which is the best Dragoon lance in the entire game without a Wi-Fi connection, and it essentiallyremoves any doubt that the Dragoon can be used for endgame. Also, to top thingsoff, Dragoons can wear Crystal armor!

And if you're so inclined to put in the time with the mastery weapon from the Wi-Fi Connection, you can aquire the Magic Lance! With both Magic Lance and Gungnir equipped, you have 285 attack power with an +30 strength and +10agility modifer, which is better than what most classes can achieve.

Overall, the Dragoon is an extremely effective job, whether you're using the Jump ability on flying enemies, or are just attacking normally. Even withoutthe Gungnir lance, this job isn't a terrible choice for the endgame. With the Gungnir, it's a no-brainer (at least I would hope you use decide to use the Dragoon in your final party if you went through all that trouble getting it!)

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Dragoon | Water Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Dragoons are polearm experts. Their Attack | 20 | 16 | Jump ability allows them the deal Jump | 20 | 16 | massive damage while being Guard | 20 | 16 | impervious to enemy attacks." Item | 20 | 16 |----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 7 | 16 | -- | 112 | | 12 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 108 | | 8 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 104 | | 4 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 4 | 100 | | -- | 5 | 7 | 16 | -- | 112 | | 12 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 108 | | 8 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 104 | | 4 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 4 | 100 | | -- | 9 | 7 | 16 | -- | 112 | | 12 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 108 | | 8 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 6-7 actions per battle to level up a Dragoon.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 15 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 20 | 20 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 31 | 31 | 24 | 24 | 24 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 38 | 38 | 29 | 29 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 44 | 44 | 34 | 34 | 34 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 51 | 51 | 38 | 38 | 38 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 58 | 58 | 43 | 43 | 43 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 65 | 65 | 48 | 48 | 48 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 71 | 71 | 52 | 52 | 52 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Jump: Jump into the air to avoid damage. Hits enemy on the way down. Damage Inflicted = Original damage x (1.5 + JobLv / 110)

If JobLv = 99, then multiply all damage by 2.4!

If Enemy's weakness is Wind, all damage will be further doubled.

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Spears: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Dragon Helm, Diamond Helm, Ribbon, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Flame Mail, Reflect Mail, Dragon Mail, Demon Mail, Diamond Mail, Crystal Mail.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Crystal Gloves.Shield: Leather Shield, Mythril Shield, Ice Shield, Demon Shield, Diamond Shield, Aegis Shield, Crystal Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Magic LanceAtk: 145Bonus: +20 STR

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-DK} Dark Knight |----------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Dark Knight is another fighting Job, like the Dragoon, Viking or Knight.

However, this Job plays a little differently than those.

The big advantage to using a Dark Knight is for its Souleater ability, which damages the entire enemy party. Even better, the damage is comparable (if not alittle more sometimes) to what your regular attack would be. Essentially, it's like doubling or even tripling your damage in a single round! Also, you candeal this damage from the back row! Holy Mackinaw!

Of course, there's a drawback... you lose 10% of your current health (Note, that's not your maximum health). So, you can't kill yourself using this abilitydirectly, but you can put yourself in the yellow. In my experience, the lower the health is, the less damage you will do with the Souleater ability.

To compensate for this (which I found really exciting!), you can use the BloodSword to refill your life when you're not using the Souleater ability! Admittedly, my early experiences with this combo were not very good. I found itdifficult to keep my Dark Knight alive or healthy while using Souleater andthen trying to replenish my life with the Blood Sword. This is due to the Dark Knight's speed stat being fairly low, making him act last in battle far too often.

You see, by the time you can use the Dark Knight, the difficulty of the game ramps up considerably. Enemies being dealing 100-200 damage per hit instead of 30-50. It takes awhile to grind up to a competitive level, let alone trying to get this combo to work properly.

However, I found a better way than using the Blood Sword. You can combo theDark Knight with a Bard and have the Bard use his Dream Harp! The Dream Harpwill replenish about 10-20% of your party's health (Depending on yourcharacter's and Bard's Job), which is enough to replenish the life you losewhen using the Souleater ability! How convenient!

By putting your Dark Knight in the back row, he won't be taking that muchdamage from enemies, so you can use Souleater to your heart's content! Be sureto use Cure on him every few battles to keep him healthy.

This Dream Harp/Souleater combo becomes even powerful later. Better swords become available, like the Defender and Ancient Sword as well as the Dark Blades. All of these swords make your Blood Sword obsolete, but it doesn't matter because the Bard will refill your life anyway!

Even better, this combo seems to get more powerful as the Job levels increase, because you'll actually start to net life!

Because this combo is so much better than mucking with the Blood Sword, stay away from the Dark Knight until the Dream Heart becomes available. Then, start using the Bard and Dark Knight together. Not only can the Bard heal your Dark Knight, but he'll heal the entire party! Not to mention, the Bard can castHaste and Sing other songs too! The healing alone is about as powerful as an"All Member" level Cure spell, which relieves pressure off your White Mage andmakes it possible to not use a White Mage at all.

Does the Dark Knight work well as an endgame Job? Yes and no. As far as equipment goes, the Dark Knight can use Masamune and Ragnarok, which are both extremely powerful weapons. Of course, using this combinations completely ruinsthe possibility of using a Knight and Ninja in your final party, but there's always room for other Jobs (like the Dragoon, for example, which doesn't cause an overlap in weapons).

Also, if you have a Wi-Fi connection and are willing to invest the time into obtaining the ultimate weapons, Dark Knights can use the Ultima Weapon andMurakumo, their mastery sword. This combination proves to be more powerful thana Ninja, however you can't Throw Shuriken's and act first in battle - essentially, that's the trade off here. I still prefer the Ninja.

However, in the final stages of the game, most normal enemies are like facing individual bosses - there's very little need to damage multiple targets at the

same time. This makes Souleater rather ineffective. Also, with the Summoner entering the mix, it's doubtful Souleater will be that useful even whenmultiple enemies are present, as that Job can damage multiple enemies withoutthe HP loss.

Therefore, I think the Dark Knight only has a place mid-game. During that time,the Dark Knight is one heck of a Job to use! And if you do unlock the ultimate equipment, then go nuts using a Dark Knight during the endgame. I guess thatcan be said for any Job though.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Dark Knight | Water Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Dark Knights are warriors of the Attack | 20 | 14 | dark blade. Their Souleater ability Souleater| 20 | 14 | allows them to convert their life Guard | 20 | 14 | into extra damage." Item | 20 | 14 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Dark Knight.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 15 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 24 | 20 | 24 | 20 | 20 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 31 | 24 | 31 | 24 | 24 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 38 | 29 | 38 | 29 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 44 | 34 | 44 | 34 | 34 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

70 | 51 | 38 | 51 | 38 | 38 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 58 | 43 | 58 | 43 | 43 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 65 | 48 | 65 | 48 | 48 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 71 | 52 | 71 | 52 | 52 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Souleater: Sacrifice HP to increase attack power and deal more damage.

Damage Inflicted = Weapon Attack x 5 + JobLv x 10 + Current HP x 0.9

HP Sacrificed = 20% of Current HP

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: Knife, Dagger, Mythril Knife, Spark Dagger, Main Gauche, Poison Dagger.Swords: Golden Sword, Longsword, Mythril Sword, Tyrfing, Salamand Sword, Freezing Blade, Serpent Sword, Royal Sword, Blood Sword, Ancient Sword, Defender, Break Blade, Ragnarok.Dark Blades: All (excluding Muramasa)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Mythril Helm, Shell Helm, Ice Helm, Feathered Hat, Ribbon, Genji Helm, Crystal Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Mythril Armor, Shell Armor, Ice Armor, Flame Mail, Demon Mail, Genji Armor, Crystal Mail.Arm: Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Genji Gloves, Crystal Gloves.Shield: Leather Shield, Mythril Shield, Ice Shield, Demon Shield, Genji Shield, Crystal Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: MurakumoAtk: 140Bonus: +20 AGIEffect: Effective against dividing enemies.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-EV} Evoker |-----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Evoker is the first Job that you'll get that uses Summon Magic, whichallows you to summon monsters to do your bidding, both good and evil. Thesespells offer a range of effects, such as damaging the enemy party, healing yourown party, attempting to cast nasty status effects on the enemy, or causing youto escape from battle. While the Evoker sounds like an interesting Job, it hasits share of problems, even right from the beginning.

Firstly, when you acquire the Evoker and try and use Summon Magic, you'llnotice that you have no spells to cast - you have to buy them at a town calledReplito. If you're like me and don't use a guide, you might not come across

Replito until the final sections of the game.

Regardless, you can't visit Replito until you release the chain on yourairship, which is several hours of gameplay after you acquire the Jobs from theWater Crystal. Also, if you do happen to visit a certain area (not saying forspoiler potential), you will lose access to your ship and will not be able tovisit Replito until much after you regain the ability to use an airship again.To me, all of this lowers the Job's immediate usefulness - literally, as youhave no Summon Magic to use at all! At least with a Bard, you have one harpto use!

Secondly, when the Evoker uses a Summon spell, it will randomly choose betweena "White" and "Dark" version of the spell, which in most cases has twocompletely different effects. For example, casting Escape (Chocobo) gives you a50% chance to flee the battle, or do a pitiful amount of damage. If you want toescape, this is not the best way for you to achieve that goal. You have abetter chance running away with all 4 characters.

Likewise, Icen (Shiva), Spark (Ramuh) and Leviath (Leviathan) will either inflict the enemy party with negative status effects, or deal damage to the entire enemy party. Since inflicting status effects usually fails or isn't veryuseful, you'll only do the desired damage 50% of the time. While this damage isconsiderably more than a Black Mage could do, the fact that it's random makes the overall ability questionable to use.

Some summons come out a little better. Heatra (Ifrit) will either heal your party, or deal damage to the enemy. Both are mutually positive as long as you have wounded party members. Also, Hyper (Titan) will always damage the enemy, regardless if it's the Black or White version of the spell. Bahamur (Bahamut)is also interesting, increasing your attack power or KO'ing a single enemy. I'drather hope for the attack power boost myself because KO typically fails, at least when you really need it to work.

Overall, the random chance for a White or Black version of the spell makes casting Summon magic extremely unreliable. You'll only get the effect you want 50% of the time. It's like gambling, and why would you want to gamble during animportant boss fight? To me, the game's boss battle's mega-attacks, random back-attacks and sometimes overall unforgiving difficulty make the game unfair as it is. Unless you enjoy a sadistic challenge, why add to it?

As you can tell, I am not a fan of this Job at all, and I recommend that you ignore it completely. At the time you receive the Jobs from the Water Crystal, you'll be able to deal damage to all enemies with the Geomancer, the Black Mage's '-ara' and '-aga' spells, or with the Dark Knight's Souleater ability - just to name a few. Why mess with this Job for?

Also, the Evoker has no endgame potential whatsoever, as it's easily replacedby both the Summoner and Sage Jobs when you get access to the Earth Crystal.

With the Sage, not only can you cast the same Summon magic as the Evoker (although why you would WANT to do this is beyond me), you can also cast Level 1-8 White and Black magic! Technically, this makes the Evoker 100% obsolete.

Also, with the Summoner, you'll be able to cast High Summon spells instead of the regular White or Black versions. These spells ALWAYS deal damage to the enemy party, and the Summoner will do MORE DAMAGE compared to the Evoker versions to boot! Since the Summoner's spells are considered to be different than the Evoker's spells, you miss out on several unique abilities, such as healing your party with Heatra (Ifrit). However, the Summoner's spells are so effective, it's highly doubtful that you'll care.

Because the Evoker is so unreliable, and since both the Sage and Summoner makethe Evoker obsolete, it's my recommendation that you avoid this Job likethe plague; Unless you like the outfit, of course! ^_^

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------

Profile: | Evoker | Water Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Evokers are initiates of summoning Attack | 20 | 10 | magic, able to randomly draw either Summon | 20 | 10 | the light or dark power of Guard | 20 | 10 | summoned beasts." Item | 20 | 10 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 10 actions per battle to level up an Evoker.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Summon: Randomly chooses the Level 1 or Level 2 effect of summons.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: Staff, Fire Staff, Ice Staff, Light Staff, Golem Staff, Rune Staff.Rods: Mythril Rod, Wizard Rod, Fire Rod, Ice Rod, Light Rod, Omnirod.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon, Royal Crown.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, White Robe, Black Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Evoker Card~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Royal CrownDef: 33MDef: 36Bonus: +10 INT, +10 MIND~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Summoning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------. Lv. 1 | Escape------' Summon: Chocobo Level 1: Chocobo Dash - Instant escape from battle.Level 2: Chocobo Kick? - Poor chocobo fails to kick a monster.Level 3: Chocobo Kick - Successfully kicks a monster! Good chocobo!

------. Lv. 2 | Icen------' Summon: ShivaLevel 1: Mesmerize - Causes all enemies to fall asleep.Level 2: Icy Stare - Damages one enemy with ice.Level 3: Diamond Dust - Massive damage with shards of ice.

------. Lv. 3 | Spark------' Summon: RamuhLevel 1: Mind Blast - Paralyzes all enemies.Level 2: Thunderstorm - Damages one enemy with a lightning bolt.Level 3: Judgment Bolt - Strikes all enemies with pillars of lighting.

------. Lv. 4 | Heatra------' Summon: IfritLevel 1: Healing Light - Restores a lot of HP to all allies.Level 2: Hellfire - Damages one enemy with fire.Level 3: Inferno - Massive flame damage to all enemies.

------. Lv. 5 | Hyper------' Summon: TitanLevel 1: Clobber - Damages one enemy with a punch.Level 2: Stomp - Damages one enemy with a kick.Level 3: Earthen Fury - Creates a destructive earthquake damaging all enemies.

------. Lv. 6 | Catastro------' Summon: OdinLevel 1: Protective Light - Casts magical barrier around all allies.

Level 2: Slash - Slices all enemies.Level 3: Zantetsuken - Kills all enemies.

------. Lv. 7 | Leviath------' Summon: LeviathanLevel 1: Demon Eye - Instantly petrifies all enemies.Level 2: Cyclone - Damages all enemies with powerful tornado.Level 3: Tidal Wave - A devastating flood that damages all enemies.

------. Lv. 8 | Bahamur------' Summon: BahamutLevel 1: Aura - Increases attack power of all allies.Level 2: Rend - Instantly kills one enemy.Level 3: Mega Flare - Massive non-elemental damage to all enemies.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-BA} Bard |---------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~Bards were given a bad name in the Final Fantasy series, mainly because of Edward in Final Fantasy 4, who was really weak physically and just didn't help out the party a whole lot. In Final Fantasy 3, it appears that way too... untilyou get access to some cool Harps that cast spells using the Bard's Sing ability! The Sing ability is unique because it functions at the beginning of a battle, before anyone else is given a chance to act - regardless of the speed stat. Even cooler, the spell effect lasts 2 turns in many cases, so you can alternate between two harps sometimes (like the Loki and Dream harps to have haste and cure yourself for example).

The first harp you get allows you to cast a mass protect spell over your party.Now, the FAQs all say this ability is awesome. In theory, this is great... a high level spell is cast on all party members for free!

But in reality, it's not that good. It would have been great if Protect worked the same way Protect does in other Final Fantasy games and brought the damage down to 50% instantly. However, this spell does not do anything close to that unless your Job Level is very high, and even the max is 30%. Most times, in my experience of playing with the Bard, I hardly noticed any meaningful differencein damage taken. And against a powerful enemy or boss, the difference was negligible. It's too bad, because at these times, that's exactly when you wouldwant the protect ability to make a meaningful difference!

So instead of trying to avoid damage across 4 characters using this protect spell Harp, I recommend using the Dream Harp, which heals around 10-20% of yourparty's HP, depending on your character's and/or Bard's Job Level. By the timeI got to the Earth Crystal, I was healing for 260 hit points on each character,which was slightly better than a level 76 White Mage's level 1 cure spell. WOW!And you can cast this every round in a battle! WOW! People have also statedthat the Bard can cure your party up to 1200 HP per round at the highestJob Levels.

There's also another Harp called the Loki Harp which casts Haste on your party.That's right, a level 7 spell on all of your party members! Unlike the protect spell, this one actually works. I find it useful in areas where I am slightly under-leveled and need my characters acting first to cure and/or attack the enemies to kill them so that I don't get crushed by their attacks (i.e. the Temple of Time is a good place to use this Harp). Since it lasts for 2 turns, you can alternate with the Dream Harp to refill your HP!

Like the Dark Knight Job (which is a great combo by the way - read the

Dark Knight section!), I wouldn't use this Job when you first get access toit. The damage of the initial Harp, while 60, does pitiful damage from theback row... far worse than a White mage with a Staff! It's not worth attackingwith a Bard at all - always use the Sing ability! Also, the protect spellisn't worth it and I found myself wanting any other Job compared to this one. Iwas fortunate to give the Job one last chance with the new harps.

However, once you can buy the Dream and Loki harps, I think this Job makes a very good mid-game Job. It combos well with the Dark Knight (as said before), which more than makes up for its lack of damage potential on its own as the Dark Knight can do double or triple damage every turn, and the damage is very high per target. Again, you'll be hard-pressed to find a Job equally the Dark Knight's damage to a single target. In addition, with healing and haste, it's hard to go wrong with this Job. The Bard is highly recommended once it gets going.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Bard | Water Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Bards use their songs to enhance Attack | 20 | 18 | their party's performance. The effect Sing | 20 | 18 | of their songs varies depending Guard | 20 | 18 | on the harp they use." Item | 20 | 18 |----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 6 | 18 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 8 | 116 | | 16 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 106 | | 6 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 6 | 114 | | 14 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 14 | 104 | | 4 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 112 | | 12 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 12 | 102 | | 2 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 2 | 110 | | 10 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 10 | 100 | | -- | 10 | 6 | 18 | -- | 108 | | 8 | 11 | 6 | 18 | 8 | 116 | | 16 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 6-5 actions per battle to level up a Bard.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 18 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 |

----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 22 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 26 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 29 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 33 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 37 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 41 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 45 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 63 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Sing: Sings a song. The song varies with each harp.

Minne: Recipient's Defense + (20 + Recipient's JobLv / 11)%

Minuet: Recipient's Attack + (20 + Recipient's JobLv / 11)%

Requiem: Damage Inflicted = Enemy's Current HP x (10 + JobLv / 11)%

Paeon: HP Recovery = Recipient's Max HP x (10 + JobLv / 11)%

Elegy: Damage Reduced = (20 + Recipient JobLv / 11)%

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: Knife, Dagger, Mythril Knife, Spark Dagger, Main Gauche, Poison Dagger.Harps: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon, Ballad Crown. Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, White Robe, Bard Vest.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Ballad CrownDef: 35MDef: 35Bonus: +10 VIT, +10 MIND~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Songs to Sing~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------------.-----------.-----------------------------------------------------. Harp: | Song: | Effect: |------------|-----------|-----------------------------------------------------|Madhura Harp|Minne |Increases defense of all allies. |

Loki Harp |Minuet |Increases attack power of all allies. |Lamia Harp |Requiem |Damages all enemies. |Dream Harp |Paeon |Restores HP of all allies. |Apollo Harp |Elegy |Reduces damage given to all allies. |------------'-----------'-----------------------------------------------------'

TIP: It may not seem like it, but you aren't limited to only one song during battle. All you need to do is select the "Equipment" menu in battle, and equip a different Harp! This definitely makes the Bard more versatile!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-BB} Black Belt |---------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Black Belt is the long-awaited upgrade to the Monk class. In every way, theBlack Belt is simply better. Once you get his job level up, there's no looking back; The Black Belt's strength, vitality and speed are all top notch, in fact,Strength and Vitality will cap out, and speed won't be far behind. Overall,this class was built to deal damage, and when his jobs level start to max out,the Black Belt is 30% more effective compared to your Monk.

There's really not much more to say. The Black Belt continues to deal insane amounts of damage with their bare bands, and they will dish out an insaneamount of hits per round when their job level increases.

Now, I do have one beef with the Black Belt. Training him is a lot liketraining your Monk in the beginning of the game. Without weapons, he'll do800-1000 damage. This is simply unacceptable. Most parties at endgame can beatFFIII with job levels of around 30. There's no need to level grind here.However, the Black Belt will literally have to grind to job level 50 or 60 tostart out-performing characters with the ultimate weapons. In all honestly,you have to make a serious commitment to get the most out of the Black Belt.And in some ways, keeping your Monk might not be such a bad idea!

So when training your Black Belt, be sure to equip those claw weapons initally,like the Hellish Claws found in the Ancient's Maze. Yes, I know I said these claws were useless: For a Monk! However, these claws are essential whentraining your Black Belt until your bare hands gain enough attack power to beeffective on their own. Or, you can power-level using the Guard trick and noteven bother with them at all. Personally, that's not my style.

Black Belts do get a Boost ability, and much like the Monk's Retaliate ability,it's absolutely useless. The Black Belt doesn't even have a single saving gracelike the Monk does either!

The Boost ability lets you store up energy so that the Black Belt will be ableto deal 2x the damage on the next turn. Using the command twice boosts your attack even more, but using it three times will hurt the Black Belt andrelease all the built up energy. Why anyone would want to do this is simplybeyond me.

For one, how is delaying an attack to get twice the damage worth it? Really,how is that different than attacking twice normally? Well, it isn't! Delaying 3turns is totally inconceivable as most enemies will be dead by then.

Now, I thought really hard how Boost could be put to good use, and the bestidea I came up with was boosting to ensure that you could take out those Divideand Multiply enemies, because often most characters cannot take them out in asingle hit! I was really proud of myself when I thought of this, however, youacquire the Black Belt AFTER you fight these enemies, making the whole pointmoot! Just simply avoid using Boost.

Also, like the Monk, the Black Belt has problems with magic defense - it's theworst among all the fighting jobs. So in a way, I prefer using the Ninja

anyway. Truthfully, some grinding will probably be required to ensure yourBlack Belt doesn't get one-shotted to death, even with the Fuma Garb,Protect Ring and Ribbon equipped.

On a more positive note, the Black Belt has the highest Vitality statistic available, so if you want to maximize your HP growth per level, you can haveall of your characters become Black Belts and grind them to characterlevel 99 so that they potentially get 9999 HP. This is only made possible byusing the Black Belt job, so I thought I'd mention it here.

Overall, the Black Belt can be an endgame class... IF and ONLY IF you want to put the time into it. Otherwise, you can pass it off for a Ninja, Dragoon, Knight or another class that is more suited to endgame. All of those classesare immediately useful at endgame with very little grinding. They also happento make very good use of endgame weapons and armor too.

Another weird thing, is that since you have to level grind your Black Belt,you must as well unlock the Master Dogi using the Wi-Fi connection. However,the armor isn't tremondously essential.

If you really, really want to serve knuckle sandwiches to the final boss, or to big powerful dragons, the Black Belt is the job for you! Otherwise, stick with your Monk, or change to a Ninja, Knight or Dragoon - all better choices.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Black Belt | Earth Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Black Belts are experts in unarmed Attack | 20 | 14 | combat. They can boost their attack Boost | 20 | 14 | power to deal massive damage, but Guard | 20 | 14 | be careful not to boost too much!" Item | 20 | 14 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 7-8 actions per battle to level up a Black Belt.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 12 | 12 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 30 | 24 | 30 | 15 | 15 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 40 | 31 | 40 | 19 | 19 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 50 | 38 | 50 | 22 | 22 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 60 | 44 | 60 | 25 | 25 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 70 | 51 | 70 | 29 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 80 | 58 | 80 | 32 | 32 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 90 | 65 | 90 | 35 | 35 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 99 | 71 | 99 | 38 | 38 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Boost: Raises attack power. Self-destructs if used too many times in a row.

Boost #1 = Damage x 2

Boost #2 = Damage x 3

Boost #3 = Self Destruct. Current HP is reduced by 50%.

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Claws: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Headband, Feathered Hat, Black Cowl, Chakra Band, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Kenpo Gi, Black Garb, Black Belt Gi, Fuma Garb, Master Dogi.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Power Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Master DogiDef: 54MDef: 23Bonus: +10 AGI, +10 MIND

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-MA} Magus |----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Magus Job is your standard upgrade to the Black Mage, and is superior

to the Black Mage in every way. Unlike the White Mage to Devout transition, youwon't miss having 40 MP of those Level 1 spells ;)

Interestingly enough, the Magus uses a totally different MP curve compared to the Black Mage. Rather than using the typical pyramid structure, the Magus's MPis balanced at all levels within the spell tree. This means the Magus will havemore MP dedicated to powerful spells, like the '-aga' spells or Quake.

Another main attraction is that the Magus has the ability to cast Level 8 BlackMagic. They also have twice as much MP dedicated to casting level 8 spells compared to the Sage.

Of the level 8 spells, the best among them would have to be the almighty Final Fantasy staple: Flare. This spell deals heavy non-elemental damage to a single target, and is considered the ultimate focused attack spell in the entire game.Since it's non-elemental, it can't be resisted in any way, unlike other elemental spells.

Meteor is also a very good spell to use when you want to damage multiple targets. If you don't have a Summoner in your party, this is the only way to reliably deal a lot of damage to the entire enemy party. It's too bad that it uses up a Level 8 slot, because you only have 5-8 MP, depending on your character level.

While the Magus has loads of MP to cast the '-aga' spells, they aren't much needed at this point in the game. Almost all enemies do not have elemental weaknesses by the time you acquire the Magus class.

Also, the Summoner's High Summons will frequently deal more damage, and the Summoner will have the same or even more MP available to cast these spells.Even when comparing Meteor/Flare to Leviathan/Bahamut, the Summoner comes outon top by having twice the amount of MP for these extremely powerful spells.This doesn't bode well for the Magus in my opinion. However, if you're going touse a Magus, instead of sitting around doing nothing, you might as well castthese spells to contribute to the overall party's damage.

Unlike White Magic, Black Magic is not nearly as impressive or diverse. At thispoint in the game, nearly all the low-level spells are worthless. In fact, if you really want to remain competitive, you can only realistically use the highest level magic, because Black Magic is so damage-dependant. Unfortunately,The Magus (nor the Sage) is balanced with enough MP to really take advantage ofthis sad but crucial fact.

Overall, getting access to a more balanced MP curve and having access tolevel 8 spells makes the Magus a fairly decent Job, all considering. If youwere using a Black Mage, the Magus is the natural upgrade (however, thatdoesn't say much).

When it's all said and done, I believe that the Summoner is a more effective Job. The High Summons typically deal more damage than the Magus' elemental spells. You'll also have more MP to cast these powerful summons in comparisonto the Black Magic spells.

Comparing Flare/Meteor to Bahamut/Leviathan is tricky. One combination is clearly better against single targets, while the other is stronger against multiple enemies. Given that Bahamut can deal 7000-9000 damage at reasonable character and Job Levels to the entire enemy party (and thus, to a single target), I'd say that the Summoner is a better choice for the endgame overall.

Also, a Sage provides more utility than a Magus, as well as better use for all that wasted MP if you are considering the Magus for a support castor.

If you want to a use a Magus anyway, you'll still have a decent party. However,I would strongly recommend that you look at the other tier 4 classes, such as the Sage or Summoner, before you make your final decision.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Magus | Earth Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Magi are casters who have mastered Attack | 20 | 10 | black magic. If they can learn the Magic | 20 | 10 | forbidden black magic spell, they Guard | 20 | 10 | may be able to destroy all..." Item | 20 | 10 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 10 actions per battle to level up a Magus.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can use all Black Magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.

Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: Staff, Fire Staff, Ice Staff, Light Staff.Rods: All (excluding Lilith Rod)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, Black Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Millenium RodAtk: 110Bonus: +10 INT, +10 MINDEffect: Casts blizzaga.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-DE} Devout |-----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Devout is the essential upgrade for those using a White Mage, and if you havenÃ¢Â€Â™t been using a White Mage by the time you got the Jobs from the Earth Crystal, maybe you should consider the Devout anyway. The Devout is superior tothe White Mage in almost every way except for using low-level magic. If youÃ¢Â€Â™ve been taking a White Mage through the entire game, you may have gotten used to being able to cast 40 Cure Spells, but the Devout promises not to disappoint!

One of the main attractions with this Job is that youÃ¢Â€Â™ll get a nice balance of MP for magic at all levels, rather than the typical pyramid structure found in Tier One Jobs. This means youÃ¢Â€Â™ll have roughly the same amount of MP for spells like Raise and Curaga, and surprisingly, youÃ¢Â€Â™ll have 9 or 10 castings of Curajatoo... which really outclasses what the White Mage would have had with the samecharacter level. With so many castings of high level spells, I doubt youÃ¢Â€Â™ll truly miss ~40 castings of Cure. You can leave the responsibility for level 1 magic to Poisona.

Another main attraction is that the Devout can cast Level 8 spells, namelyArise (I.e. Full Life) and Holy. Every Final Fantasy fan knows these spells arethe penultimate for any White magic user. Even though you wonÃ¢Â€Â™t get thesespells until slightly after you acquire the Devout Job, Arise makes thetransition well worth it. Unfortunately, the Holy spell only does Light damage.So if the enemy isn't weak against the Light element, the damage won't be allthat high compared to Flare. This is disappointing for a level 8 spell.

Later on in the game, Raise and Phoenix Down are very ineffective during important boss battles. YouÃ¢Â€Â™ll have to become very lucky that your Raisehappens after the boss uses his attacks because your raised character wonÃ¢Â€Â™t berestored to full health. This means itÃ¢Â€Â™s often better for your slowestcharacter to use a Phoenix Down instead, and then attempt to heal the raisedparty member quickly during the next round. Arise eliminates this whole problemaltogether. Keep in mind though, while youÃ¢Â€Â™ll have plenty of MP for all theother spells, youÃ¢Â€Â™ll have less MP for level 8 spells, so use them sparingly oruntil you have plenty of Elixirs.

My initial impression was that the Devout Job was fairly weak to start. Even though I had plenty of Curagas and Curajas to cast, I found that it wasnÃ¢Â€Â™t enough to blow through the later sections in the game without some level grinding, so expect to do some of that. YouÃ¢Â€Â™ll need a Job level of 25 and a character level of 50 to safely and comfortably beat the game using a Devout.

Also, the Devout is not as powerful as the White Mage surprisingly. By the timeI got the Devout, my White MageÃ¢Â€Â™s Job level was around 75 and character was around 50. This meant that my White MageÃ¢Â€Â™s level 1 Cure spell healed for asmuch as my DevoutÃ¢Â€Â™s Level 3 Cura spell! This pattern continues on to the end ofthe game actually, unless you level grind your Devout... but I consider that a unreasonable option. To offset this, youÃ¢Â€Â™ll have to get accustomed to using Curaga more frequently, even if itÃ¢Â€Â™s power is wasted to get out of tough spots.

Overall, I think with the big boost of spells like Curaga and Raise, as well asbeing able to cast Level 8 magic, makes it worth it to upgrade your White Mage to a Devout. It's not an automatic "uber" Job that many guides make it out to be, but in the final endgame, you wonÃ¢Â€Â™t find a better Job suited to healingthan the Devout.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Devout | Earth Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Devouts are casters who have mastered Attack | 20 | 10 | white magic. They can use all white Magic | 20 | 10 | magic spells, so make sure to always Guard | 20 | 10 | have one in your party!" Item | 20 | 10 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 10 actions per battle to level up a Devout.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 4 3 3 3 4 4 3 2 | | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 7 6 6 4 8 7 5 2 | | 20 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 20 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 10 9 8 6 11 10 7 3 | | 30 | 18 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 30 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 13 12 11 8 15 13 9 4 | | 40 | 22 | 28 | 24 | 24 | 40 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 16 15 13 10 18 16 11 5 | | 50 | 26 | 34 | 29 | 29 | 50 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 18 17 15 12 21 19 12 5 | | 60 | 29 | 40 | 34 | 34 | 60 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 21 20 18 14 25 23 14 6 | | 70 | 33 | 46 | 38 | 38 | 70 |

----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 24 23 20 16 28 26 16 7 | | 80 | 37 | 52 | 43 | 43 | 80 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 27 26 23 17 32 29 18 7 | | 90 | 41 | 58 | 48 | 48 | 90 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 30 28 25 19 35 32 20 8 | | 99 | 45 | 63 | 52 | 52 | 99 |------------------------------' '----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can use all White Magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: All (excluding Sage Staff)Rods: Wizard Rod, Fire Rod, Ice Rod, Light Rod.Wands: Holy Wand.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, White Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Holy WandAtk: 110Bonus: +20 MINDEffect: Casts curaga.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-SU} Summoner |-------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Summoner is a standard upgrade from the Evoker Job, and it works more like the way Rydia did in Final Fantasy 4, minus the Black magic ability. Unlike theEvoker Job, who's summons were unpredictable because of their chance of having either White and Black magic effects, the Summoner Job only uses"High Summons", which focus entirely on doing high-powered damage to theentire enemy party.

At first glance, I was amazed that the Summoner had ~15 MP for all theLevel 2-5 summons. These are all your basic elemental attacks, and are great atexploiting elemental weaknesses (albeit, the enemies in the later stages of thegame don't really have any).

The sheer number of MP available allows you to use summons as the Summoner's main attack. There's no point to conserve your MP for boss battles. Even if there's only one enemy on the screen, the summons are still an effective way tocontribute to the overall damage done by your party. The only summon I don't like is the Chocobo at level 1, which is pretty useless unless you are power-leveled because the damage is based on the difference in level betweenyou and your enemies.

What's great about these summons though, is that they will deal2000-3000 damage to all enemies at reasonable Character/Job levels. This is avery effective way to nuke the entire enemy party, and using these summons is

far better than using the Black Mage or even the Magus' elemental spells(except for Flare, which is better at single targets).

While the damage might not exceed standard attacks dealt by your fightingJobs, the damage spread across multiple enemies more than makes up for this.It's also a great way to soften them up so that your fighting Jobs can takethem out.

Even better, once you get access to Leviathan and Bahamut (the level 7 and 8 summons), you'll be doing 7000-9000 damage to all enemies easily. These summonsare obtainable through side-quests, and surprisingly, they don't take high-level parties or an extreme amount of luck to acquire. These are best reserved for boss battles.

If you haven't completed the summon side-quests for some reason, you can also purchase them in one of the final areas of the game, although there are severalbosses before that point where using these summons would be useful. It's bestto acquire them through the side-quests.

Overall, the Summoner is a very good Job. It might not be able to deal high-powered damage to a single target (like the Magus or Sage can with the Flare spell), but the Summoner is hands-down the most effective caster at dealing mass damage to the enemy party. The Summoner comes highly recommended.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Summoner | Earth Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ | "Summoners are able to draw the----------|------------|-----------| hidden powers of summoned beasts. Attack | 20 | 12 | Their powers will be further enhanced Summon | 20 | 12 | if they can find the legendary Guard | 20 | 12 | beasts..." Item | 20 | 12 |----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 8-9 actions per battle to level up a Summoner.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

1 | 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 | | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 20 5 5 5 5 0 0 0 | | 20 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 20 | 20 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 30 10 10 10 10 1 0 0 | | 30 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 28 | 28 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 40 14 14 14 14 6 3 1 | | 40 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 36 | 36 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 50 19 19 19 19 11 7 3 | | 50 | 26 | 26 | 29 | 45 | 45 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 60 23 23 23 23 16 11 5 | | 60 | 29 | 29 | 34 | 53 | 53 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 70 28 28 28 28 21 15 7 | | 70 | 33 | 33 | 38 | 61 | 61 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 80 32 32 32 32 26 19 9 | | 80 | 37 | 37 | 43 | 69 | 69 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 90 37 37 37 37 31 23 11 | | 90 | 41 | 41 | 48 | 78 | 78 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 99 41 41 41 41 36 27 13 | | 99 | 45 | 45 | 52 | 85 | 85 |------------------------------' '----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Summon: Draws out the Level 3 powers of summoned beasts.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: All (excluding Elder Staff)Rods: All (excluding Lilith Rod, Millenium Rod)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, White Robe, Black Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring, Astral Bracers.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Astral BracersDef: 47MDef: 20Bonus: +10 INT, +10 MIND~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Summoning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------. Lv. 1 | Escape------' Summon: Chocobo Level 1: Chocobo Dash - Instant escape from battle.Level 2: Chocobo Kick? - Poor chocobo fails to kick a monster.Level 3: Chocobo Kick - Successfully kicks a monster! Good chocobo!

------. Lv. 2 | Icen------' Summon: ShivaLevel 1: Mesmerize - Causes all enemies to fall asleep.Level 2: Icy Stare - Damages one enemy with ice.

Level 3: Diamond Dust - Massive damage with shards of ice.




------. Lv. 6 | Catastro------' Summon: OdinLevel 1: Protective Light - Casts magical barrier around all allies.Level 2: Slash - Slices all enemies.Level 3: Zantetsuken - Kills all enemies.


------. Lv. 8 | Bahamur------' Summon: BahamutLevel 1: Aura - Increases attack power of all allies.Level 2: Rend - Instantly kills one enemy.Level 3: Mega Flare - Massive non-elemental damage to all enemies.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-SA} Sage |---------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Sage is an interesting Job, as it lets you cast White Magic, Black Magicand Summon Magic, all the way up to level 8! This makes the Sage extremely versatile, and makes it an obviously better choice to using a White Mage,Black Mage or the Evoker. Also if you cannot unlock the ultimate equipment forthe Red Mage, it replaces that Job too to some extent.

Before you get too excited though, like the Red Mage, all this flexibilitycomes at a cost. For one, Sages use a different MP curve than the Devout andMagus, the other tier 4 caster Jobs. Interestingly, the Sage receives more MPfor Level 1-3 spells, but receives less MP for Level 6-8 spells. Ultimately,

this curve weakens the Sage since lower-level magic in all 3 schools is nearlyuseless.

Secondly, the Sage's Summon Magic is only as effective as the Evoker, meaning they cannot cast the High Summon versions of these spells. So like the Evoker, their spells are unpredictable, and won't be as effective as their high summon versions. Ultimately, this makes their Summon magic worthless. Let's be honest,if you want Summon magic at this point in the game, you'll choose a Summoner.

Thirdly, because you can only learn 3 spells per spell level, this leaves youat a predicament: "What spells should my Sage lean?" Fortunately, not allspells are made equal, so in many cases you can select the best ones. Also,Summon magic at the Evoker level isn't considered to be all that great, makingthe selection process even easier.

Here are a couple of recommendations for advanced spell levels for Sages:

Level 5: Curaga, Raise, Thundaga Level 6: Bio, Firaga, Haste Level 7: Curaja, Esuna, Quake Level 8: Arise, Holy, Tornado, Flare, Meteor, Bahamut.

Therefore, to really get the most out of the Sage, you have to take advantage and use the best White and Black magic available to you, and use them well.

Furthermore, because of the weird MP curve the Sage uses, instead of thinkingof your Sage as the primary magic user, instead, you should think of your Sageas a support caster - you'll get more mileage out your Sage that way.

A Sage/Summoner combo ensures that enemies go down quickly and the party can behealed when necessary. Likewise, a Devout/Sage combo can heal the party to fullstrength and resurrect fallen party members to full health in the same turn. Infact, this combination makes it possible to use Arise if your Devout shouldever fall without using Phoenix Downs, which is actually quite convenient andmight prove to be very effective during boss bottles. This fact alone makesthis combination the stronger out of the two.

Overall, the Sage is a dicey Job to include in your endgame strategy. If you don't pair it with a primary caster as stated above, you risk making your battles much tougher than they need to be, or you'll end up using the Sage asan inferior healer a majority of the time, often wishing you just used aDevout.

Sages can be equipped as well as any tier 4 Job in the endgame, however, Ican't help but say that the Summoner and Devout are clearly more useful and areoverall better Jobs. Still, if you're looking for that niche support caster, then the Sage is THE Job for you! Placed in that role, the Sage is a very good Job.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Sage | Earth Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Sages are those who have gained Attack | 20 | 10 | knowledge in all schools of arcane Magic | 20 | 10 | arts. They can use all types of Guard | 20 | 10 | spells!" Item | 20 | 10 |----------'------------'-----------'

Actions........ Total actions taken during battle, for one character.JP Gain........ Amount of JP you gain for each action.Add............ Additional JP from previous battle.(Overflow)Total JP Gain.. The amount of JP at the end of battle.

Overflow....... Extra JP that will carry over to the next battle.


On average, you must take 10 actions per battle to level up a Sage.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Use all magic. Randomly uses the Level 1 or Level 2 effect of summons.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Staves: AllRods: All (excluding Lilith Rod, Millenium Rod)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Feathered Hat, Ribbon.Body: Vest, Leather Armor, Mage Robe, White Robe, Black Robe.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Bracers, Rune Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Protect Ring.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Sage Staff

Atk: 110Bonus: +10 All Stats~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Summoning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------. Lv. 1 | Escape------' Summon: Chocobo Level 1: Chocobo Dash - Instant escape from battle.Level 2: Chocobo Kick? - Poor chocobo fails to kick a monster.Level 3: Chocobo Kick - Successfully kicks a monster! Good chocobo!

------. Lv. 2 | Icen------' Summon: ShivaLevel 1: Mesmerize - Causes all enemies to fall asleep.Level 2: Icy Stare - Damages one enemy with ice.Level 3: Diamond Dust - Massive damage with shards of ice.




------. Lv. 6 | Catastro------' Summon: OdinLevel 1: Protective Light - Casts magical barrier around all allies.Level 2: Slash - Slices all enemies.Level 3: Zantetsuken - Kills all enemies.


------. Lv. 8 | Bahamur------' Summon: BahamutLevel 1: Aura - Increases attack power of all allies.Level 2: Rend - Instantly kills one enemy.

Level 3: Mega Flare - Massive non-elemental damage to all enemies.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-NI} Ninja |----------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Ninja is what is be considered the ultimate fighting Job, having access to some of the best weapons in the game (Masamune, Moonring Blade and Kiki-Ichimonji) and also being able to use much of the exceptional armor too (namely the Genji gear and specialized Garbs, but they cannot use Crystalarmor unfortunately).

The best way to describe a Ninja is that it's a cross between a Thief and aDark Knight. They have the second highest speed stat out of any character, andoften act first in battle in the same way a Thief would. However, unlike aThief, they do superb damage as their stats are all in the right places fordoing fast, powerful damage.

They are also like a Dark Knight since they can use Dark Blades, like Masamune,which are extremely powerful weapons. This also allows them to out-perform a Thief. In fact, even though their attack statistic was often less than other characters (like a Knight with the best weapons for example), the Ninja was still dishing out equal or more damage to the enemies in the final areas of thegame.

In a sense, the Ninja is the game's natural upgrade for either Job, and I thinkit works quite well. For one, by the time you get this Job, you'll have so muchmoney that you won't need the Steal ability. And Souleater, while very nice,can be replaced by using other Jobs, such as the Summoner.

Initially, the Ninja is very powerful and you won't have to spend a lot of timeimproving its Job levels to improve the number of hits. When you first switchover to the Ninja, you'll start to dish out 18-20 hits per round right away. Ialso noticed I didn't have to grind to superior levels just to get this character to act first in battle, unlike other fighting Jobs that need extra levels to get them to act quicker.

Another main attraction for this Job is their Throw command, which will enable you to throw weapons (namely the all-powerful Shuriken) to deal massive amountsof damage to bosses. This Job is truly a boss-killer.

The only disadvantage to using a Ninja is putting up with their low magical defense. Often times, they can get "one-shotted" by an enemy's Flare attack, oreven by a mass damage spell for example. This often happens even when the Ninjais at full health. So if you plan on using the Ninja, expect to make good useof the Devout's level 8 Arise spell. You may even plan on using the Protectspell at the beginning of the battle to prevent this from happening.

Overall, the Ninja is a fine addition to an end-game party. It's a highly recommended Job to use, and there's even more than enough Dark blades to usetwo Ninjas if you're so inclined.

---------.------------------------------------------------------.--------------Profile: | Ninja | Earth Crystal---------'------------------------------------------------------'--------------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "Ninja excel at using dark blades. Attack | 20 | 12 | They have the ability to throw Throw | 20 | 12 | weapons, which deal enormous amounts Guard | 20 | 12 | of damage." Item | 20 | 12 |

----------'------------'-----------'



On average, you must take 8-9 actions per battle to level up a Ninja.

----------------------------------. Stats: |----------------------------------| LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 24 | 28 | 20 | 20 | 20 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 31 | 36 | 24 | 24 | 24 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 38 | 45 | 29 | 29 | 29 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 44 | 53 | 34 | 34 | 34 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 51 | 61 | 38 | 38 | 38 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 58 | 69 | 43 | 43 | 43 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 90 | 65 | 78 | 48 | 48 | 48 |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 99 | 71 | 85 | 52 | 52 | 52 |----------------------------------'NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Throw: Throw weapons for massive damage.

Damage Inflicted = (Weapon Attack x 2.5 + 100) x (100 + JobLv) x 10 / 99 x Random No.

Random No. = number between 1.0 and 1.8

Hit Rate = (95 + JobLv / 22)%

Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: All (excluding Gladius)Dark Blades: All (excluding Murakumo)Throwing: All ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: Leather Cap, Headband, Feathered Hat, Black Cowl, Chakra Band, Ribbon, Genji Helm.Body: Vest, Rusty Mail, Leather Armor, Kenpo Gi, Black Garb, Black Belt Gi, Genji Armor, Fuma Garb.Arm: Bronze Bracers, Mythril Gloves, Gauntlets, Thief Gloves, Power Bracers, Diamond Bracers, Diamond Gloves, Protect Ring, Genji Gloves.Shield: Leather Shield, Genji Shield.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: MuramasaAtk: 140Bonus: +5 STR, +10 AGI, +5 VIT, +5 INT, +5 MINDEffect: Effective against dividing enemies.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={JOB-OK} Onion Knight |-----------------------'

Description:~~~~~~~~~~~~The Onion Knight is a secret Job in Final Fantasy III, and can be obtained by using Mognet and the Wi-Fi connection. To learn about how to acquire this Job, read the "Mognet" section in Seferaga's FAQ/Walkthrough:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/924897/50148

The Onion Knight is named after the starting Job of the original game, in case you were wondering. The best way to describe the Onion Knight is that it's ugh... well... it's the best Job in the game. It's so good, that I'll say it's cheesy. I know Onions aren't cheesy in real life, but hopefully you get what I mean!

Now, the Onion Knight doesn't look very powerful when you first get access to it, however at level 93, your base stats will all be pumped to insane levels.At level 99, you'll have perfect stats in every category. Essentially, theOnion Knight is a God and rewards players for getting their characters all upto level 99. I would argue that by this point, you don't need an Onion Knightto win the game as you can beat it with any Job at level 99, but who am I tostop you?

Moreover, the Onion Knight can cast all White and Black Magic, in the same waya Sage can. However, the Onion Knight does not get access to Summon Magic. Square-Enix, what were you thinking!? I want High Summons too!

Despite being able to cast nearly every spell and having 99 in each statistic, you can also use nearly every piece of equipment in the entire game. That's right - you can literally take the best weapons and armor from every Job (minusthe ultimate gear from the Master Smith), and use them on your 4 little, cheesyOnion Knights!

If that isn't enough (and for some people, it won't be), Square-Enix has included special Onion equipment, and they also stink of cheese! This gear

drops randomly from Yellow, Green and Red dragons, and to be fair, it's veryrare to drop. However, if you were persistent enough to get Character level 99for all of your characters, why stop now? Go and kill dragons until you obtainOnion weapons and armor for each character!

The Onion equipment is easily the best in the game, offering the best defense and magic defense available hands down. In addition, each piece is very much like the Master Smith gear. They provide stat boosts, and if that's not enough,they also protect you from negative status effects the same way Ribbon does!

There is one exception though, where one piece of equipment is better to use compared to the Onion gear... and that's the Ultima Weapon! It's the onlyweapon that can best the Onion Sword. The Ultima Weapon provides one luckyOnion Knight with +15 to all stats... rather than the absolutely terrible...the absolutely horrible... the absolutely horrific +5 to all stats given by theOnion Sword! Oh darn! I guess one little Onion Knight is going to be a littlebetter than the others! The world is going to end!

To be honest, I've written enough about this Job, as there's nothing more tosay about it. If you want to take all strategy and fun away from the game, byall means, use an Onion Knight. I can understand if you want to have this stuffas a personal trophy, or to create a perfect save file. However, when it comesto intelligent Job strategy and analysis, I think I've said enough about theOnion Knight.

---------.---------------------------------------------------------.-----------Profile: | Onion Knight | Secret Job---------'---------------------------------------------------------'-----------

-----------------------------------. JP Gain: | JobLv 1-14 | JobLv 14+ |----------|------------|-----------| "The way of the onion knight is a Attack | 20 | 8 | long and hard one... but once you Magic | 20 | 8 | master the job, the rewards just Guard | 20 | 8 | might be worth it!" Item | 20 | 8 |----------'------------'-----------'


-----------.----------.----------.------.----------------. .-----------. Battle # | Actions: | JP Gain: | Add: | Total JP Gain: | | Overflow: |-----------|----------|----------|------|----------------| |-----------| 1 | 13 | 8 | -- | 104 | | 4 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 108 | | 8 | 3 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 112 | | 12 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 103 | | 3 | 5 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 107 | | 7 | 6 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 111 | | 11 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 102 | | 2 | 8 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 106 | | 6 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 110 | | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 101 | | 1 | 11 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 105 | | 5 | 12 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 109 | | 9 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 100 | | -- | 14 | 13 | 8 | -- | 104 | | 4 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 108 | | 8 |-----------'----------'----------'------'----------------' '-----------'Etc, etc...

On average, you must take 13-12 actions per battle to level up an Onion Knight.

------------------------------. .----------------------------------. MP Chart: | | Stats: |------------------------------| |----------------------------------| LV | L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 | | LV | STR | AGI | VIT | INT | MND |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 10 | 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 1 | | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 20 | 10 9 8 7 5 4 3 2 | | 20 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 30 | 15 13 11 9 8 6 4 2 | | 30 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 40 | 20 18 15 12 10 7 5 2 | | 40 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 50 | 25 22 19 15 12 9 6 3 | | 50 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 60 | 30 26 22 18 14 11 7 3 | | 60 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 70 | 35 30 26 21 17 12 8 3 | | 70 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |----|-------------------------| |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| 80 | 40 35 29 24 19 14 9 3 | | 80 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |----|-------------------------| '----------------------------------' 90 | 45 39 33 27 21 15 10 4 | .----------------------------------.----|-------------------------| | 90 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 99 | 49 43 36 30 23 17 10 4 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|------------------------------' | 91 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |NOTE: LV = Character Level |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 92 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 93 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 94 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 95 | 51 | 51 | 51 | 51 | 51 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 96 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 63 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 97 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 98 | 87 | 87 | 87 | 87 | 87 | |----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----| | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | '----------------------------------' NOTE: LV = Character Level

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Battle Commands~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attack: Attacks with equipped weapon.Magic: Can cast all White and Black magic.Guard: Increases defense, reducing all damage by 50%.Item: Use an item from the item list.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Weapons to Use~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knives: All (excluding Gladius)Swords: All (excluding Save the Queen)Staves: All (excluding Sage Staff)Rods: All (excluding Lilith Rod, Millenium Rod)Dark Blades: All (excluding Muramasa, Murakumo)Bows: All (excluding Artemis Bow)Arrows: AllBooks All (excluding Omnitome)Claws: AllHammers: All (excluding Mighty Hammer)

Axes: All (excluding Gigantic Axe)Spears: All (excluding Magic Lance)Throwing: All (excluding Shuriken)Bells: All (excluding Blessed Bell)Harps: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Armor to Equip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head: All (excluding Royal Crown, Ballad Crown)Body: All (excluding Angel Robe, Crimson Vest, Master Dogi)Arm: All (excluding Celestial Gloves, Shura Gloves, Astral Bracers)Shield: All~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mastery Item ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Onion Blade Atk: 150Bonus: +7 All Stats~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~How to Unlock~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~See the "Finding the Onion Knight" section above. Ctrl+F. {UNLOCK}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Onion Stats~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~You might have heard that the Onion Knight has the best stats when compared toany other Job! This is TRUE! But there is something else you should know.If your *CHARACTER* is not Lv. 99, the Onion Knight Job is almost worthless!If you don't understand why, this quick chart will clear it up for you! ;)

.------------------------. | -Stats- |--------------|----.----.----.----.----| Character Lv |Str:|Agi:|Vit:|Int:|Mind|--------------|----|----|----|----|----| ---- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 40 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 50 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 60 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 70 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 80 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 90 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 |--------------'----'----'----'----'----'

You see, the Onion Knight has some of the worst stats compared to the otherJobs. So basically, you aren't going to want to level up with one of thesebecause it would make things VERY difficult! If you do manage to level up yourcharacter that high, enjoy the most powerful Job in the entire game! :D~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Onion Equipment~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The best Job in the game, even has its own set of equipment! To get this rareand powerful equipment, you must have access to the Secret ??? Dungeon or theCrystal Tower. The reason for this is because all of the Onion Equipment isdropped by Yellow, Green, and Red Dragons; Which are found in those two places.

Now don't go thinking this will be easy, because it's NOT! The drop rate forthese items are VERY VERY low. You may fight 30 battles before you even getan Onion Shield!(this is the most common piece!) To help speed this up, fightthe dragons in the Secret ??? Dungeon. Why? Because the only creatures inthe ??? dungeon are the colored dragons! Yay!

Good luck attaining your full Onion Set....or four! :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Onion Sword Atk: 156Bonus: +5 All StatsLocation: Win from Yellow, Green, or Red Dragons.Drop Rate: 1.5%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Onion HelmDef: 40MDef: 40Bonus: +5 Int, +5 MindEffect: Protects against all status ailments.Location: Win from Yellow Dragons.Drop Rate: 4.5%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Onion ArmorDef: 60MDef: 40Bonus: +5 Str, +5 VitEffect: Protects against all status ailments.Location: Win from Red Dragons.Drop Rate: 4.5%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Onion GauntletsDef: 50MDef: 25Bonus: +3 All StatsEffect: Protects against all status ailments.Location: Win from Green Dragons.Drop Rate: 4.5%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Name: Onion ShieldDef: 30MDef: 30Bonus: +2 All StatsEffect: Protects against all status ailments.Location: Win from Yellow, Green, or Red Dragons.Drop Rate: 7.0%

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= V) The Effective Jobs: {E1}=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

This section will discuss all the different weaknesses of each Boss that awaitsyou throughout the game. You will discover which Jobs are the most effective,and learn of the many favorable strategies which are commonly used to becomevictorious!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-1} Land Turtle |--------------------'

Freelancer works really well here. >_< Just kidding. Attack!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-2} Djinn |--------------'

Use Ice magic to win quickly! Blizzard can be found in Castle Sasune and, ifyou've found everything so far, you should have a small stock of AntarcticWinds. Use these for an easy battle.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-3} Nepto Dragon |---------------------'

Impossible to defeat.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-4} Giant Rat |------------------'

Since your whole party is Mini during this fight, a White Mage, Black Mage,Black Mage, and Red Mage party works great here. Split the Thundara, Fira, andBlizzara spells between the designated attacks, and have the White mage learnCura to heal in emergencies. Just use Cure if the injuries are minor. Overall,not a tough fight.

Thundara = Viking's Cove; Secret passage near the Moogle.Fira = Viking's Cove; Secret passage near the Moogle.Blizzara = Viking's Cove; Secret passage near the Moogle.Cura = Tozus - Hidden treasure in sick Doctor's house.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-5} Medusa |---------------'

Physical attackers aren't really the most effective here. Most likely due tothe lack of weapons. That's why I prefer using the same strategy as the Giant Rat. If you run out of MP use any of the attack items you've beencollecting up to this point. Antarctic Wind, Zues' Wrath, etc.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-6} Gutsco |---------------'

Nothing really effective here. Go with what suits you.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-7} Salamander |-------------------'

Probably the second most hated boss fight in the entire game. Salamander isjust plain unfair. For this battle, a White Mage and at least one Black Mageor Red mage are favorable necessities. A warrior can do sufficient damage withthe Freezing blade. For the last character, you may want another Black Mage orRed mage, but only if you have an extra copy of Blizzara.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-8} Hein |-------------'

You should know what Jobs to use here, because the game tells you like twiceduring cutscenes. If you skipped through them then why are you playing an RPGif not for the story? Ah well. :P

A Scholar or a White Mage with Libra are highly recommended here to see Hein'sweakness highly recommended, again. Geomancers do a solid 500-600 damage aturn and a Black Mage or Red Mage can be useful by exploiting Hein's weakness.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-9} Kraken |---------------'

Black or Red Mage with Blizzaga = 900-1000 damage per turn.

Unfortunately, you only get one copy of this spell right now, so give it to the

one with the higher MP (Most likely Black Mage). Geomancers are still usefulalthough they have a 37% chance of using Whirlpool on the boss, which will haveno effect - due to it being a boss of course! A Warrior or Knight equippedwith Blood Sword and Royal sword can inflict some excellent damage, too.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-10} Goldor |---------------'

For once Mages are useless! (Well all except the White Mage of course). So forthe first time, physical attackers have the spot light! Dragoons can do somemoderate damage although it may not be able to take too many hits. Dark Knightsare great in this fight! Put them in the back row equipped with theBlood Sword + Royal sword combo and they will inflict around 1000 damage eachtime - providing you use Souleater and they are at full health. A white magewill help with that. ;)

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-11} Garuda |---------------'

There are a few strategies you can take with this fight.

1. Use 4 Dragoons. Equip all of the Dragon equipment that you found in the Dragon's Spire and Jump him to death! Hope you get lucky!

2. Using Mages. They have a much higher Mind stat and can take hit or two from the powerful Lightning. A white mage is needed here as always. Evokers with the Hyper Summon can inflict around 1000 damage making them pretty good choices. Black or Red mages with Blizzaga can do about the same.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-12} Odin |-------------'

Using a White Mage, or Devout if you have it, are crucial to survival. One ortwo Zantetsukens without proper healing and this fight is over! Other than thathit as hard as you can with your most powerful attacks. Remember, a Thief thatis Job Level 71+ can steal a Gungnir from Odin.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-13} Leviathan |-------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-14} Bahamut |-----------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-15} Hecatoncheir |----------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-16} Doga & Unei |---------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-17} Titan |---------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-18} Ninja |---------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-19} Amon |--------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-20} Kunoichi |------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-21} General |----------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-22} Guardian |------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-23} Scylla |----------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-24} Xande |---------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-25} Cerberus |------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-26} Two-Headed Dragon |---------------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-27} Echidna |----------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

{E1-28} Ahriman |-----------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-29} Cloud of Darkness |---------------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={E1-30} Iron Giant |--------------------'

Coming Soon!

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= VI) Job Suggestions {S1} =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

There has been a lot of confusion on putting together a good party. I agreewith most of the users that "the party you like is your best party", even ifyou like it for the weirdest reasons! However, for those of you who don't knowhow to evaluate your feelings, I have briefly classified some of my choiceshere for your reference. I tried to put them in the time order of the story fora better walkthrough value.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={S1-1} How to Choose an Effective Party |-----------------------------------------'

Very subjectively. I usually have the following criteria:

1. Length of Battles:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The ultimate goal is to survive and grow strong enough in order to defeat theFinal and Super Bosses. So, you don't want to linger in random encountersforever. :P

Unlike some RPGs, there is no penalty for longer battles, you still get the same amount of EXP; You might even have good number of actions that grant you aJob Level. I would say if you can wrap it up in 2-3 rounds that's a fineparty; 1 round is also great.

Another point worth noticing is your characters' speed profiles. Slower teamstake enemies' blows first, which means one more round of damage. If your teamis too slow, mix in high speed jobs (Thief, Ranger, Ninja) to turn the tablesaround. The quicker you lower their number, the better chance you stand.

2. Availability of Equipment and Magic:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I hate to say that but most of the time you won't have the right equipmenthandy for your new class. There are many reasons: You may have dumped theneeded equipment in Fat Chocobo, you may have no access to the special storefor that class... etc. Here is a list some of the trends:

A. Most of the treasure chests contains equipement of swordman class, it is wise to often have a swordman (Knight, Warrior, etc.) in your party to capitalize this chest pattern.

B. Nearly all of the Claws are from treasure chests. So, if you're a Monk user, be prepared to get stronger claws in new dungeons. And don't expect a new village's weapon store to have what you want.

C. Some classes have a special store or village for them, with tons of specific equipment. If you change to that class before being able to access those places, chances are your new class will be rendered very useless.

Here are the examples:

a. Duster Village sells a majority of the Harps, if you change to Bard before being able to go to Duster Village, your Bard will not be able to sing. The Village also sells Bard's armor.

b. Replito Village and Doga's Village sell most of the summon magic, so if you change to Evoker or Summoner without realizing where to get their spells, they cannot conjure anything.

c. You can get one bell before you hit Duster Village, where the initial bells for Geomancer are sold. To fully use the Geomancers' physical attack, only use this class after you can visit the village and buy some Bells.

d. The stronger equipment for Dark Knights don't come until you reached the Cave of Shadows. So, don't have more than one Drak Knight in your party, or the whole team will suffer from low defense.

e. Saronia Kingdom is famous for its Dragoon army. So, if you are stranded there and cannot get enough Dragoon equipment, think about wandering in the city's dungeons.

3. Net Loss of HP:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In FFIII DS there are a few ways to recover HP: going to the spring, which isusually not an option in most dungeons, teleporting out and sleep in an Inn,using item such as hi-potion, attacking with HP absorbing weapons, casting ahealing magic in or out of battles. If you find you cannot access any of theabove, you should consider shifting some classes.

4. Net Loss of MP:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~There are even fewer ways to recover MP: drinking at the spring, resting in aninn, using Elixir. Boss fights also recover your HP and MP, but it is notrecommended to fight a boss with worn out party, hoping to get the benefit ofpost-battle HP/MP refill. There are two concerns of MP loss:

A. For offensive magic, quicker loss of MP means your mage is going to be very inefficient soon. There are a few ways to work around it:

- In the same level, Evoker and Summoner have the most MP, so if the task can be done by them, use them.

- In the same level, Devout (Magus) have higher upper class magic MP compared to White Mage (Black Mage), so if you want to cast more high level spells, consider Devout and Magus.

- In the same level, Sage have less upper class magic MP compared to Devout and Magus, but Sage can use relatively more lower class magic. If you don't need serious magic, Sage can be a good choice.

- In the beginning of the game, Black Mage can equip some simple bow and arrows. Pack an extra set for them in case MP runs out.

- All mages can use fire/ ice/ thunder rods and staves to cast free magic.

To use them, select the weapon from the Item list in battle. Or at the top of the Item list, press UP. This will take you to the current weapons/shields you have equipped. You can cast the magic from here if able.

- Hi intelligence class (Summoner, Magus, Sage) can also throw offensive magical items when MP is low.

B. For recovery magic, quicker loss of MP means you are very likely to get wiped out in prolonged fight (which is usually boss fight). Evaluate the possibility of shifting to class with higher MP and better healing ability for a change. Having some Elixirs handy and be ready to use them.

5. Casting Frequency:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~There are times that you would like to cast a spell or you can save that spell.If there is a mage who hasn't been attacking for a good period of time, eitherthere is no need, or other teammates acted too quick and finished the battles,you should consider shifting to a more useful job.

As you may be able to see, I am not a big fan of mages. In fact, I think inFFIII DS offensive spells' value has greatly decreased. In the old versionthere are usually up to six or eight monsters in random encounters, you do geta nice feeling when wiping them out with Leviathan. In this one, not really, ifyou have three attackers, the mage ususally stands and watches.

6. Enemies' Resistance and Weakness; Special Events:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As far as I can recall, the only occasion of enemy absorbing your attacking iswhen you try to use Blood Sword to kill an undead. Even hitting a fireelemental with fire will hurt it in FFIII, only the damage is halved. So,resistance is not too big of a deal, but you should at least realize you arelengthening the battle (means more HP and MP expenditure). White magic Libraand Scholar's Study can reveal enemies' weakness. Exploit their weakness canreduce the battle time because you get a damage adjustment of doubling.

Here are the weapons with elemental property:

Fire: Salamand Sword, Fire Rod, Fire Arrow, Book of Fire, Tome of Fire.Ice: Freezing Blade, Ice Rod, Ice Arrow, Book of Ice, Tome of Ice.Thunder: Spark Dagger, Serpent Sword, Thunder Rod, Thunder Arrow, Book of Thunder, Tome of Thunder, All Hammers, Thunder Spear.Wind: Air Knife, Wyvern Claw, All Spears.Earth: Giant's Axe.Recover: Wightslayer, Ancient Sword, Holy Arrow, Holy Lance, Blessed Bell.Holy: Holy Lance, Blessed Bell.Absorb: Blood Sword, Blood Spear.Dark: All Katanas, Magic Spear, Moonring Blade, Shurikens.

In the story, there are a few occasions you have to use a transfigurationmagic, including Mini and Toad. Both are white magic, so you may have to add awhite magic user. In the Mini event, you'll have to fight in Mini form, so youwould want to use mages instead.

Some Bosses are weak against Wind; the clue is they look like a bird. In thesecases, Dragoon can help because all of their spears have wind property.

And this is not a spoiler: TO RECOVER FROM TRANSFIGURATION, SIMPLY CAST THATMAGIC ON THE VITIM AGAIN, THEN IT WILL BE NEUTRALIZED; make sure you haveenough MP to cast a reverse.

7. Item Constraints:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few... if you are heavy on mages, check if you have at least 2-3 Elixir causeyou don't know when you will run out. If you have Ranger, make sure there areenough arrows (especially for Barrage, uses four arrows). If you use Scholarand wish to throw offensive magical items, make sure you have a healthy supply;use a Thief to steal some. Item constraints are bigger of a concern if you areplanning for a big dungeon.

8. HP Growth: (minor)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Black Belt, Knight, Monk, Dark Knight and Viking have the highest HP growthpotential. There is no need to worry about this too early in the game, but ifyou wish to gain 9999 HP, mixing in some of these jobs will lessen your worriesin the later part of the game.

9. Fun Factor:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Yup, I put this at last but it is the most important component. You should havefun.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={S1-2} Job Observations |-------------------------'

Novice: Freelancer ----> Onion KnightFreelancer has very low stats, period. And if you can change away from it, doit sooner. Onion Knight is even more severe, their stats do not improve untilCharacter LV 93. These two classes are only recommended for adventurousplayers.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Pure Attacker: Monk, Warrior ----> Dragoon, Dark Knight, Black Belt, NinjaPure attackers, as implied, are some classes that the mostly used command is"attack" and their special skills deal with extra damage. Monk and Warrior areof lower stats growth and so if you can, shift to the higher end Dragoon, DarkKnight, Black Belt, and Ninja. These four classes are all moderately quick.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tactical Attacker: Knight, Ranger, VikingThese group are mostly doing physical attack in a less head-to-head way. Knighthas supreme defense and this class can also guard other member who is in low HPcondition. Ranger can deal with high damage even put to back row. Viking is seacreature specialist while his skill lowers enemy's defense with the expense of being the enemy's target. With a good mix and match of pure and tacticalattackers one may have a bit more fun in the battles.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Oddies: Thief, Scholar, Evoker, GeomancerI called them oddies not because of they are useless, but chance is if you havemore than two of these in your team, you may have a relatively risky (or fun)team design. Thief is a high speed class that can deal decent damage, in thelater he can also steal items. However, item profile in FFIII is veryunexciting and you may not wish to keep a thief till end game. Scholar isuseful for their ability to check enemy and double potency of using items.Evoker is famous for unpredictable random effect of summon magic. Geomancer candeal really good damage with terrain, however, the effect of terrain is randomand sometimes an action can be wasted because the instant death effect doesn'tkick in.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Offensive Mage: Black Mage ----> Magus, SummonerAs name implied, they are magical killer. Black Mage has lower stat profilecompared to Magus and Summoner. As soon as you can access level 8 magic,changing to Magus would be better. Summoner's magic only deal group damage, a more extreme form of offensive mage; they also have higher MP proflie and Iconsider it a tag better than Magus.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Defensive Mage: White Mage ----> DevoutThey use healing magic to keep others alive. Devout has better mind growthcompared to White Mage. So change to Devout if you intended to have a whitemagic user in the later game.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tactical Mage: Red Mage ----> Sage, BardRed Mage is a magical fighter with limited physical and magical potency. Theycan be active in the beginning, then die out a bit. At the near-end of the gameone can revive them with high class weapons such as Ultima Weapon and Crystal

series. However, their melee ability is probably shadowed by other strongerclasses. If you wish to keep the versatality of magic using, consider a Sage.They can cast all spells, with a bit lower MP compared to Devout and Magus.However, because they can equip all staffs and rods, you have a better chanceto configure their Int or Mnd. Bard is also a supreme tactical assistant. Theirsongs have different assistant effects.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={S1-3} Quick Party Set-ups |----------------------------'

Wind Crystal Chapter:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Warrior - Monk - White Mage - Black Mage

The classical FFI combination. Making good use of warriors' equipment gatheredfrom the dungeons. Monk will underperform at the beginning but it will pay offas they level up (both character and job levels). White mage is useful fordealing with the undead in Mystril and Sealed Caves. Black Mage can wipe outsmall creatures, while equiping some bow and arrows can help them being usefulwith low MP.

To increase SPEED, consider:

Warrior - Thief - White Mage - Black Mage

To increase PHYSICAL ATTACK, consider:

Warrior - Monk - Monk/Warrior - White MageWarrior - Monk - Red Mage - White MageWarrior - Thief - Red Mage - White Mage

Tactics before the Fire Crystal are pretty limited, because of low number ofcombinations and low variety of magic. There are, however, some hints to makethe party more viable.

1. Use Warrior "Advance" only if there is less enemy, because the skill alsolower warrior's defense. Consider putting Warrior on back row with bow andarrow and then use Advance.

2. Give the mages all the elemental staffs for some free damage. They probablycannot save the day, but at least you maximize potential damage.

3. Give Black Mages a bow and arrows.

Fire Crystal Chapter:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knight - Ranger - Whtie Mage - Black MageKnight - Ranger - Scholar - White MageKnight - Monk - Scholar - White MageKnight - Ranger - Geomancer - White Mage

These would be some of the reasonable upgrades. The Knight can keep dealingphysical damage, plus they can cast some spells (only level one white). A WhiteMage should stay for constant HP recovery backup. Mix either one tactical orpure attacker, and maybe one oddy (like scholar or geomancer) to spice up a bitif you wish.

To increase PHYSICAL ATTACK, consider:

Knight - Monk - Ranger - White Mage

To increase ITEM POTENCY, consider these, make sure to bring enough potionsand hi-potions.

Knight - Scholar - Scholar - White MageKnight - Scholar - Scholar - Black Mage

To EXPLOIT ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS, consider:

Knight (Elemental Sword) - Ranger (Elemental Arrow) - Black Mage - White MageKnight (Elemental Sword) - Scholar (Elemental Books) - Black Mage - White Mage

To increase SPEED, consider:

Knight - Thief - Ranger - White Mage

After Fire Crystal, things start to be a bit more interesting. Especially withGeomancer's Terrain attack and Scholar's surprisingly high physical attack.White Mage should continue to serve the party, unless you decided to makeScholar pick up the recovery work, which is significantly harder way. Geomanceris good in a sense that they induce magic-like damage without using MP.However, in most of the dungeons there are a good change that the geomancerswould cast whirlpool and blackhole, which are instant-death skills; if thatskills failed, geomancer wasted a round.

With the introduction of Ranger and Scholar who have an array of elementalweapons, plus the collection of various elemental swords and staffs, afterFire Crystal the team should be able to wipe out monster with elementalweaknesses pretty efficiently.

Water Crystal Chapter:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knight - Dark Knight - Bard - White MageKnight - Viking - Black Mage - White MageKnight - Dragoon - Bard - White MageKnight - Dragoon - Bard - Evoker

These are some of the possible upgrades. You may swap Knight with Dragoon, DarkKnight, and Viking. I consider them of the same tier. Now the combinations arericher and more specific. Other than the above example I have shown, you canconsider these followings:

Flying creature SLAYER:

Dragoon - Thief (Air Knife) - Ranger - White Mage (Aero)Dragoon - Dragoon - Bard - White Mage

Notice that there has been a common thought that "Dragoon is great becasue whenit's up in the air it won't take damage." I cannot really agree, because who isthen going to take the damage? Those cannot jump, namely the poor mages andfront row non-jumpers. So, I would suggest if you are heavy on Dragoons, keepthe remaining party at back row by changing to Ranger or Mages. Also Dragoonsdo not enjoy the group healing magic when they are up, so mix in a Bard, whosesongs, including the recovery song, always go first in a round. The Dragoon atleast can have some HP replenished.

Sea creature SLAYER:

Dragoon (Thunder Spear + Jump) - Viking - Ranger (Thunder arrow) - White MageViking can actually be quite useful in the late middle where there is a lot ofsea and undersea exploration. If you plan to raise a Viking, do so earlier totake advantage of Job LV growth. Viking's hammers have thunder element. So,they are deadly to the sea creatures.

Self-replenishing PHYSICAL ATTACK team:

Dark Knight (Souleater) - Dark Knight (Souleater) - Bard - White MageDark Knight (Blood Sword) - Dragoon (Blood Spear) - Bard - White Mage

Perhaps the most sought after combination. Because of the level-based MP

system, it's very important to save up your White Mage's MP for boss fights. Thus free HP recovery became a hit in FFIII. Mix Dark Knight with Bard togetherhas the advantage of massive multiple target attacks followed by free HPrecovery. Put in a White Mage in case of series recovery is needed, that canalso spare the Bard to sing other songs. There is one Blood Sword and a lot ofpurchasable Blood Spears in this FF, so, make good use of them by introducingclasses that can use these weapons. Also don't forget to put a White Mage orScholar in, just in case if the enemies are of undead property.

Earth Crystal Chapter:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knight - Black Belt - Devout - SummonerKnight - Ninja - Devout - MagusKnight - Ninja - Devout - SummonerKnight - Ninja - Black Belt - Sage

are some of the suggested upgrades after the Earth Crystal.

For SPEEDY ATTACKING:

Ninja - Black Belt - Dark Knight - DevoutNinja, Black Belt, and Dark Knight are some of the quicker classes. Dragoon isalso a nice choice. Keep a Devout for HP recovery.

For MULTIPLE targets:

Dark Knight - Ranger - Summoner - Devout

Dard Knight can use Souleater, and then recover with Blood Sword (Notice thatSouleater performed with Blood Sword DOES NOT recover HP); Ranger can useBarrage; Summoner can wipe out the enemies with high-summon.

For SERIOUS BOSS FIGHTS:

Ninja - Knight - Dragoon - Devout

Knight and Dragoon can use the Blood weapons to recover some HP, Ninja canthrow Shuriken at back row, Devout constantly heals.

Notice that after Earth Crystal, you probably have your preference. The mainpoints of making job decision here would be:

1. How many strong weapons does this class have?2. If it's a fighting class, can it equip strong armor like Crystal series? With this two questions you can probably screen out some classes. And there are the third question for those who can use Mognet:3. can the job-specific ultimate equipment compensate the first two disadvantages? Some classes, like Black Belt, is very strong in encounters but they take massive physical and magical damage in boss fights, however, they have protective gear from the blacksmith event. You may then consider using a Black Belt for boss fights.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*={S1-4} Thematic Parties |-------------------------'

This section is to share some thematic party ideas. If you completely have noclue or are too bored with the current party, you may consider these for anexperiment.

FFI prototype: Warrior, Monk, W Mage, B Mage ----> Knight, Black Belt, Devout, Magus

FFI prototype II: Warrior, Monk, R Mage, W Mage ----> Knight, Black Belt, Sage, Devout

FFI prototype III: Warrior, Thief, R Mage, W Mage ----> Knight, Ninja, Sage, Devout

In FFI you're allowed to advance your job once, you may do the same for morerestrictions. This is also the basic form when I compose this guide. Feel freeto use this as blueprint and mix in the different class categories I describedat the beginning.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knight of the Round: Knight, Knight, Knight, Sage

Pretty much just lacking a round table. This party is quite fun but it is alsoexpensive. At the end there might not be enough good swords for everyone, theyyou can consider changing one knight to a Dragoon. In the movie King Arthurthere is also a girl Genevieve who is a kick-ass archer. You may change Rafiato a Ranger for this dramatic look.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Force of Nature: Ranger, Geomancer, Devout, Summoner

Well... Pretty much like Robinhood teammed up with a natural power ESP userand two animal-befrienders, one calls anaimals; one dressed like an animal...(-_-;)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Magic User Conference: Sage, Summoner, Devout, Magus

Good for seeing all the magic effects. This party can also be at back row allthe time.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gladitors: Viking, Warrior, Dark Knight, Dragoon

This is a very interesting party. First you'll need a lot of potions. But thenwhat you can do is equip Blood series to Dragoon and Dark Knight for constantstable killing characters. While when you face one enemy, you can equip Vikingwith two shields and have him used Provoke, followed by Warrior's Advance. Thedamage would be massive; while you don't have to worry about the sacrifieddefense of the warrior because the enemy is more likely to target the Viking.Later one can replace Warrior with a Devout for better recovery.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Assassin Guild: Ninja, D Knight, Thief, Magus

The look of them is just cool. There isn't really evil healing class... andshouldn't evil class abandone the idea of white magic? But if you wish to getserious with it, change it to Ninja, D Knight, Magus, Sage.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lord of the Rings: Viking, Knight, Sage, Ranger

These are my favourite four characters, but you can change either of them intoa freelancer as Frodo.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FFIV Nostalgia: Dark Knight, Dragoon, Sage, Ninja

There isn't Paladin... so either change the Dark Knight to Knight, or LV99Onion Knight. Refia would be a mushed up Rydia and Rosa, who can use White,Black, and Summon spells.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Money Saver: Monk, Black Belt, Devout, Bard

Pratically no equipment cost. Bard can also enhance the fighers' low defense.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gamble-philia: Viking, Geomancer, Evoker, Bard

A team who likes risk. Viking provokes to lower defense, Geomancer uses randomterrain effect, Evoker uses random summon, Bard's harp attack also randomlycauses bad status. A party for those who love to bet.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hardcore Challenger:Freelancer, Freelancer, Freelancer, Freelancer

Or more extreme: Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight. Theseparty suffers from low and super low stats. However, these two jobs have highaffinity to various equipment, they are weak but very flexible. If you want a great challenge, this is it.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The High-bishop Team:Knight, Red mage, Red mage, Sage

The sage is the high-bishop, apparently. With two Red Mages as close body guardand a Knight in the front. A very defensive team.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Guardians of the Evil Scroll: Dark Knight, Thief, Scholar, Sage

Pretty much the opposite of the previous team. This team is a bit more evilfeeling. Thief can replenish item through stealing, Scholar can efficiently useitems and Dark Knight can equipe Blood Sword. Sage is handy when great recoveryis called for.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gulliver's Travels: Knight (male), mini-Magus, mini-Devout, mini-Summoner

A very cute but deadly team. Gulliver apparantly pulled three greatest magesfrom the village for a serious adventure. The mages should be at the back,while Gulliver would protect them if their HP is low. It may be fun, but don'tdo it in boss fight.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Snow-white: Devout (Refia), Viking, Viking, Viking

Although Arc would be a cuter Snow-white, let's stick to the original genderprofile. There are seven dwarves, you can pick three to join. Later, when youdecide to put in a Prince Charming, change one of them to Knight or Dragoon.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Frog Prince: Devout (Refia), a toad, a toad, and a toad

A variation of Snow-white. A completely harmless team. Would Refia even makeit to kiss one of the toads before the party is wiped out?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~8-bit theatre: Red Mage, Thief, Black Mage, and Warrior

For 8-bit theatre fans. I personally think Luneth would be good as the theif,and Arc can be the Warrior... Red Mage... could be Ingus.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= VII) Version History =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

What's New in Version 1.10:- Corrected some of the spellings and statistics.- Revised comments on two-handed fighting.- Added scholar's MP profile.- Revised Thief's loot table.- Added details on Geomancer's Terrain attacks.- Expanded a Section 3 about job combination for the clueless.

What's new in version 1.20:- Corrected the stats chart of Devout.- Revised the Job Level chart, now Sage is back.- Added a section [s1.09] about calculatinng number of battles required to get through job change penalty.

What's new in version 1.30:- Revised section [s1.09].- Added some suggested information.

What's new in version 1.40:- Complete revision by Seferaga. Added his Job Guide to this one and added an

all-new layout in the process.- Some mis-translations were fixed.- Added a whole lot of new content, including JP Overflow, detailed Job descriptions and Boss strategies.- Spelling errors fixed.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= VIII) Credits =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

Penguin Knight: Author; Translated and provided all statistics throughout this Guide. Wrote section VI and most of the General Information section. Seferaga: Co-Author; Put this whole FAQ together; Layout, organization, etc... Wrote for most of the smaller sections; Introductions, explanations, charts, etc... Some parts were taken from his FAQ/Walkthrough. Egervari3: Writer; Wrote most of the Job descriptions that are in the "Descriptions, Stats, and Abilities" section.

=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*= IX) Copyright =-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All rights reserved (C) 2007-2008.=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=-*=

If you have any questions or comments about the FAQ, please send us an email!

Penguin Knight: [email protected]

Seferaga: [email protected]

Documents

Final Fantasy III