Black Mage
How to obtain it
You receive it from Shinra after completing Mission 2Strengths & weaknesses
Great Magic and Magical Defence (*****), very good MP (****), average Agility(***), relatively weak Evasion and Luck (**) and weak HP, Strength, Defence and Accuracy (*)Comments
You get this one fairly early in the game, and while this job has been around forever, and not just in FF games, it's always good to have a Black Mage in your team. Sure, a part of her stats are very low, but only the low HP and Defence are a real bother - Strength and Accuracy being irrelevant since she doesn't even have the Attack command. Sure, it's a little disappointing that her only spells are the four elementals (fire, ice, thunder and water - there's no Gravitas or other Ultima!), but it's still a very useful dressphere as long as you know what you're dealing with (i.e. you know the strengths and weaknesses towards elemental spells of your opponents). You'll want to have at least one girl learn the spells as quickly as possible| Name | AP | MP | When to learn | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | - | 4 | A | weak magical fire attack against one target or entire target party |
| Blizzard | - | 4 | A | weak magical ice attack against one target or entire target party |
| Thunder | - | 4 | A | weak magical thunder attack against one target or entire target party |
| Water | - | 4 | A | weak magical water attack against one target or entire target party |
| Fira | 40 | 12 | B | intermediate magical fire attack against one target or entire target party |
| Blizzara | 40 | 12 | B | intermediate magical blizzara attack against one target or entire target party |
| Thundara | 40 | 12 | B | intermediate magical thunder attack against one target or entire target party |
| Watera | 40 | 12 | B | intermediate magical water attack against one target or entire target party |
| Firaga | 100 | 24 | C (Fira) | strong magical fire attack against one target or entire target party |
| Blizzaga | 100 | 24 | C (Blizzara) | strong magical ice attack against one target or entire target party |
| Thundaga | 100 | 24 | C (Thundara) | strong magical thunder attack against one target or entire target party |
| Waterga | 100 | 24 | C (Watera) | strong magical water attack against one target or entire target party |
| Focus | 10 | - | B | user gains 3 levels in Magic |
| MP Absorb | 10 | - | C (Focus) | user steals MP from one target; they are added to user's MP gauge |
| Black Magic Lv2 | 40 | - | C (MP Absorb) | reduce preparation time of black magic spells by 30% (auto) |
| Black Magic Lv3 | 60 | - | C (Black Magic Lv2) | reduce preparation time of black magic spells by 50% (auto) |
Gun Mage
How to obtain it
The easiest way is to give the "Shave a Hypello" mission a try (Chapter 1, Sidequests, Moonflow): you will receive the dressphere even if you're not successful, as long as you escort the Hypello all the way to his destination. However, you can also get it by completing the "YRP, the scalpers three" mission (Chapter 2, Sidequests, Moonflow): this time you must sell at least 6 tickets and break even (or make a benefice)Strengths & weaknesses
Very good Magic, Magical Defence, Agility and Accuracy (****), average MP and Strength (***), relatively weak HP, Defence and Luck (**) and weak Evasion (*)Comments
If you're interested in getting this dressphere (it's only available through sidequests: if you don't visit the Moonflow during either Chapter 1 or 2, you won't get it) you should do so as early as possible: on top of the regular abilities that can be learned with AP points, you'll have 16 others that can be learned from your opponents which are called "Blue Bullet" (often refered to as "Blue Magic" as well by long time FF players *g*) . Any time a fiend uses one of these abilities against a Gun Mage (note that the girl must be in Gun Mage, not just have the Gun Mage dressphere in her list or equiped on her garnment grid....), she learns it and can use it any time from then on (as long as she has enough MP - most of them require quite a few....)Personally, I haven't played much with the Gun Mage the first time around, but that's not to say it's not an interesting job, especially if you manage to master some of the rarest abilities fiends can teach you, in which case she becomes a powerful option
| Name | AP | MP | When to learn | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | - | - | A | physical attack against one target |
| Blue Bullet | - | - | A | use of one of the 16 blue bullet magics if available (see description above and chart below) |
| Scan | - | - | A | reveal an enemy's HP, MP, elemental affinities and resistance to status |
| Shell Cracker | 20 | 3 | B | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against helm-type enemy |
| Anti-Aircraft | 20 | 3 | B | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against flying (bird- or wasp-type) enemy |
| Silver Bullet | 20 | 3 | B | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against canine-type enemy |
| Flan Eater | 20 | 3 | B | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against flan-type enemy |
| Elementillery | 20 | 3 | C (Flan Eater) | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against element-type enemy |
| Killasaurus | 20 | 3 | B | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against reptile-type enemy |
| Drake Slayer | 20 | 3 | C (Killasaurus) | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against drake-type enemy |
| Dismantler | 20 | 3 | B | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against machine-type enemy |
| Mech Destroyer | 20 | 3 | C (Dismantler) | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against mech-type enemy |
| Demon Muzzle | 20 | 3 | C (Anti-Aircraft) | physical attack four time more powerful than regular against imp/ evil eye-type enemy |
| Fiend Hunter Lv2 | 30 | - | B | preparation time of Fiend Hunter technics reduced by 40% (auto) |
| Scan 2 | 20 | - | B | add zoom and rotate to Scan abilities |
| Scan 3 | 100 | - | C (Scan 2) | add the ability to scan also own party members to Scan 2 |
Note: details on blue bullet magics: coming soon!
White Mage
How to obtain it
You receive it when you complete Mission 3 "Find Wakka" (Chapter 1, part 2)Strengths & weaknesses
Great Magical Defence (*****), very good Magic (****), average MP and Agility(***), relatively weak Evasion and Luck (**) and weak HP, Strength, Defence and Accuracy (*)Comments
Once I got the white mage dressphere, I started to wonder how I had done without it for all that time. Despite stats that are even weaker than those of the Black Mage, the White Mage manages to be one of the most useful jobs around. Not only does she cast Cure and the likes, but she also protects from enemies' attacks and even dispel your enemy's positive status spells.This job comes particularly in handy when you face bosses, so you'll probably want to teach her Cura, Esuna and Life as early as possible, before the next boss' fight in Chapter 1 Zanarkand. Don't forget then to teach her White Magic Lv2 as well so that your White Mage takes less time to prepare them. A good way to win AP easily is to cast Pray (which doesn't require any MP and that she casts without preparation time) as long as at least one of your girls misses 1 HP - your White Mage should learn abilities in no time!
| Name | AP | MP | When to learn | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pray | - | - | A | all members of party recover a little HP |
| Vigor | 20 | - | B | user recovers half of their HP |
| Cure | - | 4 | A | target (one or all member of party) recovers a small amount of HP |
| Cura | 40 | 10 | B | target (one or all member of party) recovers an intermediate amount of HP |
| Curaga | 80 | 20 | C (Cura) | target (one or all member of party) recovers an important amount of HP |
| Regen | 80 | 40 | (Curaga) | target automatically recovers a small amount of HP at every turn during a certain amount of time |
| Esuna | 20 | 10 | B | dissipate the taget's following negative status: berserk, confuse, curse, darkness, itchy, petrification, pointless, poison, silence, sleep, slow, stop |
| Dispel | 30 | 12 | C (Esuna) | dissipate the target's following positive status: auto-life, shell, protect, reflect, regen, haste, spellspring |
| Life | 30 | 18 | B | revive one girl and give her half of her maximum HP |
| Full-Life | 160 | 60 | C (Life) | revive one girl and give her back her maximum HP |
| Shell | 30 | 10 | B | cast shell (all magics' impact divided by 2) on entire party target |
| Protect | 30 | 12 | C (Shell) | cast protect (all physical attacks' damages divided by 2) on entire party target |
| Reflect | 30 | 14 | C (Protect) | cast reflect (reflects back all magic) on entire party target |
| Full-Cure | 80 | 99 | C (Regen) | restore target's full HP and cure from all following negatie status: berserk, confuse, curse, darkness, itchy, petrification, pointless, poison, silence, sleep, slow, stop |
| White Magic Lv2 | 40 | - | C (Vigor) | reduce preparation time of white magic spells by 30% (auto) |
| White Magic Lv3 | 60 | - | C (White Magic Lv2) | reduce preparation time of white magic spells by 50% (auto) |
Alchemist
How to obtain it
You can obtain it in Chapter 2 in the ruins of the Calm Lands, once Clasko can open his chocobo ranch - note that there are several conditions to that, please refer to the walkthrough (can be also obtained in Chapter 3 or 5, at the same conditions)Strengths & weaknesses
Very good Accuracy (****), average Agility and Luck (***), relatively weak HP, Strength and Defence (**) and weak MP, Magic, Magical Defence and Evasion (*)Comments
This dressphere is usually very popular, and for very good reasons. For one, she can produce a large aray of various healing items out of nowhere (unfortunately, the preparation time is quite long) and double the effects of almost every other item she uses from her stock, once you've learned the right ability. And that's not all! Maybe the best of all is the mix ability, allowing her to combine two items to create effects that sometimes cannot be obtained otherwise. Once you know what you're actually doing, the Alchemist's abilities can actually turn the tide in your favor during just about any battle. Definitely worth learning her abilities, even if they are very AP-consuming, more so than any other dressphere in the game!Personally, I'd say that you can go without an Alchimist, although it is a fun job. If this you're playing a regular new game (as opposed to new game+) you may wish to have only one girl learning all the abilities, as she can come in handy at just any level of the game
| Name | AP | MP | When to learn | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | - | - | A | physical attack against one target |
| Mix | - | - | A | combine two items from your stock for various effects |
| Potion | 10 | - | B | use Potion without depleting the stock (recover 200 HP - one target) |
| Hi-Potion | 40 | - | C (Potion) | use Hi-Potion without depleting the stock (recover 1000 HP - one target) |
| Mega-Potion | 120 | - | C (Hi-Potion) | use Mega-Potion without depleting the stock (recover 2000 HP - all members of target party) |
| X-Potion | 160 | - | C (Mega-Potion) | use X-Potion without depleting the stock (recover maximum HP, up to 9999 HP - one target) |
| Remedy | 20 | - | B | use Remedy without depleting the stock (cure most statuses, i.e. berserk, confuse, curse, darkness, itchy, petrification, poison, pointless, silence, sleep, slow and stop - one target) |
| Dispel Tonic | 20 | - | C (Remedy) | use Dispel Tonic without depleting the stock (dispel positive status haste, protect, shell, reflect, regen and auto-life - one target) |
| Phoenix Down | 30 | - | B | use Phoenix Down without depleting the stock (revive one party member and restore 1/4 of their HP) |
| Mega Phoenix | 200 | - | C (Phoenix Down) | use Mega Phoenix without depleting the stock (revive all party members and restores 1/4 of their HP) |
| Ether | 400 | - | C (Dispel Tonic) | use Ether without depleting the stock (recover 100 MP - one target) |
| Elixir | 999 | - | C (Ether) | use Potion without depleting the stock (recover all HP and MP - one target) |
| Items Lv2 | 30 | - | B | reduce preparation time for stock items by 80% (auto) |
| Chemist | 40 | - | B | double HP and MP recovery effects of stock items (auto) |
| Elementalist | 80 | - | B | double elemental damages of stock items (auto) |
| Physicist | 100 | - | B | double non-elemental damages of stock items (auto) |
Note: details on mix results: coming soon!
