Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, much like the original game, uses one of the most refined and versatile iterations of the Job System ever to appear in the series. Characters in Tactics can select from 20 different classes (“Jobs“), each of which features its own stat changes and unique abilities.
Ideally, you should be ready and willing to switch your characters’ Jobs frequently — since you can equip skills from multiple Jobs at once, you can really expand a character’s arsenal by taking even a couple of levels in a different class.
However, most characters will have a main Job they remain in for the majority of the game, and that’s where this guide comes in. Here are all 13 permanent party members with changeable Jobs, and which ones you’ll want to assign them to first.
Ramza — Squire
Jack Of All Trades
In general, when you find a new character who has access to a unique Job, you’ll want to keep them in that Job for as long as humanly possible. This usually gives them access to unique abilities that no other character can use.
This is the case for Ramza, FF Tactics‘ protagonist. Ramza starts with a unique, powered-up version of the base Squire class that gives him better stats, a wider range of usable equipment, and unique skills like Shout. Although he should dabble in other classes, he can remain a Squire most of the time.
Mustadio — Machinist/Archer
Power At Range
Mustadio is your next permanent party member to join, coming along in Chapter 2. He’s also vital in recruiting another permanent party member furher down the line. He starts with the gun-wielding Machinist class, which remains excellent throughout the game. Abilities like Arm Shot and Leg Shot can render enemies useless, stopping their attacks and movement, respectively.
If you want to expand Mustadio’s build a bit, you can pick up a couple of skills from the Archer Job to improve his ranged attack further.
Agrias — Holy Knight
A Tour De Force
Agrias is the only character to use the Holy Knight Job, and, as a result, she should continue to specialize in it. Holy Knight specializes in high-damage attacks with a sword or axe. Coupled with its movement-increasing abilities, Holy Knight can make Agrias a dominant force on the battlefield, covering lots of ground and defeating enemies in quick succession.
Combine this with skills from Knight or Samurai to bolster Agrias’ offensive capability.
Boco — Chocobo
Kweh!
Boco is a missable recruit in Chapter 2; he must survive the battle at Araguay Woods to recruit him. Unfortunately, Boco is more or less locked to the Chocobo class, which isn’t the most useful in battle. This is primarily a support job with few unique abilities.
However, you’ll want to keep Boco around for the rare occasions when having a Chocobo is useful. He’ll also periodically provide you with Chocobo Eggs, which you can use to hatch more of his kind with unique abilities.
Rapha — Chemist
Anything But Skyseer
Rapha joins you permanently after the battle on Riovanes Castle Roof in Chapter 3. She starts with the Skyseer class, which is pretty unfortunate; Skyseer largely relies on RNG to deermine how it distributes damage, which makes it unreliable by nature.
Instead, you should level up Rapha in the Chemist Job as early as possible. Her relatively low Bravery makes her more likely to find rare items when using Treasure Hunter. After that, you can specialize her into an offensive magic class like Black Mage, since her high Faith ensures she’ll reliably deal lots of magic damage.
Marach — Monk
Bare-Knuckle Boxing
Marach joins the party along with Rapha, and has the inverse stats: high Bravery, low Faith. His default job of Netherseer has a similar conceit, attacking enemies randomly inside an area of effect. Therefore, we’ll want to avoid using it as much as possible.
Marach’s high Bravery gives him a significant damage boost with swords and bare fists. Since so many other characters are well-suited to being Knights or Samurai, though, why not take Marach in a different direction and make him a Monk?
Beowulf — Templar/Black Mage
Status Effect Master
Beowulf is an optitonal characer you can recruit in Chapter 4. His default job, Templar, is excellent, and will easily carry him through he rest of the game.
Templar specializes in inflicting status effects, with access to just about every single negative status in the game. This makes Beowulf an excellent support character, but you’ll likely want to pair Templar with a more powerful offensive class, like Black Mage, to take advantage of his high Faith.
Reis — Dragonkin/Arithmetician
It’s Morphin’ Time
Recruited at the same time as Beowulf, Reis comes with the default class Dragonkin, which allows her to access a wide variety of elemental breath attacks, in addition to some excellent support skills.
Dragonkin is a great class in and of itself, but you should combine it with multiple other magic classes and Arithmetician to grant her an even bigger arsenal of spells. This will allow Reis to cast almost any spell in the game at the most strategic target, allowing her to excel in almost any role. With her ability to dual wield, she’s not bad at close range, either.
Construct 8 — Automaton/Chemist
A Literal Tank
Construct 8 is another optional party member available in Chapter 4. Beginning with the Job Automaton, this robotic party member’s naturally high defense and long-range attacks don’t need any further help. This gives him access to the Dispose ability, which has one of the longest ranges in the game.
Construct 8 is impervious to all magic, which makes him basically untouchable as long as he’s kept at range. However, he can’t be healed by magic either, so consider having him take levels in Chemist to learn the Item command, which will allow him to heal himself with potions.
Orlandeau — Sword Saint
Unstoppable
Cid “Thunder God” Orlandeau is often considered the most powerful character in Final Fantasy Tactics, and for good reason. His default Job, Sword Saint, is impossibly hard-hitting and so well-varied that he could basically run a party all by himself.
Sword Saint gives Orlandeau access to regular melee damage, ranged damage, area of effect damage, and lots of different debuffs. He’s one of the fastest casters in the game, so you’ll scarcely have to wait for his abilities to take effect. There’s a reason you only recruit him near the end of the game: to do so any earlier would give you an unfair advantage.
Cloud — Soldier/Knight
First Class
Cloud from FF7 appears as a cameo in Final Fantasy Tactics, and comes with the excellent Soldier Job. This class grants him a unique command, Limit, that allows him to perform some of his powerful Limit Break attacks from FF7.
To make Cloud a more well-rounded characer, you can blend his Soldier skills with Knight skills that help him deal more damage with swords and equip better armor. Don’t forget to find the Materia Blade+ to improve his innate abilities even further, granting him more powerful attack and giving him the potential to expand into magical Jobs as well.
Meliadoul — Divine Knight/Knight
Break, Then Attack
Meliadoul starts with the Divine Knight class, which gives her a series of Crush skills. These destroy enemy equipment, and can do everything from removing elemental resistances to shredding through defenses.
Divine Knight makes Meliadoul a great close-quarters fighter, which means she should also consider taking levels in regular Knight to give her even more options when it comes to attacking with swords. This gives her a clear strategic loop in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles: smash enemy armor, attack while their defense is low, and repeat.
