When it comes to magick, Black Mages are the mythril standard -- they have a

lot of MP (second only to Summoner in standard jobs, and third to Summoners

and Beowulf’s Templar job overall), and THE highest magick strength of any job.

Plus, they can equip rods that boost their magick abilities even further, and

their Arcane Strength makes their magick do more damage. In other words, the

magick abilities of other jobs get even stronger when used by a Black Mage --

so a great strategy is to learn spells from other jobs, then turn your

characters into Black Mages. (Or, even better, learn Arithmeticks and then

turn into a Black Mage so you can cast ALL spells at high power!) They’re the

best magick job available.

So, how about Black Mages’ own spells? Well, Black Magick tend to be pretty

useful--especially early in the game, when you have few other abilities that

can attack multiple enemies. Against monsters, you can also use Black Magick

to exploit their elemental weaknesses (check the Monsters section below to see

what they are).

Later in the game, Black Magick isn’t quite as effective since you have other

ways of attacking groups of enemies that don’t consume MP and don’t need to

charge (e.g., sword techniques, Iaido). Plus, the strongest Black Magick

spells take a while charge, although the Time Mage’s Swiftness support ability

is one remedy for this -- or you could use Arithmeticks, which lets you cast

spells without charge time. Note that the -ja spells CANNOT be used with

Arithmeticks, so if you’re using Arithmeticks, you’ll probably want to learn

Flare before the -ja magicks. (On the other hand, -ja spells can’t be

reflected, so even if an enemy has Reflect, you can use -ja spells to still

attack with magick.)

Magick Counter is a decent reaction ability when faced when lots of enemy

mages, but there aren’t really too many situations where this is needed.

The Black Mage job must be Mastered to unlock Dark Knight. You can speed this

process if at least one character has already learned the -ja spells; cast them

on allied Black Mages and they may learn the magicks from being hit with them.

(See "Learning Magick from Being Hit" under Advanced Tactics for more on this

process.)

---TIME MAGE-------------------------------------------------------------------

Required jobs : Black Mage lv. 3

Needed for jobs : Summoner (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 4)

Equippable weapons: Staves Movement range : 3

Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3

Physical evade : 5%

Stats When Active Job:

HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***

Stat Growth Rates:

HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *

--ABILITIES--

--Action Abilities: Time Magicks--

Damage/success based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith

RNG RAD

MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT

---------------------------------------------------------------

Haste * 8 RA 2 3/* 2/0 Any N 100 Gives Haste status (CT charges

faster)

Hasteja 30 7 3/* 2/3 Any N 600& Gives Haste status

Slow * 8 RA 2 3/* 2/0 Any N 80 Inflicts Slow status (CT charges

slower)

Slowja 30RA 7 3/* 2/3 Any N 600& Inflicts Slow status

Stop * 14RA 7 3/* 2/0 Any N 350 Inflicts Stop status (CT doesn’t

charge)

Immobilize * 10RA 3 3/* 2/1 Any N 100 Inflicts Immobilize status

Float 8 RA 2 4/* 2/1 Any N 200 Gives Float status (see below)

Reflect * 12RA 2 4/* 1 Any N 300 Gives Reflect status

Quick * 24R 4 4/* 1 Any N 900 Fills CT gauge - instant turn!

Gravity 24RA 6 4/* 2/1 Any N 250 Damage = 1/4 of user’s max HP

Graviga * 50RA 10 4/* 2/3 Any N 550 Damage = 1/2 of user’s max HP

Meteor 70 20 4/* 4/3 Any N 1500 Non-elemental magick attack

--Reaction Abilities--

TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Critical: Quick * Critical HP Yes 800 Fills CT gauge to 100; instant turn!

Mana Shield * Any HP loss Yes 400 Damage dealt only to MP instead of

HP if MP >0

--Support Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Swiftness * 1000 Reduces number of clock ticks needed

to charge up magicks & Limit

--Movement Abilities--

----------------------------------------------------------

Teleport * 650 Teleport to any square when moving

regardless of move range, height,

or obstacles/enemies in the way.

Chance of failure increases with

longer move distance. #

Levitate 540 Permanent Float status (can move

over water as if land, immune to

Earth-elemental attacks, and

increases height by 1)

# Teleport never fails if you teleport only within your regular horizontal move

range. For every additional tile beyond your move range, the chance of failure

increases by 10%. (Teleport always has an infinite vertical range and your Jump

stat has no effect on its failure rate.)

JP to master: 8920

--MY THOUGHTS--

Time Mages mostly play a support role, casting spells to assist allies or keep

the enemies from acting. These abilities can be quite useful, but it’s

probably a good idea to have another ability ready set from another job (e.g.

another magick command) to supplement them with more conventional offense or

defense. The Samurai’s Iaido, if available, is also a good choice since it’s

boosted by the Time Mage’s high magick attack but saves your MP for Time

Magick. Having good magick stats (Magick Attack and Faith) is also important

so that your Hastes and Slows are likely to succeed.

Meteor and the Gravity spells can also be good attack spells, but they can be

somewhat slow, especially Meteor. (Gravity and Graviga are particular useful

against major bosses since they are helpful in cutting down the bosses’ large

HP totals.) Try first casting Immobilize to keep enemies from running out of

your way out of your Meteor. The Time Mage’s own Swiftness support ability

also speeds the charge time of these spells. It’s good for Time Magicks as

well as for Summons and Cloud’s Limit attacks.

A great ability to transfer to other jobs is the Mana Shield reaction ability,

which makes damage go to your MP instead of your HP as long as you have at

least 1 MP. This isn’t so good for magick users since it quickly drains your

MP, but it can be great on physical fighters who weren’t going to use their MP

anyway -- especially if you pair it with Manafont or another ability that lets

you recover MP quickly. Mana Shield is also very helpful in surviving the

Zodiark summon in order to learn it (see Summoner, below).

The Teleport movement ability is also extremely valuable, though isn’t *quite*

as great as it seems. While you can conceivably warp long distances with it,

the further you’re teleporting, the greater the likelihood the teleport will

fail and you’ll end up back where you started, unable to move at all that

turn. However, Teleport still lets you move through enemy units and gives you

an infinite vertical movement range, which completely changes how can you move

around certain maps. For instance, you can teleport right up a castle wall to

attack the Archers up there, or take a shortcut over the side of a cliff. This

can be very helpful in a number of story battles as it lets you get the jump on

range attackers. So just teleport at short ranges and you’ll be fine!

---SUMMONER--------------------------------------------------------------------

Required jobs : Time Mage lv. 3

Needed for jobs : Bard (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5)

Equippable weapons: Staves, rods Movement range : 3

Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3

Physical evade : 5%

Stats When Active Job:

HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***

Stat Growth Rates:

HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *

--ABILITIES--

--Action Abilities: Summon--

Damage based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith

RNG RAD

MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT

---------------------------------------------------------------

Moogle 8 3 4/* 3/2 Ally N 110 "Moogle Charm": Restores HP

Shiva 24 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Glacial Shards": Ice magick

attack

Ramuh * 24 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Judgment Bolt": Lightning magick

attack

Ifrit 24 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Infernal Blaze": Fire magick

attack

Titan * 30 10 4/* 3/2 Foe N 220 "Gaia’s Wrath": Earth magick

attack

Golem * 40 4 All allies N 500 "Earthen Wall": Blocks physical

attacks targeting allies until

its HP damage limit is reached

(not effective against monster

attacks)

Carbuncle 30 5 4/* 3/2 Ally N 350 "Ruby Light": Gives Reflect

status

Bahamut 60 15 4/* 4/3 Foe N 1600&"Megaflare": Non-elemental attack

Odin 50 13 4/* 4/3 Foe N 900& "Obliteration": Non-elemental

attack

Leviathan 48 13 4/* 4/3 Foe N 860& "Tidal Wave": Water magick attack

Salamander 48 13 4/* 3/2 Foe N 860& "Wyrmfire": Fire magick attack

Sylph * 26 7 4/* 3/2 Foe N 400 "Whispering Wind": Inflicts

Silence status

Faerie * 28 7 4/* 3/2 Ally N 400 "Fey Light": Restores HP

Lich * 40 10 4/* 3/2 Foe N 600& "Descending Darkness": Dark

attack; does damage equal to

1/2 of target’s maximum HP but

may miss

Cyclops 62 12 4/* 3/2 Foe N 1000&"Climactic Fear": Non-elemental

attack

Zodiark * 99 17 4/* 4/3 Foe N & "Darkening Cloud": Non-elemental

attack

When Summons are used, a special attack name (not just the name of the sword)

is displayed -- these are listed in quotation marks above.

The Zodiark summon cannot be purchased with JP; it must be learned from the

boss on the last floor of the bonus dungeon. See the Midlight’s Deep battle

strategies for more tips on how to learn it.

--Reaction Abilities--

TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Critical:Recover MP Critical HP Yes 400 Restores MP to maximum

--Support Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Halve MP * 1000 Halves MP cost of abilities

--Movement Abilities--

none

JP to master: 9800

--MY THOUGHTS--

While summons don’t have quite the power in FF Tactics as they do in some other

FF games, they’re still strong. Plus, they have a wide effect radius, and,

unlike Black and White Magick, don’t hurt your teammates or heal the enemies.

The Summon command also offers you a nice mix of both offensive abilities and a

few defensive ones: Moogle and Faerie restore HP, and the very useful Golem

summon blocks all enemy physical attacks for a while. The Lich summon is also

particularly effective against many of the game’s major bosses; it always takes

away half their maximum HP despite their high HP totals.

The disadvantages of Summons are that they take quite a while to charge and

cost a fair amount of MP. The former could be remedied with the Time Mage’s

Swiftness ability, which shortens charge time. MP costs can be dealt with

using the Summoner’s own Halve MP support ability to decrease MP costs, with

equipment that boosts your max MP (all robes, and some hats), or with the

Chemists’s Ethers & Hi-Ethers. There are also some abilities that let you gain

MP from your enemies: The Mystic’s Absorb MP lets you absorb MP from enemy

spells, or you could also pair Summon with Mystic Arts to use Empowerment to

steal enemy’s MP. (Orlandeau’s Duskblade and Beowulf’s Syphon can also steal

MP.) Unfortunately, you can’t equip *both* Swiftness and Halve MP as they use

the same support ability slot, but you could pair Swiftness with MP-boosting

equipment, Items, Empowerment, or Absorb MP.

If you’re trying to master jobs for the purposes of powering up Onion Knight,

note that Summoner isn’t considered Mastered until you learn Zodiark.

---THIEF-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Required jobs : Archer lv. 3

Needed for jobs : Dragoon (lv. 4), Ninja (lv. 5)

Equippable weapons: Knives Movement range : 4

Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 4

Physical evade : 25%

Stats When Active Job:

HP: *** MP: * Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: ****

Stat Growth Rates:

HP: *** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: ***

--ABILITIES--

--Action Abilities: Steal--

Success based on user’s: Speed

RNG RAD

MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT

---------------------------------------------------------------

Steal Gil 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 10 Steal small amount of gil

Steal Heart * 0 3/1 1/- Foe N 150 Inflicts Charm; only effective on

monsters and opposite sex

Steal Helm * 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 350 Steal target’s helmet

Steal Armor * 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 450 Steal target’s armor

Steal Shield * 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 350 Steal target’s shield

Steal Weapon * 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 600 Steal target’s weapon

Steal Accessory 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 500 Steal target’s accessory

Steal EXP 0 1/1 1/- Foe - 250 Steal target’s current EXP

--Reaction Abilities--

TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Vigilance Any HP loss Yes 200 Enter into "Defend" state (doubles

evade rates)

Gil Snapper Any HP loss 200 Receive gil equal to HP lost

Sticky Fingers Throw 200 Blocks Ninja’s Throw attack; thrown

item is added to your inventory!

--Support Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Poach * 200 Monsters KOed with physical attack

are poached and disappear from the

map; item becomes available at

Poachers’ Den

--Movement Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Move +2 * 560 Movement range + 2

Jump +2 500 Jump height + 2

JP to master: 4520

--MY THOUGHTS--

Thieves are poor at magick and only moderately strong physically. But, boy,

are they fast! Their movement range and jump height are both 4, so they can

get across the map quickly.

This job is useful mainly for its abilities. Stealing your opponents’

equipment not only cripples them, but adds items to your inventory--and this is

the best way to get a number of rare items! If you like getting rare items,

you’ll also want Poach; many pieces of equipment can only be obtained through

poaching monsters. (A side note about Poach: this also has the advantage of

removing monsters’ bodies from the map, preventing them from getting revived.)

You could just learn the crucial Steal abilities and then move onto other job.

Ninja, in particular, might be a good to graduate your Thief too, since the

success of Steal is affected by your speed--and Ninjas are even faster than

Thieves!

When Thieves aren’t stealing, they can also fight. Since they can only equip

knives, though, their offense can be somewhat weak on its own. You may want to

use an ability like Equip Axes or Equip Swords to bolster their offense.

If you’re planning on using Steal Heart at all, a female Thief is somewhat more

advantageous to have than a male Thief, as Steal Hearts works on the opposite

gender and there are somewhat more male enemies than female ones.

Move +2 is also a great movement ability and makes characters quite a bit more

mobile. Note that this ability supercedes the Squire’s Move +1 in every way

-- there’s absolutely no trade-off or downside to selecting Move +2 over Move

+1 once you’ve learned +2.

The Thief’s reaction abilities, on the other hand, tend not to be too useful.

Gil Snapper is worthless as the amount of gil you receive from it is so small--

the same goes for Steal Gil. Sticky Fingers is not particularly useful for the

bulk of the game as you won’t fight too many Ninjas, but can be used in the

optional sidequests to harvest rare weapons from high-level enemy Ninjas. So,

again, if you like rare items, Thief is your job :)

---ORATOR----------------------------------------------------------------------

Required jobs : Mystic lv. 3

Needed for jobs : Bard (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5)

Equippable weapons: Knives, guns Movement range : 3

Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3

Innate ability: Beast Tongue Physical evade : 5%

Stats When Active Job:

HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ***

Stat Growth Rates:

HP: *** MP: * Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *

--ABILITIES--

--Action Abilities: Speechcraft--

Success based on user’s: Magick Attack

RNG RAD

MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT

---------------------------------------------------------------

Entice * 0 3/3 1/- Foe N 100 Target becomes a guest ally and

joins permanently after battle.

(Does not work on story

characters.)

Stall 0 3/3 1/- Any N 100 Resets target’s CT

Praise 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Raises Bravery by 4 #

Intimidate * 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Lowers Bravery by 20 &

Preach 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Raises Faith by 4 #

Enlighten * 0 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Lowers Faith by 20 &

Condemn 0 3/3 1/- Any N 500 Causes Doom status (enemy is KOed

after 3 turns)

Beg 0 3/3 1/- Foe N 100 Receive gil from enemy

Insult 0 3/3 1/- Any N 300 Causes Berserk status

Mimic Darlavon 0 3/3 2/* Any N 300 Causes Sleep status

Speechcraft abilities cannot target monsters unless the user has the Beast

Tongue ability. Orators have this ability innately, but other jobs will have

to equip it.

# Note: These abilities change Faith or Bravery by 4. 3 points of this change

remains only for the battle, but 1 is permanent.

& Note: These abilities change Faith or Bravery by 20. 5 points of this change

is permanent.

--Reaction Abilities--

TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Earplug Speechcraft Yes 300 Cancels Speechcraft ability used on

character

--Support Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Equip Guns +* 800 Can equip guns regardless of job

Tame 500 Physical attacks will recruit

monsters if they have critical HP

(< 20% of max)

Beast Tongue +* 100 Can use Speechcraft against monsters

--Movement Abilities--

none

JP to master: 3900

--MY THOUGHTS--

Like Time Mages, Orators play a supplementary role. One of their main purpose

is to recruit enemy units -- if you want to recruit monsters on this team, you

need this job! (To recruit monsters, either use Entice + Beast Tongue, or

equip Tame and hit monsters with a physical attack.)

Equip Guns is the other key Orator ability. While Orators can equip guns

naturally, Equip Guns lets you transfer this ability to other jobs. Having the

long range of a gun is handy for "support" jobs that aren’t going to be on the

front lines.

Finally, the Orator lets you play with Bravery and Faith statistics. Boosting

your Bravery is particularly useful as it increases the strenght of some

attacks and makes your Reaction Ability more likely to activate -- and has no

side effects. However, you can just as easily raise your Bravery with Ramza’s

Steel ability, which also has the advantage that it never misses. Since Faith

controls both the damage you deal with magick and receive from enemy magick, it

can also be advantageous to raise your magick users’ Faith (making them

stronger) and lower everyone else’s Faith (since they won’t be using magick,

decreasing their Faith makes enemy magick less effective). It’s not essential

to tweak your Bravery and Faith like this, but if you DO want to do so, a good

tactic is to do it in a random battle against weaker monsters (e.g. at Mandalia

Plain), where you can use Speechcraft with less enemy interference. A tough

story battle is not a good place to grind Bravery and Faith.

You can safely skip Earplug since you’ll face enemy Orators only very rarely.

---MYSTIC----------------------------------------------------------------------

Required jobs : White Mage lv. 3

Needed for jobs : Orator (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 4)

Equippable weapons: Staves, rods, poles, books Movement range : 3

Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3

Physical evade : 5%

Stats When Active Job:

HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***

Stat Growth Rates:

HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *

--ABILITIES--

--Action Abilities: Mystic Arts--

Success based on user’s: Magick Attack & Faith, plus target’s Faith

RNG RAD

MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT

---------------------------------------------------------------

Umbra 4 RA 2 4/* 2/1 Any N 100 Causes Blind status

Empowerment * 2 2 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Drains MP from target to caster;

amount drained is 1/3 of

target’s maximum MP

Invigoration 16 2 4/* 1/- Any N 350 Drains MP from target to caster;

amount drained is 1/4 of

target’s maximum HP

Belief * 6 RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Faith status (character

has 100 Faith; both character’s

own magick and others’ magick

targeting the character are

maximally effective)

Disbelief * 6 RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Atheist status (character

cannot use magick but is also

immune to others’ magick)

Corruption 20RA 5 4/* 1/- Any N 300 Causes Undead status

Quiescence 16RA 3 4/* 1/- Any N 170 Causes Silence status

Fervor 16RA 5 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Berserk status

Trepidation * 20RA 4 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Lowers target’s Bravery by 30

Delirium 20RA 5 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Confuse status

Harmony 34 A 3 4/* 1/- Any N 800 Removes Float, Reraise, Regen,

Invisible, Protect, Shell,

Haste, Faith, Reflect

Hesitation * 10RA 5 4/* 2/0 Any N 100 Causes Disable status

Repose 24RA 6 4/* 2/1 Any N 350 Causes Sleep status

Induration 16RA 10 4/* 1/- Any N 600 Causes Stone status

--Reaction Abilities--

TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Absorb MP Magick Yes 250 Gain MP equal to MP cost of spell

--Support Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Defense Boost * 400 Lowers physical damage received

--Movement Abilities--

JP EFFECT

----------------------------------------------------------

Ignore Weather 200 Move through swamps at normal speed

even if it’s raining; cancels

weather effects on Black Magick

Manafont 350 Restores some MP whenever you move

JP to master: 5970

--MY THOUGHTS--

Mystics specialize in inflicting status conditions on their foes. These spells

often fail, so if you want to use this job, a character with high Faith is

necessary to increase your success rate. In general, though, Mystic is just

not a very useful job. They don’t have much in the way of direct offense or

defense, and their status affliction spells just aren’t useful enough to

compensate for their charge time, MP cost, and success rate. Mustadio and,

later, Beowulf are much more effective at inflicting these kinds of status

conditions.

Defense Boost can be a somewhat useful support ability, however.

---GEOMANCER-------------------------------------------------------------------

Required jobs : Monk lv. 4

Needed for jobs : Ninja (lv. 2), Dancer (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5),

Dark Knight (lv. 8)

Equippable weapons: Swords, axes Movement range : 4

Equippable armor: Shields, hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3

Physical evade : 10%

Stats When Active Job:

HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: ***

Stat Growth Rates:

HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *

--ABILITIES--

--Action Abilities: Geomancy--

Damage based on user’s: Physical Attack & Magick Attack

RNG RAD

MP TIC H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sinkhole * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes

Immobilize

Torrent 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Water attack, causes Toad

Tanglevine * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes Stop

Contortion * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes

Stone

Tremor 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Earth attack, causes Confuse

Wind Slash * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Disable

Will-o’-the-Wisp * 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Fire attack, causes Sleep

Quicksand 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Water attack, causes Doom

Sandstorm 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Blind

Snowstorm 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Ice attack, causes Silence

Wind Blast 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Slow

Magma Surge 0 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Fire attack, instant KO

All Geomancy abilities do more damage when the user has high physical attack

and magick attack stats, but magick attack increases the damage more than

physical attack.

Note: During battle, only one Geomancy ability is available for use at any

given time. The available ability is determined by the terrain type of the

tile on which the user is standing: