Job Classes

Squire

The Squire is a starting job that serves as the foundation for many advanced classes. They’re especially useful in the early battles, but don’t write them off too quickly—some of their abilities can remain valuable throughout the game.

Chemist

The Chemist is a starting job that serves as the foundation for many other classes. On their own, they aren’t particularly strong—early on. They struggle in battle, and even when they gain the ability to equip guns later in the game, their offensive power remains underwhelming.

However, what makes the Chemist invaluable is their Item skill. When used as a secondary ability by other job classes, it provides unmatched utility, offering healing and support options that can turn the tide of battle.

Knight

Knights are sturdy frontline fighters, armed with heavy armor and swords that give them strong offense and defense. Their ability to wear heavy gear makes them tough to take down, but their Break skills often feel unnecessary in regular battles since most enemies don’t survive long enough for them to matter.

However, these abilities truly shine in tougher fights, especially against bosses and Zodiac Brave enemies. In crucial one-on-one duels—like Ramza’s solo battles—breaking an opponent’s weapon or armor can make all the difference, and the best part is, it even works on the final boss.

White Mage/Priest

White Mages, also known as Priests in the PS1 original, are dedicated healers, using White Magic to keep their allies alive while also wielding powerful holy spells. Their ability to cast healing and protective magic makes them invaluable, but their reliance on MP and charge times can be frustrating. Spells like Raise and Esuna are essential for survival, but missing a revive or accidentally healing an undead enemy can be a real setback. While items may offer more reliability in some cases, the Priest’s Holy spell is a devastating attack, especially against the undead and Zodiac Braves.

Archer

Archers specialize in long-range attacks, using bows and crossbows to strike enemies from a safe distance. Positioning is key for them, as they deal consistent damage while staying out of harm’s way. Their Charge abilities let them power up their shots for greater damage, but they require good timing to be effective.

Learning Concentrate is crucial, as it ensures their attacks hit—without it, their accuracy can be frustratingly unreliable. Despite their simplicity, Archers remain a solid choice for ranged combat, especially in open battlefields.

Monk

Monks are powerful martial artists who fight with their fists instead of weapons. They have high attack power but lack armor, making them vulnerable to strong hits. Despite this, their versatile abilities make them one of the most useful job classes. From self-healing and reviving allies to dealing area damage, Monks have skills that can turn the tide of battle. Their abilities require no MP, making them reliable in long fights.

Black Mage/Wizard

Black Mages, also known as Wizards in the PS1 original, are powerful offensive spellcasters, specializing in elemental magic. Their spells deal significant damage and can target multiple enemies at once, making them invaluable in early battles. However, they have low defense and can be taken down quickly if not protected. While Wizards remain useful throughout the game, Summoners eventually surpass them in raw power.

Time Mage

Time Mages manipulate the flow of time, allowing them to speed up allies, slow down enemies, and even stop them entirely. While they may not have the immediate impact of Black Mages/Wizards or Priests/White Mages, their abilities can turn the tide of battle when used strategically. Many of their spells work best when combined with a high-speed unit or as a secondary skill set for a more durable class.

The time mage's only offensive spells are Meteor and the Gravity spells (which hurt enemies by a quarter/half their max HP, including bosses). They also need good faith for even their Haste spell to work reliably. Meteor is devastating, but takes a long time to charge even with Swiftspell. It is arguably the slowest or most expensive spell to cast/learn, and cannot be used with Arithmeticks/Calculators.

Summoner

Summoners wield the most powerful magic in the game, capable of calling forth legendary beings to devastate enemies. Their summons have high MP costs and long charge times, requiring careful MP management. Their supportive summons, like Moogle/Mogri and Faerie/Fairy, also make them surprisingly effective healers.

Leviathan has a 40% chance of randomly being learned in battle by a summoner who has not yet learned it and is not KO'd by it, or absorbs at least 1 HP worth of damage. Nullifying the damage does not count. Salamander has a 30% chance of being learned, while Odin, Bahamut, and Lich have a 20% chance of being learned. Cyclops has a 10% chance of being learned, and Zodiark has a 90% chance of being learned. Only one person can learn the esper per casting.

Thief

Thieves aren’t the strongest fighters, but they make up for it with speed and the ability to steal valuable gear. While their direct attacks are weak, their Steal abilities allow you to strip enemies of weapons, armor, and accessories, making them an easy target. A well-trained Thief can acquire powerful equipment early in the game, making them an essential part of any strategic party setup.

The Thief is the only job, aside from Luso’s Game Hunter, that can turn defeated monsters into items redeemable at the Poacher’s Den. Many rare pieces of equipment are obtainable only through poaching specific monsters. The Thief’s Sticky Fingers ability lets them catch thrown items and add them to the inventory, effectively countering a Ninja’s Throw attacks.

Mystic/Oracle

Mystics, also known as Oracles in the PS1 original, use Yin-Yang Magic to manipulate enemy status conditions, but their spells often lack reliability due to low accuracy. Since most battles end quickly, spending turns inflicting debuffs isn’t always efficient.

However, their abilities can be valuable in strategic encounters, especially against tougher enemies. Many players primarily use the Oracle class as a stepping stone to unlock Orator/Mediator and Arithmetician/Calculator, which offer more impactful abilities.

Orator/Mediator

Orators, also known as Mediators in the PS1 original, specialize in persuasion, using their words to influence allies and enemies alike. They can recruit monsters, manipulate battle conditions, and even use guns to support their team from a distance. While their abilities might seem situational, they can be invaluable when used strategically, especially for raising Brave or Faith to optimize a unit’s effectiveness.

Orators are the only basic job, aside from Chemists and Onion Knights, that can equip guns. Their support ability, Equip Guns, can greatly enhance the combat power of Knights or Archers - especially when paired with rare Magick Guns. This setup allows units to charge with a low-level Aim or use Arts of War abilities to reduce an enemy’s Speed from a safe distance.

Geomancer

Geomancers channel the power of the terrain to attack enemies with elemental forces. While their attacks aren't the strongest, they have a unique advantage: each attack has a chance to inflict status effects, making them unpredictable and disruptive. Their abilities don't consume MP, and they can equip swords, allowing them to fight effectively in close combat as well.

The formula of the power of all Geomancy abilities are the same:
Magickal Attack × ( Physical Attack / 2 + 1 )

The chances of statuses with each attack is 25%.

Dragoon/Lancer

Dragoons, also known as Lancers in the PS1 original, are powerful warriors with high mobility and devastating Jump attacks. Their signature ability allows them to leap into the air, evading attacks while preparing to strike with immense force.

Timing is key - if the enemy moves before landing, the attack will miss. However, when used correctly, Jump can deal serious damage and even bypass certain obstacles on the battlefield.

Samurai

Samurai are powerful warriors with a strong balance of offense and defense. They specialize in using katanas to summon spirits, unleashing unique effects in battle.

However, there is 1/8 chance that using an Iaido/Draw Out ability will break the drawn katana. The player only needs the katana in their inventory, not equipped, to use the ability. Iaido abilities are katana-specific, and since their power is determined by the user's magick power rather than physical power, equipping the support ability Arcane Strength learned from the Black Mage/Wizard can boost their power.

While the job is powerful on its own, katanas scale in damage based on bravery, and lack the stable damage/Holy Sword compatibility with normal swords, while also lacking the bravery damage input and passive buffs from knight swords. This means the Samurai's damage tends to fall behind special knights (or gallant knight for Ramza Beoulve) in terms of pure physical power. Similarly, Shirahadori is a reaction ability also dependent upon bravery, making the unit dodge virtually any physical attack, though it will not help against special knights.

Ninja

Ninjas are some of the fastest and deadliest fighters in battle, excelling at both close and long-range attacks. Their ability to wield two weapons at once makes them incredibly dangerous, but their defense is weak. Equipping armor can help compensate for this drawback, turning them into even more formidable warriors.

Ninja are self-sufficient units. Their Throw is potent, specially with easily disposable weapons, such as axes and flails, which naturally have high attack power. Bombs can also do extra damage to monsters' weaknesses, though Throw needs their high speed to do more damage.

Given their natural high evasion, when equipped with cloaks, Ninjas can become virtually impossible to hit by physical and even magickal attacks. By equipping the Samurai's Shirahadori, this becomes even more powerful. To further capitalize on their strengths, Ninja can be equipped with Thief's Move +2 (or Bard's Movement +3, if male) and the Germinas Boots to give them unmatched mobility.

Arithmetician/Calculator

Arithmeticians, also known as Calculators in the PS1 original, are potentially the most powerful magick unit in the game. Their abilities are used without MP cost or charge time. Calculations are done by choosing a condition, like level, then choosing a number, like 5. With those conditions, the arithmetician will cast a selected spell targeting all units (allies and foes) whose level is a multiple of 5.

Pairing a Summoner with Math Skills lets you cast spells without using MP or charge time. To get the most out of this class, make sure your character has mastered plenty of White, Black, and Time magic. However, setting up the right conditions for Calculator abilities can sometimes be more effort than it’s worth.

The damage/healing formula for Arithmeticks is as follows:
Magick Attack × PWR × ( Faith / 100 ) × ( Target Faith / 100 )

The success rate of inflicting statuses is as follows:
( Magick Attack + PWR ) × ( Faith / 100 ) × ( Target Faith / 100 )

Note: To use Math Skills, you must first learn at least one condition (CT, Level, Exp, or Height) and one number (Prime, 3, 4, or 5).

Bard (Males only)

Bards use their songs to support allies in battle, enhancing their abilities and keeping them in the fight longer. With the power of music, they can restore MP, heal wounds, and even boost stats like speed and attack. While they aren’t front-line fighters, their supportive role makes them invaluable in strategic battles. Their attribute-enhancing songs are particularly useful in long fights, with all allies alive to have stat buffs stack. Or, the bard moves with Treasure Hunter while singing in the late game to obtain rare treasures.

The bard has high magickal stats, but unfortunately, neither Arcane Strength nor Swiftness will improve the amount healed, physical attack of instruments, nor the frequency of Bardsong (these do not scale despite magick attack being used in some formulas).

Bards have poor defensive capabilities as Magick/Faith Boost do not improve Bardsong, but bards are useful for JP-grinding, because once selected, the ability will repeat, earning the same amount of EXP and JP. For example, if the player has selected Seraph Song (which will replenish Mana Shield) and the CT is 10 turns, it will repeat after 10 turns provided the player has not selected another ability to be performed.

Dancer (Females only)

Dancers use their mesmerizing performances to weaken enemies in battle. Each dance has a unique effect, from lowering enemy stats to inflicting random status ailments. While they may not deal direct damage, their abilities can shift the tide of battle in subtle but powerful ways.

While most dances are chance-based, both Witch Hunt and Mincing Minuet are affected by the dancer's physical attack and bravery attributes. However, given that the dancer has a low attack growth, improving the dancer's durability by using Defense Boost or evasion (bypassing performance) means she can activate her dance effects more often (speed only affects when the dancer starts, not the speed of the dances themselves).

The Samurai has Shirahadori to evade enemy attacks even while dancing. Also, if the Dancer is Invisible while dancing (reacting with Vanish from weak friendly fire could work) and does not change dances/actions, she will continue to be undetectable.

Mime

Mimes have a unique ability to copy their allies' actions, perfectly replicating physical attacks, spells, and abilities without consuming MP. However, they cannot mimic special skills like Orlandu's Sword Skills or Mustadio's Snipe. Their effectiveness depends on positioning and timing, making them a strategic but unpredictable asset in battle.

If an ally uses a Potion, the Mime will do the same on its next turn. If an ally attacks an enemy directly ahead, the Mime will mirror that action as well. Using a Mime effectively requires planning, but the reward is that they act once for every allied human unit in battle. Thanks to their strong stats and innate support skills, Mimes are capable physical fighters.

The Mime job boasts the highest base stats and growths in nearly every category. Many min-max players aim to unlock Mime early and use degenerator traps to push their stats to levels otherwise impossible.

Mimes can also be used strategically for indirect offense - attacking enemies from different angles or ranges when the original attacker can’t reach. For example, if a unit attacks two tiles forward and one left, the Mime will copy that action and may strike an enemy positioned there. However, players must be cautious when using Martial Arts skills on uneven terrain, as even a 0.5 height difference can cause abilities like Revive or Doom Fist to fail.

They are useful with classes independent of range, such as Arithmeticians, Dancers, and Bards, as the Mime will continuously perform their actions; Arithmeticks instantly casts various spells based on formulas, Bardsong buffs allies, and Dance debuffs enemies or can chip away at HP after every ally's turn without positional setup. Though Bard and Dancer are gender-exclusive classes, a mime can mimic them no matter their gender.

Dark Knight

Dark Knights wield the power of darkness to drain their enemies' health and magic while sacrificing their own life force to unleash devastating attacks. This job class is available in “Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions” that was released for PlayStation Portable, iOS, and Android.

In the PS1 original PlayStation version, this job was exclusive to Gaffgarion and called Fell Knight. While their abilities share similarities, Gaffgarion's versions are slightly stronger.

*In addition to the job class requirements, a party member must land the killing blow on twenty enemies. They must die. Meaning, their death counter must run out during battle. The enemy must turn into a crystal or treasure chest.

Onion Knight

At first glance, Onion Knight has low stats and no active abilities, making it seem unimpressive. However, its true strength comes from mastering other jobs—similar to the Freelancer class in “Final Fantasy V.“ The more jobs a unit masters, the stronger the Onion Knight becomes.

To level up as an Onion Knight, a character must master two jobs for each level gained. Reaching the maximum level requires mastering a total of 14 jobs. However, Squire, Chemist, Mime, and Dark Knight do not count toward this progression.

This job class is available in “Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions” that was released for PlayStation Portable, iOS, and Android.