white mage

[wildroger2014]

which works better with white mage: time or red?

[Hinnyuu]

It depends on what you want from your party.

Generally, it's a good idea to think about how you like to play - do you tank a lot, do you go all-out on damage, do you keep characters back for buffing/healing, all that sort of thing.

The beauty of two jobs is that you can make efficient hybrids that are good at many things at the same time - but also highly focused specialists that excel at a few things in particular. Combining two mages is usually indicative of the latter, though of course Time Battlemage does its name credit and can poke in there nicely with its crossbows (though physical damage dealers benefit immensely from Berserk, which is a bit iffy to use on a utility caster).

Many people commonly advise to combine mages with some sort of solid damage class. White Mage/Shikari, for example, is a popular combo; as is Red Battlemage/Shikari. Time Battlemage/Monk is equally favored by many, with Time Battlemage/Uhlan being another frequently seen combination.

However, all these optimizations are by no means mandatory. Personally, I think Time Battlemage/White Mage can work well as a ranged attacker that has all sorts of buffs available; though you might ask yourself if White Mage/Machinist wouldn't do the same just better (considering Machinist gains access to Hastega, the single most important Time spell, through the Esper Famfrit) as a ranged, while Time Battlemage/Monk has most white magicks at its disposal with the right Espers, and is a very solid melee attacker.

Time Battlemage/Red Battlemage, on the other hand, is more of an offensive utility caster. It lacks access to elemental boost equipment, so its damage spells won't be as good as e.g. for the comparable Archer/Red Battlemage (who gets Burning Bow for +50% fire damage); however, it does provide a number of useful buffs and can dish out a combination of magical and physical damage as required quite well.

In the end, there is no single blanket solution. There's pros and cons to most combinations, and how you weight them is up to your own personal preference. I advise you to think in very concrete terms - what do you want to do with the character when it's in the field? Do you want to attack, just throwing buffs out as needed? Do you want a more spell-focused arsenal so you can react to what happens with the right magick? What about the rest of your party, what are they doing? Do they lack something you want to bring, do they have something already you could do without? It's all about finding the combinations that work best for YOU.

Always keep in mind that the game isn't nearly difficult enough to FORCE you to do ANYTHING. You can pick whatever you like for whatever reason you like, and make it work somehow. Even against the toughest superbosses. Have fun above all else, and don't feel pressured into choosing something you don't think is cool.

[Hexprone]

I wouldn't play a character that didn't have access to three swiftness licences -- so, Time/White over Red/White for sure.

[Faint]

oh jeez, I totally went the paladin route and set my whitemage up with monk XD lol, it was about as smart as you think it was but she was able to survive final superbosses pretty well so not all bad late game

[GatoMancer]

I did the white/red combo, working fine with me.

I am considering tryign Archer/WHM at another time.

[ShinkuTear]

Between Time and Red, I'd suggest Time. But personally, I'd suggest Machinist instead of either. Gives a more useful weapon, support options are still quite good, and light armor if you want HP.

[kurosov]

I went monk. High health pool and can contribute to damage when not spamming heals.

[Shan]

Machinist, that's what I went with.

[matthew]

Originally posted by Shan:

Machinist, that's what I went with.

also went this route, working well.

[forumcrybaby]

My Ashe is a white mage/Knight. I like to pretend she is a paladin or something.

[matthew]

you can make a knight a paladin if you given that char the right espers, then they have access to some healing spells and cleanse. <damn useful)

[EvilPie]

If i where you i would try machinist, i have a white mage/Time mage and i doesn´t deal much damage