Final Fantasy 10 battle mechanics allows you to strategize against every boss in the game, but Overdrives will consistently make you closer to winning.
Unfortunately, not every character possesses devastating Overdrives, but this will allow you to target those who can win battles, such as Wakka, Rikku, or Yuna. There are various ways to fill up your Overdrive gauge during fights, as each Overdrive Mode allows for different strategies.
You will need to fight many battles to get all the modes in the game. As such, grinding will be part of this process, and you’ll need to know the best places to level up in Spira.
In this article, we’ll focus on the best modes and prioritize the characters that flourish by having their Overdrive.
5. Coward
The best Overdrive modes allow Tidus to use his Overdrive many times to attain Blitz Ace as fast as possible.
With Coward, you can fill your gauge by fleeing the battle. Due to Tidus' speed, you can get his Overdrive by spamming Flee on every battle. Its effectiveness is excellent if you want to focus on Tidus, but it's mostly irrelevant for other characters.
Coward ranks in this article because of its usefulness and complementary ability to one of the most important characters to get Overdrives sooner than usual.
What’s Great About Coward:
- Allows you to fill up Tidus’ Overdrive gauge without fighting, just fleeing;
- Possesses an excellent time cost-effectiveness;
- Enables you to complement Coward with Tidus’ speed and Flee ability.
Coward Details:
- The Overdrive Gauge charges when the character flees from battle;
- The charge rate is 10% per battle fled;
- Tidus gets this Overdrive Mode after fleeing 600 times.
4. Victor
Victor allows you to fill up your party’s Overdrive gauge within a few battles against weak enemies because it charges up with every victory. Luckily, Spira is generous enough to offer you that opportunity.
You should use this mode to prepare for a tougher battle, as it doesn’t specifically target a character. Unfortunately, it won’t help you against the most challenging bosses, and it’s not as effective if you want to get Tidus’ Overdrives quickly.
Overall, it’s a solid Overdrive mode that saves you time against the weaker mobs, but its effectiveness isn’t as vast as the other modes ranked above it.
What’s Great About Victor:
- Allows you to fill up your Overdrive gauge at a quicker pace for your whole team;
- Grinding it is easy against weaker enemies before a demanding battle;
- Allows you to obtain it in the early game.
Victor Details:
- The Overdrive gauge fills up whenever you win a battle;
- The charge rate is 20% per victory;
- Tidus gets this mode after 120 battles won.
3. Loner
Loner is a special mode that allows you to fill up your Overdrive gauge as long as the character stands alone in battle. You can grind this mode early on with Tidus to get Blitz Ace quickly.
The strategy is simple: defend as much as possible to acquire Loner, then use Spiral Cut until you obtain Blitz Ace.
Another strategy you can use is to go to the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, battle against the Urn, and defend until you get Loner. It’s the quickest way to obtain it, as you only need to press the triangle button.
Again, we are focusing on Tidus because of his requirements to get every Overdrive, but you can use Wakka to spam Attack Reels in the post-end game content.
What’s Great About Loner:
- Allows you to get all Tidus’ Overdrives quickly;
- Grinding is easy if you use the strategy against the Urn;
- Allows you to fill up the Overdrive gauge at a rapid pace.
Loner Details:
- The Overdrive gauge fills up when a character fights alone;
- The charge rate is 16% per turn;
- Tidus gets this mode after 60 turns fighting alone.
2. Slayer
Sometimes, the basic ones are the better ones. Slayer is one of the more accessible Overdrive modes in the game to obtain and will help you every step of the way. With this mode, you can fill your gauge with every enemy you defeat.
Slayer is the best Overdrive mode in the game against weak opponents for your whole party. It helps if you fight three enemies, as you can charge up the gauge faster.
It is also one of the best if you want to get Blitz Ace quickly. The strategy is simple as long as you fight mobs of enemies. Use Tidus’ Energy Rain or Slice & Dice, and your gauge fills up within two battles.
The only reason Slayer doesn’t rank at number 1 is because its effectiveness doesn’t translate to boss battles, which, in all honesty, is what matters the most in Final Fantasy 10.
What’s Great About Slayer:
- Allows you to fill the Overdrive gauge of your whole party faster than any Overdrive mode;
- Allows you to get all Tidus’ Overdrives quickly;
- Obtaining it doesn’t require grinding as it’s easily accessible.
Slayer Details:
- The Overdrive gauge fills up whenever you defeat an enemy;
- The charge rate is 20% per enemy defeated;
- Tidus gets this mode after you defeat 100 enemies.
1. Comrade
In Final Fantasy 10 there are some extremely hard fights, and your pathway to victory relies on Overdrives. As such, Comrade ranks number one solely because you charge your Overdrive gauge by every hit your allies take.
For the post-end game content, using Wakka’s Overdrive twice in battle lets you defeat the most challenging bosses. The same applies to Rikku, as her Overdrive’s versatility works as both a support or a damage-dealing attack.
Comrade gets even better due to Auron’s abilities, such as Entrust, which allows you to transfer his Overdrive to any of your party members.
Also, If you target the post-end game content, obtaining the Celestial weapons will complement perfectly with Comrade due to the Triple Overdrive ability.
Overall, Comrade prevails as the number one because of the strategic versatility it provides for any problematic boss.
What’s Great About Comrade:
- Allows you to use multiple Overdrives per character against boss battles;
- Allows you to strategize using Auron’s selfless abilities;
- Requires barely any grinding and can be used relatively early in the game.
Comrade Details:
- The Overdrive gauge fills up whenever an ally takes damage;
- The charge rate is (damage received) x 20 / (target max HP);
- Tidus gets this mode after your allies take 300 hits.
Final Fantasy 10 provides a lot of different battle mechanics, and sometimes people undervalue the least impactful ones, such as armor or Overdrive modes.
However, if you want to thrive against the more significant challenges, every strategy can allow you to win. In this case, the Overdrives modes can propel you to victory.
