What are the best character builds?

[Lobstersaurus]

So guys, what are the best character builds for each of the characters?

Also, can you include items you should get for each of the builds, and be very descriptive please.

[M_Bomb]

I think AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is the best for all. Seriously the game is build to not give you a choice atleast for chara build

[Raven8x]

Originally posted by Kackbratze:

I think AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is the best for all. Seriously the game is build to not give you a choice atleast for chara build

If thats all you will do for the whole game, you'll have a hard time beating most of the bosses past chapter 6.

[Nyandragon]

basicly people with that mindset are quite sad. even if you could use the AAAA thing for everything. WHY the hell you want to do it to make things easier for you?

you can use cheats or hacks or what ever aswell to make life easier..

so you use this aswell then`?
if its too easy.. then just DONT USE IT and play manualy

[AuraMix♥]

Is it bad that I only used Gil/Item cheat?

[A State Of Trance]

I'd help you, OP, but I am currently about 6 hours into my first play-through of the game.

I'm currently building Lightning as a Commando. Vanille is my Medic and building her into a Synergist as well. Snow is my Sentinel and also has points in Ravager. Sahz is my main Ravager and I'm building him into a Synergist. Hope (who I don't give 2 ♥♥♥♥♥ about cause he is annoying lol) has his main points in Synergist and then throwing points into Medic.

This is without using guides so I might be wrong in doing so but these seemed to make sense for me.

[Saya_Ikari]

Mostly you want to have setup for atacking looking like this or any combination of those
Rav/Rav/Com <= to build up stagger faster
Com/Com/Rav <= to burn target faster
Rav/Rav/Sen <= build up stagger while having someone to take dmg

For defence and buffing/debuffing
Sen/Med/Med <= the "oh crap" setup
Sen/Sab/Syn <= buff team and debuff enemy
Sen/Med/Syn <= buff/heal and stay safe

Items wise you boost what character is good at. Lighting is mostly physical fighter so boost her attk. Hope/Vanile are mages so boosting matk is good idea. Snow/Fang i spec for defence but with fang being Com i sometimes spec her for attk. also. Sahz i mostly dont use but when i have him i try to lvl mattk and normal attack.
If you are worried what to lvl up first, you can stop as you will endup lvling all the roles for character, and there two great spots to farm both CP and items to lvl up weapons.

Some Characters are great as:
Vanile = Sab she has best spell that can insta kill mob
Hope = best Med/Rav in the game
Light = best Com
Snow = best Sen in the game
Sahz = best Syn in the game
Why best ? Each character has specyfic skills/spells that only he/she can learn. But other then that is how you setup the team is what rly matters and wins you fights.

[Lobstersaurus]

@AldisSkysong...

Thanks for for the help

[FiveHeadedDragon]

Like Aldis said, you really don't have to worry about micromanaging your crystarium. Once you hit about chapter 5, just a tiny bit of grinding will earn you enough CP to max most of your characters out by the end of each chapter (Fang is a special case, she is damn greedy for CP).

Sazh is an underrated Synergist, IMO, don't ever be afraid to have him in your party. He's a lot more durable than Hope (1.5x base HP), he's a little weak in the Magic department but Bravery and Faith go a long way in a fight (and Hope won't get these spells for a loooooong time).

COM/RAV/RAV is always a solid starting paradigm. When I'm just mucking through the mooks early in a chapter, I'll usually run this twice and just switch between them. It's reliable and deadly.

Running more than one Commando in a paradigm is rewarding, but you need to be careful. You might have already noticed, but Commandos will always target separate enemies when they can, so these paradigms are most useful when you're going against single, large enemies. Against particularly tough bosses, Triple COM can be exceptional. Conversely, I'd advise staying away from Triple RAV (at least, until you're a master at ATB canceling; it's very easy to lose a chain boost with Triple RAV if you're not careful).

This is just personal taste, but I prefer keeping one offensive class in my defence/utility paradigms--you need high battle ratings for rare drops, and I feel "safer" keeping my damage output high. I'll generally run COM/SYN and RAV/SAB (saboteurs stabilize the chain guage just like commandos), with either a SEN or MED in the third slots depending on my party makeup. Last slot should basically always SEN/MED/MED, or Triple MED if for whatever reason you happen to be running Lightning/Hope/Vanille.

Your choice in weapons/accessories is really going to depend upon your own playstyle, what roles you prefer each character in, and also the enemy you're facing. It feels like a cop-out to say, but for the most part, you'll get a feel for it by the time it matters. The only weapons I really advocate for are the improved healing and debuffing wands for Vanille, because there's really never a time when neither of these are useful, and Sazh's "stagger maintenance" guns (here, again, is his trademark, trading off a little bit of damage output for a whole boatload of utility).

[Lobstersaurus]

Ight... Thanks for the help guys, if there is anything else I'm missing please feel free to add more...