Second Job suggestions

[Milmoko]

So I need some help with my second job assignments, currently my party is set up as:

Vaan: Knight
Fran: Archer
Balthier: Machinist
Basch: Foebreaker
Penllo: White Mage
Ashe: Black Mage

What would good second jobs for them? I'm looking towards taking on the optional bosses/Espers later in the game if that helps.

I'm at the stage where I can have second jobs but have held off chosing them yet.

[Hinnyuu]

The possibilities are endless. It all depends on how you would like to play things, how much you would like to double up on what role, and so on.

[Tim]

Time Mage, Red Mage, Uhlan, Bushi, Shikari, Monk.

In that order, exactly what I use and works perfectly.

[Milmoko]

Ah thats good suggesting Knight/Time Mage and Archer/Red Mage as I was thinking about spreading the other magical jobs out among the melee ones.
Same other way around I was considering giving the mages a melee job so their not constantly running low on MP.

I had read Bushi (Katana's) work well with magical classes due to the weapon power been based on magic power, would that work? Or would the light armour be a draw back in end game, don't want a healer wipe lol

[Inssengrimm]

Just throw dices arround and stick to that!

That way you will learn the ins and outs of the system on yourself. You can also just stick to the most classic combination of jobs.

Knight/Bushi.
Archer/Red Mage.
Machinist/Uhlan.
Foebreaker/Shikari.
White Mage/Time Mage.
Black Mage/Monk.

That way you also use all 12 boards and get to known them better too without losing too much of an edge, there are more specialized party builds, but those are more for new game minus runs or very specific setups to get super bosses killed faster, honestly, they cut a few seconds in most bosses, and in the case of yiazmat, a few minutes at best, and considering there is x4 speed, really is like... meh.

[Tim]

Originally posted by Milmoko:

Ah thats good suggesting Knight/Time Mage and Archer/Red Mage as I was thinking about spreading the other magical jobs out among the melee ones.
Same other way around I was considering giving the mages a melee job so their not constantly running low on MP.

Yeah that's part of why I did it, plus I wanted each character to be capable of two things for versatility.

Originally posted by Milmoko:

I had read Bushi (Katana's) work well with magical classes due to the weapon power been based on magic power, would that work? Or would the light armour be a draw back in end game, don't want a healer wipe lol

Strength is more important for katanas than magic, plus they get enough magic lores on their own so I paired Bushi with Foebreaker for the battle lores (I otherwise don't like it) and the Genji gear (for that combo power).

[Milmoko]

Think I'll go with your builds and see what the licence board opens up, can always reload my save and explore more, but from what looked at with Fran Acher/Red Mage seemed promising as she gets some useful WTH magic too.

I'm probably way OP for my current stage in game as I got exploring the Sand Sea and flooded Giza area, Im now at the Ozmoze Plains:
Vaan Lv27
Balthier:Lv26
Fran Lv27
Basch: Lv26
Ashe: Lv25
Penelo: Lv29

With 400-500LP a character

[Tim]

Yeah I thought Red Mage was just some mediocre mage class that just gets Ardor late-game and that's it, but it's super useful with Cura and Raise and some other various magicks.

Overleveled generally isn't an issue, as equipment matters more. Alas if you explore properly and do all the hunts on time you'll be OP equipment-wise anyway. Least the hunts will still be challenging.

[Milmoko]

hahaha yeah I remember losing alot of time on the PS2 original XII doing hunts.
But I only had one play through so I never fully understood how the jobs worked, everyone pretty much mastered the Licence board, but this remaster's mechanics and jobs are different so I worried about messing up for end game content lol.

oh I didnt see Red Mage gets Cura and Raise, I'll be going with that for Fran then.

[Tim]

PS2 never had jobs, though you were bound to specialize your characters into specific types. In the end you still had a team of jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none, though.

That said, it's pretty hard to genuinely screw up for the end-game, with six characters and twelve jobs you're bound to have at least always 3 that can beat trial mode and so on.

[Milmoko]

Originally posted by Tim:

PS2 never had jobs, though you were bound to specialize your characters into specific types. In the end you still had a team of jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none, though.

That said, it's pretty hard to genuinely screw up for the end-game, with six characters and twelve jobs you're bound to have at least always 3 that can beat trial mode and so on.

yeah exactly it was kinda mess with trying to specialise roles on my final ps2 save, but a powerful mess lol.

[Evilsod]

I just winged it. Seems to be working out but I doubt anything could go horribly wrong until 'end game' anyway. Its hard to judge how well things are going when your level and gear have a greater influence than anything else.

Vaan: Bushi / Foebreaker
Balthier: Machinist / Red Battlemage
Fran: Uhlan / Monk
Basch: Knight / Shikari
Ashe: White Mage / Black Mage
Penelo: Archer / Time Battlemage

Honestly though outside of Black Mage the other offensive magicks seem to suck so far (I've just finished Sochen Cave Palace). Penelo has a gambit for maintaining Haste, Fran for maintaining Bravery, Balthier for maintaining Regen, Ashe for Protect. Its frustrating that the only 2 -ga spells are Aeroga and Firaga for now. It dramatically reduces your damage against the other weaknesses.

I've found it quite entertaining to mix and match and try to keep everyone at a similar level (except Vaan as he is the leader generally for Steal).

[Razzle]

Originally posted by Milmoko:

So I need some help with my second job assignments, currently my party is set up as:

Vaan: Knight
Fran: Archer
Balthier: Machinist
Basch: Foebreaker
Penllo: White Mage
Ashe: Black Mage

What would good second jobs for them? I'm looking towards taking on the optional bosses/Espers later in the game if that helps.

I'm at the stage where I can have second jobs but have held off chosing them yet.

Vaan secondary: Black Mage has good magic growth and you're going to need addtional magic later down the road for harder enemies

Fran: Time mage = gets access to a majority of enemy debuff techniques along with time magic and green magic

Balthier: Uhlan gets access to spears which will help take down tougher enemies as you get heavy armor access. Guns won't work on certain enemies dealing crap dmg, swapping to spears will help you take down those enemies faster and plus you'll gain access to higher dmg spears later on.

Basch: Monk you'll get access to more battle lores and some white magic that could come in handy later down the road "renew, shellega and protectga, bravey"

Penelo: Red Mage or Black Mage

Ashe: Red Mage or White mage.

The reason for AShe and Penelo to be both magic casters as secondary class is that both and Vaan have the highest magic growth and will heal absurdly or deal heavy dmg using black magic or any other type of magic.

I personally went with Red for both, as this allows a majority of access to all magics available. Green, Time, Acrane ( Oil + Ardor combo = deadly )

[ShinkuTear]

I'd say Knight/Bushi for general offensive power. White Robes boost Holy power for Excalibur, Bushi gives access to all the katanas if you want them instead of greatswords. Boosted Magick Power also makes the healing spells on Knight better.

Machinist, sadly, only pairs "well" with White Mage. Guns don't use your characters stats at all, so it ends up best with White Mage as a somewhat usable weapon, instead of having them bonking with a weak stick.

Archer as a bow user wants a Heavy Armor second class with the Focus augment, as Archer has neither, so their damage skyrockets, but the exact class is up to you. The other notable option is Red Mage, to pair the Fire enhance effect of Burning Bow with Ardor, Oil, and Magic Armor.

Black Mage would ideally either want Monk or Red Mage. Red for the above Ardor combo with Flame Staff instead of Burning Bow, or Monk for Staff of the Magi paired with Holy.

Breaker pairs well with Shikari, giving you the boss crippling Break skills like Wither and the wonderful Heavy Armor, paired with actually good weapons, and a Yiazmat slayer as well. Breaker weapons have scary large damage ranges, the Scorpion Tail in base FF12 could actually hit as low as 3 and then hit 9999 on the next hit to the same enemy, so Shikari weapons give you some consistent damage

[Milmoko]

So many choices of builds to go for! LOL
I see myself just doing some killing on the Ozmoze Plains while I mull this over haha, thanks for all the help btw guys you've given me a lot to consider :D

[Sakhari]

If you're intending to use the Machinist as a damage dealer and don't mind farming one or both of the late-game guns early, then I'd agree with the people suggesting Uhlan as a second. Personally, I prefer a Foebreaker pairing for end-game utility but as long as you're picking up Focus and Adrenaline (which do affect gun damage), you're good to go.

A berserked gun-user with a Mithuna can literally be dealing 12000+ damage per hit with perfect accuracy shortly after finishing Raithwall and that's not including cirtical hits and elemental weaknesses (a critical hit on a weakness can get you over 60000 damage in a hit). That'll easily carry you through most of the game by itself.

Also, Monk / Black Mage is a decent combo but if you go that route, do it for the health, extra speed, and buffs/backup healing. Adding Holy to your arsenal sounds great on paper but even with a Staff of the Magi, it's slow, only hits one target, isn't available until nearly the end of the game, and generally just isn't worth building around.

And yeah, Knight / Bushi is a synergy that's tough to beat. It's hard not to use this pair.