Swings swords or sling spells, the job's up to you!
The Zodiac Age grants players lots of freedom over how they want the party to fight; from deciding which spells to cast, to how the AI will respond to certain situations. While the game can be completed with any character playing any job rather comfortably, each character has a unique stat growth in addition to initial spells and abilities that make them naturally more efficient at certain jobs, especially early on in the game.
Before we get into the best options for each character, it’s worth noting that the use of a secondary job can outweigh the disadvantages a character may have, or conversely enhance their strengths, so pairing other jobs or secondary jobs recommended for each character will ensure players cover all ground!
Vaan
The latest up-and-coming sky pirate!
This aspiring sky pirate is a very flexible party member! Vaan has the most even stat distribution amongst the entire party. He’s able to perform any role well, making great use of any job regardless of what he picks. He has some of the fastest combo animations in the game with physical weapons, so he’s a great choice for any job that’s focusing on multi-hits for damage.
He has very high vitality, and also bears the highest Strength alongside Basch. He also has a high distribution of HP and MP so he functions particularly well as a tank in addition to a damage dealer due to his great universal stats.
He starts with the valuable Steal technick, so jobs that stand on the frontlines synergize well for Vaan as he can steal while up close and personal.
Best Jobs for Vaan:
- Shikari
- Monk
- Uhlan
- Red Battlemage (secondary job)
- Time Battlemage (secondary job)
- Archer (secondary job)
Balthier
The charismatic troublemaker
The self-proclaimed leading man joins Vaan in being quite a flexible close combatant. He has very good combat stats, so he’ll mostly be standing on the frontlines either tanking or dealing damage with melee weapons. His magical stats are unfortunately quite low, so while he can perform as a mage, it certainly isn’t one of his preferred areas. Ironically, despite being portrayed as a gun user, he has the slowest gun attack animation. While the delays in animation don’t matter much, it’s something to keep in mind for players that want more efficiency.
Balthier has the 3rd highest strength under Basch and Vaan, and his exceptional speed and quick melee combat animations make him the perfect candidate for wielding weapons that base their damage formula off speed like daggers, bows, ninja swords, or strength like spears and greatswords.
Balthier starts with the First Aid and Steal technicks. While First Aid isn’t particularly useful, Steal is, so in order to maximize the chances of swiping loot, consider pairing Balthier with a job that uses a melee weapon.
Best Jobs for Balthier:
- Shikari
- Uhlan
- Knight
- Red Battlemage (secondary job)
- Monk (secondary job)
- Machinist (secondary job)
Fran
As mysterious as she is wise.
The ever-elegant Fran unfortunately bears not-so-elegant stats overall. This makes her somewhat of a versatile character due to her inability to excel at any particular job. Her forced versatility does make her a great character to experiment with however, as she doesn’t suffer any caveats being assigned to a particular job. She also comes naturally equipped with some very handy default magicks and technicks.
Despite underperforming in most stats, she does have the highest Vitality in the party, so pairing her with weapons that base their damage formulas off Vitality—bombs, axes and hammers—can be beneficial.
Fran starts with Cure, Blindna, Fire, Thunder and Steal. Her move set works very well early on in the game, letting her function both as a healer and offensive caster. She can also steal if she happens to be in melee range which allows other characters to continue attacking if damage is important during a fight.
Best Jobs for Fran:
- Foebreaker
- Monk
- Black Mage
- Archer (secondary job)
- White Mage (secondary job)
- Machinist (secondary job)
Basch
A brave knight never forgets his duty.
The heroic Basch has great stats that propel him into tanking and physical combat roles. Despite being presented as knightly, he has the lowest MP, Vitality and Speed out of the entire party. However, his physical prowess isn’t to be underestimated, as he’s exceptional when using physical weapons based on strength like spears and greatswords. Despite his low Vitality, he can also wield axes and hammers well due to his fantastic damage output.
He has the highest HP and tied alongside Vaan, also the highest Strength, so his lower Vitality becomes fairly redundant. In addition to all of this, he also has some of the fastest combat animations with weapons, making him an excellent bruiser!
Basch starts with Libra, a helpful ability that reveals information about the enemy in addition to traps on the field.
Best Jobs for Basch:
- Knight
- Foebreaker
- Uhlan
- Shikari (secondary job)
- Monk (secondary job)
Ashe
A princess must lead with courage and valor, and Ashe burns bright with both.
Dalmasca’s crown princess is a well-rounded character. She’s able to perform well as a physical or magical damage dealer in addition to a healer. Similarly to Vaan, Ashe has a good distribution of stats that allow her to bypass most caveats that other characters experience when selecting a job. However, because she’s naturally gifted at magic—something that only one other character in the game excels in—players may want to pair her with magic-utilizing jobs instead.
She has the highest Magick stat out of the entire party which synergizes well with her high MP. She also has great strength, falling just under Balthier for 4th highest. Due to her below average HP and Vitality, she isn’t particularly suited for tanking roles, but can still perform well in them given her affinity with Magick.
Ashe starts with Cure and Blindna, making her a great backup healer regardless of the role she’s performing early on in the game.
Best Jobs for Ashe:
- Bushi
- Black Mage
- White Mage
- Time Battlemage (secondary job)
- Knight (secondary job)
- Monk (secondary job)
Penelo
The delightful childhood friend of Vaan helps keep him from getting into too much trouble.
Penelo’s endearing personality extends well into her exceptional performance at magical-based jobs. In addition to this, she can also perform physical roles fairly well despite having lower defensive and physical stats. Besides Ashe, she is the only other character that’s particularly gifted with stats that usher her toward using magic, so it’s best to put her into a casting role.
Besides having the highest Magick alongside Ashe, she has very high MP and Vitality but low HP, Strength and average Speed. Despite her having lower strength, she can take advantage of weaponry that doesn’t rely on strength at all, guns! This makes her deal respectable amounts of damage from a safe distance, though it is worth noting that she has a very slow gun attack animation.
Penelo starts with Cure, Blindna and First Aid, though the latter probably won’t be utilized at all in favor of her healing capabilities.
Best Jobs for Penelo:
- White Mage
- Black Mage
- Red Mage
- Machinist (secondary job)
- Monk (secondary job)
- Uhlan (secondary job)
