Sunday, 2 June 2019

Character Build Strategy - use all 12 jobs

Here's my planning for using all 12 jobs in the game! Other restrictions apply:
1) must use all 12 jobs in the game
2) armour should be the same category for both jobs


Result:
Basch (highest Strength): Monk, Machinist
Ashe (highest Magick): Black Mage, Red Mage
Fran (highest Vitality): Foebreaker, Uhlan
Balthier (highest Speed): Hunter, Archer
Penelo: White Mage, Bushi
Vann: Knight, Time mage

How I derived this:
First I placed Monk on Basch and Black Mage on Ashe due to highest strength and magicks. Next I placed Foebreaker on Fran and Hunter on Balthier for highest vitality and speed.

As Balthier has higher speed than Basch, I placed Archer (Bows DMG formula uses Speed) on Balthier and Machinist on Basch.

Penelo has higher MP than Vann, so I placed White Mage on Penelo and Knight on Vann. As Ashe has higher Magick than Penelo, I placed Red Mage on Ashe and Bushi on Penelo.

As Vann has higher Magick than Fran, Time mage is assigned to Vann and Uhlan is assigned to Fran.

Key Augments for various job combos:
Basch (Monk and Machinist)
- has 16x physical attack, Bravery, Curaja, remedy x3, potions x3, swiftness x3
- good to be item user and key attacker in the party

Ashe (Black mage and Red Mage)
- has 16x magick attack, swiftness x3 and ether lore x3
- good tanker for magick attack and able to cast most powerful spell in game

Fran (Foebreaker and Uhlan)
- shield block x3 for high evasion, generally overall balance character no specific role

Balthier (Hunter, Archer)
- great as item user with swiftness x3, potion lores x3, remedy lore x3, phoenix lore x3

Penelo (White mage and Bushi)
- key supporting character with white magick and lower channeling cost

Vann (Knight and Time mage)
- balanced character with channeling x3 and shield block x3, supporting with time magick but able to tank attacks

Key playing party for the game: Basch, Vann and Penelo

Character Stats & Weapon Damage Formula

Information is obtained courtesy of finalfantasyfandom.com:
For character stats: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XII_stats
For weapon damage formula: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XII_weapons

Notes on comparison of base stats
HP Highest: Basch
HP Lowest: Penelo

MP Highest: Ashe
MP Lowest: Basch

Strength Highest: Basch
Strength Lowest: Penelo

Magick Highest: Ashe
Magick Lowest: Balthier

Vitality Highest: Fran
Vitality Lowest: Basch

Speed Highest: Balthier, Vann, Penelo
Speed Lowest: Fran, Ashe, Basch

Weapon damage factors



Character License Boards

This post lists down the magicks and key augments for each character unlockable via quickening license. Does not include items unlocked by espers as each esper can only be used by one character.

Archer


Weapons: Bows
Armour: Light armour
Magicks: Cura and Raise
Key Augments: Remedy lore x3, Phoenix Down x3, Swiftness x3, Potions x3

Remarks: Good item user combine with Pheasant Netsuke for maximum effect. Augmented with swiftness so good to combine with magick user or job that does damage based on speed.

Black Mage



Weapons: Staves
Armour: Mystic armour
Magicks: Black Magicks, Green Magicks
Key Augments: 16x magick potency, 3x ether lore

Remarks: Heavy magic user, need swiftness augment 3 to complete swiftness set

Bushi



Weapons: Katanas
Armour: Mystic armour
Magicks: none
Key Augments: swiftness x3

Remarks: compliments Black Mage by having swiftness x3 augments. Has one shield block augment for Genji weapon and armour set, unlocked with Shemhazai

Foebreaker



Weapons: Axes & Hammers, Handbombs
Armour: Heavy armour, Shields
Magicks: none
Key Augments: shield block x3

Remarks: damage by handbombs, axes and hammers are inconsistent and rely on vitality of the character

Knight



Weapons: Swords, Great swords
Armour: Heavy armour, shields
Magicks: none (Esper unlock)
Key Augments: shield block x3

Remarks: able to use white magicks with esper unlock, very versatile able to pair well with a lot of jobs

Machinist



Weapons: Guns, Measures
Armour: Light armour
Magicks: none
Key Augments: remedy x3, potions x3, swiftness x3

Remarks: guns are slowest weapons in game but ignores foe defence. Good to pair with a job that gives max attack to increase gun damage, e.g. Foebreaker. However, machinists may do better with mages jobs as damage ignores character stats (except attack) and foe defence.

Monk


Weapons: Unarmed; Poles
Armour: Light armour
Magicks: Bravery and Curaja only
Key Augments: 16x physical damage

Remarks: Bravery and curaja is must to self augment improve damage in battle

Red Battlemage



Weapons: Maces
Armour: Mystic armour, shields
Magicks: White, Black, Time, Green, Arcane
Key Augments: Channeling x3

Remarks: Many magick types are available with this job, suitable to pair with Black Mage or Archer. Oil + Ardour combo does the most damage in the game

Hunter


Weapons: Daggers, ninja swords
Armour: Light armour, shields
Magicks: none
Key Augments: swiftness x3, potion lores x3, remedy lore x3

Remarks: Doesn't have access to complete classes of weapons usually, but can consider pairing with White Mage, Foebreaker or Bushi

Time Battlemage


Weapons: Crossbows
Armour: Heavy armour
Magicks: Time, green magicks
Key Augments: channeling x3, swiftness x3

Remarks: Can be a good consideration to pair with Knight job as the swiftness augment speeds up the action time for knights

Uhlan


Weapons: Spears
Armour: Heavy armour
Magicks: Fira, Poison, Thundara, Blizzara
Key Augments: none

Remarks: good overall build but master of none

White Mage


Weapons: Rods
Armour: Mystic armour
Magicks: white
Key Augments: channeling x3

Remarks: good defensive build