Final Fantasy V/Jobs

Final Fantasy V contains 22 Jobs (four more in the Game Boy Advance and later versions, totaling 26). Jobs can level up by collecting ABP (Ability Battle Points) after battles, which allows the character to use the Job's abilities as a different class and when the job is mastered, the game will transfer the stat boosts of that Job to the Mimic and Freelancer jobs. Please note that this guide prioritizes the most recent names, and the old PSX names, if they exist, are underlined.

Characters start off at level 0 for each Job and have access to only the innate skills for a given Job. New abilities are obtained once you collect the required ABP. Once you meet the quota, the character gains a level in the Job and an ability. The count then resets to 0. Once an ability is obtained, it may be assigned to a free slot regardless of Job. Abilities prefixed with "!" are active commands that can be selected in battle.

For the six specialized mage jobs (Black/White/Red/Time Mages, Summoner, and Mystic Knight), Job levels are cumulative. Their active ability retains its name, but for each level completed, the ability gains the use of that Job level's spells at that tier. For example, a Level 3 Black Mage is able to use Level 1-3 Black Magic. However, the Mystic Knight's spell level is actually (job level-1) because of their Magic Shell ability at level 1, so they will not be able to pass their magic on to other Jobs without reaching level 2 first.

Note: The names of the jobs and abilities may change depending on the game's version.

Freelancer
Location: Used by default

Renamed: Freelancer (GBA)


 * Traits
 * This Job cannot gain ABP
 * Can equip any equipment in the game
 * Stat boosts are transferred to this job when other jobs are mastered
 * Can select two abilities instead of one


 * Abilities
 * None

Wind Crystal Jobs
These Jobs become available after you beat the Wing Raptor.

Knight
Location: Wind Shrine
 * Summary
 * The Knight is one of the classic RPG "tanks" of all Jobs: built to take damage, but built even better to dish it out. As the earliest warrior Job in the game, the Knight has access to the widest range of weapons and armor in the game, including elemental swords. The Knight covers their allies when they are critically wounded. They also have a to nullify direct attacks targeted at them.


 * Traits:
 * Above-average HP, Strength, and Stamina stats, but not as good as specialist Jobs
 * Cover steps in for wounded ally
 * Perfect defense vs most physical attacks with !Guard

Can Equip: Knives, Swords, Shields, Plates, Mails, Helms

Command Ability: !Guard: Reduces damage from physical attacks.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * Cover
 * Guard
 * Equip Armor
 * Equip Shield
 * Equip Sword

Monk
Location: Wind Shrine
 * Summary
 * The first specialist Job. the Monk is not only a tank, but also has high Strength, Stamina, and HP. They can hit twice as hard as a Knight barehanded and have the ability to deal double damage for a turn at the temporary expense of defense. The Monk counterattacks physical strikes directed at them and their critical hit rate is higher than many other Jobs. They can only equip light armor like robes and hats.


 * Traits
 * Very high HP and Stamina
 * Learns the recovery ability !Chakra that uses no MP
 * Frequent critical hits

Can Equip: Hats, Robes, Plates

Command Ability: !Kick: Deals minor damage to all enemies.


 * Innate Abilities
 * Counter
 * Barehanded
 * HP + x%

Thief
Location: Wind Shrine
 * Summary
 * The Thief is not always the greatest attacker, nor does this Job have much above average Stamina and HP. They compensate by having extremely high Agility and useful passive skills. They can see hidden things and help their party out of dangerous situations with their increased speed and escape skills. They are also one of the three classes that are able to throw projectile weapons, which allows them to be in the back row without sacrificing offensive power. They are able to steal from enemies.


 * Traits
 * Highly versatile
 * Reduces back-attack probability

Can Equip: Knives, Thrown, Hats, Robes, Plates

Command Ability: !Steal: Attempts to steal an item from an enemy.


 * Innate Abilities
 * Dash/Sprint
 * Find Passages
 * Agility
 * Caution

White Mage
Location: Wind Shrine
 * Summary
 * The White Mage specialises in restorative and defensive magic. As a medic, they are second to none and will see a lot of use throughout the game. Along with their damage-dealing counterpart, the Black Mage, the White Mage has a high Magic score, but does not offer much in the way of offense or defense. Their equipment selection is poor and it is recommended to keep them in the back row. They are effective against the undead; the same restorative spells, along with the late-game Holy spell, are their most potent offense against them.


 * Traits
 * Uses Level 1-6 White magic

Can Equip: Staves/Maces, Hats, Robes

Command Ability: !White: Casts White Magic spells. See White Magic for the full list.


 * Innate Abilities
 * MP +10%

Black Mage
Location: Wind Shrine
 * Summary
 * The Black Mage is the major damage dealer throughout the game. They use fire, ice, and lightning spells as well as an array of status spells to cripple oncoming foes. Although they are physically weak, they have a decent selection of rods to help boost their magic power.


 * Traits
 * Uses Level 1-6 Black magic

Can Equip: Knives, Rods, Hats, Robes

Command Ability: !Black: Casts Black Magic spells. See Black Magic for the full list.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * MP +30%

Blue Mage
Location: Wind Shrine
 * Summary
 * The Blue Mage specializes in using enemy skills. A Blue Mage's skills range from physical attacks through the basic elemental spells to the game's harder-to-find secondary elements like water and wind; some of their skills include healing and status spells. To learn a spell they must be hit and affected by the spell (e.g., succumbing to Lv 5 Death). They are a mid-class fighter with below-average Strength and average Stamina.

Can Equip: Swords, Daggers, Rods, Shields, Robes, Medium Armor

Command Ability: !Blue: Casts Blue Magic spells. See Blue Magic for the full list.


 * Innate Ability
 * Learning

Water Crystal Jobs
These Jobs are available after the Water Crystal shatters, with some noted exceptions.

Red Mage
Location: Walse Tower
 * Summary
 * The Red Mage can cast Black and White Magic and is decently skilled at physical combat. However, they cannot equip shields or cast anything higher than Lv 3 Black and White Magic. The Red Mage has average stats and a diverse assortment of weapons to equip. A Master Red Mage has the ability to cast two spells in a turn.

Can Equip: Knives, Swords, Rods, Staves, Plates, Robes

Command Ability: !Red: Casts Black and White Magic spells (up to Lv 3).

Time Mage
Location: Walse Tower
 * Summary
 * The Time Mage manipulates space-time and matter, controlling the flow of battle and calling in fragments of deep space at will to attack foes. Their abilities are best paired with other magic skills to maximize their effect without requiring another mage in the party.


 * Traits
 * Uses Level 1-6 Time magic
 * Fastest dedicated mage to master

Can Equip: Rods, Staves, Knives, Hats, Robes

Command Ability: !Time: Casts Time Magic spells. See Time Magic for the full list.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * Equip Rods

Summoner
Location: Walse Tower The Summoner geared towards dealing damage by summoning mystical creatures. Summons must be tamed before they can be used, with a few exceptions. Summons never miss their marks. They do not suffer the split-damage penalty of other magics, but the majority cannot be focused on a single target. Summoners use a lot of MP to summon, so having a supply of Ethers is recommended.
 * Summary

Can Equip: Knives, Rods, Hats, Robes

Command Ability: !Summon: Casts Summon Magic. See Summon Magic for the full list.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * None

Berserker
Location: Walse Tower
 * Summary
 * The Berserker is a slow but strong class. They are equipped with some of the least accurate weapons in the game. Command abilities should not be given to this Job as they will continuously attack without any input. It is best to augment Berserkers with a good passive skill.

Can equip: Knives, Axes, Hammers, Shields, Mails, Helms


 * Traits
 * High Strength and Stamina stats
 * Permanent Auto-Berserk status inflicts double damage; only physically attacks
 * Low Agility

Command Ability: N/A


 * Innate Abilities
 * Berserk
 * Equip Axe

Sorcerer
Renamed: Mystic Knight in GBA Location: Walse Tower
 * Summary
 * The Mystic Knight has average stats compared to Mage and Knight Jobs. They are able to imbue their weapons with spells. They are useful against enemies protected by Reflect. Each imbuement lasts until the end of a battle when another Spellblade is cast. They have significantly less MP than the dedicated mages.

Can Equip: Knives, Swords, Shields, Plates, Mails, Helms

Command Ability: !Spellblade: Imbues physical attacks with a spell. See Spellblade Magic for the full list.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * Magic Shell

Mime
Location: Walse Tower, after Water Crystal shatters and tower sinks (Unobtainable until World 3)


 * Summary

The Mime's equipment selection and stats reflect those of a Mage, but are able to equip throwing weapons like a Ninja or Thief. They can use any abilities acquired through other Jobs and inherit their innate skills when the Job is mastered. The Mime requires the second-most amount of ABP to master, just behind the Red Mage.

Can equip: Knives, Rods, Staves, Thrown, Shields, Hats, Robes
 * Traits
 * Can equip three abilities instead of one, but fight and item are not available.
 * Has all innate skills of mastered jobs.
 * Copied abilities use no MP.
 * Completely optional (see walkthrough).

Command Ability: N/A

Fire Crystal Jobs
These jobs become available after the party recovers the shards of the Fire Crystal.

Ninja
Location: Karnak Castle Ruins


 * Summary
 * The Ninja has the highest Agility out of all the Jobs. They are able to dual-wield, throw weapons to inflict serious damage, and use smoke bombs to escape. They have a low Defense rating.

Can Equip: Knives, Thrown, Plates, Robes, Hats

Command Ability: !Throw: Throws an item from the player's inventory.


 * Innate Abilities
 * Preemptive Strike
 * 2-Swords

Hunter
Renamed: Archer (PSX); Ranger (GBA)

Location: Black Chocobo Forest


 * Summary
 * The Ranger is the party's ranged-attack specialist. They equip bows and can attack enemies in any position at full strength. They can call friendly creatures to assist the party. Rangers do not have as much Stamina as other fighting classes and should be placed in the back row. His bows are not the strongest weapons and many tend to be element-based. They learn the Scattershot (Rapid Fire) skill which allows them to deal four half-damage strikes in a single turn.

Can Equip: Knives, Bows, Hats, Robes, Plates

Command Ability: !Aim: 100% hit rate at the cost of inflicting less damage.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * Equip Bows

Geomancer
Location: Karnak Castle Ruins


 * Summary
 * The Geomancer is a mid-level mage that uses natural elements against their foes. They are generally considered a weaker character with poor beginning stats and a very limited equipment list. However, the Geomancer can detect and evade obstacles like weak floors and life-sucking traps while in the party, so it is worthwhile to have one character Master the Job.

Can Equip: Bells, Knives, Robes, Hats Command Ability: !Gaia: Use the power of the current terrain to cast 1 of 4 spells at random without using MP. More powerful spells can only be cast by higher-leveled characters&mdash;at level 50 all terrain spells can be cast. Spell potency depends on the caster's Magic stat. See the Earth spell list.


 * Innate Abilities
 * Find Pits
 * Light Step

Trainer
Renamed: Beastmaster (GBA)

Location: Karnak Castle Ruins


 * Summary
 * The Beastmaster is unusual; they are neither fully a fighter nor a mage. Their whips are ranged weapons that can sometimes paralyze targets. A Beastmaster's strength lies in their ability to capture monsters and then release them on other foes with varying effects. The {Beastmaster's ability to control enemies is an asset for Blue Mages in learning support spells.

Can Equip: Whips, Daggers, Medium Armor

Command Ability: !Catch/!Release: If the target is at critical HP it is caught and stored for later use. When freed, a single move is performed. The type of attack depends on what has been caught and released. Some enemies cannot be caught. Equipping the Kornago Gourd makes catching enemies easier.

Innate Ability
 * Equip Whips

Bard
Location: Black Chocobo Forest


 * Summary
 * The Bard is a physically weak Job who specializes in singing. Their songs either negatively affect all enemies or positively affect all allies. It is a fast Job to master and it holds one of the few skills that exclusively damages undead enemies.

Can Equip: Harps, Daggers, Light Armor

Command Ability: !Sing: Casts a magic spell that either affect all enemies or all allies. See Song for the full list.

Earth Crystal Jobs
These jobs become available after the Earth Crystal shatters in the Ronkan Ruins.

Dragoon
Location: Ronkan Ruins

The Dragoon (or Lancer) is one of the most dedicated warriors in the game, His heavy armor slows him on land, but when he and his spear take to the air, he becomes a lethal weapon. His power comes at the price of an extra turn, and may leave weaker party members open to enemy assault.
 * Summary


 * Info:
 * When equipped with a spear, Jump deals 2x damage

Command Ability: Jump


 * Innate Abilities
 * Equip Spear


 * Abilities:
 * Jump (50AP)
 * Jump in the air, hold for one turn, then impale the enemy.
 * Lancer (150AP)
 * Drain and absorb a portion of enemy HP/MP with attack
 * Equip Lances (400AP)
 * Allows other Jobs to wield spears

Samurai
Location: Ronkan Ruins


 * Summary

Like the Knight, the Samurai is a straight melee job. They are capable of quick, one-shot kills, though they have little weapon selection early game. They prefer katanas to complement their higher Speed stat but can also wear heavy armor.


 * Traits
 * As quick strikers, Samurai have an increased chance of striking killing blows and/or critical hits.
 * Ability to throw Gil can unbalance any battle in the party's favor. Always hits all targets.
 * Can sometimes block enemy strikes with quick reflexes
 * Most weapons are non-elemental, except the Kazekiri (Wind Blade)

Can Equip: Knives, Katana, Shields, Mails, Helms

Command Ability: !Zeninage (lit. "Throw Coins"): Throw gil at enemies. Amount thrown is determined by Samurai's level. Damage is divided over number of targets.


 * Innate Abilities
 * Equip Katana
 * Shirahadori

Dancer
Location: Ronkan Ruins


 * Summary
 * The Dancer learns two commands: !Flirt and !Dance. Flirt makes one enemy skip its next turn and Dance has four effects chosen at random. Three "ribbon armors" (equipment pieces exclusive to the Dancer) improve the success rate of flirt, but downgrade the dance: the useful "Tempting Tango" is replaced by "Sword Dance". The latter is a dance that has no special effect on the enemy, but simply inflicts double damage from the back row (quadruple damage from the front row).

With a Ribbon headgear on hand, Dancers can protect themselves from any status ailment cast on them.

Can Equip: Knives, Robes, Hats Command Ability: !Dance: Chooses a random dance to perform on the enemy. See Dance for the full list.


 * Innate Abilities:
 * Equip Ribbon

Chemist
Location: Ronkan Ruins


 * Summary
 * The last Job in the regular game is often the most overlooked. It's also the hardest to classify. Better to let a Chemist's work speak for him. The Chemist is useful both as a healer and an attack mage; he doubles the effect of medicinal items thrown to his comrades, and can whip up powerful spells when two items are mixed together. He can drink special potions to boost his own abilities, but these can't mask his generally sub-par stats and middling equipment list. Still, he's quite handy to have around, especially when magic doesn't work.

Can equip: Knives, Staves/Maces, Robes, Hats

Command Ability: !Drink


 * Innate Abilities:
 * Medicine
 * Doubles the effect of Potion and Ether-type items in battle


 * Abilities:


 * Medicine (15 ABP)
 * Doubles the effects of recovery potions in battle
 * Mix (30 ABP)
 * Combine two items to create an effect
 * Drink (45 ABP)
 * Consume status-boosting tonics
 * Recover (135 ABP)
 * Cures all allies' negative status. Equivalent to the White Magic spell Esuna or the Remedy item
 * Revive (405 ABP)
 * Raise an ally from KO status.

Advance Jobs
These jobs are only available in the GBA and iOS versions.

Necromancer
Location: Sealed Temple
 * One of the new jobs added to the game.

The Necromancer is a Job in the GBA and iOS versions of Final Fantasy V. Found in the Sealed Temple after Beating Enuo.

The Necromancer has the potential due to its inherent equipment options and abilities. Necromancers have Magic Power equal to that of a Black Mage and Stamina equal to that of a Knight.

Dark Arts is more powerful than the Black Magic and Summon skillsets, and can be further boosted due to the equipment choices the Necromancer has. The Necromancer is similar to the Blue Mage, in that to learn any Dark Arts, the Necromancer has to learn it from opponents; the Necromancer must deal the finishing blow to a specific enemy to learn a Dark Art spell.

The downside to the Necromancer is their inherent undead status, making healing them difficult. Various methods can be used to bypass this, such as White Wind or the Necromancer's Drain Touch Skill. Unlike the inherent undead status of the Bone Mail, Necromancers can be revived once they are KO'd.

Mastering Necromancer for all four characters in the iOS version earns the player the achievement "Undead Freak".

Can Equip: Knives, Rods, Hats, Clothes, Robes

Command Ability: !Dark Arts

Cannoneer
The Cannoneer is one of the GBA only jobs. It has an advantage over most physical jobs, as it can attack from the back row while still dealing full damage. They have similar abilities to the Chemist, being able to combine ammunition with normal items, but these can only be bought by the traveling merchant. Though they do not have much attacked power when compared to the other physical jobs.
 * Summary

Can Equip: Knives, Swords, Shields, Hats, Clothes, Robes, Armlets.

Command Ability: Open Fire

None
 * Innate Abilities:


 * Abilities:


 * Open Fire
 * Lets any job use Open Fire
 * EXP Up
 * Gain 1.5x EXP
 * Combine
 * Lets any job use Combine

Summary table
The 21 jobs can be grouped according the armor they can use. You can use this as a guide to the main characteristics of each job and it should be used in the game.
 * Fighter: Prefer stiff, heavy armor with high defense. Concentrate on physical attacks, though Sorcerers combine this with magic.
 * Specialized: Have special skills of a physical nature. Need lighter, flexible armor they can move in.
 * Mixed: Have special skills of a magical nature. Can use either light or magical armor.
 * Mage: Need soft, comfortable armor so they can concentrate on spell casting. Concentrate magical attacks and support.
 * General: Can perform any role and (with a few exceptions) wear any armor.

The Freelancer job does not come from any crystal

The names in the Type column were chosen so that, if you sort the table by Type, job with affinities will appear next to each other.