Unit Build Guide Author: MAtt5TER/Nightning Contact GameFAQs Private Messaging [ http://www.gamefaqs.com/pm/new ] Unit Build Guide In this guide, I will describe the job and equipment combinations in this game that I consider "broken" or vastly overpowered. Because I created this topic for my own reference, take this topic however you will. In creating these builds, I make the following assumptions: 1. My opponent is the game's AI. This assumption means that I will take advantage of any game restrictions or advantages, including enemy variety, bugs, and glitches. 2. Probability is fair. If the game's hit percentage says "50%", I will assume hat the ability will work half of the time. 3. Unless specified, pre-battle factors, such as job unlock requirements, AP requirements, and item limitations, are at their highest potential. I assume that I have access to 99 of each item unless the game restricts me from getting more of the same item (e.g. assume all Scion and Tear items are at 1). 4. Damage Mechanics for this game closely follow the formula listed here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/ 937330-final-fantasy-tactics-a2-grimoire-of-the-rift/44029339 Ctrl + F tags: races are identified using {M}, {V}, {B}, {H}, etc. [first letter of respective race names] ================= ==1. INFINITE LOOP== - prevent your opponents from acting through ability repetition. Perhaps a video is the best explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-rZcmIY9Ig {V} Red Mage/Summoner (Red Mage makes for a better primary job than Summoner due to better job bonuses) (R) Regenerate (P) Blood Price ~ Chameleon Robe + {M} Moogle Knight/Juggler (R) Critical: Quicken (P) Concentration ~ Venus Blade Note: There are some other ways to set up the Infinite Loop. For an example by setting up the loop with 2 Scholars {N}, you may not even have to move! Or, you can use {H} Seer￾fs Magick Frenzy in place of Red Mage's Doublecast. ================= ==2. EVASION BUILD== - I believe that the first usage of an Evasion build was found in this topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/ 937330-final-fantasy-tactics-a2-grimoire-of-the-rift/44463983 The general idea is to use a combination of Reverie Shield, Azure Tear, and natural Evasion bonuses from certain jobs to reduce the chances of receiving hits to low levels. The Clan Privilege, Agility^ 5, adds even more Evasion. Note that Evasion does not affect Debuff hit chances; that's what Resilience (a hidden stat) is for. ===Dark Matter=== {M} Moogle Knight/Item (R) Evade Magick (P) Ribbon-bearer ~ Angel Ring Ribbon Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Azure Tear The item Dark Matter deals 999 damage to all enemies when fully charged (requires 255 uses of Knots of Rust). Because most battles end before the end of your first turn when using a fully charged Dark Matter, you effectively skip whatever laws have been placed on you as well. Only 2 battles involving end-game boss do not end after you￾fve used Dark Matter. This build is obviously not practical because getting 255 Knots of Rust is not likely in the first place. ===Roulette Abuse=== - Perhaps a video is the best explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ux8XGwOHpc The Blue Mage's Roulette spell randomly auto-KOs 1 unit on the field. When there are most enemies than allies, the chances for Roulette to hit the enemies becomes higher than 50%. When it's 6 against 1, the chances of Roulette hitting an enemy is about 85.7%. {H} Ninja/Blue Mage (R) Reflex (P) Shieldbearer ~ Angel Ring Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Azure Tear Wygar/(Ribbon) ===Cornered Abuse=== - Perhaps a video is the best explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ7J8Ofh9dQ Cornered deals 999 damage under specific conditions, so simply force those conditions to occur more often! {H} Ninja/Blue Mage (R) Reflex (P) Shieldbearer ~ Angel Ring/ Orb of Minwu/(Ribbon) Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Azure Tear Originally thought to have worked only at low levels (lower than 6, 6 can work if lucky with stat growths) Kajoshiki pointed out that White Monk￾fs Revive revives units at 1 HP: ===Cornered Supporter=== {B} Master Monk/White Monk (R) Reflex/Dragonheart (P) Shieldbearer ~ Angel Ring Orb of Minwu Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Armlet of Whispers/Ninja Tabi/(absorption armor) ===Vanish Turtling=== {V} Sniper/Summoner (R) Evade Magick (P) Shieldbearer ~ Angel Ring Ribbon Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Azure Tear/Ring of the Precepts I￾fm terribly sorry; I can￾ft recall who first thought of this build. The invincible defensive build: use Vanish and never act until one or more of your lan members have fallen in battle. Then, cast Phoenix and go right back into Vanish state the turn after. Use 2 of this build and alternate between Vanish states to be even more invincible. Just don￾ft break the law, or Phoenix cannot revive. ==3. SEMI-EVASION BUILD== - You can only use 1 Evasion build since there is only 1 Azure Tear available in the game. Semi-evasion builds are evasion builds without Azure Tear. They simply use Evasion boosts as defense, essentially to reduce damage taken. These builds can afford to take hits from the lower Evasion stat due to the lack of Azure Tear because the set up for these builds are not as delicate as Evasion builds. However, these builds are generally less powerful. Evasion Ultima builds also belong to this category, but I will explain them in another section. ===Scion Rush=== {M} Moggle Knight/Juggler (R) Evade Magick (P) Ribbon-bearer ~ Angel Ring Ribbon Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Ring of the Precepts/Armlet of Whispers Create a ￾gSmile Toss loop￾h by using Smile back and forth between 2 Moogles to build up the Smash Gauge, then use Ring of the Precepts and Armlet of Whispers in that order. Ring of the Precepts has an independent 50% chance of KO￾fing each unit on the map. So, it is likely to KO about 3 enemies. Equip Angel Ring on every ally to avoid the drawback of having your allies KO￾fd. Next, have another ally use Armlet of Whispers to KO another enemy, leaving only 2 enemies left. Right off the bat, it￾fs 6 against 2! ==4. RANGED ULTIMA BUILD== - Ultima abilities essentially KO a target, so they are among surest way to KO an enemy. So, with 6 Ultima users, you win the battle in 6 turns! In addition to high damage, Ultima ability￾fs range depends on the equipped weapon. this range advantage makes Ultima users better than something like Paladin/Parivir. Ultima is useless against Evade Magick, but enemies with this ability are rare. Armlet of Whispers can take care of those enemies any way. To use Ultima every turn, use either Blood Price or Halve MP + the Clan Privilege, MP Channeling. If a race cannot use Ultima every turn, that race￾fs Ultima is not worth mentioning. ===Standard=== V) Assassin/Item (R) Evade Magick (P) Blood Price ~ Angel Ring Ribbon Gastrophetes Snowy Tear/Ninja Tabi/Armlet of Whispers Snowy Tear/Ninja Tabi/Armlet of Whispers/Golden Amulet {B} Trickster/Gladiator (R) Strike Back/Reflex/Dragonheart (P) Halve MP ~ Angel Ring Ribbon Joker Snowy Tear/Ninja Tabi/Armlet of Whispers Snowy Tear/Ninja Tabi/Armlet of Whispers/Golden Amulet The Viera build is better overall because you don￾ft need to worry about Clan Privileges, and Blood Price has a hidden Magick^ Property (so, it￾fs stronger). The Bangaa build has the range advantage: Joker has range 8; Gastrophetes has range 7. A Hunter/Item Hume {H} build would be an interior hybrid between the Viera and Bangaa build, but it gets the job done. Other race￾fs Ranged Ultima builds are even more inferior and not worth mentioning. ==5. CLOSE-RANGE ULTIMA BUILD== - Close-range Ultima builds have certain novelties worth mentioning. To use Ultima every turn, use either Blood Price or Halve MP + the Clan Privilege, MP Channeling. If a race cannot use Ultima every turn, that race￾fs Ultima is not worth mentioning. ===Evasion Ultima=== - Hybrids between Ultima and Evasion, ordered from most to least useful (priority being power, then Debuff immunity, then Non-Ultima Abilities) {V} Fencer/Assassin (R) Evade Magick (P) Blood Price ~ Angel Ring Ribbon Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Ninja Tabi/Azure Tear/Snowy Tear/Armlet of Whispers {H} Soldier/Hunter (R) Strike Back/Reflex (P) Halve MP ~ Angel Ring Orb of Minwu/(Ribbon) Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Ninja Tabi/Azure Tear/Snowy Tear/Armlet of Whispers {N} Sage/Item (R) Evade Magick (P) Halve MP ~ Angel Ring Orb of Minwu Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Ninja Tabi/Azure Tear/Snowy Tear/Armlet of Whispers {B} Gladiator/Item (R) Strike Back/Reflex/Dragonheart (P) Halve MP ~ Angel Ring Orb of Minwu Reverie Shield Reverie Shield Ninja Tabi/Azure Tear/Snowy Tear/Armlet of Whispers They look similar, but they are all better than Paladin/Parivir {H} ===Spear Ultima=== {B} Dragoon/Gladiator (R) Strike Back/Reflex/Dragonheart (P) Halve MP ~ Angel Ring Orb of Minwu Trident Peytral Ninja Tabi/Azure Tear/Snowy Tear/Armlet of Whispers Spear Ultima has the novelty of hitting up to 2 targets at a time. ==6. POWER BUILD== - Some builds are worth mentioning simply because they can achieve high damage quickly or deal over the 999 damage limit. Super Ultima {V} Assassin/Item (R) Evade Magick (P) Turbo MP ~ Gastrophetes Snowy Tear Golden Amulet Golden Amulet Golden Amulet/Armlet of Whispers This build has the novelty of being able to out-speed and one hit KO a certain final boss as level 30, provided 29 level ups as a Green Mage. Use Grimoire Stone to restore MP fully and boost Magick. ===Super Summoner=== {V} Red Mage/Summoner (R) Evade Magick (P) Blood Price ~ Snowy Tear Windsong Rapier Golden Amulet Golden Amulet/Chameleon Robe Golden Amulet/Armlet of Whispers/Ninja Tabi Doublecast simply deals over 999 total damage to multiple targets. ===Super Sniper=== {V} Sniper/Archer (R) Evade Magick (P) Concentrate ~ Gastrophetes/Seventh Heaven Crimson Tear Galmia Frock Moon Maiden Moon Maiden/Armlet of Whispers/Ninja Tabi Focus and Double Shot deals 3.6 time normal damage to a single target and is not limited by the 999 cap. ===Unscarred Ultima=== {G} Hunter/Item (R) Reflex (P) Unscarred ~ Gastrophetes Snowy Tear Golden Amulet Golden Amulet/Azure Tear Golden Amulet/Armlet of Whispers Unscarred boosts stats by 50%, so Ultima￾fs damage output becomes more powerful. Giras￾f one novelty is that they exclusively can use Unscarred + Ultma + Item. But, I believe that Turbo MP + Ultima is still more powerful. Use Grimoire Stone to restore MP fully and boost Magick. ==7. MISCELLANEOUS== ===400 Damage=== {S} Ranger/Item (R) Critical: Vanish/Dragonheart (P) Item Lore ~ Angel Ring Orb of Minwu Ninja Tabi Ever Robe Ring of the Precepts/Armlet of Whispers One hit KO￾fing or near-KO￾fing everything starting from one-fourth of the way through the game is very powerful. This build is very easy to obtain and set up. You can easily beat the game with a team of this build. In terms of a playthrough, all other builds mentioned are excessively powerful. ==Version History== 3/24/2014 - v1.00 - Write Guide ==Legality== This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. (C) 2014 MAtt5TER